Arcade games in Helsinki

Dancing game

Driving simulator

I went to the shopping center Itis to try out the games in new arcade games center. The center piece was the rally simulator with suspensions. The driving experience was cool and suspensions definitely gave a more immersive experience. There was also a dancing game like Stepmania but an upgraded version with great light effects and the playing required moving your whole body. The third game worth mentioning was a shooting game where guns had recoil. There were also other games which were fun. 

Football pinball

Football merged to pinball in SuperPark Turku

When I was young I liked playing Psycho pinball with PC so it was a joy to discover an interactive game where football is merged to pinball. In football pinball you collect points by kicking the ball to the targets during one minute. You use actually your own feet to kick the ball and not your fingers to push the buttons like in arcade pinball. The game was fun and skills acquired from playing football were useful. It was fun to compete against my brother and see who is able to collect more points. Though I noticed that the targets were too sensitive and you often got points even though you didn't hit the target. The idea is very good and with some further development it would be even more fun. I have some ideas how the football pinball could be improved.

I have also tried a football version of billiard which was also fun but not as fun as football pinball. In the future I hope to be able to try a Finnish invention: activity mat called Dribla, which you play by dribbling a football.

Mentality in Spain and Finland

I listened a podcast clip of Jordi Wild where he interviews journalist David Jiménez. They discuss how Spanish people are very envious and do not admire or appreciate successful people. They say that in the Spanish culture it is better to stay mediocre than succeed. For me this sounded the same how Finnish mentality is often portrayed in Finland.

Then Jiménez continued how being entrepreneur has been made very difficult in Spain. Bureaucracy makes starting a company difficult and starting a company can take months. In general Spanish people don't appreciate entrepreneurship according to Jiménez. My understanding is that starting a company in Finland is fast and can be done in one week. Especially Slush has brought a lot of positive things for Finnish start up companies.

As an example for how bad public sector works in Spain, Jiménez gives an example how he had to wait inline when booking a train ticket of Renfe on their mobile app. The waiting time of 27 minutes with an mobile app is something unheard of. In March Yle published an article about the attractiveness of public sector as an employer. Many young people are aiming for public sector jobs in Spain because it is more stable, better paid and has better work life balance than private sector.

Pickleball in Finland

Playing in Kera

I like playing sports involving a ball. Some time ago I discovered pickleball and two courts available in Kera sports complex in Espoo. I'm very familiar with the ball used in pickleball as it is similar to the ball with holes as in floorball. Also having some background playing with rackets it was easy to have good one to one match with my brother. I preferred pickleball over padel which I tried for the first time in Spain. I would like to try playing pickleball also 2 vs 2.

The sports complex of Kera is going to be demolished this summer so lets see if there will be courts dedicated to pickleball after that. The calendar of the pickleball courts were quite empty so pickleball has not yet become popular in Finland.  My understanding is that pickleball has been growing fast in USA.

Interactive sports games

Sutu in Tahto sports museum

I have visited activity parks called SuperCorner Tahko, Duudsonit Activity park Espoo, Tahto sports museum and Hoplop Tripla. I have had chance to try out different kind of interactive sports games. I have tried iWall, SlamIt, cycloBEAT, runBEAT, tapWall, ValoClimb, ValoJump, KickIt, Lappset Sutu interactive ball wall, Superball and SuperTouch. Then there are plenty of more interactive sports games what I would like to try. My favorite have been kicking the ball to an interactive wall. Also Supertouch is a fun competition of pushing the light buttons as fast as you can. The ones that I have liked the least are runBEAT and SlamIt. Interactive ice hockey doesn't work equally well as football because the puck doesn't bounce back from the wall like football does. runBEAT is after all just running but still more fun than just running on a basic treadmill.

2000 day streak achieved in Duolingo

My screenshot

My earlier over 1000 day streak got destroyed by accident but I decided to start a new one and reached today 2000 day streak. I had already finished all the Spanish lessons at one point but developers of Duolingo added a lot more Spanish lessons which I have been going through. Duolingo has gamified language learning very well as I try to keep my position in the diamond league and take advantage of double or triple points by completing lessons. As I have spoken a lot Spanish in real life for me listening and story lessons are the easiest. The lessons where I have to write full sentences can cause me frustration as I might make spelling mistakes or use different expressions. Though those are good lessons to correct my mistakes and improve my grammar. I'm planning to keep on going with Duolingo and hopefully I will write my next update when I have completed the Spanish lessons.

Top Post 2023 - 2024

The Christmas was not white in the capital area of Finland in 2024

Below listed the top posts from the last two years.

1. Awesome book by Author Lotta-Sofia Saahko and I ended up reading her other great books too

2. Buying a house is not necessarily the best investment of your life

3. Insight to real estate investing in Spain

4. Finland is one of the top tax collectors of the world

5. My self improvement tips for sleeping

Top posts from previous years 2021 - 2022, 2019 - 2020, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010

Learning the local language

Helsingin Sanomat has published two essays (Language discrimination drives away foreign professionals from Finland and Elite is handicapped by speaking English) within two months how highly educated foreigners are struggling to learn Finnish and to integrate to Finland. I have personal experience working abroad speaking the local language in Spain and not speaking the local language in Poland. I think that knowing the local language is the key for adaptation to any society. I have witnessed how foreigners can adapt to a new country by getting to know other foreigners who speak the same non local language. Also friendships are formed with locals if they speak that foreign language. Then a foreigner might even feel that learning the local language is not necessary.

On the other hand if you oblige the locals to speak a foreign language with the foreigners then locals are handicapped depending on their level of fluency in the foreign language. Is it fair to make 10 locals speak foreign language to accommodate one foreigner to the group? Or would it be fair for the foreigner to learn the local language in order to join the group of 10 locals? Either way language learning effort is needed.

If you end up moving to a foreign country and learn the local language you are still likely going to be seen as a foreigner because of the accent in your speech. 

Early winter

24th of November in Kauniainen

Last April I wrote how winter never seemed to end. This year the winter arrived early on November and the landscape was fully covered with snow but two days later the snow is gone. I had a reunion with a Spanish exchange student friend from Ankara. 12 years had passed since we said good bye in Turkey. She came for a holiday to Finland and was lucky to witness the landscape fully covered with snow.

How to recognize a Finnish backyard

Market place of Kauniainen as a backyard

There are two classical pieces what you see especially in the backyards of old apartment buildings and row houses in Finland.  One of them is a rack for whipping rugs and other is a drying rack for clothes. These are not completely forgotten in the new buildings but they are not always part of the backyard. I believe these pieces are not used much nowadays but you can still spot the rusty metallic structures in the backyards. The space could be used for something else or be made more esthetic by removing the old rusty racks.