"Thai" Perspectives on Finland
Posted by Stuart at 07:45 PM on September 01, 2004The conference has occupied most of my time in Finland so far, but now I have a little break and can talk about my experiences here.
One of my first impressions of Finland was to wonder where all the people were. I realized that now my perspective is based on my life in Thailand, so I see Finland as being very quiet and very sparsely populated. When people-watching here, I can't help but compare the Finnish people to Thai people. In that comparison, Finns come across as being polite, but distant, perhaps to the point of being cold. I don't really know how to describe their body language, except to just throw out adjectives such as reserved, stotic, unemotional, determined, and resigned.
It seems that the people have personal philosophies of "rational pessimism". The expressions on their faces often look like they are saying. "Life is hard. Deal with it." I guess this is because of the long, dark winters. In any case, it doesn't look like they are a very happy people.
On the other hand, perhaps it seems this way because I am used to the mai bpen rai and smiling faces of the Thai people, who definitely look like they are loving every minute of their lives. And I don't mean to say that Finnish people are not nice. In fact, everyone has been very polite and hospitable. I just wouldn't ever use the word "chatty" to describe the people here.
As far as the food goes, it has been very good, but again I don't really know how to describe it. I am not really sure what "Finnish" food really is, but all of our meals have been somewhat the same: Salad with lettuce, carrots, bell peppers, and tomatoes. The main course is a starch (rice or potatoes), a meat and a thick cream sauce or gravy. Dessert is usually some kind of berry cake/pie/pastry/mouse. For some reason I have been incredibly hungry the last few days and I am eating like crazy. I hope I don't gain too much weight!
The first night of the conference, the town of Joensuu threw us a little party at their visitor's center / city museum, where they served us a buffet dinner. Last night we were driven a little bit outside of town for another buffet dinner. Last night's entertainment consisted of a group of men showing us what it was like to be a lumberjack in Finland's recent past. They demonstrated their skills in chopping wood and in log rolling. The last event was especially fun to watch the as the man and boys balanced on floating logs in the middle of the river. More often than not, they ended up in the cold water as we cheered.
"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK"....
I always find it funny that the country that almost single-handedly kickstarted the mobile phone revolution is composed of quiet people.
But you are right in your views - that is exactly how the Finns come across, it takes a lot to get through to them sometimes (although txt usually works!). But when you do, they are a warm race, quite (and don't tell a Finn this) like the Norwegians, I think.
Just remember that the worst thing you can say in Suomi is "vittujen kevät ja kyrpien takatalvi"
Good stuff:
yes - kylla
no - ei
thank you - kiitos
English - Englantia
beer - olut
and thus ends my knowledge (more or less)! Have a good time there!
And yet you survived... ;-) Should you need to learn more Finnish, I'd be happy to teach - there certainly are much worse things to say if necessary. And by the way, you can compare us to Norwegians any time - it's the Swedish we (supposedly) hate.
Especially all those swedish speakers in the south? {grin} :)
Interesting minutiae: I believe the Finns were the originators of the Lapp dance. (wink wink)
Btw, if you're damn lucky, don't forget to get Mika Hak...Hak...Hakinnen's autograph (sorry, sumthin' got caught in my throat). There's a spot reserved for him in Valhalla.
it is hard to say how good life that can be managed in Finland. here is some information I got from an EU study:
"In the study “Monikulttuuriset avioliitot sillanrakentajina” by Elli Heikkilä et al Multicultural marriages are viewed as ethnic bridges .The study revealed that the level of education of the Finnish men who have a foreign wife is highest when the spouse is from China...
The next highest education level is that of Finnish men who have a French,
Hungarian or Japanese wife. Low educated men are typically married to Thai women. The men with
the next lowest education have Estonian or Russian spouses..."
http://www.emz-berlin.de/projekte_e/pj48_pdf/FinlandCountryStudy.pdf
If you google "Thai life in Finland", there are many dark side stories. I just want to ask those sisters to stop marry with Finnish losers!
Hm... they almost sound like Manhattanites (New Yorkers... for those that don't know).
-J.