Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.07.2009, Blaðsíða 4

Sour grape of the month
A case of POLAR BEER for your thoughts.
We're not gonna lie to you: we really love us some beers. Some folks
would call it a problem, but beer never gave us any problems. In fact,
over the years, it's solved most of 'em. A frosty glass of cold, frothy,
bubblicious, golden-tinted beer has consistently failed to let us down.
In the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson: "Mmm... Beer..."
Now, since we're real pleasant and giving folks here at the Grapevine,
we thought we'd share some of that wonderful POLAR BEER with
you, our readers. Henceforth, until the end of days (or our Polar Beer-
sponsorship program, whichever comes first), we will reward one
MOST EXCELLENT LETTER with a case of the Polar Beer. You read
right. A full case of beer. At your disposal.
Give us your worst: letters@grapevine.is
(light)
Say your piece, voice your opinion,
send your letters to
letters@grapevine.is
4
Letters
MOST AWESOME LETTER:
Sour grapes
and stuff
Hello there Grapevine,

I'm from a school called Bathgate Acad-
emy in Scotland. A couple of weeks ago a
few of us came to visit your lovely country
and did the Laugavegur Trek. We stayed
in Reykjavik at the start and the end of the
holiday, and on our second day in Reykjavik
I discovered your newspaper. It's awesome!
Why can't we have newspapers like yours?
Ours seem incredibly dull compared to the
Grapevine.
We've heard a lot about the crisis in Ice-
land at the moment, but keep going guys.
You have a beautiful country full of won-
derful people. I loved ice climbing on the
glaciers and lazing about in the blue lagoon
spa. Keep up the wonderfulness!
While we were staying at Reykjavik City
Hostel we went to an amazing cafe called
Just Food To Go. The chef, Stefan, had been
having a bit of a hard time because of the
financial crisis, but he was still cheery and
doing a great job. If any of you are staying
at the City Hostel get your bum over to Ste-
fan's.
I'm afraid to say, that while in Iceland
I learnt very little Icelandic. I do have one
phrase for you though: Ne hoppipolla! Eg
er vikinger! I hope that's right and doesn't
turn out to mean something really offen-
sive!

Thanks for a great newspaper :)
Imogen, UK
Dear Imogen,
thank you for the kind words about our pa-
per. As for being awesome, and your news-
papers not being awesome, well. I don’t
know what to say. We’re not really a newspa-
per, for one. Also, I’m sure you’ve got some
good papers over in Scotland. Scotland is
so cool. Anyway, we try really, I guess that
counts for something, and we are fortunate
enough to have a dedicated staff of design-
ers, photographers, writers and some of the
best damn interns this side of whatever side
we’re on right now.
Now, as for your Icelandic slang. I re-
ally wish you wouldn’t have written that. Es-
quire is crying as I type this, and I’m think-
ing of packing it in. Thanks a lot, Imogen.
Dear Haukur and Grapevine’s staff,
First of all I intend to congratulate you all
for the excellent job you do with this maga-
zine. It’s really helpful for us, young people
and foreigners who are looking for some
juicy news in an international language.
I’m writing this letter to you to ask your
opinion (and possibly the one of other read-
ers as well) about one issue: the attitude
Icelanders show towards foreigners. It’s
known that Iceland and its inhabitants
are peculiar in more than one trait, but it
never occurred to my mind that racism was
among them. Yet this seems to be the case.
Far from me any implication related to
some sadly well known manifestations of
the phenomenon. According to the Cam-
bridge Dictionary of English, racism is de-
fined as “the belief that people's qualities
are influenced by their race and that the
members of other races are not as good as
the members of your own, or the result-
ing unfair treatment of members of other
races”. These are quite though words, so I
do not want to be misunderstood: I love Ice-
land to the point that I decided to move here
even though the situation is currently not
the best one, and I still strongly believe that
Icelanders are wonderful people, like any-
one else in the world. But I have been disap-
pointed in more than one occasion. Just to
report some facts: in late may I was looking
for a new place where to live. I found an in-
teresting advertisement written in Icelan-
dic and, considered my decent knowledge
of the language, I decided to write an e-mail
avoiding to use English as a communica-
tion’s problem-solver. After two days the
owner of the apartment told me to meet
him at the place for a visit and the contract’s
signature. There the problem began…He
quicky understood from my pronunciation
that I am not a native. He showed me the
place anyway, but with an almost rude be-
haviour that I would have never imagined
from the polite tone he used in his e-mails.
Then he said he had forgot the contract
home, and that we should meet after two
days. That night I got an e-mail saying
the place had been rented to someone else
(does this tell you anything about “unfair
treatment of members of other races”?)
Another fact is that since I got my job I
have constantly been bullied by my boss. If
there is something wrong, apparently I am
the only one to blame. When I was once able
to prove that a mistake had been made not
by me but by another employee, he replied
with a short: “Ha, do you think I will believe
this? You are a foreigner!” (“members of
other races are not as good as members of
your own”).
Sadly, I can also notice a certain degree
of rudeness coming from young people.
For the records, I can easily be taken as Ice-
lander because of my aesthetical apperance;
the point is that anyone who might start a
conversation with me somewhere, almost
immediately backs up when he realize his
“mistake”. What then, am I not worth a
chat only because I was born somewhere
outside this island? Is there any Icelander
who might like someone even if his or her
passport has another country on the cover?
I am sad about it, and I wish these things
came to an end. So what I wanted to ask
you is: do you think I might have been ex-
tremely unlucky and crossed my path with
a bunch of assholes, or will I really be isolat-
ed because of my racial difference? Shortly:
what would you say about Icelanders’ atti-
tude towards foreigners?
Cheers,
Hanna (Netherlands)
Dear Hanna,
Thank you for your compliments, and your
intriguing questions. You actually might
be starting a conversation worth pursuing
here.
Firstly, I encourage you reader types out
there to respond to Hanna’s queries with
your own thoughts and observations. As a
born and bred Icelander, I am perhaps not
the best person to make any sort of judge-
ment on this. So come on, folks, what are
your thoughts on Icelanders’ attitude to-
wards foreigners? Do y’all feel Hanna will
be isolated because of her racial difference?
Send ‘em in.
As for my own thoughts on the matter,
here they are: Yes, you have been unlucky
and encountered a bunch of assholes. For
one, I do not like grouping entire nations
together and assigning them opinions,
character traits, etc. I believe that to be bor-
ing and essentialist and a kinda... racist? I
also happen to know for a fact that there is
indeed a bunch of goddamn assholes in
Iceland, as in any other country. I also know
there is a great big bunch of really lovely,
awesome people over here. But their awe-
someness or assholeness has nothing to do
with their nationality, the colour of the skin
or their mother tongue.
Re: email by Graham Bell ? of June 28th
I was a passenger on the ship that sailed
round Iceland. I would like to apologise
and advise you that his comments regard-
ing whales and puffins were not shared by
all the passengers although his email ap-
peared to indicate that

Sylvia Duckworth
Dear Scumbag who stole my scooter from the
garden behind my house last friday night,
If I ever find out who you are my father is
going to remove your eyes and shove them up
your ass so you, along with me can watch him
kick the shit out of you.
Sincerely, Áróra.
Dear Áróra,
thank you for your lovely, threatening letter, and the accompanying lovely, threatening
photograph. We are sure that the scumbag that was audacious enough to steal a young
girl’s scooter from the garden behind her house is trembling with fear right now, as he
should be. Stealing is rotten, stealing from kids doubly so.
That said, we do hope you realise that violence is never the answer, and neither are
threats of violence (even adorable threats of violence, such as yours). Us at the Grapevine
sincerely hope you aren’t being raised as some sort of George W Bush Jr. We also hope you
find your scooter as soon as possible.
Also, Áróra, even though yours is our most awesome letters, we can’t very well be
bestowing cases of beer on minors such as yourself. That’s why we’ve decided to keep your
prize for you until you turn twenty. Give us a call when you get there.
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