It is argued that the Finns who live in Northern Europe are enjoying the best phase of the winter. The Belgians are welcoming the spring.

Having many times been a witness, I can assure you that if one can experience the real winter, now´s the time. For example, in some part of Finland, the snow is wonderfully covers the ground and decorates the trees.

“It´s time for skiing and walking with a dog on the icy lakes. If you are lucky enough, you are able to do both in the warming sun that doesn´t, however, melt the snow yet.”

Guess what – the snow-depth is over 1 metre in Eastern Finland meaning particularl difficulties for the homeowners. It´s a pretty heavy load for roofs.

Therefore, one can see workers shovelling the snow off. Otherwise, it could easily break up your home if you don´t remove and eliminate it.

As always, my former home village Suomussalmi in Eastern Finland has been conquerred by the snow. Our former dog Jakke Jäyhä (translated as a comic series Peanut´s Joe Cool) would not be happy what´s going on. The snow drift is blocking his view. As a defender you must have a clear view.

Meanwhile, Brussels is welcoming Ms. Spring. Literally speaking, we are living in the other reality.

The birds are building their nests. All fields are turning green and some of the flowers are showing their best in our terraces and gardens.

It´s said that the spring is springing. Unfortunately, the spring is causing annoying symptoms to persons with allergies. The consumption of allergic medicine has dramatically reached its the highest level, at least at our apartment.

Although, the rain still falls frequently making patterns the outer surfaces of the windows with beautiful drops, the shades of green make me feeling better – mentally.

In my opinion one of the strange side´ of the culture in Belgium is how to use your shoes. I mean, do you wear or take off when you are indoors.

When you invite a Belgian to a dinner at your house, they don´t take their shoes off. During the dinner you´ll see them wearing their shoes despite the fact that you aren´t doing so.

For the Scandinavian culture this is more or less shocking. We always leave our shoes in the hall when returning from outdoors. In general, the majority of Finns is used to using woollen shocks instead of indoor shoes.

I think this habit of ours is a natural consequence of practical reasons. Especially during winter there is lots of snow inf Finland. It melts when coming back from skiing for example. You always carry some snow with you. This could lead to problems with the floor, we reason.

Therefore, I very often politely ask visitors to respect our habits while putting their jackets onto the coat rack.

However, I don´t mind when somebody is walking with their shoes in our apartment although as a cleaner I am suffering pain and terrified. It´s their culture.

Being polite I avoid conflicts with my friends. I do not dare to express my true feelings. Later, I´ll clean up the floor if it is dirty. I have to admit that I haven´t had problems with dirtiness.

It´s obvious that compared with Finns the Belgians are different.

I read an article about Japanese culture. I have understood that the Japaneses are like Finns. They don´t wear normal outdoor shoes inside of their apartments.

In that perspective I could like Japaneses if I ever met somebody yet. We seem to be soul-mates when it comes to wearing shoes.

I’m writing this article at the Central station in Brussels. Just one minute ago I noticed how my train has been postponed due to problems with the locomotive. The snow and frost has changed the rules of public transport forcing trains in their shelters.

In addition to public transport, the car drivers seem to be in trouble. By using summer tyres they are coping with icy and slippery roads which are not cleared.

The Belgians do not seem to be a qualified drivers in winter. Yesterday I saw one of them didn’t slow down his speed when approaching a crossroads. The car was uncontrollable when the driver used the brakes. Luckily, nothing serious happened. This kind of reckless driving could have caused bad injuries to pedestrians too.

Sometimes I think of shouting at those who are not respecting the changed weather and who are driving like crazies along the streets.

The police should control more speeding on the roads and take away drivers´ licences. Or just fine them heavily if they are doing something illegal.

I was one of those 4000 Finns that are living here in Brussels. I felt this my duty to activate in this interesting elections. It is said that this time local elections are national in scope. Maybe the financial crisis is drawing people to polling stations.

I casted a vote to a candidate, who I believe to make a difference. I hope that she will get through being a decision-maker in the city of Helsinki. There is a lot of do, when it comes to health and elderly care, funding proper education and giving aid for the economically disadvantaged persons.

Celebrating crayfish in good company during the heart of the autumn belongs to the Swedish tradition as fish and chips to the British culture.

“According to the principles of a Crayfish party, it is obligatory to sing, laugh and talk a lot during this evening.”

In general, the party gives the opportunity for families and friends to come together, eat delicious crayfish and have fun.

According to the principles of a Crayfish party, it is obligatory to sing, laugh and talk a lot during this evening.

Our new friends, a Swedish couple Peter and Therése, had organized this party at their home in Waterloo. Many of their colleagues and friends had gathered on their terrace.

Although, the special lamps and tablecloths (these are essentials to Crayfish parties) weren´t used, the atmosphere and the other facilities were fantastic.

There were a lot of salty, pre-cooked crayfish, several bottles of wine and schnapps (Swedish-made alcohol similar to vodka). Naturally, we sang traditional Swedish songs while eating those small, ugly-looking freshwater lobsters. The drinks and meal complemented each other perfectly.

It was a nice experience to enjoy life with our new Swedish friends. They all seemed to have a positive outlook on life.

Being an expatriate in Belgium, sometimes means participating in interesting events that lingers long in the memory of a newcomer.

This was some sort of event.

I sent an application to a company. Yesterday I got a response to my mail. “Dear Ms Haverinen, Thank you for your interest in our company.”

What do I say to this? I am using a signature in my mails (at the bottom of mail).

Although, they (Belgians) are transforming into a woman and changing my name (Antte Haverenen), I am a man and my REAL name is Antti Haverinen.

This challenge makes me mad. I would want to be for example de Gaulle or something similar. Everybody knows that!

The problem why I am always misunderstood based on the fact of H-letter in French. When it is the first letter of name, it is not supposed to pronounce at all. Like hotel is “otel”, so my surname is “averinen”.

Yesterday I made a call to some interesting recruiting firm here in Brussels. The call started badly. “I’m sorry, what is your name. Could you repeat to me again?”, a French-speaking lady said.

I explained and spelled that for her trying to give a good impression. I think  I wasn’t so good at this time, although I consider myself as a master of spelling.

Actually, my name is quite simple one to explain. The real challenge is to say my email-address.

Naturally, I have my own domain and my email is antti@anttihaverinen.net. Guess, how many times I have tried to simplify my explanation on the phone.

The standard procedure of recycling goes almost in same way than in Finland. Firstly, you need to separate out recyclables (plastic, cardboard packages, glasses, metals etc). That´s self-evident – it does´t need any explanations. But you need to be aware of different timetables, when the representatives of the community will pick up the the content of your separated bins.

Yes, you will put  your waste outside! And it should be put different containers in the front of your apartment.

With limited skill in French it is a rocky road to look at the recycling guides. For example, we noticed this morning that they are collecting so called ordinary waste on Mondays. Luckily, my fiancée is much more fluent in French and we were able to understand that the collectors are coming back also on Thursdays. Great!

Perhaps it could be a good idea to go with the flow. So, try to figure out how the others are coping with their wastes.

I feel also a bit confused what might happen in winter. Because of integrated water heating and electricity system that works with gas, we should turn down the thermostats. To save energy and costs. How cold may be here in winter months?

However, it seems to be an easy task to replace ordinary bulbs to the energy-saving ones.