More Finns married foreigners (mostly men marrying foreign women), but there were less marriages and divorces overall in Finland in 2006 compared to the previous year.
In other news, there is less foreigners taking Finnish citizenship (mostly people of Russian, Iraqi and Somalian origin).
Doesn't help that years with non-permanent status don't count (as was my case, even though I lived there 6 years).
Cada vez que leo las noticias mexicanas y los comentarios que de éstas hacen los editorialistas y los actores políticos, no puedo dejar de sentirme en desacuerdo con uno y otro bando.
Mi problema es el siguiente: al PRI le tengo mucha desconfianza, el PAN es liberal en lo económico pero conservador hasta decir basta en lo social, y el PRD es liberal en lo social, pero absolutamente retrógrada en lo económico. Así, simplemente no puedo estar de acuerdo con ninguno.
Tal vez suene a sueño guajiro, pero a mí me gustaría votar por una opción política que entendiera que, por desgracia, no hay otro sistema para generar riqueza mejor que el capitalismo, que el socialismo clásico no sirve y el estatismo nos ha llevado a la ruina, pero por otro lado, también entendiera que tiene que haber una separación entre iglesia y estado (soy católico practicante, pero al César lo que es del César, y a Dios lo que es de Dios), que los homosexuales no son gente enferma y que suficiente castigo tiene la gente que desea abortar con hacerlo para que todavía las metan a la cárcel.
El problema también es cultural: con un sistema tan corrupto del que todos forman parte, con tanto clientelismo y cacicazgos, con leyes que cuando no son anticuadas simplemente nadie las respeta, y con una recaudación de impuestos tan abismalmente baja porque los que son "ricos" no pagan porque son ricos y los "pobres" no pagan porque son pobres, simplemente no vamos a llegar a ningún lado. Si a eso le añadimos el clima de crispación reinante en el país después de las elecciones más reñidas de su historia, es una receta para no llegar a ningún lado.
No hay capacidad ni intención de diálogo. Viéndolo desde fuera me da mucha, pero mucha pena.
You may have heard about the Free Hugs campaign (or even read about it in your local newspaper).
I’m glad to inform that there has been already some activity in the three cities where I’ve lived: México, D.F., Helsinki and Brussels.
Because sometimes, you just need a hug.
I have mentioned before that I believe Finland to be the closest thing to a geek paradise. The reason for it is very simple: given the high esteem Finnish society in general has of education, people are encouraged to be highly educated, which results on a certain level of geekness.
Even though individuals related to IT such as Linus Torvalds are probably the most famous, there are other aspects of geekiness where Finns excell. I could for example mention the Nuntii Latini, the renowned service of Latin-language news, or the fascination Finns have with Tolkien. There I have found out that there are not only computer geeks, but history geeks, role-playing geeks, music geeks, art geeks and even food geeks (also known as foodies), and not only are they not ridiculed, they are accepted.
This is one of the reasons why Finland is cool, and why it is thriving in the creative economy.
Courtesy of LinkedIn (for professional contacts) and hi5 (for all others) I have been able to get back in touch with a lot of people that at some point of my life have been important.
Maybe it's true that now we have weaker links but more of them. I don't know, but for sure enjoy the benefits.
As you may know, I'm Mexican and my fiancée is Finnish. We've been together for quite a few years, but as a friend says we probably look like one of those ads from United Colours of Benetton.
In Brussels I'm Morrocan or Turkish, whereas my fiancée is Flemish.
In Antwerp I'm Morrocan or Turkish, but dangerous anyway, whereas my fiancée is a local, or maybe Dutch.
In Brussels I blend in with the general population, and so does my fiancée.
In Antwerp, de Metropool, I have found more hostile stares directed at me, or worse, my fiancée when she's with me.
The good news is that at least everybody thinks that I speak their language: the French-speakers speak to me in French, the Dutch-speakers in Dutch, the Turks in Turkish, and the Morrocans in Arabic. The Spanish-speakers usually don't know who speaks Spanish here anymore 😉
Regardless of the interesting experiences, we had a very nice time in Antwerp, a beautiful but rather misjudged city where I have some good friends.
Sanoi minun suomalaisen tulevan vaimon täti Brysselissä käydessään.
Kuka sitten maksaa sosiaaliturvaa kun kaikki ovat eläkeellä?
Mexican media report today that the results of a gene mapping study of the Mexican population have been released. As expected, we are a mix of different ethnic groups (around 35) and in average about 65% of our genes are not of European, Asian or African origin (i.e. they are Native American), but the results tend to vary, with the highest incidence of European genes in the northern state of Sonora (58%) and the highest of African genes in the southern state of Guerrero (22%).
So, is science helping us answer the question of who are we, or not yet? 😉
Finland is in general a very egalitarian society, where mobility is common and opportunities available, which is something I think other countries should learn from. However, I have noticed certain, if not polarization, at least divisions in society regarding how they see the outside world.
There are those that understand that Finland’s economic success is dependent on globalization and those who only see the Chinese threat; those who have travelled and seen the world and those who haven’t; the young who are used to having people with foreign backgrounds in their classroom and the old who first saw a black man in their street in the 90’s; those that welcome foreign labour and those that feel threatened by it (especially if they are already unemployed); those that speak foreign languages with confidence and those who feel they threaten the status of the Finnish language; those that want a more generous welfare state and those who want to pay less taxes; those who think racism is stupid and those who are unabashedly racist; those who have taken advantage of EU farm subsidies, Erasmus exchange programmes and the like and those who strongly dislike the EU…
Difference of opinion is of course what democracy is made of. Finnish society, however, needs to be aware that these differences exist, and that not everything is smooth and perfect.
I found this old article about Brett Young (whom I know personally and can vouch for his Finnish language fluency), and it got me thinking. I lived in pääkaupunkiseutu (Helsinki & Espoo) for six years, will marry a Finn this summer, have plenty of Finnish friends and speak Finnish fluently at home (with the odd partitive instead of accusative mistake, heh). I also studied engineering in Finland and pretty much became an adult there, having adapted to and adopted parts of the culture, for which I’m grateful.
However, compared with my current stay in Brussels, I noticed that the society in general hadn’t truly accepted me. Whereas those closest to me treat me like “one of them”, as soon as I was on my own people would be suspicious, or even downright hostile. Why? I guess because I look different. I have brown skin and dark eyes and hair, and my features are very non-descript (people usually can’t guess that I was born in Mexico, at times I’ve been told I’m Spanish, Portuguese, Arab, Turkish and even half-Finnish half-Thai).
Even though I’m currently abroad, I plan to eventually come back to Finland to raise our children there, and in time I would like to apply for citizenship out of gratitude. However, I sometimes have my doubts about whether all the effort to integrate is worth it, since I’m afraid I’ll always find somebody shouting at me “Vitun turkkilainen, mene kotiin!”