15 June 2007
get to work!
Well, it's summer in Iceland again, which means that we've got a few months where things actually bloom, grass grows for real, and utilities that huddled through the soggy, windy winter needs to be tidied up. Reykjavík's got a handy solution for this, involving all those high school kids for whom the emptiness of summertime stretches long. They're grouped into work teams, and are out planting flowers at the roundabouts, trimming grass, weeding gardens, wheelbarrowing sod hither and thither, and a few days ago there was a line of them painting telephone poles along the highway. It's a pretty sweet arrangement- the parents have something to keep the kids busy, the kids learn The Value of Money and make some friends, and the city gets landscaping.
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3 comments:
I've seen those kids out there slaving away... what a fabulous program. I wish we had such a thing - the kids around here are just shopping hoodlums, bumming around town all day in little clumps, clogging all the downtown shops and walkways.
Watched an awesome program on the travel channel last night about Iceland's fishermen off Westmannaeyjar. They are the most amazing men on earth, to face the sea's conditions such as they do every day... I have a great deal of admiration for them in what they go through so that I and many many others can eat delicious fish (fiskar- yum). Perfectly amazing.
That's a great program. I doubt we have anything like that in Germany because everything is too regulated here.
terry: there are plenty of non-productive kids here, don't worry! It's not like all Icelandic teenagers are models of productivity and perfect behavior.
As for the fishermen here, I think it's a bit different for a lot of them these days but I still do love the fish.
J: I'm curious why regulations would restrict the use of willing and youthful labor, but I don't know much (anything) about German regulations, except that you have to be very careful what day and time you decide to mow your lawn!
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