Iceland update and pictures!

[katycat]

melannen, your map from the UMD library is a huge hit! It's Danish, and it's dated 1914 and 1934 - it was also updated in 1964, and we only have a digital version of the 1964 edition. So I think it'll get scanned and added to our GIS library. So thanks for that! *g*

Today we were out coring in the þufurs (thufers: small little tuffets of grassy earth that are formed by the frost in land that isn't artificially drained) and in the cow pastures. Didn't find much, but it's awesome. It is so much more fun than aerospace engineering, omg. The þufurs are covered in really tall weeds and grass - anywhere but Iceland we'd have been worried about ticks and worse. Not here though! There are still no bugs but crazy Icelandic flies that like to mate while sitting on my hand. But they'd don't bite.

Anyway, I typed up the rest of this post yesterday, and wrote it the day before. I'm not having a whole lot of time for internets. And I'm helping update the official blog, which is here.


Sorry I'm not checking in every day. It's kind of a drag to walk all the way across town and then be online all night when there is ICELAND! all around. So last night I went and sat by the water and wrote some stuff in an actual notebook and read some of my Vikings book. And now I'm typing it up in my room, so I won't be able to post it until tomorrow night. I wish there were closer internets.

I met a white kitty by the water! It was very cute. There's also a black one named Buckets that adopted the group a few years ago; he disappeared last year, but now he's back. He's also a very nice kitty. I miss mine though.

Everyone speaks with a Boston accent! But they can all talk normal, they just do it for humor and emphasis. Which is woise den anyt'ing fer imprintin' on me. So if oi come howme an' start randomly tawkin' loike a Baw-stonian, I, um, apologize in advance.

I'm driving a lot because most of our rental cars are stick and not many people can drive standard (lots of people are taking this a chance to learn or practice, though). Some of the cars are Skodas, which I've never heard of. They have reverse gear all the way to the left, and you have to push the shifter down to get into it. And you have to completely turn the car off and then back on again if you choke out. The other cars are Toyotas, which are pretty normal except for the kph speedometers. There's a two-lane road with no shoulder around the whole island - more roads in and near the towns, of course, and some that run up and down the full length of the fjord valleys. Most of our work has been down the main road from Sautharkrokur south into the Skagafjorthur valley. #1 rule for driving in Iceland: if you see a sheep near the road and you don't see two other sheep, proceed carefully or you'll probably hit one as they race across and back to each other! (Due to the way they breed and then cull the herds, there is usually a ewe and two lambs all together, or groups of three plus rams.) There are lots of horses too - probably more horses than anything - and some goats and cows. The horses are a special breed; they don't mind sitting down, and apparently they also don't like apples. We had horse for dinner tonight, and reindeer a couple of days ago.

My relatively new hiking boots are already wearing out in the soles. So no impressed. I may be ditching them in Iceland, except that then I'd have only my Converse for walking around London. Or maybe I'll buy some new ones. Speaking of money, I think I took out way too much at the ATM - I picked the second-lowest amount possible, which at a US bank would probably be about $40 or something. But here it's 20.000 kronur (. = , if you speak American numbers), which is actually about $160. oops? But I'll probably spend it anyway. And also tonight someone traded me for some US cash.

The post office and most of the stores have the most inconvenient hours possible for us, so it might be difficult for me to get postcards sent. But I'll do it if I get the chance.

For the last few days I've been doing coring and GPS work, which I'll write about in another post eventually.

The hot tub and pool are also most excellent. They're outside on the roof. But the only time it's cold is going from the locker room to the tub! The pool is the perfect temperature to jump into just as it starts getting too hot in the tub. There's also a sauna or two, but I haven't tried it; I'm generally overheated when I get out of the hot tub as it is. (Showers are communal. Some people are bothered. But I'm so over it.) I've been wearing my glasses in the pool too. I'm tired of not being able to see while swimming. If there's a very nice day we might all go to an even nicer hot tub place (I am sketchy on the details; there might be drinks?) and John will read us the Saga of Grettir the Strong. That should be pretty cool.

The weather, by the way, has been absolutely gorgeous: sunny but not hot at all, occasional clouds, very occasional rain. I think my neck is slightly sunburnt, but that's about it. And my lips - I picked up some suncreen lip balm the other day when I helped buy groceries, which should help. My feet hurt, but they aren't torn up; I've been wearing two pairs of socks, one thin and one thick, and I think it's working. But I'm running out of socks quicker than I planned, and I'm not looking forward to squeezing into the laundry queue - we only have one working washer and it takes 3.5 hours!

I'm having fun talking to people. The other day I played catch with a little girl at the pool - it felt odd to be talking to her in English! Yesterday I directed some Icelandic tourists to the local historic hotel - they had to speak English to get directions from a visitor in their own country! Maybe I looked like a local; I was wearing my Awesome Hat. An 11-year-old kid hung out with us a lot at one of the farms we worked; he learned English from American movies and loves Star Wars, and I think he learned a lot and had a lot of fun while we were there. he also had a wonderful dog. I miss them already at the next site! We told him to come visit us there.

The other night it was a balmy 50 degrees F at 10 PM, so some of us went and had a beer at the little restaurant down the street and sat outside. It was excellent (though the local beer is so-so). And I'm pretty sure the locals at the next table weren't actually making fun of us ....

Today we realized belatedly that dinner wouldn't be till 9 PM (the Rotary Club actually needed their building tonight), so we went to the N1 for ice cream and hot dogs and french fries. And then, back at the lab, John had bought us beer and soda and chips. I wasn't very hungry when our horse dinner finally rolled around!

They told me there were no insects in Iceland. That's not true. There are flies, normal ones as well as special Icelandic ones. But there are no mosquitos. At all. It's great.

Water is all spring-fed. The hot is sulphurous and smells rank, but the cold is pure and clear and good (and unchlorinated, which apparently got them in trouble with the EU a while back). The hot tub doesn't smell, though; I guess they filter it somehow.

Everyone is very interested in my background! I've told my academic history several times over. Apparently there's a rumor going around that someone on the team is a rocket scientist. LOL. But it's good. I feel like I know most people reasonbly well already, and I even know names, which is pretty amazing for me.

I still kind of can't believe I get to do this.

Here are some pictures.

These are from driving down to Tyrfinstathir, the farm where we saw the decaying turf houses. I'll write about the houses later.







I might post about the archaeology stuff this weekend, depending on how lazy I decide to be!


Sheep being driven along the road.


Our town, Sautharkrokur.


"Sunset" at 12:30 AM.


Horses at Seyla.


My kitty friend.


The fjord.


A bale in the process of being wrapped at one of the farms where we cored.


Here's the coring group eating lunch.


A totally gorgeous farm on the other side of the fjord.


Believe it or not, this is the K5 - the grocery store. It looks like a grocery store inside though.

I have to run back to the house because I have a feeling I may be hogging the washer. In the meantime, enjoy.