Basic Life
They say there are 10 million Finns in Finland. 5 million in the winter and 5 million in the summer.
In the summer, the mood of the people is very different than tin the winter. When it is cold and dark, the people are much more depressed and cold but in the summer, the same people are much warmer and friendly. They are relaxed and occasionally, even a few smiles can be seen.
The plans we have for my brother's visit are for him of course to spend as much time with our daughter as possible but, to also do it in a way that shows what our life is like to some degree. Hopefully without hospital visits though. So far, we haven't done much of this as it has all been catching up with each other and then down to Helsinki yesterday. Today however, it is going to be more 'natural'.
The weather is amazingly warm at the moment here which gives us the chance to spend a lot of time outside so today, we are going to spend it hanging out in our neighborhood, washing carpets, swimming in the lake and in the evening, meeting my wife's family for some strawberries and cream. Good, Finnish things to do.
It is funny in some way as after 15 years here, these things are so normal that I feel almost local. I say almost because I am never really going to be a part of the culture completely as I am just too different. I am not just talking about the looks, I am more talking about the 'how I do' things. I just don't do them right in many people's opinion. :)
Finns have the tendency to do and create things until they are in working order and then, forget them. Even if through time and innovation, there are better ways to do it now, they will often continue on doing it the way it always has been done. It is strange for a highly educated and high tech country I think but, it seems to work for them so that is fine.
For me, I like to perhaps experiment a little bit more and try to see if I can create something that works better than what it did before. I see life as a continual work in progress where the endpoint is when there is nothing left to be done.
There is no endpoint.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
taking on new ideas requires new skills. Seems that there is a trust factor for them to overcome also. Its not easy teaching old dogs new tricks.
History has shown us how innovation has won out every time. The ones who don't use new tech always come out on the short end. Its has also shown us that people are stubborn and don't comply with change and the results
It is interesting I think because when it comes to the electric tech it isn't a problem, it is the things like building components that don't get upgraded.
Yes it is selective. I find that interesting also. And when it breaks down they complain that there is not a better way.
I laughed at the Finnish approach to solving a problem, once and forever. I did not know that about Fins.
Sounds like things are going well with your brother.
Regardless, strawberries and cream on a hot day are the definition of heaven. :)
I think so too :)
Howzit mate. Glad you guys are enjoying the family time. They do seem a strange bunch, but find that I myself like doing that with many things. I will iron it out till there is nothing left to be done for it to work better and then have mercy on anyone who tried changing anything, after all, if it ain't broken, don't fix it, but I also understand that as dictated by progress there will always come better ways, or are these ways always better? I don't think that everything can be improved on.
It is going really well and we are having a lot of fun but damn, this heat :D
Not everything that is classed an improvement is but, denying things doesn't mean they are not.
Not a fn of heat myself, but glad you guys are having a good time, that's what's important. Very true, I like to look at things carefully and better must indeed be better. I'm careful not to stare myself blind against fact.
I think there are some things that should be left as is, especially traditional artisan craft, mechanical watch making and bread are two things that come to mind. I'm sure improvements can be made with R&D and new technology but then you lose the authenticity. Maybe I'm just old school.
Btw, I went to Finland to see the Northern lights a few years ago, one of the three best holidays of my life. Not sure how much more they can do to better that 😉
Bread I can agree with and definitely the Northern lights.
Window sills on the other hand :D
If your native tongue is English or if your English is otherwise really good, it can get in the way of learning the local language in a country like Finland where it can be possible to actually live and work if you only use English. I'm beginning to think we're doing these people a disservice by not requiring them to speak the local language (Finnish or Swedish depending on the locality). I can imagine how that will make them feel like outsiders forever.
I just wrote a post about this a little and I agree. most of it isn't the 'requiring' (at least in the legal sense) because socially, I have found people don't have the patience to support the early learning when there is already a common tongue for communication. I think all people who come in and are considering being here long term should have access to Finnish lessons. When I arrived, I had no access (for free) as I already had a job and it was only for unemployed. it is as if they expect that jobs will always last.
You mean they should be free? How expensive were they? I have paid for Russian lessons at community college despite not really needing Russian very often. You are right about one thing and that is we shouldn't resort to English every time a non-Finnish speaker cannot immediately get their message across in Finnish.
When i came in I had no idea this was possible and even after they (kela) told me i didn't qualify for these free lessons, they didn't tell me their were alternatives other than getting private lessons. I went a year or two doing my best. I got some classes later but they weren't great and I am mentally challenged with languages it seems... I get by but it isn't pretty.
They did a bad job, then. Did you move here for work originally? My to-be wife moved to Finland when she was 18. She was an exchange student and she too Finnish courses in the beginning (for a year or so). The she continued her engineering studies (Civil Engineering) in Finnish. That and working at VTT helped a lot. When I met her, she'd lived here for eight years and was slightly worse than now but she says she's learned a lot of vocabulary from me.
I moved here to get out of Australia for a bit and had a job before I arrived. It would help me a lot to have Finnish now in my work but, I don't think I will ever be proficient enough to use it as a business language unless I spend a great deal of time studying which, I don't have.
I understand. The main thing is that you can get by.
¡That's right! And just to harass you a lil bit further...
"Perfection is not achieved when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing else to remove" }:)---(:{
when there is nothing left to be removed, there is nothing left to be done and one can move on to the next project or, life :)
Yeah mate! and I can see you count with a great chisel and hammer to sculpt very well the marble of life. Go ahead boy, that's the attitude!! :)
Hi taraz. Even though I was born in England many moons ago I felt like an outsider. I was living there in my mid twenties but my outlook on life was different. I would go to France on weekend breaks but dodge the English hot spots. They went there for booze shopping and I went there for the history and the food. I think it is all about your upbringing which impacts your thought process.
It is interesting how much the upbringing affects how we experience the world yet, most don't pay much attention to it. I never really got to travel with family other than a little in Australia but, my dad had travelled a fair amount but also had many stories from a colourful life in Malaysia. Perhaps it isn't the genetic side that makes my family travellers, perhaps it is the ability of a father to tell stories to the kids.
"
Only a living entity can have goals or can originate them. And it is only a living organism that has the capacity for self-generated, goal-directed action. On the physical level, the functions of all living organisms, from the simplest to the most complex — from the nutritive function in the single cell of an amoeba to the blood circulation in the body of a man — are actions generated by the organism itself and directed to a single goal: the maintenance of the organism’s life.
An organism’s life depends on two factors: the material or fuel which it needs from the outside, from its physical background, and the action of its own body, the action of using that fuel properly. What standard determines what is proper in this context? The standard is the organism’s life, or: that which is required for the organism’s survival."
Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness, 16
@tarazkp trip with family is always a good one.
Different topic with taking , you are huge travel .
I hope you enjoy this travel with family . Have a good travel .
Thanks for sharing @tarazkp
Upvote you .