Monday, March 28, 2005

Hey (the incredibly formal and complex greeting in Swedish)

I am not used to traveling in the first world. Class and race are, not totaly, less apparent. I am commonly greeted as a Swede which is un-nerving given my total ignorance of the language. But of course every Swede I have talked to speaks English better than most Hoosiers. A few observations of Stockholm: super rich but not pretencous, advertizing is here and there but no where near the omnipresence of it in the US or Japan, there are places to wrap gifts for free in many stores, there's lots of space at bars and restaurants but people are willing to sit down next to strangers and chat, the new immigrants are a hot topic; they blame them for everything, if you are into talking with well read, well traveled, super model types this is not the place for you. Off to Tallinn, Estonia.

1 comment:

Scott W. said...

What's with all this globe-trotting on a school night?
As a Hoosier, I should be offended by your slur on our grasp of the English language. But I ain't gonna win that argument, so I'll let it slide.