Just in case you thought I was exaggerating

Yes, a windstorm did this to our car.
Originally uploaded by Diana Wilson

Here is the result of last night's wind storm. I found the car in this lovely shape as Finnur and I were going out for the first time in two days (other than walking Stefan to and from school next door). There was no evidence of a rock inside or out, but something must have hit it, then flew away like Dorothy and Toto. Arni taped thick plastic on for now and we will eagerly await news of when a new window will be available. A snow blizzard arrived as I am writing this so hopefully that will make the wind disappear....

Yeah, I know, I know, what doesn't kill me will make me stronger. I've done this gig before!

So, how was YOUR day?

Update: the rain is back and so is the wind. Snow's already melting and more hurricane force winds are predicted for upcoming days. School was cancelled today and all flights cancelled. If everyone here wasn't saying, since we arrived, "this is very unusual weather, even for Iceland", I'd swear it was a conspiracy! Global warming, anyone?

Elves, etc.

A Christmas card for you...

The Art of Being an Icelander

This is a must read for all of you wanting to gain some insight about the unique people I am living amongst. I promise a fun read, and Arni says there is some grain of truth to it. I say, it's all true.

The Art of Being an Icelander
by Hallgrimu Helgason, author of 101 Reykjavik (novel made into a movie) and one of Icelands' most prolific artists.

Smile Iceland, Please?

Stefan says to me yesterday when we are out and about, "Mom, how come whenever I smile at people here, they never smile back?" Ouch. What do I say? I can think of several answers, none appropriate for a 4 1/2 year old. I'll take your suggestions via comments!

Best Country Ever.....Alrighty Then

Trust me, you don't get something for nothing. There's a price to be paid for living in "paradise". It's called COLD, DARK, WINDY and DIFFICULT TO GET TO KNOW.

Click here to HEAR the story on NPR from this morning

or READ this related story from a travel writer on tripso.com

Best place to live in the world?

Iceland, so says this year's report from the United Nations Human Development Index. Read more here:

The report on msn.com from today

I'm certain WEATHER is not on their list of things to evaluate!

Thanksgiving in Iceland

What the........?

What the........?
Originally uploaded by Diana Wilson

He's wondering what the heck he's looking at, that's for sure. It's Arni's favorite meal, sheep's head, boiled with love by his mama at the farm last weekend. But, he sure ate it up - the meat, that is. He left the eyeball for his Pabbi. How sweet of him.

Only the Beginning...

Thank you, my love, for the past 10 years. Can you still remember the scene? Me picking you up for our first official date, after a month or two of casual gatherings; a lingering dinner at our fav place, Zemam's, and endless talk. I think we both knew that night a connection was made. We had our reasons to be cautious, both of us, but there was no denying that something was there. We've made it through all the usual ups and downs and oh, that year of separation while you were in Brooklyn! That was easy, though, in comparison to this HUGE life transition we've made, coming to Iceland to rediscover your roots and expose the boys and me to them as well. I'm trying, one day at a time, to make it a good experience for all of us.

Thank you for being the incredibly patient, loving, intelligent, helpful, sweet man that you are. Thank you for being such an amazing father to our boys, and to Brynja. I'm so grateful that you are in my life.

So, you won't be working late tonight as planned. I'll be picking you up a bit before five. Your brother is watching the kids for a couple hours, and we'll have a little time to mark this special day.

This is just the beginning of the rest of our life adventure together! I love you, now and forever.

Class dismissed

Bee and Austin, Diana and Finnur, Maj-Britt and Embla
Originally uploaded by Diana Wilson

We finished our "Icelandic for Parents" class today. Sad to see it end. It was a great twice a week gathering where three of us (a mom from Malaysia, an au pair from Germany and me) attempted to learn some Icelandic from our patient, lovely teacher, Katrin, while trying to keep our toddlers in check.

Yesterday was snow and swim day. Isn't it everywhere? Stefan got to play outside in the snow for a long while and then we went to the pool. I got dragged up the stairs several times to go down the huge, winding slide and you know what? There was SNOW on the stairs. Not to mention it was just about 34 degrees outside. :-)

There is LOTS more snow today and it's still coming down hard as I write. It's white as rice out there. Arni RODE his BIKE, with his newly installed studded tires, to work today. It was 25 degrees and dark as night. Stefan was laying in the snow, in his snowsuit, eating snow, when I arrived to pick him up this afternoon. Time to get some sleds for the boys (and put the snow tires on the car so I don't slide down the unsalted hill that leads from our building to the street)!

Look out of the window!

"It´s SNOW!'" Stefan exclaimed this morning. Yup, the last week of October and we have snow on the ground. The mountains are powdery white and gorgeous. There´s only a bit on the ground, but it´s reason to celebrate for the little guy.
"Yippee, it´s winter!"
Ugh, scraping windshields, icy roads.....
"Can I play in it?"
It´s getting darker by the day...
"This is so fun!" he screams as he runs down the little hill from our building to the preschool gate. Unlike his mother, Stefan will be able to tell his kids someday that he walked to school in the snow as a kid.
Kids. The best reminder of how to see the world from a pure, uncluttered perspective.

A great day, except for that trip to the ER

It was a beautiful day, in the 30's, but clear and sunny. I went to pick up Stefan from school and was going to stay for a bit to let Finnur play. I was quietly watching Stefan build a sand tower and when he finally saw me standing outside the sand area, he came running. Just before reaching me, he tripped and, as horrible luck would have it, went cheek first into the wood sand barrier. I happened to have my camera in the backpack so here's a peek a the cheek:


Does any mother get to avoid this scenario? I have been thinking of late how fortunate we've been to steer clear of the ER in the last 4 1/2 years. Of course I have been haunted by the imagine of his fall ever since and sure wish it hadn't happened. Everyone at the school was very helpful and sympathetic. They kept saying, "Can your husband come?" I had the car, so no, he couldn't come. It took a bit of deep breathing to keep from falling apart, but I didn't want Stefan to see me looking scared. I loaded the kids into the car, Stefan holding a cool cloth to his profusely bleeding face, and picked up Arni from work on the way to the ER.

It looked busy inside so we braced ourselves for a long wait. Thankfully, they had a kid's waiting room with great toys and books. I read book after book to an anxious Stefan (well, interpreted the pictures in Icelandic kid's books is more like it) while Arni entertained Finnur. Finally, a man came and called, "Stefan". I couldn't tell who this person was. Turns out it was the doctor! He spoke perfect English and so did the medical student (a young Chinese man, from Holland, named Tony - go figure) who stayed with us most of the time and kept bringing juice. We would have been done fairly fast, but a car accident came in and the doc had to leave for a while. Arni worked on getting Finnur to sleep while I tried to keep Stefan happy and his wound from dripping blood all over the place.


Finally, the doctor came back and it was time to stitch. UGH. I talked to him about using the "glue" they have now for cuts, but he said it was way too deep for that, sadly. We decided to give Stefan a suppository (no, he wasn't too amused with the nurse putting that in his bum) that within five minutes had him acting as if he'd had about six beers. It was VERY funny to hear him slurring his words and gushing at the nurse. It didn't keep him from crying and needing to be held down by four of us during the numbing shots and stitches, but he seems to have no memory of that part of the journey.

The nurse gave him lots of fun "rewards" for being brave - bubbles, stickers, etc. - but his most treasured take was a little wound care kit he got to bring home. He's been playing "nurse" (not doctor, mind you) and taking care of cuts that Arni, Finnur and I bring to the ER we have set up at home now. He hasn't complained once since getting the stitches - I think there are three - and was very proud to go to school and show off his bandage this morning. There's a great bruise developing and this morning it looked like a black eye is on it's way. I admit my biggest downer in all this is thinking about the scar that he will wear as a daily reminder of the experience. It'll add character, right?

Oh, and the bill? $25. I'll update if we get another bill down the road, but I am sure a big fan of socialized medicine so far!

Making connections.......see what I'm up against?

So, I've been trying to tell people that Icelanders can be very shy and stoic when you don't know them. Now, I have proof to show you! The below link is to an interview on NPR with Sigur Ros, a pretty famous Icelandic band. Now you can see what I mean!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/2007/10/when_good_interviews_go_bad.html

Kids for Hire

WILL WORK FOR FOOD - LOTS OF FOOD!

Iceland's "troop" is withdrawing...

You HAVE to click on the video!

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/64111/

There are some distinct advantages...

to having a preschool in your backyard. This morning, we forgot to bring Stefan's rain boots when we went to school. After Finnur went to sleep an hour later, I ran the rain boots over to him on the playground. (miraculously, it wasn't raining, but it's still pretty muddy out there). Total round trip time = four minutes. Afi and Amma came for dinner last night as they were in town running some errands. Amma brought the boys some new, much needed snowsuits! Stefan stayed in his for quite some time, playing an astronaut flying to Mars.

The Great Rain Escape

We did it, finally took a day for just the two of us. Granted, we were traveling with 25 other people, but we were kidless. They had a blast with their Uncle Toti, Aunt Thora and cousin Heidrun and I'm pretty sure they didn't miss us much at all.

It was a lovely day, at least where we were - three hours from the city. (Did I just write "lovely"? It was in the 40's!) The key is that it wasn't raining and there was little wind, and I've quickly learned - or should I say re-learned from my Iowa days - that it's all about how you dress.

Back in Reykjavik, it was total yuck, the September usual (by the way, it's been the WETTEST September EVER on record).

You can see more of the day at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tucsondi/sets/72157602212045366/

"See that truck up ahead?"

Arni says to me, as we're driving home to our Reykjavik suburb of Kopavogur from his parents' farm Sunday night. The boys are asleep in the back. (It was getting dark after 11pm when we arrived two months ago. Now, it's before 8pm and dropping FAST).
Yes, I see it.
"It's good he's in front of us because if he tips over then we'll know it's too windy to drive."
Oh, well that's comforting. Then he points out an overturned vehicle on the side of the road. I'm feeling so much better now. I found out the next day that there was a strong warning about driving the route back to Reykjavik. We'd had crazy winds all weekend at the farm, but did that stop us from being outside a lot? Noooooooo. Stefan even hiked with me up a mini mountain by the farm to see the horses who were grazing up there. They are so friendly and most of them come right up and give nuzzles. Gellir (pronounced Get-Lir) the awesome farm dog came with us and was our protector. That is, until he saw a pack of sheep he just had to run after and herd for a bit.

Stefan started school yesterday - this pic was taken just as we were headed out the door for the one minute walk - so I may finally find some time soon to get this long-promised blog going. In the meantime, feel free to browse our pics at:
http://flickr.com/photos/tucsondi/
Stay tuned folks!

With Love, From Tucson (for now)

Welcome to my blog! I have been meaning to get back to journaling ever since my first travel adventures and there's no time like the present. There are so many BIG changes coming this year that I'll never remember everything unless it's recorded somewhere. Thank goodness blogs were invented for those of us who can barely read their own handwriting. I look forward to recording random (and hopefully, meaningful) thoughts and happenings, as well as pics of our growing boys. If anything, at least I know I will enjoy looking back on it but feel free to visit when you'd like.