as much as I love this country, it also drives me insane. the people do, they always have. from a pretty early age I have always struggled against these you must and you must not’s. there’s a huge list of rules in this country. some of them are written and there’s a long list of officials governing these rules and enforcing them. often they are also left for each petty officials personal interpretation and often you might get completely different denials based on that personal interpretation. but most often than not, what you get is denials. and you apply and re-apply. but everyone, in any role, job or position wants to be as petty and nit picky as possible.

it’s in the foundation of this culture. there must be rules. and if there aren’t, surely, what ever you are about to do is forbidden somewhere or somehow. after all…. there are rules. the people here, even the most lenient of the rule followers are very stuck in their mold. everything here, in the daily life, reflects the insane amount of obedience towards some kind of a rule. there’s a constant assumption that there must be a rule against it. ans there’s a constant worry about breaking those rules.

spending a month here gets me so exhausted over the worry and rule following. I find it extremely tiring. I don’t bother to worry about such things, I never much have. even if they are not rules of the bureaucracy they are following, it’s some unspoken cultural law that is in effect. like you can’t put grandma’s doilies onto a rustic table cause they don’t fit the design style. by who’s rules? Finnish people are so stuck in a square box and they are too scared to even sniff into a different direction. in fact, they have a hard time to think outside of the box because they have been hammered with these rules and being afraid of breaking some kind of a rule.

me. coming from the united states have a hard time watching all this. I mean, who cares? why be so concerned with what some stranger thinks of you? like being afraid of talking cause someone might understand. why should we care if someone over hears our conversation?

I wish they could see sometimes how truly silly their rules are.