Patriarkaatti – perintömme simpanssilta?

Tässä tekstissä yritän kertoa siitä, miten patriarkaatti hahmottuu minulle elinympäristössäni – olenhan sen sisällä elänyt näennäisesti myös siellä vallankäyttäjien puolella. Samalla haen keinoja, joilla tuota rakennelmaa voitaisiin horjuttaa. Teksti koostuu maallikon havainnoista eikä se pyri tieteellisyyteen.

Tekstin runko on FemF-foorumilla pitämäni esitys asiasta 12.11.2016.

Patriarkaatiksi usein nimetty asia on miesten luoma hierarkkinen rakenne, jossa hierarkian ylemmällä tasolla olevat miehet pyrkivät käyttämään valta-asemaansa hyväkseen ja ilmaisemaan tuota asemaa

•          suhteessa muihin (lähinnä hierarkian alemmalla tasolla oleviin) miehiin

•          suhteessa naisiin.

Valta-asema ilmenee

•          seksuaalisena valtana suhteessa toisiin miehiin (alfakoiras muiden koiraiden keskuudessa)

•          seksuaalisena valtana suhteessa naisiin (alfakoiras naaraiden keskuudessa)

•         fyysisenä valtana

 

•          taloudellisena valtana

•          poliittisena valtana

  

•          muunlaisena auktoriteettivaltana: asiantuntijuus, taito…

Patriarkaatin hierarkia näyttäytyy noina vallan ilmiöinä:

•        Se on kova jätkä, jolla on kanttia nousta toisten yläpuolelle osoittamalla olevansa miesten mies.

Tätä artikuloi se asia, että odotusarvo on, että kyseiset vallan merkit keräävät ympärilleen ”naislaumojen” ihailun. Vallan merkit sisältävätkin useimmiten valikoiman seksuaalisia signaaleja.

Patriarkaatti sisältää sääntöjä, joita pelisääntöihin tottuneet miehet toteuttavat ja osa naisista käyttää tilanteen tullessa hyväkseen.

Säännöt ovat joko

•          kollektiivisia joukkuesääntöjä tai

 

•          individuaaleja sääntöjä

Joukkuesäännöistä tärkein on

•         ”Älä petä porukkaa!”

Tämä tarkoittaa ennen kaikkea sitä, että miesten on puolustettava sitä pelikenttää, joka mahdollistaa valtarakenteiden säilymisen – silläkin uhalla, että ne eivät ole jonkun yksittäisen miehen intressien mukaisia hänen elämäntilanteessaan.

Individuaalisäännöistä tärkeimmät ovat

•          ”Ota etu siellä missä saat ja näytä niille!” 

•          ”Pidä itsesi miehenä!”  

Näistä ensimmäinen tarkoittaa, että on syytä ottaa ja osoittaa valta-asema aina, kun havaitsee olevansa muita vahvemmassa asemassa. Jos mies taas on heikommassa asemassa, sen voi joko todeta tosiasiaksi tai koetella asemaansa ”taistelemalla kuin mies”. 

Jos jätät mahdollisuutesi mitellä asemastasi, olet luuseri.

Sallittuja tilanteita mittelyn välttelylle on esim. parisuhde, jonka ylläpitäminen voidaan katsoa hyväksyttäväksi syyksi uusilta valloituksilta pidättäytymiseltä. Asia ei ole käänteinen, vaan parisuhteessakin oleva alfakoiras saa bonusta valloituksistaan toisten reviireillä.

Jos mies taas toteaa olevansa henkisesti naisen suhteen alakynnessä tai muutoin seinää vasten, se tuottaa suuren ongelman - patriarkaatin jälkimmäinen individuaalisääntö näet määrää:   

Miehisyyttään ei saa ikinä menettää!

·     

Se taas tarkoittaa edelleen, että kun tilanne menee täysin umpikujaan, miehen on se aina ratkaistava miehisyyttään menettämättä. Äärimmäisenä asiana kasvoja menettämättä voi esimerkiksi hakata vaimonsa, tappaa perheensä, hirttää itsensä, räjäyttää kauppakeskus, mutta EI joutua avuttomaksi.

Tälle erotukseksi naiselle suodaan auliisti täydellinen avuttomuus ja itkeminen vähemmänkin dramaattisissa tilanteissa. Naisille patriarkaatissa onkin annettu omat sääntönsä tai oikeammin toimintaohjeensa:

•         Ole pehmeä, empaattinen ja joustava!

•          Osoita tarvittaessa heikkoutesi!

•          Valitse miehesi jonkin hänen valta-asemaominaisuutensa perusteella !

•           Asetu palvonnan kohteeksi ja nauti kohteliaisuuksista! 

•          Niitä odotellessasi keitä kahvit ja siivoa lopulta jäljelle jääneet sotkut!   

 

 

Monet naiset näin toimivatkin jolloin he uusintavat, vahvistavat ja artikuloivat patriarkaalista rakennetta.

Koska toisaalta tiedetään, että naiset eivät näitä sääntöjä aina noudata, miehet usein liittoutuvat naisten ”pullikointia” vastaan. Tällaista ovat mm.

•          erilaiset herrainkerhot

                    

•          eripalkkaisuuden ylläpito

•          ”paikan osoittaminen” seksistisellä mobbauksella

•          johtaviin asemiin pääsyn estäminen jne.

Yksi erikoislaatuinen ilmiö on se, että jos naiset onnistuvat murtautumaan alueelle, joka aiemmin on tuottanut äijäpisteitä, tuon alueen status putoaa pian alemmaksi äijäpisteiden suhteen. Tämä saattaa näkyä sitten esimerkiksi niin, että tuon alueen palkkavaatimukset alenevat – ei naisten, vaan toisilla alueilla toimivien miesten toimesta.

Sääntöjen sallima kohtaamiskulma naisia kohtaan sisältää miehille sekä kollektiivisia yleissääntöjä että individualistisia mahdollisuuksia rikkoa niitä valtarakenteita hyväksi käyttäen. Esimerkkinä tästä on vaikkapa naisen ”omistamisen kunnioittaminen”, joka siis tarkoittaa sitä, että miehen tulee kunnioittaa toisen parisuhteen koskemattomuutta – ellei sitten satu olemaan sellaisessa asemassa, että voi ryöstää naaraan toiselta urokselta.

Tärkeä patriarkaatin ominaisuus on, että mies on oikeilla jäljillä ollessaan metsästäjänä ja vastapuoli (nainen) saaliin asemassa.

 

Patriarkaatti on siis joukkuepeli, jossa sääntöjä uhmaavat koetaan joko ulkoiseksi uhaksi tai porukan pettureiksi. Patriarkaatin ulkoisia uhkia ovat

•          sääntöihin sopeutumattomat naiset: Sotkevat selkeää pelikenttää ja pyrkivät käyttävät niitä vallankäytön elementtejä, joilla patriarkaatin pelisäännöissä miesten on tarkoitus saada krediittiä. 

•          Esimerkiksi liian voimakas ja aloitteellinen nainen voi uhata miehen asemaa saalistajana

•          lesbot: Eivät suostu pelaamaan missään muodossa patriarkaatin peliä.

•         sukupuoleltaan ei-binäärit: Kyseenalaistavat jo olemisellaan totaalisesti koko patriarkaalisen rakennelman.

•         maahanmuuttajamiehet: Rikkovat sääntöjä tulemalla pelaamaan väärälle pelikentälle ja saavat ennen kaikkea hierarkian alemmalla tasolla olevien miesten olon asemastaan epävarmaksi:

•          Sääntöihin kuuluu, että yhteisön (lauman?) naiset ovat ”meidän naisemme”, joiden huomiosta vain ”me” saamme kisailla. Käytännössä tämä näkyy käsityksenä oikeudesta ahdistella "meidän naisiamme". 

”Sisäiseksi uhaksi” tai ”porukan pettureiksi” koetaan taas homot:

•           Eivät tue järjestelmää ja heidän pelätään murentavan hierarkian, koska

•          eivät pelaa oikeilla säännöillä

                        (eivät kiipeä hierarkiassa, eivät tunnusta ”pidä itsesi miehenä”-vaatimusta…),

•         heidän seksuaalinen kiinnostuksensa romauttaa koko rakenteen.

Heitä ei osata asettaa hierarkiaan edes alimmalle askelmalle. Myös pelko siitä, että he

•           voivat ollakin kiinnostuneita ”minusta saaliina”

•          ”minussa” voi piillä jotain vastakaikua asialle …tai ainakin ”muut” saattavat niin luulla…

 pahentavat tilannetta. Käytännössä kaikki tämä ilmenee patriarkaatissa homovihana ja homofobiana.

”Sisäiseksi uhaksi” tai ”porukan pettureiksi” koetaan myös

•          transfeminiinit: Ovat niin ikään ovat porukan pettureita, koska myös ovat ”hylänneet” patriarkaatin tavoitteet ja säännöt ja viestivät, että ne eivät edes ole heille haluttavia asioita.

Erityistä kauhua tuottaa se pelko, että transfeminiini henkilö voi herättää eroottista kiinnostusta ulkoisen olemuksensa takia.  Tämä kaikki ilmenee transvihana ja transfobiana.

Edellä esitetyin syin transmaskuliineja ei ilmeisesti koeta uhaksi, koska koetaan, että he haluavat pelata patriarkaatin korteilla, miehenä miesten joukossa eivätkä olemassaolollaan kyseenalaista koko patriarkaatin olemassaoloa. Toisaalta ”biologisen naisen muuttuminen mieheksi” voidaan kokea pelottavaksi selvän maailman sotkemiseksi, johon voidaan suhtautua aggressiivisestikin.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Vaikuttaa siis siltä, että patriarkaatin säännöt sallivat ja mahdollistavat sorron ainakin

•          kaikkia naisia kohtaan

•          kaikkia alemmalla hierarkian tasolla olevia miehiä kohtaan

•          kaikkia sukupuolen ja seksuaalisen suuntautumisen cis-hetero-normista poikkeavia variaatioita kohtaan

•          kaikkia muiden etnisten ryhmien edustajia kohtaan

Patriarkaatti noussee sosiaalisesta mallista, joka on yhteinen ihmisille ja simpansseille. Pointti on kuitenkin, että meissä on myös muunlaisia lajityypillisiä käyttäytymismalleja: Toisen huomioon ottava ja omastaan toiselle jakava altruistismi on tyypillistä meille yhtä läheisesti sukua olevalle bonobolle!!

Kulttuurin tietoisella muokkauksella voimme päästä irti siihen pesiytyneestä patriarkaalisesta juonteesta tai ainakin vähentää sen merkitystä. Tässä olennaisin asia on perustunnealueen sallivuuden kulttuuristen rajojen radikaali muuttaminen.

 Lasten kasvatuksessa pojan täytyy saada olla avuton ilman miehisyyden menettämistä, häneltä ei saa odottaa aina voittajaksi nousemista keinolla millä hyvänsä. Tyttöjä ei saa asettaa vähempiarvoiseen asemaan eikä dissata heidän toimintaansa perinteisesti koviksi mielletyillä alueilla.

 Satuihin ja muihin myyttisiin tarinoihin pitää tuoda muita ratkaisukaavoja, mitä vallitsevassa kerrontaperinteessä on nähty. Jne jne.

Oma suhteeni miehenä olemiseen patriarkaalisessa maailmassa

Miehenä olemisesta on vissi hyöty naisympäristössä, koska siellä tulee helposti kuulluksi. Toisaalta se, että ei toimi patriarkaattisen säännöstön mukaan naisten keskuudessa, voi aiheuttaa hämmennystä.

Äijäjoukossa ei-äijämäisesti käyttäytyvänä minulle tulee taas vaivautunut olo:

      ·         loputon into pelaamiseen (mitä tahansa peliä)

•  ajoittainen koirastelu ja nokkimisjärjestyksestä muistuttaminen

•  sovinistinen asenne ja vitsailu

•  rasistinen ja homofobinen asenne ja vitsailu

Olen viime aikoina vältellyt tämänkaltaista herraseuraa aika kategorisesti. Onnekseni olen töissä naisvaltaisella alalla, jossa ei tätä juuri tapaa. 

The day I got banned (by Jesus…?)

The last years I’ve been rather active in writing about the same sex marriage on several Finnish websites. In the year 2014 we had a huge campaign to support the citizen initiative supporting it and at the end the bill passed as with the first citizen initiative in Finland. The bill will be true next year and so many people will have their human rights to be fulfilled then.

Of course we have a religious minority that opposes the bill very aggressively. They call themselves the the "silent majority" in spite of the fact they are not - see the two pictures from the “majority” and the majority in the day the bill passed.

The majority?

The minority?

But anyway unfortunately there are enough conservative people in Finland to collect the 50 000 names to make a counter initiative – the pro initiative got 100 000 names in a couple of days. The counter initiative has organized under the name of “the genuine marriage”. The background of the organization is ultra conservative religious movements but they totally try to deny their religious background – even if their logo  is straight from the catholic anti same sex marriage movement.

http://aitoavioliitto.fi/

And the people in Finland are mostly Lutheran! 

The arguments are mostly based on reports by religious institutes and misinterpretations of other scientific articles. The main stream seems to be there are articles on problems among children who loose contact to one of their parents – the very different case to kids that have their same sex parents all their childhood.

In other places I have argued against the fundamentalist people that they even don’t know their Bible:

-  The homosexualism in the Bible is not the same it is today and it is opposed because it is seen as a phenomenon in the rivaling religion (Bal ritual by Moses and Kybele cult by Paul)

- The concept of the marriage is very diffuse in the Bible, containing numerous amount of wives and step wives. The only place in Bible where Paul says there should be only one wife is a guide for the priests!

- In the story of Sodoma it is about the bad habit to violate the foreigner by raping which is the still ongoing habit made by hetero men and have nothing to do with same sex love or marriage

     -   Jesus doesn’t say anything against gay people

     -  and so on

Most of them are uneducated people and think the Bible is totally the word of God - in spite of the very fact that for instance Paul stresses in some cases he just thinks the things might be so and so. Unfortunately they are lead by the more educated but deeply fundamentalist people it is easy to make the uneducated fraction to believe whatever. On other sites I have noticed that the people in charge have noticed I'm a dangerous person who also can argue with their language.  

Because the “Genuine Marriage” denies its religious origin I have used other strategy. I have revealed their false argumentation on the scientific data – systematically every time. I also have reminded them it is a sin to lie – both in hiding their background and distorting the scientific data.

So I have been regarded as a dangerous person and consequently banned on their Facebook site. Maybe I could take this action as a credit to my anti discrimination work. 

Summing up the Summer 2016

Summer 2016 has been kind of hectic so I have had have energy to tell about it now when it is about ending. Before the Midsummer the project was belly dance intensive course. We were happy to have training from our long time teacher Marinka just came back from her maternal leave.

The music was somewhat exceptional, the “Myrskyluodon Maija” by a Finnish composer Lasse Mårtensson who died last spring. It was originally composed to the film telling about the life in Finnish archipelago in 19^th century. The music is very romantic, sad and sentimental. And choosing Mårtensson music was a pure coincidence and had nothing to do with his death.

Almost immediately after that we went to Estonia to celebrate Midsummer. Actually we could do it twice for in Estonia Midsummer is a day earlier than in Finland. Both countries do it with bonfires, “Juhannuskokko” in Finland and “Jaanituli” in Estonia. It seemed they used some special tree in Jaanituli, for the smell of the smoke was special and different from the Finnish variation.

                                              The sun in Pärnu at 10 pm

Most of the time we were in lovely spa town Pärnu. The Midsummer eve was very peaceful and there weren’t many people on the beach in the almost-midnight sun.  

Luckily the weather was warm most of the time so we could swim, sun bathe and make a bike tour along the Pärnu seaside and river side.

 ...and of course there was time for doing some shopping in the shopping street of Pärnu.

After spending three days in Pärnu we headed to north. The weather was still really hot and dim so we had to chill us in the sea. The place was near Villa Andropov, the luxurious villa where Andropov had time to visit only once. That also gave an explanation to the odd piece of the four lane highway leading to the villa.

                                                 Remains of the Jaanituli in Virtsu ... 3 days after!

Our last night in Estonia we spend in the Padise manor. There also was a monastery ruins near the manor. We had a sweet and a luxurious dinner in very at a reasonable price.

                                                      At the Padise monastery 

The next morning was very foggy. So when we visited the Paldiski cliffs we could hardly see the see under it. Anyway the feeling was spectacular in the meadows of Paldiski. Wea have had a tradition to visit Paldiski “Kaubamaja” mall. Paldiski seems to be sort of relic from the Soviet time and also the Kaubamaja is old fashioned in Russian manner. Anyway the prices were very cheap and it is one of our places to complete our pantyhose stash.

The Estonian trip was the first completely made as Anukatariina from the home door and back. The lack of need of hiding this issue was really relieving.   

The next big thing was Helsinki Pride. One of the things I was involved was a panel discussion about the treatment policy for transgender people, arranged by the committee of trans political affairs of Seta. We had good debaters, a doctor Teemu Kärnä, a transgender activist Luca Tainio and the Pii Anttonen as the leader of the conversation. The main conclusion was that in spite of the notions many people have made the two treatment units Helsinki and Tampere have approximately same policy due to intensive collaboration between the units. The problem is mostly with the admission notes made by the ordinary doctors before the trans treatment unit and also with the surgeons who interpret the admission notes made by the treatment units. The debaters agreed the other thing is that the treatment and legal gender process should separate completely. In the audience of about 30 people I noticed the members of “True marriage” group of Finland making lots of notions to their notebooks. I’m interested in seeing the results of that action but haven’t found anything, yet.

                                                    Luca, Pii and Antti

The other thing was I got a short floor in another panel about discrimination of LGBT people at work, arranged by labour unions. There I could give some information about our survey. The third panel was about legislation work by LGBT group of members of parliament. The situation is not very good because very stagnated party True Finns in the government. The sad thing is the other parties in government let them stop any reasonable progress in this branch, mostly to shut True Finn’s mouths in other matters where Finland is going towards economical inequality. And of course there were two parties missing in the panel: The True Finns and Christian Democrats. I asked if the new legislation should base on the principles of the older, sort of constitutional bills. The debaters agreed, but just today it became evident the new laws can be confirmed in spite of the fact they contradict with the constitution.   

   

                                                  The politicians debating

Of course I had some “obligatory” events like Dreamwearclub coffee evening with 23 visitors and the traditional Finnish ball where I danced waltz, humppa and jenkka with friends.

In the Pride parade there were more people than ever, partly because of the LGBTI Euro Games held at the same time in Helsinki. Though I had got sort of bikini tan lines in Pärnu I burned my back in otherwise so lovely sunshine during the parade and the park festive after that.

In July we visited Kristiina in Rymättylä. The weather was not good for sun bathing but we had very useful discussions how to proceed with our survey and made some statistical analysis on the material. Earlier I had met a scholar at the University of Helsinki who also gave me some valuable pieces of advice. And of course we made some barbequed food in Rymättylä.

I still had some spare time to enjoy my lady holiday. I have been as Anukatariina in my garden dining or in bikinis, I have been on the beach and in the woods for some mushrooms. The life has been much easier in that respect and it takes much less energy to do anything. 

But the most important thing for me was to meet my grandchildren as Anukatariina for the first time. Surprisingly they payed no attention to my changed outlook and were ready to play with me as usually. The other of them wanted to look my ear rings more specifically...

My busy spring 2016 briefly

Spring 2016 has been extremely busy in many senses. At work there has been a lot of extra activity full of surprises. I won’t tell about it more to make you tired.

The other thing is that my personal life has been quite busy as well.

                                       

On of the early bird was the news that I’ve been nominated as president of the board of transgender affairs  of the Finnish LBGTI organisation Seta. It has been an interesting but a bit busy thing to do – as some of the readers might imagine. We have some plans to make the situation of transgender people better. The Finnish legislation concerning the transgender people seems to get stuck during the current government era but we plan to make the change as soon as it is realistically possible, following the road map Denmark and Norway have used. The other thing is the medical treatment of the ”androgyne transgendered” people which is very different depending where one is getting it. Now there’s a project to make it homogeneous all over the Finland and we try to make them choose the best current alternative as a model.

The other issue was our survey on the discrimination of transgendered people at work. The Finnish legislation prohibits such a discrimination and even the discrimination on basis of the expression of the gender – that means even transvestites have right to be as themselves at work. The analysis of the survey is not ready but as a brief foreknowledge I’m glad to tell the situation is not as bad as it could be. Unfortunately there were reports on severe discrimination cases, too.

In Easter time we flew to Turin, the town I’ve never visited before. The town seemed to have really many significant historical layers. Beginning from the ancient Romans Turin had really important role as the head of the kingdom of Savoy and then as the starting point of the independence process of Italy. In the palace of the king of Savoy we saw a huge amount of ”second rank” Italian medieval, renaissance and also Dutch golden age masterpieces – second rank meaning tha there were no Tintorettos, Leonardos, Michelangelos and Rembrants but the artistic standard was still phenomenal.  

                                                    Palazzo reale Turin

We also visited the film museum which was in a surprisingly high tower building. We were specially impressed with the department of the archeology of film, meaning the techniques preceding the real films.

Turin is the town of arcades. The story tells the king hated to walk in the rain so he told to build the arcades to both side of the street from the castle to the banks of the river Po. After that it seemed to be a habit to build the same kind of arcades along almost every major street – maybe the king got bored to use  the same route over and over…

                                                     Me and the arcades of Turin

After our Turin visit we were invited to Turku to celebrate the anniversary of the local LBGTI organisation TuSeta. The theme was glitter and I had nothing against it.

                                                       Me and the empty "silver plate" in Turku

As some readers of my blog may remember, I composed a song on the verse my friend Eveliina had made. In February I bought some software to make an audio and sort of karaoke kind of video files of the song and released it on Youtube here.

                                               Eveliina

I also have done some education about what it is to be a transvestite. The biggest audience were about a hundred psychologists. It was an interesting possibility to tell about the issue to professionals. And the audience was interested in my story as well. 

                                           Tiia and me and the psychologists

This year the Dreamwearclub has its 20th anniversary.  Our Hauho meeting was celebrating that issue by inviting many network people there. 

                                                 The guests of honor

As a 20 years old organisation we also must look at the future. Doing it in our seminar we decided to change the organisation more to the direction of the human rights, though no to forget the meaning of mental support and being together.  The nice thing that has happened during the last two years is that there has been a lot of new young girls coming to our activities – before that we were almost desperate and thought DWC would be only the club for elderly ladies.

                                           Thinking about the future

My belly dance spring has been sort of different. Marinka had her baby in November and we had a substitute leader Riitta. Her style was totally different and I really had some difficulties to learn the choreography for the show. At last I could make it, only with some minor mistakes in the show.

                         My home rehearsal while my spouse watches ice hockey

                                                              The show

We transvestites are appreciated among the Burlesque ladies. So we got the offer to pay only one Tlady for two at the show in May. So I used that offer and had a terrific evening with friends in Kaisaniemi park restaurant.

                                                   The fresh air part of Kaisaniemi Burlesque show

And it was the same Kaisaniemi park where the multi cultural festival ”The world visiting” took place at the end of May. I assisted Seta by staying behind their presentation table and telling the audience about the situation of the trans people in Finland.

                                           The daylight picture of Kaisaniemi multi cultural festival

                                  

And the last but not the least…

I finally made up my mind and posted a note to my neighbors:

”Dear neighbors

Many of you might jave noticed a shy resident in our house. In fact she have lived here for 21 years. In spite of her shy and  hide character some of you may have seen her. During the last years she has made her mind up: It is not worth hiding and instead she has decided to live as the other people do.

Her name is Anukatariina and you may see her mostly when the person XXX is absent. Her hobbies vary from oriental dance to human right issues. She may spend her time at her garden enjoying the wonderful summer we are happy to have.

So you may say hi to her and chat about anything also the person XXX would chat – mostly they have the same opinions on any issues. If you wish, you may also talk about Anukatariina.  

What is behind the phenomenon Anukatariina you may read more on:

http://transtukipiste.fi/transvestisuus/

If yous kids are confused, this link might give the good angle to the issue:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/chx73efh16dkdtk/Tarinat_lapsille_2013.pdf”

So far no one has commented the issue, though the other issues have been discussed. Since then I have been openly as myself at my garden and I have walked cross the parking place. The people passing my garden have avoided looking at me and so far I have met no one at the parking place.

But we will see… Anyway I’m very happy to skip all that hide life behind. 

                                               My look at the garden after sending the note

The Birthday and Carnival week

The last week I celebrated my 27th birthday again. Actually it was the 34th time to do so some say I have something more to celebrate. I’m not very familiar to being the centre of the attention so I didn’t want to do big number of the issue. The most important thing was to meet my daughters and grandchildren. I had made the agreement with my daughter that the kids will get used to have a slightly different grandpa. They have not met Anukatariina but I decided to introduce to them some elements of her. This time they were a slight makeup, scarlet finger nails, pantyhose under the lady pants and lady style T-shirt. The necklace and the ear rings they have seen always. My daughter told me for the kids the issue gender is not very clear nor important. And yes, they payed no attention to my specialties.  

At work I bought the birthday cake for the staff of my department the day before. Then I realized I have been at the same work place more than half of my life!

The actual birthday was my official day off so I could do whatever I wanted.  It turned out I didn’t do much, just relaxing the morning and meeting DWC friends to plan our new websites in the evening.  

To celebrate my day I bought Runeberg tortes for everyone. Such cakes enjoyed this time of the year, near the birthday of the Finnish national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg.  

After the meeting we went to the restaurant to celebrate a little more near the office.  We drank a bottle of sparkling and ate some Spanish tapas while chatting about some deep minded and some not so serious issues.

The weekend was the Carnival time. Normally the Finns don’t celebrate it but for us the Carnival has become an important thing because our experiences in Cologne where we have some friends. So on Saturday after the sauna we decided to dress up to celebrate Carnival. I was a German maiden in the dirndl dress and my wife was a sandman ( an easy way to dress up and not to dress up before going to sleep…). We had some bottles of original Kölsch beer from Cologne and even the original small beer glasses. So we had some of them and shouted “Kölle Alaaf”, the ancient Carnival shout. 

The Carnival feeling in Cologne is normally very joyous and relaxed and I love to be there to feel the atmosphere.  As everyone knows the situation in Cologne was tense. I hope that the city can get over of the dramatic happenings and have a fresh new start as a city of joy and happiness.