Birthday Party

     Like I said in my last blog, I 'm going to tell you about the Sól’s birthday party I went to. It started out with us eating a fantastic meal of hot dogs, birthday cake, chips, bread, and Coca Cola. The chips had a spicy sauce on them and a a blob of sweet stuff in the middle, and the bread was served with a mixture of shrimp, pasta, and veggies all coated in a thick sauce. The Coca Cola was in a fancy bottle and we drank it with a really neat straw. There were about 10 girls and 1 boy (her little brother) at the party, and we all knew each other. After a very early supper (3:20 in the afternoon!), everyone went upstairs to play some games. The first one was a present being passed around while music was playing. When the music stopped, whoever had the present in her (or his) hands got to rip some of the wrapping paper off. There were about 5 layers of wrapping paper and newspaper and packaging tape. I ended up winning the prize-a candle! It is a pink scent candle.
     After the first game, we played a second. This time, there was a garbage bag with clothes in it and everyone passed it around. When the music stopped, the person with the bag closed their eyes, picked a piece of clothing from the bag and put it on with their eyes closed while dancing. Everyone got to chose two pieces of clothing to put on and we all looked ridiculous in the end. Then, we took a walk around town in our crazy style. That was probably my favorite game.
     Once we returned to Sól’shouse, we started up the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I think it is a very scary movie, so I went home about 2/3 of the way through it. The party was really supposed to end at 6:00 and it was 7:05, so it wasn't like I was leaving early or anything. When I got home, I lit the candle. It smells SO good!

Bless,

Alex : )

This Week

     Okay, I'm going to tell you about my week, day by day.

Monday
     The first thing I did on Monday was go to school. I loved my cooking class because I made chocolate cupcakes that were very heavy. No one else's were that heavy, so I think that my partner and I did something wrong. After school, I went on a hike with some hiking club. We hiked to some beautiful water falls.
Tuesday
     My favorite class on Tuesday was knitting. We're making a pair of socks, and, once we finish them, we will all make some pajamas. I choose a very pretty blue yarn that had colorful bits of fabric in it. After school, I had two of my friends over to play Settlers of Catan. The game was all in Icelandic, so my friends translated the game for my parents and myself.
Wednesday
     After an uneventful day of school, my family and I met my dad's cousin's baby. Her baby is a girl and so cute. When we saw her, she didn't have a name, but it's coming! Okay, now she has a name. It's Zelle Elizabeth Bainbridge-Maurer. I think its a very pretty name.
Thursday
     Today, school was canceled because of the high winds whipping through the area. About an hour after school was canceled, the weather cleared up. In fact, by mid-afternoon, it was nice enough to go out and play. Joslyn and I were going to make some small snowmans, but the snow was not sticky enough. Instead, we dug a big hole by a large lava rock.
Friday
     School was very boring, but after school I went to a birthday party. It was for one of my new friends, and it was a blast! There was a lot of delicious food and drinks and some really fun games. I'm going to explain in detail in another blog.

I will write more later because I have to get Joslyn and Spencer to bed (I'm babysitting).

Bless,

Alex : )

Last 10 Days

     I’m so so so soooooo sorry about not writing in such a long time. I will try very, very hard in the future to not wait so long before writing again. Anyway, I’ll tell you about Reykir and my adventures there. First, I arrived at Reykir at about noon, just in time for lunch. Almost every meal was fantastic there (there’s always a meal that you wrinkle your nose at occasionally). My roommate was Ástrós, and we quickly moved in because we didn’t have much stuff. Then, all one hundred seventh grade kids (there were many schools there) were split up into three groups and we went to our afternoon activities. Then, a guy showed all of the kids in my group a large battle ax that was used to execute people a long time ago. I got a really great picture of me ‘killing’ the guy. Really, he was holding the ax in an action position that looked like it could have killed him and I was holding the end of it. Class was very entertaining except for the part that he was speaking in Icelandic because not everyone knew English. His English, like everyone else’s, was exceptional. After class, I had free time. Free time is when you can either play at the fun area or go back to your dorm. The fun area was a building with ping pong tables, Air Hockey, small pool tables, tiny pool tables (they are only about two feet by one foot), games, and very comfy sofas. There is always music playing when you walk in and it’s truly just a party. Following supper was free time again, except this time you could also watch a handball game. Handball is very popular in Iceland and the rest of Europe. Oh, and we also have to take our shoes off here, too.
     Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday all pretty much went like this; my teacher, Þóra, woke everyone up at 8:00 and we all dressed quickly to hurry off to breakfast. Then, in our three groups, all of us split up and went to classes. On Tuesday, the roads were slippery all day, so moving around outside was very hard. After lunch, we had class again. Free time and supper were the main activities in the evenings. Then, at about 9:00 every night, we all went to the gym and had a very boring assembly. I found it very boring because they all talked in Icelandic. Ástrós and I read magazines until about 11:00 after the assembly. One really funny thing that happened was that I gargled my water after brushing my teeth while Þóra and Ástrós were in the room. They both looked at me kind of funny and then burst out laughing. It's from that that I draw my conclusion that they don't gargle here!
     Thursday was just the same until about 6:00. Then, we had our good-bye assembly and dance. The music choice for the dance was a lot of rap and no country or slow songs. It was almost all in English, so I recognized a couple of songs. About an hour after the dance started it ended, and a guy threw a bottle with our names on a piece of paper in it into the ocean. I signed my name very fancy on the piece of paper. Friday morning, everyone packed and we had breakfast and lunch before we left for home.
     That’s it from Reykir, but my adventure didn’t stop there. Later that day, I drove to Reykjavík (well I didn’t drive, but I rode in the car) while Joslyn stayed here to have a birthday sleepover. That night, my mom, dad, Spencer, and I went out to eat. At the end of our meal, a drunk man came in the restaurant and started talking to us. The waitress quickly came over and shooed him out. That night, my mom and dad went to an embassy party and stayed out until midnight. I watched Spencer at our hotel until we went to bed at 9:30. On Saturday, we all went shopping at tourist shops. I did get to go to the puffin store, and I now think that the large puffin wasn’t for sale, sadly. But there are two puffin stores and we only went to one. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
     After returning from Reykjavíkr on Saturday, my dad, Joslyn, Spencer, and me all went on a hike down to the lake just beyond Bifröst called Hreðavatn. The lake was beautiful and the road we were traveling on had ice underneath this blanket of snow. Sliding around proved to be a very fun. A 3 mile hike took us about an hour and a half because we were goofing around and enjoying ourselves. Sunday, was a very lazy day. Joslyn, Spencer, and I stayed in our pajamas until noon. Then, we went out to play in the lava fields, but were distracted by how sticky the snow was and quickly began to make snowmen. We were planning to make a mom, dad, and three kids, but we got cold and hungry after about an hour and a half.
     Monday started very early – at 1:00 in the morning! The whole family was up watching the aurora borealis! It was an amazing show with green lights slowly moving ALL around the sky! The next day, my dad looked at some web site and it said that that was the most amazing spectacle seen in the last seven years! I feel very lucky to have witnessed it.



This is the fun area.



Here I'm holding a very large, old executioner ax.



Don't worry. I'm not really killing him. My teacher would pose for a picture with all the kids that had cameras and make it look like we were killing him. So this is NOT an action shot.  

Here are two boats outside of the museum.

This is the view across the fjord by Reykir.

A very large whaling boat in the museum.

A picture of the picture of the cut-up parts of a whale.

Spears used to in whaling.

An old lamp.



A picture I found very good and interesting.




In this museum, they let you touch all of the stuff. So, I was able to feel this gorgeous wooden box.



These are some balls of yarn that I touched.

Here are some old toys. The dice is made from whale bone.

  

A fancy chandelier.

This a princess saddle because it's designed for a girl to have her legs on only one side of the horse. They are called side saddles in the U.S.

The dorm building I slept in.

Here is our eating house.

The seashore.

Three trolls that have been turned to stone. In Iceland, when the sun hits trolls, they turn into stone. Here a mother troll was crossing the fjord with her children and were right there when the sun touched them.

This is all the kids at Reykir.

We had a crazy hair contest for the boys where you dress them up like girls and do their hair funny. These are the finalists.

Here are Joslyn, Spencer, and me on our hike to the lake Sunday.



This is lake Hreðavatn with snow and ice all over it.



Sorry about the waiting,

Bless,

Alex : )

Questions and Answers from Class

This is Sally writing because Alex is away at Reykir and I thought people might be interested in the answers Alex wrote to the questions from her classmates in Gunnison. Alex's answers are in blue.
Are you picking up the language quickly? 
The language is very tricky, but I could tell someone various hellos and good-bye and ask if they spoke English.
Is it super cold there?
It's not particularly cold, but we do have a lot of snow.
What's up with the trolls, are they everywhere?
I haven't seen as many trolls as I was expecting to because 1/3 of their population really believes in trolls.
We all want the stuffed Puffin too, how much is it?I don't know how much the stuffed puffin was because it was about 7:00 in the morning and the store wasn't open yet. Although, if I did buy it, it might not even fit in our Toyota Corolla.
What is the conversion of a US dollar there? 
A U.S. dollar is worth about 120 krónur.     
What does the money look like?
Their coins have very pretty pictures on them, and the paper money is very colorful.
What has been your favorite experience?
I don't think I could say which experience was my favorite because I love everything about discovering Iceland. Going to school was very exciting and listening to Icelandic is also very entertaining.
What is the most common sport played there?
Handball is a very popular sport here. Everybody likes to watch the games in which Iceland plays.
Is the food different from ours and is it as good?
Surprisingly, Iceland has a lot of very American things, but of the Icelandic food I've had, it is very good.

School and Weekend

     I love riding to and from school because our school bus is really a tour bus! So, we (all the kids from BiFrost) put our bags in the compartments below under where we sit, and then go sit in the individual, large, and comfortable seats. The seats also have seat belts and lights above them.
     Last night, my family and I went over to a friends house to eat. After dinner, I watched a lot of funny YouTube videos with the other kids there. Then, Eurovision came on. Eurovision is like an European American Idol, except that it is a competition between most of the European countries. We all sat and watched the T.V.

That's all for now,

Bless (it means good-bye),

Alex : )

My First Day of School!!!!!

     Yesterday was my first day of school! Sorry about not writing, but I was out of the house until 6:00 playing with my new friends! Here's how school went; First, I was late to drama. Then we (my SEVENTH grade class) went to go have breakfast. My school serves breakfast right after the first class, and it is about three minutes long. Next, we went to pool class/gym. I didn't have my swim suit, so I borrowed one from the swimming pool people. Gym was a blast! We ran a little, then played basketball and dodge ball. After being cooped up in the apartment for a couple of days, running and moving was great. Lunch was next. Everyone ate the school lunches, and today it was fried chicken. It was fine, but the fries in an extremely delicious Icelandic sauce where fantastic. Study hall, history and math classes all kind of melted into one. I received a book with pictures and Icelandic words in it from Þóra (it is pronounced like Thora). I am slowly trying to learn Icelandic, so when my friends asked me if I wanted them to tell me Icelandic, I said yes. I only remember a little and that was sleep and sofa. My friends names are (don't quote me on the spelling) Sol, Rose, Brenya, and Aethm. Those are only the names I can remember because I am horrible at remembering names. I was out sledding with Sol, Rose, and Brenya yesterday like I said earlier.
     The one thing I remember most about school was that we all had to take our shoes off before coming into a building. They said it was so that they didn't have to wash the floors as much. Everyone walking around with their shoes off gives the school a much more relaxed feel.

That's all for now,

Love,

Alex : )

Discovering School!

     Yesterday, I was shown around my new school! It looks AWSOME!!!!! There are three buildings - one for the older kids (sixth through tenth), one for the little kids (first through fifth), and another one for the gym/pool area. Yes, my school has a pool!!! We have a lot of very different classes, too, such as knitting and swimming. Also, during my English class, I will be pulled out to be taught, one - to - one, Icelandic. And, because of my birthday, I'm in SEVENTH GRADE!!!!!! Because I'm in seventh grade, I get to go on a trip to Reykir!!!!! We (the seventh grade class) are going next week on Monday and staying there until Friday when we will return at noon. My parents and the guy that was showing us around my school (I think he's the principal, but I forgot his name) think it is a really good opportunity for me to make some friends.
     Today I should have gone to school, but because of the wind and snow the buses couldn't get through. Half of my schools population comes from BiFrost, so it would be kind of hard to hold classes. I was really bummed I didn't get to go today, but oh well. There's always tomorrow.
     The snow here is amazing! Within the last 24 hours, we've gotten at least a foot of snow!!! So, if it was flat, there would be about 2 feet of snow. The wind is blowing up to 50 mph, making outside really miserable. Cars driving on the road are falling off a lot.

Sorry, no pictures,

More Soon,

Alex : )

Finally, Pictures!!!!!!

     Sorry about not writing in a day, but I just didn't have much time to write. Okay, I lied. All I did today was knit and read, but we (Mom, Dad, Joslyn, Spencer, and I) Skyped (talked on the computer while seeing a picture of the person your talking to) with my grandma and grampa and aunt, uncle, and two cousins. The computer was occupied most of the day.

    So, here's the update about today and yesterday and tomorrow. Yesterday, my whole family went to Borgarnes to go shopping and pick up supplies for the new house. The equivalent to about $500 was spent on food, house, and more food. Today, I knit and read. I'm knitting a scarf out of Icelandic wool that is blue. Tomorrow, I will go to school - maybe. We need some numbers to be fully registered for school.

     Anyway, on to the pictures.

Here I am at the airport saying good-buy to my grandparents and aunt.

This is the giant stuffed puffin I wanted (and still want).

This is our first encounter with a troll.

I thought this is a very pretty blue house.

These are two very colorful houses out our hotel window in Reykjavík.



I took this picture looking down an intersection at night in Reykjavík.



This is one of the mountains in Iceland covered in snow.

     

These are our stairs when we first arrived in our apartment.

This is Borgarnes.

Moving around Iceland

     Today I woke up at 9:00, yet it was still dark! Iceland is very, very, very different from the United States despite all the English signs. The sun is gone!!! Being from Gunnison, I come to expect over 300 days of sunlight. Not in Iceland! Here the sun rises at about 10:30 to 11:00 and sets at 4:00, and sometimes it's cloudy, too! That is just one of the many differences.
     So you wake up at 7:00, go to school or work, and then come home from 3:00 to 4:00, right? Not in Iceland! Iceland uses the 24 hour clock. You wake up at 7:00, go to school or work, and come home at 15:00 to 16:00! I have yet to see an Icelandic clock (one with hands and numbers in a circle, not a digital - I've already seen that), so I'm keeping my eyes open.
     This a kind of goofy one, but it is very noticeable - the toilets. On an American toilet, you have the bowl and then the plumbing is right behind against the wall. In Iceland, the plumbing is inside the wall. You also push a button on the wall to flush.
     An obvious difference is the language. Icelandic has a lot of kvs, ths, and other other foreign sounds, therefor making the language difficult to pick up. Thankfully, almost everyone speaks English. I'm trying to learn the language, but when my little Icelandic falls through, I can go back to English.
     Their roads and road signs are a little different, but not by much. For example, on the sign to cross the street, instead of a red hand to tell you to stop, they have a red man standing (he looks like to little men that tell people weather it's the boys or girls bathroom). The walk sign looks green man walking. And instead of using yellow paint to distinguish the sides of the road, they use white paint. Also, their speed limit sign is in kilometers and inside a red circle.
     Iceland uses a different power outlet than us. It looks like two dots instead of three. We have to use a  converter box to use our American electric items (ex. chargers). I personally think it looks like two eyes staring at me from inside the wall.
    
     Back to my story of the day. After I woke up we went to breakfast at friendly cafe (it wasn't really breakfast because we got there at noon - Joslyn and Spencer woke up at 11:00) and then drove to BiFrost. The hotel the night before was really wonderful, so I was expecting some glamorous, three bedroom apartment. Instead, we have a modest, two bedroom apartment in an ugly, cement building. At first, I absolutely hated it, but now I realize we could have done a  lot worse. I'm sharing a bedroom with Joslyn and Spencer that has two regular beds and and a bunk bed. Joslyn and I are sleeping on the bunk bed and Spencer is sleeping on one of the regular beds. All of our stuff is packed into the two closets and one set of shelves. We don't have much stuff, so I don't think my dad will be able to yell at us for having a messy room - yet.

Pictures Soon (we actually don't know how to post pictures yet),

Alex ( :

In Iceland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     I'm in Iceland!!! Seriously, we (my family and I) arrived here at 6:00 in the morning today. A guy gave us our rental car right after we retrieved our luggage. Because it was sooooo early, almost all of the stores were closed. Then, at about 10 ish, the stores started popping open and we could see all of the souvenirs to buy. I, being a major shopper, wanted to immediately start buying stuff, but we actually didn't have any Kroner at that point in time. An ATM machine was found and we exchanged the money. Our hotel room is really a new, very nice apartment. We were quickly all at home.
     Reykjavik is a beautiful town (save for all the broken glass on the ground). Bright and colorful houses sit in rows along narrow brick roads. All of the cars are colorful and unique. Everyone dresses very nicely and acts important while talking on cell phones. I can't wait to explore more of Reykjavik tomorrow and see BiFrost.

More Tomorrow,

Alex ( :

At The Airport!!!

     After months of planning, preparing and good-byes, we are finally on our way to Iceland! I'm in Boston right now typing this. Where you probably are (in good old Colorado) it's about 4:30, but where I am it's almost 6:30! The 4 hour plane flight was fine except the family in front of us was loud and spilled pop on our bags. Our flight to Iceland will begin in 2 hours (8:30 ish), so I have 2 hours before I'm trapped in that stuffy room. I can't wait to get to Iceland! I'm not sure I'm fortunate or unfortunate that we arrive in Iceland at 6:30 a.m. because I get to immediately enjoy Iceland. Since we still have 2 hours until our next plane flight, my parents plan to make the most of it-by going to the bar (yes, they have BARS at the AIRPORT. I can never escape!).

Can't wait to get to Iceland. Bye!

Alex ( :