Need for Speed?

LOL it was a nice change from the hustle and bustle here......1979.

Donna

We were there (Hafnarfjordur) for four days in 1007 and for eleven days in

Mary

I loved the sheep and went to the annual lopi yarn sale and brought back several big hanks....but there is something in the wool that irritated my thumbs so ended up giving the yarn to my sister. I also loved the land and was able to go on one day trips every Sat. The Icelandic's are wonderful after you win their trust and I enjoyed discussing topics on just about anything. Several worked on the Base and I was lucky to have 2 neat woman in my office.

Donna

That long ago, huh... Change much? ;)

sue

WOW ,,,,, in 1007 ?????????how did you travel ? by ox cart ??? mirjam

So did I - and the horses.

I bought a couple of hats but can't wear them, even through my hair they irritate.

You can go right off some folk ...

:-)

Oh, we got on with them famously from the start - but we were taking part in an International Viking Festival so they wanted to talk to us :-)

We particularly enjoyed the other-worldliness of the people, their stories of magic, elves and giants. And we were amazed at their honesty and grasp of English. Lovely folk.

Mary

LOL! Did I really typo that?

Well, I don't suppose the island is much different much apart from the odd extra island and change of geography ... :-)

Mary

I wish!

Our ox-cart doesn't float ...

Mary

They are taught English in school when very young.....and inorder to attain Icelandic Citizinship a person must learn to speak their language.....all I could remember is dottir and son....if her name was Heba Ingasdottir that meant Heba was the daughter of Inga....the men were John Richardsson [if memory serves] so John was Richard's Son. I thought that was neat but very hard to look somone up in the phone listings.

Donna

Mirjam Bruck-Cohen spun a FINE 'yarn':

No, Mirjam, BROOM, I'd hazzard a guess!! LOL! Noreen couldn't resist

A ten year old I asked said he learned from watching American cartoons on tv! He shook my hand and asked where we came from, when I said England he asked what my team was. I was puzzled, he said that his team was Liverpool so I guessed he was talking about football. I have no interest in football but said we were from Leeds so it had to be Leeds United. He was impressed, he knew far more about LUFC than we ever shall!

I know - and it's a devilish language to learn as an adult! We contacted an Icelandic friend who lives locally and asked him for various words and phrases so that we could ask necessary questions such as "what is your name?", know how to express prices and to be polite, we were a hit because of that! All the people we spoke to were impressed that we'd taken the trouble - even though in the event we didn't need to :-) One thing we did was invite people to make their own beeswax candle and we then labelled it (as we do here) saying "Hand-made by " We pre-printed lots of labels with the 'Hand-made by" element in Icelandic. The second time we went very many of the same people came for another go and still had their first candles, with labels. I still sometimes find myself saying "Tak"!

We used the same system when we were there, thus Spouse was Eric Bernardsson and I was Mary Jensdottir. I like it. What I found difficult was only having one unit of currency, equivalent to a penny or a cent, the bill for a simple snack looked like a telephone number, I picked up a newspaper and looked at property prices ... unbelievable. But the coinage itself was beautiful - all those sea creatures!

Oh, we loved it!

Mary

Sssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I try to keep that a secret!

Mention it again and you're a frog!

:-)

Mary

Oh that is soo neat.....the only word I knew was Afi means Grandpa.....our parkas had AFI in big letters on the back and it stood for Air Forces Iceland.....they thought it was funny we had Grandfather on our backs

LOL yes I remember the prices.....I thought I was spending a zillion dollars and it was only 10 bucks, I would like to go back someday. All the girls in my office liked to go to North Carolina for vacations because the land was soo green. I guess out of all my experiences living in Iceland that year is one of the best.

Donna

Mary Fisher spun a FINE 'yarn':

but,but,but... Mary! :D We *all* visit one another via our brooms, tis the only way to travel! :D Noreen

I wish I'd known that!

Brilliant!

...

I envy you. I keep hinting to Spouse that I'd like to go on an Arctic cruise, especially to Greenland. There were some Inuits from Greenland at the festival and to me it seems even more magical than Iceland. But the ship would have to go via Iceland of course! He's more than reluctant, says it's too cold. I might go by myself, that'd larn him.

Mary

Hmm ...

Electronic brooms?

With a mouse instead of a cat?

:-)

Mary

No Mary my broom is oldfashioned , grass part at the end ,, mirjam

Yes that would be a neat trip...my Dad was stationed in Greenland...back in the 40's and the chapel for services was in a Ice Cave...everything was made from Ice.....the pictures were magical.

Donna

...

The trouble is that Greenland's ice is melting so rapidly - I want to see it while there's some to see. My first view of Greenland was on my first ever plane flight, to Toronto. I looked down and gasped, exclaiming, "Greenland's icy mountains!" (from the hymn). My companion, a well travelled woman, said, "Yes, it is". I hadn't known it was Greenland, the words just came out. Since then it's been a target.

I wanted to go to Iceland since I was eleven when a teacher described her trip to Reykjavik, In Those Days (1950) it was even more of an adventure.

Mary