Iceland Review

My current town was done in an English Published magazine. I got my copy in the mail today but have not been able to find it online yet.

Not all bad because, although the pictures were good the author clearly wasn't listening to me and said Kasper was 12.

But this was an article online about the town.

ekki í dag

For some reason I have some serious misunderstandings with my midwife.

One big one being about the ultrasound, or sonar as they call it here.

Before we went to Reykjavík we suggested having it done there, while we were in the city. She said no and insisted I wait until I can back to town.

This lead me to believe she could do it. So when I called her last week asking about my sonar and she said come in today at 10, I thought that it was for the sonar. I know she has a small machine for it.

I went in today, full of water and about to explode and she asked when I would want to go to the city for my sonar. AARRGGG.....

I do not think I will go, it is a huge trip to basically find out if it is a girl or a boy and maybe I was not meant to know, or I will wait until I move.

Other events of the check up:
1. Blood pressure lower - looking great
2. gained 1.5 kilo's now over entire 5 months, good stuff
3. baby kicks lots and has a good heart rate
4. only bad news, I got a urinary tract infection, no worries it is common with pregnant women thats why they check, but no I will need pills, next time the pharmacy opens.

So she told Davíð he had an excellent specimen of a women, aside from the infection, everything is perfect:)

This week I am 21 weeks - time is flying by!

us

Brian

This was the couchsurfer

Seat gripping excitment

well almost, but it is election day and even if I have no say the results effect me dearly.

So if you dear friends and family are as interested as I try to be while eating icecream, you can check out some coverage here:
http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2009/04/25/for-those-who-want-to-follow-the-icelandic-elections-but-do-not-understand-icelandic/

and here:

http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/kosningar/

Still hungery?

A typical meal around here involves a table full of some food and everyone eating until it is all gone.

Admittedly Davíð usually has the most but it looks like everyone is full and happy in the end.

Then this weekend Davíð and Kasper went with our couchsurfer on a road trip and I stayed home with Stefán.

Although I would have liked to have gone I am just not up to sitting in a car all day anymore. IT hurts.

So Stefán and I are alone and I can not help but notice how much he is eating.

More then double of any other time.

Before lunch today he ate 2 bowls of cereal and 2 hard boiled eggs.

Now I am wondering if he always needs more. Maybe he just doesnt eat as fast as the other guys and would eat much more if given the time to do it?

Something to think about.

Couchsurfers

Finally, after living out here all winter we got some couchsurfers.

Not that we do not get a lot of requests but most people have no idea what they are doing.

Some people ask how to get here from the international airport, well rent a car and drive for 10 hours?

A map would be good.

Well on Tuesday someone actually turned up - shocking I know. And he brought a friend.

Brain, our couchsurfer from the states brought along an Australian he was hitchhiking with and we introduced him to couchsurfing.

I am still not sure how well ti went for the Australian who kept asking if he was supposed to pay - like I would charge money for a spot on my couch.

So the boys had a great time, as they always do. They use our guests as a new audience for every trick they know, and guests are always up for a game.

Davíð was happy because guitar playing was going on late into the night every night and I enjoyed the conversations.

It is so good to talk to someone.

When you are out here you do not talk to anyone. If it was not for Davíð I would be insane.

Point being, Þórshöfn is too isolated for hosting couchsurfers, even the ones claiming to be looking for isolation.

I also do not think that Reykjanesbær will be any better, it is to close to the airport and can already see the 30 requests a day coming in as soon as I change my address. People arriving at 2 a.m. and just want to crash until 7, that is not really in the spirt of couchsuring so I will have to learn to say no, and it will be sad.

But maybe, from time to time one will want to really check out the area. See these towns and the old army base I will live on. At least I think it is cool.

We will see.

Things to do

vek ap
mek brefost for stefan
voh krtuns
klín up in dí levigrum
put mei klos away
mebi klín the disis

Kasper made a list of things to do in English.
I think it is time to start the real English lessons.
But it was cute.

again?

As though I did not seem crazy enough, the plan has changed again.

We have decided to move to the other side of the country again!

Now before you slam your head on the desk and question my sanity hear me out - I have good reasons.

First: Reasons to leave Þórshöfn

1. Work is slowing done for Davíð. He still makes full time hours but how much longer this can last is very unclear and nothing is promised. Businesses have no money for Electrical work and everyone is watching there money.

2. While housing prices go down in the rest of Iceland, Þórshöfn has a housing shortage so the town decided to raise the price of rent by about 10 000 a month.

3. Also because of the housing shortage there is no bigger place to move too and I want more then a two bedroom apartment for our soon to be family of five.

4. There is no hot water here so we heat it, Canadian style, with hot water heaters. Combine this with the higher cost of electricity out here and you have a deadly combination. This month our power bill, with heat, was 28 000 while in Reykjavík we paid about 5 000 a month.

5. Although I know Kasper loves it out here there is no services he needs, like a teachers aid with training and therapy that he needs.

6. The food costs a fortune, all the shopping is done in a convience store and the real groceries stores are actually hours away.

7. Last but not least, honestly I am crazy lonely out here. There are very nice people who have always been good to me but I need another North American to have coffee with. Someone who gets my jokes and doesn't hold the English against me.

Next: Why Reykjanesbær will be better:

1. Davíð's employer has work for him out there, at least for the summer.

2. In the fall Davíð has been accepted into school to get his ticket in Iceland. This will be crazy easy school for him because he has been working as an electrician for so long and they have is spread out over a 4 year program with easy stuff like English lessons. What better way to wait out a horrid recession then going to school?

3. We are approved for some amazing student housing on the old American army base. For about half of what we pay here we will have a 120 meter apartment, not just 80,plus storage. My new home also has all appliances, even a dryer - a luxury I have not had since I left Canada. There is also a dishwasher - also an object of dreams for me.

4. We will have three bedrooms - enough for all of us!

5. The advantages of a smallish town, about 1000 people on the old base, with in a bus ride to the city.

6. School on the base for the kids.

7. Home on a bus route to am amazing outdoor pool.

8. Free busing around to next towns and all the way to Reykjavík.

9. 4 min. bus ride to Bonus, the only store in Iceland that has reasonably priced food. Too bad the vegetables are not so good!

10. I already have friends out there - 2 of them! One from America and one from Australia (a nice one)

11. The base student housing is full of kids, it is meant for family's with a playground on every corner. When we showed the boys, they wanted to move now.

But they have to wait until July when we get our new place, until then we dream.

My Turn

So this is my turn, my turn to name the baby.

I got Kasper.

Davíð got Stefán.

It is my turn and I do not want to make a choice. It is to hard. There is no name I feel really attached to.

It is also tricky finding something that works in English as well as Icelandic, so they have the option of living in either country with out being teased! Actually we are more thinking of the family who might have trouble saying the name.

We have also decided there will be no middle name.

So I only need to figure out one name right, should not be so hard.

I might just wait until the birth then pick something but as of right now I just have no strong feelings either way.

The trip home

We always plan to leave by 9, 10 at the latest. This never works then I get extremly stressed because we are always late.

Next time I will plan to leave at 3 or 4 in the afternoon then be pleased with myself when I get on the way at 11.

Inga made a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs, a big treat in Iceland. At least for us!

The boys had an Easter Egg Hunt, thanks to Rob's trip to England with cheap chocolate and duty free shopping.

Davíð filled up the car with fluids and we were on our way.

WE had subs and coffee with a friend and about 50 bathroom breaks so the trip took a little longer then usual - more then 11 hours, and this is a nightmare for everyone.

But we made it back, alive, reasonable healthy and to a town full of snow!

After enjoying a week of spring down south it was hard to go back to the snow and I kind of wanted to cry, but it has to melt soon doesn't it?

I really missed everyone down south and really wish that I could have seen more people. Therre was so much I wanted to do and I look forward to being closer :)

8 and 9

As with any vacation the last 2 days flew past far to quickly.

Looking back I am not so sure where the time went.

I know we went swimming in the pool at Rob and Inga's. The water was warm but my forehead was freezing cold. I had a really hard time leaving the pool and running practically naked across the yard to get my towel that had been trying to blow away. There is a chance these sniffles are not allergies, they could be a cold.

I also climbed a mountain. This seems impressive until you see the mountains around moso, this only takes half a day. I was tired.

Friday night we found a video rental that was open and rented some movies. The Happening was pretty crappy int he way of story but scary enough that I had nightmares. The kids got City of Ember. There movie was way better then ours and I enjoyed it.

Saturday was meant to be our Easter. The boys each got an egg from us and were reasonably happy. I am grateful that my boys can be happy with very little these days.

We went to Reykjavík, had coffee with a friend (Elena), had the car tires changed, did some serious groceries shopping, went on a boat rise to Víðy Island and had cake and coffee with another family (E.T., Mattew and Viktor).

By the time we got back to Inga's we were beat but still had a huge meal ahead of us. Helgi and his girlfriend came out, while forgetting out friend Jodanna :( in town, Stína and the kids were also there. And we brought Viktor.

So there was 7 adults and 5 kids for one of Inga's amazing lamb dinners.

We ate almost everything and the left overs could be fit into one small container.

Amazing.

Helgi fought for some time on the trampoline and won.

Kristína brought some real cheesecake she had made, New York style. It was super great.

Then we ate more chocolate.

I am not sure what happened for the rest of the night. I fell asleep will the kids started to watch Jurassic Park.

Another long day!

Day 7 The End

We are tired and hope these guys fall asleep soon

Day 7 part 2

Rob filled up the pool.
OK, the pool is under construction, but it mostly holds water and kids.
Warm water, which is good because the air was cold...

Day 7 Part 1

Inga took out the midwife tools today and did check ups on Stína and I.
Then the kids insisted on being next.
Because the have no babies in there bellies, we listened to there hearts.
Amma has the best toys!

Day 6

Wednesday was our last day of things being open before Easter. The list of things to do is still very long and we managed almost none of it, but I would like to think the most important is done.

Thanks to another late night we slept in again and did not gt out of the house until after lunch, but we did mean to get up early...

Davíð did make it to his work lunch while I visited with Kristína.

I managed to leave my wallet at home but we still finished up the banking.

I also got my immigration papers in and so far no one has noticed that my passport is expiring, I might be lucky this time!

We took the boys to Pizza Hut because they deserved a treat.

We missed the beach with Helgi and Jodanna but did manage to meet Hemmi for a walk. This was extra nice because he moves to Sweden in 2 weeks so it will be a while before we meet gain.

On the walk we saw a store closing so it was selling all clothing for 100kr. We bought the boys some new clothing.

Finally we got back out to Inga and Robs where Stína and the kids were waiting. 

Inga made a huge dinner, with chicken, a big treat.

Stefán did not want any chicken, he claims to be allergic but I think he does not ever remember eating chicken so he was just scared. Either way, he used his special skill of puking on demand to get out of dinner. 

I fell asleep about 8, I really am exhausted these days.

Day 5, swimming and shopping

Tuesday was action packed.

First thing on the list was swimming in mosfellbær in the outdoor pool with waterslides. Buckets of fun and I was so tired after just watching the boys run out of the pool, up a few flights of stairs then down the slide, repeat, for an hour and a half. I do not know how they do it. I stayed in a warm pool.

Then we caught the bus into Reykjavík and stopped to go to the pet store. I bought Rósa a chain and thing to put in the ground so we can chain her up outside now. My allergies will thank me even if she spends only a few hours a day out there.

Now the boys need to build her a house.

Then we went to the second hand store and I bought a dvd player, so excited, and the boys got some stuffed toys.

Then we went to Kristinas where I needed to drop off some of the stuff I bought because it was heavy to carry around.

Then Kasper went to play at Gunnars.

Stefán and I went for coffee and got my passport pictures taken. We also went to get my ´good citizen´statement for the immigration office.

Next we met up with Davíð who had fixed the door bell on our apartment.

Our tenants cooked us some food from the Philipines. It tasted good but the shrimp kept looking at me and it was starting to bother me.

So we went to Kristína next and ate some pancakes while the boys played.

Then we went to my friend Tinna's for coffee and cake.

Then we picked up Kasper and his friend Gunnar and went back out to Inga and Robs.

At 10 we put our kids to bed then drove Gunnar back to town and went out for Ice Cream with Helgi and Jodanna.

Got hom after 1.

This holiday stuff is so exhausting.

Kasper and Stefán.

Gunnar and Kasper.

Kasper.

Stefán at Tinna's.

Stefán playing at Tinna's.

Stefán playing with Jói, Tinn'a son.

Tinna with one of her two cats.

The boys cousin, Garpur..

Garpur is Stefáns hero.

Davíð, very full of pancakes.

Stefán playing of the stairs of death. These stairs have always scared me....

Kristína is explaining something really important.

Kasper inspecting the end of his icecream cone.

Stefán is posing for the camera.

Kasper with his icecream, eating normal.

Stefán with his icecream, eating normal.

Stefán forcing a smile.

Here is Kasper after swimming.

Robert on the computer, not unlike myself now .

Davíð is doing his share to eat all Inga and Rob's food. We all do our part .

Day 4, Eating the whales

With every trip to the city comes a list of things to do that is about 300 items more then you could possible finish.

One of these things was for me to renew my residence permit, but because we were out so late the night before we did not leave the house until after lunch and then did not get so much done...

But I did pick up the forms from immigration and tried to get my papers together.

Then I realized my passport is about to expire and I need one that is valid for at least another year and a half for my permit.

So I got the papers to renew my papers to get a new Canadian passport, then I saw what a huge hassle that is to do from Iceland.

Blegh .... I hate this stuff.

So the afternoon was fun.

In the evening we dropped the boys off at a friends for pizza while we went to meet some fellow Canadians. Helgi, actually a Western Icelander (of Icelandic descent) and Jodanna and old friend and actually Helgis ex girlfriend from Canada. 4 Canadians is always a recipe for good times.

Jodanna brought me goodies from Canada, including Childrens Tylonol, because no one like what you hve to do to sick kids here. Reese Peices and granola bars. Good Stuff.

Because she is only visiting we had to go out for whale. Normally I like whale. A good whale steak is far better then beef, but guess pregnacy is a little hard on the taste buds and I could not swallow it. I do not know whats wrong with me...

But here are the pictures. The girl is Jodanna, there is Davíð and the dark haired guy is Helgi. And the stuffed bear is called monster., he loves whale.

Day 3, dinner at Lizzy´s

For a nice Sunday dinner we went out to Reykjanesbær. A friend of mine Lizzy lives on the old American army base.

I love these houses, they remind me of Canada so much. Three bathrooms, this is what everyone needs.

Cassie, from Australia was there, with her baby Tómas.

Kasper and Stefán practiced the big brother skills and Stefán promises to play with our baby and take good care of it.

Lizzy made a huge super tasty meal and we stayed full even when we left at 11 to get Rob from the airport. 

Because we did not get home until 1 in the morning, everyone was so tired the next day and slept in, a lot. 

Wish I could go into more detail, but this is a kind of mass blogging, so many posts so little time!