A pale, thick haired, scandinavian viking suddenly wakes up in a foreign environment. Even if some things do resemble what his blue eyes are familiar with, many things are different. There's a sun rising in the morning, staying up in the sky all day, eventually descending when evening comes. However this sun seems to stay up longer, and the heavy clouds he's used to seldom appear here, but when they do they tend to leave a ton of winter. Usually it melts into summer the day after. Yes, the sky is mostly blue during daytime, and the stars at night helps him navigate between different beds. He's not perfectly sure where exactly he is, what's behind the enormous mountains in the west and how far away the nearest shore is in this desert-like country.
One thing that amuses him is the great range of different mead he can find here. There are also an infinite variety of breakfast cereals, but unfortunately no filmjölk (cultured milk). He finds the coffee a bit too transparent, but notices that he generally gets more coffee for his coins. So perhaps it evens up. Cups marked "S" seem to be equal to those marked "XXL" back in Scandinavia. However he cannot decide if that's entirely a good thing.
Initially people seem to be staring or at least looking closely at him when he walks down the windy streets. He values shoes that are comfortable for walking and jackets that can take a lot of wind and darkness, and even if the Cowboys also seem to dress to stand the weather, they still appear more stylish. Not the apparent ergonomic scandinavian look.
There are also things he needs to learn about social interaction. He has no trouble understanding "Howdy", but greetings like "What's up?" initially makes him dizzy. He soon realizes that the question doesn't ask for the long version of what he is up to as the cowboys seem to reply with another "What's up?" or "Hey". But he also notices that alarmingly many replies with a "Not much". It's confusing for a viking.
However, he likes what he experiences and what he sees, and most of all he enjoys the company of the cowboys he hangs out with. It's a sweet adventure by the foot of the mountains. Little by little he adjusts to wild west life, his stiff ergonomic viking manners blending together with refreshingly light hearted cowboy ways of living. Donuts suddenly combine with porridge, a shell jacket gets some fur, a cowboy hat grows horns and the coffee turns dark and thick. "Wow, that's awesome", says someone, almost every day. "Wow" replies our Wowboy with a gentle nod.
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“Hi, can I crash on your blog?”
Blog surfing by Petter Hanberger
This is the story of my Boulder experience, and it’s a tiny experiment in collaborative communication, or guest blogging if you like. I’m hoping to find a new blog to crash each week, and contribute with a post that’s relevant for the specific host. If you know someone who’s blogging on animals or outdoor adventures, please let me know.
Stay tuned.
/PH
Previous episodes:
9/11/2011: INVOLUNTARY OFFLINE MODE,
hosted by Watch, Think, Make/Siri Johansson
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