I went exploring around midnight last night. I found a waterfall, and horses, and lots of strange, tiny purple flowers, and three pure white birds on a mountainside. A playground in the middle of nowhere, a japanese-style shrine, and I heard Sigur Rós recording something incomprehensible while I napped in an amphitheater just outside their studio while I waited for the rain to stop.
An excellent night.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Expat-Blog
Just wanted to give a quick shoutout to a site that's been a great help with figuring out how to go about moving and getting immersed in the local culture:
There's all sorts of forums and help FAQs for people coming from every country and going to or living in any country - and so many people are willing to share any wisdom and advice they can! It's a wonderfully friendly community and I love just going around in the forums and seeing what people have to say.
On a more personally-awesome note: the family in Stockholm booked my ticket! After three years of waiting, I'll be in Stockholm on August 12th!!
And on top of that, I was interviewed last night by the creator and director of a writing program I participate in every year - http://www.nanowrimo.org/ - and I impressed him so much he wants me to do some pep talks and a video blog for it this year! WOW!!
There's all sorts of forums and help FAQs for people coming from every country and going to or living in any country - and so many people are willing to share any wisdom and advice they can! It's a wonderfully friendly community and I love just going around in the forums and seeing what people have to say.
On a more personally-awesome note: the family in Stockholm booked my ticket! After three years of waiting, I'll be in Stockholm on August 12th!!
And on top of that, I was interviewed last night by the creator and director of a writing program I participate in every year - http://www.nanowrimo.org/ - and I impressed him so much he wants me to do some pep talks and a video blog for it this year! WOW!!
Friday, June 17, 2011
National Day!
Whoofah I've been so busy working for Mr. Iceland and completing the comic contest audition with my favourite Finn that I totally forgot to update this!
Today was the national day (Iceland day? I'm not even sure what it's called) and the entire country seems to be in a happy uproar. I went in to Reykjavik with some Norwegian girls who are staying at the inn I work at, and we went and trolled a bunch of free outdoor concerts that were TERRIBLE in the most hilarious way possible. They were all singing in Icelandic and so of course we couldn't understand a word they were saying (except where Icelandic had similar words to Norwegian or Swedish, but that wasn't nearly often enough for us to understand anything).
The first band we saw was pretty ok; we didn't catch their name, but they had something like eight members, including a trumpeter and a clarinetist! It gave them a very unusual and distinct sound, very cool, although the singer sounded a bit generic punk-rock-pop, and only the drummer seemed to be very excited about playing - although this may have been because he was sitting at the warmest part of the stage, haha!
The second band was called Joe And The Dragon, and was only two members, but...that was enough. They were just a singer and a keyboardist, and the singer came out wearing tight pleather pants and a shiny silver shirt that buttoned low at his belly and nowhere else, and the keyboardist was wearing dress pants and an open suit jacket and nothing else. They sang mostly in English, and it was the sappiest and sometimes most risque 'I love you I want you so much' songs I've ever heard, and the singer was always thrusting his hips and being overdramatic about everything - it was HILARIOUS. If they were being serious, they're the worst band I've ever heard. If they were being ironic, then oh man they were the best band I've ever heard.
The third band we watched was the one we'd really come to see, or rather the one that one of the Norwegian girls was really excited about, and it was this (apparent) teen idol named Frederick Door. From what we gathered from his music he sang generic teen idol pop songs, and I still haven't figured out if the Norwegian girl was joking when she acted so excited about him - although it was so fun to troll his concert, dancing horribly and hooting and hollering at the stage and poorly mimicking his Icelandic lyrics along with all the Icelandic teenyboppers who were so crazy about him.
After that we went to an incredible little restaurant in town and had wonderful, wonderful food - I had baked salmon with a herb-lime crust, and a lava cake and hot cocoa for dessert. The food here always sounds so pretentious on the menu, but when you get the plate in front of you it's just these wonderful large, hearty portions that you can taste the love that went into their cooking. And the COCOA. It's different at every place I've gotten it, but as a rule it's thicker and more bitter than in the US, and I don't have a problem with that at ALL. But I'll cut myself off before I go on a rant about how much I love the food here.
Oh, I lied, one more food thing - I tried Skyr for the first time the other day. It's sort of like super-thick yogurt, and it's DELICIOUS.
It's getting late here now and the sun still hasn't gone down; I don't think I'll ever get used to that. But I'll leave talking about that and how pretty it is here for another day.
Today was the national day (Iceland day? I'm not even sure what it's called) and the entire country seems to be in a happy uproar. I went in to Reykjavik with some Norwegian girls who are staying at the inn I work at, and we went and trolled a bunch of free outdoor concerts that were TERRIBLE in the most hilarious way possible. They were all singing in Icelandic and so of course we couldn't understand a word they were saying (except where Icelandic had similar words to Norwegian or Swedish, but that wasn't nearly often enough for us to understand anything).
The first band we saw was pretty ok; we didn't catch their name, but they had something like eight members, including a trumpeter and a clarinetist! It gave them a very unusual and distinct sound, very cool, although the singer sounded a bit generic punk-rock-pop, and only the drummer seemed to be very excited about playing - although this may have been because he was sitting at the warmest part of the stage, haha!
The second band was called Joe And The Dragon, and was only two members, but...that was enough. They were just a singer and a keyboardist, and the singer came out wearing tight pleather pants and a shiny silver shirt that buttoned low at his belly and nowhere else, and the keyboardist was wearing dress pants and an open suit jacket and nothing else. They sang mostly in English, and it was the sappiest and sometimes most risque 'I love you I want you so much' songs I've ever heard, and the singer was always thrusting his hips and being overdramatic about everything - it was HILARIOUS. If they were being serious, they're the worst band I've ever heard. If they were being ironic, then oh man they were the best band I've ever heard.
The third band we watched was the one we'd really come to see, or rather the one that one of the Norwegian girls was really excited about, and it was this (apparent) teen idol named Frederick Door. From what we gathered from his music he sang generic teen idol pop songs, and I still haven't figured out if the Norwegian girl was joking when she acted so excited about him - although it was so fun to troll his concert, dancing horribly and hooting and hollering at the stage and poorly mimicking his Icelandic lyrics along with all the Icelandic teenyboppers who were so crazy about him.
After that we went to an incredible little restaurant in town and had wonderful, wonderful food - I had baked salmon with a herb-lime crust, and a lava cake and hot cocoa for dessert. The food here always sounds so pretentious on the menu, but when you get the plate in front of you it's just these wonderful large, hearty portions that you can taste the love that went into their cooking. And the COCOA. It's different at every place I've gotten it, but as a rule it's thicker and more bitter than in the US, and I don't have a problem with that at ALL. But I'll cut myself off before I go on a rant about how much I love the food here.
Oh, I lied, one more food thing - I tried Skyr for the first time the other day. It's sort of like super-thick yogurt, and it's DELICIOUS.
It's getting late here now and the sun still hasn't gone down; I don't think I'll ever get used to that. But I'll leave talking about that and how pretty it is here for another day.
Friday, June 3, 2011
oh. right.
The flight from DC to NYC was delayed, so I got to NYC just in time to watch my flight from NYC to Keflavik take off, and had to spend an extra day in NYC. But the airline paid for me to stay in a hotel room and gave me money for meals for the day, and I got to meet up with some friends in NYC that I haven't seen in years, so it's all good.
I had to take some buses from the airport to the place I'm staying just outside of Reykjavik, and since there are no buses in the town I came from, I had no idea how to do this and took the wrong bus and then missed the nextg bus I was supposed to take, but I FINALLY got where I was going and Mr. Iceland helped me with my bags and showed me around, and then I laid down to take a much-needed nap. My cell phone has no service here and my converter isn't working, so I can't tell the time at a glance, so every time I woke up after what felt like a few minutes I saw it was still light out, and laid back down and went to sleep. Then a few minutes ago I woke up and remembered...it won't get dark here during the summer. And it's almost midnight now.
I guess I'll stay up another couple of hours and then sleep again and hope I can get my sleep schedule back on track.
I had to take some buses from the airport to the place I'm staying just outside of Reykjavik, and since there are no buses in the town I came from, I had no idea how to do this and took the wrong bus and then missed the nextg bus I was supposed to take, but I FINALLY got where I was going and Mr. Iceland helped me with my bags and showed me around, and then I laid down to take a much-needed nap. My cell phone has no service here and my converter isn't working, so I can't tell the time at a glance, so every time I woke up after what felt like a few minutes I saw it was still light out, and laid back down and went to sleep. Then a few minutes ago I woke up and remembered...it won't get dark here during the summer. And it's almost midnight now.
I guess I'll stay up another couple of hours and then sleep again and hope I can get my sleep schedule back on track.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Have I mentioned I'm nervous?
Leaving tomorrow night - all packed now (except my laptop, of course) and super-nervous. I've still got to repack some stuff in boxes for my mom to send after me (winter clothes and such), and I'm doing that obsessively because otherwise I'll fall apart in a nervous wreck.
I fly out in the evening and have a layover in NYC, and will arrive in Reykjavik around midmorning local time. I'll call Mr. Iceland when I get through customs, and then take a bus just outside the city to the bed and breakfast he owns, and I'll meet him there. GAH SO COMPLICATED WHY SO COMPLICATED AAAAAAAAA
On a more awesome note, my family and friends threw me the most amazing semi-surprise going-away barbecue party ever last night. Apparently one of my mom's friends has been to Iceland before, and he busted out his photo albums and basically gave me a tour of the country. Very cool! Beautiful country, and I'm looking forward to seeing it even more now. I'm glad I planned on bringing my watercolours because I get the feeling I'll be painting lots of landscapes.
I was supposed to finish the detailed lines for the children's book tonight, and I did get a lot done on it, but got nowhere close to finished. I'm too stressed and nervous, and that'll show in the lines, and I don't want a children's book to show stress. Maybe I should work on the comic book instead.
Nah, who am I kidding. I'll just go eat and pass out in front of the TV.
I fly out in the evening and have a layover in NYC, and will arrive in Reykjavik around midmorning local time. I'll call Mr. Iceland when I get through customs, and then take a bus just outside the city to the bed and breakfast he owns, and I'll meet him there. GAH SO COMPLICATED WHY SO COMPLICATED AAAAAAAAA
On a more awesome note, my family and friends threw me the most amazing semi-surprise going-away barbecue party ever last night. Apparently one of my mom's friends has been to Iceland before, and he busted out his photo albums and basically gave me a tour of the country. Very cool! Beautiful country, and I'm looking forward to seeing it even more now. I'm glad I planned on bringing my watercolours because I get the feeling I'll be painting lots of landscapes.
I was supposed to finish the detailed lines for the children's book tonight, and I did get a lot done on it, but got nowhere close to finished. I'm too stressed and nervous, and that'll show in the lines, and I don't want a children's book to show stress. Maybe I should work on the comic book instead.
Nah, who am I kidding. I'll just go eat and pass out in front of the TV.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Visa application
Just sent away my au pair visa application on the Migrationsverket site ( http://www.migrationsverket.se ) - the fee was 1000kr, which is about $160 right now. It should take 2-3 months to process, but I've heard of them being approved within as little as three weeks! I'm so excited!
I leave next Wednesday for Reykjavik, and I'm still not all packed - ack!
I leave next Wednesday for Reykjavik, and I'm still not all packed - ack!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Nervous!
I woke up this morning, looked around my room to see everything in boxes and bags, and proceeded to freak out. All of the nervousness I hadn't had before decided to hit me all at once! It lasted a couple of hours despite my Favourite Finn's best attempts to calm me down, and finally disappeared when a coworker and her fiancé came to kidnap me away to a morning at the beach. After a couple of hours of arcades, bodysurfing, and building mermaids in the sand, I felt much better. I'll be going back with another coworker tomorrow, to hopefully make my hide a little less snowy-white and to teach him how to bodysurf. I think the waves here are what I'll miss the most, other than my friends and family!
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