Two Incentives to get the Corona virus

There could not be any other topic than the Corona virus for a blog post in March. Economy is taking a big hit due the preventive measures against Corona virus. Many people are being laid off. So far not that many news people being fired. In Finland social security compensates pretty well in case of losing your job but for example in southern Europe not that well. As offices are being closed you might have an option to work from home or use your holidays but many have to be afraid off losing their job permanently or temporarily. For people who are in big danger of losing their job have an incentive to get Corona virus because while being on sick leave you are legally much more safe from getting fired. Another incentive to get the Corona virus, is to get sick early before the health care system is overwhelmed. I bet it is easier to get treatment before the number of cases hits the peak.

6 steps to be miserable like a Finn

There is 6-step program to be happy like a Finn. Rachel Hosie followed the program and it made her feel calm, relaxed and happy. Here how the given 6 steps can make you feel uncomfortable and miserable.

1. Sweat in sauna
Sweating naked in a small room with other people. It feels hot and then they throw water on the rocks which adds humidity and makes it feel even hotter, it gets uncomfortable to breathe. Who finds this relaxing and comfortable?

2. Walk in the forest
In the summer you have mosquitos flying around and biting you everywhere. In the winter it is too cold and you cannot even walk in the forest because there is too much snow.

3. Swim in a hole in the ice
Do you enjoy taking cold shower? Why would you enjoy then swimming in ice cold water? Why would you risk on purpose catching a cold?

4. Pick berries
Ok, now I am in the forest but how could I know where is the spot to find the berries. I hope to not get lost when searching for the spot.

5. Enjoy the magical light
It does not get dark during the night in the summer time so it makes sleeping difficult. If you are lucky you can catch few hours of sleep when it is not as bright as in the midday. To see the northern lights in the winter you need to be lucky that the clouds will not block the view. Be ready to be dissapointed with  unfavorable weather.

6. Have space
Nothing around, how boring

Let me know if you found the melancholy and misery or the happiness with the 6-step program

My sports competitions and tournaments

Polish floorball league match ULKS Josefina - MUKS Zielonka

Since starting this blog I have participated various sports competitions/tournaments so I decided to make a list of them. League is played for months and includes many matches. Tournament takes just few days and includes few matches.

• 2009/2010 Spanish national floorball league
• 2009 Football seven league of The University of Alcalá
• 2010 beach volley tournament
• 2010 sports week tournament of various sports in University of Alcalá
• 2010 football tournament of sports day in University of Eastern Finland
• 2010/2011 floorball league of The University of Eastern Finland
• 2012 ice hockey tournament of the universities in Turkey
• 2013 Floorball league of  The University of Eastern Finland
• 2013 Polish first division floorball league
• 2014/2015 Ekstra liga Poland floorball league
• 2015 Floorball tournament in Lodz
• 2016/2017 Football seven Corporate league in Barcelona

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.