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 : )