Foreigner is looking for a flat to rent

To foreigners Finns appear to be shy but friendly and helpful once you get to know them. How do we - foreigners - appear to Finns? I will give some background information (very simplified so it is no absolute truth) about the immigration to Finland and describe a short story about foreigner's search for a flat to rent.

For a long time Finland was relatively homogeneous country when it comes to immigration numbers. During the industrial boom some number of foreigners was recruited to work in the factories. With the transition of the economy from industry to service dominant the need for low skilled labour has decreased. So foreigners are no longer needed, cause the jobs are scarce anyway and one needs to ensure that Finns are employed in the first place. The last sentence is not my opinion, but I think many Finns would agree with it. That is why I think that if not majority then at least high percentage of Finns have somewhat racist attitudes.

With the background information in mind lets take a look at the following situation. Recently a friend of mine of a Slavic origin has been searching for a flat to rent. He knows some Finnish, so he copes in everyday life, but he is not yet fluent, and maybe there is a bit of accent as well. He has a secure work place and has paid his bills dutifully in the past. When searching for a flat to rent he was one of the candidates for one particular flat. There were three other girls - Finnish students interested in this flat and my friend. The owner has right to choose who will get the flat. My friend didn't get it, even if potentially he is having a secure financial situation and is older (one could assume more mature and responsible). Was is because of his Slavic origin (foreign sounding name) that he didn't get it?

There was another flat my friend wanted to go to take a look at, but he was informed that the show time is fully booked, even if he informed just 1,5 hour after the information has been sent out via e-mail. Possible? Theoretically yes but...

The search is still on. My friend says he wants to believe that those cases have been just a coincidence and that his nationality has nothing to do with it. Lets see what the time brings. I am just wondering is it really equally difficult for a foreigner to get a flat as for a Finn?

Human sense of belonging

I might have mentioned that it might be difficult to get wild social life in Finland. It might be even difficult at times to get any social life at all... Anyway the sense of belonging to the community is sometimes missing for me as a foreigner. I try to ignore it but it comes back every now and then. I will always be somehow maladjusted. Anyway to prove myself at least somehow wrong I thought of going to the theatre. This thought has been hunting me for a while, so when some friends gave the idea of going to the theatre I was keen to give it a go.

We went to see "Borrowed tenor". The play was classic in a way that it built drama and funny situations around a big event when the main character of the event is failing to show up. Surprise number one was that I did actually understand what the actors were saying (good diction). Surprise number two: I did catch quite some jokes. Surprise number three: the sense of belonging suddenly arrived. It turned out that theatre is a place where the human feelings are the same and they are shown in the same manner in many parts of the globe. Suddenly I wasn't a foreigner in Finland, I was a human among people. I have experienced the same feelings while being in the theatre in Poland, Scotland and Finland. And this experience reminded me that wherever I am, I am still a human being, belonging to human race, with all its nasty and a bit better features. The play was good, the sense of belonging came back for a while.

Well being also for students

I might have mentioned before that Finland is a country where a lot of attention is paid to well-being. People are encouraged to make sports, employing organisations have special programmes to make sure that people are feeling good at work etc.

Well-being policies are not only targeted to population that finished education. Also students are well taken care of. As soon as student leaves home he receives housing support. He can work but only up to certain level of earnings, otherwise he needs to return support money. This is maybe a bit discouraging for students to work. On the other hand though this rule was introduced to encourage students to focus on studying - some work is allowed but not too much. Students should be studying, not working crazy hours.

There is one more good example of how students are taken care of. As a student I live in a students accommodation. Recently there were some works done to install devices to monitor temperature and air composition in students' apartments. This work was made to improve living conditions for us - students. Now we have no excuses left not to get to books. Now we are all being well.

Summary time

This year was good. I travelled quite a few times (Germany, Czech Republic, France, Turkey, Great Britain, Poland), seen some "long time no see" friends, met great people (special thanks to guys from Istanbul).

This year in Finland was also special weather-wise. We had long winter, hot summer and the snow came already in November, which is extremely good if you know what it means to live at this latitude. Extreme temperatures also define this year: from +34,8 to -27,2 Celsius degrees.

I also managed to pursue some of my hobbies despite knee contusion, and managed to do my work and not being fired. I got an Open Water Diver card (made in Finland, yey!) plus I did some work for my doctoral studies.

Some of my ideas didn't come true, but honestly it is more because of my laziness, than lack of time. If I was Finnish I would have probably reach my goals as Finns seem to me very hard working folks.

Overall I still have some things to look forward to, some things to improve, and dreams that wait to come true (related to travelling naturally).

For this New Year I wish you loads of happiness, reasons to smile, and friendly people around. Don't be too hard on yourself with your New Year's resolutions. Take one in small steps and you will succeed! Keeping my fingers crossed for you (and myself as well :) )!

Birthday gifts

Usually Finns celebrate their birthdays with the closest friends. It seems like during that special day they only want to have those dearest to their hearts around. When it comes to presents they shouldn't be too expensive. It is more important to find something special for this particular person, or even make the gift yourself.

Few days ago I participated in a birthday party, a friend turned 30. One of the gifts he received were so called "Reinot" - very common in Finland slippers:

It was also a form of joke, as these are usually used by elderly people.

Anyway the point is that birthdays in Finland are a good occasion to get together, I especially recommend not to miss such an occasion during dark autumn / winter time. Secondly you should not ruin your savings to get something as a gift for your Finnish friend. I have the impression that Finns do not like to get expensive gifts, especially if you are a friend or just an acquaintance.

More expensive gifts might be accepted from a spouse, wife of husband though, but this is a very personal arrangement and I wouldn't like to generalise.
Personally I wouldn't mind getting a summer cabin as a birthday gift, but I'm not Finnish :)

Gender equality

This is hard stuff. And a long bit to read. So be prepared.

Why I wanted to live in Finland? Gender equality is one of the reasons. I could feel it on my own skin soon after arrival. And I like it.

I don't need guys open doors for me, I can well do it myself. Unless I have both of my hands full of stuff from the grocery store. Then it doesn't really matter is it a girl opening the door for me or a guy or I have to deal with the door myself in case I am alone. No problem there. I'd rather open the door myself and earn same wage as men do. And I don't need guys pay my dinner, kiss my hand and then tell me that I should do home stuff 'cause I am a girl. I rather have women in the parliament to represent important social issues, like domestic violence (unfortunately common problem in Finland) or paternity leave. And I don't want to misunderstood. I am not saying that now half of women should be miners, lumberjacks and boxers. I do understand that men are (on average) stronger than women. And I didn't burn my bras.

This is quite an important topic for me because of my private experiences (raised with two brothers who were not forced to peel potatoes, do the dishes or clean despite having two hands as well). Therefore I am happy to see every sign of gender equality policies, decisions et.c. One of those decisions was an inspiration for this topic - about a male pastor who refused to work with a female pastor and was punished for discriminative practices. You can read more here.

The situation of women is still not perfect in Finland. We still do earn less then men, we still make more work related to household running or rising children but the gap is smaller in comparison to many other continental Europe countries. And I hope the gap will be eliminated one day.

At this occasion I wanted to bring up the issue of gender equality as a worldwide problem. There are many charity projects going on in the world and it is sometimes difficult to decide which should be supported. Already a while ago I came across "Because I'm a girl" report, picturing the situation of girls and women in the world. I was moved. And we can do something about it. I would like to encourage you to visit http://www.plan-uk.org/becauseiamagirl/theissues/ so you can see that the gender inequality is by no means a product of female imagination. It's a fact, it's about the numbers.

I warned you that it will be serious.

Some music from melancholic country

Picture: from Hurriganes' official website

One thing I wanted to share with those interested in the country of Santa Claus and reindeer is some music. A while ago I got some music recommendations from my workmate. I just copy and paste, so it is not about my music preferences. He wanted me to learn about some new and old Finnish bands. Here we go:

Hurriganes - I will stay
Lauri Tähkä - Maailma on renki
Lauri Tähkä - Pauhaava sydän
Leningrad Cowboys - Leningrad
HIM - Right here in my arms
Hanoi Rocks - Million miles away
Hanoi Rocks - People like me
The 69 Eyes - Lost boys
Apulanta - Koneeseen kadonnut
Yö - Joutsenlaulu
Yö - Rakkaus on lumivalkoinen
Uniklubi - Kaikki mitä mä annoin

Of course there is also Nightwish, Apocalyptica, probably slightly forgotten nowadays The Rasmus... Fans of heavy sounds know Children of Bodom. The name of this band is by the way associated with murders of some young people staying overnight by the lake of Bodom. A bit scary story.

Some of us know Lordi, some of us remember them from Eurovision :)

There is surely a lot more to recommend but this is not a musical blog so I'll just mention two more singers. Recently I came across Chisu (Sama nainen, Baden baden) and Jenni Vartiainen. Jenni's song "En Haluu Kuolla Tänä Yönä" is more positive and less melancholic than most of Finnish songs and with this positive accent I will end my today's post. For those who want to listen: Jenni's song :) Enjoy!