iceland grows despite economic problems...

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2009/02/28/iceland-grew-in-2008/

guess where...

dreaming about Greenland

well well, sitting in my office dreaming about the old days in Greenland, made me build this 3D model of Mestersvig. it gives a good view of the mountains in the vicinity...
with some more time i'm probably able to make a better model...

this is life...

This is life... a nice warm heitapottur in the middle of nowwhere...
this is from my trip with good friends to Goddalur in northwestern iceland. we stayed in a very nice cabine belonging to Palli and his family. it's in a deserted valley and the only way to get there is by super-jeep, at least in the winter time. we were 7 people, my uncle Silli, my girlfriend Anna, Palli our good friend of the family and 3 of his friends from Denmark.
the whole valley i geothermal, meaning there is a lot of natural hot water. this is connected to the house so there is around 30 degrees all year round. the water circulates the heating system and the continues out the pipes into the sink. i think they have the only toilet in iceland with warm water, keeping your behind warm. i would have liked to have that in Greenland!
they have their own heitapottur and the water from the springs is around +50.
the problem in the valley is cold water! we had to wait for the water to cool down or throw snow in the pool to get the right temperature...
anyway i had a great time with lovely food and great friends.

i put out pictures on my pictures.

progress in school...

today i finally managed to make a good model of my glacier in southern iceland. it's great finaly being able to to what to try to make!

the week-end was great. sitting in a hotpot in the middle of nowhere, watching the stars and the flickering northern light and driving super jeep in the snow...

what I'm actually doing in school and during my spare time...

During this week I have been quite active. Monday I went swimming and sitting in the heitapottur. tuesday, wednesday and today i went to the gym and to spinning class, it was very tired after the session but it was so nice to relax in the heitapottur afterwards... wednesday we had an exercise with the rescue team looking for some old people who got lost along the coast line of Reykjavik, thereby getting several more hours of fresh air...

later on today we are going to play bandy and possibly another round in the heitapottur ( or just a movie at the cinema) ;0)

at school i have been busy teaching myselves to make 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional models. i really got hooked to hit and i'm getting better every day:0)

First aid course nr.2

last week-end anna and i went with bjørgunarsveitina (the rescue team) to Borgarfirdi and attended first aid course nr.2. this is somthing everyone in the rescue team has to go through if they want to keep on staying in the team. it's a good way to get more skilled at what you are doing and is something usefull that could come in handy some day...
we had a lot of theory and some practical exercises, e.g. taking blood-pressure, how to strap a person to a stretcher and then carry him ( always the biggest guy ;0) ) around in the area, a big exercise and lots and lots of more things to learn. we even had a written exam, and i passed. hard to think since my icelandic isn't that good ;0)

i will put out some pictures later on from the course...

cold in Iceland

On the farm Svartarkot it was -29 degrees yeasterday. so all of you that think iceland is only rain and warm weather should see for your selves...

toady most of Iceland is in rainy weather. after 2-3 weeks of nice and cold weather i had to come to an end...

how the rest of the world see Iceland???

mayby this is how everyone see iceland, as a black rock sinking the world economy...

what is wrong with the people in charge???

in todays newspapers one could read about jon asgeir who drove his company "Baugur" to the ground, the new board in the icelandic state bank and the new politicians then awarded him by paying him more than the president and the prime minister, TOGETHER, plus free car and helicopter, all payed by the icelandic tax-payers.

there must be something rotten in the state of iceland...

it doesn´t really matter if it´s jon asgeir or someone else. The fact is that a former CEO of a bancrupt company is not likely to be the best one suited for the job to get the business going again!!!

we are not in a mafia country or a third world country... 

skiing in reykjavik

today we decided to go cross-country skiing in Reykjavik. the weather was just perfect for that and the snow was good. i guess  i have been spoiled with snow and cold during my years in greenland, svalbard and norway. so for icelandic conditions and my first time on skis in iceland i was very good ;0)

there are more pictures out there

thorrablot og jeppaferd at snæfellsjøkull

SULLI with Vignir and Heymir the oldest and coolest car at the jeep trip

last weekend i was invited to thorrablot and jeep trip to the glacier Snæfellsjøkull. it´s almost 3 hours drive from reykjavik. we stayed at the old fishing village of Arnarstapi. we were 31 and 11 cars, 4 snow scooters and and 2 ATVs´. it was great fun and a whole new experience to me to drive car at places with almost 1 metre of snow.  JUST FUN.

the food is old traditional viking food, some things are soure, somethings are rotten like the rotten shark, sheep testicles, lamb head, salt meat etc. it´s quite interesting to see and try what is actually possible to eat from an animal...

i put out some more pictures on my picture page

 

a magnificent poem abut Greenland

En hyldest til Grønland, Digt af Niels Underbjerg
Har du aldrig set en Grønlandsk sommerdag forbløde i et farveorgie af gult og rødt
bag kanten af en isbelagt storcirkel, der var din tavse verdens yderste grænse. 
Har du aldrig fanget af disse vældige drivismasser hørt som en hviskende forbandelse,
når flagerne sukkede og peb, mens de drevet af en usynlig magt pressede din skude. 
Har du aldrig prøvet at svælge dig mæt i duften af det fattige lands livsaligheder, 
når dets blide åndepust fik kæruldens lyslokkede hoveder til at nikke. 
Har du aldrig hørt den rene og stille luft blive fyldt med kåd latter og lyden af åreplasken,
når den fyldte konebåd i skumringen roede forbi. 
Har du aldrig set en fjeldsø fyldes til randen af blinkende stjerner,
mens fjerne hundehyl og ekkoet af et råb fortalte, at du ikke var alene på jordens arrede ryg. 
Har du aldrig prøvet at brøle dig hæs og føle dig lille og bange, 
når iskantens blåhvide stålkæber i uvejret kom dig nær med skum og fråde i mundkrogene. 
Har du aldrig i en frostnat siddet tænderklaprende på en hundeslæde over tyndisen,
med dit dyrebare liv i den ene hånd,
og med den anden gennem foret i din bukselomme knuget din forfrosne tissemand. 
Har du aldrig jublet af glæde og lettelse, når en fare var overstået, og nymånens gyldne båd
sejlede natten i havn med nordlysenes flimrende bråd om boven. 
Har du aldrig følt trang til stille at hviske: ”Kære Vorherre! Stands sol og måne og lad tiden 
stå stille en stund, så jeg kan fastholde dette øjeblik; skulle forsinkelsen forstyrre for meget,
så træk blot fra i den sidste ende tiden, der tabtes på det livsløb, der blev mit” 
Hvis du ikke har prøvet noget af den slags, så har du aldrig oplevet Grønland,
som jeg har det, mens gode og lykkelige år fløj afsted som vinden.

iceland at its best ;0)

this is how iceland has looked like, more or less for the last 2 weeks. BEAUTIFUL

winter night at Seltjarnarnes

last night after going to the movies, anna and i went out to take pictures of Grotta and Seltjarnarnes. i put the pictures on my picture page. this one is the view towards town and mount Esja.
it was cold ad crisp weather but only little northern ligth, due to the moon.
today it was actually - 12 here... no wonder i was a bit cold...