Iceland Pt. 2

66* North. My house in CA is at 33*.

View from the Coffee Shop

Frida's artistic rendering of everyone

That green building is the coffee shop

Frida (r) and her friend going to play hopscotch.

I just loved this place so much. 

Frosti was only 3 months old and a huge baby! He was also one of the sweetest babes I've ever had the pleasure of watching.

Vitamin D

Þingeyri completely changed my entire perspective on Iceland.  The moment I left the farm there was an instant sense of relief. I slept a little on the bus ride, and for the first time felt at ease. At the Bus Station in Reykjavik I went to buy a day pass and started talking to the nice old man selling hot dogs, candies, and bus passes. He asked me about my adventures so far and I gave him a little tiny synopsis of my experience and he apologized and asked me where I was headed and I told him Thingeyri. He smiled and just lit up about how beautiful it was and how nice the people there were. I bummed around Reykjavik for a few hours and then boarded a plane headed North. The flight was so incredibly short (maybe 30 minutes), and I had been told finding a group of people to hitch a ride from would be simple. Except I was the only one on my plane ride and arrived at an empty airport. I'd already burst into tears at the Reykjavik airport, and on the verge of another wave I called a Taxi and waited freaking out that I didn't have enough cash to pay for the hour long ride from the Ísafjörður Airport to Thingeyri. A middle aged woman picked me up eventually and I showed her the cash I had dreading hearing her tell me it wasn't enough. She smiled a nearly toothless smile and told me not to worry. As we made our way through ancient fjords still covered in snow in June she asked me all about my life and travels and guys, I just lost it. I started sobbing and crying and telling her all the horrors of my former hosts and how I hadn't been able to do almost any of the sight seeing I wanted to do, and that my grandma had died barely a month ago, and on and on and on I went about how terrible the last three-five weeks of my life were. And she just listened and rubbed my arm and squeezed my hand and was just wonderful. I don't even know her name, but she was absolutely the one person I needed at that moment. I kept apologizing for the tears and she just smiled and said not to apologize, obviously I needed this.

The workshop view

Delicious soup and carrot bread and orange corn syrup free soda

Every couple of days this boat would be out in the harbour with a group of dudes in full Viking regalia. 

Black Licorice milkshake, yes indeed!

12:06 am

This was the first time I'd ever ridden a horse.

And then she started asking about me, Like she genuinely wanted to know all these details of my life. My family, my age, my birthday, what California was like, where had I gone to school. Normally I probably would have been super suspicious and assumed she was going to rob and murder me, but I answered all her questions and pretty soon I was laughing and telling her stories. She turned the cab meter off and took me to this absolutely beautiful Garden and told me the history of the place and made me drink the glacier water that streamed in amid the plants. It was a beautiful slice of heaven on earth and I completely forgot all the woes of the past week. We left and she asked me how old I was and I told her almost 27. She got all excited and started telling me how 27 was an absolutely magical year of life and I was obviously in for an even better one. We talked without ever stopping and I will never be able to send out enough thanks to that woman. She completely set the tone for the following week and God Bless her forever. She only charged me for half the ride and beyond that I will never be able to repay her kindness. Dear Icelandic Taxi Driver Lady With No Teeth, you are loved, missed, and forever in my heart!

Lovely Ladies I got to work with.

Succulents in Iceland...

The house in the little garden reminded me of the old Spanish Style buildings in CA.

That's a Whale Jaw. Yeah.

Lupine and Fjords

Thingeyri Chapel

The place I stayed at for the next 7 days was a coffee shop in a teeny tiny fishing village. The village still dried fish on ancient open air fish dryers, there were replica viking ships in the harbour, and I lived next door to the fish packing place. You guys, it was heaven on earth. I keep saying that about this place, but honestly it was absolutely remarkable. The building the coffee shop was in (and was also my host's house) was beautiful and perfectly Nordic. My time that week was divided between babysitting two little kids named Frida and Frosti (no joke you guys!), making waffles, serving coffee and soup, cleaning out a woodshed, riding Icelandic Horses, taking long walks along the harbour, making some really wonderful friends, meeting a fellow OSU Beaver (what?!), telling stories, cooking, eating amazing food, and finally feeling like I was on the adventure I'd hoped for.  It was just so wonderful.

A junkyard playground that was absolutely so cool!

One of these names is not like the others...

Nojoke,this wax figure looks exactly like my Norwegian grandmother and is also probably a picture of my future.

I actually ate whale and it is amazing.

'Murica

Perhaps my favourite thing I saw in all of Iceland.

"Californiu"

It means "cold." In Norwegian "fart" means "speed." 

Pizza and beer.

I almost gave up coffee for this stuff. So. Damn. Good!

I flew back to Reykjavik after a week and spent three days exploring and eating a lot of Pizza (?). The World Cup had begun, the sun never set and Reykjavik was just so cool. I didn't have time to do everything I wanted and I am determined to go back someday soon. The hostel I stayed at was super nice and I shared a room with three other American's and it was actually kind of nice to have a little time with "my own people" before heading on into the world. The best part was that one of my room mates told me she too was WWOOFing in Iceland. There are only two WWOOF hosts in Iceland, one on the west coast and one on the east coast. So I asked her which one, and it was the same one I had just escaped from! She told me all the things they had told her she would do, and it was the same lies I'd been given. Except she was supposed to be there for two months. I told her my experiences and she decided real quick like that she wasn't going to suffer through it all. Luckily when she arrived in Iceland her luggage had been lost and she had to stay at a B&B near the airport and befriended the son of the owners. He told her that if things didn't work out on the farm she was supposed to be at to call him because his grandparents lived further south and hired travelers to work their farm and restaurant during the summer. Seriously talk about luck!

Pancakes! Bacon! Grassfed Butter!

Frozen Hot Chocolate. Also, all the dishes were from IKEA.

I highly recommend this restaurant! Amazing pancakes, coffee, and burgers, and the prices aren't half bad!

"Hi guys, just got back from my perm. Are my cheeks rosey enough? Alright, let's do some Miracles." 

While I had been at the farm I did manage to get into Reykjavik one day and I spent the very few hours I had there going to the Icelandic Penis Museum. Yes, it was giggle inducing, but also pretty interesting! Hands down my favourite sight was Hallsgrimkirkja, complete with Swedish Jesus. It was absolutely beautiful!

On my way to Norway! Also it pays to wear Makeup on your plane ride if the guy checking you in is mega hot so he'll knock off a whole $20 from your overweight baggage charge.

So There you have it. Iceland. Oy. Ups and downs, learning, growing, it was a journey. One year ago today I woke early, drank my last Icelandic chocolate milk (srsly guys, so friggin good), and boarded a plane for Norway. I'll start covering Norway later this month. It will need far more than 2 posts!