The other day I was browsing Facebook when I saw yet another baby gender announcement along with the baby name on my timeline. Now a few years ago this would’ve been nothing strange to me. I know girls who have picked out their future baby names years before they have even met the baby daddy. So knowing a baby name well before the baby is born, that used to be totally normal to me.
And then I moved to Iceland and learned an entirely different way of life.
And by different way of life I mean things like enjoying drinks with this kinda view! :)
So how does this baby having a name already and the different way of life I have learned about since moving to Iceland have any connection??
Bear with me, there is a point I promise!
You see, in Iceland babies aren’t named until they are anywhere from a few weeks to a few months old. My first month in Iceland I actually attended one of these baby naming events, and I remember I could not get over how strange it was that the two month old baby did not have a name! What were you supposed to call it during those two months, just baby?
During these past two years I have seen lots of babies enter this world, both my friends in Iceland and my friends back home. This means I have seen two different approaches to the whole baby naming game. Up until recently I could not get pass the no baby name thing, I even had told H we would be choosing a name the “American way” years down the road when babies where in the plan.
But as I was reading this baby announcement I started thinking, this is so strange that the baby already has a name! How do they know for sure that the baby will look like a Brooke once she is born? She may come out and look like a total Sophie and then what are you going to do, you have already told everyone her name and decorated everything with it!
This realization made me stop and think… have I left my American cultural traits for Icelandic ones??!
It is just a fact that when you move somewhere new you will pick up on some of the local cultural traits. These traits may be something you probably don’t even realize you now do, which was defintely the case for me.
So I started thinking, what other cultural traits have I picked up while in Iceland? Other than my all black wardrobe.
When I started thinking about it there were actually quite a few things that I now do that just a year or two ago where traits that totally confused me about the Icelandic culture.
Let’s talk about a few examples.
Small talk
Small talk, small talk used to be my jam. I could walk into any room and start up a conversation with anyone. The longer I have been living in Iceland though, a place that does not do small talk, I find myself avoiding small talk as often as possible.
What kind of American am I?!
This new trait of mine became very clear to me last summer when I was heading back to Oregon. While waiting in line at the airport listening in awe to all the Americans speaking around me a nice man turned to me and asked me how my travels had been. I instantly felt uncomfortable and thought, “ugh why is this stranger talking to me?” I gave a short answer and then moved away.
Right after this happened I couldn’t help but laugh as I had just experienced a situation I hear my Icelandic friends talk about all the time. They are always telling me how uncomfortable they get in the states with all the small talk. I used to think oh but it is so fun to have small chats where ever you go. Now look at me, just the simplest exchange of conversation has me totally frazzled!
I will note that within just a few days back in Oregon I was chatting up a storm with the grocery store cashier, so I think that small talk trait is still in me, I have just toned it way down for when I am in Iceland.
Cheek kisses
Oh the charming European greeting of cheek kisses, how they use to confuse me! Every time a cheek kiss greeting was heading my way I started panicking, my mind racing with thoughts all over the place on how to handle the incoming kiss.
Do I turn my head to the right or the left? How close is too close to the cheek? Do I make a kiss sound or not? What if we both turn the same way and kiss on the lips!? What are the rules for cheek kisses?!
Seriously, I was the most awkward person ever when I would greet people, I never knew which way to move so instead I would just stand totally still and let them do all the work.
Oh how times have changed.
Now I think I might be a bit too over enthusiastic about my cheek kisses. I just go for it and throw a cheek kiss in to all my greetings without waiting for the other person to go for it first. I really need to leave my cheek kiss habit at the European border, nothing is more awkward than when I accidentally throw in a cheek kiss when I am back in America!
Filling in my Eyebrows
Okay, not just an Icelandic thing, but I use to always joke with H that I always knew when I arrived to the airport gate for Iceland by all of the ladies eyebrows. They do not mess around with the eyebrows here, doesn’t matter if you have white blonde hair you can bet they will have dark colored eyebrows filled in perfectly.
For the first year I was just totally confused by this look. All my life I hated my darker eyebrows, especially in the summer months when my blonde hair turned super blonde but my eyebrows stayed dark brown. I was alway self conscience of my darker eyebrows feeling like stick out like a sore thumb. And yet here I was living in a country that embraced the darker eyebrow look, maybe I needed to as well?
And so, after spending my first year with ratchet looking eyebrows I decided it was time to step up my eyebrow game and dove into the world of filling in my eyebrows. Let’s just say my first few attempts were not the most successful.
Thanks to my mom (seriously I will never not need my moms help!) I now have the whole filling in the eyebrows thing figured out. I can’t believe it took me so many years to do it. I am pretty low maintenance when it comes to doing my make-up but I can not leave the house without having my eyebrows done!
Eating with Two hands
Again, not something that is just Icelandic, but this is one trait I never had been around until moving to Iceland. I will forever remember my first dinner with H and his family, I felt like they were all so proper holding their knife and fork the entire time while they ate. Now I grew up in a house were table manners where strictly enforced, but never did we eat with both utensils in hand at the same time.
I tried to copy them but I was just not coordinated enough to figure out how to hold two utensils at once. Have you ever tried to eat a burger with a knife and fork?! That is a talent right there, one that everyone in H’s family seems to have down except me.
Two years later and I have to use both utensils when I am eating. How else am I going to get everything on my plate without using both a knife and fork to scoop it up?!
My Grandpa actually pointed this new trait of mine out to me when I was back in Oregon. He told me he remembered from when he was in Europe how everyone used two utensils while they ate. I hadn’t even noticed I was doing this until he said something. It feels really strange to me now when I try and eat with just a fork, I have to have that knife in my other hand!
I still tend to make a mess of eating a burger with my knife and fork, but I am always improving my skill.
Totally random thing I know, but think about it, do you use two utensils when you eat or one?
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The point of this list, your surroundings can really shape you!
I find it so interesting the different things I have picked up just because of the actions of those around me. Now if only I can get the Icelandic language trait down!
Question of the Day?
Have you picked up any traits from the area you live?
