To be honest I’m quite surprised that I have been keeping up with blogging, but I’m glad I am, and I know that future Sacha is going to be glad I have been too. Anyways, sorry for the delay in this post!
Thursday was our last day of Icelandic lessons followed by a nice little trip for lunch where we had a starter salad featuring puffin followed by a fish meal (can’t remember what type of fish). Puffin wasn’t bad, but it certainly would not be my first choice, it was kind of gamey and you could definitely tell that it feds off fish. Anyways that was a fun meal, afterwards I went to a wool shop with a couple of friends to pick up some wool for some new projects. That night we all went over to Ásta Sol’s house for an Icelandic BBQ featuring burgers, hotdogs, lamb and whale steak. I quite enjoyed the whale steak, but lamb is so good I could eat it all the time (exaggeration but it is good). After the BBQ we headed back to the guesthouse to pack up a bit before heading out for the night. Fun times.
Friday morning we all finished packing before heading out to stay with our families. One of the son’s of the couple that I am staying with came to pick me up as he had just flown into town (a pilot) and was making his way to the farm to pick up his kids. It was such a nice drive, not only was there great conversation but the views were incredible. He offered to take me the longer way rather then taking the tunnel to Akranes which, while I don’t have anything to compare it too I’m glad we did. We stopped along the way a couple of times just to take in the beauty, sit in silence… and take a couple photos. When we were driving he asked me if my hair colour was natural which I get a lot but his reasoning was different, I guess his mother’s hair colour used to be just like mine and when he saw me he thought something along the lines “this can’t be”. Then he also said that my eyes looked very much like hers. Neat and weird and cool all at the same time. When we arrived at the farm I felt welcomed and at home right away. We went to herd the sheep to prepare them for getting sheared… I didn’t realise that that was what we were doing, I thought we were just walking through the farm land! During in the middle of the adventure he (the pilot… I’m not going to spell the name correctly) took me up in one of his little planes and we flew over the farm land. I felt like how I imagine Simba would have felt when he was told about the land. The flight was really cool and I may be getting the chance to fly again before I make my way to stay with Adda. After landing and finishing with the sheep it seems as though I met all of the family, it was a party with 5 grandkids, sons and daughters and husbands. I quickly came to the realisation that I do not speak Icelandic. Not a bad realisation though, I was pretty aware of the fact but it was made truly evident. It was fun listening to everyone and they were all nice. The babies were the best because they don’t speak anything so making faces at them is super easy for me and a great ‘language’ for us to share. Later on in the day I watched them milk the cows followed by a sheep shearing party. Man was it a party. So much wool! I called it a day before the others as I was pretty tired from the night before, packing, travelling, meeting everyone, herding, general excitement and trying hard to understand conversations.
This morning started off nicely, I went and watched the milking again and then was asked to join Helgi the youngest son (around my age) living here if I wanted to go watch him help his dad shoot a sheep who was injured with a broken leg. Yupp, I did want to so we headed that way but when we showed up the sheep had already died (probably lack of water?). Anyways after that we headed back, I helped with some chores around the house like vacuuming, laundry and cutting the grass. There was a family get together for a nieces graduation today, so Inga (Ólöf’s sister) came by and picked me and her father (who doesn’t speak any English) up for dinner. After dinner I went over to the cow milking and helped a little this time. Helgi and I chatted and I realise that I’m really having a hard time remembering the words that I have been learning/trying to learn. Bah, I’ll just have to try harder.
Anyways, I’m going to have to head to bed I’m pretty exhausted. I hope this post reads well as Im too tired to make sure that it does and the computer is about to die…. I’m going to try to take more photos but in the mean time enjoy the ones I’ve posted!
góða nótt