 |
| © triskel streets of Reykjavik, Iceland |
Can't believe it! 3 weeks have already past since I moved to Iceland. To be honest, I am feeling to be at home from the very first moment. Magical Iceland is my home now. But.. yes, certainly, there are some moments of loneliness and melancholy that I am going through, as the roots are growing gradually, day by day, week by week.. So it takes some time to settle down for good. It's a process that lasts in time..
 |
| © triskel on my way to Seltjarnarnes |
I've done so many things this week and met new people and started new friendships. Just a small overview:
- meeting with Icelandic journalists that had been to Poland already, one of them was even a guest of Krytyka Polityczna in Warsaw
- shut up & write meeting for writers/people who write in general, at Loft
- first TEDx Reykjavik screening meeting
- Friday meeting of photography club 'Pozytywni'
- cooking together with new friends and going for dinners
- spontaneous Friday party at my place!
- two concerts at KEX (seen only small part of Snorri Helgason performance). Just listen to this old Scottish song from 18th century, beautiful!!!!
- visit in 66°North outlet (this is high quality Icelandic brand. just love they woollen clothes!)
- cinema on Sunday night ('Akira', Japanese s-f cartoon)
- going for a walk by the sea almost every day
- and many more cute things!
- also: continuing my search for a job and all the paper issues to legalise myself here :)
 |
| © triskel home made wafers |
And now I should confess you that I've already become half-Icelandic as I bought myself beautiful second-hand Icelandic sweater made of fantastic Icelandic wool :) Icelandic sweaters are something traditional and cool here, everyone must have one! And knitting is also very popular among people in all ages! Now I'm giving you just small insight about it. For sure I'll come back to this topic one day.
Ah, speaking about it, just forgot to tell you that last weekend our half-Icelandic flatmate made wonderful wafers with whipped cream for us 4 (we are just like a small family :)
Recently I've read several interesting articles that answer some of my questions about Icelandic social life and society. So I'm planning to tell you now few words about Icelandic attitude to sex and nudity. The whole text about this intriguing topic can be found here in Guide to Iceland.
 |
| © triskel streets of Reykjavik, Iceland |
And while going to the hot springs you can easliy encounter people bathing completely naked in natural surrounding and nobody is astonished by this fact. I think that one day I'm going to do the same just to feel freedom and to be in greater harmony with amazing nature around :)
 |
| © triskel streets of Reykjavik, Iceland |
So that's not surprising at all that sex is not a taboo neither for Icelanders. They enjoy to talk about their sexual life and the age of sexual initiation in Iceland is the lowest in Europe (and probably the lowest in the world, the average is only 15 years old!). It's even earlier then in other Scandinavian countries.
What sounds very strange for me is the fact that going for a coffee too much often with somebody can be seen as a bigger compromise then just having sex with someone. And that's a sad news for me, that generally speaking, there are no dates in Iceland. The relationship between man and woman usually starts from sex and maybe after some meetings there is a chance for a date. That's really like upside down world. It might be a result of social control although it sounds that much awkward. In such a small community (whole Iceland has population of 320 000 inhabitants, while Reykjavík is around 120 000) it's so easy to be spotted in the town by somebody that knows you.. so the gossip will spread in 5 minutes (something like: 'they are going be married or engaged') and Icelanders are probably afraid of that. Even though, I don't plan to change my views on this issues and I just think that a relationship should start from some meetings or dates and a friendship.. Fortunately, I heard also about some different stories that don't confirm this general rule, so there's always some chance. Well, we'll see how is the real social life in the land of fire and ice :)
 |
| © triskel Reykjavík near Harpa Concert Hall |
Another thing that surprises me a lot (also connected to the body issues) is obesity problem in Iceland. This is a second country in Europe (just after the United Kingdom) with the biggest percentage of obese people. I've never seen so many huge persons in my life. Of course they are 'really visible' but due to a common tolerance nobody is pointing them out. And the Icelandic diet is becoming more and more fast food diet in American style. Although there is fortunately no McDonald's here (because it's only allowed to sell Icelandic meat here), fast food places are everywhere around as eating out in regular restaurant/bar is very expensive in Iceland. Nevertheless, the newest data shows that, statistically speaking, Icelanders stopped to put on more weight.
You can easily spot two attitudes here: 1. people who love sport, that are active, fit and slim and 2. those just enjoying their fast food and non-sportive activities. I think there should be some kind of social awareness campaign in Iceland to teach young people about benefits of healthy diet and lifestyle. I'd seen that even whole families are going to Subway or other fast food places for Sunday lunch. I'm very surprised with this facts. As you probably know, I really care for my diet, search for organic food and don't like to have any chemical additions in my meal.
Fortunately, the environment is incredibly clean in Iceland, so this factor makes us more healthy, even despite the diet :)
 |
| © triskel view from Seltjarnarnes |
No comments:
Post a Comment