Looking at your slide about a service encounter in a restaurant... What small talk means for an American may be very different from what it means to a Finn. Most Finns are generally not skilled at small talk, especially if the conversation is not in Finnish. It might be helpful to provide examples of typical small talk topics to give ideas for conversation starters. Finns often appreciate silence, but when they do engage in conversation, they expect it to be deep, meaningful, and engaging rather than a superficial chat where the content may seem insignificant, or responses may go unnoticed. Therefore, a Finn may be surprised if the reaction they receive from an American appears less enthusiastic, interested, or engaged than anticipated. It takes time to understand that this response is not intentional, personal, or rude, but simply the nature of small talk-an exchange of words without any deeper meaning.

You shouldnt spend 10 min telling us what your going to tell us its a waste of my time

A black man in a predominantly white country.

What was missing from the list was that we in Finland like punctuality. That's one thing Americans could take home. If you are not there five minutes before the scheduled appointment, you are already late.

And yes, part of us are shitholes, and finns read allmost every day news about foreigner who rape. And finns are small country who has lived alone forever. So it takes time to get use to foreigns. Mostly stupid of us are even racist, but mostly we say please wellcome!

Nice video 🙂 And nice to have you here!

As a Finn living here but visiting USA regularly, the quality of food here in markets and restaurants should be a talking point. The average level of freshness and tastiness of food here is unattainable in USA even if you pay big bucks.

I first visited for work ... a whirlwind of meetings and escorted drives around. I loved the country so much that I wanted to see more. So I visited again and brought a friend this past August. I will be back again, this time I want to bring along my husband - I've even been house hunting and I have found one but it won't be available when I want to retire🤣 but becoming familiar with the different areas is really my goal. I also hope to return for more work. Though I am Canadian currently living in Scotland I'm sure my needs are different as the arts and sailing are my focus.

I think American tourists still appreciate recommendations even if the activity is already widely promoted. Getting a recommendation from a trusted local helps because sometimes we (Americans) are skeptical of recommendations we see online. It's nice to have that confirmation from someone in your hotel or restaurant

This reminded me about a golf course managers description of an ideal American golf visitor. Tourists have arrived on a cruising ship and are on only a brief visit to Helsinki. Wife has gone shopping and husband is willing to pay good price of a green fee and other services for the opportunity to escape and to play a round of golf. 😊

The title of the video used the word visitor, but the content was about a subsection, tourism - people on short vacations. Though I admit, most points are generally the same also for other kinds of visitors in similar situations. I have had contact almost only with Americans visiting Finland on business trips. Their preference of using their time and sometimes interest can be different from typical tourists. Americans in their work-life don't have much time for slow tourism, visiting places and living there for some time to learn how life really is in different cultures and palaces. Most people aren't so interested either. Some short stereotypical summary is enough and easy enough for most. But some can afford to take their time and experience life. They don't just visit to take a tourists peek of some attractions or something.

I am fairly confident that unless your captain was joking, he wasn't talking about tide. Local variations in water depth are mainly influenced by wind and atmospheric pressure, as well as ice conditions in winter. The effect of the tide is only a few centimeters on the coast of Finland.

I love your videos about Finland but I also love your other, more random videos of things that you just wish to talk about. Just keep u with what you are doing 👍🏼 Thanks!

A coalition government can have the hardness of Prince Rupert's drops (also known as Dutch tears or Batavian tears). And also explode equally spectacularly.

Fairness seems like a simple true fact. Just like the speed of anything in physics. But that is a false illusion in both cases. Fairness seems to depend on the reference frame. Different ideologies, different people in different circumstances looking from different perspectives have different ideas of what is fair. Just like speed depends on the reference frame of the observer. Fairness seems to be actually an emotion we have. It's something we shared with many other animals. I suspect it supports pack animals to be more successful as a pack. It's clearly useful behavior we have. But it can become very confused when applied to complex systems like societies and legislation.

I am not close enough to know what the real situation is, but I assume both sides have justifications for some of their ideas. There seems to be some suspicion that employer organisations are hiding their inactivity in recruiting and insufficient motivation, including salaries, by their member companies failing attract enough international or domestic talent. Talking about special talent and then actually hiring and, paying lower salaries, makes the story strange. It can also be that it's all miscommunication problems since there are so many different categories, which shouldn't really be talked together as one. Accusing immigration rules is an easy distraction and not totally untrue in all cases. Employers and some other groups clearly see those political groups especially behind the True Finns party which try to get limitations to immigration. Some are xenophobic, some nationalistic, some just more worried that too much immigration has already caused trouble and are worried about the future. They have seen the development in Sweden and elsewhere. They are pushing the panic button or are very close to it. Some are also aware of the history of Estonia and know about the challenges with a significant Russian speaking minority who have ties to Russia and are likely to be manipulated by Russian propaganda. There are several smaller ethnic groups in Finland ,which have taken their home countries conflicts and values to Finland, keeping them separate from the general society. What some call multicultural in a positive way, can be seen a fundamentally divided society with many internal tension lines, which can cause destruction.

Coalition governments do have some special stubbornness because they have internally agreed to their program. Opening it could undo the whole coalition and open new government negotiations.

News media often makes minority or extremist voices much louder than what their actual support is. Their comment are provoking therefore good for news business. One needs to try to learn to filter out that megaphone effect that especially commercial media has. Though public news channels and their reporters can also have the same behavior. They also can, and do, misunderstand what they are reporting giving biased or misinformed views.

Interesting stuff! Even though I will never do a shooting like that (I suppose) it is cool to hear what is happening at the set.

You seem to be talking mostly about work based immigrantion. The questions on the studies side are much different. The residence permit application process has become faster for many situations. That should be a positive for immigrants. The three months unemployed rule has been criticized a lot, and with valid justifications for criticism. Language skills and integration questions seem like very important aspects in a process to give citizenship. Even in a case of permanent residency, language skills seem like valid question. Two official languages has been difficult enough. Having English forced as a third, or as a lingua franca, has significant drawbacks.

Loved to hear your thoughts on this. 🤗

"Hostile environment for illegal..." Shouldn't illegality always be considered something to be resited in any country, which has rule of law as a basic foundation for the society? Do you really thinking that Finland doesn't have rule or law, and the current government is trying to make it happen. I assume you just misspoke without meaning it.

Our current government is really bad now. And the new proposal for immigration law is disaster, very short sighted. Many finnish are not agreeing with government decisions and behavior. On the other hand visiting your old home country USA is not same as living there. It’s interesting to hear your thoughts and experiences.

You said you were born in Jamaica, have you considered moving back to your home country?

Its quite amazing that the politicians dont seem to be able to make good immigration policies. Its a shame you feel unwelcomed, because we need and want immigrants like you 😊

Once in Helsinki a bus driver yelled at me because he thought I wasn’t going to pay. It felt shitty. I had luggages and a violin and I needed to put my stuff away first till I could open the app and pay. I’m blonde finnish woman. Some drivers are rude and idiots and some are nice people and good at their job. I think rudest bus drivers are in Helsinkiin my experience.

And from now on I probably can't see a commercial without trying to spot you.😊

I think that your neighbour is just a control freak asshole. I've had the same treatment in my apartment when i asked if i could use our community room to hold a party. She wanted to have everybodys names and all that useless shit before we got the thumbs up for the room. Some people are like that.

I would prefer to stay away from occupations where shooting is involved, and shooting of commericals belongs to that category. But since Finnish language isn't as murderously aggressive as English, not even in advertising, mainosvideon teko tai kuvaaminen ei vaikuta niin pahalta.😅

This was very interesting. 👍

What a lovely video.. wonderful to see places slightly off the tourist routes. May have to revisit this video before my next visit!

Do what you feel moved to do. If not now..when? Please yourself, like minded folk will find you. Thanks for being here!

As a Canadian...the winter doesn't scare me much and I now compare the euro to the pound (I live in Scotland) so it comes out in my favour. The housing prices are so low! -again you would be lucky to find anything below 250,000£ that was habitable. Snow in April was a regular thing in eastern Ontario. I was in Finland May 1st(!) for a week this year...and lucked out completely on the weather. Jobs - that's the sticking point for me... I would want to work at least part time even if just as a consultant. Thank you for your insights!

I really liked this video and that you showed places that are less touristy. Thank you!

You omitted my childhood home town, Hanko .😢 Hanko (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈhɑŋko]; Swedish: Hangö)

I have a confession to make. I have never visited Fiskars.😮

If you don't mind me asking - on what visa/permit are you in Finland considering that you are retired; I am a few years behind you, but I'd like to retire in Finland. So you need to contribute toward the social security to be eligible for state sponspord healthcare? Thanks!

Excerpt from Betterhelp: How to spot traits of a person with antisocial personality disorder Spotting high-functioning antisocial personality disorder traits (or in the correct clinical nomenclature, the traits of people with high-functioning ASPD may help you recognize if you are being affected by their behavior and know when to seek help. Many people with ASPD get high scores on IQ tests. They can have excellent interpersonal skills, and their magnetic personality traits often naturally draw others to them. People with high-functioning ASPD can be calculating and may show extreme patience when trying to lay the foundation necessary to work a situation for their benefit. A person with ASPD may hold a job, be married, and have children. They may also be actively engaged in cognitive behavioral therapy, possibly to help with their ASPD or to treat co-occurring conditions. CBT has been shown to be an effective treatment for some personality disorders, though research is still being conducted on its effectiveness with ASPD. People experiencing ASPD can be successful in life, and their lack of conscience might give them an advantage in some business situations.

The student loan burden is a question tied to the nature of the financing of higher education in the U.S. The need to forgive loans suggests there is something wrong in the system. It's clear that the higher education institutions in the U.S. operate under different principles than in Europe or the EU. Not totally different, but different in significant ways. I would say that in the U.S. the system is partly intended to support the hierarchy or class society. Of course there are stipend systems intended for the opposite effect, but those too seem to have their own problems. I am not close to these discussions or problems so I don't know much. But I hear random comments, and concerns. The Academics have become politicized in the U.S. and not only in Humanities. There seems to be internal power struggles between the major political movements. Just like the rest of the society.

When winning is the only thing which really matters, there is no point of expecting any true moral values or truthfulness. They are denying, not registering as you said, because it's not benefiting them. Lying is just being smart for them. Business is a code word for them: taking action using privilege, unrestricted right to exploit others. What is amazing is that republican policies are often harmful for their less privileged supporters, who don't understand that they are not in the same boat with their privileged leaders and big sponsors. That too seems to be common in so-called populist movements. Brexit supporters in the UK come to mind.

I think I was warned about the Bible belt, religious groups etc about 40 years ago. I remember driving around in CA and seeing advertising about fortune tellers etc. That sublayer or aspect of the society was never hidden out of sight. Some versions of this irrationality were more "respectable" than others but equally or probably even more dangerous because of it. But I admit Trump has been a successful charlatan and managed to gather many of them behind his cult movement. He is not alone. Many factors have helped in the process and not all of them are having an effect only in the U.S. Other parts of the world have something similar. This is not unique in history either. Authoritarianism combined with cults is a repeating phenomenon.

Apt building storage spaces and bike storages are broken into all the time here it's almost an epidemic in Helsinki, that's the reason why ur neighbor was iffy about it. If your name was on the board there would have been 0 problem. With the bus drivers just flash ur phone quick (at least in Helsinki there is an app for tickets) and say morjes fast, that job overall is pretty stressful.

Long before the Trump and MAGA movement I was attending a big internal sales conference of an American IT company. The CEO gave a talk and mentioned that life is a game where the winner is the one who has the most money in the end. So it's a kind of lifelong struggle where you fight against others to collect resources. It was perhaps intended as a joke, but it definitely also was along the lines of how he and the company were internally operating. Republican rhetoric without much respect for the society or others well-being. Then there was patriotism and other sugarcoating, but only in the forms where it benefited the core motivation. There were activities like employees having free from work to go to local schools to build Ethernet networks. That seemed to be the level of being a good corporate citizen of California or the local school district. Later that CEO has been a Trump supporter.

Learning some basic Finnish could go a long ways.

The Finns have trust issues, get used to it.😊

The two parties are mostly a political theather and they both ultimately serve the ultimate kings: money and power. Mainstream media is captured to serve this purpose. Never has war been so close to Finland and although we like to think its all because of Russia, we should wake up and realise Nato is not for peace. They serve military industrial complex. Otherwise the ukraine war would have never blown to this proportion. Trump has said he can stop the war if he is selected. I hope he would. But im pretty sure yet another war will start somewhere else. Because those tanks and missiles dont sell themselves. Edit: never has war been so close...i mean not since ww2.

Finland is the best place to be, and I hope the US is not creating a nordic version of Ukraine.

Life satisfaction is all that really matters

Yeah, as a Finn, I don't think Finnish is a particularly difficult language, it's just different. If Finnish were a difficult language to learn, in that case it should be significantly easier for Finns to learn English than for English speakers to learn Finnish. I mean that I have studied English for 10-12 years, depending on the method of calculation, and as a result I know English enough that I can watch KZbin videos in English without any major problems, but having a fluent conversation with someone who speaks English is a completely different matter.

Nice video, I enjoyed seeing your journey.