Sunday, May 25, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Different Cultures... I guess...
Iceland and the Netherlands are both Western countries and one would thus expect that there were no real culture shocks, maybe a bit of an awakening if an innocent Icelander wanders around the red light district (since we don't have any street hoockers in Iceland... Only ones that are ordered online...) or if the same Icelander accidentally (or not) stumbles into a Coffee Shop, and not finding exeptionally good coffee but some strange smell of... insences...
But I did have my real culture shock. And it did not include any strange substances or poorly dressed women.
I was late. It was already 21:02 and I was in the tram, trying to get home as fast as possible after a long day at work. And I wasn't the only one in the tram. There were all kinds of people, and quite many of them in fact.
Many!
Even though Eurovision had already started!
Astonishing!
A scandal!
Just plain wrong!
But I did have my real culture shock. And it did not include any strange substances or poorly dressed women.
I was late. It was already 21:02 and I was in the tram, trying to get home as fast as possible after a long day at work. And I wasn't the only one in the tram. There were all kinds of people, and quite many of them in fact.
Many!
Even though Eurovision had already started!
Astonishing!
A scandal!
Just plain wrong!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Reykjavík and Rotterdam, Netherlands and Niceland
I'll now have a plus and minus section (Ragnheidur style) about my life here in the Netherlands versus my life in Iceland.
Netherlands:
plus:
+The Sun. Makes it possible for me to wear my new sunglasses.
+Proximity. Everything is so close. It's not a problem to wisit Sendenhorst in Germany to compete in an a capella competition or go to a unconference in London over a weekend.
+Bycicles. Biking is fun. Especially in the sun.
+Social Innovation. Yes I know, I'm also sick and tired of that phrase. But really. There are so many cool things going on here as opposed Iceland which seems almost primitive in social innovation.
+Albert Heijn. You can get everything. Hagkaup smagkaup.
minus:
-The Sun. It is barbequeing me and my Icelandic skin, which despite all that grilling sun ceases to develop any other colour than clorine white. And anyway, would it decide to develope a new colour, I know for a fact that that colour wouldn't be the one of delicious milk-chocolate, but more of a tomato. And I don't like tomatoes.
-Skyscrapers. I don't like all those tall, tall buildings that hover over me and block the view. They're ugly.
-Service attitude and bureucracy. Service here sucks. You'll always have to make a couple of thousand calls before you get what you want and everything takes ages. Eneco, our electricity provider, is winning the race of bad CEM (Customer Experience Management, a frequent topic in my studies these days) with the worst service I've ever encountered, but Apple is drawing on them with a very lousy service attitude and high prices. Everything is falling appart in that one year old laptop and they don't really want to help me with that. Fuckers.
Niceland:
plus:
+Kúlusúkk. Golly, I miss kúlusúkk. The combination of soft salty liqurish and the creamy chocolate is irresistable.
+The Nature. I miss lava. I miss moss. I miss mountains. They are allowed to block the view that the skyscrapers are not. I miss the birds and the smell of þari.
+Bergdís. Without her I'm lost and only half a being. Guess I'll just have to import her.
+Laugardalslaug. I'm generally not a fan of exposing myself in a swimsuit but the weather today just calls for going to Laugardalslaug, swimming a couple of hundred meters and gossiping in the hot pots.
+Bragðarefur. Mmm... Strange that other nations just don't come up with the mix of ice-cream, þristur, bananas and mars-bars. Fuck the swirls and MacTwisters or whatever their called. There isn't any liqurish in it!
minus:
-Kúlusúkk. It's not healthy for my body and my lovelife.
-Transportational System. I hate driving and I hate taking the inefficient buses in Iceland. And biking is generally impossible if you live in Álftanes, unless you have unlimited time. So I guess I'm fucked. I want sustainable methods of travelling. Tell that to the government, and then I might just reconsider living there...
-Ríkið. What is the cup! Why can I not just go to the nearest supermarket and buy a bottle of white wine or a sixpack of Grolsch without having to mind what time it is or having to empty my wallet completely?
Pictures:
Netherlands:
plus:
+The Sun. Makes it possible for me to wear my new sunglasses.
+Proximity. Everything is so close. It's not a problem to wisit Sendenhorst in Germany to compete in an a capella competition or go to a unconference in London over a weekend.
+Bycicles. Biking is fun. Especially in the sun.
+Social Innovation. Yes I know, I'm also sick and tired of that phrase. But really. There are so many cool things going on here as opposed Iceland which seems almost primitive in social innovation.
+Albert Heijn. You can get everything. Hagkaup smagkaup.
minus:
-The Sun. It is barbequeing me and my Icelandic skin, which despite all that grilling sun ceases to develop any other colour than clorine white. And anyway, would it decide to develope a new colour, I know for a fact that that colour wouldn't be the one of delicious milk-chocolate, but more of a tomato. And I don't like tomatoes.
-Skyscrapers. I don't like all those tall, tall buildings that hover over me and block the view. They're ugly.-Service attitude and bureucracy. Service here sucks. You'll always have to make a couple of thousand calls before you get what you want and everything takes ages. Eneco, our electricity provider, is winning the race of bad CEM (Customer Experience Management, a frequent topic in my studies these days) with the worst service I've ever encountered, but Apple is drawing on them with a very lousy service attitude and high prices. Everything is falling appart in that one year old laptop and they don't really want to help me with that. Fuckers.
Niceland:
plus:
+Kúlusúkk. Golly, I miss kúlusúkk. The combination of soft salty liqurish and the creamy chocolate is irresistable.
+The Nature. I miss lava. I miss moss. I miss mountains. They are allowed to block the view that the skyscrapers are not. I miss the birds and the smell of þari.+Bergdís. Without her I'm lost and only half a being. Guess I'll just have to import her.
+Laugardalslaug. I'm generally not a fan of exposing myself in a swimsuit but the weather today just calls for going to Laugardalslaug, swimming a couple of hundred meters and gossiping in the hot pots.
+Bragðarefur. Mmm... Strange that other nations just don't come up with the mix of ice-cream, þristur, bananas and mars-bars. Fuck the swirls and MacTwisters or whatever their called. There isn't any liqurish in it!
minus:
-Kúlusúkk. It's not healthy for my body and my lovelife.
-Transportational System. I hate driving and I hate taking the inefficient buses in Iceland. And biking is generally impossible if you live in Álftanes, unless you have unlimited time. So I guess I'm fucked. I want sustainable methods of travelling. Tell that to the government, and then I might just reconsider living there...
-Ríkið. What is the cup! Why can I not just go to the nearest supermarket and buy a bottle of white wine or a sixpack of Grolsch without having to mind what time it is or having to empty my wallet completely?
Pictures:
- Benedikt Nientied, Pictures from Sendenhorst
- Wikipedia, skyscrapers and Icelandic nature
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