I decided to take up cross country skiing. I even bought my own skis, etc about 3 weeks ago! The very next day my coworkers invited me to go skiing with them, but 10 minutes after starting they told me I'd better practice in the short loop in front of the university instead of joining them... I'm obviously no natural at it.
Yesterday I went skiing again, and despite feeling a little more confident with those long boards under my feet I'm still quite pathetic. And that's fine... I never expected to fly off in them anyway. But then the other skiers seem to have some expectations seeing the gori pathetically trying to climb a little lump of a hill without sliding backwards. I can't be too mad at them, I guess I could pass off as a Norwegian and hey, they are born on skis! I guess it also has to do with the migrant population here. There are lots of migrants here but they fall into 3 main categories: i) European (including other Scandinavians and mostly Eastern Europeans); ii) South Asians (great majority from Pakistan); iii) Africans (mostly Ethiopians and Ugandans). This means there are very few latin people, or caucasians that not familiar with snow.
So yesterday when I passed a black guy having trouble with his skis, there was another guy helping him out. I gave him an encouraging smile, but he looked back in a way that meant something like "for you this is easy". If only he knew...
Later when I took the bus home 2 latin girls were speaking Spanish... and as I don't get to listen (or talk) much of it here I was immediately drawn to the conversation. Soon one of them said: "You have to be careful with speaking of others in Spanish sometimes... some kids even learn it in school." Little did they know that the Norwegian looking girl next seat was eavesdropping ;o)
Oh well...
Yesterday I went skiing again, and despite feeling a little more confident with those long boards under my feet I'm still quite pathetic. And that's fine... I never expected to fly off in them anyway. But then the other skiers seem to have some expectations seeing the gori pathetically trying to climb a little lump of a hill without sliding backwards. I can't be too mad at them, I guess I could pass off as a Norwegian and hey, they are born on skis! I guess it also has to do with the migrant population here. There are lots of migrants here but they fall into 3 main categories: i) European (including other Scandinavians and mostly Eastern Europeans); ii) South Asians (great majority from Pakistan); iii) Africans (mostly Ethiopians and Ugandans). This means there are very few latin people, or caucasians that not familiar with snow.
So yesterday when I passed a black guy having trouble with his skis, there was another guy helping him out. I gave him an encouraging smile, but he looked back in a way that meant something like "for you this is easy". If only he knew...
Later when I took the bus home 2 latin girls were speaking Spanish... and as I don't get to listen (or talk) much of it here I was immediately drawn to the conversation. Soon one of them said: "You have to be careful with speaking of others in Spanish sometimes... some kids even learn it in school." Little did they know that the Norwegian looking girl next seat was eavesdropping ;o)
Oh well...
Great! I`m happy reading this post!!!
ReplyDeleteLilian