Well, the title says it all. I’m leaving my house in my house in iceland (post code 111 aka Breiðholt), on my way home to the USA (for 22 hours 40 minutes). This means my tumblr is also coming to end, at least in its 111 reykjavík incarnation. It’s really weird to be leaving a place that has been my home for the past 10 months and all my friends that I have made here. Though, I am still have my europe trip to look forward too. Below is a piece I wrote about my time on the farm, which was a total blast.
I just recently returned from spending 8 days on a farm in Northern Iceland called Hnjúkur (peak). It‘s 20 miles to the south of the nearest town, Blönduós, which has a population of 908. The farm has hundreds of sheep and about 50 cows as well. Much of my day on the farm consisted of taking care of the animals in one way or another such as, giving hay and water to the animals, marking the newborn lamb’s ears, helping with milking the cows etc. I also did various other necessary tasks like mending the fence. In the course of this experience, I got to do some really cool things like driving the tractor (The back wheels are almost as tall as me, and it has 2 brake pedals, which you need to press simultaneously) and the ATV´s as well. I also got to watch multiple ewes give birth and give milk to motherless lambs and calves. Of course not everything is peaches and cream, so likewise I had the dubious pleasure of discovering dead lambs and was only able to take one shower the entire week. It was not that bad though, because I got to borrow a pair of coveralls for the whole week, although they smelled like something else after I left. One of the major differences from Reykjavík was that I did not have any computer access whatsoever, and there was only 1 TV channel, Ríkisjónvarpið (The Icelandic PBS). Of course there were other things to do on the farm including actually climbing the actual peak and on the last night playing this Viking game called Cubb which is a strange mix between chess, horseshoes, and bowling. Supposedly, the Vikings played the games with human bones…
Well, I´m leaving tommorow to spend a week and a half on a farm in Northern Iceland. Pretty stoked about it. Farm’s called Hnjúkur (peak) and is in vatnsdalur, Lake valley in english. The nearest town is Blönduós, which is a half hour’s drive away and has a population of 908. In comparsion, the farm I´m gong to be on has 400 sheep along with cows and horses. Other than that, I leave for Barcelona in a month. Skrítið.
Well, last wednesday I did something I hadn’t done since my going away party last August 16th (also my first day at New College of Florida). I had my first ‘sesh’ in Iceland after an overly long tolerance break. After a few trips to skógurinn (the forest), things were pretty sweet. Busted out some classic tunes as well e.g. Go Your Own Way, Mickey Avalon etc. Later that night, I watched Pulp Fiction for the first time as well. Crazy movie, especially considering the circumstances. Nice late walk capped off the festivities. Definitely worth it especially considering I paid only 1500 kr. ($12) not bad especially with Icelandic prices.
School wrapped up for me last week as well. Fjölbrautaskólinn í Breiðhotli had a few final fuck you’s to say to me though. After my spanish make up test on Friday, I went to the vending machine and deposited 200 kr. for my 190 kr. sprite, but the fucking vending machine read it as 150 kr. So, I had to run to the store across the street to buy a candy bar to break my 500 kr. bill. What the fuck? To top this off, when I went to pickup my grades, I instead got a sheet saying I have to pay a fallskattur, literally fail tax of 1571 kr. ($12.50) because I failed one class; and I could not even pay the tax at the school. So, I ended up trekking to Íslandsbanki to pay the fucking tax, and later that day I ended up losing the recipt for it. Luckily, one of my friends grabbed after I left nonnabitur, but still ergg. Still have to go the office to show them the recipt, so I can get my grades tommorow. I’m going to be graduating on friday, so I had the practice today. Sort of goofy, espeically since the exchange students are going to be the last group. Not really how I imagined my graduation, especially since that people just wear suits and the like to the graduation, no cap and gown. There are sort of sweet hats called stúdentshúfa, but I can´t have one since I haven’t passed the stúdentspróf (school leaving test).
In other 16th news, Eurovision was on last saturday. Eurovision is like a one night continent wide version of American Idol with a healthy dose of politics thrown in. For example, Cyprus always gives the most points to Greece and vice versa, being the only Greek speaking countries in Europe. Turkey also gets a lot of points from countries like Germany because they are a ton of Turkish immigrants in Germany. Iceland ended up coming in 2nd with a rather medicore song in my opnion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVqrF-oTUc8). Other than that, I’ve just been enjoying the really nice sunny weather Iceland has been having the past week. Highlights include multiple days over 60 degrees (my first here), and actually wearing shorts. Should be a fun last month.
Classic mosh action.
From the first rainfest may ‘07. I’m the person with the red shirt.
Well, I still have my math final and a makeup Spanish test to do this week, but I´m essentially done with Fjölbrautaskólinn í Breiðholti fo eva. It´s been nice, but it’s really nice to get some more free time to do shit. An example of this is that my family is taking a trip to Kirkjubærklauster on the southeastern coast, which is right by some national parks.
Since the last time I posted, I´ve actually have been up to some really neat stuff. A few weekends ago, I went and saw Ég heiti Rachel Corrie (My name is Rachel Corrie), the play about Rachel Corrie’s life at the Reykjavík city theater. The actor who played Corrie was really powerful, although it was a bit painful when pronounced Puget as Poohgut. I also ended up meeting Rachel Corrie’s parents after the performance. I had never met them before, and I hadn’t met anyone from Olympia in person since August, so it was sufficiently hella awkward.
This week has also been pretty fun. I went on a trip into Suðurland with my father. We ended up driving through a lot of the countryside, which was really cool. We ended up visiting nesjavellir (the geothermal power/water plant for Reykjavík), geysir (exactly what it sounds like), and gullfoss (a big waterfall), among other places. On Wednesday, I went to the Pub Quiz at Q bar, the gay bar in Reykjavík. My team did pretty well, although we didn´t win. One of the Icelandic guys on my team went to Lewis & Clark High School in Spokane, which I found afterwards, wack. Last weekend, I saw David Lynch give his spiel about how Iceland can be saved by practicing Transcendental Meditation. It was complete bullshit and his speech reminded of my days working for the Church of Living Water. I also felt he was preying on Iceland, because shit is so fucked up here, and he came with his supposed miracle cure that only 1 percent of the square root has to do.
Lastly, now that the weather has improved, I’ve been doing a lot of walking here, which was been really nice. The coolest was definitely last night, when I was walking home at 2 AM from Grafarholt, It was dark but still pretty dark out, with a fully moon just barely up in the sky. Quite beautiful. Pretty soon there is going to be very little darkness at all, which should be sweet.
Andskotinn, I just accidentally broke my rather expensive bottle of southern comfort in my backpack. Fuck that, and high liquor prices as well. At least, the left wing won last saturday’s election and I´m finished with school on thursday.
