decisions

I can never make up my mind about things. I’m very indecisive, I don’t know what I want most of the time and when it comes to making decisions I wait until the last minute. Sometimes when I’m walking to the bus stop I decide on taking the train half way through the long walk to the bus stop just because I feel like it but then realizing taking the train wasn’t such a good idea after all. I can’t even answer a simple question such as “do you want rice or potatoes with that?”.  And when I really don’t know what to do I act on impulse and hope it all works out.

But there’s this certain ”thing” that I’ve never been more sure of. After trial and error I’ve finally come to my senses and finally decided based on many factors and careful consideration that I was sure about it. Everything about this decision felt right, although there are still things to figure out, I am sure it’s what I want. I don’t hope for the best any more, I try to make it work out.

I don’t know if I’m making sense here, but for someone who’s spent most of their life never really sure about anything or what they want, there’s something about it that’s so calming. I know there are other factors that can affect whatever happens but at least in my part  I feel at ease.

Am I making sense?

Denmark.. oh Denmark…

For the past week I’ve been trying to blog, but lately I’ve been feeling errr.. not soo articulate. I dunno why but I have this idea of what I want to write, but while I’m witting it I realize I’m not making sense. I have tons of saved draft blogs that I was suppose to post but never really got to it again. Anyway, this is my errr.. 12th attempt on writing something and I hope it makes sense.

I realized I haven’t really said a lot of nice things about Denmark, with the whole ”this isn’t the right place for me”, but the truth is, there are a lot of things I like about the country. For example:

Free health care: everything is pretty much free from check ups to operations but medicine is something you have to pay for yourself.

Free dental care until the age of 18: I somehow abused this while I’ve been here, I’ve had a lot of dental problems and they fixed it all. But once you reach 18 and you have a cavities, go else where, dental care here is EXPENSIVE!
Free education: from kindergarten to university it’s free for people in the EU except of course for private schools.
Government allowance: see this is one of those things I believed was too good to be true when I first came here. This is how it works, when you’re 18 and above and still go to school/university the government PAYS you a certain amount of money a month depending on your living arrangements/parents income for high school, whether or not you live with your parents etc… and if that isn’t enough you can take a loan from the government that you won’t have to pay back until a year after you graduate (I think?).

There’s also this unwritten rule called ”Jante Lov” which basically states that we’re all equal, you can’t make yourself to be better than anyone else in any way, I mean, you can, but they’ll think that your an asshole. Students call their teachers by their first name and where Mr. and Mrs. doesn’t exist. I have to say, it is less stressful? I dunno, maybe this is just my half-half way of thinking, but whenever I’m in the Philippines I feel ”stressed” when around older people, it’s like, do I call her ”ate” or ”tita”?? Do I do the ”mano po” or just the kiss on the cheek?? I do try to show as much respect as I can. But at the same time, would you consider the Danish culture being disrespectful for not doing so? I’ve heard many Filipina mothers talk about how disrespectful kids are here with calling their parents by their first name or talking back. Anyway, my point is, different countries have different ways of showing respect, it may be different, equality is their way of showing respect, sure there may be kids who talk back to their parents, but I’m pretty sure that’s not only a Danish thing, it happens everywhere else. My main point is, equality is a good thing. [this is me being not so articulate]

Anyway, I do like Denmark a lot, there’s a lot of good things about it but it doesn’t mean there’s no bad things *cough* 25%VAT!! *cough* but yeah, I just thought of witting about Denmark because I was reading some past entries and I realized I wasn’t really that nice about it.

To end this long post, here are random facts about Denmark:

• LEGO comes from Denmark.
• It is legal to have sex with animals (as long as they don’t suffer-they said).
• It’s a very flat country, our highest point is just 171m Prostitution is legal in Denmark.
• Denmark became the first country to recognize same-sex unions (1989).
• Drinking age: none, but to buy alcohol in shops is 16 and in bars: 18.
• Smoking: 18 for buying cigarettes.
• Driving: 18
• Age of consent: 15
• Drinking is a big thing here, there’s no party where alcohol is not present. Even in school parties there’s ALWAYS beer.
• Speaking of beer, Tuborg and Carlsberg is the biggest Danish beer company!

OK I can’t think of anymore facts.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

unwanted advice

At some point in your life you have probably gotten unwanted advice from someone, mostly from people who are half a decade older than you, since they’ve lived longer and experienced more things and all and they’re “trying to help” but seriously, one thing I’ve learned is that people don’t want advice unless they ask you for it. I know they’re trying to help and all,but you’re not helping! There’s a big difference between words of wisdom and being a smart ass.

Whenever I get unwanted advice, I do the smile and nodding of the head thing, but deep inside I hate it. I hate that they feel like they have just taught me something that is life changing or enlightening or helpful even when its the total opposite.

I usually don’t care about unwanted advice, smile and nod and that’s it. But lately there’s this person who’s been pushing my buttons and my parents as well. It’s worse for them since they’re being told how they’re “bad” parents. And my parents are anything but bad parents, they showed nothing but love and support even at times when I felt like I disappointed them.

It reached to the point that even my name was advised to be changed. There’s only soo much smiling and nodding I can do. So in the most polite and diplomatic manner I told this person to shut up and leave me alone, I don’t like conflict, I really don’t but it has come to the point where it became hurtful and just plain rude. So, if you were in this situation would you have done the same? Or just smile and nod?