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! We drove by this sheep, so content. There's a TV reporter attending our 3 hour morning geology lectures from the local Icelandic TV station (some of what we're learning isn't even published in Science journals yet re geology, glaciers & historical/present climate change mostly!) I was asking him about the local Icelandic foods since I'd suggested to a girl in our class whose birthday it was, that she should eat local Icelandic food since all she wanted to do was eat for her birthday lol. Most in this class are foreign students from Europe, esp France, Spain & Germany, speak english and in the same prgm. Okay, this is a couple different things they eat here: 1. Shark: This time of year, shark meat is caught & buried in the sand on the beaches which stays there til spring. Then they eat the shark, by then it's rotten. It's supposed to be dee-licious like a pudding! 2. Lamb: this is the time of autumn that the sheep in Iceland are rounded up, it's called Rottir. Icelandic lambs are called "happy sheep" because they roam free on the mountainside, fields and roads. The sheep fat and blood are put inside a sack (the sheep's bladder), which is slowly cooked for several hours. It's supposed to taste amazing. The Icelandic people are incredibly healthy, slim and the longevity here is the highest in the world. It must be the fish and lamb, fresh air, low pollution, pure water and high standard of living?!? or is it these two yummy dishes? Btw, one of the children noticed on our road trip that these sheep almost always were in groups of three. We asked a local farmer why and were told that it's usually a mother and her two lambs. On Saturday, we finally moved into our apt and it feels like a 5-star castle compared to the tenting we did the previous week at the Reykjavik Hostel. While waiting for our apt, we decided to use our big 7-person tent with nice double mattresses we'd packed in a suitcase. The first night was sooo cold we snuggled close as we could & put on woolies, sweaters n socks. Had a few comfortable nights then, like we're learning is normal Icelandic weather, it changes drastically from day to day. The last two nights the rain and wind had us feeling the wetness in the tent. Dreaming of the hot summers in BC! We enjoyed hanging quietly in the evenings with the many people from all over the world backpacking and adventuring thru Iceland, who were also staying in either the hostel or tent. One night Niall & I took up a ping pong game with a traveler from England - what fun! We were sharing later that If it wasn't for that tenting experience, though, we wouldn't be appreciating our warm home now & the shelter it provides. It's a nice pine wood and white Scandinavian design. Alexis and Kai both have decided to write their own book since our arrival here, I'm not sure what stimulated the idea but they are enjoying writing and reading a lot. At school, the Icelandic as a Second Language classes for all of the children seem to be going well. Alexis & Kai have learned the days of the wk, months, fruits & vegetables and body parts in Icelandic language. Niall seems to like the language classes, too. Yesterday, when I asked Niall how school was he said "Awesome!". Today, he answered "More awesome than yesterday!" He's had his first birthday invite & party to a friends house, Ari, who invited all the boys in his class. Ari had previously come up to me in front of the whole class at the beginning of school and made a motion with his hand to his ear, he couldn't speak english so I understood he wanted Niall's tel# to invite him to play at his house. I was touched, as it was so cute. Without understanding each other verbally, Niall, Ari and other of his new friends very much enjoy each other. I gave Ari our new local tel# after school today and they were happier than ever. Last week, when I arrived to pick Niall up from school, he was outside playing soccer (it's football here..) just as he made an awesome goal! Soccer is everywhere. His teacher got me in touch with a soccer coach that has practices all year long here, it's the highest level soccer for boys Niall's age & some of his friends enjoy it so that's pretty cool. Alexis is loving drama class, which I guess decided to have their drama play partly in English, part in Icelandic because Alexis is part of the event. On Sunday,the children and I had a bible study in I Cor. together, and enjoyed discussing, in one verse it says that we have a physical body and celestial body. It was nice to hear the children's thoughts. We sang two hymns. Kai wanted to sing more so we actually sang 4 hymns trying to harmonize like in mtg. I went running for the first time along the Atlantic Ocean beside our apt and was so thankful for a most beautiful bike/running path that follows the ocean shore & came upon a geothermal hot pot on a beach not far away where two boys were swimming. Next time, I'll wear my bathing suit under running clothes! :) Later we all went to the beach & Niall found a....jelly fish (that's what he said...I never did see it!! He keeps asking to go back to see it again & take pics. Today, I had to go to an Immigration office way outside Reykjavik by bus for my student visa stuff and asked the bus driver where IKEA was, by chance it was only a short bus ride away. It's exactly like home in Vancouver, got a soup pot and laddle among a few other things I forgot like a can opener and pillows. Tonight we had homeade curry lamb stew in that pot and boy it was awesome. The lamb and salmon are available most here! The other day a native woman was sitting with a baby at a table selling dried Isi fish, caught by her husband in the Atlantic. It doesn't look appetizing but I went out on a limb and bought a bag for 2000kr (approx $15 cdn). Icelanders eat it with butter, it stinks something crazy strong fish smell but wow I love it and pure protein :-) Every day, there are ups and downs with the language, trying to get around, settle into new surroundings but mostly, my heart is full of gratitude for the simple things like our home, good food, the salty smell of the Atlantic, the expandedness we feel inside to stretch even if our couch at first is a therma-rest mattress...but most of all we are thankful for each other and for all of you that are with us in spirit. Will try to keep in touch more that by tomorrow we'll have internet in our apt...yeah! and hopefully get a pic of Niall's jellyfish on the beach lol. |
AuthorI'm the mom of my three beautiful children on this wonderful Iceland adventure. Archives
June 2013
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