Picture pages, picture pages

Well written

Canadian author Alice Munroe is one of my favourite authors and an inspirational force in my art work. When I was preparing to come to Iceland, I read he novel The View from Castle Rock, which unlike many of her short stories, is semi-autobiographical and is a full length novel. It describes the movement of her family from Scotland to Canada and part of this book describes her journey back to the area that her ancestors were from. I've been revisiting the book while here and found a passage I resonated with many of the feelings I have experienced in Iceland.

Here is it:

I was struck with a feeling familiar, I suppose, to many people whose long history goes back to a country far away from the place where they grew up. I was a naive North American, in spite of my stored knowledge. Past and present lumped together here made a reality that was commonplace and yet disturbing beyond anything I had imagined.

The Wrap Up

The residents for April are having a show. Here is our poster. 'Hems' is a loft in Norwegian ( I think) and since all of the artist's apartments are in loft type spaces it seemed appropriate.

Mount Esja adventure

Tuesday morning my friend Caoimhe and I decided to hike Mount Esja- a peak visible across the harbour and easily accessible by the transit bus. So great to get outside and do some hiking. I think I've been missing the natural surroundings of Banff during my stay in downtown Reyjavik. It's also much different hiking through country as opposed to driving through it. By no means epic, the hike was a nice rambling sort of trail which ended with a trudge through spring snow.  It's interesting because I am used to the mountains that get steeper and steeper until you hit some sort of ridge and/or the top of the mountain. This is not the case with Mount Esja (which I think isn't really a mountain so much as a range). When you finally hit the top of what looks to be a ridge there is a wide open plateau that stretches on for quite some time. We didn't walk to the end of it but made for a marker of rocks- a suitable place to eat lunch protected from the wind. I did my customary headstand and we were soon trudging back down the mountain. It was at this point we both sort of stopped to comment on what a great day it had been, getting up high above the ocean and having a different perspective on the land below. Pretty nice really. Good to remember those days I think!

Picture of head stand forthcoming..

I'll always be a Dreamin' Man, I don't have to understand

Okay folks, listening to a lot of Neil Young these days and today in particular as I worked on a sculpture piece for my dream images. Therefore: the Neil Young reference in the title. Wanted to think of a title slightly more interesting than "Some More Dreams." I would have replaced 'man' with ' gal' but that doesn't rhyme with ' understand'.

 

Had "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere" on repeat for awhile today. Good tunes and good words: "Got to get away from this day to day running around, everybody knows this is nowhere.." I guess I have kind of gotten away in a sense. Less than two weeks left and I can hardly believe it :( How will I integrate back into society, waking up before 9:30am , and going to the office each day? I have a feeling it could be a rude awakening...

Finally got a taste of the Reykjavik night life on Friday. Attempted to see the fine arts graduates' fashion show but arrived after it ended. Our group proceeded to try and find the other opening that was happening but were unsuccessful and so ended up at the cheap watering hole beside the SIM house called "Belly's". Self proclaimed as "the cheapest drinks in town" and "Happy hour from open until close." Not the 'upper crust' type of establishment but a reasonably priced beer (450 kr) in an expensive town (typically 700kr per beer which is about $9 CDN). We quickly transitioned to a place called "Organ" to listen to live music and dance until the wee hours. Rounded off the night listening to the Pixies and playing a raucous game of spoons back at the apartment. Pancakes at noon the following day and life was good. Saturday was the opening for the Art Graduates year end show at the Reykjavik Art museum so our artist gang checked that out along with an opening at the i8 gallery in downtown Reykjavik. A few pastries and coffee rounded off this leisurely Saturday afternoon and I still managed to make a bit of progress on my artwork despite being a bit tired... :)

Today I constructed the rest of my sculpture and even made a light socket for the light bulb that will go inside the piece- very proud of myself!! My electrician sensai (Joe) back in Banff would be proud as I did the wiring with the Euro plug! Doing the maintenance on the Mole Richardson lights in the lighting studio paid off in more ways than one I guess. I love building things and have been really happy to have the opportunity to muck around in this way. I think the benefit of not having a 4"x5" enlarger or colour darkroom is that is forces me to think outside of the photo box that I have been essentially living in for the past few years. Reconnects me with the drawing and building sides of my practice which were in essence edited out when I had to choose 'photo' as a major. Feels good to do! Progress and practice= good times~

Here's the dreams from April 11-14...

Coke can, Motel sign and other landscapes

The motel sign is in the third picture but it's kind of hard to see...

Thoughts over breakfast

My friend Natelle loaned me a great book a while ago and it's only now that I have had the time to start reading it. It's a collection of essays by Albert Einstein called "Ideas and Opinions." This morning over a breakfast of delicious pancakes and coffee I found this line which I thought was a good one to mull over. It is:

To be sure, it is not the fruits of scientific research that elevate a man and enrich his nature, but the urge to understand, the intellectual work, creative or receptive.

I like the emphasis on the searching to understand, the idea that it is the search that is important. good food for thought!

Lava field near Litlaskard

Obviously catching up on the blog after many thoughts have been rattling around in my head..

More pictures from the valley near Litlaskard

Tussocks

The first few days I was here I was constantly intrigued by the difference in the landscape. One of the things I found interesting were these formations in the grass. I took about a whole roll of them! Yesterday, I came across a catalogue called "Sculpture/Sculpture/Sculpture" that had taken place in Iceland during 1994. There was a great sculptural/installation piece titled "Mounds" that dealt with these very same formations! The artist's name is Finna Steinsson and here is what she wrote about the tussocks:

Icelanders have had a very close relationship with tussocks for centuries. They are associated with industry, poetry and folklore. Folktales describe "money tussocks" which conceal treasure troves full of silver. Hidden people often showed humans the way to these tussocks, which generally boded good fortune....

In recent times, the tussock has been on the defensive, not only in rural areas where marshes and moors have given way to mechanized cultivated land, but also in the cities where new residential quarters are planned and flat pavements are laid. 

Right up until the middle of this century country people retained the swaying gait cultivated by walking among tussocks, even if they had lived for years in foreign cities. Today, there are fears that city dwellers no longer know how to walk on bumpy land. that speaks volumes about the status of the tussock and demographic development of Iceland.

I haven't done any additional research into the history of the tussock but I liked the reference to the way people walk among them. After traipsing about talking pictures in the mounds I know what she is talking about! I still find them really bizarre.

Landscape Trix

Here's a couple images from the first trip on the search for farms. I started focussing on the geometric patterns repeated in the landscape- they're everywhere.

The Journey

After having several dreams about going home to Banff and Winnipeg, I decided to revisit Litlaskard because I didn't really feel like I had done justice to it on my first trip. Felt a bit rushed. I rented a car on Monday and returned to the pull off that functioned as parking for the Litlaskardsfell hiking path. I packed up my camera gear and hiked around for a bit. It was much warmer, sunny, and less windy so it was a pleasant way to spend my afternoon. I could hear and smell the evidence of of spring- water trickling as ice melted in the creek and I could smell the grass. The smell made me think of Folk Fest- probably because of all the hours lying on the ground , in close proximity to grass listening to music, but also the resulting grass aroma from all the people walking in bare feet in the mud. All in all a nice contemplative space to be in. I also saw my first bugs of the year- a moth landed on my film holder. I think I may have captured some neat shots- not sure. It became more about the journey and the revisitation to the space more than anything else. I wrote in my journal and sat there for awhile. Really served as a reminder of how you need to spend the time to make interesting pictures. I think the first trip to this particular valley I shot off pictures like tick boxes on a check list. Not entirely bad but a different way to experience the place. One of the things I like about shooting large format and on film is the need to slow down, frame the shots properly and really think about what I'm shooting. On Monday I allowed this method to reintegrate itself into my practice-hope to get something good!

12 Tonar and other cultural experiences on a Saturday

Spent the day wandering about, determined to take in some of the cultural aspects in Reykjavik and also give myself a break from the studio. Started out the day at 12 Tonar on Skolavordustig. (www.12tonar.is) This is a great place to go and listen to music. I asked the man at the desk to suggest some Icelandic music and he set me up with 8 cds, a cd player and a cup of espresso. I then spent about an hour hanging out and listening to tunes before buying one called Mugison.

I then walked down to Gallery Agust which featured an artist I had met the second day after I arrived in Reykjavik. If there is one thing for certain- I keep running into people that I have met, especially within the arts circuit. The work on display was photos and video. I thought the video was particularly interesting even though it was simply a video of cigarette smoke. The show is called Vima/ Intoxication and is inspired by the effects of red wine..The artist's name is Sara Bjornsdottir.

Next, I decided to check out an artist's studio event at Skipholt 33b. The artists there were very friendly and the atmosphere reminded me of the sculpture barn at U of M! It almost felt like an open studios day there. Some beautiful paintings and drawings.

I had planned on visiting the hardware store but some how a large part of my day evaporated while I was at the music store.

Big new of the last 24 hours- I tried the rotted shark dish! (Hakarl) Not bad and I didn't even have brennivin as a follow up! My Icelandic cousins graciously offered me many things to try including harfiskur, sheep's head and hangikjot! We then had a delicious lamb for dinner and for dessert we had ponnukukur with sugar, whipped cream and jam. Very tasty!! I am now a true Icelander- yow! Ha. I felt very adventurous eating the shark I must say.

Any-y-ways. More adventures to come no doubt.

More dreams..

I think I might have done something funky whilst developing.. or else i slept in late these days. Hmm.

Geysir

Out and about- more pictures

Here's a couple from my day trip to the Blue Lagoon. Lava fields and milky blue water.

Pictures!

So there was a scanner at the SIM house all along but I only found out about it today! Attached are some of the dream shots from my place here. Above are pictures from the last week.

winter revisited

After a few days of relatively sunny, warm weather  it is now blustery outside and snowing. Not a bad change as I feel like nestling in for a few days of work inside after roaming around the countryside. I've officially done a good portion of the tourist destinations around Reykjavik.

Day 2 (of the car rental):

My flatmate Ashild and I decided to take on the Golden Circle. The  route  travels to the Althing ( the site of the early settlement's parliament ), the Geysirs and the Gullfoss  (a picturesque waterfall situated in the agricultural segment of the southwestern part of the island). We also drove within eyesight of Mount Hekla, once thought to be the gateway to hell (!).

The  location of the Althing was amazing. Not 20 minutes out of Reykjavik we were traversing a barren white snowscape with volcanos and billows of steam in the distance. This changed to browner, shrub covered lava fields as we descended into the valley towards the lake Thingvallavatn. At the base of the valley where the river enters the lake is the location of the Althing. I guess the Vikings knew a thing or two about drama because the location is stunning. I now know where the name "Logberg" comes from as this is where it is located. The "Logberg" or "Law Rock" is where the "logsogumadur" or "law speaker" recited the law to the assembled parliament each year. I had always associated Logberg with the Icelandic newspaper where David used to work so it's nice to know the reference in the 'old country'.

Next on the list was the Geysirs which took about an hour to drive to. We stopped at the side of an old volcano crater on the way which was neat. The land surrounding the geysirs is bubbly and steaming and too hot to walk on. The main Geysir doesn't go off very often because a bunch of tourists threw rocks into it in the 1950s which plugged it up (darn tourists), but the other geysir called Strokkur goes off about every 5 minutes so we saw that a few times. No matter how cynical you want to be about tourist destinations there's a reason why everyone goes there and the geysirs were no exception! I, like everyone and their dog, took a picture of the geysir going off. I also took a picture of everyone taking pictures in order to feel more intellectual about the whole process. Really,  I was squealing with excitement along with everyone else ;)

Last stop was the Gullfoss waterfall which was quite stunning- especially since the walls of the canyon were covered in ice and snow. Some tourists were going ridiculously close to the edge of a snow covered precipice so we didn't linger for fear of seeing some one slip off. I think I worry more about tourists since living in Banff and seeing all the crazy things people do on vacation. We decided to go and have a coffee at the gift shop. All in all a good day.

Day 3:

This was the last day I had the car and so I decided to go back to the lava fields that I had noticed on the way in from the airport. I feel that I actually began to hit my stride with the picture taking. I think  it was helped by the overcast day- good light and more atmosphere. I even found a good, but cheesy, neon motel sign to make me feel at home. I rounded off the day by visiting the Blue Lagoon and checking out the local bouldering gym ;) 

The Blue Lagoon is notoriously crowded and expensive but as I visited on a Monday in April it was pretty quiet. Quite an odd place though. I descended into a milky blue pool surrounded by black lava. Other tourists and hot springs aficionados emerged from the mist with white mud plastered all over their faces. I guess the silica mud is supposed to be a good exfoliant. I figured "when in Rome" and plastered myself with the goo too. I followed this up by taking in a steam bath in a hobbit hole-esque steam room where the steam comes up through the floorboards. I have to admit experiencing alternate bouts of glee and smothered giggles at the whole experience. It was pretty ridiculous but I'm not going to bash it because the water was a fine temperature and I stayed there for over an hour.

It was also great to have a session at the climbing gym- I really do miss it when I don't climb. I'm also feeling much better after battling a cold for the better part of two weeks so getting some exercise felt nice!

Today was a logistics day as I discovered there is a black and white darkroom where I can process my dream pinhole photographs while I'm here. ( Previous examples of this work are at : http://www.sarahfullerphotography.ca/portfolio_dream.html.) If I can find a scanner I may actually be able to post pictures on this blog! Whoa! I've also decided to process some of my E-6 and C-41 to see what I've got for images so far. I'll have to admit my work is trending off into another direction from my original proposal..Not surprising I suppose. I'll have to see what comes of it! In any case, I actually 'made' something today by developing the film so that's an accomplishment! I've also bought a sketchpad and pastels so may actually do some drawing. What a novelty for me!

  

Two (long) days of history

I've been here for 6 days but it already feels like 6 weeks. Much to absorb in a short period of time and I'm reminded how babies spend a higher percentage of their sleep in R.E.M. in order to process all the new things they see each day. I'm not sure if this applies but last night I had a dream about spending New Year's eve searching for a bar where Pete Tong was playing and a group of us were searching for it . It was either in Prince George or Las Vegas.  I thought I'd been dreaming about volcanoes but I suppose that will happen next week. ( I've been recording my dreams each day since I've been here as part of another art project and therefore: not completely unrelated and bizarre as it may seem to have in this blog!)

An-y-ways.. I rented a car and have been driving about the last two days. Yesterday was dedicated to searching out  the region where my Lang Amma's family came from. The majority of the places are located on the coast of the Havalfjordur, a large inlet about 45 minutes north of Reykjavik. I started by stopping at Pufukot (P=Th sound). A lot of the farms have the same names they've had for centuries so it's actually not too tricky to find them- they are on the map. Pufukot actually had a signpost. I wish I had some pictures to post because the landscape is AMAZING. Alas- I shoot film :) Basically, there are old  volcanos everywhere and the farms are located at the bottoms of the valleys. Everything is reflected in the blue water of the inlet and it is all very transcendent and gorgeous etc, etc. I travelled on to Leira where there was a  church. I think it was my great, great, great grandfather who was a pastor there (don't know if it was the same church though). I stopped at a gas station for fish and chips (had a diner-esque feel) and was offered complimentary coffee. "Kaffi" is quite the thing here- everyone drinks it at every hour seemingly. When I was a Sigga and Bjorn's the other day we had a cup at 10 pm. I regretted this later and I stared at the ceiling in my apartment trying to sleep. I haven't built up the Icelanders resistance to caffeine yet.

 

From Leira, I continued north towards the former location of Litlaskard where my Lang Amma's parents lived before coming to Canada. It was at this point in the day that I began to get completely overwhelmed with everything I was seeing. I came to Iceland wanting to look for similarities in the landscape, and at times I find them, but there is a HUGE amount of territory that is completely foreign and strange. There are also hardly any trees and it is extremely difficult to get a sense of how big the mountains are and how little and insignificant you are (though I found I still felt this way most of the day- insignificant that is). I was also amazed that anyone could 'farm' here at all. Along the way to Litlaskard I passed a gigantic coke can in the middle of a field so I stopped to take a picture of that. Basically, I trended towards photographing things that could be some sort of reference point to the landscape, or things which interrupted the landscape in an interesting way. It is very hard not to be seduced by magnitude of everything you are seeing and fall into the postcard picture 'trap'. I've also stopped to take pictures of the ground or close-ups of vegetation in order to gain a more intimate knowledge of the landscape; a seemingly impossible task. 

Up the number 1 highway past Borganes, I started to become mesmerized by an asymetrical snow covered volcano which had a few Utah-esque black cliffs in front of it. (I suppose the one landscape that compares to this is Utah.. + Manitoba farms+ the Maritimes- bizarre mix!) I was trying to keep my eyes peeled for a sign that said Litlaskard because it was mentioned in brackets on the map and I had seen signs for every other place so far. In my mesmerization with the white cone in the distance I inadvertently passed the Litlaskard area and found myself in the middle of an old lava field which I stopped to take pictures of. It was only after I passed Bifrost (about 15km north of Litlaskard) that I realized I had gone too far down the road. I'm used to everything being really spread out in Canada and forget that everything is closer here. I decided to photograph the volcano ( which I think is called Baula) and returned back down the road. There was no sign but there was hiking trail for Litlaskardsfjell which I figured was pretty close. The white volcano was in view the entire time. 

I'm beginning to get an understanding of how much the landscape plays a part in the consciousness of the people here. When I think of how my ancestors probably saw that white volcano everyday as they worked on the land it blew my mind. Maybe this is why I love the mountains so much (but also why I like being an the gateway to them, close to the prairies): it's in my blood! As much as I wanted to keep taking pictures of the volcano I also tried taking some pictures of the dirt here. We'll see if this works conceptually in the end I guess!

The volcano- it's everywhere in the visual art gauging from what I saw at the art gallery..

I was going to try to write about the places I visited today but I think I will save that for tomorrow- more digestion time needed! All I can say is I think I understand a little bit of why people who live in the North love it so much. It's unlike anything I have seen before!

Swimming outdoors in April

Yesterday I decided to check out the local swimming pool to get some exercise and take in some of the geothermal activity. The closest pool is a short twenty minute walk and so I decided to start my day with a dip. It was lovely. The water was between and 28-30 and the pool was outside. 7:45am and the pool was quite busy with people of all ages. I swam for about 20 minutes and then took in one of four hot tubs at the edge of the pool. Each of the pools was a different temperature. I popped into the hottest one (40-42 celsius) and was only able to stay in for about 5 minutes. After all my nights of hotspringing in Banff I thought I'd be able to last longer. My hot springs sensai (Mr.Walker) might be a bit disappointed. Oh well- not bad for the average neighbourhood pool. I bought a ten visit punch card because I knew I'd be back soon.. A very wonderful way to start the day!

Today I woke up really late (10:30) and decided to experience the landscape through walking. I took bus no.1 to Hafnarfjordur and walked part of the way back. Ever since I participated in the  "Ministry of Walking" 's tour from the outskirts of Calgary into town it has changed my perception of urban walking. Saw some odd things worth taking pictures of- one was a soccer field almost totally surrounded by lava. When I spoke to Bjorn (extended relative) later he said Icelanders don't like to walk and so when you see someone walking it is probably a foreigner. Guess I stuck out like a sore thumb! Oh well. You often find different perspectives while walking so I enjoyed myself. 

Later I met up with two relatives, Sigga and Bjorn, and their son, daughter and granddaughter. They are really lovely, friendly people and were very helpful in being able to find places - the old farms of ancestors- on the map. I now have a rough itinerary of where to take photographs and am planning on renting a car tomorrow. They also took me on a small tour of Reykjavik and the surrounding area which was great. It's quite astounding how quickly the landscape changes from the city to wilderness, and it's a different sort of wilderness than what I am used to. There aren't as many tall trees but there is a rambling sort of way to it, interspersed with hunks of lava and small birch trees that look more like shrubs at times. There are also old volcanoes everywhere which is quite bizarre to me, given that I used to a different kind of mountain. All in all, an interesting experience each day. Excited to get out of the city tomorrow!

National Gallery Exhibit and other thoughts

I thought I would write a bit more about the show at the National Gallery of Iceland which I attended yesterday. The show, entitled La Duree, is contemporary and features three artists : Emmanuelle Antille from Switzerland and Gabriela Fridriksdottir and Gudny Rosa Ingimarsdottir , both from Iceland.  The introduction to the exhibit explains that "La Duree is an attempt to bring two major Icelandic artists in conjunction with a foreign one, and thus modify the common habit which segregates the parties from each other." An interesting mix to be sure..

The exhibit opens with two galleries of work by Antille. The first introduction is through large scale photographs, trans-mounted to acrylic and pseudo documentary in style. These works initially piqued my curiosity and held my attention with their play between fiction and reality. The opening didactic mentions a reference to a criminal case in the U.S. in which 3 teenagers were convicted of murdering a fourth teenager. The narrative of the photographs, and subsequent video pieces, is built on the idea of an almost adult-less teenage- owned society. The habitations are abandoned motels and other buildings, parking lots, and the spaces beneath overpasses and bridges. A typical no man's land which is often taken up by those too young to get into bars and too old to want to spend time at their parent's houses. The video work is presented in two spaces- a small room enclosed within the photography exhibit and a large galleria across the hall. Both videos are comprised of a multitude of screens cutting between various points in the same story or film. Imagery of a tornado about to hit the ground seems to reference the ominous feeling evident in the photography and the additional scenes in the film.  The feeling is that there is a tenuous relationship to a system of rules within the society and in general, uneasiness permeates the work, though the images themselves are lusciously beautiful and eden-like. In the catalogue, Harm Lux writes "We adopt a language , codes, symbols and other systems of signification from the world around us: It is then our task to find out how to deploy and use these systems. " On a personal level, I was definitely loving the landscape of abandoned motels and structures and was inspired to see them activated through a narrative that steps away from the rundown as evidence of the past and instead presents the environment in a present, displaced state.

The second floor begins with work my Gabriela Fridriksdottir. Fridriksdottir is represented by i8 gallery in Reykjavik and is displaying two videos and a series of drawings and sculpture works. Sadly, one of the videos didn't seem to work, but the one that did was surreal and evocative. There was a connection to the landscape and storytelling in a nonlinear way. The imagery moved from a man with a painted face on a beach alongside a woman shrouded in seaweed spitting black rocks into a pile, to a couple of primitive characters gnawing on what looked to be raw bones (people from the recent trip to Skaha will no doubt be reminded of our  lamb leg feast at Water World!). The sculptures were slightly grotesque forms that combined displaced body parts, almost recognizable but hovering at the edge of reality and the surreal. The drawings followed suit in a deliciously macabre parade of submarine/subterranean forms and beasts. I loved it.

The second artist from Iceland, Ingimarsdottir, presented a series of work with the recurring motifs of honeycombs, semi-medical looking drawings of the inner workings of lungs, carved patterns extricated from wallpaper and multilayered semi translucent paintings that invited a closer inspection and were strong enough to hold you close. It struck me as the type of work that would suffer from being photographed and is best seen live, up close and in person. This may have been my favourite work from the entire show.

All in all, I was very happy to have visited the gallery. The woman who worked at the front desk, when asked about the permanent collection, went on a tirade about how there should be more historical works shown in the museum. I suppose this is a common theme throughout the world : many artists and not enough places to show them. In terms of the work I did see I thought it was a wonderful introduction to the artistic talent in Iceland. Tomorrow I will check out the Reykjavik Art Museum and meet up with one of my Icelandic relatives which is very exciting. 

I have been out shooting in and around Reykjavik, but if feels like more of a warm up: sketches before the big drawing. I am really excited to expand and see the countryside around the city and more specifically, the region where a majority of my ancestors migrated from over a 100 years ago. Lots of time to think and meditate. I've been reflecting on the fact that it's nice to slow down a bit ...I could get use to this.

www.listasafn.is

Rullupylsa

They had Rullupylsa at the store packaged like salami so of course I had to buy some!
Checked out the National Gallery and the Reykjavik Museum today. The National Gallery had three interesting exhibits- one Swiss artist and two Icelandic. Seems to be a strong influence from the landscape in much of the work. Hoping to get out and take some photographs tomorrow.

First Impressions

What an amazing place this is!
Arrived to Keflavik airport at 6:40am just as the sun was peeking its head over the edge of the island. Perfectly clear crystal blue sky . The first thing I noticed when I got on the bus to Reykajvik were the two large sculptures outside of the airport. There seems to be alot of public art around which is great.
The landscape looks like how I'd imagine the moon but with a bit of grass. I can't wait to get out and photograph!! In the distance I could see billowing stacks of steam, I'm guessing it is the blue lagoon. It is really beautiful and flat but also kind of alien with all the lava rock. It's strange though because listening to the Icelandic radio on the bus didn't really sound too strange= I just keep thinking of Selkirk! I'm already feeling at home, though the first thoughts I had were = How did anyone farm here? I also randomly thought about how hard it would be to plant trees here (once a treeplanter...) Seems amazing to me!
The first person I met at the SIM house is named Ingiborg and though I don't remember the exact context (because I was so tired this morning) I do remember her saying " Ha!", I think when I told her I was from Canada. It seemed to me like quite an Icelandic response for some reason.
The apartment is great= situated on the top floor of an old wooden building with lots of light. I think my pinhole dream photographs will work great in here! Slept alot of the day away and awoke to much continuous honking at 4pm = rush hour traffic I suppose. I'm off to find a grocery store and a power converter for my north american plug.
In my hazey mind this morning I know I had more things I was thinking about but I can't remember then all now. In any case, I will write more soon.
So far = awesome!!