I witnessed a very interesting event on the public transport a couple of days ago. I was taking the bus on Sunday back to my place in Espoo when the bus driver started an argument with a man of dark complexion since he was having a beer in the bus, which is forbidden.
His answer was quite interesting, as he said "Why can't I do that, if you see plenty of Finns who do?" which regardless of being prohibited actually is the case, especially during weekends or holidays such as Vappu. Even I have done so on a couple of occasions in my student days.
This strengthened my resolve to follow the rules to the T even when some people might not, regardless of whether it is fair or not. It's the easiest way to stay out of trouble.
Tag Archives: immigration
Cooking on TV
I guess after all the stereotype is changing, as I saw this guy on MTV3’s morning show and he was speaking flawless Finnish. From his name only I’m assuming he grew up here and has at least one Finnish parent.
Update: His name is Alex Nurmi and seems to be quite a popular guy, judging from his Google egosearch results. And yes, his mom is Finnish, his dad African. We need more examples like him on the media.
In Finland we have a lot to learn from the Canadians
When I was a high school student in Mexico, some of our classes had to do with the different characteristics of our North American neighbours, so I had some understanding on Canadian multiculturalism. However, I was pleasantly suprised in my visit to Vancouver when I basically didn’t feel like a foreigner there, as they’re very much used to people of varied appearance and culture, and their approach tends to be curious and inquisitive rather than hostile or uneasy.
There were three instances where their approach to multiculturalism showed through.
- The first one was on TV, where you had an Islamic preacher in one channel and a Christian in the next, both speaking English.
- Then they had a report in the CBC about their transmissions of the Stanley Cup, a quintessentially Canadian sports event… in Punjabi. I wondered if the Finnish Hockey World Cup games would ever be broadcast in Somali or, God spare me ;-), Russian.
- Finally, there was the Terry Fox Memorial at BC Place. What struck me was not only the story behind it, but the fact that their advertising includes the face of a girl of slightly Asian features. Given that Finnishness seems to be rooted in ethnicity that was a very refreshing, and at the same time sad detail, as I thought that in the end it would be easier for people like me to be Canadian than Finnish even though I’ve never even lived there. Somebody has to be the pioneer, though ;-).
Vain yksi joukosta
Kun olin Seattlessa pari viikkoa sitten eräässä tapahtumassa, siellä oli muutamia suomalaisia, jotka tapasin lähtölennoilla. He olivat hyvin ystävällisiä ja näimme Yhdysvalloissa useita kertoja. Oli todella hauskaa että pystyin vaan hengailla sekä heidän että meksikolaisten kanssa, joita oli myös muutamia.
On tosi mukavaa kun voin olla vain yksi joukosta.
Banking as a foreigner
From my experience, I would say that in general Finland has a very modern, developed banking system. I haven't seen a cheque since I moved here (thank the Lord), and you can handle most of your affairs electronically. Personal service is not as consistent.
In general, over the counter service is pretty friendly and at the bank you also have access to an advisor. The issue I encountered, however, was when checking with other banks about mortgage options. Whereas my bank treated me really well, the same was not repeated when checking out with another. Although I understand perfectly (especially with the current economic climate) why they would be cautious, some of the reactions from the bank representative puzzled me a little bit.
We were discussing our background and when we mentioned that I am also educated her answer was something along the lines of "Really?". When she asked for my profession she was also rather sceptic, but the one that really made me unease about the whole deal was when she asked for my job title, as she suggested "So, are you an assistant?" which was completely out of line with what I had told her about my professional experience, meaning that basically she didn't believe anything I said, even though all of that is easily cross-referenceable, e.g. my income.
When I mentioned the issue to my mates, they suggested that I shouldn't have spoken Finnish to the person at all even though I'm fluent. I wonder what kind of prejudices kicked in?
Immigrant entrepreneurs
I've read a couple of stories about immigrants and their children starting up their own companies here in Finland, especially in the service sector. There are two companies whose services I use that are founded by immigrants: my barber (Figaro barbers in the corner of Albertinkatu & Uudenmaankatu, Helsinki) and one of my favourite fast-food places (Habibi Lebanese cuisine in Forum, Helsinki).
Given the simple facts that there are quite many barriers to open a business (capital investment required, cultural, regulatory, etc) I find their belief in their success quite admirable.
I'm just waiting to see when would somebody open a proper Mexican restaurant, as the stuff hereabouts is Tex-Mex. Maybe I'll have to do it when I retire. Mole poblano and tacos al pastor anyone?
Work in Finland
This is a marketing campaign for Kauppalehti, the leading Finnish business daily that brings forward the labour shortage in Finland. The English language version of the online component of the campaign is actually quite bad, whereas the Finnish one has real content in it. I guess that contrary to what the campaign seems to be about, they didn’t care too much about the immigrant / foreign audience after all.
Funnily enough, there was a completely wasted bum/drunk just next to this ad, but I couldn’t bring myself to take that picture. I guess it would have been too poignant of a social commentary.
Immigrant taxi driver
For the first time in 7 years altogether I've lived in Finland I took a ride with a taxi driver of a foreign background. Born in Turkey and around my age, he has been here for more than twice as long as me, so pretty much half of his life. The funny thing of course is that we were discussing in Finnish abou this experiences here and he told me something very revealing:
Almost every time he picks up a white, blond, blue-eyed customer, they speak to him in English and are surprised when he answers in Finnish (which he finds rather ridiculous as he's a Finnish taxi driver). Furthermore, he mentioned a couple of "adventures" with skinheads in Tikkurila during his youth that fortunately came to nothing. The most interesting of his experiences for me was when we discussed about our Finnish friends. He said once, after going out for drinks, one of them said: "Hey, we're not that different after all". Notice that this was his friend, so I wonder what does the average Pekka Virtanen in the street think when he sees somebody like him or like me…
We had a very good discussion during the whole trip and I really enjoyed hearing his take on certain things I've also experienced. Wish him the best of luck.
Kudos to the Espoo Police
If you are a regular reader of this blog (or an immigrant yourself), you know immigration procedures are not easy. Therefore, I would like to give a big thanks to the Espoo Police.
I went to renew my residence permit last week, which is a process that nominally takes three months. We arrived at their office at 8 a.m., and since all my papers were in order and they had me in the system, they did all the process on the spot and one hour later I left with a new permit for another couple of years. I found excellent, courteous service and as you can see a very fast turnaround.
It seems the authorities do want my taxes after all ;-).
Dying for the country that rejects you
I found out this article at Martín Varsavsky's blog, and found it extremely interesting… and sad. As he says, one side promises virgins, the other citizenship. They all want cannon fodder.