I share your feeling about free books! It is not super common for Finnish (student) organizations to give out free stuff unless it is for advertisement, so I would also be suspicious if somebody handed me over a free book and would probably not read it if I was not very interested in the contents in beforehand. As an alternative we’ve been selling books for a token sum, hoping it makes students value them more. We’ve also loaned books so that they can be read by many people.
I’ve heard Dutch people pride themselves about their straightforwardness, so I can definitely imagine it feels weird for to say you are doing well if you aren’t. I also have the same feeling sometimes. In Finland I would try to give an answer with some content other than “good” as a conversation starter even if I would aim to sound positive. For example maybe tell about some good thing in my day so that we can talk about it more if with the person if we can’t come up with some more relevant topic.
I also feel like it’s really important for EA folks in different places to find ways to do EA from their perspective, not just copy from preexisting EA culture. Aside from being welcoming, this is also good for the variety of thoughts and approaches within EA.
The idea of selling books for a token sum is really interesting! I usually offer to loan books first indeed.
And I also definitely agree that EA people from different backgrounds can all add something. That’s also why I’m so excited about all the local groups that have popped up everywhere recently :).
I share your feeling about free books! It is not super common for Finnish (student) organizations to give out free stuff unless it is for advertisement, so I would also be suspicious if somebody handed me over a free book and would probably not read it if I was not very interested in the contents in beforehand. As an alternative we’ve been selling books for a token sum, hoping it makes students value them more. We’ve also loaned books so that they can be read by many people.
I’ve heard Dutch people pride themselves about their straightforwardness, so I can definitely imagine it feels weird for to say you are doing well if you aren’t. I also have the same feeling sometimes. In Finland I would try to give an answer with some content other than “good” as a conversation starter even if I would aim to sound positive. For example maybe tell about some good thing in my day so that we can talk about it more if with the person if we can’t come up with some more relevant topic.
I also feel like it’s really important for EA folks in different places to find ways to do EA from their perspective, not just copy from preexisting EA culture. Aside from being welcoming, this is also good for the variety of thoughts and approaches within EA.
The idea of selling books for a token sum is really interesting! I usually offer to loan books first indeed.
And I also definitely agree that EA people from different backgrounds can all add something. That’s also why I’m so excited about all the local groups that have popped up everywhere recently :).