Hey folks! What up!?:) Yesterday I went to the blue lagoon eventually. It was so luxurious, soothing and relaxing . I must admit that the Blue Lagoon was on my bucket list ever since I can remember. Why does it have to be that expensive though?ahh If I ever get married (I don;t think so marriage is a baloney), I want my husband to take me there for our honeymoon. Today I was totally chilling out. Later in the day I met a Russian girl Maria, with whom I was working for the red cross. Some guys were apparently hitting on us and bought us beers. My mum always says don't drink with the strangers in this case she was totally right, I concur. One Icelandic boy told me he wants to be a volunteer as well so he is voluntarily willing to buy me a shot. I refused. He also mentioned( as he works in Norway) that one of the Norwegian dailies wrote that Polish people are the best workes in the world. Might be true. Nighty nite.
Poland and Russia in a perfect harmony!Bardzo Haraszo! Spasiba za ten wieczór :D

Blue Lagoon experience

so called lingering doubts

The more old Woody Allen's movies I'm watching, The more I'm reassured I'd fit in well in a scenario for his movie. Let's take Mary from 'Manhattan'. She is a journalist , falling for wrong guys , little insecure, always says what she thinks. I'm a bit similar. She keeps on saying that she is so fucked up. So am I. I would call myself 'a brave coward'. I had guts enough not only to travel on my own in Morroco, but also to move out of my country. I love changes. If I had been granted with a possibilty of changing the place of living every once in a while , I would definitely do it. 3 months here , 3 months there. When I'm in a one place for a long time , I'm trying to search for a stabilty that I simply cannot find. I need to be in a constant run. I hate being in a routine but at the same time I think I'm lazy what unables me to reach the tool, which would help me to fulfil my dreams.Well I'm not much of a sculptor though. he he he Me and my wry sense of humour. The thing is I think I've already started considering Reykjavik as my home. It's snowing white all around ah sorry I forgot to mention the overwhelming darkness. This blog was supposed to tell you more about Iceland it would be a bit tacky though, since everyone does it. I'm not that kind of person. Yes I'm but for different purposes. I write for a Polish newspaper here its enough I guess.I just love to write everything and nothing. It's all baloney. Pure nonsense. Writing is all of my life though since I remember. It's sth that expresses my personality. It's an illusion that makes me belive that I'm actually doing something except from doing nothing. That's it. Good night folks.


a screenshot from Woody Allen's Manhattan - I love Diane Keaton.

I was working for the red cross yesterday and it was such a nice experience to talk to the passers by and see them smiling and enjoying the christmas atmosphere that is spreading around Reykjavik. I'm very chuffed and feeling at peace. Ah and again I've heard I look [so] Italian.It's boring but I'm taking it as a proof of my theory that I'm multi cultural haha. I was working together with a Russian girl and I think we made quite a good team apparently some guys were very disconcerted about the fact that it's just hot cholocate for free not us. I've been stressing out about spending Christmas with Icelanders. I mentioned it to my friend but he wrote me "Well Monika, You have such a good presence that it makes up for not knowing the language" - LMAO. I do not concede ;)Merry X mas once again .Gleðileg jól

I've been living in Iceland for about 3 months and a half now. On the one hand its quite much becuse I feel a bit detached from my life, family and friends in Poland. Although you try to keep in touch with all of the people that are close to your heart it's never the same. It makes you wanna realise that there is no such a thing as stability in your life. People come and go, things change and we don't even have a full control over events that are going to befell us. And on the other hand I don't consider Reykjavik as my home yet. I'm still going through the phrase of adjusting to the Icelandic lifestyle. I don't know the language which poses a problem. You cannot really blend in the society and integrate with it not knowing its basic form of expression. That's why I don't feel comfortable at times. I don't speak Icelandic but at the same time I get doubts about learning it since I'm going home next September will I ever use it again. Of course if I had learned the language I would be gratified with a possibily of staying here permanently. But do I really want to spend the rest of my life in Iceland?Maybe I should just stop thinking about the future and move my sluggish ass get it kicked in order to at least try to learn it eventually?ahh I'm so confused lately. If they had payed me for over-thinking , I would already become a millionaire. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way*sighs*. Maybe I should have gone to England instead of Iceland? Too late ....No point . I feel so tired I think I might have gotten anaemia again, need to start taking iron pills. Today I've become cognizant of the fact I'm turning 25 in half a year. Geez....25 it's quite a number . Isnt it? Time maybe heals all wounds but it definitely flies too fast. I'm too slow to keep up with it. I'm such a thinker ....Sometimes I look at the posts I've been writing since I started running this blog and I don't know if I shall either cry or chortle. I'm so funny. Never mind. Tomorrow I'm working with the red cross but they apparently assigned me to two standings so I'm not sure where to go exactly. I'm spending xmas'eve with an Icelandic family they are so nice especially Ester. Very open and understanding. I still feel a bit klutzy not being able to speak Icelandic.I decided to come here so I should work a bit harder and I will it's my new year's promise as I mentioned before in one of my previous posts. I like Iceland though but I need some time to open up more. I got a card with xmas wishes from my co-workers today it was so nice. AA and I ate Skata today (putrid fish) omg it was so disgusting it reeked so badly..yuck yuck yuck. I need to travel more here in Iceland. Because so far I've only managed to see the Golden Circle and Stykkisholmur. I havent even explored Reykjavik I feel like being stuck downtown. It's hard though the weather doesn't encourage you to go outside and I neither have a driving license nor a car. I'm thinking about making it here though. Ok I want to wish all of the people that are reading my blog Merry Christmas so far because probably I will write something again just before New Year's eve. That's why I'm skipping 'and a happy new year part'.
Gleðileg jól og farsælt nýtt

Są pewne rzeczy, o których nie chcę pisać po angielsku. Chociaż pewnie google translator i tak zdradzi o czym piszę a właściwie to zbyt personalne żeby o tym pisać. Hmm nie wiem sama. Ale chyba odkryłam na czym polega miłość. If you love sb set them free i chociaż to trudne, to chyba w tym tkwi sekret prawdziwego, szczerego uczucia wolnego od jakiejkolwiek zazdrości. W tym momencie swojego życia znalazłam się w takim 'związku-relacji', który pozwolił mi na implementację tej filozofii(buddyjskiej tak na marginesie). Wesołych Świąt.


Although I'm not always like a dog with two tails, I think I love Reykjavik. Merry Christmas folks lots of gifts and happy time.

Ok Today Im a little bit lost.

I love Reykjavik but sometimes this city makes me feel lost as if I were wandering aimlessly through the maze. My good friend told me once this city makes you not knowing what you really want in life. This is true somehow. Icelandic winter is taking all of my energy out of me..Coping with a lack of motivation . I don't know if its because I'm a gemini or ...whatsover. I just cannot fully dedicate myself ...neither to one thing nor to one person. I need variety in my life. Plus cultural differences in Iceland everyone is focused on themselves, they are very independent and things are either black or white never in the middle. Some Icelanders are ambiguous they never say what they really think, they are always politically correct.Impeccably right. But political world is full of hypocrisy though. I decided from now on I'm going to do everything 'little by little', so my new's years goal is to learn Icelandic. Just one as I dont want to set lots of them because there is a risk I won't be able to fulfil any ...

Eyjafjallajökull

I've had a nice day today. At first I was wrapping up the gifts for the Geðveik JÓL 2011. It was sort of a competition between some Icelandic companies in making music videos namely them singing Christmas songs. Then, afterwards we were informing 3 first places about their posistions in the contest. Til hamingju to the winners.It was a really interesting experience for me. Anyway I also took part in a sort of a competition but unoffical one though. Me and my friend's friend (British) had to say properly the name of that Icelandic volcano ,which paralyzed the air traffic lately, Eyjafjallajökull. Guess who won?Of course me. He didn't even stand a chance with me haha.Flott - said my co-worker.On friday I'm working with Vin(Red Crosss). I will have to offer a cup of hot chocolate to everyone that passes by. I'm also looking forward to seeing my Icelandic friend ,that I met in Poland. We are going to spend Christmas together. I've bought all of the gifts already. BTW It's so icy cold outside grr . I'm freezing. I've been listening a lot to the music here in Reykjavik and today I've discovered that my fave album of an Icelandic artist is Emiliana Torrini's me and Armini! I adore it. I would totally love to go to her concert but I don't think she has been playing any of late. :(

My day in pictures
The winner






and song of the day
Emiliana Torini's ha-ha

Sunnudag

Yesterday was Saturday. Although nightlife in Reykjavik is pretty boss recently I've just felt tired of partying and drinking so I decided to give my body and spirit rest. I went to Kolaportið and bought a unique issue of National Geographic from 1985 with a huge article on Iranian Revolution. I'm a bit ashamed of myself that I don't speak Icelandic despite living here for 3 months already. Yup this is disgraceful. I feel embarassed...It's Sunday today I don't feel like doing anything so I will just stay at home and watch "Ghostwriter" on TV. I'm posting some pictures of my room, of my wall in particular I don't think commenting is necessary.

Icelandic cinema and just a little rant on life

Today I encountered an unexpected coffe meeting(apparently none of us was drinking coffe). Me and my friends were thrashing out people's capacities for making life taxing and complicated and I just realised I'm thinking definitely too much, so I decided to watch some Icelandic movies instead I hope they not gonna push me into a pondering mood again. I have some movies on my list I would like to see so let me introduce them to you.

1. A little trip to heaven
Plot : A husband and wife tangle with an investigator over her dead brother's million-dollar insurance policy.
Director:Baltasar Kormákur
source : IMDb


2.Mýrin
A murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.
Director:
Baltasar Kormákur


3.Sódóma Reykjavík
plot :Since his mother wants to watch TV, Axel, a young auto-mechanic, must recover her remote control, accidentally taken by his punk sister Maja. During his quest, he becomes involved in the conflict between Moli, the liquor smuggler, and Aggi, a night club owner who wants to be Iceland's first mafia boss
Director:Óskar Jónasson


4.Veðramót
Director:Guðný Halldórsdóttir
Writer : Guðný Halldórsdóttir

Plot : A young girl breaks up from her petit bourgeoisie home and her piano lessons to lead an entirely new life, as one of the personnel at an institution for juvenile delinquents in a remote part of Northern Iceland. It is the 1970s and the young people in charge of the place are heavily into flower power, sitar music and solving problems by frank talk sessions with the delinquents. However, the hippies, who themselves despise authority, soon find their own authority under attack by the rebellious youngsters, especially after the arrival of a mysterious young girl. Then a violent incident occurs that will have a decisively detrimental effect on relations at the institution.

In Iceland meeting famous people is quite normal... I met Bjork in the hot tub not so long ago and today thanks to the wonderful organisation that I work with Gedhjalp I had the opportunity to meet Mugison. He visited Gedhajlp and gave a little performance. Afterwards I came up to him and said :
Hi I'm not Icelander ,it's nice meeting you
and he answered
Nice to meet you to. How r u doing?
Fine I said
Have I met you before you r looking so familiar?
No I don;t think so I'm from Poland
Poland? I've been in Poland maybe we met there?
No :)

He is really nice and I'm lucky working in Gedhjalp because it gives me an amayzing opportunity to get to know interesting people not only the famous ones.


Here is the picture of me and Mugison its blurry a bit but still :)

So I'm writing again. Lots of things are happening to me and they change in a kaleidoscopic way so that I don't have full control over them. But the one thing I'm sure of is that I will never give up. I've always wanted to be a novelist but I couldnt pull myself together in Poland and start writing sth longer than just 7 a4 size pages. I think Reykjavik is a great place to get inspirations and vein. So I've made the first steep . I've been fighting with a large cloud of laziness that settled above my head recently. And I also fell in love but it's unrequited love unfortunately. Well it's not love its just a crush. One thing I'm proud of myself is that I'm courageous and I cannot hide my emotions. I would call it a Spanish temperament. I wonder what thing about me is Polish-maybe the fact I can drink vodka straight from the bottle?lol I like when people r asking me where I'm from because then I have fun telling them 'guess' . What answers do I get? Italy, Spain, Iran, Russia but never Poland though. I started putting some thing on my wall in the centre of it there is my name written in arabic and the rest of the stuff it's just the way I'm and some drawings I made. I think I'm very artistic. I've always claimed I'm an artistically impaired and well in general I'm an artist without any talents but it's not true. I just haven't unraveled all of my talents to the world yet. One of my best friends left Iceland and I feel a bit empty . I miss her so much. Have u ever felt lonely even though surrounded by lots of people? I get this feeling sometimes. It's because I'm gemini and I'm not stabile I'm adventourous and I get bored easily. I'm complicated and taxing. I suffocate staying in one place for a long time. Last friday we had a girls night out. It was fun yes I'm really funny sometimes...Ok its pictures time now.
Yeah I might look Russian here .

I just realised that I either write when I'm hot under the collar or a bit sad and homesick, but of course it doesn't mean that my life here in Reykjavik is miserable. In contrary it's wonderful and I think I'm improving at struggling with negative emotions. Today I checked out Karma Kaguy's buddishm centre in Reykjavik and I'm going there probably on thursday. I was involved in buddhism in Poland and it was rly helpful and actually I need to keep myself occupied during that cold, gloomy winter time. What's new? I have new flatmates, but although there are some people living in this house apparently I'm feeling much more lonely than when I was living here alone on my own. I wanna stop expecting things and turn an eye blind to the promises people make. It doesn't bring anything good because we r just people and usually we just let each other down not intentionally though. In the meantime I try to fight with that biased stereotype of a Polish person and I think I'm doing quite well. The sadest news of the day is that one of my best friends here is leaving in two days and it makes me wanna cry. Nikiwe you are such a warm, wonderful person. You are my sunshine because Reykjavik doesn't provide me with it often during the winter. You are not afraid of what you feel not afraid of commitment and opening yourself. Thank you for those 3 amayzing months. Thank you twist of fate for letting me meet her. I'm gonna miss you so much one piece of my heart is going with you to Cape Town. It's a blessing having you and of course I'm blubbering now what a shame :)

Everyone goes home for Christmas but thanks to my dear Icelandic friend Ester I have met in Poland , I'm not going to be alone. Takk fyrir!
I have lots of stuff to write about but gonna do it later. Enjoy your day folks.



btw this is an amayzing cover lovin it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MJio3s2wFI&feature=related

Reykjavik today in the morning. I woke up, looked through the window and saw it's white all around. I didnt wait a minute quickly dressed myself up and went outside to take some pictures. I love you Iceland for making me experience everything even if not all of them are positive we can turn them so be so.




I have not been inspired enough to write anything since my last post appeared....Lots of stuff has been going on recently and I haven't digested it yet I think. My head feels a bit empty but I keep seying to myself 'el tiempo todo calma' and it's true so why are we spending out time grieving over things we cannot change . It's not possible to turn the clock of time back. We just need to go on...a little help of patience might be needed. It's the most important tool we have to craft...Life is just like a sculpture and it requires an extraordinary amount of patience. I think Iceland is a proper place to learn how to be forbearing. My life has turned a new leaf and I've just become aware of how many things I already learnt and how much I will learn more. I've been confronted with my drawbacks and imperfections but at the same time I discovered bright sides of my personality. I realised how much I love Reykjavik . I woke up early today I looked through the window and saw snow....It's nothing new we have lots of snow in Poland but apparently it made me happy and relieved. A new day has come. I need to pull myself together and do things I've been planing to do for a long time but well I havent accomplished any of them. So let me officially jot them down here. I want to : learn Icelandic, boost my English up, learn Swedish, start going to Karma Kaguy centre in Reykjavik(buddhism), be active, get to know as many people as possible, write a lot more to be able to come up with an exquisite novel in the near future.
At the beginning on my Icelandic journey I had been living alone and then after two months Dana joined me (thanks for being here). Soon more people are going to fill this house up. 3 guys each of them will bring a piece of their own country into this house. Sweden, England, Iceland, Moldova and Poland- so international I love it :)

I put all of the negative emotions that have been haunting me for the past days aside . Quoting Bob Marley ' Don't worry about the things cuz every little thing's gonna be alright."

I think Im boring with my rants a bit so Im posting some pictures today. Have fun looking at them.
my best mates here in Iceland dont we resemble sugabebes a bit?huh ;) yes Sugababes are back in town going to party today just as at the time I arrived. Love u gals.

Anniversary

Another month has passed since I came here. It's the second one. Many things has happened to me during that certain period of time. I've also gone through different phases of emotions. From being extremaly happy to the state of melancholy - me down in the dumps. Let's start with the negative things. I had been living alone in this house for more than a month, was feeling alone, a bit lost and useless. Sometimes I still get this feeling that nobody needs me here in my work, but I'm so looking forward to seeing changes in this matter. Now writing this I realized I don't have anything negative more to list. I've learnt a lot about myself,that I never give up, I'm very sociable and friendly. Even though everyone of us has their flaws and drawbacks we are able to expose positive traits of our character in case to let the negative ones just fade away. I met amazyingly wonderful people here from all over the world and each of them is my light everytime I'm feeling blue they are always there for me. Thank you guys. I've seen the golden circle , was huming Emiliana Torini's Jungle Drum many times. I've been to the Bjork's concert, and the day after I just met her in the hot tub. The first day I arrived I saw nothern lights. I've also become more independent. I want to thank you guys so I will just put thank you in every language I know :
Takk fyrir
Enkosi
Merci bcp
tack så mycket
danke schön
XBAЛA
Spasiba
Shukran
Gracias
Dakujem
Dziękuję
Multumesc


P.S After two months I've finally smoked sheesha and was showing people how to make circles out of the smoke :D

me and sheesha coal - Habibi the most popular and overused word in arabic language :D

my gals from left Maria(DEN), Katharina(GER),me(POL), Sarah (FRA), Katharina (GER)


We rly look like Sugababes. Nikiwe first from the right is my partner in crime, my best party companion and such a dear Love you GAL :*

Icelandic literature : 101 Reykjavik

Before I came to Iceland I decided to take a look at Icelandic cinema. The first movie I had seen was Hallgrumur Helgason's "101 Reykjavik". I didn't like the movie as much as I enjoyed reading this novel.Anyway I did it the opposite way, since I had seen a movie and then read a book afterwards. I bought it here in Reykjavik in Eydmundsson book store. Let me paste my favorite bits from the book without commenting it.

"Waking up never gets easier. It's like you've been buried for 400 years and have to claw your way through six feet of mud. Every day. The light filters through the curtains. All of a suden it's as if the numbers on my radio were years 1601. Woke up too earlym not due to be born for 400 years"


"Home. Nothing but mommy sleep and darkness. I turn the lights on in the kitchen and have some Cheerios with the morning paper. Keanu Reeves is unhappy with his life. Roseanne is having a tatoo with the name of her ex-husband removed. A woman in Arkansas has her newborn tattooed : Mom"

"My name is Hlynur Bjorn Hafsteinsoon. I was born on 18.02.62. Today is 15.12.95. I lie between those numbers. I was born on Saturday. Today is Saturday. Life is a week. Every weekend I pass away. One week.A history of mankind precedes it, and another one will follow. I'll be dead after I die, and I was dead before I was born. Life is a break from death. You can't be dead all the time."

Disadvantages of being sick and alone

Cold, unbearable sore throat and my head is spinning around like crazy plus I'm looking like a crap. And I'm completely alone, since my flatmate has gone to the Golden Circle. I've also planned on partying today and many other activities that I'm supposed to do with a group of people. What to do now then? Call it all off? Shit life is hard, when you are in a foreign country just being sick. There is no one to brew you a tea or to go and buy some groceries and stuff. In Poland we say : 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' - Co Cię nie zabiję, to Cię wzmocni. I don't really think that this flue is able to kill me, so now I'm going out to face this cruel sometimes life.

Cold as ice

When I had been studying geopolitics, I discovered how influential the weather is and how it has been impacting the societies from time immemorial. Iceland is a cold country when it comes to weather , maybe temperatures are not droping below -20 as it happens in Poland almost every winter but hey we don't have such a strong wind ,which makes you feel as if you were in Siberia. Not to mention the overwhelming darkness . Iceland is formidable. Beautiful and frigid at the same time. What about people then? I think some of them are cold as ice and as the weather here doesn't pamper you often its indeed very hard to break this ice which is rather thick than thin. I can tell I have friends in Iceland but the fact is none of them is Icelandic though. Let's just wait for the thaw.

Ups and downs

Eating sheep heads with the crazy priest

Me and my cherie Sarah


Life - ain't easy especially when you r still at the beginning of the process called adjusting to living abroad. Btw Bjork's concert was impressing, amayzing, awesome, epic, great, wonderful etc etc. Well she is a creator, and she is a living legend at least for me. Every time I listen to "Joga" , I feel enthraled and brought into another reality to the world of pure ,sheer and intangible emotions that are filling my blood with molecular energy. Sounds crazy.Doesn't it ? Not crazier than the priest I've met. Have u ever met a priest (ok he is not a catholic priest but still)who, dances incessantly for 3 hours without any breaks?Without being sloshed, mind you. I bet ..not! I'm down in the dupms today I'm not satisfied with how things are going on around me. I would like to feel more useful and needed at work, because when you are not doing anything that enriches you whatsoever, you lose all of your energy. Laziness is like a vampire who sucks all of the blood out of your body. That's how I'm feeling as if I were burning out a bit. Nevethless I'm not going to give up so easily now I'm not only a Pole who drink vodka straight fromn the bottle but also a viking who rock the dance floor.

Peaceful sunday
On Sunday me and my new flatmate Dana from Moldova, visited Fred (half icelandic, half american musican and painter). He showed us what he has been working on for his whole life not only drawings but also music. The music he composes resembles trance and ambient style. He was also impressed by my English. Nowithstanding that I heard it, I still feel like having a large hurdle in my head that prevents me from beliving in my skills. Anyway it was flattering to hear I'm having a really good accent when speaking English. My Sunnudag was crowned by listening to SUNNUJAZZ band in FAKTORY and after two weeks of fruitless requesting they finally played my favorite song FLY ME TO THE MOON. TAKK FYRIR GUYS :) CONCULSION- patience is an universal key, that opens every door.

its such a perfect day ....not

Does our happiness depend only upon ourselves? Yeah I think so but still you are able to make people feel either sad or glad. I have that feeling I upset some people by asking them questions I invited for the happy group meeting today. So neither me nor them came outside the room rad or chuffed.summarizing : My debut as a 'psychologist' didn't go well I'm psychologicaly impaired as I graduated from political science and to be honest have u ever met a politican that made you happy? Not really. Do u remember last time I was writing that I'm a bit pampered by people ? it was a hasty judgment since I heard - Your English is not good. Anyways I think crying is good sometimes its better to get rid of bad feelings than to bottle them up inside you otherwise they can fester under the surface and come out doubled.

Everywhere is cow, cow in the east, cow in the west, cow up north, cow down south

People have different hobbies, but it's good to have a passion though. When I went to the countryside I visited a family that collects cows. You can hardly find a place that is not filled with cow gadgets in their cottage. They posses a really huge collection that consist of for instance a flying cow, singing cow, eiffel tower cow, dancing cow and so on. I though people cherish cows that much only in India, but I was proved wrong. The real temple of those black and white patched animals is in ICELAND, but apparently they don't have a real cow , just artificial ones. Plates, mugs ,earing, pajamas everywhere is COW...Also the cows are multi-kulti. There were some that come from Honduras, Germany, France, China, New Zealand and England. One can become too cowish from this excess of muuuuuuuu.

Do swidania

What I love in Iceland the most is that you can meet people from all over the world without even moving your feet out of the house :) This is very haraszo :D Although Polish- Belarusian relations are not good at the moment and we're rather a bit at a dagger drawn with them (Ok maybe I'm going ott right now) it's only about policy and politicians (that seriously make me wanna throw up), not about 'normal' people. Spasiba Belarusian people for your sheer kindness and invitation to Minsk :) Hope to see you soon there.

Prince Polo najlepsze bo polskie :)

I had never liked price polo so I was really suprised that it is so popular over here. But ha what is ironic now I cannot imagine my life without this tidbit as it reminds me of home , when I miss it ;)

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien - I'm a Polish girl in Iceland

I think that they re spoiling me at work. Almost everyday I'm flooded with compliments such as 'Þú ert falleg' or ' þu ert krút' etc. Feels like family sometimes. What about living in a place that you work at? Hmm I must admit it's hard to distinguish when the work starts and when it ends plus it's easy to feel homesick especially at night. To be honest I had never considered myself as a patriot, but when I arrived here i started to appreciate my country more than I could ever imagine that I would. I'm proud to be Polish. No matter what they say about my country I really have reasons to swell with pride ;p Are Polish people discriminated in Iceland? Well where you stand depends on where you sit. Icelandic and Polish people have been co-existing here in Iceland for many many years but the fact is neither Poles nor Icelanders know much about each other's cultures, what is kind of sad. Who is to be blamed for then?Both sides I guess. The funny thing is that we're not cognizant of how much we do have in common.O yes we drink a lot, are both not easy going for the fist time, but well later in time it always turns out we are a great material for friends. Just to be clear in my mind every sign of discrimination, hatred or envy is a result of either ignorance or indifference. If you hate or dislike somebody the real target of your detestation is nobody else but you yourself. Keep it in mind.