Jenny Puputti / To the Skies

Necklace and earrings

Silver

Like Katrin, terns also love to travel. The Arctic tern’s annual migration is the longest in the animal kingdom. However, the most important thing is family, which can grow safely under the protection of steady wings.

Katrin 

I came to Finland in search of a better place to live, a more equal place, a place where I could be a working Mum and have a career. A place where I have a healthy work-life-balance. A place where my children can grow up in a safe environment and have a good free international education. I had been working for a Finnish company in Germany for 9 years, but I wanted to grow my career. In 2018, I had the wonderful opportunity of test-driving Finland as part of a 6-week-exchange program in my company’s head office in Finland. I had gathered information from my expat colleagues on life in Finland with a family and everybody had given it the thumbs up. I then decided to apply for a suitable position in head office. I was successful in the summer of 2019 and relocated to Finland to start my job in November 2019. In January 2020 my family and two cats also relocated to Helsinki. 

In a way, I had an easy start as I had a job waiting for me. I feel at home here in Finland, I am proud to live in the capital city, I can be myself, I can be true to myself, my beliefs, and I have the freedom to do what I want. I have opportunities to grow as a person, I am not judged, and I am enough. I do not have to have the newest car, the fanciest clothes, the neatest house, but I am accepted. I have learned certain Finnish social norms and abide my them, this is how I integrate. I pay taxes, my children attend local hobby clubs, I did an MBA here in Helsinki. I tap into the Finnish values and adopt them; this is how I fit in. My neighbours greet me with “Moi”, and I have my life here. 

For me equality is mainly about gender. In a nutshell, it should not matter whether you are a woman or a man. For me, equality means that a woman gets the same opportunities as a man, she does not get judged for being a working mum. It should not matter in the slightest which gender you are. Same chances, same salary, same respect. It’s your life, you should have the opportunity to live your dream. A woman should not have feelings of guilt for being a working Mum, she should not have to dress up and wear make-up to be respected, she should not have to prove herself, she should not have to work twice as hard as a man. Being a woman, being herself should be enough. She should be free to make choices, she should not feel pressure from society to behave in a certain way women had been expected to behave 50 years ago. Not even needing to think or worry about equality means true equality to me. Equality, however, also means socioeconomic equality, i.e. hobbies like football should be accessible for all families not only high-income households. Equality of course also encompasses different nationalities. 

I feel very strongly about my right as a woman to be treated equally and it is very important to me. I never really experienced, or rather consciously experienced, inequality until I became a mother back in 2014 whilst living in Germany. It started even while I was pregnant. “How will you manage to work and be a Mum?” It was a terrible experience in Southern Germany where people used to judge me in the daycare because I was a working Mum. Family & friends also commented on that my poor children must be in daycare at age two. When I had to go on business trips, people would ask me: “And what about your children?” Would they have asked a man? This experience has made me feel very sad, angry and has ignited the desire to find a new place to call home. Since moving to Finland, however, I can honestly say that I do not feel discriminated for being a working Mum or a woman.  

Also, as a non-Finn in my workplace I am very fortunate that I get the same opportunities a Finns. In my situation I can say that I feel as an equal here in Finland. I am a woman and I do the same job as a male colleague. I have the same career prospects as a male. I get the same education opportunities as a male. I expect this in a country like Finland, which prides itself on equality. In a work environment, a non-Finn gets treated the same way as a Finn. For me, equality also means that in an international work environment such as the one I am in, all information is shared in both English and Finnish. In terms of socioeconomic equality, Finland sets the bar high. I am happy to see that my children have many more opportunities here in Finland that they would get in Germany. 

Perhaps my outgoing attitude, which is a combination of me having lived in so many different cultures and travelled so much, plus by being German, enables me to be successful in my job and whilst I was doing my MBA here in Finland. I am not shy to speak, I communicate, I talk and interact with people, I am very outgoing. This is where I use me being “different” to my advantage, to open doors and to create opportunities for myself. However, there are also situations where I needed to learn the Finnish way, for example, how to behave in a meeting or in a social setting. I have been very fortunate to have Finnish friends who have opened their culture to me. It can be quite hard for a non-Finn to make Finnish friends. Near impossible almost.   

In my kids’ school, which is an international school, sometimes if communication is only in Finnish this can make life harder. But luckily, we can use Google Translate.  

Shopping can sometimes also be a challenge: standing helplessly in front of the diary fridge not knowing which product is the right one as I can simply not read them. I studied Finnish at A1 level back in 2021 which gets me by and has made my life way easier. 

Sometimes I am still puzzled by certain situations where I am missing the cultural insight, but I am very fortunate to have some Finnish friends who can help me. 

A new government that is not racist? I have to say, I no longer feel welcome here in Finland, despite being highly educated and working in a white-collar job, contributing with taxes to Finnish society. It is evident that foreigners simply are not welcome anymore, the planned roadblocks to citizenship are counterproductive. Which is such a pity and makes me feel sad, angry, and frustrated.  

Less racism, less mistrust towards foreigners, more employment opportunities for foreigners, a more open mind towards other cultures, embracing them rather than fearing them. After all, I came here by choice, I am paying my taxes in Finland. Finns should be more understanding of the challenges foreigners are facing as it is very hard to integrate into society, to make Finnish friends and to find work. Finns should be less judgemental.  

The country itself is set up in an amazing way, education, work-life-balance, freedom, safety, perhaps more empathy towards foreigners/expats would help. But in my opinion, Finland is pretty much as good as it gets. Perhaps a shorter winter, but that is outside our control.  

I am German but I do not have a strong tie with Germany. I have to some extent disassociated myself from Germany as I not only disagree with some of the cultural aspects there, the ways of living, the structure, the education, the mentality, and the attitude people have. I have grown up in a small conservative village in Southern Germany. I left home when I was 19, spent eleven years studying and working in the UK, half a year studying in the Netherlands and then went back to Germany for nine years and now, since 2019, I live in Finland. I would not say that I share the same values as the “typical German”. My husband is English and together we have widely travelled the world and as such experienced many different cultures. Am I a typical German? No and I am happy I am not.     

I like German food (sausages!) and apply my German organisation skills, but for the rest of our everyday lives, we pretty much follow the Finnish schedules and rules. At home we watch English programs, but in the car, I listen to a Finnish-speaking radio station. We try and participate in local celebrations and visit many museums and other cultural places here in Finland. I would say that our outlook is international, and we try and combine the best of all three cultures; German, English and Finnish. It works very well for us. 

I had a ready-made career opportunity waiting for me as it was a company-internal transfer from abroad to Finland, which is quite rare. So luckily, I did not have to worry about employment. 

I am a mother, wife, main breadwinner, cat Mum, inspiration for my children, daughter, sister. I am in a senior white-collar role on a global stage, I am an ambitious, career-minded, professional, I am composed but also passionate, I am a role model. I love travelling, I love exploring new cultures, I love meeting new people. 

I do not feel strong emotional links with Germany. I do have my roots there and have spent my childhood there, but my heart is not there. I do love the mountains where I come from, the food, but my identity has been shaped so much by living in different countries and through my travels. I do not view myself as German, more combining the best of different cultures with a German foundation. Home is where the heart is. I have been fortunate so far to call Germany, England, Wales and now Finland home. 

I guess yes, to some extent I do feel like a Finn. I like blending in. I uphold the Finnish values. I integrate by following some customs and traditions, by trying to behave as is expected of a Finn. I can identify with some Finnish characteristics, but because I do not speak the language fluently, I cannot say that I feel that I am a Finn as such. Not yet. But I can relate to certain elements, which perhaps ignite a secret Finnish part in me, such as valuing my own space, being a little grumpy, keeping myself to myself, being also a bit weird. I am happy here and feel that I have a place in a society where I can truly be myself, live my life and where I am enough.