Women’s Day Off Posted by hulda on Oct 27, 2016
“Why are you still at work, you should be at the demonstration.” The above is a sentence one doesn’t hear from one’s own employer often, but I did hear just that on Monday this week. My workday lasts normally a few hours more, but Monday was a Kvennafrídagurinn (= women’s day off) and my employer wasn’t…
Achoo! Posted by hulda on Oct 20, 2016
Autumn is here, which means the flu season is here as well. Now’s the time when students going to class will find their classes abruptly canceled with only a note “Tíminn fellur niður vegna veikinda” (= the class is canceled due to illness) stuck to the door. The lucky ones may have seen an…
This is Hrekkjavaka Posted by hulda on Oct 13, 2016
It’s almost time, Halloween is here. Though it’s not a traditional celebration in Iceland it has made itself a steady foothold – with some original things excluded and some Icelandic things added on, of course. Time for a quick vocabulary lesson with a look on how Halloween is (and isn’t) celebrated in Iceland! Hrekkjavaka (=…
Who lives where? Posted by hulda on Oct 6, 2016
Where does a Dani come from? What about a Norðmaður (= north man)? In which country would a Spánverji live in? Icelandic is interesting enough when it comes to creating adjective forms for countries, but it truly gets mindboggling when we get to nationalities! Let’s have an easy vocabulary studying day today and have a…
3 aurora viewing tips. Posted by hulda on Sep 29, 2016
Northern lights can be said to be a stable feature here in Iceland. Every year from late autumn to midwinter is the usual top season, but they’ve been seen as early as August at best and as late as March. The only time of the year they’re not really seen is the part of spring…
Life with volcanoes Posted by hulda on Sep 22, 2016
When people think of living with volcanoes they usually think only of a situation where one erupts, but life on this island is heavily marked by the presence of geothermal energy every day. Iceland is situated exactly between Europe and North America so that it actually sits on both continental plates at the same time…
Jæja. Posted by hulda on Sep 15, 2016
There’s an Icelandic word that can be used to react to almost any situation: jæja. It can probably best be translated as “really now” or “well then”, just a declaration of whatever emotion you’re currently feeling that you can’t or don’t want to put in exact words. The recipient will immediately know what you’re thinking about…