I´m Newsworthy

Oh boy! Ikea soup!

Here is my Icelandic television debut.  Before you get too excited, it's not a big deal to get on the news.  There was also a story about a bird that got inside a building at the university.  I have also seen a news report on a cat stuck in a tree.  No lie.

Also, here's a picture from my city.  I haven´t posted many of it.

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.   

Siglufjöður, part 1

Last weekend, I had the amazing fortune to go up north with some relatives of mine to the small town of Siglufjöður.  Other than the rainy day trip to the Golden Circle, this was really my first time out of the Reykjavik area.  While I love the city, it was so nice to get a chance to see some of the country side.  And go skiing!

It was about a 5 hour drive, and we did it mostly in the dark.  We went through a bunch of tunnels along the way, some under the ocean, and some through mountains.  It's hard to imagine how hard it must have been to get around before they were built, though some have been around longer than others.  Like the one entering Siglufjöður.  It's one lane, and scares me.  My cousin apparently used to walk through it, which sounds like a pretty dangerous thing to do.

Nice, safe, two lane modern tunnel.

Terrifying tunnel of doom into Siglufjöður

My cousin is originally from Siglufjöður, and her parents still have an apartment there which we stayed at.  It reminded me so much of Amma and Afi's, right down to the smell.  The place is an amazing time capsule, and a really lovely place to stay.

My room was the best. 

I want to know where everyone got these.  Amma had a similar thing.

Amazing old hand tinted photographs.

The town itself was really lovely.  Originally based on fishing and agriculture, the town is shrinking, but still brings in people with the ski hill.  The scenery is absolutely incredible.  Or I´m just still really impressed by mountains.

Wow.

I´m trying to think in square format again. 

Pining for the fjörds.

You don´t understand how much I want to live in a silver house.

Or a yellow one.

The beautiful church.

The church is really something.  It's the center of town, and for a place that was only 3000 people at most, it's really very impressive.  One of my relatives who plays organ was able to get in to practice on the beautiful old pipe organ they have.  The church also has a full set of German made and designed stained glass windows.  I'm not sure how a town this size was able to get all this, but I'm glad they did.

The organ.

1970's German stained glass

Very obviously a fishing town.

I still have to ask what exactly the hanging boat is about.

I apparently have too much stuff on here now, and blog spot is giving me trouble, so wait for part 2 coming soon!

Þorrablót

I had the great luck to be invited to a Þorrablot dinner on Saturday night.  Þorrablót is a winter festival, held to coincide with the old Icelandic month of Þorra.  This is usually somewhere in late January, to late February.  The tradition at a Þorrablót is to eat þorramatur, drink Brennevin, and tell stories or sing songs.

I went to a rather large private party, held by some very distant relatives from what I understand.  I was told there were 92 people there, but by my count I only ever found 50 or 60.  Still a huge amount no doubt.

The first food of the evening was what everyone has been waiting to hear about.  The rotten shark, hákarl.  Truth be told, it´s not rotten, it´s a curing or aging process like other meats.  True, it does get buried.  I do also worry a bit that we are eating something that has to be buried in order to not be poison, but hey, why not.  The deal with the shark it that to live in the ocean, the shark needs to make its own antifreeze to not die.  That internal antifreeze is what is poison to eat, but if you ferment it, it becomes non toxic.  Here is a good website explaining how it´s made.  Mmmm, shark.

Here it is, what you've all been waiting for.

A lot of the kids loved it.

Let´s not sugar coat this here.  Antony Bourdain calls this the single worst thing he´s ever eaten.  Gordon Ramsay vomited.  Andrew Zimmerman called the smell horrific, but did note that it tasted better than it smelled.  He was more generous than the others and just said it was not for beginners.  So, basically, a bunch of men who make their living out of eating gross things, couldn´t handle the hákarl.  What chance did I stand?

But I ate it.  At first, it did taste a bit like a strong cheese, which made some sense, as I have seen it translated to English as 'shark cheese'.  Then the ammonia hit.  I was suddenly having flashbacks to dying my hair in a tiny, poorly ventilated bathroom.  Fortunately, I drink, and the shot of brennivin you get along with it was a big help.  I actually like brennevin, though I imagine that it as well is an acquired taste for some.  The texture was strange as well, very very chewy.  Not helpful in getting it down quickly.  I did manage to put on a brave face though, and I swallowed it.  Yay me!  I'm tougher than Ramsay!

This smile is forced. 

Trying to swallow.

Hákarl done with, it was time to move onto the real dinner.  I am ashamed to say I chickened out a lot.  I couldn´t deal with the surmatur, or the sour food.  My employers brought home the sour whale blubber to try one night, and I wasn´t sure I wanted to be spitting out food at a nice fancy party.  I did try the sheep's head, svið, which was a bit strong, but not too bad.  I also ate hangikjöt, a type of smoked lamb, some potatoes in a lovely sweet cream sauce, and some veggies.  Things I wimped out on include sour testicles, liver and blood sausage (again, sour), and the sour whale, which I´ve tried thanks to my employers.  I don't like the sour.

The plate of food. 

Surmatur

Svið.  Here´s looking at you.

Svið in loaf form. 

Hangikjöt 

Brennivín wearing a peysa

The feast begins

People really enjoy the hákarl

The dinner was enjoyable.  Don´t get me wrong.  There were just a lot of things I am very unaccustomed to, which is why I wanted to come.

After dinner, there was a singalong and the kids performed musical numbers.  There were some amazing singers there, and Jón, who played the piano was fantastic as well.  This family seems very musical, as apparently I was talking to the bass player from the band Dikta for a while.  My first brush with Icelandic celebrity other than seeing the children´s entertainer Sveppi buying sushi.

I did have some lovely 3 year old prosciutto that Jón keeps in his attic.  It was really really amazing.  He also keeps his hárkarl and his hangikjöt hanging up there.

Sweet, sweet meat

Shark

Lots of meat 

Oooh, I could eat this forever

 After the party, I went downtown and partied some more.  But you don´t need to hear about that.  So here´s more Helgrims.

I love my new camera.  This is handheld.

So What Now?

I apologize for the long delay between posts.  The kids have been sick, I've been sick, it's been dreary, and I've been very unhappy with how my photography is going here.  Excuses out of the way, here's the post.

I realize I've posted very little abour Reykjavik yet, which is strange, since it's where I spend a lot of my time off.  101 is the main area I hang around.  Think of the Icelandic version of Osborne or the Exchange.  It's where most  of the galleries are, where the restaurants and shops are, and it's just lovely to walk around.  Here's some pictures.

Hallgrímskirkja, or what I use to find my way around

Hallgrim's Cathedral is one of the main landmarks here.  I use it to find my way around everywhere.  You can even see it from Hafnarfjordur.  It has a fancy tower you can go up in, but I haven't done that yet.

Cute craftiness

This is a school.  It scares me a bit.  I think it looks like a prison.

Not everyone loves Yoko Ono as much as the mayor does.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

So I have been a bit neglectful of the blog lately, but I've been busy being in Iceland.  I hope you understand.  To make up for it, a super image heavy post!!

Saturday, I was lucky enough to meet up with Kent.  He's been living in Iceland for almost 10 years now, but is originally from Gimli.  He had some cousins from Seattle (Maryann and Brian) coming out, and was taking them on a tour, and invited me to come along.  It turns out they're my cousins as well!  It's a very very small world.  I didn't even know these people existed, yet I find them in Iceland.  Kent's friend Karen, who is here teaching for a year, also came out.  Here's the group.

 Left to Right: Kent, Maryann, Brian and Karen

Here is a random guy who jumped in the photo.  He's awesome.

Now don't be fooled by the nice weather in that shot.  That was Sunday.  We toured the Golden Circle Saturday, when the weather wasn't nearly as nice.  In a country where you can expect the weather to change every 15 minutes, it rained consistently all day.  We had expected it to clear up, because that's just what it does here.  Despite the wind, the rain, and the cold, touring the circle was amazing.  The scenery is fantastic.  I haven't been outside the metro area much, so it was a new sight for me.

Our first stop was Þingvettlir, the first Parliament in Iceland.  There is a huge, impressive cliff, as well as scenic destinations like the Drowning Pool, where unfaithful wives were executed after Christian law came into effect.  After that, we drove to Gullfoss, an amazing waterfall.  I can't wait to go back in the summer when there is a trail where you can walk right down to the falls.  We also had some great kjottsaupa, or lamb soup at the cafe there.  I haven't had much lamb since I've been here, which is a bit disappointing.

 Rocks.  Lots of rocks.

 The Drowning Pool

 The drowning pool now has a life preserver.

You can scuba dive here!

Because I haven't had any pictures of me yet.

 Gullfoss

Very wet.

After lunch, we braved the rain again to see Geysir and Strokkur, the geysers.  Geysir does not actually erupt anymore, which is too bad, because it is apparently the more impressive of the two.  I didn't get a picture of the eruption, because it was cold and rainy, and I just didn't have the patience for it.  I will be back before my trip ends for sure though.

 Colourful mountains.

So wet!  So cold!

The last stop was the church at Skálholt, where the last Catholic Bishop of Iceland (and his two sons) were executed after refusing to convert to Lutheranism.  In the church, a singer and organist were practicing, and the acoustics are amazing.  It was a very eerie but great moment to hear this beautiful music in an empty church, while a storm raged outside.  In the basement there is a museum dedicated to tombstones.  I was happy.

I was soaked by the end of the day, but I'm glad I got to see the circle in the winter season.  At home, I had a nap, and then headed out to a club in Reykjavik called Sodoma, where I saw this show.  A classical pianist named Vika, and the drummer Brian from Dresden Doll, playing heavy metal.  It was amazing.

Again, I apologize for any photo weirdness, I'm not doing much work to them anymore, because this monitor is so out of whack.  I will have so much editing to do when I get home.