at the edge of the world

On the weekend I went to Bifrost, which in Norse beliefs was where the world of the gods and earth met with a rainbow bridge connecting them. It is also a very small town of 1800 people, 100 km north of Reykjavik. I was visiting my friend Bettina who is from Germany but studies in Bifrost at their Business University of 700 students.

I got there early evening on Friday. Bettina picked me up from Borgarnes where the bus dropped me off. The town is really small. It looks like a middle class suburb from a town but in the middle of nowhere, without any stores, just houses and the school with one cafe that is part of the school. There are a lot of young families and single mothers and a large portion of the population are the students.

So we get to her place. It is quite cold and windy, compared to Reykjavik which was cool but little wind when I left. We struggle dragging a mattress from Mathieu's (Bettina's friend at the school from france) room to Bettina's place. We made some pizzas and watched The March of the Penguins (which I thought originally was a cartoon but ended up being a beautiful documentary of the antartic penguins) with Bettina's roommate Monica (also from Germany). Later the three of us plus Mathieu went to the school's "swimming pool" (more of a kiddie pool) and hot tub, thinking there was suppose to be a party but only two other random Icelandic guys were there. The sky was very clear, but no northern lights to be seen. After the hot tub we hung out in Mathieu's room for a bit listening to some french music. But I really exhausted and nearly fell asleep on his bed so we headed back to Bettina's place and crashed.

On Saturday, the sun woke me up (which has now become my natural alarm clock). We ate some of Bettina's home made dense, seedy bread with jam and apples and tea. Then we got dressed (I was stupid and somehow forgot to bring a sweater and a touque) and prepared for hiking around the area. There is a volcano crater near by that we walked to. It was insanely windy and cold. When we were on the top a few times it felt like we would have been blown off the edge. It was hard to take pictures with the wind and my hand feeling like it was freezing. After walking around the top we tried to find a short cut back to Bettina's place. We first tried walking down one road which ended up leading to some summer houses and a fence. We back-tracked and found and opening in the fence, then walked through a lava field, finding a frozen river, so we followed that for a little while. There were lava cliffs around us and we weren't sure where we were and climbed up it and found we had actually walked past Bettina's house but at least we had made it to Bifrost and went home to warm up with some tea and lunch. After a bit of a rest we met up with Mathieu and then headed out again to see the lake near by.

On the cold windy walk down the dirt road, we must have looked quite funny all wrapped up with only our eyes not covered. Then all of a sudden some Icelandic guy (maybe 16 yrs old) stomps past us with big head phones wearing a black trench coat that wasn't even closed. We thought it so typically Icelandic (they seem to be immuned to the cold, or at least some, the rest use their cars as coats). We wondered what he was listening to and why he seemed so upset. We continue walking down the road, taking some pictures of the scenery. After some time when the guy was further in the distance a silver car drives passes us and stops beside the guy and he gets in and then they drive off. I think that perhaps he may have had an arguement with a parent and stormed off and the parent came to pick him up and discuss what ever the arguement was about. But who knows..

The lake seemed to not get any closer and we were really cold so think of walking to a river near by (which was probably actually a 45 min walk away). On the way though we decide it would probably be more sensible to go back to Bifrost and get the car to drive to the river, and also warm up a bit. On our journey home some purple car kept driving by, I guess crusing for the lack of anything else to do in the town. We made it home and more tea was boiled. Bettina was then preparing to make a new loaf of her bread while I wrote down the recipe to try out later. While we waited for the bread to rise we tried warming up in the sunlight on the couch and had a small nap. Once risen and popped in the oven we headed out to the river in the car. It was quite pretty, with a small walk through a birch scragly forest and a waterfall and fish stairs. We watched the sun set behind the mountains surrounding us then headed home. We all had dinner together. We made a pasta caserole with salad and wine. Really yummy. We watched some tv (I saw the most amount of TV this weekend than I had since my trip to Akureyri with my dad) and then Mathieu and Bettina tried to dance to Beyonce. Then I was off to bed.

Sunday I woke up again early from the sun. I watched some cartoons, which I was surprised were in english and not Icelandic, for most of the morning and then Bettina drove me to Borgarnes for the bus at 2:45 and then off home. The cold weather had followed me to Reykjavik, now being windy and cold again here (where did our nice spring go?).

Fear of Regret

Last weekend I had a dream, I don't really remember everything that happened but I remember the feeling. I know I was coming back to Canada but felt so unfullfilled, unsatisfied, disappointed with myself. Like I had not done everything I possibly could in Iceland. It was quite a shock. Really got me thinking of what I want to accomplish here. I have about two months left, though I have three papers and two exams, there are a few more things I want to do.

My list will probably grow more but so far I know I have to:
- hike up Esja,
- hitchhike (at least once, considering it is probably much safer to do it here than in Canada, or anywhere really),
- go all the way around the Ring Road (which I will be doing in whole or split between my mom and dad in May),
- try the Icelandic's hard liquor Opal or Topaz (which I think is suppose to taste like licorice and the candy called the same),
- need to eat more Icelandic hotdogs with everything on them (haven't had one in months)
- eat as much Skyr and Surmjölk(sour milk, really good with crunchy muesli) as I can, considering I can't get them in Canada (at least I know Skyr isn't, but not sure about sour milk, perhaps it is similar to buttermilk? or unsweetened yogurt)
- try one of every type of Icelandic candy (Brian, I don't remember if you liked the stuff I gave you or not..) But I am starting to like licorice now.
- knit myself an Icelandic sweater. It will be so much cheaper (probably around 3000 kronur (less than $60) instead of buying a store bought one for 14000 kronur (around $300) and I will have the satisfaction of having completed the sweater myself.
- and finally try and hang out with my friends here more that I may not see again or not for a long time. I feel like I have not been working hard enough on my friendships here and worry I will lose them.

I think I have been concentrating so much on my trip this summer that I sometimes forget that I am already in another country filled with adventures to experience. So I need to live to the fullest here. And not regret anything.

The Fall of the Pharoahs

Day 4:

The last day in the Faroe Islands. Most of us woke up around 8am and then we had to pack and clean up the hostel. then the cars were to drive the luggage downtown to the bus terminal around 10 and then they had to be returned to the rental place by about 10:30. We were able to do one load with both cars that carried all the big luggage of everyone and perhaps more than half of the people down to the bus station. We still had about 4 hours till the bus to the airport at 3pm. We stuffed all our luggage into lockers at the station, and with most of us split up into groups we wander around the city once more.

It is still raining. I found out that it actually rains quite often in the Faroes, it is quite rare and you are very lucky if there is nice weather. Oh well.

So we walk around in search of more yarn. Julia, Fionnuala, Anna Vala and Ásta actually knit regularly but the knitting bug had effected most of us. I didn't buy any yarn in the Faroes but I knitted a scarf and now want to attempt knitting my own icelandic sweater, but before that I should probably knit one more thing before, probably leg or arm warmers. I just need to try and start the sweater here so I have people to help me if I screw up.

I think we ended up going to every single possible knitting store in Tórshavn. We also went back to the organic wool store where Gunnar bought a sweather, Julia bought a sweater/jacket and Ásta bought a pin made of sheep horn. We went back the Galleri Jinx for lunch and Leif and Roisin were there, and then Tom and Hannah later came. Then Julia, Ásta and I wandered around the older part of the city. It was really pretty, cobbled streets and all turf roofed houses. It was kind of strange because I think people still live in some of them so we were kind of trespassing, but I guess they would be use to crazy tourists. The 3 of us went to Kaffi Natur where everyone was resting and then it was time to head to the bus.

We unloaded the lockers and piled up the bus and off we went. It was insanely foggy at this point and some parts of the way you could not see anything around us. We get to the airport with nothing happening.

We check in our luggage and get our tickets only to find that our plane has been delayed. It is now about 4pm and our flight is suppose to leave at 5pm but the plane is not expected until close to 8pm. Everyone then uses this time to buy and write postcards. Luckily there was a computer in the terminal with the internet so you could look up people's addresses. I also bought this chocolate bar which I think is now my favourite. It is called Drifter by Nestlé, and I think it is made in Switzerland, but it is as if a Twix and a Kit Kat made love and this is its offspring. I have decided I need to try (almost) every type of chocolate bar on my trip. There are some good ones here. They are obsessed with licorice and they try and put it in all types of chocolate and candy. I used to hate black licorice but now that it has sneaked in through chocolate I am starting not to mind it.

After waiting for a few hours they announce of the intercom that the airport will be providing us a free meal due to the delay. At this point almost everyone in my group had already purchased a thing of fries from the kiosk thing in the airport. So the meal they provided was an assortment of open-faced sandwiches. One which had a mountain of shrimp on it, another with sliced hard-boiled eggs and shrimp, and the last had either smoked beef or lamb with some mustard and horseraddish sauce and crunions on top (crunions being crispy fried onions, commonly put on hotdogs in iceland). They were pretty good but I think so much shrimp was giving many people stomach aches, at least I was starting to feel funny.

Perhaps 30 mins later they announced they were boarding the plane so we collected our things and headed to the gate. The plane was about the same size as the plane to the Faroes, but I think this time it maye have been half full rather than one third full. More chocolate and alcohol were bought at duty free on the plane and at the airport in Reykjavik. It was somewhat cooler in Reykjavik, and it apparently snowed over the weekend, but there was little wind and it wasn't raining (haha yes Reykjavik was as so!).

Faeroe Islands

Day 3:
On Sunday morning most of us were awake by 7 or 8am getting ready for our day of adventure. Mathieu and Gunnar had planned to go hiking on Vágar for the day and then Fionnuala decided to join them and they rushed to the bus station. Tom, Ásta and Julia were originally going to bus to Leirvík then ferry to Klaksvík and then bus back, but while waiting at the bus station they met up with Mathieu, Gunnar and Fionnuala and decided to join them. I should add that it was very cloudy, rainy and windy day.

So it leaves me, Leif, Roisin, Maren, Hannah, Adrian, Anna Vala and Linda. Leif, Roisin and I were trying to arrange cars to rent for the day. First problem, we are not sure if we can even get the cars because the only drivers with liscences with them (me and Leif) are not 21 which is the age limit for renting cars. Second, if the cars don't work out we want to be able to get to the bus station for 10:55 to Leirvík, and at that moment it was 10am. Third, none of the taxis are available (still busy with business from the night before!) and the rental place is probably a good 30 min walk away. So Roisin phones the rental place asking if he can pick us (Roisin, Leif and moi) up. We get there and hope that they don't mention the age restriction. Luckily he doesn't say anything, BUT they only have one automatic car to rent, we end up having to get the second in standard. So Leif drives me and Roisin back in the automatic, we pick up Maren, who can drive standard, we get back to the rental place (the guy had already given us the key, didn't even care about seeing her liscence, which was lucky considering she had left it in Iceland), her and I hopped into the standard, both cars drove back to the hotel and picked up everyone. Then we were on our way.

Originally Linda was going to take the helicopter to Klaksvik, meet up with people there and then take the bus back. Then she was going to drive with us to Klaksvik and then take the helicopter back to Tórshavn, but really there was no point because it would be rainy, windy, foggy all day, so she would not see anything.

Several of the people were still quite tired or hung over, so we were going to drive until Oyrarbakki, which said on the map had a Shell station and a restaurant. So off we went. Even though the weather was kind of crappy, the view was still nice. There were many waterfalls streaming down the mountains/hills/cliffs. We saw many wet looking sheep munching away on soggy grass. After maybe 30 mins or so of driving we arrive in Oyrarbakki, but the Shell station is closed. So we look at the map and it says there is a restaurant in Eiði, so we decide to head there. At this time both Maren and I have to pee really bad. Perhaps another 10-15 mins we arrived in Eiði. We parked by this info booth which said WC on the side, but only the guys washroom was open which only had urinals. The day before Anna Vala had bought this gag gift of these cardboard funnels for girls to be able to pee standing up, and at this point I thought it would have been really useful to have one of these. So we trek through (more up) Eiði looking for this supposed restaurant. It is almost getting painful now. Maren and I had run ahead of everyone hoping to come across something. She decides to pee behind some barn, but it was part of someone's property, just beside the garage so I was worried someone would come out and see us. So I continue on my way and it seems never ending. I come across this school which is deserted. I run behind the building which has a rock cliff right behind, drop my pants and relieve myself. I come out and meet up with everyone else. Leif and I decide we should probably go back and get the cars to drive up and look for the restaurant. We all return to the cars and drive up the windy roads up the cliff of Eiði. We have to double back a few times but we finally found this restaurant, which looks like it has been closed for several years now. So no food or coffee for us, but now that Maren and I are relieved we can continue on.

Next stop is Gjógv. Here there is suppose to be a Sea-stack, some rock formation that comes out of the sea. We arrive and it has a pretty river flowing through the town. Similar style of houses as the other towns we have been in and is right on the ocean. We drive around and find this hotel-looking place. We park and wonder in side. It looks like a family reunion and just in time for dinner. The owner of the place though comes and greets us (seems every Faroesean can speek perfect English). We actually happened upon a hostel and said we were welcomed to the food once the others had their fill. We just wanted some coffee so he made us two big pots of it. Roisin had some of the soup, which was cream of broccoli. I tasted some, it was good but I had brought food and had eaten earlier in the car.

After "lunch" we take a walk to see if we can see the Sea-stacks, though the guy at the hostel said it was a good 2 hour walk. We walk up to the end of the cliff and look out to the ocean. It was really windy here and I felt like I'd be picked up and thrown over in to the sea. We took some photos and then continued back in car.

Now we were heading to Leirvík to catch the ferry to Klaksvík. At this point Leif had switched places with me and I was now driving. It was fun to be driving again. The roads at least were not back, but it was still raining and getting foggy. After perhaps 20 mins we made it to Leirvík but just then we had just missed a ferry but we saw a building with a Bowling sign so we decided to pass the time playing. Leif and Roisin said the next ferry was at 5pm I think so we had lots of time to spare considering it was 3:30pm at the time. In Bowling I was playing with Maren and we were doing really well in the beginning but by the end Leif some how jinxed me and all my balls went into the gutters, so then Leif and Adrian ended up winning. When we were returning the shoes Leif had asked about the ferry and we found out that actually ferry left at 4:30 and the next ferry was at 6. So we went to the restaurant beside the bowling to discuss what to do. If we took the ferry at 6pm would not get to Klaksvik until 7pm, and it would be getting dark, and would be just a waste of money. So we decided to drive more around the island we were on.

We started heading out but then it was raining more and was getting even more foggy as well it was starting to get a bit darker. So we pulled over and agreed to just head back to Tórshavn. We got back in 30 mins.

When we got back Fionnuala and Ásta were already back and told of their hike, and attempt to climb a mountain but they, and Tom and Julia decided to head back and Gunnar and Mathieu continued on. Tom and Julia were going to take the bus, and Fionnuala and Ásta hitchhiked back to the hostel. Tom and Julia had not showed up yet though. Around 6:30 Mathieu and Gunnar arrived. They had actually taken the 4:30 bus home but stopped for dinner in the city. Perhaps and hour and a half later Julia and Tom finally showed up. They had decided last minute to try and walk to the waterfalls at the south of Vágar, then took the bus back. Everyone was soaking wet.

After warming up a bit and eating we were going to head downtown. Because we still had the cars we were able to drive everyone down, though in a few shifts. A few went to the pizza place I had been on Friday, then me Mathieu, Gunnar, Roisin, Leif, Adrian and Kristján went to some sports bar with pool tables. It was me and Mathieu against Leif and Roisin. Leif was really good so their team kicked our ass the first game, but I think we won the second game. The the others that had gone to the restaurant joined us, we hung out for a bit then went to our hang out place Kaffi Natur where Maren, Hannah, Linda and Julia were.

I found it weird in the Faroes because I am used to having a good sense of direction but some reason in Tórshavn I never had a clue which way was which. So when I was driving people back to the hostel (I had to do two trips) the first trip I wasn't sure which road I had to take to the right which would take me all the way up to the main road, so I went a bit too far and had to wind around back to where I started and finally found the right street. The second time I picked people straight from the bar and we had to find the street which would get us to the street where I could turn right then drive up the road up to the main road.. but there were many one way streets and one street had construction halfway between so had to turn back. After some more detouring I finally found the way back up.

When we returned Anna Vala and Fionnuala had bought some chocolate bars and milk and made some hot chocolate. Was so yummy :) Then Tom made nylon roped- bracelets/anklets for everyone, except Adrian (who is a wimp). We have to keep it on until it falls off and it will remind us all of our trip to the Faroe Islands with the friends we met in Iceland.

Far Faroe way

Day 2:
on the second day I woke up around 7am, still tired, and glanced out the window and it looks beautiful. The sun is rising, gold light illuminating the landscape. I thought to myself it is going to be a nice day. But I laid back down for a few more winks of sleep and actually get up around 9am. I showered, dressed, ate some oatmeal and then a group of us head downtown to explore the "city".

By this time the nice sun I saw at 7 had decided to hide behind some white clouds. It is beginning to rain when we decide to go to this Gallerí Jinx café. We all get hot drinks and something to eat for breakfast. Most of us got the breakfast sandwich which is a crusty bun with butter, jam, cheese, and ham. I have started to love having cheese and jam sandwiches (inspired by my norwegian friend Sverre, he said that it is only good with red jams but I tried it with apricot jam and it was still fine. I also tried peanut butter, jam and cheese, would have been really good but I was eating it on a whole wheat tortilla I made and it was quite dry and floury and was starting to taste like harðfisk by the end of the sandwich). Adrian bought an actual breakfast with the tiniest sausages, some kind of pancakes, eggs, bacon and the same sandwhich thing the rest of us had.

When we were done eating, it had stopped raining or snowing or hailing, whatever it was doing, and we continue on our exploration. We stop by a knitting store (Faroe Islands are as well known for their sheep and wool as Iceland) and browse around. Mathieu and Gunnar were modelling the stylish wool tuques for us. In the place there were a variety of styles of wool jackets, sweaters, skirts, slippers, mittens, tuques, all which were organical coloured so all were brown, beige or black. They were quite beautiful, but quite expensive and I didn't know when I would wear it so I didn't buy anything, but we would end up at this store several times through out or trip.

After wool shop we finally start exploring the streets. Tórshavn is quite hilly so we were walking up and down these steep elevations throughout the day. I think my calves had a good work out from the weekend. The streets are more windy than in Iceland, and some are cobbled. The houses are somewhat similar but as I said before there were a lot more turf roofed houses. There was also more nature it felt here than in Reykjavik (well relative for its size). There were trees, and mossy stone walls, grass, and lets not forget the sheep. One house in the middle of town had 3 sheep in its backyard. One major difference we noticed is in Tórshavn there were a lot more dogs. We kept stopping to pet the cute dogs tied outside. In Reykjavík you see cats more frequently. I think I only saw one or two cats the whole trip in the Faroes.

Then we went to the mall to find some food. The mall was quite small, probably smaller than Conestoga Mall, though, as Adrian described it, it look like a type of mall you would see in a dream. The outside was blue cast-iron with yellow stairs spiralling down, kind of looking like a childrens playground. Inside it was marble with stairs spirally up to the main level, high ceiling with a large sky-light, glass divider between the mall and the foodcourt. We found another knitting store and more yarn was purchased. On the ground floor was a kind of grocery/convenient store, so we load up on food to last the rest of the weekend. The store even had cheddar (Irish cheddar) so I bought some. I hadn't had cheddar in so long, well maybe one or two bites throughout the year from people bringing it back from North America, but when I ate some it wasn't as magnificant as I remembered, but perhaps it was only mild cheddar, not the fort kind. It will be weird to go back home and cheddar being the norm again and gouda a rarety. I wonder if gouda would even taste the same back home?

While at the mall we end up running into the other half of our group of people. We discuss for a bit what we were going to do today and our big plans for tomorrow.. perhaps bus ride, perhaps helicopter ride, perhaps some hiking. We'd decide later. So my original group and I continue on our way, this time heading towards the Nordic House. It is much larger than the one here in Iceland. On the outside there is a zig-zag stone stairway up, metal sheep and all the nordic flags up at half mass (not quite sure what happened but heard some kids were killed in a town somewhere in the Faroes). Inside the nordic house it was quite pretty, some artwork was up for display, but there really wasn't much to do in the place. There were two auditoriums, perhaps for movies, concerts or conferences.

After a bit of a rest, our backs were killing from the weight of our food, we head out towards the art gallery. Gunnar takes us through a short-cut which ended up being a bog and Fionnuala got her feet soaked. But it did end up being quite faster, and on the way we ran into Leif and Roisin, also heading to the gallery. This one Faroesean artists was on display, nickname Mikines after the island Mykines. He painted mostly scenery from the island where he grew up, but also several paintings on death. Most of his family had died from tuberculosis or the war, so much sadness in his life. A lot of the artwork was really beautiful but some, mostly of other artists, were kind of plain or boring.

After this, I was quite tired and my back was sore from the groceries, so me and Marin decide to trek back up the hill to our hostel. On the way we walked through this forest in the centre of town. Marin commented how fake the forest looked, considering the trees didn't look native and like Iceland, there are very few trees there. But it was quite beautiful and nice to be among trees again. There was even a little pond with many ducks and swan, though one swan seemed quite threatening so we kept going. We dragged ourselves up the hill and finally made it to our hostel and crashed.

Later in the evening, Mathieu and I made spaghetti together but he had the bright idea to add sardines to the sauce. So it ended up being a very fishy meal. He even admitted it had been a bad idea. After our meal we all had a cup or two of coffee (really bad idea, tossed and turned most of the night) and planned out Sunday (which I will talk about in the next post, considering most of our plans didn't turn out how we thought).

Faroe way

I am back from the Pharoahs, the land of dry deserts, pyramids and scarabs. Well maybe not quite.

Day 1:
I got all packed up (all in one backpack, practising for Europe), then Adrian and I took the bus to Mathieu's place to help him carry his luggage to the airport. He was bringing his bike and planning to bike around the islands this week. Good luck to that bastard.

There are 15 of us in total (from Gamli: me, Tom, Adrian, Julia, Leif, former gamli Mathieu; from Álfhús: Roisin, Fionnuala, Hannah, Marin and Linda; & our icelandic friends Anna Vala, Ásta, Gunnar and Kristján) and we get all checked in, and around 2 they open the doors towards the plane and everyone loads up on duty-free merchandise (mostly alcohol and candy) and pile into the plane. We get sandwiches, drinks and chocolate, and we have a beautiful view of Iceland through the plane window as we fly over it (pics will be on my site soon).

As we are nearing our destination we can see large cliffs emerging from the ocean as we fly in between them. We land on Vágar island, take out some money in the airport (the Faroes use Danish kroners, though are starting to have their own bills, kind of easy to convert from icelandic because you just move the decimal to the left when going to danish, though it is slightly more) and then take the bus to the capital Tórshavn. On the way we go through small towns, with similar looking to houses as in Iceland but more turf-roofed buildings. And a lot of sheep. Many lightly snowed mountains, cliffs, and waterfalls.

We arrive in Tórshavn and Gunnar arranges taxis, and most of us, except Anna Vala, Leif and Roisin who decide to walk (ends up being about 45 mins, which we end up having to walk up and down many times), are driven up to our hostel on the top of the cliff looking over the city. We get settled in and eat some food, some starting to crack open the booze, using drinks from some vending machine with what might be 5 or 10 year old pop as mixers. A group of us head down the cliff, through the maze of streets towards downtown to some pizza place, where pizzas and fries were bought, except for my pepsi (I kind of walked out and forgot to pay). After food we headed to the café/pub Kaffi Natur, which would be our hang out place for the rest of our trip.

Taxi home and then sleep...

So what is new?

I am officially going to the Faroe Islands this weekend, from the 10th until the 13th. I believe there is a group of 15 of us going. Most will probably stay in the hotel Gunnar has been organizing for us but some (including myself though may not) want to camp out in a tent. I have no idea what to expect. I just hope there is nice weather. It will be nice to get out of the city and be among nature again and see new places.

I also have a job.. kind of.. I worked for the first time on Saturday at this cafe Kaffi Vín. My dad and I went there once when he was here. The boss was just giving me a try but I won't actually be hired until my residence permit is renewed and I get a work permit. But also the boss is going into hospital for surgery for the next few weeks and said something about her daughter would be taking over but wouldn't be there until the 17th, which I don't understand, but I suppose I can't work until the 17th anyway, but I guess that means I will only have a month of work and can't work too much considering in April I have all my essays and exams, but then again I have barely any classes so have a lot of time off. Any money is a help.

But on my first day of work, overall it went alright, though a few things went wrong. First I ended up spilling milk all over a customer. I was collecting the dishes from this table where there is a step up to it and I forgot this and missed the step and the dishes were going to start flying everywhere though I managed to balance most of them the milker went flying and fell on the guy and the seat and the floor, luckily it didn't break though. The guy started splurring out (I know it isn't a real word but should be) things going back and forth between icelandic and english, making a big performance of it but not actually seeming like he cared that much. He asked for some soda water to clean his jacket, hung it over a chair to dry then continued on with his conversation, paying little attention to me. But I didn't mind. I just wiped up the milk and continued with my work.

Then later in the day it was just me and Roger from Indonesia working. He had said the cook/boss had gone out for a bit for a rest and would be back later. Everything was fine until an English couple came in and wanted some food. I took their order and hoped Kristín would show up soon. Throughout the day people had been coming into visit her and she would go chat with them, so I thought she might be with some friends but I glanced through the place and didn't see her. After about 20 mins or so, we started to get anxious. We told the couple that we didn't know where the cook was and when she'd be back, and perhaps they'd prefer to either order some dish that was easier to make or go somewhere else. But right when they were leaving, we saw Kristín, she had been sitting at some table socializing. Well Roger and I felt pretty stupid, but I guess Roger didn't understand that she wasn't leaving the building.. but oh well. Doesn't really matter. Though I don't know when I will next work. The experience will be good though, so maybe when I go back home I can get a job in a cafe during the school year next year as well.

And last for now, I finally bought my Roskilde Festival ticket. One of the biggest music festivals in Europe. I am really excited about it. Several bands have already been listed and some of the bands playing include Sigur Rós, Radiohead, Tool, Deftones, Franz Ferdinand, Roger Waters, Placebo and many more! OOH I am so excited. Should be an awesome show. Now I just need to find people to go with...