Worst Day Ever

This day was actually last Wednesday and it has actually taken me an entire week to soak it in.

Stefán wanted to sleep over at his friends house so I walked with him over there thinking I could talk to the parents in person, get a good feeling for them and leave my son there, confident he would be fine.

We arrived at this boys house and his Dad answered. I introduced myself and explained why I was there and things got ugly from there.
he said: I said it was fine, he can sleep over
I said, I understand, I just thought I would talk to you first
he said: what? you want to come in or something?
he kinda scared me, ok, he really scared me
I said: no, I dont think so
and I left feeling rather stressed out and trying to find a way to explain to Stefán that I dont think I feel comfortable with him sleeping over there.

Then I walked to Húsasmíjan to buy gardening supplies and while in line to pay, the wheel fell off my stroller. Seriously. So I paid for my stuff then sat around for an hour while these super nice guys that work at Húsasmíðjan fixed my stroller. It took and hour and Leópold slept through it all on the floor, amazing.

I was so happy when they fixed it and refused to take any payment I started walking home with a smile on my face, then the wheel fell off again. So I dragged the thing to the bus stop and took the bus home.

After I got home I talked to my inlaws and it turns out that we had very different plans for Easter. Davíð told me we were staying out there for 4 days, and I had already packed, but it all turned out great in the end, just some small stress on Wednesday because I no longer had any idea what was going on for Easter.

Then I was waiting for Davíð to get home from work so I could leave for class, he usually gets home at 5 and I have class at 6. It takes about 40 min. to walk there.

I called Davíð at 5:30, his work was having a pizza party.

He got home at 5:50, just enough time to drive me to school.

Then I studied Icelandic for 2 hours in school.

On the bright side, everything turned out fine.

Silver Fox

While looking online for information about my stroller I came across everything else that I did not need.
Try googling silver fox.
I found some fur coat ads, a marvel character and a definition for silver fox in the urban dictionary. But no stroller instruction manual, in fact I could not even find the stroller.

A Canadian Saga

I need to translate a Canadian folktale to read to the class, and off the top of my head I couldn't really think of one. But now I have one, now I just need to translate it:

Who Calls? 

A Saskatchewan Ghost Story 

By the time he finished his daily tasks, the light was failing. But everything he needed to accomplish before he made the journey to visit his betrothed was complete. He was eager to see his love, so he set out immediately, in spite of the growing darkness. He would paddle his canoe through the night and be with his beloved come the dawn. The river sang softly to itself under the clear night sky. He glanced up through the trees, identifying certain favorite stars and chanting softly to himself, his thoughts all of her. Suddenly, he heard his named called out. He jerked back to awareness, halting his paddling and allowing the canoe to drift as he searched for the speaker.
"Who calls?" he asked in his native tongue, and then repeated the words in French: "Qu'Appelle?"
There was no response.
Deciding that he had imagined the incident, he took up his paddle and continued down the dark, murmuring rivers. A few moments later, he heard his name spoken again. It came from everywhere, and from nowhere, and something about the sound reminded him of his beloved. But of course, she could not be here in this empty place along the river. She was at home with her family.
"Who calls?" he asked in his native tongue, and then repeated the words in French: "Qu'Appelle?"
His words echoed back to him from the surrounding valley, echoing and reverberating. The sound faded away and he listened intently, but there was no response.
The breeze swirled around him, touching his hair and his face. For a moment, the touch was that of his beloved, his fair-one, and he closed his eyes and breathed deep of the perfumed air. Almost, he thought he heard her voice in his ear, whispering his name. Then the breeze died away, and he took up his paddle and continued his journey to the home of his love.
He arrived at dawn, and was met by his beloved's father. One look at the old warrior's face told him what had happened. His beloved, his fair one was gone. She had died during the night while he was journeying to her side. Her last words had been his name, uttered twice, just before she breathed her last.
He fell on his knees, weeping like a small child. Around him, the wind rose softly and swirled through his hair, across his cheek, as gentle as a touch. In his memory, he heard his beloved's voice, calling to him in the night. Finally, he rose, took the old warrior's arm and helped him back to his home.
To this day, travelers on the Qu'Appelle River can still hear the echo of the Cree warrior's voice as he reaches out to the spirit of his beloved, crying: "Qu'Appelle? Who calls?"

Avoiding Beiber fever

I actually have nothing wrong with the kid, every generation seems to have there own Jusin Beiber
In fact I might think hes pretty cool because he is Canadian, started from nowhere, ec. ec.
But I heard my kids talking about him and how you had to avoid this Beiber fever otherwise you might go crazy and start liking him and wearing articles clothing with his picture on it.
When I told Kasper that this Justin was actually from Canada Kasper only says 'I'm never going back there' (in fear of a country full of them)
He might be slightly over reacting.

In case coming to see me was not enough reason come to Iceland

What are they watching?

Cartoons these days say the strangest things. The other night when I was telling Stefán to turn off the t.v. I saw this:
Picture cartoon women sitting around the table drinking coffee when one says :
'Look what I got the other day (holding up waffle iron), a messy, obsolete piece of technology that takes up space, kinda reminds me of Dad'
I don't think that Stefán even understands what is really being said, but it still seems like an inappropriate line for a kids cartoon.
Unlike Kaspers favorite quote from Chowder

"you dont know whatcha missn' if you ain't in the kitchen"

Why don't we ask the kids

Tomorrow, an Icelandic filmmaker, Sigurður Hallmar Magnússon, will be at our local elementary school to interview kids. I hear he wants to hear how they feel about the economic crisis or how they feel it effects them.

I have given my permission for Stefán to be interviewed, although I doubt he will have that much to say about it.
I do not think Stefán has really even noticed a crisis because we were not big gainers in the boom years, we did not have a lot to lose during the crash.

In fact, with it going on three years of 'hard times' here in Iceland, I think we are doing OK.

At least thats what I think, but no one is asking me, they are asking the kids and we will see what they have to say.

This is the email I got - in case you read Icelandic. 

Heil og sæl,
á morgun kemur hingað í skólann kvikmyndagerðarmaður, Sigurður  Hallmar Magnússon .Hann er að gera heimildarmynd fyrir franska framleiðendur í tengslum við kreppuna. Sigurður Hallmar er búsettur í Frakklandi en er staddur hér á Íslandi núna í tengslum við tökur. Heimildamyndin er byggð á reynslusögum "venjulegs fólks" og á hún að vera einhvers konar "portrettmynd" af landi og þjóð á okkar tímum.
Sigurður Hallmar hefur beðið um leyfi til að taka viðtöl fyrir heimildamyndina við nemendur í 2. og 3. bekk í Háaleitisskóla.
Ef þú ert mótfallin því vitlu þá láta mig vita hið fyrsta.
Kveðjur,
Sigrún kennari.

Icelandic for a price

This is old news, but I have been busy.
Here you can see some rich people trying to buy citizenship:
http://grapevine.is/News/ReadArticle/Lawyer-Representing-Ten-Wealthy-Citizenship-Seekers-Responds
http://grapevine.is/News/ReadArticle/Wealthy-Individuals-Seeking-To-Buy-Icelandic-Citizenship
And here we have the government saying no:
http://eng.innanrikisraduneyti.is/laws-and-regulations/english/citizenship/nr/27049

This gives me some hope that our government is not completely backwards. 

stupids

The doubt is gone, 58% of Icelanders have fish brains.
The stupidness is thick in the air.

Home Alone

Kasper is out with Þóra for the night.

Stefán is at a different friends, sleeping over. I don't know how he and Einar will manage the withdrawal from each other.

And Davíð took the baby (YIPPEE) to sleep over at his parents with him while they watch news all night waiting for the ICESAVE vote results.

Personally I have heard enough of this to make my head want to explode.

And I dont even get a say, even though I have to pay.

But if anyone cares, I would have said YES!

Now enough of the 'I' talk.

TAPA'S

Sounds like a party - Tapa's!
and it kinda was, last night I actually went out, without children, I even had a glass of the bubbly and was out until midnight!
leaving me slightly irritable at 6 a.m. this morning when the baby woke up, but this doesn't matter.
What does matter is that I had a really nice time, the food was great (seriously, I ate roasted duck and lobster tails), the crowd was famously Icelandic (I saw a man wearing the red-est pants I have ever seen) and the company was perfect (English speaking women married to Icelandic men, seriously have a club). I feel good, everyone needs to be human from time to time, but not too many times, I am also feeling substantially poorer after the night, but all for a cause right?

Lora

My new friend, actually called Laura, but an Icelander might need to read Lora :)

She is from France, lives in Keflavík and has been living Iceland for 15 years, a real survivor.

I am really excited to learn some tricks of staying sane, Icelandic and life from her.

And she has a cat, the only thing I am missing in life.

Questions and answers

There seems to be so many types of ways to talk.

Some people seem to know where the conversation should go and answer questions for you before you even ask, almost like they read you mind.

Some people clearly answer questions that you ask, leaving you with a fullfiled feeling, satisfied.

Some people always seem to be holding something back. Answering questions, but not really answering questions. Leaving you confused and maybe a little annoyed.

Some people, and these ones drive me NUTS, talk at you, ignore every question you ask them while continuing to talk and talk. These same people often ask you a question, about something that, if they ever listened to a thing you had to say, they should have known the answer to, proving that they don't actually listen to a thing you have to say.

Each kind of talker leave the other person with a distinct feeling about themselves, and if it is that they are ignored and not worth listening to, it is not very nice.