So Much Food

I haven´t forgotten about Siglufjörður, but I have some more timely news to report.

Like many places in the world, Iceland celebrates a few days before lent.  However the customs here, like everything in the country, are quite unique.

Yesterday was Bollurdagur, or bun day.  Basically, everyone just eats really delicious cream puffs.  Some people also eat other round food, like fish or meat balls.  But that´s all there is to it.  Eating good food.  I can handle that.

So good.

Today Fat Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday most other places in the Christian world, but here is was Sprengidagur, literally exploding day, because you eat so much.  Because I´m a good Scandinavian now, I headed down to Ikea.

This is roughly 4 cents Canadian

Guess what my boss and I turned this pocket change into?

Saltkjöt

This is my 2 cents worth.

I was astonished.  For 2 cents, you got a plate of salt cured sheep, veggies and a refillable bowl of pea soup.  It wasn't anything fancy, but it was good.  And 2 cents.  My mind is still blown.  You really can eat until you explode.  The hospital actually takes this day into account with scheduling, as everything is so salty, they do see an increase of people with heart problems coming in.  What surprised me most was that the place didn't look the like Salvation Army soup kitchen today.  It was still pretty classy.  Way to go Iceland.

While sitting at Ikea eating, I was interviewed by an Icelandic TV station doing a piece on the Ikea meal.  I did it in Icelandic, though I'm sure it's awful.  I missed it on the news tonight, but apparently I'll be able to find it online later.

Tomorrow is Öskudagur, or Ash Wednesday.  Here, the kids dress up like it's Halloween, and try to hang small bags of ash on peoples clothing.  The boys are so excited about dressing up, since they don't celebrate Halloween here.  As far as I know, I can take a break from eating tomorrow as well.

What strikes me as odd though, is that the Icelanders don´t seem to understand the concept of giving up something for lent.  Both I and another au pair had a bit of a struggle explaining this.  So whereas the rest of the world is eating and partying in preparation for 40 days of deprivation, the Icelanders are just eating.  I really like Icelandic Christianity.