Summer is cancelled! So is human interaction!
This year, it seems summer has been cancelled in Bergen, it's the 6th of July and it's still very foggy and raining!
Everybody I know is complaining... seems I am the only one enjoying the weather!
In summer, it seems all Norwegians travel to a mystical place called Syden aka South... Where is that, you might ask? Well, if you look at the world map.... everywhere below Norway is considered Syden... so it can be from Europe, to Africa, to Asia to the Far East and all the way around to the Americas, still counts as Syden! Weird, right?
The funny thing is, that Norwegians and Scandinavians in general seem to follow a pattern when it comes to travel and vacations... The elderly seem to go to Spain and the Spanish islands... they have everything Norwegian-Scandinavian there, shops, grocery, even the local people there speak Norwegian!
What I don't understand is, why do they go through the trouble of traveling all the way to there, if they will end up meeting half of Scandinavia there, eat Scandinavian food, drink Scandinavian beer, read Scandinavian newspapers... and go on mountain hikes on Sundays? What's the point of traveling then? Just the sun? It's like going camping in your own living room, well that's not camping, is it?
What is also weird is that NGOs stop working in summer... Schools are also closed of course, so what do kids do? What fun activities are available? Not so many... Erm... Going on mountain hikes? Riiight! No wonder they all stick to their iPads and "smart" objects that are draining their IQ on a daily basis!
As much as I do love the forest and mountains... ever since I moved to Norway, I have been hiking only twice in the forest and up on a mountain. First reason is because I have an ankle injury... Second is because when I go into the forest, I seek serenity... here, it's absolutely impossible! There are joggers, hikers, elderly people, people with pets... ALL the time, every day of the week! No matter where you go, you will always bump into people! The municipality even took down a beautiful patch of forest in order to expand a pavement path for joggers there... What's the point of being in the bush if you're going to run on pavement?! It's also illegal to make a fire, even if you are a responsible person, and know what you're doing! So... I kind of lost interest.
I have been at home for 5 days now... Last time I went out was last Wednesday... I lost track of time at home. I manage to keep myself busy, day and night!
Today for instance, I redecorated the bedroom and my small workshop room. By that I certainly do not mean the girly girl way of redecorating. Instead I mean hard work redecorating. Moving furniture from one room to another, building shelves, dismantling furniture, repurposing old things and giving them a new life!
I put up some shelves in the bedroom, and made an open "clothes hanging" place under the last shelf out of an unused/new broom handle and some metal parts. I also shuffled up things into boxes, put them up on the shelves, sorted some books, filed my documents. Sorted my patterns, my yarn madness, my fabrics, and my paint/drawing section.
I still have a lot to do, since I am tetris-ing everything into a very small space. But I am getting there...
I also applied for jobs, answered emails, watched some movies while crocheting and reading an article on the side... played a game on my iPad on my breaks... oh and had lunch, because I was reminded to... otherwise I would have forgotten to eat!
All the hammering and drilling today left behind a lot of mess, so I cleaned that as well... and I just sat down to catch my breath!
What to do next? It's just 10 pm... it's a loooong time till tomorrow...
It feels so good when you learn and do new things every day. I don't get bored that often, but when I do, it's probably when I am out, around people... Antisocial? Maybe...
It just sickens me to walk in the streets when all people have headphones on, walking while looking down at their "smart" phone screens... people seem not to want to converse anymore! If by any chance you meet someone you know in the street, and if by any chance they do stop, make the effort of removing their earphones/headphones to talk to you, and ask you "How are you?" All they want you to say is "I'm good", because they don't really want to hear anything else, they don't care... that's all the chit chat people are willing to give... Well I can do even without that! I sit on the bus and no locals are talking... you only hear foreigners talking to each other, wether they know each other or not...
I miss having that... I miss going into grocery stores and getting greeted by the old owners, I miss talking to them and listening to their stories even when short on time... I miss the smiles, the human interaction. I am sick of "self service" shops! I am tired of people barely looking me in the eye... avoiding all contact! I am tired of hearing the same lines over and over again "Do you want a bag? Will you have the receipt?" Because that is all you will hear in a grocery store... Even neighbors shopping at the same place do not talk to each other...
I have been here for a year, I still do not know who my next door neighbors are!
Something needs to change!
Everybody I know is complaining... seems I am the only one enjoying the weather!
In summer, it seems all Norwegians travel to a mystical place called Syden aka South... Where is that, you might ask? Well, if you look at the world map.... everywhere below Norway is considered Syden... so it can be from Europe, to Africa, to Asia to the Far East and all the way around to the Americas, still counts as Syden! Weird, right?
The funny thing is, that Norwegians and Scandinavians in general seem to follow a pattern when it comes to travel and vacations... The elderly seem to go to Spain and the Spanish islands... they have everything Norwegian-Scandinavian there, shops, grocery, even the local people there speak Norwegian!
What I don't understand is, why do they go through the trouble of traveling all the way to there, if they will end up meeting half of Scandinavia there, eat Scandinavian food, drink Scandinavian beer, read Scandinavian newspapers... and go on mountain hikes on Sundays? What's the point of traveling then? Just the sun? It's like going camping in your own living room, well that's not camping, is it?
What is also weird is that NGOs stop working in summer... Schools are also closed of course, so what do kids do? What fun activities are available? Not so many... Erm... Going on mountain hikes? Riiight! No wonder they all stick to their iPads and "smart" objects that are draining their IQ on a daily basis!
As much as I do love the forest and mountains... ever since I moved to Norway, I have been hiking only twice in the forest and up on a mountain. First reason is because I have an ankle injury... Second is because when I go into the forest, I seek serenity... here, it's absolutely impossible! There are joggers, hikers, elderly people, people with pets... ALL the time, every day of the week! No matter where you go, you will always bump into people! The municipality even took down a beautiful patch of forest in order to expand a pavement path for joggers there... What's the point of being in the bush if you're going to run on pavement?! It's also illegal to make a fire, even if you are a responsible person, and know what you're doing! So... I kind of lost interest.
I have been at home for 5 days now... Last time I went out was last Wednesday... I lost track of time at home. I manage to keep myself busy, day and night!
Today for instance, I redecorated the bedroom and my small workshop room. By that I certainly do not mean the girly girl way of redecorating. Instead I mean hard work redecorating. Moving furniture from one room to another, building shelves, dismantling furniture, repurposing old things and giving them a new life!
I put up some shelves in the bedroom, and made an open "clothes hanging" place under the last shelf out of an unused/new broom handle and some metal parts. I also shuffled up things into boxes, put them up on the shelves, sorted some books, filed my documents. Sorted my patterns, my yarn madness, my fabrics, and my paint/drawing section.
I still have a lot to do, since I am tetris-ing everything into a very small space. But I am getting there...
I also applied for jobs, answered emails, watched some movies while crocheting and reading an article on the side... played a game on my iPad on my breaks... oh and had lunch, because I was reminded to... otherwise I would have forgotten to eat!
All the hammering and drilling today left behind a lot of mess, so I cleaned that as well... and I just sat down to catch my breath!
What to do next? It's just 10 pm... it's a loooong time till tomorrow...
It feels so good when you learn and do new things every day. I don't get bored that often, but when I do, it's probably when I am out, around people... Antisocial? Maybe...
It just sickens me to walk in the streets when all people have headphones on, walking while looking down at their "smart" phone screens... people seem not to want to converse anymore! If by any chance you meet someone you know in the street, and if by any chance they do stop, make the effort of removing their earphones/headphones to talk to you, and ask you "How are you?" All they want you to say is "I'm good", because they don't really want to hear anything else, they don't care... that's all the chit chat people are willing to give... Well I can do even without that! I sit on the bus and no locals are talking... you only hear foreigners talking to each other, wether they know each other or not...
I miss having that... I miss going into grocery stores and getting greeted by the old owners, I miss talking to them and listening to their stories even when short on time... I miss the smiles, the human interaction. I am sick of "self service" shops! I am tired of people barely looking me in the eye... avoiding all contact! I am tired of hearing the same lines over and over again "Do you want a bag? Will you have the receipt?" Because that is all you will hear in a grocery store... Even neighbors shopping at the same place do not talk to each other...
I have been here for a year, I still do not know who my next door neighbors are!
Something needs to change!
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