another thing to like about the Faroe Islands

Members of Faroese society seem to have taken a silent oath to forgo commercial convenience for a higher quality of life. For example, the bank I work at is only open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., MTWF, and until 6 p.m. on TH. There are no weekend hours. This means that if someone who works regular business hours needs to come to the bank, their only option is Thursday evening. Americans do not like to be limited by things like "closing hours," and so in response Wal-Marts, grocery stores and restaurants are open nights, weekends and holidays. "All day every day," is our motto. Unfortunately, someone has to work all of those odd hours to serve Americans' vast appetite for stuff. Kids are left on their own at home, couples live separate lives, and thousands of workers have to staff our movie theaters on Christmas Day, but by God, we have options. Here, the options are limited. During holidays you have to be sure to have enough milk in the house because stores are closed for several days at a time. The only time I can run errands is a brief hour after work, or from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday when most retail stores are open. There are no coffee shops operating late into the night (or at all), and I think that the only store in town open on Sunday is a gas station. Sometimes my indulged spirit rebels at the constraints the Faroese have erected. When living in the United States I am prone to get irritated when Barnes & Noble is only open until 10 p.m. on weeknights, and that I cannot call my credit card customer service at any moment in a 24-hour cycle. You can imagine my consternation upon finding that what I can purchase here is basically limited to what the local proprietors actually have in their shops, and that the weekend's entertainment will always revolve around coffee at a friend's house. I have espoused a "slower life" philosophy based on greener living and critical thinking about capitalism for several years, but this is the first time I have lived in a place that gives me perspective on how few changes in my life I had actually made along these lines. Buying more expensive organic produce at the hip grocery store and reading Wendell Berry books is not, apparently, as far as a person can go in changing their lifestyle for the better. So I embrace a new mindset. Despite my best efforts, I still feel entitled and crotchety when I cannot get my organic Danish sea-salt at the grocery store in a nearby town because we did not realize it closed at 4:30 p.m. But I also appreciate that a friend always has an open door in the evenings, that people know how to have a good time without spending money, and that society does not assume that hours a week spent at your job should naturally be longer than those spent with your family. Now I just have to quell the spindly voice in my soul that cries for somewhere to go at 11 p.m. where I can get a great cappuccino and peruse good books. The Scandinavians, apparently, do not have everything right. -a