(M) ilyenek a Finnek

Between my trips to India and Malaysia, I unexpectedly discovered Finland and it seems indeed to be a very nice country..:) This cultural experience did not involve any travel as it was at at the Museum of Ethnography just a few blocks from my place. The exhibition introduced Finland and the Finns from an Hungarian perspective.
Very interesting!!

The exhibition was entitled (M) ilyenek a Finnek" which means "How are the Finns / the Finns are like this"


Relatives but apparently quite different
Hungarians and Finns are told to be relatives, but even if the languages may sound similar they can not understand each other, for example apparently only 300 words have similar origin. And I don't think the cultures have much in common, I mean not more than other European cultures. Or, they are both in the world top-15 statistics when it come to suicide but that doesn't say much.. The mentality seems to be very different in the two countries which was clearly shown by the fact that 2 walls at the exhibition were showing the use of reflexes in Finland.. apparently it is such a crazy thought here...:)


The Finnish culture through different eyes
The exhibition was very interesting in itself, but it was even more interesting as I went there with Ugandan and Hungarian friends.

For me, everything felt so familiar, and I have never been to Finland. It became clear how much the Swedish and Finnish culture have in common. It was also nice that some text was written in both Swedish and Finnish so I could even read without problem. For my Hungarian friend I guess it was interesting as the two cultures were compared and I'm quite sure that my friend from Uganda thought that all cultures in Europe are kind of the same finally. I mean a Mumin troll could theoretically be a Hungarian or a Finnish creation, same with the sauna or any other "typical things". And I guess I was the only one among us who clearly heard the Finnish/Swedish voice of Tove Jansson telling the story about Muminmamman, Muminpappan, Filifjonk och Lilla My when I saw them at the exhibition

I felt like at home when I saw Mumin mamma in Budapest

The use of reflexes is actually such a good idea, so I'll bring back one when I go home for Christmas. I even learnt that it's mandatory by law to wear one in Finland.

happy people wear reflexes or reflexes make people happy??

So what was presented to the Hungarians...??
It was very interesting to see what and how they presented the Finnish culture, it really did feel like they presented my culture. This is for sure not because of my Finnish origin but the common features of Scandinavian countries.

• Beautiful pictures of the nature and red wood houses
• A reconstruction of a sauna
• Mumin troll
• People with reflexes in the darkness
• Marimekko
• Mika Häkkinen and other sport stars mainly skiers
  
• Arabia porcelain
• blueberry picking tool (reminded me of Vastervik and childhood)
  
• information about the country
• and many other things...

Marimekko design

Life without mobile phone.

I'm without mobile phone since a few weeks as mine decided to stay in India. Sometimes I thought of stop using mobile phone, so from that perspective it was good to loose it; to test to be without and see the consequences.

For sure there are some positive and some negative aspects not having a mobile phone. We got so use to that everyone has one, I realised that many people almost think you are a freak not having one.

What is more tricky being without

• people is contacting you less as they think it is not possible without mobile
• more difficult to make spontaneous plans
• easily remain in contact and update friends and family (emotional or practical issues)
• society is expecting you to have one, so some services are only available for those with mobile
• even a simple mobile phone offers practical services such as alarm clock and calculator

The good things being without

• you feel more free
• plans can not be changed in last minute
• you do not send messages you regret later :)
• some people forget the company they are with because they are too busy with their phones
• loudly talking in mobile phone is disturbing for other people
• you don't risk to loose it or have to remember to charge it
• you don't think there was an accident just because you have no news
  
• there is absolutely no risk for sms loans and other similar services (I'm not really concerned but still it's a good point)
  
• probably more that I cannot think of right now..:)
  

Everybody has one...
One of the most interesting thing being without is that you realise that the society expects you to have one. In addition to all people asking for mobile number, there are also situations when you must have one. For example, at the airport in Delhi, I couldn't connect to the wireless internet which was even free of charge. reason; I needed a code to be sent to my mobile to connect. I also remember one time in Stockholm when it got really complicated to buy a bus ticket. The new system with less cash makes it really easy for people with to buy a ticket, but really difficult for those without mobile phone (as a side note, finally I found a place to buy my ticket in an old traditional way)

The mobile phone also contains lots of information. I was lucky as mine was an old one, so no photos and other data stored. I can imagine that for people with really hightech phones it is more painful to loose it.

But I did loose all the phone numbers. And I know that I'm suppose to have written them somewhere else, but of course I have not. :( Anyway, most numbers I will find again and the others maybe I don't need. There will be people that I will only meet if we run into each other by chance. But I also got the feeling that maybe it was good to loose the numbers, and some old sms, something like a detox but this is a feeling I have to explore better myself before I can explain it properly.

Even if I do find many good aspects of being without mobile phone, I think I will buy another one soon, and instead turn it off once in a while. To connect with friends and family is so important and a small sms or call can mean so much!

Of course I cannot add a photo this time. I never thougth of taking a photo of my phone and now it's gone..

I guess everything is relative

Last week coming back from Delhi, I took a taxi from the airport as I had quite heavy luggage. It was 5 PM and rush hour in Budapest. Normally the traffic in Budapest is bothering me a lot and I always wish for regulations of using cars in the city. This day something was strange and different, I felt like I was the last human on earth or something, it was so quiet and peaceful with almost no cars on the street.

I'm happy not to drive in Delhi...
Traffic in Delhi is something unbelievable with more and more cars every time (according to Indian Times there are around 2 million vehicles only in Delhi) - traffic jam, beeping and a very interesting driving logic :)


There are cars, auto-rickshaws, bikes and people everywhere. It happen to us more than once to drive with a normal car on the pedestrian road and we were not the only ones doing it. Everyone is beeping all the time but it's a friendly way of beeping, more like "beep beep", not aggressively "beeeeeep" like in many other countries, but still it does make a lots of noise. And of course, pollution is really heavy - air is full of smog and even if you see that the sky is all gray, you realise to what point it's bad only when you get out of there.

Traffic jam - an exercise in patience
Let's hope that the new metro will be ready soon and help up the situation... And anyway, once you are in the traffic jam, there is no need to get upset or worried, but just to relax and accept that you will be late - a good exercise in patience. And maybe people living there are so use to the pollution and all the noise and then waiting in a traffic jam is finally a good occasion to have a nap... :)

I guess everything is relative..
So coming back from India, I was hit by the silence in Budapest, while just 2 months ago I came back from a 2 weeks trip to Sweden, and I had bad head ace for a few days due to pollution and the noise of the city with cars, sirens, and people shouting made me really tired.

During the few days I was in Budapest before leaving again, I didn't completely get use to the silence - so I enjoyed it a lot, what a nice feeling it is to have a rest for the ears even in a big city.

Also here in Miri, it seems calm, no street noise is reaching my hotel room at the 10th floor... me and my ears are so far having a rest :)

Vera's cake - a serbian pleasure

India was a great source of inspiration, and I also got some nice ideas for blogging that I hope to share here little by little later on. But first, as not all of you are lucky enough to have dinner with Vera once in a while, I want to share a recipe of a very delicious cake so that you can also try it. I'm positive you will also love it!

Yesterday I went to an African dinner with specialties from Uganda. It was a very nice evening, and in addition to the great pleasure of meeting friends again, I also discovered how tasty a mix of peanuts, cabbage and tomatoes can be, and I finally learnt to make the famous Serbian Vera-cake.

The cake is just amazing, so I will share the receipt here. All credits to Vera, a real expert in preparing this cake and who also composed the detailed description below on how to make it.

the famous Vera-cake

Vera's Cake!
2 cups of flour mix with 1 BIG spoon of soda bikarbona (NaHCO3;) and 3 BIG spoons of cacao.
add 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of sunflower oil and 2 cups of yogurt.
mix with wooden spoon, put in baking pan which is covered by oil and a bit of flour.
bake ~30 min on 200C, carefully! it should be soft, and separate from walls of pan.

mmmm CREAM
cook 10 BIG spoons of sugar and 10 BIG spoons of water till boiling.
move the pot from fire.
add 125 g of margarine,
when it is melted put 100 g of dark cooking chocolate and 150 g of coconuts.

hot CREAM should go over HOT cake!

cool it, cut and share with family and friends :D

Cultural adjustment
This cake was the last dessert I had before leaving and the first one when I came back, so even if it is not exactly in line with the suger-free diet that I'm doing, maybe it can be justified as cultural-adjustment assistance or jet-lag cure. This explanation is also quite convenient as I will be traveling a bit more in the near future, I may need such adjustment support :) And as I feel all fine, I make the conclusion that it did work well so far..:)