Melting Ice

It has been said that Swedes come across as rude or cold upon first impression. Having lived here for four months I am beginning to understand that this is not the case at all, rather it is a matter of Swedes opening up to you. When I walk into a store I'm not greeted by some hyper fake friendly sales assistant who doesn't leave me alone like back in Australia; of course I find this deeply refreshing and yet also somewhat confusing since I've gotten so used to pesky sales assistants. Nowadays when I walk into a store very rarely am I greeted or even acknowledged that I am there and even though I am still getting used to that, it's a nice change.

Admittedly at first, little miss paranoid over here didn't know how to react to the initial 'Swedish coldness' but after months of scrutiny and observation I have come to respect this behaviour because it is blatantly honest. The old 'guilty until proven innocent' trick, as my mate would call it. And really, why should we feel obliged to fake felicity with people we don't even know or care about? It's not a matter of being deliberately rude to strangers either since they are not rude, Swedes just don't pretend to "care".

This evening I even decided to test my observations somewhat and made myself say hello to every passing stranger on the walk home. I recall going for walks in Canberra and having my thoughts frequently interrupted by passers by, so naturally I thought I'd give it a go here. Most people didn't respond to my pesky little 'Hej', though the few that did seemed almost shocked that I spoke to them - one of them even choked on her reply from surprise.

Is that bullying? Did I just bully people into saying hello to me? I suppose one might say that now I am the rude one and rightfully so. Instead I'm going to keep my head down, concentrate on the rocks and keeping balance. Perfect.