A Friend Amongst Friends

Recently I have been creeping around some other blog sites and popular informative websites in hopes of being inspired to write about something that will interest the general public. I have been nosing around celebrity gossip sites, cooking networks, world news information centers like BBC, and eventually ended up on Forbes.com.

Forbes. Not too bad of a website, let me tell you. It's main focus is everything business-related and consists of articles about taxes, the government, and the billionaires of the world. Blah blah blah. Most of those articles didn't quite appeal to me. Hell, I tried to read an article about how Mark Zuckerberg is using Facebook as a loophole to get more tax back from the government in a way that is "legal... but barely" (it was about FBook, so I thought maybe it was worth taking a glance at). I read the article and barely understood half of what it was saying.  It was a mumble jumble of political talk, government issues, financial inquiries being made by tax collectors, and stock trade nonsense. Basically, a lot of which I know too little about for me to grasp the point that the author of that article was wanting to make. Needless to say, I won't be rambling about that article today... or anytime soon. Unless they dumb down the complex ideas that probably only interest the billionaires that Forbes writes about (and clearly writes to). Dull.


This experience did not deter me from still having a bit of search in hopes of finding something of interest (for the not-so-business-world-inclined) on this website. So I carried on with my perusing and, low and behold, I found something worth mentioning! Forbes' LIST (hey now, what did I say about successful people making lists before?! Aw yeah Boy!) of The World's Friendliest Countries. Finally something I can relate to. Now, they have a list of 16 countries, but I am not going to restate them all. I just wanted to point out the top 5.

 
1) New Zealand: Alright, I half agree with this. NZ is an amazing country, no doubt about that. How can I honestly tell you this? Well I have been living in the country for over a year now, so I think I am a well-informed individual. It's true that the people here are friendly and always welcoming new comers into their circles. And when I say circles... I 
 mean drinking circles. The only thing bad I would say about this country is their drinking habits. It's borderline national-alcoholism that plagues this country. And I think that this is directly influenced by the number of British people that live here (also a nation plagued with high amounts of alcoholism). I understand the appeal a beer has after a day of work, but they bring a whole new meaning to 1 Tequila, 2 Tequila, 3 Tequila, Floor. Or sidewalk, which is usually scattered with passed out individuals during the wee hours of the morning. Nevertheless, Kiwi's are a fun bunch, always wanting to have a laugh and compare rat tails or mullets with one another. What sounds more enjoyable than all of that?!


2) Australia: A skip, jump, and a hop away from our number 1, Aussie is pretty much the same as above, just with surfer boys instead of bogens. Unlike NZ, I haven't lived in Australia before (nor have I even visited OZ... but I will be taking a trip there in under 2 weeks). My opinions of Aussies can only be made from those I have met in New Zealand, and they seem to be very similar to Kiwis. Laughing, drinking, comparing shark bite scars and snake-wrestling wounds. I am not sure how Australia ranked number 2 for most friendly, but let me assure you, they would be up there if this was a list of the world's most attractive nations. Ya-ow, baby! 2 weeks couldn't come sooner.


3) South Africa: Now this was a shocker!! S. Africa? Really? I don't know about you folks, but when I think of S.A., all I can picture are scenes from Blood Diamond (all of which contain steamy images of Leo DiCaprio with his sexy South African accent... this nation would ALSO be up there for the most attractive). My family physician back in Canada S. African, and I once mentioned that I wanted to travel there because it seems like a great country. Dr. Hey looked at me with horror in his eyes and blurted, "Why would you EVER want to go there? I saved money my whole life so I could LEAVE that place!" Now, maybe I am not good at translating South African (and South African's speak English, in case you didn't know), but it seems like those weren't the most encouraging words one can say to someone else about their home country. S. Africa will continue to register in my mind as DANGER DANGER until I can prove that visiting Cape Town will not lead to my certain death.


4) Canada: Now this is something I can understand completely. Being in the top friendliest countries? YES! Being number 4, behind Australia and South Africa non-the-less? Well, not really. But if I wrote a friendliest nations list, Canada would be number 1, hands down. And I am not only saying that because I am Canadian (but I will admit, I am a tad bit biased on this subject because of my nationality). I have been to 3 different continents thus far in my life, soon to be 4, and not ONCE have I met someone who had something bad to say about Canadians or their experiences in Canada. We are generally a nice group of people! We share a bit in the whole drinking (*cough* and smoking) culture that young people enjoy in partaking in, we have vast amounts of nature that is ready to be explored, we cater ourselves to English AND French speaking nations (this covers a LOT of people in the world), and we make the best damn poutines ever. Like I said, no one hates Canadians.


5) United States of America: I have ONE thing to say. Forbes is an American website. If they didn't put themselves in the top 5, this would look pretty bad on their country. I am not saying American's aren't a nice collection of individuals. Not in the slightest. However, what nice group of people do you know who truely believe it is okay to walk around with hand guns in your constant possession. I would be a bit concerned if my grandma was packing a Colt pistol in her handbag right next to her chewing gum and glasses. Doesn't really give off the whole "I love you" vibe. But other than that, American's can be swell.


The list contains a lot of European countries after that (they weren't really well represented in the top 5...), but if you want to check the details, the website is "found here" and you can click on the "picture gallery"to see the top 16. Well, I can happily say, according to this list, in the next 6 months, I will be visiting 4 of the 5 top countries (not the DANGER ZONE one, clearly). That's a lot of friendliness!