THIS IS THE ICELAND OF THE POOR | The B side
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- čas přidán 22. 04. 2023
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I live in Jamaica. It’s hot, expensive, crime ridden, with poor utilities, roads, schools, and hospitals. Plus many of the people are rude and dishonest. Even Iceland looks good from here.
Dishonesty is everywhere. People are people, whereever you go I'm afraid. But at present time, the dishonesty is amplified by the stunning failures in economics, politics and media. While it might seem worse in lower income countries, the lies get exponentially greater and more destructive in the so called rich countries. Which aren't really rich, considering the monetary system built on debt is slowly but steadily collapsing. This is what happens when deregulate the financial industry and you give banks total and utter control over society. Of course, the whores in the media quickly came to the rescue of the elites by calling the runaway inflation transitory at first and then when even the most gullible people realized it's not transitory, they coined the phrase 'cost of living crisis'. That way, they can blame it on a scapegoat like Trump or Putin.
But the truth is of course the Western World is in stages of collapse and decay. So while it might seem better in the West, the stench of the rot and lies is exactly the same.
@@harryireland1935 I largely agree.
@@harryireland1935obviously you have never spent time in the third world. Your diatribe is such 1st world elitism and is pretty offensive to the life experiences of the commenter that you could never fathom let alone comprehend..
That said Trump 2024! 💯And o agree with your points.
@@anotheryoutubechannel4809 Just another dumb American, lecturing the rest of the plebs on how to think, speak and act. Here's a tip for you, if you're offended by something, just suck it up and go do something else. Don't go telling people how offended you are. The rest of the world laughs at the current state of American society.
I live in England and I'd much rather live in Iceland.
as an antisocial hermit who hates sunlight and loves freezing snowy weather, iceland sounds like an absolute win
bruh from april to september the sun barely sets
Your skin is BROWN RIGHT?
I agree.
N.Iceland
And must have butt loads of money
I was stationed in Iceland in 90 and this country boy from the Ozarks first forgien experience. The wind can get pretty strong as I've been picked up off the ground by my parka hood and carried a few feet, also been blown down several times. Getting out of a vehicle with a tail wind catching the door can push it all the way forward into the fender. Beautiful scenery, gentle people, interesting culture, much respect.
All of the rental cars there have a crease in the drivers door where the wind caught it and blew the door so wide open that it damaged the door.
I can understand why Icelandic has so many different words for wind like logn (no wind) and blær (gust of fresh wind) and gola (gentle wind that is warm and constant) and rok (strong wind) and vindur (the word that means wind in general) and the name of the wind Kári as the wind himself is called Kári in Icelandic - nafnið vinds er Kári! I highly recommend learning Icelandic + Norse + Gothic and Dutch and Norwegian as these languages are the prettiest languages ever created and are way too pretty not to know, as pretty / refined / poetic as English! Icelandic is very easy to learn, having a category 1 pronunciation and a category 2 spelling - I am upper intermediate level in Icelandic and Norse after learning them for about 3 to 6 months! Icelandic and Norse and Gothic are the most Alpha languages ever - they are so heavenly and magical, and they are perfect for lyrics and art, just like English and Dutch and Norwegian, and the sound and aspect are so modern and so cool!
Fellow Missouri boy. Respec
Happy memories to forget.
Please, please, please don't let the Muslims in.
In my early 20's, I lived in Iceland a year, but thought seriously about staying. I assiduously studied the language, made progress, and discovered how deeply connected to me my Icelandic friends became. Winter is an issue, of course. As a New Englander (Massachusetts), however, winter was a familiar companion. And I adapted easily. The long dark nights were extraordinary. Spontaneous parties with much drinking increased then. And, because of that, I will not touch vodka ever again. To adapt, one must give of oneself as the culture & people, seeing that, give to you. Given a choice, I will return to Iceland.
Thank you for sharing that!
i'm from New England and was just in Iceland. our dark nights here do not compare to theirs. And those grey skies and cold? Whew!
Bostonian here. I chat often with a guy from Iceland, and we, from time to time , talk about the volcano activity. It is dangerous but beautiful to see and experience. Iceland is on my bucket list.
@@mrdm1967ify hi Boston 👋
Are the people just "offshoots" of Norway?😮
I am an American who lived in Reykjavik for 3 years. You don’t need to speak a single word of Icelandic as about 95% of the population speaks fluent English. The worst things about the country is the weather and how expensive it is. Crazy offensively expensive. Young people come from other countries to find work and then find out it’s so expensive they can’t live there.
I guess they have high salaries
An old man once said, " We human can live without TV or radio or even furniture in most cases but we cannot live without people."- this country just needs more people that is all, and to do that , they have to build more and more places and bring may be a million people from abroad where they can stay in one big city close net and some sort of gathering, this will reduce the suicide rate and all others, but given it tough wheather and loneliness and also expensive with the government not doing anything about it , i guess it will remain this way for a thousand year until only those creeping reptiles lives there , ha ha ha. The reason London and others are so popular is because there are too many people, go to leicester square and how people site around so nicely in the square and then some go to cinemas and then some even go to casino others to brothels and basically the show is on and because of it all and the people there in causes other rich men from abroad to keep coming and coming and coming, it is basically a magnet for the whole world and this is what Iceland needs but where will be find politician in iceland who has the brain???
@@juanjotsthey do. Have too.
Locals tell you, say it Allll the time how expensive it is.
It's the NYC of Scandinavia
I've been there 3 times for a total of 20 days. i love everything about that place, EXCEPT, the cost
If i can figure out how to live there and not work or work part time, i'm on the next plane.
As it stands, Thailand is what i can afford
Lots of indirect racism too, I worked there for 2 seasons in guest relations and every white person gave me sneering looks and had 2 incidents of people telling me where I’m from and I shouldn’t stay there.
Where was the part about the poor of Iceland? You spoke about the bad weather, the difficult language and the fact that people have a difficult time with depression, but I missed anything about the poor of Iceland. Did it get lost in translation?
Clickbait....whether deliberate or accidental I'm not certain.
Its point of view annual salary is 27355€
Yeah average salary is low and prices high. Bad equation.
@@kipponiThey still have a superior quality of life when compared to the US. Their taxes provide their healthcare, education, their social safety nets, and good infrastructure, so there's no need for a large income to live.
@@msr1116 Obviously it was deliberate.
I was stationed there. It is really fun, but really expensive. I am a pilot and I remember taking off at Keflavik with sunny skies and coming back two hours later with blinding snow storms.......One day I was flying with some Icelandic pilots and I was making an approach down to minimums with a 35 kt crosswind and I turned to them and asked "how do you guys fly in this"?, they laughed and said "we don't"! ha ha ha
😂😂😂
If you have a 35 kt crosswind on landing, but it's in Iceland, do you immediately think of 'puffin-ing' instead of crabbing? 🤔
I hear Greenland's tougher.
@@MJ19438 Never crabbed in the P-3, always wing down top rudder. You couldn't do this in commercial flying becasue everyone in the back of the plane would be barfing....ha ha ha
@@grantbratrud4949 never been there, but I can imagine.
Me and my family moved away from Iceland over 8 years ago. Now, with the news of corruption, economic mismanagement and skyrocketing prices, we literally give our thanks every day that we moved away. Smartest thing we ever did.
And where would you move to? What country is better managed and less corrupt than Iceland? Name one and I will move there.
@@kingjayapalaI believe Iceland is (or has at least until recently been) the most corrupt of the 5 Nordic countries. (That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a big problem, though.)
What country did you move to?
Curious as to whether you stayed with a cooler climate or went for somewhere warmer.
I live in a place where our winter is warmer than summer in Iceland.
@@fenixrising75Ireland 😅😅
Don't forget the crimes growing sky high also.
I lived in Iceland for a year in my early twenties. I would never, ever, had stayed more than the year I had originally planned for. It has some great attractions: nature is ever present and beautiful, though harsh and really really cold; it´s quiet and practically silent, so if you come from a crowded place the first few months are heaven; and people are nice and tolerant, hardly anyone is agressive or unpleasant. BUT, the negatives outhweigh the positives for me very quickly: prices are sky high and salaries are not a great deal, so we´re talking Norway prices with English salaries. Most people in my age bracket would spend their ENTIRE salary on alcohol, it was wild. Plus, nature may be beautiful but the weather SUCKS. My best friend was from Bournemouth and he said English weather felt tropical in comparison (in the middle of the fking SUMMER the max temperature is 15 celsius). And the culture is just... cold. These are some of the worst conversationalists in history, it´s practically impossible to have a proper conersation with someone you don´t know because of how shy and mute they are, and the only exeption is when they get drunk, as it´s the only way they know to open up. So all in all it´s depressing after a while,
That being said, I´ve made some good friends, and just like anywhere, people are people so you can always find someone amazing, charming, etc that breaks all stereotypes.
Well said and truthful.
Very similar to the Finns I know. It's all about the booze. They can't talk without it. When they do, it's great, but when they get sober again, they become closed people as before.
@@castronator-mu3ye many Americans can be similar, especially midwesterners. If you are emotionally closed off or live in a culture that does not value expression then this is the result. Italians, Latin Americans, Greeks, French, Spaniards, Jews don’t have this problem. Germanic, Nordic, Scandinavian, Baltic countries have this problem.
Sounds a lot like my country Finland
Maybe it's just you?
When you are surrounded by billionaires, the millionaire is poor. This is not a joke and this is actual poverty.
I've a friend who went to Iceland and he told me 'imagine how cold it could be - and then understand that it's much colder than you can imagine'
iceland is not that cold at all. all time record low is -39,7 celcius. this is a normal winter day where i live in northern quebec. -51 celcius is record low in my area.
Minnesota is colder.
@@chrisx5127
Great comparison....pick the coldest place you can think of and say what about......
So is Alaska
@@stromghouls Yea Insanely warm compared to Neptune.
I went to Iceland about 10 years ago in mid July, I left 28 degrees in England and landed in 10 degrees in Iceland, the locals all told me it was an unusually bad summer but it didn't matter to me I loved every minute of my time there, the nature was wonderful and the people even better.
I was surprised when the narrator said wages are very high, yet some of the examples given in the video were on the low side.
I reckon. 38 grand salary these days is insanely low. Maybe he meant low instead of high haha. I'm gonna be honest here i hear a lot about "the wages are low and it's expensive but that's the price you pay for a beautiful country that's safe". I live in a country that's described like that and I don't think it's pretty or safe here at all. Statistically where i live the murder rate is the same as the UK and much higher than Japan, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, China, Switzerland, Germany etc
Yeah, I wonder where these wage number come from. He didn't source it at all.
I make over $40k a year as an un-educated, low-experience aid at a kindergarten. Not working full-time.
I can maybe wrap my head around these wage numbers if they are supposed to be after tax, minimum wage for their jobs.
@@Magni87nákvæmlega, smiður er með miklu meira en 4.5 milljónir t.d
Given that education is state paid through university, and healthcare is also state paid, that small salary needs to go only to food, shelter and transportation. It still seems low but be sure to "normalize" the income and outgo.
I have been living in Iceland for more than 4 years now (moved from Toronto) and I agree with a lot of people here that this is a very expensive country to live in. However, salaries do make up for it. Learning the language is not necessary (at least in my experience) but is definitely helpful to integrate more into the society and maintain connections with people. I notice that Icelanders do appreciate it a lot when they see a foreigner learning the language. One thing that I have been struggling with (til to this day) is the lack of sunlight during the winter months (late Oct-May). But after living here for a while, I learned that if you make the most of the summer months hiking out, absorbing sunlight, and just being with nature, you´ll definitely look forward slowing down in winter months and do your indoor hobbies. Similar to Canada, majority of the people here are snowbirds, flying down south to Spain or Tenerife during the winter months.
That being said, I do enjoy living here atm but who knows how long will that last :)
Should still learn Icelandic though?
..then something is lost in translation concerning wages. 32k for a carpenter; 40k for a painter; 51k for an electrician? REALLY?? Perhaps it's after tax income.
@@alanguages If you're really planning on staying for longer - yes. I mean, you will always remain an outsider (in Iceland almost everyone has some sort of social or family connection) but it will be easier to blend in and forge connections on a deeper level. Like Israelis use their army service as a conversation starter, Icelanders will often break the ice by talking which school they went to and in most cases someone will always know someone that you could have come across earlier in your life. You went to school with them, played together football, worked with etc....If you're a foreigner you're automatically excluded from that.
Was in Iceland in 2021 for my birthday. I love that country, so beautiful and all locals so kind. We rented a camper and had leftover food. I felt bad throwing it so asked these two kind locals where the nearest food bank was. I recommend others to do the same. ❤
Oh you are such an amazing person, such caryng person you are cause you didn't throw the food away. Because your good heart didn't allow to throw that food away while there are hungry people in the world, that's why you are so amazing character in this story. I hope I can become a great amazing person like you one day.
Been to Iceland just for 7 days and and i must say it's bloody expensive to live there no doubt about it. Much love and respect from NYC. Exceptional content.
Yooooo, when someone from NYC says that... Damn👀👀
Very true. But icelanders today, we are like the icelandic Trolls in the past, we live on tourists. ;-) Icelandic Troll in the past tokki more litterally. :-)
@@ILIJA2002 🤙
@@heimirhkarlsson 🤙
It seems that Ireland and Iceland are having very similar problems. Too expensive to live, not great weather, lack of opportunity... I hope that soon this will change for both countries
Ireland and Iceland are promoted by their governments as warm and friendly 😂😂
Can you sort something out with the weather please.
Same thing in Miami Fl low wages high rent!
There is a huge difference between those two countries. Iceland is a very isolated country, so it is not viable to have any big industries there. Therefore, there are no well paid low to medium skill jobs.
@@philipcooper8297 That's why I said similar, and not identical. There are similar issues facing both countries, and there are different issues facing both too.
I live in Minnesota and have been to Iceland. Iceland is NOT cold, it's very pleasant in the winter.
Lol 😂 you tell em man...Minnesota the ice ring
@@plainman9887 Uffda!!
There is the gulf stream that mitigates a lot. But surely summer is very very very colder than minnesota
@@edoardostrambio5496Certainly is. Minnesota gets all the extreme weather.
Compared to deep freeze Minnesoda....it gets the gulf stream sweeping by..It's the darkness Minnie.
I love Iceland, probably because it is similar to home in Alaska but with a very open, sharing culture. Many similar problems, though the added problem of very expensive/inaccessible healthcare and insurance outside of employment. The only saving graces are low tax rates, cheap land to build your own house on (still very possible due to little regulation of buildings at your own risk), endless opportunity for work, and good people.
I live in Northern Canada. It sounds about the same, only I pay 53% taxes on my income.
I spent about two weeks on assignment in Iceland working along locals. They were very nice, spoke fluent English and complained that the young generation growing up with Internet doesn't want to use Icelandic daily and communicate in English with their peers. So the language is not as much of a barrier as the video makes it out to be.
So like every other country in the World.
@@Gumardee_coins_and_banknotesNot at all, people in most places rather speak in their native languages
You understand nothing.
These are facts. 40 years ago it was Danish, now it's English. The younger folks speak more English than Icelandic in a sentence.
@@Volundur9567 I go to Hong Kong, and they use alot of English in Cantonese, I hear the same with Mandarin and Hindi from new immigrants and online. So Icelandic is not the only language, and this is normal.
Iceland is a cool place. The camping and outdoor activities are stellar. I never seen so many waterfalls pouring right into the ocean before. Amazing.
It's not a cool place, it's a freezing place.
@@FlushGorgon Not as cold as people tend to think. Windy though.
My sister and her daughter went there. They loved it ,but as Dorithy said in the Wizard of Ozz. There is no place like home. Travel the World. Have fun and then go home.
Wise of them. I am trying to go back from England for 17 years now 😏
Sometimes you visit somewhere for the first time and it feels like coming home!
I lived in Iceland for some time. As an American, I would say the country is amazing. Very very little crime, clean, extremely friendly people. The climate and weather I didn't mind at all honestly. The little sunlight in winter I did not mind either. My only real grief. The cost of living is through the roof. It's deemed Reykjavik is one of the most expensive capital cities in Europe, and one of the most expensive capitals in the world. Food alone is outrageously expensive. But. If you look. Everything down to grains are imported. You cannot grow many crops in Iceland due to its geography of mostly volcanic rock. The interior of the island is very sparsely populated with harsh climates. The constant looming threat of volcanic eruptions. The island is one mega volcano basically.
It's their home. How about Korea, Japan, or China?
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318~ ~Nigeria has about 219 million people. Over 1 million people living in Nigeria ‘or’ 0.5% (one half of one percent) of its total population are from a continent other than Africa. 800,000 people living in Nigeria are from India, 100,000 are from the United States, 75,000 are from Lebanon, 60,000 are from China, and 16,000 are from the United Kingdom. >>About 99% of the people in Nigeria are “black people” so is there racism in Nigeria because of lack of deversity?>“Personally I found the lack of diversity in Iceland to be VERY upsetting…but I can smell a racist society when I see one and Iceland rings
ALL the alarm bells”
@@maxsteele4555~Yes, I explained that exact thing in my post above ☝️.
I am not sure how a country that only appears to be have fish as a resource has such a high standard of living but well done!
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318When visiting Agr ca I never experienced racism but I smelt it..
For Australians: Iceland is a very advanced country with great housing standards, insulation etc Not more expensive than Australia. And people are nicer, cleaner and not as duplicitous as in Australia or other Anglo countries. I had a great time in Iceland.
The eternal anglo isn't exactly a high bar to pass.
@@gurriato Uh yes it is. White Protestant countries are ranked top in the world.
Everywhere else is a sh*thole, just look at what became of India after they pushed soo hard for independence.
@@gurriato Get stuffed.
As an Australian with brown skin, I second this opinion about Iceland.
Why duplicitious?
I lived in Iceland for 5 years from 1999 ... it has changed so much since the banking issue of 2008 ... and learning Icelandic is a challenge getting past the basics.
How far did you get in learning Icelandic?
Well I was reminded often that I did not speak it as fluently as I thought I did. I would say 85-90% ish 98-99% > in understanding it. I did ok as long as it wasn't overly technical as a rule@@alanguagesa lot of people thought I was a Norwegian speaking Icelandic
I have lived in 9 countries > I do not count the USA as born and raised here or Canada ... and grew up on the Texas / Mexican border. @@alanguages
Icelandic is considered the most difficult of the Germanic languages currently. You seemed to have reached a fairly high level still. There are two places that are very strict on pronunciation. Iceland for Icelandic and France for French. I heard sometimes they tear people apart. @@bhmichigan8731
You must already know Spanish. More languages helps learn the next and doesn't have to be related.@@bhmichigan8731
Iceland doesn’t import all it food. Have you seen the size of those greenhouses! I made an effort to eat as much Icelandic food as possible.
Fabulous place, love it ❤
It’s the largest banana producer in Europe
"I made an effort to eat as much Icelandic food as possible. "
That would be hardfisk.
@@lucylane7397Very interesting!
All the seafood must be harvested by the local fishery industry, I'd suppose. However, the cost of locally grown food may me even higher than import.
I loved Iceland. The scenery and people are fantastic. However, like the narrator raises, I was rather taken aback by the paucity of range in the supermarket. It seriously looked like it had been looted or was on the brink of permanently closing down in some sections. I left it questioning how they remain such an impressively robust people.
They just cull goats and sheep in galore but not to be seen in supermarkets. The head is such a delicacy food for those gourmet and gourmand Icelanders.
It's probably because of the massive increase in tourism compared to what used to be the baseline.
Þorramatur traditional food keeps you going.
It's because they don't have enough locals willing to work in lowest salary shopkeeping, comparing to tourists coming in amount 10x more that Icelanders population (over 3 million of tourists, over 300k of locals). Guess what happens in food supply in season.
Worst that every tourist is demanding and totally not aware of the scale they are building and the fact that stores are the worst paid sector in Iceland, where nobody wants to work. In season permenently understaffed, with less than a minute for 1 customer to serve per hour
For sound reasons, emigrating to Iceland has long been an impossibility. One thing I noticed on a February visit to Iceland one year, was that there were no visibly homeless people. Of course not, I told myself, they would freeze-to-death. So, if there are homeless, the receive some sort of shelter. I suspect that as a sort of socialist state, the poor are far from the poor of many countries, poverty being a very relative thing.
They don't have Democrats rioting looting, exploiting black people and promising welfare for votes.
@@TheBliepbliep The biggest concerns for most of "the poor" in America are 1. Available bandwidth for their phone, 2. Ensuring the ready availability of street drugs. 3. Rampant obesity due to the endless cornucopia of food provided by the taxpayer.
Keep immigration low to Iceland , it’s ruining Europe
I could listen to these tipsy la-di-da MAGA-hat rants all day long...
@@tiltil9442 Alternately, I seldom enjoy condescending, insight less, glib prattle by those who believe that "irony" is the height of wit...
When we visited Iceland in 2005, on our way to Norway, the first thing I asked myself is where's everyone. There was hardly anyone about in the streets of Reykjavik and we saw more sheep traveling in that country than people. It was August and I guess not many tourists since it was expensive in those days. So when we arrived in Oslo it felt like a multitude of people and it was pretty overwhelming at first.
Anyhow, Iceland is a pretty, exotic country and we ate the best ice cream ever. And we're glad we went when we did because it's more popular as a destination nowadays.
Thank you for giving us a realistic understanding of life here. Everyone makes it look like Barbie Doll land. But there's always a realistic side.
Tks too
I never thought of Iceland as a Barbie Doll land. It's ICE land.
Maybe Iceland can host the BarbieVision Song Contest.
I never thought of Bjork as a Barbie Doll type
Spent several days in Iceland during January. It took a bit of time to get used to the four hours of daylight, but it was NOT that cold. We stayed fifty kilometers outside of Reykjavik; the temp never got lower than the low 20s F. We lived in WI for a few years. Winter temps there could reach the lower 20 F there as well….-20 or lower F. Iceland has great people and is absolutely beautiful. I would go back there in a heartbeat.
I'm in the Great Lakes area....the Windy City to be exact, and the low 20F is my limit. Any lower and it gets painful to navigate outside even with a light wind. If cold weather were that much of a deterrent, nobody would be in any super chilly country. People are hearty and adaptive.
Iceland. the only country in the world where someone went to jail because of the GFC in 2008.
Iceland language is so much closer to the old norse viking language. Pretty cool to learn it¬¬¬¬
I try learning it since 3 years because i lost my heart to iceland a bit and I like the language. The spelling itself isn´t the hardest challenge but the grammar I think. And tbh I didnt meet one person who couldnt communicate in english, most even very very good.
My wife and I spent about three weeks in Iceland in 2019. We loved every minute of our time there. If we ever return (and we look forward to that), we'll schedule a trip when we can drive the entire Ring Road.
Ring Road is awesome. Just don't do it in the winter!
The northern part has good outdoor spas
The eastern part has amazing views of the coast line.
And the south east has glaciers that are so unreal, they look fake
@@animated000 I did the ring road in December with my wife. We had a great time. Of course, they had to open hotels/B&B's so we had someplace to stay.
@@tanker6473 my GF and i almost died in the North. No visibility, no guard rails and no traction. I am not exaggerating when i say our tickets almost got punched
Middle of a blizzard, in the hilly north...driving a yaris!!! Parapharasing a conversation
GF: This is bad babe. Are you ok
Me: Yeah, I've been in worse
Me Inside: So this is how Im gonna die. At least my kid knows where the insurance policy is.
Vacations are normally fun anywhere in the world. Not really the same as living in a place.
@@animated000what month did you go ?
Been to Iceland for a week in February of 2019. A lot of wind and vodka; the overall sense of a very small bored to death society living from weekend to weekend next to stunning nature they barely see due to weather and prices. Would come back in summertime though
I absolutely love Iceland but to live there it would be difficult because it’s so expensive economically and it’s cold year round. I traveled there during July summer of 2021 and there were still snow and ice glacier !!! It was gorgeous 🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸
It’s similar to Maine or the American west….not that cold.
@@darbyheavey406 Iceland's position is the same as the middle of Alaska, so think colder and wetter than Anchorage. Maine is still far south compared to Iceland but the coastline might have similar North Atlantic storms.
People think its not cold because it's an island and there is no dry cold that goes under -20°c (-4f) but the constant wet weather and cold coastal winds make being outside impossible without proper clothing. It is always windy, often raining and storms are regular.
The only time that island is close to being habitable are the 3 months of summer and the only reason for that is because the sun is up 24 hours every day and night making the place warmer. Even so it will be windy and rainy and there will be several storms so bring good clothing.
Would make sense there would be ice glaciers still in July since that's the definition of "glacier"...persistent body of dense ice. "Persistent" being a keyword.
@@oddursigurdsson9637 and what of Jehoshaphat?asa begat him but who did he begat?what if he didn't get the girl,walk off into the sunset and what if they didn't live happily ever after eh?hmmm!what then eh?other than that I enjoyed reading the full history of your family tree,included in your autobiography!
@@motormouthalmighty pretty funny but made u read an 3 paragraphs about shitty weather and apparently wrote it so well you didn't skip any of it
1 in every 10 Icelanders is a published writer. Probably because we never leave our fucking house because the weather sucks so much.
Got you again
Im an Aussie, and Iceland was probably my favourite country I've been too
Without fail, we aussies need to proclaim to the world, "I am an aussie!" Why is that? Or, "As an aussie!"😂
@@aflaz171 not sure why 🤔
@@ryanpedersen5722 it is good the reader knows where u r from...not just an 'aussie' thing.
because we're all proud to be living here i guess haha@@ryanpedersen5722
I am not Icelandic but Norwegian and everyone I have asked who has traveled the world has said their favorite country is Australia. Maybe you have something in common? :)
I first visited Iceland in 1971. It was a totally different world/country to this. The only bit of tarmac in the whole country was between Keflavik and Reykjavik. Globalization and. Capitalism changed a traditional way of life too fast. But the language remains the same.... hence the tension between the two.
"Capitalism changed a traditional way of life too fast."
Iceland has always been capitalistic. Socialism is the recent invention.
@@thomasmaughan4798 It used to be tribal and early-feudal as well :)
@@BiglerSakura "It used to be tribal and early-feudal as well"
Agreed. I have Hjálmar Bárðarson's book Iceland: A portrait of its land and people
The favorite sport in the First World is telling everyone how bad they have it in their country while at the same time imagining that everyone else has it so much better.
Iceland is going to blow out it's own flame by valuing the wealth building over a very few people vs supporting its families and young people. With an complex language, a closed kingdom mentality, and an isolated arctic location. It's too bad. Such a beautiful place, such a great people.
Ice;land was the only place in the World where someone got punished for the engineered GFC in 2008. It would appear that Iceland was used by wallstreet to be a scape goat.
@@Mercmad Inside Job narrated by Matt Damon gets into this quite deep. It was far reaching and plenty of corrupt bankers that took it down. The top dogs never served time. Just the small ones.
Agree - I remember thinking the people hold others accountable.
- but, some say it has changed for the worst?
For every poor Icelander, there are 1000 poor Americans
I appreciate the window your videos provide into this rather mysterious land.
Thanks my friend
love your videos. They're always so detailed ❣
Tks my friend
For a tourist from India, Iceland was a fantastic out of the world experience. The Volcanic areas, the glaciers and the bubbling geysers and the waterfalls were enchanting and wonderful.
English was understood by most of the locals. It’s costly , but we could afford it for about 8 days.
Definitely a bucket list place for me.. One of my school friends was born and raised there. I used to live in Minnesota and love that weather. On that point, I would be more than ok in Iceland. I unfortunately would have an issue with learning the language though.
I'm a commercial fisherman and I've often thought about relocating to Iceland with my seiner.
Canada,West Coast Vancouver here.
Love it here but really expensive as well.
Thanks for vid❤
I used to live in Iceland for 3 years. Having traveled in many countries around the world, I realized that Iceland is the place I miss and there I felt truly free. Few people, safe, good economic situation are just some of the many pluses of Iceland. The worst were the long and dark winters, but Iceland's distance to Europe is close so you could always visit some warm country for a few days in winter. Yes, I call Iceland my second home.
Its no good saying `very few foreigners learn the language` thats true of any country, but if you are going to live there you have no choice, no matter how difficult it is.
Without Icelandic you cannot function
Interesting that the grass is always greener on the other side . I live Los Angeles plenty of sunshine good weather and lots to do.. Downside traffic jams, tons of "homeless", high crime , murder, mass shootings and horrible politics.
I wish I only paid 40% in taxes. Every American should actually track the amount of money we pour into this monolithic government of ours. I paid multiple forms of taxes just typing this post.
This video reminds me of the early days of CZcams, or more accurately reminds me of the documentaries on TV in the late-90s to early-2000s. Just good quality, straightforward video journalism.
Language at 4:30. My friend lived in Iceland for 2 years. He really struggled with loneliness since he was learning the language. Fortunately his landlady was fluent in English. He found the country was very closed to foreigners unless they had fluency. He eventually made friends and had a good experience but that was only after a year.
95% of the population speaks fluent English 🤦♂️🤣🤣
@@leprechaun7667 but they want to use icelandic obviously so what difference does this make if they speak english?
@@invasion8318 communication obviously 🤦♂️
This was in the 1970s so not many spoke English like today. And he was an anthropology PhD student, so interviews were done in Icelandic.
@@leprechaun7667 if every person speaks icelandic and there is this one guy who doesn't - guess what? He will get excluded quickly
As many have said already Iceland is a beautiful country with extraordinary natural attractions. The language as stated more than once in this video is not a accessible language in any way. In hotels and restaurants there should be phonetic pronunciations on signs & menus for basic words that a tourist can learn. I found the Icelandic people to be polite and kind but reserved and somewhat introverted.
Or, you know, watch vids on it, read books as well. Nobody wants to put in the labor. Immersion is the best way to acquire a language. Watch Rúv, the kid version too (Krakkar), listen to the bands, get into it. If you mess up, that's okay. Tell folks to talk to you in Icelandic, that you're trying to learn (as long as you're not holding up things).
Reason why its expensive they rely on imports.
And taxes are unusually high.
They got fine schools though, you can go right up through the first grade
Learning Icelandic (a Germanic language, as close to Old Norse as you can get) is about as hard as learning German. The grammar is eerily similar and so is the plethora of compound words.
Ive been to Iceland a few times now, in a couple of different seasons. I loved it, in all of its permutations. If it wasn't for the cost of living I would retire there. There is always the Faeros though.
I'd love to visit Iceland one day. As a German from the north of the country, I am pretty much used to bad weather and to cold climate. But I can imagine the lacking light once in a while would make me depressive and suicidal ....
Na dann liebe Grüße aus Ostfriesland, mein Lieber!
Bin seit einem Jahr hier. Der Winter war krass! Hab mich gefühlt wie auf island..😅
@@VeggieRanger Haha, ein Ostfriese und ein Hamburger unterhalten sich übers Wetter; wir wissen, wie es ist, sonnenverwöhnt aufzuwachsen 😅
Liebe Grüße zurück 👋
There is no comparison, Ireland is in the EU and it's population is much larger than Iceland. The climate in Ireland is good, good food and living is ok.
The Anglo version of both Iceland and Ireland is biased.
You can always move to Las Vegas Nevada where it only rains about 7 times a year, plenty of burning hot sunshine on those 110-118 degree summer days and breathing in nuclear waste particles from all the dust here...
I did live in Iceland for 2 years , I do recall the WHITE out , and the wind blowing me away that how strong the weather is , overall is a beautiful country unique,clean, many waterfalls I did used to go to the blue lagoon quite often .
What I don't quite understand is why not build greenhouses?
Half the island is heated by geothermal energy.
Why not use that for greenhouses and grow vegetables or fruit.
The construction costs at the beginning would be there, but in the long run it would create jobs and the population would not have to import expensive every tomato.
Oh they do, for years. Plenty of greenhouses.
I am an Aussie from Sydney. I always wanted to visit Iceland, especially the northern town of Akeyuri 🇦🇺 🇮🇸 ❤️
It looks terribley depressing 😞
I would not call $32,000 annual salary high for a carpenter.
I'll still come over next year and in contrast to most people also because of the weather. Because here in Germany it's often too warm for me and in winter i'm not even wearing winter clothes anymore, which is sad since they had cost money. So yeah, weather doesn't scares me off. :) And your language is not too hard for me, since i had tried to learn it a few years ago in a winter out of boredom and have already a feel for it. I'm eager to learn more about the country and everything else there in person.
He keeps talking about how high wages are, but the examples seem really low to me, especially in a country as expensive as the voice-over keeps stating. $51k for an electrician, $40k for a painter, $32k for a carpenter? Those are starting or apprentice salaries in the US. Any electrician worth his salt is pulling in a LOT more than that. And I've never met a carpenter that's working for only $15 an hour (which is what that breaks out to).
On top of that, I just pulled up the Icelandic income tax calculator. Of the 51k that the electrician makes, he owes 23k in taxes, for a take-home of only $27K. The same $51k worker in the US has $42,000 in take-home.
Combine that with an average 1 bedroom apartment rent of $1700/month in Reykjavik, compared to $1300/month in a major US city like Houston for example... Then how in hell do these "high-paid" people afford to jet off to other places for the winter and such? How does that electrician survive with a net $7000 worth of annual income after rent? I mean I can see why suicide would be so common.
I know there's "free" health care and such, but even with a myriad of government programs how are these "highly paid" people able to afford food and clothes and such? Something isn't adding up here.
@@chronicreader The US has pretty much the same type of government subsidies for low-income and poor, especially with children. Wellfare, Food money, government-supplied housing etc...
But my entire point was he keeps talking about how high wages are, and the wages cited are actually pretty poor.
@@heathwasson7811 Iceland is richer than usa, higher gdp per capita, higher median salaries, higher hdi. America is shithole compared to any nordic country.
From what I read, alot of people in Iceland take out loans. Or work more than job. If it seems too good to be true it probably is. Look at @sigurdurgretarsson8527 comments lower on the page and you will have an idea.
@@rackin9594 nobody has to work two jobs in nordic countries lol, those countries has highest living standards in the world with welfare state.
@@purplehaze7615 That still doesnt mean they dont take out loans though. Thats a lie. The taxes are high and these countries by definition are still welfare states. Yes they are better off than most of the world in terms of standard of living but that doesnt mean the people are rich. Its only a percentage of the population.
Good video and while much is spot on I have to say there are a few things I want to raise a small objection to.
The numbers quoted for salary seem to be a bit off.
Minimum wage in Iceland is around 33,000 USD, not sure how these numbers of >30K are reached unless that´s after taxes?
The median wage in Iceland is about 60,000 USD.
And while I know that there are many people getting paid less than that, nobody is paid 26,000 USD for working full time.
"Outside Reykjavík there is virtually nothing but glaciers, volcanoes, lava deserts, rivers, some animals and very small populations." Come on! That´s not very fair, I have to say.
I know Iceland has a small population and our towns only have generally around 3-8000 people living in them (which yeah, I agree that to most of the outside world is very small) to say that we have to deal with a feeling of "total isolation" is a bit harsh.
For most of my live I´ve lived in towns of 2-5000 people and never have I had that feeling. I like the peace, the feeling of safety and as long as you´re a bit self-sufficient there is plenty to do even if you live outside Reykjavík! ;) And while it´s not for everyone, it certainly isn´t near as bleak as this video makes it sound.
However, it´s very expensive to live here and the selection in our shops is pretty limited because as mentioned most of our items are imported.
The housing market is terrible, it´s very expensive to buy and to rent and our housing loans are probably the highest in Europe.
Right now I´m paying about 10% interest on my mortgage which is insane. I´m optimistic it will go down but 6-7% interest here isn´t uncommon.
Speaking for myself I´m ok with the Icelandic weather most of the time but if I had three wishes one of them would be to have a longer summer. And the wind, the damn wind... I´m ok with most any kind of weather but the wind here can drive me nuts. Less wind would probably be my wish number two. I´ll have to think about the third wish.
Our language is quite difficult to learn, but I think it doesn´t matter where you go in the world, if you don´t speak the local language you will always be "left out."
I know that if I moved to another country I would do my very best to learn the local language.
And we are a bit reserved I think, I´m not sure it´s easy to fit in here as a foreigner because of that. And not being able to communicate well will always be a hindrance.
But as mentioned in the video most Icelanders speak pretty good English.
Thanks for an interesting video, Iceland has it´s ups and downs like every other country and it would be wrong to think otherwise.
Sadly, even beautiful Iceland is not immune to general international corporate greed and the controlling grasp of the international banking cartel.
I mean...this is fairly close to northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland, both in terms of weather (especially the western part of northern Norway), but also cost and daylight in the winter (of course, it is almost the complete opposite in Summer, when the sun pretty much refuses to go to sleep). I have only met a few Icelandic people during my lifetime, but they were all hard-working and very grounded. I think that both stem from culture and the nature that surrounds them. It is always a bit funny to see how people react to other countries and cultures with a basis in their own when their own is also "weird" to what other countries and cultures experience.
I would love to go to Iceland its at the Top of my places to visit. Its so far to travel there from my home in New Zealand we are on opposite sides of the world so it is crazy expensive. We have had record rain storms in the last couple of years and its so Expensive here the cost of living is nuts, high rents unaffordable housing the list goes on. With hard crime on the mad rise its not the happy safe utopia people see on TV. Still love my country and would still love to visit Iceland in Summer. ❤❤😂😂❤❤
I think Iceland is seriously overhyped. It has some unique nature, but so do many other countries. I think going to Iceland is in fashion at the moment, but tourism will come back down to moderate levels in a few years.
Weed is illegal there, thats why so many people are depressed. If only the s***idal people could kick back and relax with a joint...
@@Mere-LachaiselongueI don't know mate, some bars in Reykjavík that are lucky enough to have a second floor are flooded with pipe smell. One night I came from a bar back to a hotel room I shared with my Canadian fella and he said I smelled like if I've spent a day in a tent with homeless weed chainsmokers
@@ofacid3439 "Cannabis is illegal in Iceland, and you can be arrested and fined for carrying small amounts meant for personal use." All Nordic countries have awful weed laws. I got fined 3500 SEK because I had trace amounts of thc in my urine.
Lol have you even visited?
@@Mere-Lachaiselongueiceland has actually one of the highest rates of cannabis consumption per capita in the entire world
I went to Iceland for a week and it was one of the best holidays ever. The scenery. Long days.
40% taxes well used in comparison to 33-37% in the USA for really bad use seems like a good deal to me.
Not saying living in an often dark and frigid environment causes it, but is there extremely high alcohol (and drug) consumption and, if so, what is the resulting legal and social consequences?
I’ve traveled a lot in my life. I don’t know why but I never even thought of visiting Iceland. It seems a nice place with good people. Of course there are other countries equally interesting that I’ve never been to either.
I got to go one time its very cool!!! the Northern lights ..all the people are like models...beauties!!
@@josephsterling264 I saw the northern lights when I lived in Alaska. Certainly something to see. Yeah I noticed the nice scenery! Haha
so wtf are you trying to say here??
Visiting Iceland (or any other country) is different from living in that country.
It’s not very interesting.
Because some people are like plants, they require 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of night.
Thank you for such an interesting video!
wages are not high. A carpenter or a farmworker barely scrape by. Forget spending the winter in southern europe.
I always wanted to visit Iceland its on my bucket list
We had our dream holiday there last year on a guided tour what a fantastic chilled out and most welcome place it is, we learned a lot about Iceland and its soo peaceful and calm the landscape and volcanic mountains are truly beautiful, thank you Iceland for making us so welcome 🥰☺️👍😀 we will be back
YT is getting very silly if they are censoring words like ‘suicide’ and ‘homicide’. They are things that happen. Very unpleasant, but they happen. With suicide especially, it is important that discussions are in the open to give a better understanding of the phenomenon. With a better understanding, we are all in a better, stronger position help help someone in such a position.
I visited iceland three times (so far), did the golden circle mid october (nice first introduction to iceland), the complete ring road in august (went WAY over budget) not the ideal moment to see the true beauty of the ice lagoon and diamond beach.Then some roaming up to Olafsvik in Februari, I was pleasantly surpriced by the town of Borgames, lovely place but boy was I wrong in assuming i could handle some Icelandic winter! My wife got 3 times literally blown over by gusts of wind! Still very nice to be alone at Kirkjufellsfos and other "tourist" hot spots.
Met some nice people, met some rude people as i did anywhere else in the world.
Yeah, but it's good to point it out.
Where's the poor????????
My last day in Iceland was a Saturday and I absolutely had to visit Kolaportið. Got some dope patches, a Megas records and some Björk CDs. Loved it.
Cant wait to visit!
Love the beautiful people of Iceland 🇮🇸 ❤️
Good for Iceland for wanting to preserve their culture and language and not go all Wal-Mart like much of the Western World.
Apparently, there is a lot of Irish DNA in Iceland with a Viking connection. They took all the beautiful women by the looks of it😄!!
Maybe it is the other way round. Vikings emigrated to Ireland a lot. They thought it was very nice place to live, southern warm country with good pastures for animals.
OP is correct, evidence is mounting that a significant amount of the founding population of Iceland was Celtic. The Vikings used to capture slaves from the west coast of Britain and from Ireland. The taken women became wives. The Icelandic language has evidence of significant Celtic influence. DNA evidence also supports this.
It is somewhat controversial as traditionally the Icelandic people considered themselves purely of Norse descent.
@@rickrandom6734 Ireland isn't southern and while there is not the severe cold winters of Scandinavia it is hardly warm just very wet. :)
@@alexmckee4683 I don't think it is controversial and has been known since always. The Icelandic Sagas have a lot of information about Irish captives etc. Icelanders were always aware of this.
@@jackieblue1267 Depends from a point of view. For vikings it was southern nice country. Vikings liked places where grass is green all year round for their cattle.
Enjoyed the video very much👍
Thanks
For all countries the people need to travel to appreciate what they have or have not in their own countries
does anyone know why hotels and apartments have doubled their price in the last year?...the bus rides went from 500 ISK to 550 ISK, but the apartments have freaking doubled!!
Bus services are subsidised probably
It’s a global phenomonon, apparently. How much money did Iceland “print” during COVID?
@avengemybreath3084 yes prices have gone up 20 to 30%...but not 110% like the housing in Reykjavik..it's absurd I swear they are trying to keep this country a secret..who the hell can afford to go their now?
Painter in Iceland makes more than a Teacher in UK
House painter? Good, it would be seasonal doing outdoor painting.
Life is too short to pass it in Iceland. Sorry dear icelanders. Good for holydays, not forever...
The best part - and actually the message of such a video - is presented in the first 20 seconds. Does this dog care in which country he is getting loved? To him - live is good - why worry about average whatever - he is being treated with respect and love and able to trust.
Isn't it what we have to learn again - that who we are living with, who we can trust, who not only respects us but sincerely cares for us - that this is more important than at which place on this planet we are living?
Having visited in February, this place is an overpriced boring hell hole. Winter is absolute hell with weather changing so fast that you wouldn’t believe it. Extremely expensive too! Be wary of ‘The Blue Lagoon’ also - I picked up a virus there that lasted over two weeks… the only thing this country had going for it is the fact that there are no migrants washing up on a daily basis in boats….
You sound nice.
@@imposs-up1hg he has an opinion based on his experiences. isnt that awful? you tell him what he should be saying.
their benefits system mustn't satisfy the migrants ... 😉
WTF kind of comment is this?
@@robertduklus6555these damn lefties don't want anyone speaking facts. It hurts their feelings 😂
I would love to visit there, (in summer & early winter) but never live there
Iceland expensive as hell. Very depressing weather.
Thanks Lord for your salvation
Thanks Lord for your peace
Thanks Lord for your provision
Psalm 124
Must be depressing in winter
I love the cold. But let me live in Iceland and let's see how much I love it then! I am learning Norwegian, and considering learning Icelandic as it is somewhat close. I plan to visit Iceland some day.
Icelandic and Norwegian is somewhat close?
Are you out of your mind?
I'm Norwegian and I can understand maybe 2% of Icelandic
I would say Norwegian and English are closer than Norwegian and Icelandic. Icelandic is basically Old Norse. That's like saying English is somewhat close to Old English. Yeah, a lot of words are similar, but the meanings changed, and lots of loanwords have been added, as well as grammar being simplified.
Beautiful place i had a stopover but they had a strike at the airport so a day and over night stay would love to go back one day
Looks like a nice place to visit in summer. I suggest all Iceland come to Kentucky in the USA. There is plenty of room and lots of Green space. And many jobs are open of all kinds. I suggest the Lexington area. Which is welcoming and has a large university and hospital.
You saw the pretty girls didnt you?
And you went, come here hunney
Stay where your at . You have social safety nets there plus I bet you have a more affordable Healthcare system. You get sick in the US you are screwed.
@@jamesw4895 ...and yet no other country spends so much on healthcare per capita as in usa... it's so hard to understand why that is so from a continental european standpoint (not britain which has a massively malfunctioning health system)...
Kentucky has the lowest average life expectancy in the U.S. and the highest tobacco use per capita in the U.S.
@@bobsacamano7653 That's good news for the leftists who love to whine about overpopulation.
One reason and one only to put off living in Iceland would be that repetitive music running all day in the background 😏. Feel sorry for Icelanders that they have to listen to that day and night.
🤣