(no subject)

[queenriley]

To my Icelandic friends:

You may not like living there, but here's something I found VERY interesting... which just goes to show I'm not completely insane for wanting to live there.

The 2003 U.N. Human Development Report, which lists the quality of life (including per capita income, education levels, health care, and life expectancy) of the nations of the world, came out Tuesday. The top 20 are as follows:
1. Norway
2. Iceland
3. Sweden
4. Australia
5. Netherlands
6. Belgium
7. United States
8. Canada
9. Japan
10. Switzerland
11. Denmark
12. Ireland
13. Britain
14. Finland
15. Luxembourg
16. Austria
17. France
18. Germany
19. Spain
20. New Zealand.

Myself, I think Canada and the US need to switch places, seeing as health care is FREE there, meaning NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON is without health care, which also happens to be of rather good quality. Unlike the US which has the best health care money can buy... and oh boy do you need a fortune to get it. A few million of us are living without health care, which makes quality of life and life expectancy go down quite a bit... so erm... I'm firm in the belief that US and Canada need to switch places. Yup.

So I'm not nutters for wanting to live in Iceland. It ranked number 2! That's pretty impressive, since it's 2 out of 175 countries.

So, my dear Icelandic friends... Hildi, Halla, Ulfar, Elin, and all those whom I know of in passing but don't talk to much, or who might know of me thanks to those lovely 4, be proud of where you live. Be excessively proud that you live in Iceland.

And to all the Canadians reading this: Not every American thinks the survey was entirely correct, and not every American thinks we are better than you... because I sure as heck think you've got the idea much better than we have.



Editorial comment: This was not meant in any way to anger American citizens. I happen to be one myself. I know all my friends are well aware of the fact that I would like to live elsewhere, and they are also well aware that when I can, I will be moving... though that may be 20 years from now, I just don't know. No need to get angry, no need to yell and tell me to leave if I hate it so much. Rest assured, I will. For now, I'm mostly happy to live in the US, where at least I have a chance at some things I wouldn't have elsewhere.

Comments

[hildigunnur.livejournal.com]

It is interesting to ponder what it is that makes Iceland rank so high. We do have it great but I know it can be really hard to see it some times :)

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

I'm very firmly agreeing with you about Canada being higher up. The US healthcare system fucking *sucks*.

Re:

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

Living there, having grown up there... that would make it difficult to see. I can totally understand where you lot come from, not liking it sometimes. It just looks awfully good to a poor, below-poverty-line, uninsured, unemployed, pigeon-holed, stereotyped American.

It's almost like immigrants see the US (some of them anyway, at least until they get here). It's the American Dream, only reversed in that it's the American dreaming of getting out rather than the outsider dreaming of getting in. *shrugs*

[partly-bouncy.livejournal.com]

Couldn't agree more. While in Canada, my sister had a severe alergic reaction to hazelnut. She had hives and difficulty breathing. The Canadians (sibling was visiting a Canadian friend at the time so they were with her and my parents at the hospital) took care of her right off, quickly and effieicently and cheaply. Medication was affordable. If she had had that problem in the US with our HMO, she could have been in real trouble... All my American experiences have been bad :/

[notreallyfunny.livejournal.com]

Canada: #1 in being just north of the U.S.

or

Canada to U.S. : We're bigger and we're on top, if this were prison, you'd be our bitch.

This survey doesn't tell the whole story, though...

[jazzqueen.livejournal.com]

They forgot to include the weather and interesting daylight variations... oh, and our being in the middle of nowhere.
I wouldn't feel so darn trapped if I could hop on a train to the nearest big city or even drive South towards nicer weather.
Once you're here, you're pretty much stuck. Going places is pretty expensive.
Also, schools here are pretty slow and tailored to fit Johnny Normal. Above average kids get very bored, and this boredom can lead to behavioural problems (or attitude problems, like in my case).
Discipline is sorely lacking. Icelandic children are abominably rude. I see examples every day at work.
A whole zip code in Reykjavik does not have access to a medical centre, ergo we can only see a GP 'after hours', and we have to pay more for it (as opposed to people who have access to their very own personal GP during the day, and the 'after hours' service as well).
Just, you know, providing balance.
::grins sheepishly::

Re: This survey doesn't tell the whole story, though...

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

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Weather I will give you. However, the cold probably helps in longer life... thicker blood or something like that. And I'd rather have your cold than my heat. Trade? ;)

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<<They forgot to include the weather and interesting daylight variations>>

Weather I will give you. However, the cold probably helps in longer life... thicker blood or something like that. And I'd rather have your cold than my heat. Trade? ;)

<<Once you're here, you're pretty much stuck. Going places is pretty expensive>>

As it is in the US, and that's not even leaving the country. Just leaving a state is time consuming and expensive due to food, gas, lodgings (if needed)... or taking a bus, disgustingly expensive for a slow trip. Taking a train, difficult since passenger trains run through the northeast and that's about it (and they tend to be inter-city, rather than state-to-state). Passenger trains are unheard of here, in fact, they flat out don't exist in the south. Half the places to go in the US you must fly too. Again, ridiculously expensive. It's not all that surprising that most of my Texas born friends have never left the state of Texas, or at most traveled the 4 hour drive over to Lousianna. Those that moved in, like myself, rarely get to leave the state anyway.

<<Also, schools here are pretty slow and tailored to fit Johnny Normal. Above average kids get very bored, and this boredom can lead to behavioural problems (or attitude problems, like in my case).>>

Better to be bored in the Johnny Normal class than tested as above average but shoved in remedial classes because there just wasn't room anywhere else. Better to be bored, but able to read, than to graduate at the end of school and not even know how to read. A shocking number of students in the US (about half of the traditional high school I attended, scarilly enough) graduate school without ever learning how to read. Education, though not supurb in Iceland (I don't think it's supurb anywhere), is better than the US. Here they don't tailor to Johnny Normal, they tailor to the lowest denominator... the dumber the students, the dumber the class, system, and standard become.

<<A whole zip code in Reykjavik does not have access to a medical centre, ergo we can only see a GP 'after hours', and we have to pay more for it>>

That is bad, yes, and I wouldn't want that. How much does it cost? Significantly more? A small fortune? Unaffordable by most citizens? I really don't know what the cost of health care is there, so I don't know about after hour care or anything like that. Still... at least you can get it sometimes without going so far into debt you lose everything you have.

I'm still thinking Canada and the UK have the right idea when it comes to health care. National plan. Free to all.

[jazzqueen.livejournal.com]

Well.
There is a reason I'm not likely to ever move to the US.
Singaporian children, I think it was, learn a whole lot more in their schools than Icelandic children do over the same period of time.
Um, also, I could read the full text of your post as I get non-html emails. So, er ::coughs::
As for health care, I tip my hat to the US. How royally they've screwed up... well to my almost-commie mind.
But, yeah.
Don't try Norway either, people there are exceptionally cheap and the cost of living is very high. My sister lives over there and is married to a local so it can't be too bad, though.
Hmmm.