Subject: Postcard #5

Hi all,

Well the days are getting shorter here but the weather stays really nice. The trip to Thorsmork stays in my mind but I realize that I mentioned it already. I can hardly wait until I can go there again, next spring for sure. A few weeks ago I was offered more hours in January, February and March. One of the janitors is taking a leave and the other janitor (husvordur) and I will share his responsibilities. I had been thinking I might have to get a part time job because of the high cost of living here. Now I will not have to look for that but I should keep my options open. On Oct. 10th I picked up my new Icelandic drivers licence. They honoured my Manitoba licence and I can drive all vehicles here except a motorcycle as in Canada. The one thing I can not do here is take paying passengers i.e. Taxi or bus. There is some special endorsement that I would have to get to carry paying passengers. I came down with a wicked cold, well real sinus "pest" as they call it here. I guess things like that are spread allot more in a school environment because there are so many people around all the time. Oct. 10th there was also another big event here, at 10:10 the newest mall in Iceland opened. " Smaralind" sure had allot of hype, I did not make it there until Saturday and they say there was 65,000 people there, which would mean that 1/2 of the capital region was there. It was packed but there was some good deals.

I have been thinking about getting a car, older cars are not too bad price here but insurance is pretty high. I don't really need one right now but I will need something in January when I am working more.

Once in awhile I get weird cravings, the other day I had to have a toasted bacon and tomatoes sandwich. Of course all the items are expensive but I still am not as crazy as some people I know. I went the other day to Smaralind with a couple friends, one of them had to buy a pumpkin for Halloween. I have only seen pumpkins in one store and they are EXPENSIVE, he bought a 6kg pumpkin and it cost over $40.00cdn. It wasn't even orange it was more brown, and to show that they don't sell many we had to tell the cashier what it was called. 

Friday Oct. 19th was the first of 2 "Stoðdagur", it is to help students that need to catch up. It was really quiet for me, I even started later and quit earlier than normal. Monday 22nd was the second and equally as slow.

I was able to catch a ride to Hvammstangi on Saturday with one of the teachers. It was actually a fun ride, the teacher is from South Africa and there was another teacher with us that is Icelandic and Thai. She grew up in Seattle and is going to University here. They were on there way to Blondous to teach English. The weather was great most of the way but it was really foggy up north. I had a nice visit with my cousins there. We drove around a little, visited an old church and cemetery. It is kind of weird that so many of the people were related to me. There is a metal cross for a couple that was born in 1800 and 1802, they are my great great great grandparents I think. I know I am a descendant but I am not sure of how many greats go in the description. The ride back was equally as entertaining. Johanna, the Icelandic-Thai, drove and I was nervous. She was so excited about the northern lights she was not concentrating on the road too much. It is hard for the average Canadian to understand this but I guess I have to forgive her, it was only the 4th time in her life she had seen northern lights.

Monday again, since it was kind of slow I left a little early and went to the Canadian Consulate office. I had been corresponding with Eric Peterson the soon to be # 2 man at the new Canadian Embassy. He was been very busy so I was glad he took the time to meet and chat with me for awhile. I mentioned to him that I had applied for a position at the Embassy and would be available to assist in the future. It sounds like it will still be awhile before everything if totally up and running but I am looking forward to the future Embassy.

Monday night I attended another Mason meeting and it was very interesting and enjoyable.