Biking home along the same area of oceanside. I'm so excited to have a bike now!!! It's sooo liberating, and was having serious withdrawals from missing my bike in Canada. Bikes are common transportation in Reykjavik for going to school, work, etc. Often, women bike with skirts, heels & scarves all dressed nicely and men dressed nice for work/school, etc. too. Although Niall has his own bike, we often just go on this bike together as he easily sits on the rack above the back tire; we go all over the place whether it's to get groceries or go to soccer, swimming pool, store or ocean. Niall jumped off the bike and took this picture while we were biking home along the ocean path. This bike fits Alexis very well, too, so am encouraging her to go for a spin on it as often as she wants :)!! This area in the photos is where we love to bike, run, watch the incredible colors at sunset or look for jellyfish, seals, birds or walk on the rocks at the beach. Once, the moon sat there on the horizon heavy like a piece of cheddar cheese, so orange and bright that we ran down to the beach to get a better view it was too unreal.
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Me with Guðrún, Sigríður & Arny (left to right, 3 generations) This evening, we were invited for dinner to our first time in an Icelandic home for a meal. Mary Nesbitt (91) in SK, Canada lived in Iceland 50 yrs ago and put us in touch with each other. The daughter, Sigríður (18), picked Alexis, Kai, Niall & I up in their car as they live a little outside the Reykjavik area. Arny cooked a traditional Icelandic meal: roast lamb, potatoes from her garden, salad, ice cream & coffee which we enjoyed together with her husband, Kartjan and Sigríður & Guðrún. They had rabbits outside for Niall to play with. Guðrún introduced us to Opal licorice, a new licorice to fall in love with!! She kiindly gave Niall a prized box. Guðrún didn't speak english, but translation helped. There's always something new and fun to try! They were so kind and it felt good to be in a family home, to practice the language, get to know them and their lives. Mary (in Canada) and Guðrún (in Iceland) have stayed connected & written letters to each other for 50 years! Was special to be included in their connection and friendship. By the way, in Iceland people's last names don't keep a traditional family name. Last names are a combination of their father's name with son (sson) or daughter (dóttir) for the ending. For example, these women's names all have a different last name. Grandmother: Guðrún Einarsdóttir; Mother: Arny Johannesóttir; and daughter: Sigríður Kjartansdóttir. By looking at their last name, you know immediately their father's name and whether it's a son or daughter. Cool, eh. Visited the Volcano House The past two weeks I've felt the pull of a 'study vortex' where it gets much busier with assignments, reading & studies. Keeping a balance is really interesting, yet I find the simplicity of living close to classes, kids schools, shops that it is pretty calm compared to the driving & pace of Kelowna. I'm finding Geophysics the most time-consuming as it's a new twist on physics that my brain needs to wrap around. That'll take time & am determined to 'get it'.. It's interesting that mountains have measureable roots that virtually float in the crust on the more dense mantle of the earth. It's measureable with gravity metres that we will learn to use on a field trip later in Oct. The isostatic equilibrium below us within the Earth & the balance of the Moon, Earth & Sun orbits are ummm, well, no words can say it is just cool. The weather has kept nicely. No snow, mostly cool, fresh & chilly days sometimes with rain. Today was a sunny cool day, perfect for a stroll downtown. There's a cool market with many treasures to be found!! Niall & I sampled more shark meat and purchased dried/pounded cod and smoked lumpsucker fish. Some Icelandic pie and cake topped it off. We found two wooden swords & sheilds a little boy was selling (he made em at school), a vintage Viking leather belt and Icelandic wool mitts for me. Found some cool books all in Icelandic language: an Icelandic bible, a thick donald duck comic book, and two more books. The girl working at the fish counter had really cool funky curly hair, i couldn't help saying "I love your hair!!" She shared that her father is Icelandic, her mother is Canadian whose parents were from Barbados!! The likelihood of having such a similar heritage to Alexis, Kai & Niall was a nice surprise for us all!! She's 17 and plans to connect with Alexis. I am enjoying my red bike now that works well for Niall to sit on the rack so we get around very easily and it's fun! This afternoon, we visited the Volcano House (http://volcanohouse.is) to watch two films and a geology museum. There was a grand piano in the lobby Alexis & I played and oh! it felt good to play a piano. We love going to the coffeehouse together and playing cards, for some reason we laugh a lot there so we enjoyed that today, too. To top off the weekend, on our walk home we saw our first NORTHERN LIGHTS!!! They became bright purples, greens dancing across the sky. It was very momentous and exciting, a first for the children. Love the aliveness of the elements! Tonight, the kids n I went to watch Yoko Ono's annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower which was built in memory of her late husband John Lennon. The lighting was streamed live (http://imaginepeacetower.com/) as a symbol of their continuing campaign for world peace. Twas a magical nite for us!!! It's on the island of Viðey, a short ferry ride from Reykjavik (only tonite were buses & ferry free, although we walked along the ocean from home to take the ferry over to Viðey then took the bus back from the ferry afterwards). There were two wish trees, to write a wish & hang it. I wrote one, it said "I wish for all people to feel free, and to have love". Later, Niall said his wish was "for all people to have peace". We were close to Yoko Ono when about 1700 of Icelanders and TV reporters, surrounded the light. Yoko's closing words were "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I love you!". There was a mist falling, so the light shone high reflecting the mist & fog with Reykjavik's lights in the background. Ahhh, what a spectacular sight! John Lennon's "Imagine all the people" played. Lady Gaga is in town, she rec'd a peace award in Reykjavik today from Yoko Ono at Harpa centre downtown (www.lennonono-awards-in-reykjavik-iceland/). Btw, there's no army here & guns are illegal in Iceland. This is a very special place, seems perfect for the imagine peace tower. Ever since we've arrived, there's an indescribable sense of calm, respect & authenticity in the people and nature. My wish to you is to have a deep peace in your heart & soul wherever this finds you, and to know you are never alone & very well loved. :-) Link: www.imaginepeace.com Recent earthquakes, Bláfjöll, SE Iceland One of my most interesting courses is called Current Crustal Movements, taught by a well-known geophysicist, Páll Einarsson. Saturday, Oct 6th, we had a field trip to the location of a 3.8 magnitude earthquake at Bláfjöll the night before (just SE of us from Reykjavik). I felt fortunate to be in a group of all Icelandic students and the only foreign student, very cool. The woman who led our day was amazing! Her name is Gro, from Denmark, is only 30 yrs old & completed her PhD (pretty sure it's in geology). Currently, her post-doctoral is spent researching volcanic landforms on Mars and she does this research in Iceland because it is the most suitable environment on Earth to do such studies. A woman after my own heart, so curious and fascinated in our studies & loving being outdoors where it all is! She had danish licorice - wow, it was the best, very strong & shaped like old coins. I loved walking those lava fields. Very very inspiring. Basically, we hiked for many, many km over lava fields measuring the locations of fractures occuring from earthquakes with GPS tools. The GPS was receiving & transmitting signals to 8 satelites to narrow our location to within 5 cm. The past couple months, there have been quakes in this location from magnitude 4.8 to the 3.8 mostly, although dozens of tremors occured. This research hasn't been completed in this area, so it'll be interesting to note the fracture & uplift zones. It's very possible a larger earthquake could occur so it was a great learning experience. Since the field trip, Gro thankfully sent three of her scientific papers written that are fascinating to learn more of another planet, its volcanos, processes & landforms. It's common for Icelanders to wake up in the morning with their coffee and check the seismic activity that occurred during the nite, northern lights activity expected, etc at www.vedur.is. In the news, the earthquake zone we visited had an article http://ruv.is/frett/jardskjalfti-upp-a-38-i-blafjollum (just use copy/paste into google translate as it's in Icelandic). I love spending time with people that're enthusiastic & curious about the Earth in this sort of way, it was a day of further stretching of myself, not only inwardly but an outer awareness - of culture, our alive planet & universe. Current Crustal Movts field trip Last weekend, mom and the kids enjoyed Reykjavik while I was out in the field. They visited the Reykjavik Art Museum, Saga Museum, cycled, walked, visited our fav coffeehouse, played cards, etc. - thanks to mom for all the fun we've had together, the many laughs (we think there may be laughing gas in the pure Icelandic water cuz we laughed so much :-) especially the children loved it, too!!! I spent three days last Fri, Sat & part of Sun. doing field trips just east of Reykjavik - what a unique opportunity to learn from active nature. Friday, our Geochemical Analysis class went to , Flúðir, a quiet community in the Southern Lowlands surrounded in steaming hot pools and pumps of geothermal water. My group was mostly students from Germany & Lithuania; we collected & analyzed both the geothermal water & river water for pH, temp, O2, CO2, H2S via titration methods, etc w more to do in labs later. The geothermal water we sampled had a pH of 9.2!! Almost completely alkaline and 100.7 degrees C, it was sooo hot. Basically, we're learning how to chemically analyze the hot springs, etc and how to know where to drill for geothermal fluids/energy, that's a decision not to make a mistake worth millions to drill lol. Two people I worked with are from Africa, working with the United Nations and learning geochemical/thermal methods - they are real interesting. The 2nd field trip was our Current Crustal Movements class (the only one of its kind taught anywhere in the world because Iceland is so current!) to the microplate between the North American and Eurasian plate that are diverging/separating. A few wks ago, there was a 4.5 magnitude earthquake along a fissure which we visited. Our professor, Páll Einarsson, taught while we hiked along lava flows, uplifts, faults & fissures, with Mt. Hekla and Eyjafjallajökull volcanoes & glaciers in the near distance. This next wknd, we return to do GPS measurements, an active research project where we hope to find out new information about the microplate and post-earthquake stuff. Tomorrow afternoon, in a new Soils & Vegetation of Iceland class, there is a field trip for several hours - yah, soil sounds simple but no, it's not simple yet precious ancient material so am off to do more hiking around Iceland. Not complaining about that! :-) Lex may join me, hope so! The Icelandic language is gradually seeping into us, recognizing more and more sounds, words, letters and communication. Want to try? There's a free Icelandic language course online at http://icelandiconline.is. *** How long is the longest icelandic word? 64 letters!!! ***: vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur. I've been doing the online basic Icelandic language course thru the University yet it's a low priority compared to the geology/earth science classes. I'd love to focus on the learning of language, it sounds and is a beautiful language (but my class schedule conflicted) as some classes attended were so fun, especially practicing with two people from Venezuela with their spanish accent :-) Actually, they were good! Then as I seriously struggled to make my mouth move to make new sounds like never before, they seemed at ease then shared it'd been one year they've been learning the language. We were told that children get a grasp of the language after three months! Niall is the most immersed in Icelandic language as he's in school f/t every day & children his age aren't fluent or even know any english yet. He has an amazing teacher, Hilda, that really has a calm, loving way about her and understands how to patiently work with Niall; he's becoming more excited and self-motivated for his learning. Yeah! Niall's classroom is surrounded in the Icelandic alphabet, which I tried to get pictures. There are 33 letters in the Icelandic alphabet (no letter 'c'); there are two a's, two e's, four o's, two i's, two u's, two y's, two p's (one p has a long line along the left & sounds like "th"), a letter d that looks like "an airplane taking off" above it (that's our favourite!), and an 'ae" letter stuck together. It's similar to german in that there are three genders, feminine, masculine & neutuer, although there is obviously much more to it! Yesterday, Alexis came home from Icelandic class and she'd learned how to order pizza over the phone & was told that before she leaves Iceland she's gotta do it :-) Kai and Alexis both have Icelandic language several times/wk as part of their Gr 9 and 10. It's a wonderful language, rich in history from the Nordic countries, i.e. Norway and Viking and Celtic heritage. Even tho it's not easy, I think we're all thankful for this opportunity to immerse in a new language. After picking Niall up from school this afternoon, we walked a few blocks to the small local market to pick up a snack. Chose some sliced mango, a cinnamon biscuit and I felt like protein so... you know those hot ovens that have warm fresh-baked chicken at the grocery stores in Canada? Well, there is one like that and I noticed beside the chicken pkgs, they had warm lamb pkgs. It looked like a lamb steak, yet not understanding the Icelandic label, asked the person behind the meat counter (the first person didn't speak english so kindly directed me to the english speaking man). "Yes", he said, "it's lamb and it goes well with this", pointing to a small clear container with cooked squash. Icelanders don't eat their lamb with mint sauce/jelly which I already figured out but this was a new tradition! Ok, this sounds like a nice treat, love lamb. When I opened up the wrapper, and took a bite it tasted okay but something in the texture was new, so took a closer look at it. Oh my, I slowly realized in shock what I had just bought - half a lamb's head!!!! with tongue, jaw, teeth, eye all intact. Very little meat was on it but I think it's a delicacy, not sure. I sure really love Iceland and its people but this is rreeeeaaalllyyy stretching it lol :-) Today, yes, not only did I not plan to buy it, I've heard of it but didn't think that's what was under the saranwrap. I quickly put it back in the bag and the only one that was interested (or brave enough!) to see it was mom. The kids couldn't bear to look. Culture is really something!!! This wknd we hope to go the local farmers market where shark is available for purchase, to really try it.
This morning I awoke early around 5am & found that during the night Niall had come to where I was sleeping to snuggle, one of the best parts of life are these little things :-) I'm watching the dawn of light gradually appear. While making coffee in the french press, I was looking at two photos I'd brought from home in Canada, two of which are on our windowsill. What may they be? I hadn't meant to share this but sometimes a moment of reflection touches deeply and its worth noticing. One photo is of my late great-grandma Turner and the other is of my grandma Massey both Saskatchewan prairie women with roots of Germany and Ireland. The thought came to mind how and why I'd brought their pictures with me to sit on our kitchen window sill? It 'dawned' on me (no pun intended :-) that they inspire, comfort and are connected to me and who I am & am becoming. I'm sure we can all recognize our previous generations of men & women are kinda 'always there'. I love my great-grandma Turner's humour & strength she had a hard life but always seemed to handle it with a good attitude and made us laugh as children. I love my grandma Massey's wisdom, honesty and stedfastness. This summer we had fits of laughter while taking the picture together attached - with my mom, grandma, sister-in-law Carmen. My mom travelled here & arrived two days ago, again I love so much the effort she made to be here and how good it is to share this experience - we're having incredible moments together. I love my mom's attitude, care, strength, laughter, youthful energy and love. And I realize how we go on, love & grow as part of the story. Then, as life has been much of the past years and in Iceland, a magical moment - I sat down to open the blog and of all things!! my grandma Massey wrote to us for the first time in Iceland - somehow joined in spirit. Thank you!! Takk (thank you in Icelandic). Then, I notice my own daughter of 15, this beautiful person that inspires me constantly. I suppose my readings of the Sagas of Icelanders since we arrived has helped me acknowledge and understand more the history, the story and the beauty in the miracle of the cycles of time, generations and family, the places and people of which we are. Will have to share more of the Sagas as I can hardly put the book down. We've been learning the relatively young geological processes that created Iceland which is thought to be similar processes to the first crust formed at the beginning of Earth. NW Iceland has the oldest rocks (approx 15 million yrs old), gradually getting younger towards central & southern Iceland (less than 10,000 yrs old) where the divergent plate boundary is separating and new basalt lava & ash are most numerous. It's amazing to see how the tiny pollen, fossils, flora imprints of leaves, needles of trees that used to thrive here are almost perfectly preserved in layers upon layers of lava and soils that tell the story of time. At one time Iceland was a warm, humid, temperate climate ~12-15 million yrs ago (Ma) with highs of 25-30 degrees C & mean annual temp of 9-10 C degrees 15 Ma and 12-14 C degrees 12 Ma (reflected by the pollens & plant floras such as rhododendroms, honeysuckle & conifers that could only have existed at those temperatures) and has been through over 25 glaciation/deglaciation cycles. Basically, since 15 Ma, Iceland shows an overall gradual cooling with a mean annual temp of 4-5 degrees Celcius now. Iceland's history is the most preserved on the Earth because of the lava flows that have continued to flow, preserving what is underneath it. It's really interesting to think of the generations of people and land processes that come before us - it's a story we are a part of!! Woohoo! :-) I must write of last Friday morning as I've never seen a professor so passionate and into what they were teaching us, it felt like a news broadcast. He loves volcanoes, especially, and grew up near one in Iceland. It was great! He is a world--renowned Volcanologist, Sigurdur Reynir Gislason, who researches presently with 11 PhD students in this field specifically in Iceland. They know within 45 minutes of each volcanic eruption when it'll go and are straight on their way or already there when it happens, sampling the water in front of glacial floods or sediment/asi sampling, etc and other research they're doing. I learned so much yet will try to condense it here. Basically, rocks control the atmosphere as they fixate the Carbon just as vegetation does. When an eruption occurs, CO2 is spewed out naturally continuing the C cycle. Depending on the magma's viscosity and whether it is basaltic, etc. and gas pressure determines what kind of eruption it is. 8500 years ago, the tree line was much higher in Iceland. In times of glaciation, the weight of glacial ice weighs the continent down, isostatically, and as the glaciers melt the continent moves up again. This is all recorded in the layers of rock & soils. Three more recent eruptions in Iceland were quite interesting (hope I got my facts straight but this comes from my notes): 1. Grímsvötn volcano, SE Iceland (Vatnajokull glacier covers it): (May 21, 2011) Was the largest eruption in 50 yrs in Iceland. lifted the glacial ice so dramatically that in seconds it was the 2nd largest river in the world (Amazon's discharge is 200,000 m3/s and this flood was instantly from zero to 50,000 m3/s discharge!) That's a wall of water larger than a house with 180 Million tons of suspended solids heading to the ocean which has a major effect on the sea. i.e. a flood of Fe (iron) can cause a fertilizing bloom in the ocean. A 50 km path formed in 24 hrs. 2. Eyjafjallajökull volcano/glacier, South Iceland (April 14, 2010) This eruption caused a the largest interuption in air traffic since world War II, when over 100,000 flights were cancelled in Europe for 7 days. This is because the melting pt of ash is 1100-1200 degrees C and the engine of the airplane melts the ash at 2000 degree C, then cools particles fast as it resolidifies it stops the engines. Iceland was mostly not affected as the 9-km high tephra ash drifted south away from the island. The scientific team at the University of Iceland, incl my professor(s) were out sampling the very fine ash It is so dark that they can't see their arm in front of them in the middle of the day! The lava fell down a 200m drop at Eyjafjallajokull, beside Mt Katla (also thought to be possible for eruption 'soon' but who knows?!?) where students were sampling downstream. Quite an exciting event! 3. Mt. Hekla South Iceland (erupted in 2000), 1991 & 1981) is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes, erupting about once every decade and may be due for an eruption as it raised about 1 m indicating magma under the surface. Hekla has no glacier covering it so the eruptions are less explosive. There is on average one volcanic eruption every 1-2 years for quite awhile, and about 5 earthquakes a day measuring usually 2.0 magnitude. They are to the central and east side of Iceland mostly. Since 1958, about 658 sq. km of glacier has retreated on Iceland, yet it's a natural process and it's estimated Iceland's had over 30 glaciations in the past. Vatnajokull is the largest glacier in Europe at 8000 sq. km, which it's volcano last erupted in 1996. The 1362 eruption of Öræfajökull was historic and the Heimay eruption in 1973 added 2 sq. km to Iceland! Quite a phenomenom. There is an area to the NE of Iceland that is in exploration stages for oil, otherwise there is no oil to speak of because it's so geologically young and mostly made of basalt. In a new class, Geochemical Analysis, we are learning how to sample geothermal waters out in the field near geysirs, mud pots, glaciers and volcanoes. The pH of water can go from 10 down to 2 depending on how much Sulfur & other elements are in the rocks which creates sulfuric acid. We go on a 3-day field trip at the end of Sept and thankfully mom will be here to be with the children while I go trampsing around sampling who knows what! |
AuthorI'm the mom of my three beautiful children on this wonderful Iceland adventure. Archives
June 2013
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