I made it!

One of my secret wishes finally came true the day I was to fly out of Reykjavik to Montreal, one blustery Dec 15th of 2007...

"Would you like to fly to New York instead of Boston and receive either 200 USD or a return ticket anywhere Iceland Air flies?"

Would I! I have wanted to be asked that question since I boarded my first plane back in 1996. But, as far as I was concerned, I had a connection to catch in Boston to take me to Montreal and there was no way I was willing to miss it. The problem was that the day before, Reykjavik was racked with winds up to 100km/hour and all flights had been cancelled, meaning the day I was to fly, all flights were overbooked. I told the check-in woman about the Boston-Montreal connection and she dutifully checked my bags through Boston to Montreal. I should have known something was up when she suspiciously *didn't* give me a boarding pass, informing me, rather, that I would have to go through security and get the boarding pass from the service desk on the other side.

The line at the service desk was short, but each person in line was taking up to 30 minutes to be served. The problem was that nobody wanted to take the "fly to New York instead" deal because they all had connections to make in Boston and so the service desk workers were trying to re-route all their flights.

If I learned anything about Icelanders while I was there, it's that they do not love to offer good customer service; it's just not in their nature. So when the people in line kept moving to the front (concerned they were going to miss the Boston flight, which turned out to be delayed 2 hours) the other people in line got mad at them. It didn't behoove the service desk workers to walk out to the line and inform us about what was happening, rather they were content to lose my luggage tags, lie to me (Just wait here, I'll be right back to help you out.), and eventually put me on a flight to New York instead, give me an open return ticket anywhere Iceland Air flies (even though I asked for the 200 USD), book a new flight to Montreal from New York for the next morning and offer to pay for a hotel that night in New York. Fine.

When I got to JFK, my bags weren't there to be collected. I was fine with this: I figured they hadn't been moved to the new plane, they were still headed for Boston, even though the woman who served me assured me my bags would come to New York with me and didn't give me back my old luggage tags. I got over the bag situation because I had my carry-on with enough stuff to last my night in the hotel and get on the plane the next morning for Montreal. Except that I wasn't fine with the fact that 40 people were arriving from Reykjavik who were supposed to be headed to Boston and were meant to stay in hotels at the airport, but Iceland Air hadn't bothered to call ahead to warn JFK about this. Instead, we waited 2 hours for Iceland Air at JFK to call hotels and book us in.

Naturally, there weren't enough rooms for all of us at the JFK hotels, so about 10 of us were booked into hotels at La Guardia. There is no shuttle between these two hotels (or that's what they told us at JFK) and so we were to cab it and send the receipt to Iceland Air. My flight to Montreal the next morning was from JFK, but was then changed to leave from La Guardia so that I could just take my hotel's free shuttle instead of taking another cab back to JFK.

Of course, you will recall that on Dec 16th, there was a big snow storm in New York and Quebec (and other places in that area), so my flight was cancelled; all flights that day from New York to Montreal were cancelled. I took the shuttle to La Guardia and the check-in woman said my flight was cancelled but I could still make the flight to Montreal from JFK. So I ended up taking a taxi back to JFK, but the flight was cancelled there too. I had to stay in a hotel again that night and finally arrived in Montreal via American Eagle on Dec 17th, still with no luggage.

If you've never lost your luggage before, you may not know this: no matter how your bags were tagged, no matter which route they were supposed to take or ended up taking, you can only report them lost with the last carrier you flew with, even if that carrier never touched your bags. My bags were tagged to go to Boston with Iceland Air and then to Montreal with Air Canada, but because I'd flown to Montreal with American Eagle, I had to make the claim with them, which I did. In the end, I got my bags back on Dec 27th! I might have had them back sooner if I'd had my original luggage tags, or any tags at all, but because my bags were supposed to have been transferred to that New York flight, my tags were never given to me and new tags were never issued.

So that's my big adventure in trying to get home through two storms in three countries. I was a little peeved that I was given the open round-trip ticket anywhere Iceland Flies; I thought, "Why would I want to come back here after this horrible service!" - but now I see that Iceland Air flies from Toronto to many places in Europe, so I'll have to go on a congradulatory graduation trip in the Spring!

Of course, I had a wonderful holiday and I'll write more about it in upcoming posts, but for now I'll tide you over with my mother's delicious arancini...


And the new Transformers Trailor Director's CUT

Your daily Yule Lad update...

December 14th brings Stufur, or Stubby. He's a small guy and doesn't seem to have a particular nastiness like the others. Maybe he just befriends you. It was so windy today that most flights, arriving and departing, were canceled. As well, young people under 50kg were advised to stay home from school!

I hope this doesn't happen to me in transit through Boston.

December 13th marks the visitation of Giljagaur, or Gully Gawk, the Yule Lad who'll sneak into your cowshed and skim the froth off your pails of milk!

I have been thinking about something for a weeks now and I will finally just blog about it now, even though I won't be able to write about it as eloquently as I'd like.

If you're a reader of fiction, there is probably a book that is, as Brad Leithauser puts it, "the book of your life". This is a book that "was made for you", that isn't necessarily a classic. Leithauser describes how if you're a reader, you'll end up reading a quite a few classics, books that are identified as classics, so that after you read them and turn the last page feeling satisfied and even overwhelmed by the greatness of the book, you have "the assurance of knowing that your keenest literary pleasures were preordained".

But sometimes, you read a book that you know nothing about and whose author is a stranger to you, and it ends up being an incredibly special experience.

"There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more; it is the book of your life."

I've never read such a description before, but now I see that I am lucky enough to have two. One is Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Elisabeth Stoddard's The Morgesons. I know both of these are considered classics of some sort, but when I found them I knew nothing about them at all and without expectations, a great book takes on a different kind of importance in your life than if you went into reading it knowing it's considered a classic.

All of this to say that I finished reading Halldor Laxness' Independent People with an introduction by Brad Leithauser. Independent People is the book of Leithauser's life. While I wouldn't consider it one of mine, it's a book that has nonetheless left a strong impression on me. On the cover is a quote by Jane Smiley, "I can't imagine any greater delight than coming to Independent People for the first time."

Almost done!

Wow, I can't believe my time here is almost over! I'm leaving in one week; I still have two exams to write and one essay, so I'm still quite busy. Christmas is in full swing here, as it is in other parts Europe. Lots of Christmas trees are up and lit around Reykjavik and soon the Yule Lads will start visiting the good children of Iceland with gifts and the naughty children of Iceland with potatoes! The first Yule Lad, Stekkjastaur, is visiting on December 12 and hopefully I'll get a couple of photos of him. Each Yule Lad is unique in personality and looks and Stekkjastaur's gimmick is his stick (stekk) and his penchant for sucking the milk from your ewes! Watch out!

To tide you over until the Yule Lads come, I've compiled some Top 5 lists:

Top 5 things I will miss about Iceland:

1. The most delicious tap-water I've ever tasted.
2. Being surrounded by mountains and ocean.
3. A thriving cafe culture with not a Starbucks or Second Cup in sight.
4. The landscapes.
5. Living in a small but busy city.

Top 5 things I will not miss about Iceland:

1. Steadily losing 6.5 minutes of daylight every day that I've been here.
2. The scent of sulphur in the hot water
3. The tiny bed in my room.
4. Very little fresh produce.
5. The cars and traffic.

Top 5 things I can't wait for at home:

1. My boyfriend!
2. Seeing my friends and family (espesh Gus, Valerie and Isabelle, Hi there!).
3. My apartment (with the new huge bed that I barely enjoyed before leaving.)
4. Fresh(er) produce.
5. My neighbourhood.

Finally, here is a funny story about something that happened in Reykjavik recently and so I'll share it with you. It's worth looking at!

Akureyri and Mytvatn!

Yesterday was my last day of class, yahoo! Last Sunday I flew to Akureyri, which is the second-biggest city in Iceland and is at the southern part of a fjord in the north.


This is Helgi the Lean: the first permanent inhabitant of Eyjafjordur, the fjord on which Akureyri sits.

This is looking out through the fjord to the ocean.

Some interesting buildings:

After two days in Akureyri, I too the bus 99km to the east to a village called Reykjalid which is on the Lake Myvatn. Myvatn means "midge" - the tiny bugs that invade the lake and village all summer. I stayed here:

I was the only guest! The owner checked me in and then set me up with a huge carafe of coffee and told me he and his wife would be back in the morning to make breakfast for me! I had the whole place to myself! He gave me a corner room on the second floor with views of the lake. This is the on the first day:

And the next day after it snowed all night:


The first day I hiked across a lava field:

And then took this road...

to what I thought were the Myvatn Nature Baths....

...but turned out to be a factory. So I walked back to the hotel, had another cup of coffee and settled in for the night at about 4pm. It was pretty dark, and in a village of 210 people in the low-season of tourism, not a single restaurant or business was open! The next day, I had a beautiful breakfast, all laid out just for me. The hotel owner told me Max, the Estonian maintenance man would drive me to the Myvatn Nature Baths anytime, and so that's how I spent my second day in Reykjalid.

It was so luxurious! I had the whole complex to myself; again no tourists at this time of year and the locals don't hit the baths until after work. These baths were really different than the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik. The waters in Myvatn are full of sulfur and not silica. So while the scent takes a little getting used to, my hair wasn't ruined by silica for the next week. At Myvatn, I enjoyed the mountain views, the falling snow and a better sense of actually being outside in the middle of nowhere. The Blue Lagoon is fantastic, but much more commercial and there aren't any views of mountains or landscape.

Here are some photos from a long, gray walk I took last weekend:

First, some kitty footprints I always walk by on my way to the ocean.

Here is the coastal path I walked along. It was a pretty wet day!

The biggest cormorant ever! Just kidding, it's a sculpture.

I ended up coming upon a beach that closed for the winter in mid-September.

So I relaxed on the big lawn chairs.

I got to a kind of forest and found this little guy. Rabbits aren't native to Iceland and this one was probably a pet someone let loose. He let me get pretty close.

Some WW2 bunkers, apparently.

A cat on top of a theatre.

The sun eventually came out.

Icelandic Parliament:

A church next to the Parliament.

Cafe Paris (with the black awning) where I had a coffee. One of my favourite places to read a book for a couple of hours.

The view from Cafe Paris; a busy little intersection. The red building is a big post office.


Oh! And fyi, tomorrow the sun will rise at 10:11 AM and set at 4:14 PM. Yowzers! If you're dying to further develop your SAD symptoms, come visit me! I'm only here for 4 more weeks!

Last weekend I walked to Selfjarnarnes which is a kind of suburb of Reykjavik:

It has an offshore island accessible only at low-tide which is where the light house is.

A modern turf-roofed house.

I was really looking for Rauða Ljónið (Red Lion) which is supposed to be the largest pub in the world, but I couldn't find it!

This and that

I haven't much to report lately. I've been doing a lot of school work and even started studying for my exams! I've never started this far in advance, but I'm getting a little anxious. I'm also planning a quick trip to a northern city called Akureyri, so stayed tuned.

I've been reading a couple of blog written by Icelanders. Icecook is about Icelandic recipes and food culture, and The Iceland Weather Report is about Icelandic popular culture and where I usually find out about current events in Iceland, considering I can't (or don't even try really) read the local newspapers. One recent entry in the Weather Report is about how a group of Hell's Angels tried to unsuccessfully get past immigration, not for the first time, at Keflavik airport. Apparently there is already an established motorcycle gang here (with their headquarters behind an unnamed university residence) who is not part of the Hells Angels, but are desperately trying. So far Icelandic police have kept the Hell's Angels from even getting into Iceland, which keeps the local gang from officially joining their club.

On a totally un-Iceland-related note, I found a great recipe website called SOS Cuisine. Once you've registered and chosen your province, it will give you tons of information and recipes about and using fruit and vegetables in season in your area. If you shop at the main grocery chains, you can also use this site to see the prices of these seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Anywhoo, here's a little trick, courtesy of my friend Sean, I'm including just because I've got nothing else to report.

The rules:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you’re cool

Opening Credits: "'Popplagið" - Sigur Rós
First Day At School: "Get To The Table On Time" - M. Ward
Falling In Love: "Dans les Rues de Paris" - Powersolo
Fight Song: "Baby Cool" - Oliver North Boy Choir
Prom: "Wishbone" - Architecture in Helsinki
Life's OK: "Mad World" - Gary Jules - what the?!
Mental Breakdown: "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" - Neil Young
Driving: "The Gulag Orkestar" - Beirut
Flashback: "On Our Way" - Yo La Tengo
Getting Back Together: "If It Smashes Down" - My Morning Jacket
Wedding: "Riddle of the Chamberlain" - Helium - this is AWFUL! I don't even know where this song came from!?
Birth of Child: "I Believe in You" - Neil Young
Final Battle: "Ikke Rigtig I Mit Hoved" - The Sterling - blech, this if off an Airwaves cd, gotta get rid of that stuff
Death Scene: "Happiness Writes White" - Harvey Danger
Funeral Song: "They Were Kings" - Going Out With The Heavy Trash
End Credits: "Samskeyti" - Sigur Rós

Neato! I started and ended with a Sigur Rós song.
Popplagið means pop song, and Samskeyti means seam or joint.

And without further ado...
Sigur Rós's Samskeyti

I walked along the waterfront today to find Jon Gunnar Arnason's The Sun Voyager. And here it is:




iPod what?!

The first snow!

This is the view from my room window:

And the front of the building which looks out onto Tjornin and the city.

It's snowing great big flakes of fluffy snow right now! It feels like Christmas!

Perland revisisted

Yesterday I took a walk to Perlan, my second visit. You may recall my first somewhat disappointing visit. I decided I need to have a coffee with a nice view. Before:

And after:
That little glass cup of pink sweetness was strawberry mouse. Many cafes have them in a variety of flavours, including chocolate and pistachio. Here are a couple of views from the observation deck at Perlan:


Last night also marked the occasion of our first "Second-floor-get-together" in the "common room". The "common room" is a big room where the hotel guests (this residence operates as a hotel during the summer) have their free breakfast. This is Theo and Camilla deep in conversation:

And here are Lucas and Todd:

That oval dish with the white things on top was made by our only Italian exchange student, Claudia. It was delicious. Those are eggs on top. It's Sardinian and called pane frattau. It's made with a crispy bread called carasau. The bread is dipped in steaming water, laid on the platter than covered in tomato sauce and parmesan for about 6 layers, then the eggs are placed on top. Claudia went back to Sardinia during the school break and smuggled back the bread, cheese and some delicious Sardinian sausage. Yum!!

I forgot to talk about something Mark and I did while he was here: our swim in the Blue Lagoon. From Wikipedia:

"The warm waters are rich in minerals like silica and sulfur and bathing in the Blue Lagoon is reputed to help many people suffering from skin diseases such as psoriasis. The water temperature in the bathing and swimming area of the lagoon averages 40 °C (104 °F).The lagoon is fed by the water output of a nearby geothermal power plant. Superheated water is vented from the ground near a lava flow and used to run turbines that generate electricity. After going through the turbines, the steam and hot water passes through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal hot water heating system. Then the water is fed into the lagoon for recreational and medicinal users to bathe in."

It's really a huge hot bath. There are little stations where you can scoop out handfuls of silica mud and rub it all over your face and body and then just keep floating around and rinse it off whenever you want. We stayed until closing; the air temperature was 0 degrees and we couldn't see 5 feet in front of us because of all the steam. Those little islands with the grey boxes on top are where the hot water is pumped from, so the closer you get to them, the hotter the water is; so hot I couldn't float within a foot of them for very long.

And finally, here is a video for Hello Seahorse's song I Won't Say Anything - it's really catchy and the whole album was mixed* by Mark!



*what is mixing? mixing is when the volumes of different instruments, voices and other sounds in a recording are balanced to sound good (good could mean anything to any different person though). after something is recorded, it doesn't necessarily sound very good, the instruments' volumes are all out of balance. the singer might feel her voice is too quiet for example and so the mixer must adjust it.

Photos and videos

I fixed the link that leads to ALL the pictures taken during my road trip. Here it is again. There are some videos too! Or you can watch them below. I admit to feeling apprehensive about showing them; you can hear my voice and Mark cussing! I know, I'm a prude.



ICELAND

1. The highway out of Reykjavik. It's four lanes, but that's only in and around the city. It changes to two lanes later. You can see steam coming from bore holes. The further east we went, the less steam we saw coming from the ground.

2. Mark praising the European grocery store and me dissing him.

3. Sideways Selfoss.

4. Sellfoss (waterfall) off of the highway which you can walk behind. I'm obviously impressed in the video!

5. Jökulsárlon, the iceberg glacier. It was FREEZING and WINDY!!

6. Sheep walking on the "highway" - imagine if that happened on the 401? And horses and farms and mountains.

7. In Skaftafell National Park - Europe's biggest national park!

8. Mark's arty video.

9. At the top of the mountain next to Skogarfoss and me talking about that guy August who lived in Akureyri.

10. Gullfoss; notice how icy the part where the tourists, including us, are standing. I doubt tourists would be allowed anywhere near something that dangerous in Canada!

11. Sideways Geysir.

12. The shore near my house.

Finally some pictures!

Here are some of the highlights of my week off with Mark. If you want to see ALL the photos, click here.

Skogarfoss is one of the waterfalls we stopped to admire. This is the map of the entire village of Skogar, about 4 streets.

Here is Mark in front of the waterfall:

This is the path up the mountain along the side:

Here is the view from the top of the path. This is the kind of thing we constantly saw from the road. Farmhouses nestled at the foot of these mountains.

And me leaping!

We also visited Jökulsárlón, which is a kind of iceberg lagoon. Pieces of the glacier calve away and float out to sea.

Me freezing cold! I wanted to enjoy it so much, but it was incredibly windy and chilly!

When we drove up to the first hostel we stayed at, there were two sheep sitting on the front porch. It was surreal. I wasn't sure if they were real or not.

On our way home, we stopped to see Gullfoss and Geysir, both of which I've visited before, but this time it wasn't raining.

Me waiting for Geysir to erupt!


We stopped to relax at this empty beach:
There's our little Chevrolet Matiz in the distance!


Another lovely waterfall and me on the path to see it.


A couple of hot dogs:

And Plants and Animals at 12 Tonar in Reykjavik.