February 2003

Postcard

 

Well the days are short but not very cold. Seeing the weather home in Canada makes me shiver. Still getting settled into my new apartment, always finding things I need or should have. Got into some kind of virus on the computer. I was getting 300 emails a day from Cuba, actually it was saying that a message could not be sent and was telling me about it. This time of year means Þórrablót, Guðmundur and Ingibjörg treated me to Þóramattur, Þóra food. I like some of it but I am not too fond of the sour stuff, like whale and rams testicles.

Kept busy preparing for Nordic Trails Cultural Weekend and the upcoming visit of my parents. My parents arrived the same day as my landlords left for the Canary Isles. It was great my parents were able to use their house while they were here so they didn’t inconvenience anyone. Another friend and fellow Mason from Viking Lodge in Gimli also came for a visit. We were all able to attend a 50th anniversary meeting of Mimir Lodge in Reykjavik. I am not sure how much of the meeting my Dad and Baldur were able to understand but I think they enjoyed it all the same. Our social calendar was full while my parents were here. We enjoyed many meals together; we were invited out a lot. We had a great coffee party at Sveinn and Hanna’s, with a group that visited Gimli in 2001. My Dad and I made it to another Mason meeting on the Wednesday night and were well received. My parents came to see the school where I work, and met many of the teachers and coworkers. No rest for the wicked; preparations were being finalized for the Nordic Trails Weekend. Even though the weather was horrible we had a great turnout of people at our first ever event. Ambassador Skinner opened the show for us and the lectures went very well. My friend Jonas Thor, Viðar Hreinsson and Holmfríður Tómasdottir were great. We even did some poetry reading and we put the Ambassador on the spot by asking him to read a poem for us, he did great even though he had never seen the poem before. With even worse weather and some competition on TV and so on we did have a smaller crowd on Saturday but we were still happy with the turn out. Villy and I went out for a few beers afterwards to celebrate.

Photos of the event.

Did a whirlwind tour with my parents on the Sunday. Hit the flea market to buy some hardfish, visited a few relatives, had a fantastic meal at Ruby Tuesdays and finished off the night at Safamyri 95, the home of my Icelandic parents. I drove my parents to the airport, in between working; it was great having them visit. It was the first time we have been together in Iceland, even though they have been here quite often.

Lagningadagur, a sort of information/ entertainment days was next on the schedule. Many interesting and important people were around the school. Politicians, actors, musicians and so on visited MH. Ended the month with a visit to the dentist, I had lost a cap eating hardfish. He was able to repair it for me and I thought might as well get some more work done so I returned the next day for some cleaning.

Finished off the month with a bang. I was bus driver for a group of teachers from the school to Akureyri. We attended an Information and Technology Show. The trip north went well. Great weather and roads were with us all the way. I attended a great lecture by the Dean of the Computer Dept. at the University of Akureyri. He is against computers in schools?? WOW, it did make a person think. After a great supper, a few of us went out on the town, had a great time. Some teachers even ended up in Lock Up but none of our group thank goodness.

Well a good way to end the month, causing trouble in Akureyri.