First week in Helsinki

I’ve spent my first week in Helsinki.

Most of the time I’ve spent trying to cope with my new professional life – trying to get a grasp of various internal procedures, doing a lot of small-talk (which I really don’t like) and also exploring the neighborhood (mostly Punavuori and Kamppi) I’m living in. At this point there are no real surprises, however, there are some things which I wasn’t kind of expecting:

* An induction stove-top in my kitchen. :) In the result the pan which I bought specially for my move to Helsinki will have to travel back to Riga;

* I was surprised by the prices in the local groceries. You expect me to tell you they’re high. Yes, they’re. But…I was more surprised by the fact that some prices are considerably lower than in Riga. Mostly for imported goods (all Italian and Asian food, coffee, imported exotic fruits) and some dairy products. Local fruits and vegetables are similarly priced to Riga, maybe a bit more expensive. Meats and of course alcohol are the things that are seriously  more expensive. In the result of my move to Helsinki most likely I’ll be a healthier person :)

* The large number of shopping centers. Riga is a similarly sized city, but doesn’t have even a close number of shopping centers. Went to Kamppi Shopping center to buy some shoes. Bought three pairs at the prices that are similar to the ones back in Riga.

* Why does Helsinki have so many carpet shops? I don’t know more than 1 or 2 carpet shops in Riga, but here I have stumbled upon at least a dozen.

* I definitely cannot agree to the statement that Finns are “cold”. Every Finn that I have encountered until now has been very helpful, polite and even proactive.

* My first week at work has been really a struggle. In addition to all the normal things, which are normal in case of a work change, I managed to come ill to Helsinki. In the result, I’ve spent the first week at work in a really bad condition. I hope that the next weeks will be better in this respect.

* I have managed to explore the Hietalahden Kauppahalli. I must say it surprised me somewhat on the downside. I mean, I like all those streetfood stands, and I am especially excited by the chance of buying Sao Jorge cheese from Azores there. Nevertheless, I was hoping there would be a possibility to buy some fresh vegetables, fruits and preferably fish/meat at the market. However, it is not the case. Will have to go and explore the Hakaniemi Market Hall instead.

* This is my first experience working as an expat. In the result, everything is new to me. I still kind of struggle to cope with all the emotions and thoughts running thru my head. During the first week, I felt that it has been very difficult to me to concentrate my thoughts on something. My thoughts are scattered across a whole range of things. In addition, I am struggling with my English. In conversations with my new colleagues, my response times are really slow - I have to think hard how to express my point. It is a surprise to myself - my English skills apparently have worsened notably during the recent years. This will be one of my priorities in the following weeks - to regain some fluency in my speech.

* I encountered a bit funny problem in a grocery store. In the section of fruits and vegetables, the price tags are only in Finnish. In the result, I am not sure if the product code corresponds to the product which is under the price tag. For instance, when buying potatoes I could not really understand which of the codes I should use for weighing purpose as there were three price tags located over potatoes. :) Now however I learned already the main words in Finnish.

* I must say the Finnish language is coming into my head at quite a fast pace. At least the nouns. I do some learning on Memrise, but even more, I learn from the grocery store, movies and the news I try to watch in the mornings on TV. I already start to grasp the context of Finnish speech. However, there are of course those long words consisting of 20 letters which I even struggle to pronounce. :)

Me at Kaivopuisto

Perception of Finland

I’ve been living in close proximity of Finland for all of my life. So what are the things I know about Finland? What are the first thoughts that pass my mind when I think of Finland?

* Firstly, it’s the nature. When I think of Finland I have this picture of wild northern forest in front of my eyes. Pines, lakes, moss, lichen, blueberries, cloudberries, bears… Nature (at least in the southern part of Finland) should be quite similar to the one we have in Latvia. However I’m willing to see also the northern parts.

* Sports. Finland has a number of sportsmen that I know. Finland is home to many great drivers – Ari Vatanen, Kimi Raikkonen, Mika Hakkinen, Keke Rosberg, Tommi Makinen and many more. I also know some javelin throwers, ski jumpers, footballers and of course – ice hockey players.

* I know Finland for its brands – Nokia, Rovio, Iittala, Fiskars and some others.

* Then there is of course the image of highly developed education system. At least here in Latvia, Finnish educational system is kind of a paradigm.

* Language. I know that it’s from a completely different language group than most of European languages. Thus my knowledge of Latvian, English, German, Russian and Italian won’t help me in any way to learn Finnish faster.

* History – I know a bit of Finnish history – mostly about WW2. However I’m a bit confused about the post WW2 period – it looks a bit strange to me that Finland remained semi-pro-soviet for a decent period of time…especially taking into account the outcome of the war. I promise I’ll try to look more deeply into this part of Finnish history.

* As an economist I know about the crisis that hit Finland in the nineties. I know the current state of the economy, the wage agreements etc.  

* I know that Finns are sauna fans. But that’s quite the same here. :)

* Lately a lot of Finns are coming to Latvia to buy some alcohol, which in Latvia because of the excise tax differences is notably cheaper than in Finland and even Estonia.

And that’s almost it. As I wrote in my previous blog – there is nothing much I know about Finland. I’ll try to correct this already prior my arrival to Helsinki. 

Intro

Hi, my name is Igors. My permanent place of residence is Carnikava, a town close to Riga, Latvia. I also have a well-established blog in Latvian language (mostly on my travels); therefore I know how difficult it is to start a new one. You don’t actually have anything to tell the readers. Well, you even don’t have any readers/followers, which makes it all even more difficult.

Me in Helsinki earlier this year

However I’ll still have a try.:)  So why do I have to have another blog? The thing is – after living for 32 years in Latvia, I’ve decided to accept new professional challenges and temporarily move to another country. My occupation and also hobby is economics. For the last 10 years I’ve been working as an economist in state authorities of Latvia. However earlier this year I’ve singed a contract for a job in Helsinki. That’s right – I’m moving to Helsinki as of September.

I still have to finish my work here in Riga, finish some repairs for my house in Carnikava before I move. However already now I start drafting a to-do list for my move. I’m really excited because of the move. 
For the last decade I thought that my next stop will be Frankfurt, Brussels, London or Paris – the places which usually come into mind for economists. However, when an option of Helsinki occurred – I didn’t have to think twice. Beautiful nature of Finland, peaceful living, nice winters – those were the first things on my mind.

This blog will be dedicated to my life in Finland. I’ve checked the internet – there are a number of expat blogs about life in Finland. However they are usually quite similar – mostly the expats move to Finland from much warmer places, which kind of sets the tone for the blog – weather is discussed heavily. J Snow isn’t anything I haven’t seen – I actually love it. So I’ll try to stick to my findings regarding Finnish culture, people, architecture, museums instead.

And yes, I’m going to learn Finnish. I have a strong belief that you have to know at least basics of the language if you’re willing to move to another country. That’s simply a gesture of respect towards the locals. Yes, yes – I know, Finnish isn’t the easiest language. On the bright side – to learn Hungarian would be tougher… I’ve already started to learn some first words + started to read some history of Finland. It’s a bit surprisingly – Finland is a country only 40 minutes away by plane, but there is nothing much I really now about it. J

See you in my next blog posts! (even if nobody is reading this J)