Bank offices everywhere

I believe that I have not mentioned how banks have still very dense office density in Spain. Bank offices have been facing also vandalism. For example I had four Caixa bank offices within one kilometer from my apartment. Also I was able to pay a bill for free in a Spanish bank office. In Finland many bank offices have been closed and you will be charged for paying bills in the bank office.

The number of bank offices has decreased almost 50 % in Spain and in Finland between 2009 and 2018. Still in 2018 the density of bank offices was higher in Spain than in Finland in 2009. Still in 2018 there were almost 4 times more bank offices per person in Spain than in Finland. We can come into a conclusion that banks in Spain have bigger cost saving potential than banks in Finland by closing offices providing customer service.

The second chapter was added and the first chapter was edited 4.1.2020

Sources

• https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11141706
• https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2019/03/22/companias/1553289119_647990.html

My weekly sports schedule

I wrote a blog post about my sports activity on a typical week nine years ago. Then I could dedicate much more time to sports than now but sports remains still important part of my life. I have also now free access to a gym like nine years ago. At the moment my week looks like this.

Monday: free
Tuesday: gym 1h 15min
Wednesday: free
Thursday: gym 1h 15min
Friday: yoga 1h
Saturday: free
Sunday: 1h floorball

Spectators in football and ice hockey in Finland

Helsinki ice hockey arena

Last week I watched live ice hockey match Hifk - Kärpät and live football match Inter - KuPS. Both matches had 8000 - 9000 spectators and were basically sold out. This was a rare exception in Finland that a football league match attracted as many spectators as an ice hockey league match. This happened because KuPS and Inter were fighting for the league title in the last match of the season. Regular ice hockey league match against a big rival is interesting enough to get an ice hockey arena sold out.

I traveled to Turku to support my home city team KuPS. Over one thousand supporters of KuPS traveled to Turku to support their team. Great match with great result as KuPS secured the title of Finnish league.

Visiting team KuPS won the title so the home team supporters left the stadium

My reading list 2019

Here are the 26 books, I have read since publishing my last reading list. Beside the two books I wrote blog posts about, I have higlighted five other books whick I liked the most.

Brizzi, Fausto - 100 onnen päivää
Dettmann, Henrik – Dettmann ja johtamisen taito
Druckerman, Pamela - Bébé päivä päivältä
Druckerman, Pamela - Kuinka kasvattaa bébé: vanhemmuus Pariisin malliin
Eagleman, David – Tarinoita tuonpuoleisesta
Frank, Anne - Päiväkirja
García Marquez, Gabriel – Memoria de mis putas tristes
Harari, Yuval Noah - A Brief History of Humankind
Hauser, Thomas - Muhammad Ali: suurin ja kaunein
Havia, Pasi - Erilainen ote omaan talouteen: vapaus, onni ja hyvä elämä
Hosseini, Khaled – Leijapoika
Hosseini, Khaled – Tuhat loistavaa aurinkoa
Hotakainen, Kari - Tuntematon Kimi Räikkönen
Hulmi, Juha - Lihastohtori
Hämäläinen, Karo - Arvoguru: näin löydät halvimmat osakkeet
Knight, Phil - Shoe Dog
Konstig, Joonas - Pyhä ruoka: mitä oikein saa syödä?
Lee, Harper - Kuin surmaisi satakielen
March, William - Komppania K
Mazzarella, Merete – Elämä sanoiksi
Poskiparta, Pete - Arjen mentalisti
Schwarzenegger, Arnold – Total Recall
Skármeta, Antonio - El cartero de Neruda
Taipale, Vappu - Rakas lapsi, muistoja & ymmärrystä kasvamisesta
Vanne, Ashlee - Elon Musk, Visionääri Teslan, Space X:n ja Solar Cityn takana
Walker, Tim – Lost in Suomi

10th Anniversary

Today has passed 10 years since my first blog post. I started this blog to write about cultural differences between Spain and Finland. Now this blog has posts about the culture of many other countries and many other topics too.

The top 5 most viewed posts of the blog are:
1. Do exchange students cheat their partners?
2. Hairy
3. Similarities between Turkish and Finnish language
4. Meikälaiset muuttivat Espanjaan - kaikki ei olekaan täydellistä ulkomailla
5. Does going to exchange make students fat?

Holidays in Turku

By the Aura river

This July I did some holiday traveling by visiting Turku for few days. I visited the castle of Turku, crossed the river with föri, enjoyed lunch in a restaurant by the river and relaxed in Caribia Spa. Also the weather was great.

Lessons from French culture

Cover

I read Pamela Druckerman's book "Bringing up bébé". The book is full of interesting observations on cultural differences in French and American parenting. The book is also giving suggestions and tips on parenting under 5-year old. It was interesting to read how young children are introduced to cheese eating culture and how the importance of enjoying meals together is taught from very young age in France. I was reflecting the ideas from the book to the Finnish culture.

Currently many european countries are struggling how to make immigrants adapt to the local culture. Actually having a child in the local day care or school actually helps immigtant parents to immerse into the local culture. Therefore Finland supporting parents taking care of their children at home does not seems to be a good strategy to immerse immigrant parents to the Finnish culture. Overall I can recommend the book for anyone who is interested in cultural differences and the book is worth reading eventhough you are not a parent.

The football matches I have seen abroad

Open training session of Real Madrid

In Finland I have seen numerous matches of KuPS since I was a kid. While staying abroad I have tried to see live local football matches. Unfortunately I did not see a match in Poland when I stayed there for two years. Here is a list of matches I have seen abroad inspired by Futisforum2.org topic "matches seen abroad" including the links to the match reports I have written.

1. Spain - Argentina, Friendly match, 2009

2. Real Madrid - Osasuna, La Liga match, 2010

3. Malmö - AIK, Allsvenkan match, 2010

4. Ankaragücü - Fenerbahce, Süper lig match, 2012

5. Dinamo Tbilisi - Torpedo Kutaisi, Umaglesi liga match, 2015

6. Dinamo Tbilisi - Samtredia, Georgian cup final, 2015

7. Sant Andreu - Vilassar de mar, Spanish third division match, 2016

8. Barcelona - Espanyol, Copa del rey semi final, 2018

9. Dinamo Tbilisi - Saburtalo, Erovnuli liga match, 2018

10. Georgia - Latvia, UEFA Nations league match, 2018

5 reasons why my flat in Finland is more comfortable than in Spain

Here is a list of 5 reasons why my flat in Finland is more comfortable than the flat I lived in Spain.

1. No mold on the walls

2. You have comfortable floor to walk at home in socks

3. Comfortable temperature inside around the year

4. You can take long shower without running out of warm water

5. No cockroaches

Baptizing ceremony

Within one year I have attended an orthodox baptizing ceremony in Georgia and a protestant baptizing ceremony in Finland. To summarize the ceremony in an orthodox church in Georgia with one word: chaos. The ceremony was held in a church in the center of Tbilisi. The baptizing ceremony was not the only event being held. There was also a wedding, another baptizing and also many other visitors to pray and tourists. During the baptizing the priest was interrupted few times to give a blessing, the priest took the baby around the church and a tourist interrupted in order to take photos of the baby. Afterwards the celebration was continued in a restaurant. In Finland the event was held in a small chapel with only the people attending the event and without any interruptions. After the ceremony the celebration was continued in the home of the baby.

The religious rituals reminded each other in the both events. The head of the baby was wetted in the near presence of the chosen god parents. In both countries family and friends gather together to celebrate the baby.

Utilily costs in Spain

Spain has the reputation to be cheaper than Finland. Surprisingly example grocery basket was cheaper in Finland than in Spain. In this post I am going the compare my Spanish electricity bill to my Finnish electricity bill. In Finland my one month electricity bill was 22,05 EUR with the consumption of 175/kWh. In Spain my one month electricity bill was 115,34 EUR with the consumption of 440/kWh. Both of the bills are from winter months and there was not gas available in my apartment in neither of the countries. I can tell that even though it was much more colder outside in Finland my 50 m² apartment was much warmer in Finland than in Spain during the winter. In Spain my 33 m² apartment did not even have a radiator and still the electricity bill was more high. Heating the water tank and keeping the house warm during the winter gets expensive in Spain. The nordic people who spend their first winter in Spain the coldness of the apartment might come as a surprise and keeping the apartment warm might bring you a surprisingly big electricity bill.

Language learning

Duolingo app

While staying abroad I have tried to learn the local language. I used to attend language exchange meetings where I could practice/speak various languages during the meeting. When I moved to Barcelona I started to learn Catalan with Duolingo application and since then I have kept my learning streak and reached over 1000 days. I have been learning/keeping up with the other languages aswell in order to retain at least my current level. Keeping up with the streak definitely pushes me to make a little daily effort to study a language.