The First Day of Summer, Icelandic-Style (and a Knuckle-Calendar, Just For Fun) Posted by Meg on Apr 20, 2017
Today in Reykjavik, it was a whopping 3 degrees (C), even though it is, according to the Icelanders, the first day of summer. The old Icelandic calendar is called the misseristal, or semester-count, and it’s been used since the Settlement Age. It emphasizes the two “semesters” of the year – summer and weather – with…
Suggested Reading: Four Icelandic Books Posted by Meg on Mar 31, 2017
In my language studies in German, Russian, and Icelandic, nothing has been more valuable to me than reading a book to bolster my skills. I am always frustrated early on in my studies, and sometimes I throw in the towel (Russian is on hold at the moment). But when I force myself to read a…
Let’s Get Up Close And Personal With Impersonal Verbs Posted by Meg on Mar 20, 2017
Impersonal verbs are not unique to Icelandic (e.g., German “mir ist kalt” [to me it is cold] rather than “ich bin kalt” [I am cold]), but they are perhaps comparatively common. Impersonal in this case means that the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action, instead of the do-er. The predicate…
Haunting Images Of Iceland’s Abandoned Farms Posted by Meg on Mar 9, 2017
In 2004, poet and publisher Aðalsteinn Ásberg Sigurðsson and photographer Nökkvi Elíasson paired up with one goal in mind: assembling Nökkvi’s twenty-years’ worth of photographs of Iceland’s abandoned farms and publishing them alongside Sigurðsson’s poetry. The resulting collection reveals the ways that Icelandic lifestyles have changed overtime: details as meager as the shape and size…
Red Christmas, Ergo White Easter: Snjóflóð 2017 Posted by Meg on Feb 28, 2017
When Snjóflóð 2017 (“avalanche”) hit Reykjavik this past weekend, I started to think about a blog I’d prepared but not published this past December. And I decided to resurrect it from the pile. The weekend felt odd to me – like the snow had come too late. And then I remembered the Icelandic saying, rauð…
A Gray and Hairy Handful of Stories About Drangey, While on Haitus in the North Of Iceland Posted by Meg on Feb 20, 2017
Yesterday, I headed up to Sauðárkrókur, the biggest small-town in all of Iceland, with a population of around 2,000. I came here because I’ve found that I’m at my best after a respite from work – or, rather, I find that I work best when I am away from home to work. The quiet up…
Escaping the Mid-Winter Doldrums with the Winter Lights Festival Posted by Meg on Feb 8, 2017
So, here in Reykjavik, we just blew through the Winter Lights Festival (simply, Winter Festival vetrarhátið). Unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather and wasn’t able to make it to many events, and, apart from large-scale displays in the city itself and a tour of the arboretum/botanical gardens, I don’t have much to share…