on expatriation and culture and landing in the mid-atlantic

some of the projects we have in the pipeline have me thinking about how shaped by culture, one's own and the one in which one finds oneself, we are. defined. how it locks us in boxes and leaves us feeling superior (or inferior) because of it. and how mind-numbingly LIMITING that all is...on both sides.

i stumbled across a blog written by an american who made the move to sweden. it's on sweden.se, a cool site that the swedish institute runs in english - all about living in sweden (wish denmark would have had such a thing back when the internet was in its infancy and i moved here). it got me thinking about all those things that i thought were so alien when i first moved to denmark. some of them still puzzle me, but i've actually gotten used to a lot in the 14-ish years i've been here.

~ i remember my first time in a grocery store, scrambling as i realized there was no one there to pack my groceries and not only did i have to do it myself, i had to PAY for the bag to put it in!

~ when i arrived in denmark in the late 90s, mobile phones were still rather a luxury item in the us - mostly doctors and other important people had them, people with their own cars. i remember being shocked to see people on the bus talking on their mobile phone. if you could afford a phone, what on earth were you doing on public transportation? (i had a lot to learn, both about public transportation and about mobile phones.)

~ the sight of a man in a suit, riding a bicycle and smoking a cigarette. in my mind, a bicycle was for exercise, not necessary transport, and who would smoke or wear a suit while exercising?

~ people treating cemeteries as parks, laying out in their bra and underwear in the first rays of spring sunshine on a towel with their bike leaned up against h.c. andersen's grave, catching some rays and drinking a beer.

~ public nudity. this one was technically in sweden, but as the ferry pulled into landskrona, there was a row of colorful little houses along the waterfront and a bunch of naked swedes were jumping in and out of the water from the doorways of the little bathing houses.

~ no one ever holding a door open for you if you were coming along behind them. it got so bad, i thought that they were actually waiting to strategically drop it in my face for the most profound rudeness effect. later, i realized that many danes, if they didn't meet you when they went to kindergarten with you, actually lack the ability to see you at all. it's kind of a like you're wearing an invisibility cloak.  this is one of those things i never get used to, it still surprises me and sometimes even hurts my feelings - i just can't help it.

~ signs with the word "fart" on them. in an elevator: i fart. along the roadside: fart kontrol. i thought the danes were obsessed with flatulence and i thought they were pretty darn organized to think they could control it. but it turned out to mean motion or speed - so the elevator was in motion when the i fart sign was lit. and the fart kontrol was a friendly warning that a cop (or just an unmanned van or camera) with radar was just ahead, so you'd better stop driving like a maniac.

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speaking of expats in denmark, i made a new blog friend!

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and speaking of denmark.
film is a powerful medium.

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you have to see what kit lane made of the lila hairball we gave her.
utterly fabulous.

an interview with witcha from the warp zone

when witcha of a new (to me and literally pretty new) blog called warp zone said she wanted to be interviewed, i was excited, because she lives in one of my favorite places in all the world - the philippines! naturally, i had to ask her what her favorite place in the philippines is...

one of my own favorite pictures from a trip to borocay. because i couldn't resist.

 1. the philippines is one of my favorite places, tell me about your favorite place in the philippines...

My favorite place would be my home province, Camarines Sur. It's located in the Southeast part of upper Philippines and has always been visited by typhoons all throughout the year. What I like most about this place is that the language is amazing. Maybe it's quite applicable to the Bicol Region, but the dialect changes from one town to the next. The change is always distinguishable, but we can still understand what each one is saying. The other thing I like about this place is the food - most of which are spicy. But ultimately, it's HOME to me.

2. what is your idea of the ultimate relaxing weekend?

I would rather stay inside the house, cook spaghetti and meatballs, read a book, and just enjoy the day to myself! :)

3. you wrote recently about finding inspiration on etsy..how does this inspiration manifest itself in your home?

We just transferred to a new house and I would really have wanted it to feel like a cozy home, so I wanted all those vintage decorations and colorful walls. I myself am a child at heart, so I painted one of my walls with the giraffe-trees thing that I found on etsy. I thought it would be a great side for my son to play by and I shall take photos of him with the wall as backdrop.

4. your biggest fear?

Losing, or rejection. I think I'm still too immature to accept things like that.

5. your biggest joy?

Family. I believe and can see now that I am so much of a family-oriented person.

6. what does family mean to you?

Oh my. I was trying spontaneity and was answering the questions chronologically, but this question would definitely jump us back to #5. Family = Joy and everything that means so much to me.

7. your ultimate dream camera?

I would definitely want to have an EOS, but it's pretty expensive for me at the moment. And if truth be told, I'd like to own a polaroid and have those prints posted on another wall in my house, haha.

8. tell me about that tattoo on the back of your neck (check out her profile pic)...

Back in college, we had a yearly fair at the University of the Philippines. All those rock bands, ferris wheel, food booths, apparel booths and everything you can expect out of a Fair was there. Because everybody has been into henna tattoos, I got envious so I had one made on my nape. But that's just henna. I would have wanted a real one with my son's name in ambigram (although that might make me look too pushy). Well, the tribal tattoo was just a try at 'coolness.

9. your best and favorite place to shop in the manila area (i'll admit this is a selfish question on my part).

I'm sorry to say but I'm quite a mall rat. I would have chosen to buy my things in Divisoria, a street full of everything you could ever think of at a cheaper cost, but it's quite far from my place and it would be difficult to transport whatever buys I might have made.

10. coffee or tea?

Coffee. For all those palpitations and nausea and bulging eyes. Well, at least I get to have some caffeine boost to let myself awake during the most boring office hours. (Ssshhh.)

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thank you witcha for letting me interview you! i'm so glad you wanted to participate, because i discovered a new blog and now i've learned about a new place in the philippines that i haven't visited. yet.  and it also made me go through my folders of pictures from the philippines, which just generally made me happy. do go check out witcha's blog, you won't be sorry.

hmm, it seems i did have seven more random things in me...

mariA-thérèse of afiori tagged me (last week, oops!) for one of those 7 random things posts. i'm not actually sure there are seven that i haven't previously shared, but i thought i'd give it a whirl. and with a photo for each. because that might distract from the lameness of the seven things.

i love yarn. can't stop buying it, despite being utterly unable to knit or crochet.

just bought this yesterday. 

i am going to try to make one of these 

to match my new orange coat (which i believe i've mentioned before).

that one yarn that looks quite red in this pic is actually much more orange.

i love weaving, despite what happened that one day. byegones, i say.

there is something so peaceful and soothing about pressing the pedals and swinging the thingie (dang, i'm missing terminology here) forward. 

must look up the terms in english b/c the danish ones clearly don't stay in my head.

tho' i'm not that fond of this pattern, mostly because i could never remember where i was.

you can see i messed it up a couple of times.

but these are learning pieces.

i grew up with horses and i think they're good for the soul.

i love pretty ribbon.
and sunshine on pretty ribbon...even better.
got the ribbon here.
the sunshine was sent by google.

i do not miss going back and forth to norway. not one little bit.

i love house-hunting. i think it's really, really fun.
and i can easily imagine myself in every single house, at least during my visit.

i think there's nothing quite like a cotton candy bigger than you on a summer day.

and on that note, i'd like to tag a bunch of new bloggy friends, whose 7 things i'd love to read:

a commonplace life
concerning pancakes
one girl circus
so NOT cool
a crack in the window
the philosophy of KLo
provins
what would julie say...

and i just want to say that i'm really grateful to all these new bloggy faces for commenting on my blog in recent weeks.
changing jobs and house-hunting has seriously cut into my blogging time/energy and i'm grateful you all commented so that i was in turn led to your blogs.
because i always check out the profile/blog of anyone who comments (that's a hint, lurkers).
and i've discovered some great new friends that way.

of course, i still love all of my old blog friends, but i figured you've been random thinged to death. :-)

thanks maria-thérèse for tagging me for this one.

and do check out my tumblr. i'm adding good stuff all the time! and it's so much fun!