To my childlike delight, Reykjavík is now covered with a blanket of snow.
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| Three guesses what this Icelandic word means. |
I was annoyed that I didn't have my camera with me yesterday, because the Tjörn was properly frozen but there was no snow, and the sun was shining on it. It was beautiful, but you will have to take my word for it. This is what Reykjavík looked like today, though.
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| The one spot on the Tjörn that isn't frozen. |
Today I picked up the seven-year-old early, because he's no longer signed up for the after school childcare thing, and his normal school day finishes around half past one. We went to the café in the Þjóðminjasafn (National Museum) for coffee/kókómjólk and cake, and he wrote his name in the snow outside. We were talking about Bernard's Watch and he said that if cows were being naughty, he would use the watch to milk them whilst time was frozen. That's one I've never heard before. Then we went to the playschool to get the four-year-old and we all played on the frozen Tjörn for a long time, mostly running about doing skids. Or, in the four-year-old's case, just flinging herself face down in the snow. Fun times.
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| Coming down onto the ice. |
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| Throwing snowballs. |
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| Came out pretty well, although I did fall over quite hard whilst jumping from the B to the I. |
You managed to fit a lot into your five minutes of daylight! No snow here but pretty cold - I think of you every time the packing tape tears itself up when I am doing the parcels (which happened a lot today).
ReplyDeleteAhem, at least five magical HOURS of daylight.
ReplyDeleteThat packing tape needs to sort its life out. You should just keep it indoors; that worked last winter, didn't it? Man, it's all go in the envelope-selling game.
pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteHello, random stranger here!
ReplyDeleteYour blog was very entertainig to read and I guess I share a similar passion for Iceland as you do. So I was wondering if you could write what your overall impressions are after this year? What you liked, disliked? Did it exceed your expectations? Would you really want to settle there in the end? And how much has your icelandic improved? (and how did you start learning it in the first place?)
thank you!
Hello, random stranger! Thanks, and here are the answers to your questions.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked: It's pretty, nice people, interesting birds, fun language, proper winter weather, nice bars, harðfiskur, hot swimming pools, Reykjavík is comically small, mountains Gandalf, you really learn to appreciate sunny days.
What I didn't like: There's no cider, gin is really expensive, a lot of things are really expensive, sometimes it is dark for too long, you can't buy crisps in bars, the tree situation is poor, spring is very late compared to Britain, intermissions when you go to the cinema.
Would I really want to settle there: For the time being, yes. Who can tell what the future holds?
How much my Icelandic has improved: A lot. It's impossible to quantify.
How I started learning it in the first place: Using books and websites, and watching Icelandic films.