I'm at summer soccer camps now and it's ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!! I'm here with the Brazilian women's national team coach, a Scot, a New Zealander, a Zambian, 4 Brits, and 7 americans (two of whom were born in Portugal and are fluent in Portugese). A great mix huh?
so why is it Americans have such a hard time following our accents? But they are strangely intrigued by them? Don't Americans realise they have an accent too? And a pretty weird one at that? It's funny the way Americans expect other people to talk like they do and can't appreciate the fact that a T is a T and not a D. We all went to Friendly's for dinner one night and we had such a hard time ordering a glass of waTer with our solid T's and flat R's. The waitress kept hearing ... well who knows what she thought we were saying.
Yet on the other hand, the foreign coaches always draw the most attention, all we have to do is talk, hehehe. The parents are most enthralled as they meet us when they come to drop off the kids: "I notice you have an accent, where are you from?" all excited: "oh REALLY!" You'd think they'd be a little more sensitive to picking up the nuances of accents and try to avoid asking over and over "what was that?"
What's notable is the fact that the kids are fine, I have no problem with my Rec practice kids or my U-11 and U-12 teams, or any of the kids who come here. It's the adults that have somehow developed a filter of some sort and are only able to follow their own accent. Unfortunate really. One reason why people think Americans are not "world citizens." In my opinion it's a comfort zone issue: although interested, they are also intimidated, having lost the curiosty and fresh brain cells of youth.
Oh well...more later, I'm sure there'll be plenty to write about from this whole camp experience. Cheers.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Monday, July 03, 2006
Iceland Norway Sweden Norway Iceland
That's the macro view of my intinerary. So of course, at each stop, everyone wanted to know what I thought of the place/people. This was because at the first stop for my connection in Iceland, I thought everyone looked strikingly alike. So have I come away with the same opinion at the end of the whole thing? Here goes:
We have to consider that I only saw one city in Sweden, many in Norway, and Iceland is small to begin with hehe. Sweden had the largest variety of people in the largest numbers. Response to that from a 'rival' country: well they have the most immigrants. But it was nice to see different kinds of people, not that I felt at all self conscious after having spent a year each in Vermont and South Dakota. It was an interesting mix, and the white people didn't all look alike either, though I was warned to expect that all girls are blond and look the same. But I beg to disagree. In 5 years I've learned to pick up on the differences. Also I have to say that Goteborg was my favourite city: bicycles, trams, the architecture and open atmosphere were awesome for a major city, 180* from the grind of NYC. A la NYC, there's also a huge public park, but it blends in rather than being an oasis in a concrete jungle.
In Norway, thanks again to Aase (LUV YA!) I got to see different sizes of cities/towns. Oslo, Bodo, Porsgrunn, Korgen, large to small in that order. Less of the mix of people but more Japanese-&-cameras. Still I got the feeling sometimes that a coloured person was a bit of a rarity, especially in little Korgen hehe, although there it was probably the combination of stranger AND colour that drew the stares. Interesting that Porsgrunn had this International festival thing going on; one day there was a Middle Eastern or Indian dance troupe, and I somehow got the feeling as if they were somewhat of a curiousity, not part of the community. Of course the people I met were great, easy-going and fun. Oslo had a bit more of the city-bustle, the congestion, and buildings of the "modern city" but parks etc. are never far away. You can always grab a coffee or maybe a 0.6L beer ;-) So Norway was the most beautiful in terms of varying landscapes, fjords, lakes, snow-capped mountains, streams, cows in front of the car, absolutely breathtaking views from aboard my 4 within-Norway flights. The weather was not the best while I was there but that brought its own charm and sometimes bewilderment to the experience. It leaves me something to look forward to when I go back, the Midnight Sun. Best view with feet "on the ground": from atop the jump tower at the Oslo Ski Museum. How do these guys decide to ski down and jump from this thing?!
Back to Iceland. "Back" because it was the first 'taste' I had of what was to come. And I was challenged to trash or uphold my initial observation that they were all alike. Comment on that: but they're all related, of course they look alike! Ok so they don't REALLY all look alike, they just look more similar than one would expect. Can I bullshit or what?! They are less unlike people in the other countries? Ummm...more of them share more features? Enough of this, like they said, alot of THEM think all black people look the same so there! hehehe Iceland was interesting to say the least, around the airport looks like the moon, some of the coast has the most amazing colours, then you will see the brightest green lush grass amidst bare rock. It is a place of contrast, bare cliffs then beautiful waterfalls, near featureless landscapes that are enchanting in their own way: maybe you are waiting for something to happen, maybe it's a calming nothingness.
There is no saying where I enjoyed the most; you simply can't make that kind of call. Each place you visit has unique traits and will hold special memories, they all contribute to the overall experience. Even the socks and sandals...
We have to consider that I only saw one city in Sweden, many in Norway, and Iceland is small to begin with hehe. Sweden had the largest variety of people in the largest numbers. Response to that from a 'rival' country: well they have the most immigrants. But it was nice to see different kinds of people, not that I felt at all self conscious after having spent a year each in Vermont and South Dakota. It was an interesting mix, and the white people didn't all look alike either, though I was warned to expect that all girls are blond and look the same. But I beg to disagree. In 5 years I've learned to pick up on the differences. Also I have to say that Goteborg was my favourite city: bicycles, trams, the architecture and open atmosphere were awesome for a major city, 180* from the grind of NYC. A la NYC, there's also a huge public park, but it blends in rather than being an oasis in a concrete jungle.
In Norway, thanks again to Aase (LUV YA!) I got to see different sizes of cities/towns. Oslo, Bodo, Porsgrunn, Korgen, large to small in that order. Less of the mix of people but more Japanese-&-cameras. Still I got the feeling sometimes that a coloured person was a bit of a rarity, especially in little Korgen hehe, although there it was probably the combination of stranger AND colour that drew the stares. Interesting that Porsgrunn had this International festival thing going on; one day there was a Middle Eastern or Indian dance troupe, and I somehow got the feeling as if they were somewhat of a curiousity, not part of the community. Of course the people I met were great, easy-going and fun. Oslo had a bit more of the city-bustle, the congestion, and buildings of the "modern city" but parks etc. are never far away. You can always grab a coffee or maybe a 0.6L beer ;-) So Norway was the most beautiful in terms of varying landscapes, fjords, lakes, snow-capped mountains, streams, cows in front of the car, absolutely breathtaking views from aboard my 4 within-Norway flights. The weather was not the best while I was there but that brought its own charm and sometimes bewilderment to the experience. It leaves me something to look forward to when I go back, the Midnight Sun. Best view with feet "on the ground": from atop the jump tower at the Oslo Ski Museum. How do these guys decide to ski down and jump from this thing?!
Back to Iceland. "Back" because it was the first 'taste' I had of what was to come. And I was challenged to trash or uphold my initial observation that they were all alike. Comment on that: but they're all related, of course they look alike! Ok so they don't REALLY all look alike, they just look more similar than one would expect. Can I bullshit or what?! They are less unlike people in the other countries? Ummm...more of them share more features? Enough of this, like they said, alot of THEM think all black people look the same so there! hehehe Iceland was interesting to say the least, around the airport looks like the moon, some of the coast has the most amazing colours, then you will see the brightest green lush grass amidst bare rock. It is a place of contrast, bare cliffs then beautiful waterfalls, near featureless landscapes that are enchanting in their own way: maybe you are waiting for something to happen, maybe it's a calming nothingness.
There is no saying where I enjoyed the most; you simply can't make that kind of call. Each place you visit has unique traits and will hold special memories, they all contribute to the overall experience. Even the socks and sandals...
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