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.

Investing in real estate occupied by squatters in Spain

I listened a podcast episode by Wall Street Wolverine where real estate investor Pau Antó explains how he deals with squatters also know as "okupas" in Spain. Many people consider owning property very risky in Spain because the local law protects the habitants of the residence. I wrote for example blog post about it called "how to live for free in Spain". Still Antó has invested in real estate properties which were occupied by squatters. He classified squatters in three categories: squatters who see occupying a residence as a right, squatters who do business by occupying residences and squatters who do it because they don't have any other way to find a roof on top of their head.

Antó explained how you have to negotiate with the squatters before you invest in the property. Often you need to pay the squatters some thousands of euros to make a deal with them. You have to be able to trust their word, because legal contracts don't weigh much in their case. In Barcelona there is a valued neighborhood with good location called Grácia, where some buildings have been occupied for years and would interest investors. Still reaching a deal with squatters has been impossible and the buildings remain occupied. For example buildings where there are living squatters from different ethnic groups makes negotiating complicated. For the landlards Antó adivces to always have an insurance in case the tenant doesn't pay the rent.

Back To Barcelona

In the beginning of May I had an opportunity to go back to my old home city Barcelona for few days. It was nostalgic to return after 5 years even though I did not have time to have a walk in my old neighborhood due my busy schedule. At least I had chance to see two old friends from Spain and catch up in Spanish. I hope to be able to make a trip to Turkey in the future and meet with some old friends over there.

Second season of my podcast

Season 2022 of Finnish football league Veikkausliiga started in April. I am continuing my podcast where I focus interviewing Spanish speaking football players and coaches. In the most recent episode l interviewed Álvaro Molinos the fitness coach of HJK. we spoke about physical training in football teams, myths about training and about giving physical exercise as a punishment for the players. The interview is in Spanish and includes Finnish subtitles. I have now published 17 interviews in Spanish and 1 in Finnish.

Sant Andreu de Palomar in Barcelona

Art work by Juanma García Escobar

In Barcelona I lived in a neighborhood called Sant Andreu de Palomar. One day I received a flyer with letter S without any other text. I didn't understand what the flyer was about but I liked the art work it had. I edited out the letter S and posted it here. In the picture you can see the main attractions which you can visit. There is a over 100 years old restaurant called Versalles which is surrounded with small streets with old town atmosphere. Placa Masadas is another place where you can find nice places to enjoy food and drinks. You can find also a nice park called Parc de la Pegaso which was old truck factory and old factory area Fabra i Coats. Sant Andreu de Palomar is not popular among tourists so you can find authentic Catalan atmosphere, non touristic prices and historical attractions. The neighborhood can be easily reached by Rodalies train to Sant Andreu Arenal or Sant Andreu Comtal. Other option is Red metro line 1 stop called Fabra i Puig or Sant Andreu.

Do you prefer cycling in Finland during the winter or in Spain during the summer?

This week I had an interview with physical trainer of HJK Álvaro Morenos. He is also a cycling enthusiast and I asked him whether he prefers cycling in Finland during the winter or in Spain during the summer. He answered that infrastructure in Finland is much better than in Spain so therefore he prefers Finland for daily commuting, but mountains makes Spain more suitable for training. Another advantage of Finland is that you can park your bike around the city you don't have to be extremely worried that your bike will be stolen. In Spain your bike will be stolen much more likely than in Finland when parked on the street. Once I have made the subtitles, I will publish the full interview on my YouTube channel.

In the below video Álvaro Molinos made a comparison of electric scooter, electric bicycle and walking as a method of transportation for distance of 1,5 km in Helsinki. The video is in Spanish

Popular Finnish rap duo inspired by reggaeton

Few months ago I was wondering if reggaeton could make a breakthrough in Finland. All of a sudden one of the most popular rap artists of Finland released a song where you can hear the influence of reggaeton and Latin music. Rap duo JVG published "Vamos" one week ago and the song has been on the 1st and 2nd position in the most listened tracks in Finland's Spotify list.

I got inspired by the song and decided to write the chorus in Spanish to make it more approachable for Spanish speaking audience. 

Vamos, vamos, vamos, vamos, vamos

Nos salimos como los ricos

y bailamos como unos locos

déjame que lleno nuestros vasos

Vamos, vamos, vamos, vamos, vamos

quiero que aquí no lo dejamos

me gustan las fiestas en los veranos

que bien esta noche lo pasamos

Vamos, vamos, vamos, vamos, vamos

Latin music

During the past year I have been listening plenty of Latin music at home. Before I was not listening much Latin music at home. Does it mean that I miss Spain. I was introduced to Latin music when spending time with foreign friends and in the night life in Spain. Especially I have liked a lot Rosalía's album "El Mal Querer" and C.Tangana's album "El Madrileño". Both of the artist mix brilliantly traditional music to pop music.

Podcast about Spanish speakers in Finnish football league

I started a podcast where I am interviewing Spanish speaking people in Finnish footbal league Veikkausliiga. The feedback has been encouraging from the first episodes and it is pushing me to make more episodes. The first episode hit just 1 000 views which is unexpectedly many views. This season there are 20 Spanish speaking players + few coaches and other staff members so there is plenty of people to be interviewed. I am writing subtitles in Finnish to make the videos understandable also for Finnish viewers. 

Keeping up with Spanish

Due the Coronavirus libraries have been closed so instead of reading I have been watching more series. To keep up with Spanish, I decided to watch Spanish drama serie Tiempos de guerra without subtitles and Finnish crime serie Paratiisi where characters speak Finnish, Spanish and English. I also watched documentary The Truth About Franco - Spain's Forgotten Dictatorship which helped me to understand better the history of Spain. One interesting remark about Franco was that the beautiful women were not his weakness as they are often told to be a weakness of men in power.

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

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

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.

What is the most worn flag in Barcelona?

The jacket

Recent political movement towards independence of Catalonia has increased the number of visible Catalonian flags on the balconies. Also some people are showing support to Spain by having a Spanish flag on their balcony. But these flags are not worn by the people on the streets on ordinary days. You can see many people wearing a jacket with a Norwegian flag on the middle of the chest. Jackets with Norwegian flag are especially popular among the teenagers. The jackets seem equally popular among girls and boys. When I walk 20 minutes to the local shopping mall, at least five people will pass by with a Norwegian flag jacket. The jackets are with text of Napapijri or Geographical Norway. The brand is originally Italian. Another sign of the popularity is that the copies of these jackets are sold next to the copies of Barcelona jerseys by the street vendors.

Copa del rey - Derby of Barcelona

Camp Nou

I went to see a Spanish cup match Barcelona against Espanyol in Camp Nou on Thursday evening. Espanyol had won the first match 1 - 0 and the match being a local derby there was some extra tension. Still it was possible to get the tickets one day before the match for 42 euros which were not even the cheapest ones available. Matches of Barcelona tend to attract a lot of tourists so I was not expecting much from the atmosphere in the stadium.

The stadium was almost full and right away I was positively surprised by the atmosphere. The crowd sang along the official hymn of Barcelona when the players entered the field. Also during the match chants started by the small section of fanatic Barcelona supporters were joined by the people all over the stadium. One chant was naturally for Messi and his name got sang few times during the match. At one point someone pulled out a Spanish flag in the crowd which caused right away friction and small brawl, that got some people removed from the stands. I have to say that the seats were narrow. It was not possible with normal shoulder width to lean back and relax. Every other has to lean forward in order to fit.

The match was Debut of Philippe Coutinho in Barcelona. The crowd welcomed him by extra cheering when he touched the ball. Barcelona won the match 2 - 0 comfortably. The referee got criticized during the match with various whistle concerts. To sum up the match was a good experience.

My previous football match report I wrote about Spanish third division match.

Montserrat

View from Sant Jeroni

Montserrat Monastery

End of December I went to Montserrat which is about one hour train ride from the plaza España of Barcelona. Once I got out from the train, I took cable car to the Montserrat mountain. Montserrat offers different routes to hike on the mountain or just casual stroll around the monastery area. I decided to hike to the point called Sant Jeroni which was estimated to take about 2 hours one way. Sant Jerroni offered a great view but due the windy weather I could not fully enjoy the view on the top. After returning from the hike I had a look on the monastery area where most of the tourists stayed. If you decide to hike you can nicely spend a full day in Montserrat. Though in my opinion you can also spend full day not so nicely if you decide queue hours in order to touch the virgin "La Moreneta".

Top Posts 2017

In seville

I spent another year in Barcelona. Here are the top articles from 2017.

1. I wrote three articles about working in BPO/SSC and abroad. I wrote my thoughts what makes people stay abroad for the long term
2. Keeping my spending low has made changing location easier for me
3. Invonceniencies of siesta
4. Expenses of renting a flat in Barcelona
5. Introducing parks worth visiting in Barcelona

Top posts from previous years 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.

More parks of Barcelona

One year ago I introduced five parks which are not the most touristic ones in Barcelona. Here five more parks that you might want to see and visit in Barcelona.

Parc de Diagonal Mar

Parc de Diagonal Mar is near the sea and big shopping mall. You can see artistic metal structures in the park. Nice park to take a walk around. Around the park you can see recently built buildings and an old light house.

El parc del Turó del Putxet

El parc del Turó del Putxet is another park in Barcelona on a hill. You can choose a route to the top by stairs or road. From the top you have a city landscape view.

Mercat Nou

There is a nicely made pedestrian road near the metro stop Mercat Nou going on the metro line. This is not marked as a park but trees and no traffic in sight gives a chance for a pleasent walk or jog.

Parc de la Pegaso

This park is built on the area of an old truck factory. For example the entrance is preserved. You can find nice green area to take a walk, playground for children and area to play sports like football or basketball.

Parc de la Trinitat

Parc de la trinitat has a big area of green grass which is nice for picnic. You can also find area to do barbecue and two tennis courts which are available for free. Especially in the barbecue area you can see often groups celebrating birthdays.

Field Hockey in Barcelona

Field hockey in Monjuic

I set myself seven goals before starting my exchange year in Alcalá de Henares in 2009. I managed to reach all the goals except play field hockey. Finally after 8 years I found an opportunity to join field hockey training and play.

Having played floorball for many years, made the stick handling of field hockey stick easier. Short stick, a small blade and being able to touch the ball with only one side of the stick makes controlling the ball hard. I was satisfied with my performance and was not sticking out too much with my non-existent experience. I also received good feedback for my skills for being a first timer. Field hockey ball is heavy and getting hit by it can get you injured. I received a heavy pass on foot and it hurt. You do not want to block shots in field hockey like in floorball. Overall I am very happy for the chance to play.

Referendum

The referendum on independence of Catalonia is approaching. The voting is taking place 1st of October and the campaigning has started on the streets. People passing flyers on the streets and campaigning tents on certain places. Besides the Catalan flags decorating balconies you can also see flags supporting voting in favor of independence of Catalonia. I expect the campaigning to increase.