After having seen Herr Reinfeldt defending his New Swedish Model (see posting below) and Mr Cameron doing his Clown-act, we all went to dinner at the fabulous Ciao Bella in Bloomsbury. All were me, Ms Media and her parents. The latter are a fantastically well-educated and knowledgeable couple who are also very friendly and social. And we discussed the lecture of course. And about the fact that the "Swedish Model" and all it stands for is just plain rubbish, more or less.
Yes, Sweden was a fantastic country in many aspects when I grew up, but it was also a very strict society with not room for any frills or encouragement for anyone who was a slight bit better, brighter or bouncier than others. Be it in school or in industry. Alla ar lika. Everyone is the same. But as we all know, perception is reality. And the lovely old motherland really managed to promote its excellence to the world and thus leaving the impression that yes, the Swedish Model is Fantastic. It wasn't all that good. But everyone in Sweden still believes that the rest of the world must think that our country is the BEST and most BEAUTFUL without any possible comparison.
Not entirely true.
My recommendation is Till Herr Bachmanns Broschyr by my beloved Carl-Johan Wallgren http://www.bokrecension.se/9176435016 about a Swedish writer in exile in Germany. He is asked to write about Sweden in an information leaflet "Herr Bachmanns Broschyr". His hatred for his homecountry and its citizens is extremely humoristically and colourfully described and even if the writer is slighly mad, his views on Sweden are healthy for all to read. It gives a good distance to the glorified Swedish Model.
fredag 29 februari 2008
Health maniac?
No, I never was a health maniac! Not at all actually. But having now worked for almost 5 months in a really English environment, I realize that I might be. Most my colleages are constantly hung-over, they eat crisps every day and choclates and other stuff. When I come dragging with my morning yougurt (fat) and muesli (containing sweet fruits..) they eye me upside down and whizz "ohh, we are healthy today aren't we?", as if I was on a super detox.
And now it's skiing season and they all slide over to the alps to whizz around the slopes (75% in Meribel) and come back all tanned and spirited. To not stand out as a total nerd, they of course have to ensure everyone in the office that they had boozy lunches and dinners everyday and that "it is now enough with exercising for another 51 weeks". They wouldn't want to stand out as some sort of Germanic health-freak, hell no.
I love it that they are discussing Obesity too. I work with projects for improving the lives for young people, and this is now coming up on the agenda. So there are TONS of discussion on how to sort this out for all age groups and there are talks about rebuilding cities so that the steps of stair, for instance, will be harder to walk on, and to improve possiblities to cycle to work etc. All good and nice. But perhaps start by looking into some normal values?
A really lovely colleague of mine is 24 years old. He is really cute but has the biggest belly I have ever seen on such a young boy. He is now on a "diet" (they are all on diets. all the time.) which means only eating fruit and punishing himself in the gym. I would like to do some proper North-Swedish sanity check with him: What do you eat for breakfast? Do you have a continous burn rate in your body (the body has to eat regulary to burn fat, or it will burn muscles)? How often do you walk to work? How many pints of beer do you drink per week? How many bags of crisps? I am convinced that just slight changes of nutrition and exercise would make an enormous difference. Without crazy diets and starvation periods. I might tell him. And risk being regarded as the Germanic Muesli Monster.
Happy to take the risk though.
And now it's skiing season and they all slide over to the alps to whizz around the slopes (75% in Meribel) and come back all tanned and spirited. To not stand out as a total nerd, they of course have to ensure everyone in the office that they had boozy lunches and dinners everyday and that "it is now enough with exercising for another 51 weeks". They wouldn't want to stand out as some sort of Germanic health-freak, hell no.
I love it that they are discussing Obesity too. I work with projects for improving the lives for young people, and this is now coming up on the agenda. So there are TONS of discussion on how to sort this out for all age groups and there are talks about rebuilding cities so that the steps of stair, for instance, will be harder to walk on, and to improve possiblities to cycle to work etc. All good and nice. But perhaps start by looking into some normal values?
A really lovely colleague of mine is 24 years old. He is really cute but has the biggest belly I have ever seen on such a young boy. He is now on a "diet" (they are all on diets. all the time.) which means only eating fruit and punishing himself in the gym. I would like to do some proper North-Swedish sanity check with him: What do you eat for breakfast? Do you have a continous burn rate in your body (the body has to eat regulary to burn fat, or it will burn muscles)? How often do you walk to work? How many pints of beer do you drink per week? How many bags of crisps? I am convinced that just slight changes of nutrition and exercise would make an enormous difference. Without crazy diets and starvation periods. I might tell him. And risk being regarded as the Germanic Muesli Monster.
Happy to take the risk though.
What can I expect?
Still seeing mr Germany. Ahh sehr schön. He came to visit last weekend and it was all good and dandy. A lot of fun actually. And our speaking is improving, since he has really brushed up his English. So all good. We also met up with a bunch of friends. And as people are in London, or rather the English are, they were all very sweet and kind with him.
We spoke on the Monday night when he was back in Munich. He said he had told his friends about the weekend and said he was amazed that people were so nice to him and that he had felt as if he was welcomed as if one of the gang already.
I went through i my mind what we had done, and yes of course, my friends were really nice to him, but people are friendly normally, aren't they? I am now fearing that my prejudice thoughts are correct and that all Germans, including his friends will be awfully unfriendly and horrible to me!
We shall see we shall see.
We spoke on the Monday night when he was back in Munich. He said he had told his friends about the weekend and said he was amazed that people were so nice to him and that he had felt as if he was welcomed as if one of the gang already.
I went through i my mind what we had done, and yes of course, my friends were really nice to him, but people are friendly normally, aren't they? I am now fearing that my prejudice thoughts are correct and that all Germans, including his friends will be awfully unfriendly and horrible to me!
We shall see we shall see.
Always-be-joking?
The differences between my motherplanet and the acquired new home was clear this week when I attended a lecture with the Swedish Prime Minister at the very esteemed London School of Economics.
Being Swedish, Correct, Serious, Bleak and Bold and, yes not entirely funny, he stood up for a good 40 minutes and told us about the New Swedish Model. One that he clearly wasn't part of building up given that he is highy right-wing and this "amazing" (this can also be debated) model was very left wing. Anyway, it was interesting although it was more or less a presentation of the Moderate's party's party propaganda rather than a "neutral" presentation of a country model.
Moving on, after him, good ol' mr Cameron [conservative leader] gave a little "response" to Herr Reinfeldt's speech. After the correct Swede Mr Cameron appeared to be not far from a normal circus clown; tanned, polished and with shining white teeth moving around on stage in a restless manner that reminded me of Basil Fawlty welcoming another poor victim to his B&B.
To grind himself further down, he kicked off his response with joking about the fact that he spending the evening with the "New Swedish Model" and that this model was called Fredrik! And he obviously got everyone laughing, it that ho-ho laddish manner and I am sure that no women (and probably no men either in all honesty) found it at all funny.
Ok, call me Swedish, Correct, Serious, Bleak (but not bold, hehe!) but that was just such a low point that I almost wanted to leave. Yes, I DO appreciate that always-be-joking attitudes, but sometimes it gets to extremes. This was a after all a lecture at LSE, not a stand-up session in a pub.
But hopefully this only mirrors our dear Cameron's real personality: Low-quality, predictable and sexist, rather than a generalized view of the country. But I must say that it's alarming given that he is one of the most prominent politicians here...
Being Swedish, Correct, Serious, Bleak and Bold and, yes not entirely funny, he stood up for a good 40 minutes and told us about the New Swedish Model. One that he clearly wasn't part of building up given that he is highy right-wing and this "amazing" (this can also be debated) model was very left wing. Anyway, it was interesting although it was more or less a presentation of the Moderate's party's party propaganda rather than a "neutral" presentation of a country model.
Moving on, after him, good ol' mr Cameron [conservative leader] gave a little "response" to Herr Reinfeldt's speech. After the correct Swede Mr Cameron appeared to be not far from a normal circus clown; tanned, polished and with shining white teeth moving around on stage in a restless manner that reminded me of Basil Fawlty welcoming another poor victim to his B&B.
To grind himself further down, he kicked off his response with joking about the fact that he spending the evening with the "New Swedish Model" and that this model was called Fredrik! And he obviously got everyone laughing, it that ho-ho laddish manner and I am sure that no women (and probably no men either in all honesty) found it at all funny.
Ok, call me Swedish, Correct, Serious, Bleak (but not bold, hehe!) but that was just such a low point that I almost wanted to leave. Yes, I DO appreciate that always-be-joking attitudes, but sometimes it gets to extremes. This was a after all a lecture at LSE, not a stand-up session in a pub.
But hopefully this only mirrors our dear Cameron's real personality: Low-quality, predictable and sexist, rather than a generalized view of the country. But I must say that it's alarming given that he is one of the most prominent politicians here...
onsdag 20 februari 2008
KEIN SPIEL!
Dating a German is brilliant. The most brilliant thing I have ever done. Never have I experienced anything so clear, uncomplicated and informative in my entire life. He even beats the Swedes. Evidence on this:
Question is if it's the nationality or perhaps just the fact that he is a straightforward person with perhaps some interests in not playing games? At any rate, it is good. I like it. It's very relaxing... Perhaps because it's a bit like miself.
- He informs and discusses with me when he wants to visit me and wants to plan this
- When he cannot call as he has promised, he texts me to inform me on this
- He wants to talk about us and who we are and get deep on things
- Even if his English and my German are rather bad, we still manage to be more open and honest about all sorts of discussion topics
Question is if it's the nationality or perhaps just the fact that he is a straightforward person with perhaps some interests in not playing games? At any rate, it is good. I like it. It's very relaxing... Perhaps because it's a bit like miself.
Prenumerera på:
Inlägg (Atom)
