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 ( :