The Chinese society is highly competitive and consumerist, with a focus on making more money and spending it on clothes and apartments. I find it hard to feel spiritually reinvigorated or emotionally uplifted despite the abundance of things around me. The party apparatus’s slogans are often written with a high note and majority of the people don’t ponder them deeply. There are beautiful places such as West Lake, but also chaos and insecurity in people’s lives. The direction or mission in life is missing. China is like a huge company with effective operations and organization, but it doesn’t ask what is the deeper reason and meaning why we are here?
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Day #80 – time flies in Salt Lake City!
Time flies! How fas everything has gone! Ny ambitious goals of writing every day was not possible to keep up – neither every week, or even every month! 😁 truth to be told, we got taken into so many things, personally, professionally – and we got Laki being born, our little boy, earlier than expected…
Day #29, Mexico City, the vibrant capital of colonial “New Spain”
Interesting viewpoint to the super significant capital of old Spanish empire, which changed the Americas during its 300 year rule. The legacy of the past is still visible here – and not just Mexico but in the North too, from Monterey to Texas, California and Utah. To exaggerate a little, the food, the people –…
Day #27 Three great men from Houston: S. Houston, LBJ, George H.W. Bush
While walking around in Texas, Houston, I pondered about this incredible city’s legacy and the people it has cultivated and fostered. By no means simple and easy ones – controversial American leaders, who all had a strong Houston flavor in their life and work. I got personally crossed with them while walking the streets of…
Day #25; American Dream is for all – Indians, Chinese, Africans, Europeans and Latinos
One thing that I’ve been puzzled about here in the USA is its variety. There are not only the so called “Americans” that we have seen in our Hollywood movies and the icons that we know in the media – the pop singers, the actors, the political leaders and so on. We have heard about…
#Days 15-16, San Francisco’s glorious past may feel like highlighting the degeneration of America
What an interesting couple of day session in San Francisco! It’s really a place full of history, stories, all kind of interesting people, places… It’s a curious island, and crossroads of American and indeed Western cultural history. It’s an interesting combination of culture, creativity, thinking out of the box – and indeed technological innovation. It’s…
Day #14, From Salt Lake City airport to San Francisco Bay Area
#Day 14 (Tue, Jan 24). “If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair…” 🙂 Great to come to visit California again – this time the more northern or middle part of it, San Francisco and the Bay Area. “If you’re going, to San Francisco….” I didn’t wear flowers, but…
Days #9, #10, #11; Wal-Mart, NBA and Music concert showed us another side of Utah
I’d like to summarize the past 3 days in a one post, it has been eye-opening, exciting, and very enriching to spend time here. We’ve kept being much together and have had many interesting and new experiences. I’d highlight some of the top events and activities in to the following three: ⁃ Wal-Mart visit ⁃…
Day #8 American politics and Capitol Hill in action
Today was a very interesting and meaningful day – in an unexpected way. We took an Uber with Aurora and Lumi to the very center of Salt Lake City, at Capitol Hill. To my surprise, this huge – over a century old – Building, was NOT restricted. Anybody could just walk in! And to my…
Enter America! Here we go!
I’ll be blogging about the USA and my trip in the “promised land” for the next 100 days! I’ll write a post every day for 15 minutes, and try to summarize a few of main points from the day, feelings and experiences. #Day1 – ENTERING THE USA (Jan 11, 2023). This was a cool day….
Miten luoda tilannekuva Kiinan talouteen 2022? Keskustele Kiinassa olevien suomalaisten kanssa – ja kuuntele tämä Nordean podcast!
Olipa mielenkiintoinen makrokatsaus Kiinan talouteen. Erittäin kiinnostava keskustelu Nordean asiantuntijoiden välillä. Vahva suositus hyvän yleiskuvan saamiseksi. Vaikka keskustelijat eivät ole täällä paikan päällä ovat pystyneet luomaan Kiinan ulkopuolelta erittäin uskottavan tilannekuvan seuraamalla tarkasti lukuisia Kiinan talouden indikaattoreita reguloinnista, kotitalouksien asuntolainaprosesseihin, sosiaaliturvasta ruoantuotantoon, työttömyysluvuista omikronin vaikutuksiin ja puolueen uusimpiin linjauksiin. Erittäin mielenkiintoisia näkökulmia ja yhdessä paikan…
Se on Biden! Tai Trump…
Yhdysvaltain presidentinvaalissa voi käydä ihan miten vain. Vedonvälitystoimistot arvioivat Bidenin voittomahdollisuuksiksi n. 60-65% ja Trumpin 35-40%. Osavaltiot kuten Florida, Pohjois-Carolina, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Arizona ja pohjoisen Wisconsin-Michigan todennäköisesti ratkaisevat vaalit. Kiinalaiset ehkä maltillisesti ovat kallistuneet Bidenin suuntaan, mutta osa ei ole pahoillaan vaikka Trump voittaisi. Tärkeintä, että Kiinan ja USA:n yhteistyö kehittyisi hyvään ja rakentavaan suuntaan…