Monday, June 29, 2009

Introduction to " Ísland "




It went something like this....arrived at JFK, slowly got through security, made sure 3 little men had all 6 little shoes on, looked up and saw hundreds of people staring at the t.v. with their mouths open. Michael Jackson had died. A terrible beginning to a long journey. R.I.P. <3


However, the flight with three boys was nice and smooth. They are so well behaved and little guy held my hand when we took off (my least favorite part of a flight) so that was sweet. ;-) 

Iceland is beautiful!! When we were landing I looked out the window of the plane and saw fields of purple “Alaskan lupine” everywhere! Thankfully I brought a “heat wave” with me and 60 degrees is treating me very nicely. I’ve been to the original Geysir and the very active Strokkur geyser. We went to Gulfoss which is a very strong, very beautiful waterfall. Thankfully there were signs everywhere that they were conducting a rescue training* mission, not a rescue mission. I’ve also climbed down into Kerið crater.  Such a cool surreal feeling standing in the middle of a volcanic crater! Iceland has every single color of the crayon box splattered around! It is overwhelmingly beautiful here! This country has more water than they know what to do with! Heated pools and hot tubs everywhere! And I am allowed to take the longest and hottest showers and baths I want! Apart from the smell of sulfur in the hot water, I am loving the abundance of agua. 

Along with the plentiful water situation there is also more sweets than I can even think about eating. Ice cream shops everywhere. Dessert after meals. Candy snacks. Brownies. You name it. Within the first 3 days I have had my fill of sweets for the month! 


Saturday night out on the town was interesting to say the least! In a country of only 300,000 people, I  think most of them where downtown at the bars! It was packed! I was shocked! Along with Miss. Iceland 2006 and her gorgeous friends we were invited to the national handball team’s party. It is strange getting ready to go out for an evening and seeing the party you will be attending in the news paper, and then the next day on the news. Fun time but I was mostly hanging on to people for dear life, probably 3 times more pushy and bumpy than any NYC venue. I wore my drink instead of sipping it, but it was a blast. The more surreal part of the evening was bar hopping at 3 a.m. and it being as bright outside as 3 p.m. Ladies be warned: If you find yourself in Iceland mid summer, you must look as great coming out of a club as you did going in because the midnight sun here is not forgiving! ;-) 


Another brilliant idea the Icelanders have is their movie process. You buy popcorn and candy pre movie - sit and watch half of it - then the movie pauses for 15 minutes - potty break and more candy - and then the rest of the movie is shown. And let me throw in there, everyone took the same seats after the break, there were no arguments over seat snatching! Brilliant. The U.S. should definitely follow this example!


And now it is Monday and my week of being a foreign “Au pair” with the boys has commenced. This morning I brought the youngest boy to his preschool for the first time. Your heart has not been broken until you see how scared a four year old is on his first day in a new school. Bless his heart! 


Im adjusting wonderfully here. I love sharing my Icelandic vocabulary with natives and seeing them giggle at my pronunciation. I love eating delicious Icelandic lamb for dinner.  I love going to bed and waking up and always seeing the sun shining. I love the sulfur smell of the hot water, the beautiful home I get to live in for a month, the really cool dishwasher, and the european plug outlets. I love the serenity of this island and knowing my "summer of a lifetime" has begun.



26 more days to enjoy this country...

1 comment:

  1. "Another brilliant idea the Icelanders have is their movie process. You buy popcorn and candy pre movie - sit and watch half of it - then the movie pauses for 15 minutes - potty break and more candy - and then the rest of the movie is shown. And let me throw in there, everyone took the same seats after the break, there were no arguments over seat snatching! Brilliant. The U.S. should definitely follow this example!"

    The U.S. should follow a lot of other country's examples! We have led by example in a lot of great ways, but there is still a lot we do poorly (add movie viewing procedures to that list now) ... if we all REALLY learned from each other, how wonderful could this world be? :)

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