Just a Variety of Matters
When I had to go back to London a few weeks ago I missed the last train to the airport. It was at 6 pm, my flight was at 9:30...quaint, adorable little Scandinavians believe in working regular workdays so they can spend time with their friends and families! So things all close early. I think restricting the creation of wealth to enjoy your life is ridiculous, but who am I to impose my views on another culture. Anyway, I come from a country that manages to theoretically balance its belief in the ideologico-normative "family" and unrestrained destructive laissez-faire capitalism, the "invisible hand" and the "nuclear family" (try to envisage an invisible finger on the ideologically normative red button). Now I am not going to kid you, we do favor one of them over the other, but I am not going to say which...I do not want to spoil it for anyone who has not been there. Well, I missed my train and so did a Swedish girl who was also flying to London so we split a cab for the one hour drive to the airport. We were talking about possible hobbies I could pick up in Sweden (I have mentioned this to some of you). I told her I am dying for some activity, I like to be outside, and I like the water. Now, she is not from Stockholm...she is from north, north, north rural Sweden. She mentions that one of her favorite hobbies is....ice-fishing! See if you can imagine the disorientation of talking to a pretty, 24 year old medical student who tells you that ice-fishing is one of her favorite things to do! Only in Sweden.
Tim: "Isn´t ice-fishing sitting for hours in a tent on a frozen lake with your line in a hole you drilled in the ice?"
Swedish Ice-Fishing Girl: "Yeah, well it sounds boring if you put it like that but its actually really fun."
Tim: "I am sure it is, but that is not really active, its technically inside, and it involves ice and not water."
I already have a winter hobby in Scandinavia anyway...sitting inside and whining about how cold and dark it is. This year I hope to hone my skills in that department so I do not want to be distracted.
This gets to my point though, and no...I do not have a point. What do people do when they do not surf? I am serious...some ideas. I was thinking today that I actually do not enjoy anything but surfing. Reading was pretty good until about year five of university...now I am sick of it. Running is really not fun...especially when you do it in the midst of 18 hours of sitting on your butt and 6 hours of sleeping. Basically, if you way of life does not require you to move at all, then when you are enjoined to move running is not preferable. I have to find something to do though cause I am sick to death of reading and writing papers.
Learning languages is hard when you are the kind of person who only averages about 3-5 minutes of conversation per month. It kind of undermines the whole practice thing. I barely even speak my own language, much less Swedish...I need to start class again soon. That brings up part of why living abroad is hard for me. First of all, I am only really content by the ocean, so other things are hard. I am a picky eater so it is difficult to get adjusted to food in other countries. It takes me about 8 years to make friends so moving every few months is certain loneliness.
I am starting to hate these cats. They are mischievous and extremely disobedient. Especially one of them. It seems to do precisely what I do not what it to do and for no discernible reason except to bother me. It goes in my room only if I close the door (it can open the door). When I am preparing food it jumps on the counter and puts its disgusting face in my food. If I have my computer out it crawls all around it. The other one pretty much leaves me alone so it is ok...but the evil one is my arch nemesis. To its credit, if it were not for my relationship with that cat I would not relate to another living entity in the world these days.
On TV right now is "Top Model Sverige"...the incredible thing about this show is that they must have found the 6 unattractive girls in Sweden, and none of them look Swedish! On my half mile walk to the train station in this one-horse-town suburb I see a dozen girls on average that look like models. On "Top Model Sverige" I do not see one! What a let down...
When I had to go back to London a few weeks ago I missed the last train to the airport. It was at 6 pm, my flight was at 9:30...quaint, adorable little Scandinavians believe in working regular workdays so they can spend time with their friends and families! So things all close early. I think restricting the creation of wealth to enjoy your life is ridiculous, but who am I to impose my views on another culture. Anyway, I come from a country that manages to theoretically balance its belief in the ideologico-normative "family" and unrestrained destructive laissez-faire capitalism, the "invisible hand" and the "nuclear family" (try to envisage an invisible finger on the ideologically normative red button). Now I am not going to kid you, we do favor one of them over the other, but I am not going to say which...I do not want to spoil it for anyone who has not been there. Well, I missed my train and so did a Swedish girl who was also flying to London so we split a cab for the one hour drive to the airport. We were talking about possible hobbies I could pick up in Sweden (I have mentioned this to some of you). I told her I am dying for some activity, I like to be outside, and I like the water. Now, she is not from Stockholm...she is from north, north, north rural Sweden. She mentions that one of her favorite hobbies is....ice-fishing! See if you can imagine the disorientation of talking to a pretty, 24 year old medical student who tells you that ice-fishing is one of her favorite things to do! Only in Sweden.
Tim: "Isn´t ice-fishing sitting for hours in a tent on a frozen lake with your line in a hole you drilled in the ice?"
Swedish Ice-Fishing Girl: "Yeah, well it sounds boring if you put it like that but its actually really fun."
Tim: "I am sure it is, but that is not really active, its technically inside, and it involves ice and not water."
I already have a winter hobby in Scandinavia anyway...sitting inside and whining about how cold and dark it is. This year I hope to hone my skills in that department so I do not want to be distracted.
This gets to my point though, and no...I do not have a point. What do people do when they do not surf? I am serious...some ideas. I was thinking today that I actually do not enjoy anything but surfing. Reading was pretty good until about year five of university...now I am sick of it. Running is really not fun...especially when you do it in the midst of 18 hours of sitting on your butt and 6 hours of sleeping. Basically, if you way of life does not require you to move at all, then when you are enjoined to move running is not preferable. I have to find something to do though cause I am sick to death of reading and writing papers.
Learning languages is hard when you are the kind of person who only averages about 3-5 minutes of conversation per month. It kind of undermines the whole practice thing. I barely even speak my own language, much less Swedish...I need to start class again soon. That brings up part of why living abroad is hard for me. First of all, I am only really content by the ocean, so other things are hard. I am a picky eater so it is difficult to get adjusted to food in other countries. It takes me about 8 years to make friends so moving every few months is certain loneliness.
I am starting to hate these cats. They are mischievous and extremely disobedient. Especially one of them. It seems to do precisely what I do not what it to do and for no discernible reason except to bother me. It goes in my room only if I close the door (it can open the door). When I am preparing food it jumps on the counter and puts its disgusting face in my food. If I have my computer out it crawls all around it. The other one pretty much leaves me alone so it is ok...but the evil one is my arch nemesis. To its credit, if it were not for my relationship with that cat I would not relate to another living entity in the world these days.
On TV right now is "Top Model Sverige"...the incredible thing about this show is that they must have found the 6 unattractive girls in Sweden, and none of them look Swedish! On my half mile walk to the train station in this one-horse-town suburb I see a dozen girls on average that look like models. On "Top Model Sverige" I do not see one! What a let down...
posted by Lenin | 4:55 em
1 Comments:
do the cats have names?
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