Lazy Town, lazy nation?

I say the healthiest place to be in Iceland is being in a kindergarten. It's taken great care of the kids eating healthy, being often outside and moving a lot. Every day the kids and I get spoiled with lots of fruit, vegetables, whole grain foods, and freshly baked bread. We eat a lot of white fish and very little meat. And we are often outside, also in windy and rainy weather. Hence, the little Icelanders are healthy, happy and full of energy. They love to move. Sadly, quite a contrast to the grown-ups! Did you know that Iceland is the fattest nation of Europe? Did you know that Iceland has one of the highest vehicles-per-person ratio of Europe? Did you know that it is often said that the national food is the hot dog? Did you know that my two Italian friends got a shock when they went to an Icelandic hot pot for the first time because of the sight of fat people in tight swim suits? ;)
However, it is done a lot to keep the smallest of the nation healthy and agile. A few days ago, the kindergarten kids and we were invited to attend the "Lazy Town Sport's Day" in the little town Borgarnes. "Lazy Town" is a famous Icelandic TV series in which the sporty hero Sportacus comes to a little town in which everybody is lazy (hence the name "Lazy Town") and gets them to move. Honestly, I don't know much about the TV series but the kids know everything about it and run around in little "Lazy Town" T-Shirts and Sportacus costumes.

Sportacus, the athletic hero of the Icelandic TV series "Lazy Town".

In Borgarnes, Sportacus himself (personated by a nice looking, athletic actor though not the main actor himself) entertained the kids by standing on his hands and doing all kinds of morning workouts and little movement games. I felt entertained too and in the end he told the kids to give two extra applauses for all the kindergarten teachers that have been so diligent in taking part in all the exercises. (I'm so proud, yes, I am! :) ) It followed a sprint, ball-throwing, long jump, goal shooting practice and a jumping/crawling/balancing course. A guy with a cart was running around between the kindergarten groups handing out "sport candy" which consisted of cucumber chops and tomato quarters. At the end of the sport's day, the kids were proud like crazy. (Me too.) So the next day we did a little training with them in the kindergarten and I handed out gold medals to all of them (which I had crafted a few weeks ago).

Nevertheless, I wonder a lot why so much of this nation has become a "lazy town". (Okay, to be corrective, there are actually two stereotypes of Icelanders: the immobile ones. And the super sporty ones who do marathons up and down the mountain slopes and bike around the island.) Well, there is indeed one factor that restricts moving in this place: the climate. There come roaring winds, there comes dense fog, there come intense snow storms. There come dark days in the wintertime. And it is not recommended to hike, run, bike or ski much when the weather behaves like a fly flap and you are the fly! Anyway, there are plenty of calm days. And you don't need to go to the wildest wilderness to move. There are plenty of ways and pathes calling "Run me!". There are plenty of mountains calling "Hike me!" There are plenty of hot pools calling "Swim me!" There are even plenty of gyms calling "Pay me!" if you prefer that. ;) And in addition, there are plenty of fresh vegetables growing all year round in geothermally heated greenhouses calling "Eat me!" Open your mind and listen!