Jacob has an exhausting day yesterday. As I mentioned he was picked up at 5:30am and taken to Sudavik with some people working for Matisse, which is a private company but government subsidized that does aquaculture research. When they got to the factory they had to eviscerate 200 cod, weigh them, save the livers, weigh the gonads, log, etc, when they finished with the 200 fish from the day before they headed out to get 200 more. While out they also saw the collection of cod from the non research pens. There the cod are about 5 years old, a great deal bigger than the ones they were working with. He said that they have a big vacuum that sucks them out of the pens onto the boat, the boat goes in and blows them out still alive onto a conveyor belt where then the factory worked clean and fillet them, pretty amazing. As a side note, those cod are DELICIOUS!
They spent the entire day on their feet doing this work and came back tired, sore and stinky!!!!
Zelia and I went to class and felt particularly untalented in the language, ugh. It helped to go to a store afterward and use Icelandic to get several gifts that required some conversation:) When we got back, Zelia was asleep and Jacob was here. We got Zelia fed, bathed and ourselves ready to go to this holiday party and leave Zelia with Danielle. After a very unsuccessful attempt to get Zelia down in the bed (she screamed for 30 minutes, it was terrible) we put her in the stroller and Danielle walked us to our party and Zelia fell asleep. whew.
We got to the Edinborghus for the Jolabord. Jola means Christmas and bord, table. We walked in through what is normally the studio where there was a buffet and into the theater where long tables were set up, with about 20 to a table. After scanning the room, Oli saw us and waved us in. We were told to go and get some food but reminded that this was the appetizers so not to fill too much:). At the buffet there was lox, three kinds of herring, what looked and tasted like a salmon mouse, smoked lamb, raw/cured lamb, meatballs (yay), red cabbage salad (A Christmas special here) green salad, potatoes and cream, peas, and Reindeer pate. We headed back to the table with our plates full and curious about several of the dishes. I bet you can guess which ones I didn't like:) and of course which ones Jacob did! We sat next to the Dagbjort's parents (she is our 13 yr old babysitter). It was very sweet, because her mom, Dani, said that she was very excited today, even called her to tell her that Zelia didn't cry! It was so sweet to hear and also sad because clearly she has been feeling badly about Zelia's crying. They did have fun in class together playing...
Once the main entrees were out we headed back up the to the buffet where they had roasted lamb, ham, roasted pork and turkey. Then roasted potatoes and mixed vegetable. We had just been told about a way to prepare the potatoes where they were boiled and then put in a pan with butter and brown sugar and that's what these were, yummm. Jacob said the lamb was amazing. In general if you are a lamb eater you will be very happy here, apparently it is VERY tender. the roasted pork was good, as was the turkey. For dessert they served rice pudding with a cherry sauce and apple strudel, both very nice. It was really nice to see these folks in a social setting and to get to hang out. Everyone was quite drunk, as they had begun the drinking earlier at the office. Alcohol is SO expensive so people drink at home before going out and buying less when they are out. It was fun.
And then....the show began, yes the ABBA tribute band show. It was fun, totally silly in a way, the singers were good and people here clearly LOVE ABBA. We stayed for a few songs and then took a longer walk home and came to relieve Danielle. Zelia was sleeping outside still very soundly. she had woken up at one point but Danielle ran outside and walked her some more and she fell back asleep. Once we were ready for bed we brought her in. She was so sleepy but still woke for a bit before falling back to sleep. She had a pretty good night though.
This morning we woke to a little fresh snow, but rather warmer weather, about 4 degrees. Jacob is at school working on a paper and Zelia and I had gone for a walk and she is now outside napping. At 5pm we are being picked up and heading to another Jolabord at hotel Nupur. Should be a lot of fun and apparently really delicious food. Will write about it all tomorrow night.
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