Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Always Cooking

We left for Reykjavik last Thursday so that I could give a lecture at the University of Iceland in Gunnlaugar Jonsson's bible class. I had prepared Lonely Man of Faith and loved diving back into it. I have taught it many times to high school students, and everyone I have ever introduced it to just got some part of it immediately. I walked into the classroom and the seats had been placed in a square, as I had asked, to help with discussion. There were about 10 students, a range of ages but all smiling and super welcoming. Also my friend Shirley came which was super nice and gave me a friendly face right away. I think it was successful and that the students, not only learned something very different from what they are used to, but also something that spoke to them in a very deep way. I miss teaching!

The weather has now taken a turn for the worse and winter seems to be here. There are some mild days still but the wind blew in last night and will be staying through the weekend. Hopefully not too bad though since we are planning on driving to Isafjordur this weekend!

Yesterday was the first mommumorgun. There aren't many moms around and at home here, but a few. Only my friend Hugrun was there with me and the priest Ursula, whom I am so happy to have finally met. Hopefully next week there will be a few more moms!

I am working with three of my dancers to put together a small performance for Icelandic Language day. They have each chosen a piece of text and now we are working it into movement and performance. It was a lot of fun rehearsing with them on Monday night. I am having a hard time finding babysitters for when I am teaching, I hope it doesn't become too much of a problem, ugh. Off to dance!



Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Our Routine










Well, the light has been changing quickly and Jacob and Zelia's walk to school is practically in the dark (7:45 am). It feels wonderful at night to have such complete darkness...I, for one, truly miss the night during the summer and just cherish its return. We are now is a nice routine. Jacob takes Zelia to school, Lazer and I sleep, try to get some work done, workout, etc. Then we pick Zelia up at 12 and head home to meet Jacob and Sarah for lunch (but Sarah is leaving us tomorrow:( ) Zelia sleeps and then after some in door play time we walk over to Grunnskoli to the playground. We usually are there until Jacob finishes at the gym and then we trade. I go in and he takes the kids and heads home to make dinner. I get a nice walk home alone and we all eat together and begin the bedtime routine. It's been just lovely.

In the last few days the snow has begun and right now it is actually falling. The light is getting really low so it feels like early morning although it is already 10. I like how it looks, very soft and calm and sort of gray.

On Monday, Olafia met us at the library and helped us choose books for Zelia and she also read to her some. Zelia loved it as there were puzzles there! That is still the very big thing and she is now doing her 30 piece puzzles completely alone! the library is sweet, in the basement of
Fellsborg, and there is a small table for kids with some colored pencils, books and puzzles. We joined and got a tote bag to carry our books back and forth in:) This will now be part of our routine on Mondays and maybe Thursdays, especially as the weather gets colder. Although it will be fun to see if all the kids still come to the park when it is dark, I am sure that they do.

Jacob is enjoying work and looking to apply for a few grants this year which is exciting. I am getting ready for Friday's lecture at the university on Lonely Man of Faith. I am also beginning conversations with two dancers on separate collaborations and need to look into grants for those, busy times but good. Oh, also I will begin teaching dance to the younger kids as well on Fridays:)

Friday, October 8, 2010

Monday, October 4, 2010

Really is this an Icelandic October

























What can I say it seems as if July has decided to come back and visit us. Aside from the strong wind today it is still sunny and quite mild, but this weekend really took the cake. We had temps in the 20's in the sun...enough to sit outside with shorts on and feel warm.

On Friday, Danielle decided to hop in the car and make the 3.5 hour drive from Olafsvik to us for the weekend. We had also invited Olafia to come and join us for Shabbat dinner. We were pretty busy making halla and cooking and also taking some time to play at the park of the school. There is a halfpipe there and Zelia loves to climb and slide down and hopes that there are other kids there. When they are they will help her and give her lots of attention.

We had a very late dinner as we waited for Danielle to come and ate well, chicken marbella, salad, the works. It was great to inroduce both Sarah and Olafia to Shabbat and I think that they both really enjoyed it. Zelia eventually headed to bed and for desert Olafia gave us a ponnukokur lesson, delicious!

We had a slow start on Saturday but eventually we made it out of the house. Of course not before Jacob got his brisket smoking. Sarah and Danielle took Zelia swimming in Blonduos - a big treat and Jacob, Lazer and I headed to Blonduos to the market and to buy a new vacuum - FINALLY. I came right home and vacuumed, ahhhhh. The weather was remarkable and Danielle, Lazer and I sat outside enjoying the warm sun, chatting and knitting. Once Zelia woke from her nap she joined and we all enjoyed the rest of the yummy blueberry juice Jacob had made.

We invited Johanna and her twins (just turned 10) Gulli and Birta for dinner. We had not seen them since before Lazer was born and it was about time! We ate well, brisket, corn bread, coleslaw, baked beans which were truly amazing and the kids had SO much fun playing together. They are incredibly sweet with Zelia and the Widgets (a new toy from Kathie) were a big hit!

On Sunday it was another beautiful day so we piled in the car and headed out for a hike up Spakonafell, the mountain we see from the kitchen. We began on a trail but quickly lost it. It was pretty dry and rocky but the mountain was green, red and brown. As we headed towards its base we found ourselves trudging through a marsh, blech - you should have seen Jack! Zelia hiked and hour of the hour and a half and had fun trying to find a few blueberries left on the bushes...some tasted like wine. I wore Lazer, who slept soundly the entire time. Jack ran circles around us and at the end ran straight up a cliff. It was wild to see, his front legs were working SO hard!

The week has started. I am preparing my lecture which I think will be Oct 20 at the University. Jacob and I are waiting to hear about a potential Icelandic class, and we have a pot luck with the artists on Thursday. The sun is still shining and the weather is unheard of.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Not Only has the weather been beautiful...

Although we have been batteling some colds this week, we have also been enjoying being outside quite a bit. The weather has been quite beautiful, sometimes cloudy, but really mild and not too much wind. The temperatures have been between 11 and 14 celsius and when the sun comes out - WOW. A few times this week Zelia, Lazer and I walked to meet Jacob at the gym, he would bring them home and I would run from there. The gym is right near the school and the playground, so one day we went when all the big kids were there. The kids were adorable, they all came over to see Zelia and gathered around Lazer, boys, girls, different ages...it was so cute. At first Zelia was incredibly shy but in about 10 minutes she finally went and played with the big girls who were ooggling over her. They mostly played on the half pipe. The kids were running up and sliding down, they helped her get up and would count and slide down with her. It was really fun to watch the whole interaction. The following day we went back but apparently too early to find all the kids there. So we played just the two of us and had a blast. She had told me that only the big kids could run up the pipe and sit but by the time we left she was doing it on her own as well.

Yesterday, at 4 when Jacob was finished with work it was so beautiful outside we all went for a long walk, about 4km. These pictures are from that walk. You can see the light has been very pretty, much lower in the sky and it has been giving me quite a cozy feeling. Can you make out the rainbow? When we got back we fell into our usual routine of making dinner and Zelia playing with Sarah. After dinner, however, both Zelia and Lazer got in the tub and Zelia thought it was great to have him in there with her. He loves the water and just relaxes and floats.

We are looking forward to a fun weekend. Tonight for Shabbat Olafia is coming and Danielle is coming for the whole weekend. Tomorrow we are off to Blönduós to do some shopping, maybe a new vacuum cleaner:) eventually, in the next few months, what we would like to get is some new furniture for our living room and make it cozy, fun. also Jacob is planning on cooking a hell of a brisket - oh yeah!

The video is of Lazer talking:)