10 October 2005
My dear close souls, finally a bit of my icelandic saga that I´m trying to write in order to reflect on things happening to me since I got here.
So, yeah, get tuned, turn some pleasant music on, get yourself your favourite tea or coffee and we’re starting now:
Once upon a time, there not only was, but still is….right below the Arctic Circle in the harsh waters of the Atlantic, magical land called ICELAND. Well, and up north of this land, in one of the nicest fjords (so say the locals) surrounded by great and big mountains (without any trees, of course), is a small place called Dalvik, where I’ve been living for, hm….for almost 3 weeks now.
And as obvious from the picture attached (masterpiece of my dear uncle Dick – for those who know him), Dalvik is really well placed, as it is protected by the slopes of the big mountains from one side and touching the sea in the fjord from the other side. When overlooking the fjord to the other side, we actually see our close neighbours living on the island called Hrisey, which is right in the middle. (haven’t been there yet, but will go soon to check the local farmers and their fresh lamb meat :) and maybe some more…)
Well, when I got here, the mountains had the snowcaps on tops only. But soon the weather got really really crazy, even to the surprise of the locals, and it started snowing a lot, covering the slopes with the white blanket. Basically, it was snowing on and off the whole past week and in some moments I could not help myself and simply felt that the Christmas will be here and that I should start buying the presents - you know this feeling - when you come out in the dark and you see snowflakes falling in the orange light of the public lapms.....
Apart from the fact that I already forgot, what autumn means, I had to get used to the extremely strong gale and hail and all the possible variations of the mentioned. Of course, the Icelandic wind is the one who "wears the trousers here" and if it/he decides to blow you away, it/he has all the means to do it.
And the fact remains, that this wind always whispers in my ear : "The arctic circle is close, my dear!"
The weather had calmed down a bit this week. I almost forgot that winter was here for a while and could actually go for a walk without fighting with the wind. As you can imagine, sun is a rare product here and I only remember a bit of its beam I saw sometime last week. Never mind, as AURORA BOREALIS = Nordic lights have theirs shows every now and then….so it’s a good substitute.
Well, it’s funny how easily the concept of a good weather can change. When I’m walking to work in the morning and there’s only a slight wind and bits of snowflakes flying here and there I consider this a nice day :) But, it’s only morning….cause everything can get different as quickly as within 15 minutes …..velkomin til Islands ….
Do you get the impression that I must be freezing cold here and can simply never get warm? Almost right, but…..since we’re in Iceland we have some other delightful product to compensate the cold with.
The thing is that this land full of contrasts in its every corner, is proud to have not only glaciers but also abundance of the geothermal waters. In practice, this means that every small settlement, including Dalvik, is taking advantage of this as much as they can. Many of you might know that the Icelanders have been having this hot water running in their radiators, heating up their houses. This not being enough, as they also want to do the dishes and have showers. So guess – which is the best hot water to be used? Yes, the one straight from the ground with the odour of sulfur, hmhmhmhmh. But on top of all this the best way to enjoy this hot water is in the pools and hot pots that are all over the country, even in the places, you’d expect them least.
Swimming pools, meaning outdoor ones, and open all year round. And “The Swimming pool” is a truly sacred place here, something like the pubs for Slovaks. It is the place where the Icelanders come to chat about politics, weather, local gossips and all the other important stuff. You must be wondering, how come? Isn’t the pool a place for swimming. Well, it is, but the term swimming pool, means much more than a non-icelander would usually imagine. Apart from the long pool with the lanes, the most important parts are the so called HOT POTS. Hot Pot is a little pool (diameter about 2 meters) with the hot water ranging from 37 to 42 degrees. Just choose the one of your taste, or simply join the one in which the handsome boys or beautiful women are sitting …
Well, and if the Icelander says: ”I’m going to the pool tonight”, in most cases, this would mean the following: They come and sit in the hot pot and while getting nicely warm with the freezing air outside, they get all the important gossips and discuss all the important issues.
You can imagine, that as soon as I started with my regular swimming trainings, they must have thought: Oh, another foreigner …., as I was the only one swimming long distances in the long pool. (this is a bit exaggerated, of course, and there must be some locals swimming long distances too, I just did not happen to see them yet during my hour :).
Well, and so that you have an idea. The pool for swimming has sth like 28degree water or so, well, don’t remember exactly, but its waters are definitely warmer than the air outside.
So as soon as you come out of the changing rooms, you just run and smash yourself to hot water and start swimming to keep warm. And that’s a nice feeling, spiced up with the HOT POT-boil up after :).
During my old times (soon after I arrived in Iceland), when we were around Reykjavik, we’ve discovered a nice hot pot right at the shore overlooking the harbour. And it was really something to be there an hour before closing with the sun set, on my own or with one more soul….No wonder that this one was my favourite and whenever I would go back to RVK, I would definitely dip myself there and hope to enjoy it with some of you visiting :).
Dears, since I’m dalvik I’m kinda agreeably stuck in the middle of nowhere. To get to RVK, takes around 6 hours of driving or 45 minutes of flight from the nearest town to me, which is AKUREYRI (AKU). This is said to be the second biggest in Iceland, with,.. well, 18.000 folks…are you laughing now? Don’t forget this land has only ¼ of a million Icelanders.
I flew away from RVK around middle of September and watched the middle of the planet Iceland breathlessly from the top, following the glaciers and craters and volcanoes with the finger on the map during the flight, looking forward to the explorations waiting for me in the summer. Since then, I’ve been in and/or around Dalvik only. Meaning that thanks to nice locals I get to AKU, anytime someone is driving there – I just need to ask around but so far I only go there to shop in this big cheap store – much cheaper than the one in dalvik – or to party and get together with the other volunteer Teresa, who’s been “stuck”, there :)
But, if the weather is not good, I either get stuck in Dalvik or Aku. One w-end, I truly got stuck due to heavy snowing and just slept over in AKU one more night than planned and was happy to get the ride on Monday when the weather got a bit more sane….yeah, yeah, never make plans in Iceland :).
Well, this is just a beginning, telling some bits about weather mainly – U see, I've already taken up some of the icelandic habits (talking about weather a lot) …next time I’ll share more of the social life here :) and how the locals treat me …:)
So, yeah, get tuned, turn some pleasant music on, get yourself your favourite tea or coffee and we’re starting now:
Once upon a time, there not only was, but still is….right below the Arctic Circle in the harsh waters of the Atlantic, magical land called ICELAND. Well, and up north of this land, in one of the nicest fjords (so say the locals) surrounded by great and big mountains (without any trees, of course), is a small place called Dalvik, where I’ve been living for, hm….for almost 3 weeks now.
And as obvious from the picture attached (masterpiece of my dear uncle Dick – for those who know him), Dalvik is really well placed, as it is protected by the slopes of the big mountains from one side and touching the sea in the fjord from the other side. When overlooking the fjord to the other side, we actually see our close neighbours living on the island called Hrisey, which is right in the middle. (haven’t been there yet, but will go soon to check the local farmers and their fresh lamb meat :) and maybe some more…)
Well, when I got here, the mountains had the snowcaps on tops only. But soon the weather got really really crazy, even to the surprise of the locals, and it started snowing a lot, covering the slopes with the white blanket. Basically, it was snowing on and off the whole past week and in some moments I could not help myself and simply felt that the Christmas will be here and that I should start buying the presents - you know this feeling - when you come out in the dark and you see snowflakes falling in the orange light of the public lapms.....
Apart from the fact that I already forgot, what autumn means, I had to get used to the extremely strong gale and hail and all the possible variations of the mentioned. Of course, the Icelandic wind is the one who "wears the trousers here" and if it/he decides to blow you away, it/he has all the means to do it.
And the fact remains, that this wind always whispers in my ear : "The arctic circle is close, my dear!"
The weather had calmed down a bit this week. I almost forgot that winter was here for a while and could actually go for a walk without fighting with the wind. As you can imagine, sun is a rare product here and I only remember a bit of its beam I saw sometime last week. Never mind, as AURORA BOREALIS = Nordic lights have theirs shows every now and then….so it’s a good substitute.
Well, it’s funny how easily the concept of a good weather can change. When I’m walking to work in the morning and there’s only a slight wind and bits of snowflakes flying here and there I consider this a nice day :) But, it’s only morning….cause everything can get different as quickly as within 15 minutes …..velkomin til Islands ….
Do you get the impression that I must be freezing cold here and can simply never get warm? Almost right, but…..since we’re in Iceland we have some other delightful product to compensate the cold with.
The thing is that this land full of contrasts in its every corner, is proud to have not only glaciers but also abundance of the geothermal waters. In practice, this means that every small settlement, including Dalvik, is taking advantage of this as much as they can. Many of you might know that the Icelanders have been having this hot water running in their radiators, heating up their houses. This not being enough, as they also want to do the dishes and have showers. So guess – which is the best hot water to be used? Yes, the one straight from the ground with the odour of sulfur, hmhmhmhmh. But on top of all this the best way to enjoy this hot water is in the pools and hot pots that are all over the country, even in the places, you’d expect them least.
Swimming pools, meaning outdoor ones, and open all year round. And “The Swimming pool” is a truly sacred place here, something like the pubs for Slovaks. It is the place where the Icelanders come to chat about politics, weather, local gossips and all the other important stuff. You must be wondering, how come? Isn’t the pool a place for swimming. Well, it is, but the term swimming pool, means much more than a non-icelander would usually imagine. Apart from the long pool with the lanes, the most important parts are the so called HOT POTS. Hot Pot is a little pool (diameter about 2 meters) with the hot water ranging from 37 to 42 degrees. Just choose the one of your taste, or simply join the one in which the handsome boys or beautiful women are sitting …
Well, and if the Icelander says: ”I’m going to the pool tonight”, in most cases, this would mean the following: They come and sit in the hot pot and while getting nicely warm with the freezing air outside, they get all the important gossips and discuss all the important issues.
You can imagine, that as soon as I started with my regular swimming trainings, they must have thought: Oh, another foreigner …., as I was the only one swimming long distances in the long pool. (this is a bit exaggerated, of course, and there must be some locals swimming long distances too, I just did not happen to see them yet during my hour :).
Well, and so that you have an idea. The pool for swimming has sth like 28degree water or so, well, don’t remember exactly, but its waters are definitely warmer than the air outside.
So as soon as you come out of the changing rooms, you just run and smash yourself to hot water and start swimming to keep warm. And that’s a nice feeling, spiced up with the HOT POT-boil up after :).
During my old times (soon after I arrived in Iceland), when we were around Reykjavik, we’ve discovered a nice hot pot right at the shore overlooking the harbour. And it was really something to be there an hour before closing with the sun set, on my own or with one more soul….No wonder that this one was my favourite and whenever I would go back to RVK, I would definitely dip myself there and hope to enjoy it with some of you visiting :).
Dears, since I’m dalvik I’m kinda agreeably stuck in the middle of nowhere. To get to RVK, takes around 6 hours of driving or 45 minutes of flight from the nearest town to me, which is AKUREYRI (AKU). This is said to be the second biggest in Iceland, with,.. well, 18.000 folks…are you laughing now? Don’t forget this land has only ¼ of a million Icelanders.
I flew away from RVK around middle of September and watched the middle of the planet Iceland breathlessly from the top, following the glaciers and craters and volcanoes with the finger on the map during the flight, looking forward to the explorations waiting for me in the summer. Since then, I’ve been in and/or around Dalvik only. Meaning that thanks to nice locals I get to AKU, anytime someone is driving there – I just need to ask around but so far I only go there to shop in this big cheap store – much cheaper than the one in dalvik – or to party and get together with the other volunteer Teresa, who’s been “stuck”, there :)
But, if the weather is not good, I either get stuck in Dalvik or Aku. One w-end, I truly got stuck due to heavy snowing and just slept over in AKU one more night than planned and was happy to get the ride on Monday when the weather got a bit more sane….yeah, yeah, never make plans in Iceland :).
Well, this is just a beginning, telling some bits about weather mainly – U see, I've already taken up some of the icelandic habits (talking about weather a lot) …next time I’ll share more of the social life here :) and how the locals treat me …:)
P.S.: By the time I've posted this bit online heavy snow and wind has been around for the past night and day and I become snowwoman after 5 minutes of standing out....ah well, the winter has come too early.
