2009.12.24 07:00 - When worlds collide

The Guardian for this meeting was Storm Nordwind. The comments are by Storm Nordwind.

Qt Core: hi Storm
Storm Nordwind: Hi Qt
Storm Nordwind: Good morning Adams
Adams Rubble: Hello Storm and QT
Qt Core: Hi Adams

Christmas Eve has always impinged on my psychic senses, especially as the afternoon rolls on into dusk. I begin by musing on this in my new home.

Storm Nordwind: I was wondering a few minutes ago about 'atmosphere'...
Adams Rubble listens
Storm Nordwind: I was driving my wife to work and wondering whether I would sense the same or a similar feeling in the air as I usually do in the UK on Christmas Eve
Adams Rubble: Big change for you
Storm Nordwind: I wondered how objective it was, or whether I was just imagining the whole thing!
Adams Rubble: and what did you find?
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: I found there's something there, yes, but that it's different. Less 'childlike'.
Adams Rubble: Was that a surprise?
Storm Nordwind: ha! no I guess not!
Storm Nordwind: The sense of wonder is tempered with acquisitiveness!
Adams Rubble nods
Adams Rubble: it is a gift for everything to be new I think
Adams Rubble: at the same time missing the old
Storm Nordwind nods

Yes I am like a child in this new country, and the sense of wonder has not left me.

Adams Rubble: We are really struggling with the commercialism in this country
Adams Rubble: it seems likely to break up soon
Storm Nordwind: Well you have nothing underlying to replace it, it seems. Or do you?
Adams Rubble: Hmmmm
Adams Rubble: I am not sure. It would be a big change in thinking
Storm Nordwind: Yes
Storm Nordwind: And it will take time. It may not happen in a generation.
Adams Rubble: maybe

This time of the year is so different in different places around the globe.

Storm Nordwind: It is interesting to me to spend Christmas in different parts of the world and to taste the different atmospheres
Adams Rubble: There IS old man Dickens behind it all (giggles)
Storm Nordwind: There is? Remember for me Dickens is a fairly modern writer, so that influence is rather recent! ;)
Adams Rubble: :)
Adams Rubble: Scrooge was an environmentalist :)
Storm Nordwind: A conservationist perhaps! :)
Adams Rubble: How many different places have you experienced Christmas in
Storm Nordwind: Hmm...
Storm Nordwind runs out of fingers...
Adams Rubble: :)
Adams Rubble watches Storm finger his toes
Adams Rubble: Hello Eden :)
Storm Nordwind: Good morning Eden
Eden Haiku: Good morning!
Storm Nordwind: Well instead of ennumerating all those places, I do remember loving the atmosphere in Stockholm at Yule. The lights are wonderful
Adams Rubble: Santa Lucia
Storm Nordwind: Yes - a fabulous festival, although fairly modern in its current form
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: It seemed to me that everyone pulled together to make the city a joyful place to be in a Yule. There was no trying to out-compete each other with inflatable Santas bigger than the neighbours. It all blended in harmoniously.

A julljusstake (pardon my poor Swedish) in every window, no matter how humble, is stunning to see.

Qt Core: got distracted, hi Eden
Storm Nordwind's conversation is riveting :)
Adams Rubble thinking of harmony and the rush in the stores
Adams Rubble just had a brilliant idea for what to replace the commercialism with
Storm Nordwind: Oh?
Adams Rubble: imagine there is this little baby, see?
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Adams Rubble: and it has a very humble birth
Eden Haiku: Soory, I was half in the kitchen... turkey ....
Adams Rubble: and the idea is that this brings people together
Adams Rubble: harmoniously :)
Eden Haiku: Just dropped in a little while to wish all happy holidays.
Storm Nordwind: If there isn't a big inflatable reindeer looking on, it won't fly Adams - not in some of the places around here!
Adams Rubble: Happy holidays to you too Eden :)
Eden Haiku: Thnak you Adams ;-)
Storm Nordwind: Lovely to see you Eden. A good Yule to you and yours!
Qt Core: y eden, happy holidays to you too
Eden Haiku: Yes, Qt. You are closer to Christmas's eve aren't you?
Qt Core: yes, 16:36, but being of northern italian origin we celebrate more on the 25 than in 24 night
Eden Haiku: Glad to see you are back in a sweater. Read on the logs that you were a cube for a while...
Qt Core: yes, that got damaged in a big sl crash yesterday... just after some minutes after i got the final goal of my cube av
Qt Core: i was wondering about my upbringhing and ambient, even if i perfectly knows not everybody is chatolic i have this "gut feeling" that tell me that it is weird that there are people celebrating something different or nothing at all
Qt Core: english grammar vanished at my home, sorry
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Adams Rubble: :)
Qt Core: but as i always say i love how international chetting make me feel provincial
Zen Arado: Hi all
Adams Rubble: Hello Zen
Qt Core: hi Zen
Eden Haiku: ;-) A Milanese provincial. No way!
Eden Haiku: Hi Zen!
Storm Nordwind: Hi Zen
Qt Core: well, i'n not exactly in Milan boundary, but from Milan province, i'm provincial ;-)
Qt Core: easuer to say i'm from milan as i'm less than 5km from its boundary

Adams considers on what happens when different cultures mix in a country. This brings up a variety of subtopics, such as "dumbing down", tolerance and sectarianism, and what it's like to be an immigrant.

Adams Rubble: sometimes when many cultures mix, there is a tendancy to for some things to "dumb down" to the lowest common denominator
--BELL--
Qt Core: thinking about international diplomatic dinners and the problems with food tabus from different cultures
Adams Rubble: people needing to celebrate the solstice and the return of the light
Zen Arado: can be enriching too
Adams Rubble: but not really knowing why they are celebrating
Storm Nordwind: Interesting view about dumbing down Adams. That's not what I found in Malaysia.
Adams Rubble listens
Eden Haiku: Yes, it is the deepest meaning of this celebration isn'it? The return of the light .
Eden Haiku: lsitens to Malaysia story
Storm Nordwind: There is a 50% Malay population who are all Muslim there. 25% are Chinese and the rest are Indian. So there is a mix of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism and Chinese folk religion
Zen Arado: does this cause friction?
Storm Nordwind: None of them seem to dumb down, but rather they dance around each other in more of a mutual tolerance, each keeping authentic
Zen Arado: we have more trouble in N.Ireland where there are few migrants
Storm Nordwind: Surprisingly little friction Zen. It would be wrong to say that there was none, but they seem more tolerant than my new home country
Zen Arado: and just two varieties of Christianity
Storm Nordwind: Yes indeed. Or over the water in Scotland
Adams Rubble: sometimes there is most fristion when fewest differences
Adams Rubble: friction
Zen Arado: yes that is what I am thiking
Storm Nordwind: I rather like fristion Adams. I'm trying to think of definitions of what it might mean! ;)
Adams Rubble: on the other hand when mass thinking is being urchased by commercial interests that leads to a dumbing down
Adams Rubble: purchased
Zen Arado: I lived in Sydney Australia for a long time
Zen Arado: most fighting was in factions themselves
Zen Arado: like Chinese gang fights
Zen Arado: and Serb Croat friction
Zen Arado: Stdney was an interesting mix of Nationalities
Zen Arado: they didn't allow black people for a long time
Zen Arado: I was an 'Irish Immigrant' so that gave me a taste of what that is like
Storm Nordwind: Amazing when we move to a new country, we are given a new label that we had previously no consciousness of
Zen Arado: I notice the racism of peole in Ireland
Zen Arado: it is so unthinking
Adams Rubble nods
Zen Arado: so un empathetic
Zen Arado: we are so unused to immigrants but that is changing rapidly
Storm Nordwind: Some people see no need for empathy in their lives, and therefore would not understand the benefits
Zen Arado: they didnt want to come during the troubles
Qt Core: same here and it is sad as for several decades we italians were the immigants elsewhere, so ungrateful
Storm Nordwind nods
Zen Arado: yes Italians wre looked down upon in Australia
Zen Arado: they worked too hard for a start :)
Storm Nordwind: So strange to have someone ask "How does it feel to be a British ex-pat?" And I think "What????"
Eden Haiku: ;-)
Adams Rubble: :)
--BELL--
Qt Core: usually, the ones that go away are the more motivated one... even if only by hungry
Storm Nordwind: Well I notice that some recent immigrant communities are commanding tremendous respect now, on account of their great attitudes, skill and hard work
Zen Arado: do you feel any prejudice against Brits Storm?
Adams Rubble: Peace on earth, good will to men and women :)
Zen Arado: maybe it is our own attitude that is most important
Adams Rubble nods to zen
Storm Nordwind: No prejudice at all Zen. The British accent would take me a long way if I let it! Most people here have a romanticized view of England.
Zen Arado: he he good
Zen Arado: you can become even more British
Zen Arado: play up to it :)
Storm Nordwind: Yeah - that's a trap I've fallen into more than once!
Storm Nordwind: Best BBC accent :)
Zen Arado: :)
Eden Haiku: When I went to live in New York years ago I was afraid my French accent would make me too visible. But everybody has an accent in New York! I felt completely at ease.
Storm Nordwind: haha Eden!
Zen Arado: oh a French accent is so nice :)
Storm Nordwind: Brits love a French woman's accent I'm afraid Eden!
Zen Arado: yup :)
Eden Haiku: Remebering you ex-SL girlfriend Zen? What happened to her, did she vanished into cyberspace?
Zen Arado: Irish have an affinity for French I am told
Zen Arado: more than the English I think
Eden Haiku: Yes, long wars betwen Brits and French people.
Zen Arado: ah she doesn't come into SL so much now
Eden Haiku: ;-)
Zen Arado: I think her RL boyfriend doesn't like me
Eden Haiku: jealous guy?
Eden Haiku: ;-)
Eden Haiku: Isn't that silly? To be jalous of a cube called Qt?
Storm Nordwind: Mostly the English and the French Eden, rather than the Brits as a whole. The Scots like the French because anyone one who hates the English is a friend of theirs!
Zen Arado: a little Eden
Eden Haiku: Oh you are right Storm, I often confound Brits and English and they are not the same...
Zen Arado: I am actually a Brit
Zen Arado: because I live in N.Ireland
Zen Arado: which is british
Storm Nordwind: It's very complicated Eden!
Zen Arado: I think of myself aas British more than Irish
Storm Nordwind: Our passports say "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"
Zen Arado: yes I have a British passport
Zen Arado: the South of Ireland is a different country
Zen Arado: that's where a lot of trouble comes from in Ireland
Zen Arado: some allie themselves with Britain , some with the South
Zen Arado: lesson over :)

We wish each other well and depart.

Eden Haiku: I'm afraid I will have to go back to my Christmas preparations. It was nice talking to you all. Wishing you lots of Yule lights and peace of heart and joy! Well we have the Queen of England on our dollar bills and on our postage stamps, so I'm also part of what was the English Empire. The remnants of it ;-)
Zen Arado: nice talking to you Eden
Eden Haiku: Bye for now!
Adams Rubble: Bye Eden. Have a wonderful holiday
Zen Arado: bye
Storm Nordwind: Bye for now Eden! :)
--BELL--
Adams Rubble: Thank you all. It is time for me to depart :)
Adams Rubble: Have a wonderful holiday :)
Storm Nordwind: Have a wonderful Yule Adams!
Adams Rubble: thanks
Storm Nordwind: If no one minds, I will go and be host to my daughter who has journeyed 25 hours to be here
Zen Arado: I better go
Qt Core: sure storm run
Zen Arado: Bye QT and Storm
Storm Nordwind: The very best of the season to you
Storm Nordwind: Namaste
Qt Core: bye all and have nice times
Zen Arado: you too
Zen Arado: bye