Well after about five days of snow and ice and blowing winds, the storm was over when we woke this morning and we saw blue sky for almost the entire day. Although we have been told it could rain or warm up and all be gone before we know it there seem to be some forecasts for more snow tomorrow night or Tuesday. It would be a shame for all this beautiful snow to melt, I sort of assumed it would not go until the spring...who knows.
On Friday morning we decided not to have the pilates class since it was still quite rough out. So I enjoyed a few more hours worth of sleep which was especially nice since Jacob didn't have class either. Zelia and I still headed to rehearsal together, knowing that she would fall asleep in the stroller. I took her out and walked around a little and really felt like a fool as I got stuck on the snow every few feet. I felt like I was practically carrying the stroller and rolling it only on the front wheel, ugh. Katri and I got to talk through the improv before she woke and after a little bit Jacob came and took her home so we could run through it one more time. I called to find out whether we would be having swimming since I am completely unsure of when the weather is bad enough that things are canceled. It was on and I wrapped Zelia up and walked her to the hospital. I have certainly recalibrated things...as I was walking in snow sometimes more than half way up my shins, the winds blowing the snow so that I couldn't see...all to go swimming. Everyone made it and we had a great class. We met Dagbjort (our babysitter) at the University afterward and had class as well. Zelia was a lot more comfortable with her and we will see her tomorrow. Dagbjort will continue to come for an hour on Wednesdays as Zelia gets to know her and I may ask her if she has any more time.
Saturday morning was very blustery and I went early to meet Katri at a new place we were going to improv. The streets were quiet and about 5 inches of fresh snow wa son the ground. The wind was gusty at times and there were areas of snow above our knees. We walked to the studio to find it locked and after 2 phone calls and a good amount of waiting Jon came to open up the space. We were able to warm up for about half an hour before heading to our first site Hafnabudin the sport clothing store. the first improv went very well, we had a few audience members, the workers in the store and Jacob and Zelia. Next we went to Hamraborg (convenience store/fast food) where Traian, Tanja and Astrid wree also watching. Over to the Neisti building where the Samkaup (grocery store) we went next and then returned to Hamraborg and across the street to one of the clothing stores. Finally we had a little break and we grabbed some food at Gamla Bakariid. While we were there we met a man from Brazil. I actually had seen him walking around over the last weeks, all I knew was that he was not Icelandic:) He was on his way out of Isafjordur, but this was the first snow he had ever seen. Imagine - and what a good snow it was to see. After lunch we had 4 more improvisations before we were done. Each improv was 15 minutes long and then we had 15 minutes to get to our next location. We were exhausted. After showering at home, Katri, Jukka and Pyry came over for some delicious chowder and some beer.
Veturnaetur, the even this weekend did seem to get some people out, but the bad weather on Saturday was against us. Sadly, there was also a funeral happening for an electrician that fell and died about a week ago. I asked if funerals often happen this long after death and was told that generally they do happen 1-2 weeks later.
there were some great sales at the stores and I got a dress for PR and some earrings which was fun. We didn't get to see any of the other artists so have no idea how that was.
Sunday morning we woke in the dark and let Zelia sleep some more. We had to get up and ready to go to Flateyri for our swimming class phrographic session. Zelia and I rode with Sunna, her husband Oe and their son Stephan and Jacob went with Haeti and her son Alexander. We both laughed as we stepped into these monster trucks to get us there. Seriously these things were HUGE. It was really nice to get out of the fjord and to see the landscape, covered in snow and clear skies. Flateyri is a sweet town and I hope to go back when we can walk around some more. There was a handwork shop there that looked great. This is where 13 years ago an avalanche killed 25 people in their homes. Actually the exact anniversary of that is today and it happened after about 5 days of snow as we just had...We saw the avalanche barriers that had been built to protect the town.
It was fun to see so many families at the pool and we also enjoyed the hot pot. Actually by Icelandic standards the pool was cool and the babies were getting a little chilled by the end. We did get to take a few underwater shots of Zelia and one as a family as well. When we get them I will pass them on.
Zelia slept for 2.5 hours after that!
In the afternoon, while Jacob worked on his poster, Jukka came to pick Zelia and me up to go back to his house for a little birthday party for Pyry who turned 2 this week. There were two other families there, a savory feta pie, coffee, cookies and cake. Very simple and very nice. Then Jukka took me to Bonus to do some grocery shopping which was incredibly helpful. This is the first weekend we almost didn't get to go and we were trying to figure out the bus situation for the rest of the week. Very nice.
We enjoyed burgers and fries for dinner and Zelia crashed and is sleeping away.
I am trying hard to use more Icelandic and wrote three emails with a few sentences in them. We'll see how I did when I get the responses.
Some things going on: I am trying to start a La Leche League meeting here with Gudny. There is one in Reykjavik but none here and she wants to do it. Jukka and Jacob bonded over fly fishing and are hoping to be able to go somewhere to fish next weekend. Some skiing has begun. On the way back from Flateyri we saw some nordic skiing and I was told that if you take the lift up (once it opens) there is a great trail in the mountains and a cabin for people to use while doing the trail. Oh - the knitting in Icelandic is going well, I am stuck again however and am happy to go to the knitting group tomorrow:)
If you get a chance go to this site - it's funny and creative:)
http://yeswecarve.com/
Obama '08
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