Summer vacation part 1, Dubrovnik, Croatia

My family recently completed a nearly three week tour of Eastern Europe.  We spent the largest percentage of our time in Croatia, which included an entire week in Dubrovnik.  Dubrovnik is sometimes called the pearl of the Adriatic and it features a beautifully preserved city with medieval walls built along the seashore.  We stayed in a wonderful villa just outside the downtown (Lapad district) with my extended family.  Old town Dubrovnik is relatively small and can be explored in one day, however the Southern Dalmatian coast is very scenic and stretches a long distance and can take several days to see. The prices were cheaper than Finland and central Europe, but not as cheap as you might expect considering it is the former Yugoslavia and suffered a major war just over 20 years ago.  During the week in Croatia we relaxed around the pool and beach most of the time, although we did a few day trip excursions to both Mostar in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina and a trip to a few beautiful coastal cities in the small country of Montenegro.  We had a wonderful stay in Dubrovnik and enjoyed several trips to the medieval walled city soaking in the gorgeous seaside views and spending equal time relaxing by both the villa's swimming pool and nearby beach.   Capitalism has hit this area hard since the war tragically rocked the city in the early 90s.  68% of the city was destroyed, but it has been beautifully restored now. Now you can expect fairly expensive cab fares, souvenirs on every corner and vendors ready to sell you a trip to a nearby Island or day excursion to a neighboring country.  However, relatively speaking Croatia is still much cheaper than Finland, but you probably already knew that.  :)   Stay tuned for more blog posts from Eastern Europe.

Finnish honesty

A social experiment in the form of a  "wallet test" was recently performed in several major cities around the world.  The idea was to leave a wallet with cash and credit cards therein within a public place and then see how many wallets were returned versus taken. Helsinki ranked #1 in this test with the return of 11 out of 12 wallets. The worst was Lisbon, Portugal were only one wallet was returned out of 12, and the people who returned it were not even from Portugal.  I find it amazing how high Finland ranked, but after living here for almost 3 years I understand why.

Two separate recent personal incidents at the local swimming hall have helped cement my understanding of the honesty of the Finnish people.  Several months ago I was working out in the swimming hall's gym and was listening to music with somewhat expensive head phones.  Later into the work out, I placed the headphones back in their case, put them in my pocket and continued to work out. Following the work out, I headed back downstairs to use the shower and sauna.  As I was getting dressed I realized the headphones were missing.  I was pretty bummed after scouring the gym and not being able to locate them.  They must have fallen out of my pocket while exercising. I figured someone must have taken them since I was just there 30 minutes ago and they were no where to be found.  Then I thought I would give it one more chance by asking the front desk if maybe someone had returned them.  As soon as I asked the lady, she went back to get them and handed them over to me no questions asked.  So someone not only found them, but promptly returned them to the front desk.  Not sure if that would go over as smooth in the States.

My second incident also occurred at the swimming hall.  This time I was working out in the gym and had a loose car key in my pocket.  I guess I didn't learn how to secure items in my pocket the first time around. :)  Again, I finished my work out and went back downstairs to the gym and sauna.  As I was getting dressed I realized my car key was missing.  How would I get home, what was I going to do?  However, this time I didn't panic, I went calmly upstairs and searched the gym again, but it was not there.  Then I walked back over to the front desk and asked, and yet again, the lady returned the key to me.  So, someone in the gym had found it and promptly returned it to the "lost and found" at the front desk.  I went home later that evening with a smile on my face.

Finns should be really proud of themselves for living in a society which instills these values on it citizens. It makes for a happier society when people can trust their neighbors and officials.  I guess this golden virtue of honesty this might explain why Finns are not the best at Marketing and Sales jobs.  :)

You can read more about the social experiment test here: http://www.rd.com/slideshows/most-honest-cities-lost-wallet-test/#slideshow=slide1.

Easter break in Holland and Belgium

In Finland we are given both Friday and Monday off from work for the Easter holiday weekend. We took advantage of this long weekend and spent our holiday in Holland and Belgium en route from Germany.  We hadn't left Finland for quite some time and wanted to see the famous tulip fields, visit the Anne Frank house and see a number of other interesting cities and sites.  We flew into the Dusseldorf (Germany) airport and rented a car in order to drive directly to Amsterdam.

The nice thing about this part of Europe is that many countries are relatively small and getting from point A to point B doesn't take that long.  I had visited the Anne Frank house 20 years ago and have read the famous diary when I was younger and now my daughter had done the same, so the family was interested to see this famous landmark and piece of history.  We waited in line for one hour and finally entered the home, which includes the clandestine upstairs annex where Anne lived secretly for two years with other members of her family while the Nazis were patrolling around the streets of Amsterdam.  I could only imagine the fear that they felt as they were forced to live like prisoners while hiding just because they were Jewish.  This was a very emotional experience for me and the family. The museum has become much more popular in the last 20 years and now gets roughly 1.3 million visitors per year.  Later we strolled around the famous streets which are surrounded by canals.  Amsterdam is a world famous city known for their architecture as well as their liberal attitudes towards sex and marijuana.  Strolling through some of the seedier sections of the city I could picture in my head how very different things are here than parts of the Bible belt in America.  I am socially liberal, but would say Amsterdam's progressive social values are probably even a bit much for myself.  :)

The next morning was spent in the world famous Keukenhof gardens in Lisse.  This was the highlight of the trip to Holland.  This park is known as the Disneyland of flowers.  It was an amazing sight to see; fields and fields of tulips and other flowers everywhere you looked.  The endless and colorful rows of perfectly planted flowers were a sight to behold and something that I have never seen anywhere else before.  Anyone with a camera could be a professional photographer in this park because all you had to do was point and shoot and the colorful flowers dominated the lens. I hope you enjoy some of the photos we took.

After seeing a bit more of Amsterdam, we headed off toward Bruges, Belgium making a few quick stops along the way.  We first stopped in Rotterdam, Holland where we visited one museum and then strolled along a canal and visited an old windmill which is still being used today as a grain mill.  My daughter and I climbed the steep stairs to the top of the windmill while my wife purchased some pancake mix inside.  Rotterdam is a university town and the second largest city in Holland after Amsterdam.   Rotterdam is also the largest port city in Europe and one of the largest port cities in the entire world.  After that, we headed back on our journey making a final pit stop in Antwerp, Belgium.  Besides being Dutch speaking and a large diamond city, I really didn't know much about this city in Flanders.  Antwerp is actually a very pleasant city with a bustling outdoor European cafe culture.  Here we grabbed some of our Belgian favorite treats, including waffles and frites (Belgian french fries).  Belgium is known for some food specialties which include their famous chocolate, waffles and Belgian style french fries.  

Late in the afternoon we arrived at our destination of  Bruges, Belgium.  Bruges is a wonderfully preserved medieval city and also in the Dutch speaking Flanders part of the country.  The country is actually bi-lingual, with Dutch and French as official languages, though most people also seem to have a good command of English.  I really enjoyed this city when I first visited it as a backpacker 20 years prior.  It is still a very nice city, but I noticed things had changed a bit since my last visit.  Many of the streets were now lined with high class designer retail shops.  Also, the center had a cheesy traveling carnival and there were hordes of people in every direction.  My daughter and I wanted to climb the famous Bell tower in the center and had to wait approximately 45 minutes in line just to get to the entrance.  There was a movie with Colin Farrell called "In Bruges" which came out about 6 years ago and it seems that movie might have pushed Bruges over the top as a prime tourist destination.  I still really like this city, but it seems a shame that it might have lost some of it's personal charm with the massive amounts of people.  Our hotel, which was just a 5 minute walk outside of the old town, was absolutely wonderful.  We had a large quiet room and the hotel also featured a pool which was great for the children.

For our final day on the trip, we would make a few more pit stops on the way to our departure city of Dusseldorf, Germany.  We made a stop in the capital of Belgium, Brussels, for lunch.  Brussels is a large city and also the capital city of the European Community.  The main reason we wanted to visit Brussels was to see the Grand Square which is considered one of the finest in Europe.  It is an impressive square with very picturesque buildings on all sides.  Brussels is also famous for a little statue of a boy peeing, called the Manneken Pis. We found the little statue which had a large crowd gathering around it. I couldn't believe it, all this fuss about this statue and it is so small.  I guess they built up some legend about this little statue and feature it in their tourist information, but really it is just a tiny statue of a boy peeing into a fountain.  Brussels isn't known for having so many touristic areas and we were satisfied just seeing the center.  Our final stop on the way back to the airport was Cologne, Germany where we wanted to see the great Cologne Cathedral.  My daughter and I climbed up the 500+ steps to the top of the tower where we enjoyed some of the views from the top.  The Cologne cathedral is a neat, Gothic style church in which construction started in 1248 and didn't complete till 1880.  It is a massive church and one of the largest in Europe.  

In just 5 days we covered a large area of this region and definitely saw some of  best the highlights of Holland and Dutch speaking Belgium (Flanders).  This is a pretty and cultural area of Europe and definitely worth a visit in the Spring.  I think the highlight of the trip were the amazing tulip fields of Lisse in Holland.  I have never seen anything quite like it before.  Tulip fields, canals, Belgian waffles, fries and some of the finest beer will make your taste buds and other senses work overtime.

Are the high taxes in Finland worth it?

A short film from Finland was recently nominated for an Academy award.  Just the other day I heard on the Finnish news that the Finnish candidates who were nominated and attending the Oscar Gala for best short film would be taxed on their gift (swag) bag that was valued at 60k euros and which all of the candidates received for attending the event. The Finnish tax authorities were quoted in a news article opining that the Finnish candidates would need to pay approximately 20k euros in taxes to the Finnish government!  Hmm.  In case you didn't already know, Finland is not Hollywood.  :)  I highly doubt these short film producers earn much more cash than a typical private sector employee in Finland. However, it is interesting to note how quickly the tax authorities are to jump in and take their "share".  

The real question is whether Finns and foreigners living in Finland get a value for their tax dollars.  I am sure we could debate this back and forth for days.  Finland isn't the highest taxed country in Europe, but it is apparently near the top 5.  It also ranks up with the highest tax rates anywhere in the world.  Finland currently has a corporate tax rate of 20%, a maximum individual marginal tax rate of 53% and VAT (Value added Tax) of 24%.  It is a progressive taxation system, so as your salary increases the tax rate increases as well.  There also seems to be less of a range of incomes, with a larger median as opposed to folks all over the place like in the United States.

The question is a bit more complicated than meets the eye.  There are social services like efficient bus services, free education, including university tuition, disability benefits, health care for everyone, long maternity and paternity leaves and other benefits, etc.  Many people do benefit from the system.

Lets take e.g. health care.  In Finland there is universal health care which means that everyone is covered. There are some fees, e.g. if you need surgery you pay a fee of approximately 30 Euros per each day at the hospital.  The surgery itself was free. Dental care is free for kids and adults up to 23 years of age, including braces and everything else.  After age 23 you pay some fees however they are not very much.  For example, a dental cleaning cost me around 30 Euros, so there is still some subsidies by the government.  In the United States at least until recently most people get their health care from their employer sponsored plans.  Someone out of work with a pre-existing condition may pay an arm and a leg for health care or might be outright rejected from the plan.  There also have been horror stories of those folks falling through the cracks between jobs.  I even had a friend who was between jobs and diagnosed with cancer so he paid for everything from his pocket (i.e. large loans).  This kind of scenario would never happen in Finland because everyone is paying into the system and everyone has coverage.

However, is the public health care system in Finland good considering the high taxes in the country? Some people living in Finland have had negative experiences with the public sector.  They have experienced long waits, talking only to nurses, and some rudeness. On the private side, it seemed that most of the people I spoke to were very happy with the health care they are receiving.  I am also fortunate to receive private health care from my employer.  I do like them (Diacor), but I have to admit it seems a bit odd to me that there are several private health care corporations in a social democracy like Finland.  My thoughts before moving here was that health care was optimal in this system and there really wasn't a need for private sector health care providers.  Interestingly enough, the private and public sectors work together.  If you go to a private doctor and it turns out you need surgery, they will refer you to the public sector.  All babies are delivered in the public sector and so on.  I think the system works perfectly for those diagnosed with serious illness or with pre-existing conditions, however for those looking for care for minor issues the system is not functioning so well.

Another example is the high cost of fuel, food and drinks in Finland.  These are partially related to the 24% (13% on foods) VAT (Value added Tax)    I was a bit shocked after arriving in Finland and noticing the high costs of food, drinks and everything related to automobiles (gas, parts, repair).  It's not like prices are dirt cheap in  US, but in Finland the prices seem just insane.  Do you want to drink a fancy beer with your dinner?  You are going to pay for it.  For example, in the States one Sierra Nevada beer purchased at the grocery store is around $1 per bottle, here in Finland it is around $5 per bottle, so 5 x the cost.  Want to fill up your gas tank on your car, it is about $8.50 per gallon here in Finland.  The proponents of the system will say that the taxes are high on alcohol in order to pay for the social programs cost by alcohol and we shouldn't tax everyone else, just those who drink.  I understand this way of thinking, but why does it have to be so high then?  It is currently the highest alcohol tax in Europe according to a recent study.  Let's take a close look at the fuel taxes.  The fuel argument made by some Europeans is that we are getting much cleaner fuel and trying to get people to take public transportation to help "save" the environment   Is the double price really justified in Finland (and most of Europe) in order to help the environment.  I don't actually think gasoline prices being double in Finland is actually such a bad thing. I think one actual consequence of the high fuel cost is that generally speaking Europeans drive smaller more fuel-efficient cars. The Europeans place a much higher burden on gasoline taxes and "use" that extra cash to clean up the environment and place the extra money into other social services.  For example, Norway is an oil rich country, but they still choose to heavily tax gasoline and use the extra funds for education and other services.   To me it actually makes sense to get more people out of their cars to use the public transportation system and use the extra funds to help with other social services.  I think if some Americans looked at the bigger picture then they might understand the reason for the high taxes, but I seriously doubt the US lobbyists would accept such a large increase in fuel costs.

Other things that taxes in Finland provide for, include education from toddlers to University students.  For example, pre-school cost around few hundred euros per month per child.  Elementary, middle, and high schools are free an provide free hot lunches.  University students also provide free education, aside from approximately 100 Euro annual student union fee.  Moreover, students at higher education schools are also provided with some free allowance each month since their focus is supposed to be  on studying.  Education is free, but is it good? It is quite good indeed according to recent statistics.  Finland has consistently ranked at the top of the world in PISA scores for primary education.  The one negative about higher education is the difficulty in getting admitted the acceptance percentages to many universities are quite low, e.g. someone wanting to become a teacher will need to be in the top 100% of applicants for the 5-year Master's program.

Another field that in most countries is paid for and managed by governments is infrastructure, that is roads, public transportation, etc.  There seems to be quite wide network of trains, buses. etc. and they are typically clean and on time.  It seems like there is always some construction going on in the roads, but generally they are in good shape, snow is plowed timely during the winter, etc. There are also many public sports fields, and areas from ice rinks at most school yards or soccer fields during the winter to many trails, swimming halls, etc. that are also used by Finns often.

Many more topics and comparisons could be covered, but the ultimate question is, does the taxation system really benefit those people who live here in Finland?   The topic could be answered each way.  For me being an American who has moved over here to Finland 2.5 years ago, I have struggled a bit accepting the high taxes.  I wonder if my tax money is really being wisely spent?  Is the health care system optimal enough to justify costs?  Are the social benefits offered here worth it for most folks?  Coming from States I can appreciate the social benefits as I think it overall makes a more trusting and egalitarian system.  It is definitely not a "dog eat dog" world out there and everyone is given a fair chance. However, I also feel like sometimes the taxes are a bit excessive for what I am really getting out of the system.  I think the answer lies in what you value as a person and society.  Are you someone who would rather go about things alone without much government assistance or someone who appreciates social services and is OK paying for them in order to benefit the entire society? I think people in Finland are definitely paying a high premium to live in this society, but then they can sleep at night knowing that they will never have to worry about losing health care coverage and can send their young children to school by themselves because of the overall security and safety of the society here. At the same time we can't build roads and train tracks with private money.  So some things have to be paid by taxes. Is the USA still a good place to live and raise a family?  I am personally fairly neutral on this.  I actually like a little of both systems.  We might not often realize what services and programs we use. It is really a tough issue with no real right or wrong answer and it really comes down to which society you prefer living in.  However, I suggest that one looks more deeply into the question of how taxes affect society as a whole and not just their own personal income.  There are repercussions in a society that has wealth spread too wide and one that has all the wealth in the middle.  Bottom line is that there is no perfect utopia tax heaven.  I think Finland's system works for some and America's system works for some.  What is your opinion?

Would the real bird please stand up? The invasion of the Flappy Bird

So I am going to take a sharp pivot away from my usual expat content this week to talk about a "virus" that has recently invaded people's smart phones.  :)  This new game sensation is called "Flappy Bird" and has just recently taken over the #1 spot for downloads on the iTunes app store.  I just heard about it myself and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

So then I downloaded it for my iPhone from the iTunes app store.  The first thing I noticed right away is that it had more than 50,000,000 (estimated) downloads and supposedly has over 75,000 reviews.  One thing you notice about this game right away is that it is very retro with pixelated graphics and simple game play.  Think Mario Brothers from the mid 80s.  Essentially all you do with the game controls is move the bird up and down by pushing the screen to make the bird fly.  Seems easy, right?  Let me tell you, the controls are about as difficult as I have ever seen on any smart phone game; the bird barely flies and it is nearly impossible to get through the barriers (pipes) that the bird must fly through in order to keep the game going.  The pipes are very close together and there is barely enough space for the bird to fly through.  As soon as the bird hits a pipe, it comes down crashing and the game ends.  There is no "second chance" or "continue from this spot" option.  The game play is extremely annoying to say the least, but I guess there is some addictive nature to it to see if you can beat your previous high score.  The score is based on how many pipes you fly through. There is really nothing else to this game, no bosses, no creatures, nothing else to see on the screen other than pipe after pipe.

I am thinking to myself why is this game so popular all of a sudden?  I did a bit of research and it seems the game was released last May of 2013 and didn't get much attention or downloads at all from the statistics (App Annie).  Then came December 2013/January 2014 and the game downloads spiked dramatically as if the graph line was flying off the charts.  So, maybe then some people just caught on to it and they shared the game with their friends?  Could it be that simple, since the game company claims they didn't do any direct marketing and instead just got lucky?  I was checking the reviews on the iTunes store and it occurred to me that almost every review was written in the same way and/or with the same theme.  All the reviews were very long and talked about how this game is evil but addictive, blah, blah, blah.  Basically saying that they didn't really like the game, but then almost every review was a 4 or 5 star rating.  It definitely smells like something fishy is going on with this game.  A plain retro game with tiny amounts of downloads sits in the store for 7 months, then all of a sudden it rockets to the moon courtesy of thousands of downloads and reviews.  Seems that spam bot reviews were created by automated programs and automated downloads occurred to virtual devices.  I can't prove it, but it seems to be the reality of this little game.  If I was a betting man, I would place my money on this marketing being completely unauthentic.  Fake viral marketing in a nutshell, not organic growth.  This is not the way to promote yourself or your business.  I highly doubt this has any staying power for the longer term.  Videos like "Gangman Style" by PSY and "The Fox (what does the Fox say)" by Ylvis are creatively done and not forced virility.  The same would go for the game sensation from Finland, Angry Birds, which is actually a fun game that can be enjoyed and played by all ages for a long time. The game play on Angry Birds is impeccable in comparison to that silly poseur Flappy Bird.  So, would the real bird please stand up?

Finns and the weather

Snowstorm, pounding rain, sleet, frigid cold temperatures... There is really no such thing as weather that would prevent the Finns from doing what they want to do.  I am not saying that they enjoy the freezing cold days, but that they will always continue on with their outdoor activities no matter what the barometer might read.  There is a definite distinction as to how the weather affects outdoor activities in Finland versus where I came from in the USA.

For example, if one of my children is playing soccer and the games are scheduled to be played, they will never be cancelled based on weather conditions.  The games will go on no matter how cold or rainy the field of play might be (yes, I have been at the side of a soccer field in rain and in 37 F temps as well).  The spectators and players will dress appropriately and just go do it.  In the US there is the fear that a wet and muddy field might lead to someone tripping and getting hurt and perhaps some parent suing the city where the game was played.  In Finland there is no such fear of lawsuit (because the Finnish legal system does not allow punitive damages like US allows) and there is not the same worry about the children falling and getting hurt.  The other difference is that kids are taught to tough it out at earlier ages and living in a harsher climate leaves no other options.  Where we lived e.g with the soccer league there was a "weather hot-line" that we could call several hours before games to confirm if they were cancelled or not. Here, my daughter has played numerous day-long soccer tournaments with continuous rain all day long.  We would sit with our raincoats on and the kids would continue to play unfazed throughout the day.  Since the weather is quite moody and unpredictable in Finland there is no real way to plan around it, one just needs to deal with it.

The other night my son had his school's 100 day celebration scheduled for outside.  The teachers were planning on grilling sausages, drinking warm drinks and doing a scavenger hunts.  Well, it was quite chilly that evening (-15C, +5 F), but the show must go on.  The celebration proceeded as planned and lasted 1.5 hours.  I wore 3 layers under my coat and a hat, but little did I know that it really doesn't matter how one dresses, if you are just standing around in -15, it is still quite difficult to keep warm.  I noticed the other parents, but no one seemed to be as cold as me or being Finns they just keep their pride and didn't show it.

The funny thing about the weather is that while Finns go on in any weather and do not seem to let it interfere with their activities, this does not mean that they would not constantly talk about it. The weather, it seems, is a constant topic throughout the year in Finland.  Seems that not one day goes by when I don't end up chatting with one co-worker or another in regards to the current weather.  Too cold in the summer, too hot in the summer, too rainy, too humid, too icy, too freezing, too dark, too light.  Regardless of the weather, the Finns will talk and most likely complain about it.  There honestly never seems to be a perfect weather scenario for the Finns - but they will go on in any weather regardless.  Since Finland is such a high Northern country, the weather is ever so changing and hard to forecast, so one must deal with the card they were given and stop trying worry about it.  In the past 2 years that I have lived here I guess I have stopped trying to worry about the day to day weather and just accept it for what it is.

Photo credit: Getty images.

Finnish customer service or lack thereof

This is a sensitive topic and there has been much discussion about it by Expats and Finns alike.  Whether it is a casual conversation with one of my co-workers or a chat with my wife, this topic seems to come up somewhat frequently.  Some people believe that "customer service" and "Finland" should not even be used in the same sentence because Finland doesn't have a clue about treating the customer while others might think that everything is fine and there are just some misunderstandings among expats living in Finland.  I am going to try to be neutral here, but based on observations and experiences that I have had while living here for 2.5 years, I would rate Finnish customer service a 3 on a scale of 1-10.  I would estimate that from my experiences I have had a pleasant customer experience approximately 30% of the time.  I guess it could be worse.  :)

I think the big debate here is: Are the Finns just rude and don't appreciate or give good customer service or is it just a cultural thing.  Perhaps they are not really intentionally trying to be rude, but it is a perception of outsiders used to a different level of service that their level comes across as rude.  I personally was shocked in regards to one experience I had after I had just arrived to the country.  I needed to change the car from summer tires to winter tires so I went to a local tire shop in order to do that.  First of all, when I asked the guy behind the desk if he spoke English, he said "no", but then spoke English anyways.  I noticed he said the same thing to every non-Finn who came to the shop looking for tires.  Sure, he might have wanted people to attempt Finnish, but rudely saying "No" to everyone who asked wasn't really a nice move.  Then later it came time to get my car as it came off the platform.  I tried to drive away, but the key did nothing.  Some message then came on the screen which referred to the electronic system.  Everything was fine before coming to the tire shop and now since they changed tires I cannot start my car. I asked for some help, but no one seemed like they cared or had the time to help.  Some guy turned the key a few times and finally after some minutes they just proceeded to push my car out of the garage into the yard without saying a word.  Now I was in the parking lot with a car that doesn't start and not sure how to handle it.  So, then I go talk to the manager who acts surprised but gives no help at all.  Almost like he just wanted the situation to go away.  I called my wife, who then attempted to call the place, however, they simply did not answer the call.  She finally got a manager of the entire chain on the line, who was apologetic but unable to help.  I went back to my car and after monkeying around with the engine for a while and having my wife search for technical solutions online from her office, the car finally started back up.  I took a deep sigh of relief and then raced over to pick up my son at school.  I think even Finns would admit that this was bad customer service.

I have already blogged in the past about numerous stories of frustration that my wife and I have had when dealing with Finnish banks.  I was rejected many times for simple credit cards and we were rejected by banks for loan applications.  Finally a good story to share when a very friendly and accommodating Finn at Danske Bank (formerly Sampo Pankki) helped us get a good rate and loan on our new home.   See my earlier blog article (2012) on "Do Finns trust foreigners" for more about this experience.   Also, in spite of my horror story at the car shop, we were finally able to find a friendly car repair shop in Espoo with a very friendly owner who normally accommodates our needs.  I just have to remember these pleasant situations and understand that there are indeed exceptions to the rule.

Another expat shared a story about how he offered to open the door for an older gentleman and after the man walked through the door and said nothing, my friend said "you're welcome".  The Finnish man then proceeded to say "Well, I never asked you to open the door for me" rudely and walked away.  :)  Hmm, it seems like many Finns just don't want the help, they want to "do it on their own".  Trust me, I know from experience myself that Finns are forever independent and proud and generally shy away from help.  They do not seem to want to owe anything to anyone.  I am still a bit torn over whether to chalk off these experiences and stories as rude and unacceptable behavior or just part of the culture that needs to be accepted when living in someone elses country.  I don't expect things to be just like in the States when living in Finland, but I do think some form of customer service should be practiced by Finns.  Sure, in the US we have much higher level of customer service and many people's livelihoods depend on the cash they receive from tips and such.  Still with that said, one should not feel entitled in their jobs just because they know they will not receive anything extra or lose their job because of it.  So, I actually do think that the Finns could learn a bit about customer service in the States and perhaps change their habits a bit to make their country a better place to live.   Sure, every culture is different and no country is perfect, but I think it is pretty safe to say that if there is something that the Finns can improve on, it is definitely customer service.