When I arrived in Finland two weeks ago and try to check the local information for the nearest kiosk or convenience store, I was surprised with the long words that they came up with food, directions, etc. So for some cultural Dimension ala Finnish Style, here are some of my favorites that I cannot even pronounce up until now. The reason for it is that, it is just too long to say and difficult to pronounce. Here are some examples for it..
1. BREAD in English, Tinapay in Tagalog, RUISPLAT in Finnish..O dba, unkabogable ang pangalan ng tinapay nila?:)
2. Milk in English, Gatas in Tagalog, and TUKKUTORI in Finnish.. Seriously? it has to be this long?
3.Honey in English,Pulot-pukyutan in tagalog, and Kultakenno in Finnish.
(O dba, lumevel up lang ng konte ang tagalog knowledge ko?)
4.Donut in English ; Donut parin in tagaog; pero Munki in Finnish
(How did that Happen??? Ang Donut naging MONKEY?:)
5. Butter in English; Mantikilya in Tagalog ; and Oivariini in Finnish.
Food Dimension is truly one of kind if one is going to compare it in three different cultures..But whatever the name would be, Its still food at the end of the day and it makes people HAPPY
Happy Eating!
May 1st is just a typical national holiday back home where most Filipinos either stay home , spend this day traveling ,visiting the nearby beach or for some of my beloved countrymen, Rally on the streets to lobby higher wages,etc.
But to my surprise, this is one of the most celebrated national holiday here in Finland.
As we are preparing to work on May 1st ( oo, kahit May 1 may trabaho ako) but nevertheless, we were told that if we want to see the real Finnish party, then we have to leave our office and go to the main market to see the real action.
On a normal day here in Finland, it is normally quiet wherever you go and Finnish people in general are very shy (tipong mahiyaan a.k.a Maria Clara ng Pilipinas) but this day is different, I have seen a different scenario here in Finland all of a sudden because almost everyone has a bottle or can of beer in their hands, are in construction pants full of patches or messages, black and white Sailor hats, laughing here and there, and are just chilling out and enjoying the warm weather.
This has truly been an eye opener to me when it comes to Finnish May Day celebration! It’s fun, very exciting, and not your typical Finnish culture.
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Sweden’s capital is one of the most beautiful major cities in the world, a mirage of saffron- and terracotta-coloured buildings shimmering between blue water and bluer skies all summer, or covered with snow and dotted with lights in winter. It’s also a vibrant, modern city, famous for producing sleek designs, edgy fashion and world-class nightclubs.
Surrounding all of this is every Stockholmer’s pride and joy - the 24, 000 or so rocky islands that make up the archipelago (skärgård).
Stockholmers themselves are almost uniformly polite and friendly, making travel both easy and rewarding. Around 16% of greater Stockholm’s 1.2 million people are immigrants, which creates a much more multicultural and diverse cityscape than many travellers might expect. It’s certainly not all meatballs, ABBA and Ikea these days!
1,2,3
Starting from my first Nordic Country experience: Denmark, to the controversial Norway, I am finally in my third Scandinavian country—SWEDEN!!
I have been looking forward to this Country, most especially to this city—STOCKHOLM!
Other than the interesting places, facts, and history of this country…What really excites me the most is to see first hand what this city has to offer. I have been fascinated with how our Swedes in our group dresses up and the stories that they share about their culture and their food.
By the time we got here from Oslo, Norway which is around 5 hour bus ride, we were welcome with the wonderful architecture, buildings, and bridges of this city. Stores H&M’s and IKEA are almost in every street corner. (Well its like Jollibee in the Philippines ang peg ng mga to). If you see H&M in the area, except that by the time you turn your head either in a different direction or just straight ahead, expect that there is IKEA and stalls for Swedish Meatballs.
I also noticed from my short stay in this city that there are a lot of immigrants (like obviously and clearly, you can see it from the color of their skin and from their physical feature in general. Im really glad that Stockholm embraces this kind of progress socially-Multiculturalism!
Images from:Lonely Planet
If there is something that I really admire with the countries that I have visited so far, that is their social system, health care, and their national policy of welcoming immigrants from all over the world.
Instead of an expected one week of stay in Stockholm, I was asked to go to Finland to do some support to our Seinajoki team. My stay in this beautiful city may have been shortened from what I expected but nevertheless, I am still happy that I was able to see this amazing city.
- Oscar Lopez
Best JOB in the world is to become a Mom.
To my Mom, Thank you so much for everything that you do!
