a whale of a tale
Ah it was annoying, I had a good long post that I typed up a few days ago but then my internet cut out just when I tried posting it and I lost it.. so I'll attempt to write it again.
Thursday was whale watching. We went with Elding Whale watching company and the boat used to be an old rescue ship. The weather was quite nice, bright and sunny, and relatively warm (relatively is a popular word to describe anything icelandic) though it got really cold when we were out to sea. We went by Puffin Island, though there was mostly seagulls there, the puffins are already starting to migrate but there were a few puffins still there. We also saw some bird that I don't know what they are called in english, but Magnus told me that translated from Swedish they are called "Sea Soles". They were white with big wings and big feet though a narrow beak, and they would dive deep into the sea to catch fish.
One of the crew members stood at the top of the boat and spoke on a speaker phone to announce where whales were (12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, between 1 and 2 o'clock) and also told us some information about Iceland, the currents, about whales and the weather. When he yelled out where a whale was people would run back and forth trying to see a whale, though many people would be too slow and the whale would be back under water. We spotted a big humpback whale and out boat started a chase after it. On the way we saw many minke whales and some smaller humpback whales. Some even came fairly close up to the boat. The boat manuevered through the waves, at some points we were right against the currents and the boat rocked back and forth, people sliding and bumping into each other. Victoria, one of the spanish girls, was sitting in one of their plastic lawn chairs and was sliding to and fro on the deck. At the finale of the excursion we finally caught up with the humpback whale and we saw its dorsal fin and tail come out of the water. After almost 3 hours of whale watching we headed back to shore.
When we were back on land I headed back to my apartment and Gunnhildur and Stebbi (the two exchange students I met last term) came to pick me up. They drove me around Reykjavik and the surrounding towns. They bought me some icecream from a popular icecream joint, it was really good, kind of like a Blizzard or McFlurry but you got to pick your own toppings from a wide variety of candy and fruit. It was getting cold so we got back in the car and they drove me to the edge of town and around the smaller towns. We went up this one large escarpement, where you could see the whole landscape and it was quite beautiful with the street lights and the sun setting. They told me that place was really popular for people to come and party on New Year's eve because you were able to see all the fireworks (I am really looking forward to seeing their New Year's). On the way back towards the city they drove me by the president of Iceland's house, it was on its own little penisula in the centre of all the towns. They would say all the town names and things but I don't really remember any of them. It was helpful to see the road signs and here them say it so I could picture it better.
On Friday, Silvia held a party at her place and almost everyone from the course came. Everyone was to bring authentic foods from their home country. It ended up being great night. There was so much food and all very delicious. There were a lot of pasta and salads, there were perogies (from Poland), nachoes and fajitas (from Texas), salmon and heiring, rice dishes (from Spain) and much more. There were also a lot of deserts, cakes and pies and struddles. I brought maple syrup and did the sugar shack thing, where I boiled the syrup and then poured it over crushed ice and then it carmelized. It was actually a big hit, but I was surprised how many people didn't even know what maple syrup was (I was even able to buy actual Canadian maple syrup as well). Many people wanted to try the maple syrup and most of them (except Magnus) really liked it. At about 11 or so we were kicked out of Silvia's place by her landlord, apparently she wasn't allowed to have a party, and we headed downtown to the bar Pravda, which was ok, they had some live music for a little while, then they started playing dance music. We headed to Kaffibarinn to meet up with more of our people and we stayed there for a while. It was really crowded though. I met an Icelandic girl (I think her name was Solar) who said while she was in Denmark for a language course she met a 63 year old Canadian women, who told her she was in a tribe and was shot in the back with an arrow and the scar was like a badge to show everyone she was strong and other tribes would give her housing and food. Solar then went on about how she thought Canada was a great country for thinking for themselves and not being influenced by America. I've talked to several people and most really don't like the States but love Canada, but I sometimes think that people wouldn't like Canada either if they didn't have the States to compare them to. But it is nice to have people like your country.
Thursday was whale watching. We went with Elding Whale watching company and the boat used to be an old rescue ship. The weather was quite nice, bright and sunny, and relatively warm (relatively is a popular word to describe anything icelandic) though it got really cold when we were out to sea. We went by Puffin Island, though there was mostly seagulls there, the puffins are already starting to migrate but there were a few puffins still there. We also saw some bird that I don't know what they are called in english, but Magnus told me that translated from Swedish they are called "Sea Soles". They were white with big wings and big feet though a narrow beak, and they would dive deep into the sea to catch fish.
One of the crew members stood at the top of the boat and spoke on a speaker phone to announce where whales were (12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, between 1 and 2 o'clock) and also told us some information about Iceland, the currents, about whales and the weather. When he yelled out where a whale was people would run back and forth trying to see a whale, though many people would be too slow and the whale would be back under water. We spotted a big humpback whale and out boat started a chase after it. On the way we saw many minke whales and some smaller humpback whales. Some even came fairly close up to the boat. The boat manuevered through the waves, at some points we were right against the currents and the boat rocked back and forth, people sliding and bumping into each other. Victoria, one of the spanish girls, was sitting in one of their plastic lawn chairs and was sliding to and fro on the deck. At the finale of the excursion we finally caught up with the humpback whale and we saw its dorsal fin and tail come out of the water. After almost 3 hours of whale watching we headed back to shore.
When we were back on land I headed back to my apartment and Gunnhildur and Stebbi (the two exchange students I met last term) came to pick me up. They drove me around Reykjavik and the surrounding towns. They bought me some icecream from a popular icecream joint, it was really good, kind of like a Blizzard or McFlurry but you got to pick your own toppings from a wide variety of candy and fruit. It was getting cold so we got back in the car and they drove me to the edge of town and around the smaller towns. We went up this one large escarpement, where you could see the whole landscape and it was quite beautiful with the street lights and the sun setting. They told me that place was really popular for people to come and party on New Year's eve because you were able to see all the fireworks (I am really looking forward to seeing their New Year's). On the way back towards the city they drove me by the president of Iceland's house, it was on its own little penisula in the centre of all the towns. They would say all the town names and things but I don't really remember any of them. It was helpful to see the road signs and here them say it so I could picture it better.
On Friday, Silvia held a party at her place and almost everyone from the course came. Everyone was to bring authentic foods from their home country. It ended up being great night. There was so much food and all very delicious. There were a lot of pasta and salads, there were perogies (from Poland), nachoes and fajitas (from Texas), salmon and heiring, rice dishes (from Spain) and much more. There were also a lot of deserts, cakes and pies and struddles. I brought maple syrup and did the sugar shack thing, where I boiled the syrup and then poured it over crushed ice and then it carmelized. It was actually a big hit, but I was surprised how many people didn't even know what maple syrup was (I was even able to buy actual Canadian maple syrup as well). Many people wanted to try the maple syrup and most of them (except Magnus) really liked it. At about 11 or so we were kicked out of Silvia's place by her landlord, apparently she wasn't allowed to have a party, and we headed downtown to the bar Pravda, which was ok, they had some live music for a little while, then they started playing dance music. We headed to Kaffibarinn to meet up with more of our people and we stayed there for a while. It was really crowded though. I met an Icelandic girl (I think her name was Solar) who said while she was in Denmark for a language course she met a 63 year old Canadian women, who told her she was in a tribe and was shot in the back with an arrow and the scar was like a badge to show everyone she was strong and other tribes would give her housing and food. Solar then went on about how she thought Canada was a great country for thinking for themselves and not being influenced by America. I've talked to several people and most really don't like the States but love Canada, but I sometimes think that people wouldn't like Canada either if they didn't have the States to compare them to. But it is nice to have people like your country.
posted by Kelly @ 11:08 AM
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