the sun & summer in iceland

Sun
It’s so goooooooood to be alive when the sun shines. We all feel it, though some become dazed by it and others, like myself, have to wear shades even in the slightest sun, looking rather daft and/or like I am working on my cool a tad too much.

The Sun ushered in Summer last Thursday
In Iceland summer happened last Thursday afternoon. We don’t really get your typical spring, or even autumn. Summer and winter just leap out from behind a bush sometime during what should be spring or autumn, all systems go for them to strut their stuff. It’s weird.

International Saturday in the mild Sun
Last Saturday I spent with my Scottish friend Elaine in city centre enjoying the various events of the multi-cultural day, and the sun shone fabulously the whole time. We talked loads, enjoyed Icelandic pastry and a pint, an absolute must when the sun is out like that, spoke to people passing by whether we knew them or not as this was a uniting sort of event, and I was tickled with pride, no, make that joy at eveyones’ remarks that my nationality took them by surprise as there is no hint of an Icelandic accent when I speak. Yay! :)

There were Japanese folks writing names phonetically in Japanese characters, a young Iraqi rapping, an Afghani read a poem by an Iranian poet, Thai dancing, a young Colombian singer with his guitar, there was lots of singing, some Scottish music with bagpipes and the lot. A great day.

A group of artists called Strange Fruits, from Melbourne, were here performing that day as part of the arts’ festival down at Austurvöllur infront of parliament, and they were unbelievably outrageous, expert and cool. Great fun to watch. I taped them perform but as I don’t yet know how to convert QuickTime vids to any of the formats supported by WordPress and flickr I can’t post them. They’re not that great anyway, but still. Do check out the link above.

After a day out in the mild sun I went to my sister Sigrún’s where she, I and the kids had a disgusting pizza from a very poor restaurant, in my view anyway, and watched Eurovision like we’re all obligated to do over here. Iceland came in 2nd place, which is what we term as “winning” Eurovision, since we don’t have a music venue or the funds to host such a competition, like we’d have to do were we to win. I can’t be bothered to write abt the competition. Who cares, really? We “have” to watch it, and our singers did well, but in no way does Eurovision represent the nations which participate, so what’s the point?

Sunday walk by the Sea: Under the warm Sun, Embrased by the warm Sea Breeze
On the Sunday my mum rang to tell me that a welcoming party for our Eurovision singers was underway in city centre and as it was being hosted by the fab Páll Óskar I should hurry there and participate. I didn’t as I was already enjoying a beautiful walk by the sea side, minutes from my home. So lovely.

The sun was out again. So warm and sweet. It really is too good to be true to live so near the sea and be free to go for walks whenever I want. Like I’ve written before, I forgive the wind for doing its thing when I go for walks by the sea. It’s always windy here, and it’s annoying, except when you’re by the sea. I just wore a t-shirt and jeans, and sang along to my mp3 (Jesus Christ Superstar was on the whole time – my way to overcome the feeling of embarrassment after seeing Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber participate in Eurovision).

Monday, and the Sun is still here!
Yesterday the sun shone and it was quite calm and warm. I went with a friend to various tourist spots to take pics of him to show his family when he goes back home. Iceland is beautiful.

Tourists who come here can be put in two categories, as I see it. It won’t take you long to realise which group I think are more worthwhile. 1. You have the cool adventurous types with their pricey functional gear, weather-beaten faces, and clothes which are worn from much off-the-beaten-track travel. 2. Then you have the groups or couples (these folks are afraid to travel alone) who wear new clothes especially bought for this trip to “exotic and slightly dangerous” Iceland; couples wear the same brand and colour boots, trousers, jackets, the lot. They wear hats and gloves in all weather. We joke that we can tell which country the tourists come from by their attire, and have wondered whether the clothes are handed out at the airport for them to put on when they arrive. These folks do not bring children to The Island bc, remember, it’s dangerous up here! Funny people. Go somewhere else. Or don’t prepare like you are going to the South Pole or exploring the Amazon. Iceland’s just … a land!

Tuesday: the Sun was seething hot
And today. Oh today, today today today, today the sun was out and so bright and hot, so happy and it couldn’t give us more sun and warmth if it’d tried! Sun, I love you! I still don’t have curtains in my bedroom, just sheets hanging in their stead, so I had to sleep with a t-shirt over my eyes to block out the bright night, and the sun in the morning. The beauty of the Icelandic summer. Oh yeah.

He was like this, attentive when I sang to him, and read some recipes from a magazine to keep him entertained:)

I visited Sara and her wee heavy chunky beautiful bouncy smiley joy maker of a son until they decided to go to the swimming pool. Instead of going with them I met up with another friend, Liv Anna, and we sat around at a café, chatted for hours and drank clean Icelandic glacial water in the burning sun until I got completely red roasted and decided to head for my spinning class, while she waited around for her man and boy. Oddly, my chest and arms are briiiiiiiight red, but my face is sort-of green. Should be a little red, huh, after all that time in the sun, but instead of red, or good old white, it’s green. Weird.

I caught two buses to get to my gym, both buses driven by foreign blokes, one of them quite handsome for a bus driver, haha. Don’t know what that meant just there. Spinning was great, only a few people in the class due to the great weather, so the instructor complimented us on our devotion to working out. Hardcore. As all Icelanders wear black alot, to the gym also, I generally don’t recognise myself in the mirror facing me in spinning class. Today, I was red enough that I certainly did:)

Sigrún picked me up just for fun, I went food shopping with her, got enraged over a text from tenants in answer to my umpteen texts, voice mail messages and phone calls yesterday (their response: “We are getting the money together”), rang them to establish this idiotic text, had a diplomatic chat with them, came home, sat down and read my email to find this in one of them:

I do hope things are going well with all your activities, gym, hair growing, a little light housework, etc., …

My entries are shallow and dull, aren’t they? “I went to the gym, learning abt my illness in rehab, my hair has grown by 1cm, has yours? …” – so dull! No, they aren’t, not always:)

Well see, this entry is about the sunshine in Iceland, currently. And that isn’t too shallow or dull, is it now? Though kinda boring, weather blogs generally are. Anyway, it’s really hot here, really hot, and yet due to the sea all around and so close the air is fresh. The sun shines differently here than in, say, Spain. Even the Spaniards say so. It burns you here, it’s like it’s nearer than to the folks in Spain. I love summers here. Like I’ve said before, once I have my ideal job I’d like to live in Iceland June-August, and somewhere / anywhere else the rest of the time.

And to finish off, a random quote from one of Iceland’s finest authors, Þórbergur Þórðarson:

Líkami minn er undurfínt hljóðfæri sem englar himinsins og djöflar undirheimsins leika á til skiptis.

My body is a refined & delicate instrument onwhich the angels of heaven and the demons of the underworld take turns playing.