Ash & Cash

It has taken me almost two months to really get a better grip on my understanding of the Icelandic culture. I am by no means saying that I am now an Icelandic Expert (in fact, I am quite far from this) but I am just saying that I have a deeper insight into the Icelandic way of thinking, and their relaxed way of going about everyday tasks and especially with handling crisis (such as the financial crisis, and now the two volcanic eruptions). In case you haven't heard, all of Europe has had to temporarily shut down all airports to, from, and within Europe due to the second volcanic eruption in Iceland in a week. However, flights from Iceland (to anywhere except Europe) currently are remaining open. When Rakel informed me of all of this, the way in which she showed me the articles and pictures alone (in such a nonchelant and flippant manner) helped to explain infinitely much about her culture. From the sly grin on her face and her strong tone of voice, I could feel her Icelandic red, white and blue (yes, these are the colors of the Icelandic flag)pride radiating from the hairs on the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She was so incredibly proud of Iceland,but for what..for a volcanic eruption? She kept repeating phrases such as...."We might be small, but we can do a lot!" and "People shouldn't mess with us!" while showing multiple Facebook groups and articles with various titles, many including something along the lines of...."WTF Iceland, Ash instead of cash?" This play on words is referring to the deposit guarantee obligations (and thus debt) that Iceland owes to UK investors who had money in Icesave online accounts at the time of the Icelandic bankruptcy last year. While Rakel was explaining all of this, I kept thinking...what are people in Iceland doing about this? Is everybody ok? Well, not only did I think this, but I did eventually verbalize it by asking if anybody had been injured. Her response severely shocked me, in that she found it extremely odd that I was inquiring about this.
At this point in my post, I simply cannot resist a comparison of the Icelandic way of thinking to the way of thinking in the United States. For example, if such a catastrophic (used in terms from a US point of view, as an Icelander would not describe the event as catastrophic because it implies something negative) event such as the volcanic eruption were to occur, there would be mass chaos in the United States. People would be first worried about safety, and then about everything else. This is why in the US it makes perfect sense to first and foremost ask...is everyone alright or was anyone injured?
However, this is not at all the Icelandic way of thinking about things or even dealing with things. Let's take a look at the current situation of Iceland in a little bit more detail....
so there was this big event called the financial crisis that took place not that long ago, thus contributing to increased unemployment in Iceland. Secondly, two volcanic eruptions cause massive flood waters to wipe out the crops of farmers and severely hinder convenient transportation of not only people but aslo products within Iceland as well as overseas. And still yet....the Icelanders remain optomistic. No wonder Iceland is known as the fourth happiest nation, these crazy events happen to them, but they still manage to remain calm, colected, and completely relaxed. The mindset is something like..."why worry when we can't do anything about the current situation? The only thing we can do is laugh about it." And laugh Rakel has done.
If only I could find some middle ground between our two cultures....I think I would be set. I want to worry less, but I am not sure if I am ready to be as relaxed as the Icelanders. But who knows, only time will tell! =)