Reverse culture shock of being home – thank goodness I’m leaving!

I think I’m getting very, very annoyed with life and people here… Especially reading these recent news stories in the Edmonton Journal.

A woman who was a passenger in the car of a drunk driver is suing the driver and the bars and bartenders that served him for causing her “irreversible brain damage” after crashing the car. His blood alcohol level was DOUBLE the legal limit! (Legal limit in Canada is 0.08%. In Sweden it is 0.02%)

“Shannon Paige Prosser is suing Lux Steakhouse&Bar, Fluid Lounge and the bartenders… claiming they continued to serve drinks to the driver, “when it was clear, or ought to have been clear, that (he) was inebriated.”

What about her responsibility?!?? She could have stopped him from driving, called the police, OR not got into the car herself. How is it no one else’s fault but her own? I might have felt a little bad for her until now. It’s lucky he didn’t kill anyone! I really hope this one is thrown out of the courts, at least for the bar and bartenders.

And this… Article about the deep-fried chocolate bars at the Taste of Edmonton food festival downtown.

“In the old days, the only way to store food was to eat it and store it on your body as fat,” said Power, a researcher at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “To facilitate that, our brains developed systems to reward us for picking foods that converted easily, such as fats and sugars.”

No shit?!!?? We like eating fatty and sugary foods? Who doesn’t know that? But this is the funniest part of the article:

“In other words, it’s not your fault.”

“They’re giving us deep-fried Mars bars because that’s what we want. Unfortunately, they’re not making us climb 15 flights of stairs to get them.”

So it’s no one’s fault they’re fat – all those excessive calories forced down their throats were not their doing! And they should MAKE you climb 15 flights of stairs?? Isn’t it our own responsibility to climb those stairs ourselves to balance the calories we consume??

This total lack of personal responsibility really burns me up! I see it everywhere, including at my workplace. I won’t comment much more about my workplace here, but I will say it’s a rather commonplace problem and attitude in the workforce. I feel that’s the problem with Canadian society – I can’t comment on other societies – is that people don’t take responsibility of their own actions and life. Unhappy and unfulfilled at your job? It’s your boss’s fault! Your wife’s fault! Definitely not your own fault, that you didn’t think through and plan a career that you might actually enjoy while being a beneficial person of society, that you got into debt to buy a lifestyle and things you can’t afford…

I think it’s a good thing that I’m leaving this country, at least for awhile!

4 for 4!

I got into all four industrial design schools I applied for! Including my first choice in Umea, Sweden! Feels good knowing that other people see some potential in me, and that I’m not completely out to lunch. Handed in my resignation at work, and I received a whole range of responses from extremely supportive and excited for me, to baffled, to downright negative. There are a few things I can conclude:

1. Most North Americans don’t know the difference between Sweden and Switzerland! I know they start with the same 2 letters and they’re both neutral countries, but I am really shocked that this many (mostly educated) people don’t know the difference.

2. If I plan to do anything that deviates from the norm, it really is best to keep it to myself until it’s underway, as there are a lot of negative people who will rain all over your parade.

The responses upon hearing that I’m studying industrial design in Sweden: “You speak French?” “Uhh…?.” “Or what do they speak there?” “Swedish” “They have their own language?”

“Won’t it be more expensive?” “Some things are more expensive, but some things” “What do they use there, the Euro?” “No.” “Oh, the (US) dollar then!”

“But why would you want to do that?!” As according to some, I already have a degree and a good paying job, so why would I want to do anything else even if I found the work boring? Fun is what your hobbies are for!

“Don’t you have to be creative to do that?” And how do they know I’m not? Because the job I’m in right now, I don’t get to express any iota of creativity perhaps?

“Isn’t it competitive?” Implying that it’s not because I got in?? Pretty insulting.

“Well, what are you going to do after you graduate? Will you be able to find a job in Sweden afterwards?” Wow… so I need to have the next 25 years mapped out like they do? Get job, work at same company until retirement, then die?

But I did get some positive words from a few people, such as, “good on you for going after what you really want!”

Per just left today, so it’s been a busy but amazing month of travel in western Canada which I’ll have to update on later. In the meantime, I have so much to prepare before I move! Per posted some great photos of our western Canada travels on his blog here (including his stopover in New York):

http://www.resdagboken.se/Default.aspx?documentId=81&userId=197319&section=myimagegalleries&journeyId=358519