Postcard November to December 2003

Iceland

 

November brought colder weather. Nov. 1 the school toured Arbær and Safnahúsið. We had a guided tour of both and they were very interesting. The Sagas on display at Safnahús are a must see for everyone, not to mention Arbær. It would have been a little nicer to visit Arbær if it was a little warmer and we had more time. As November began I was beginning to get a little worried about the trip for the staff of MH. There was so much interest when I asked about it in the spring. The only consession being that there is still definite interest in making the trip but in 2005 now. Besides classes I still managed to work some extra hours as caretaker. The next make activity was Cultural Night. We had a Western Icelandic night. Thanksgiving with all the trimmings. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. I got stuck carving the turkey but did not complain. We ran out of turkey, well we had turkey roll left over but it is not as good as the real thing. We watched Iceland on the Prairies , Eric from the Canadian Embassy gave a little speech that wentover well. After eating Holmfriður gave a talk about the letters written in New Iceland and North America.We had some of the teachers read out some of the different letters. The evening ended with a lecture by Gisli Palsson who had just put out a book on Vilhjalmur Steffansson, one of the more famous Western Icelanders. The crowd was great and everyone sure spoke positively about the evening.

I had to get parts shipped in from Canada for my Blazer. Luckily for me a friend of mine was in Canada at the right time. Well it was lucky for me, maybe not for him. Thanks so much Steinþór, and Mom for picking the parts up. Work and school kept me busy, I was not ready for what happened next. November 22nd after working all day at MH as caretaker, I was ready for bed. Shortly after 2 in the morning, I awoke with wicked stomach pains. No matter what I did they would not go away. I drove myself into the hospital. That is another story, but I spent my first night in hospital in Iceland. I went to see a doctor a few days later and we found out I had gallstones. Hoping the operation could wait proved incorrect. I ended up in the hospital again a couple days later on Friday and was operated on. Needless to say I was not able to write my exams for the tour guide school or was I able to work at copying exams at MH. Luckily they were able to get someone to temporarily replace me. There was some complications so I ended up back in the hospital a few days after being released. I didn´t get home until Dec. 7th. I laid pretty low for the next while. I did attend a first aid course, and started work a little before Christmas break. I was felling much better, my only problem was irregular sleep.

Christmas went well, ate too much and slept way too much. I spent Christmas Eve at Safamyri with Margret and Jens. We had a great evening. Christmas Day I went with Guðmundur and Ingibjörg to her sister´s place. We had three varieties of hangikjöt. They were all good. Boxing Day, I drove Margret and Jens to Vik í Myrdal on the south coast.We visited their son, my cousin, who is the community doctor there. We had a fantastic time and even better food.  The visiting and eating continued throughout the holiday season. I also made it to a couple movies and on Dec. 30th I attended a Charity Concert. It raised more than 20 million kronur for Children with Cancer. It definitely was a show of  Who´s Who in the Icelandic Music Industry. It was a great samplimg of  many of my favorite bands and singers like Bubbi, Birgetta, Papar and Í Svartum Fötum.

New Years Eve, I was lazy as usual. I had supper with Guðmundur and Ingibjörg. We had a few drinks afterwards and then watched the fireworks show. The show started early, 10 or 11 and didn´t end until 3 AM.

I heard there was some 20 shipping containers of fireworks shipped to Iceland. To me that is alot of fireworks.

 

 Well 2004 sure arrived with a BANG!!!!