Postcard, September 1, 2002

Well here we go again. I think I will quit numbering these postcards and just have the dates when they are written. That will be much easier to follow.

Lets backtrack 3 weeks; I had a good flight from Minneapolis but no sleep. At least this time I didn’t have to go straight to work. I cleared customs fine but they did x-ray my bags so it was good I didn’t try to sneak in that extra bottle like I used to do all the time. My friend Villy picked me up at the airport, even though I could have gotten a ride, as one of the teachers from MH was there picking up her son. If only I had known I wouldn’t have had to bother Villy. Oh well he needed to get up early anyways. I got to my Icelandic parents home around 9 and had a nap. I had set up to meet Villy downtown later as he mentioned it was Gay Pride Day and there will be some good photo ops. I could not believe all the people; they say there were over 20,000 in attendance that is almost ¼ of Reykjavik, and 1/10^th population of the whole country. I have never attended this anywhere else but I don’t think they get that good a per capita turn out anywhere else in the world. Icelanders just like to take to the streets; they don’t care as much what it is for or about just as long as they can have a good time. The weekend activities continued, we went to the summerhouse and spent a nice afternoon there. When we got back I went exploring and photographed some Russian Navy boats. Things sure have changed, the Russians were even invited to the US NATO Base in Keflavik to look around and I think there was even a soccer game planned.

Monday the 12^th I made an appearance at MH, the school and they said they would appreciate it if I could start right away. There was not a lot to do but at least I was working again and could help out a little. I reregistered the Blazer and got it back on the road. I started looking for a place to move into as I had decided that I didn’t want to return to stay at the hotel. I found one place that was not too bad but I was slow at taking it so I lost it. I called another place and I went to see it, it is actually owned buy a Canadian and his Icelandic wife. Small world, he is from Winnipeg but has been here for 18years, so he is really an Icelander. It is not much of a room but it is located down town and it is mine, well as long as I pay the rent. It was not furnished so I went to the Red Cross, good will store and was able to find a decent sofa that folds into a bed and it only cost $50.00 so that was okay. I moved in on the Saturday, 17^th of August. This was kind of handy as this was also Menninganott. Villy and I started with a few beers at my new pad and then we went bar hopping. Drank way too much beers but it was not far to stagger home. Sunday even though there was a severe hangover, we did manage to go take a few photos. We started at a Rally Cross in Hafnafjorður and then even ventured out to Kleifarvatn, the lake that is loosing its water. It was a little under a year since I was there last but the water level has really gone down yet some more.

With school starting work got busier and busier. As usual the teachers were leaving things until the last minute so I had to work some overtime, which I don’t mind. Well it was mainly work and sleep and since I was battling a cold the sleep was really needed. It didn’t take me long to start part time at the Hotel Atlantis. I will be only working a couple weekends as the hotel will be closed for the winter and rooms rented by the month so there will be no staff needed. Many Navy boats have been visiting, Danish and US to name a few. There was some manoeuvres to the west of Iceland, Submarine hunting. The Sub they were hunting was here as well before the manoeuvres began. It was a Norwegian Sub named UTSIRE. The USA had the USS CARR, USS ARLEIGH BURKE and USS PORTER                                                                                                here but security around them was tight. The Danish Navy had the ship named VÆDDEREN here but it was docked at the old harbour so it was easy to photograph. I even made an appearance at Kolaport, the Reykjavik Flea Market but did not buy anything.  Sunday the 25^th I also made my cinema graphic debut. I agreed to play a part in the students short film for Freshie Day, I only had to play myself and of course I am the hero, and had the only speaking part in the film, DAH.

The last week of August was crazy at school, had to work lots of overtime and I found time to start my Spanish classes. I also ran down to take a photo of the Cruise Ship, called THE WORLD, this is the largest cruise ship in the world and people own their own cabins. The cabins sell for up to 100 million dollars Canadian and are mainly owned by Americans. They rent out the cabins if they are not on board for a mere $3,000 per night. I have ordered my cabin; I wonder what the mortgage payments would be?

August 28^th Icelanders´ realized how isolated they can be with out communication. There was a malfunction in the cable running between Scotland, Iceland and Canada so communication was down for up to 8 hours. As a result there was not trading on the Icelandic Stock Market and many other businesses were affected. The next day I had my first flat tire in Iceland and of course I didn’t have the proper tools to change it but I learnt my lesson.

Well aside from meeting with some business people I am keeping out of trouble so far in Iceland.

Kent Lárus