Norræna vs. North Atlantic

First I would just like to say the weather today was delicious! It was too bad I was too busy talking to one contractor after another to enjoy it, but on the plus side, I actually feel I am getting something done, and that is the best stress reliever of all. 

As I was eating dinner, I decided to flip on the news, see what was up. Iceland has a new government today! Just like that! Ta Da! It is actually the same government it has had since January, but that is OK, it is a good government, an interesting government, with lots of differing viewpoints on matters but a genuine desire to work together. What could be better than that?

Anyhow, the heads of the two parties that will form the new government met at Norræna hús, and held their extremely informal press conference outside (I guess owing to the LOVELY weather...). Johanna made a big deal about the symbolic importance of being outside of Norræna hús, the idea I guess being that Iceland was going to rejoin the other Scandinavian countries in Social Democratic reforms, after 18 years of what I guess was an experiment at Americanization of the Icelandic welfare state. (as an aside, it is truly amazing what a negative connotation the word welfare has in American English - for no fault of the word itself, it is a cute little word if you parse it). 

We at Vikingaheimar on the other hand are sort of shooting for a middle ground - Iceland as part of a North Atlantic regional area, one spanning from Norway to the U.S., and including the British Isles, Canada, and Greenland. When the North Atlantic is mapped, Iceland is smack dab in the middle, the center of attention, an unfamiliar but not unwelcome place to be.

Well, this blog entry has no real point other than to demonstrate how much I missed blogging today! 

Comments

ג. ג. said…
I admire your blogging skills.
April 27, 2009 at 8:32 PM
Lissy said…
Well thank you! I actually had a very good teacher on the art of blogging, without whose example I would never have forayed into this world of wonder.
April 27, 2009 at 8:54 PM
ג. ג. said…
Does he or she blog?
April 27, 2009 at 9:51 PM
Lissy said…
Not any more, oddly enough.
April 28, 2009 at 5:14 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dett í, ofan á, úr, út

I´m not sure if someone had dett í (gotten drunk), or if það bara dett ofan á (it just sort of happened), or if some dett úr (forgot), but at any rate, my household goods dett út (have disappeared). Let's review the chronology here. Early August packers from the shipping company arrive at the apartment in Moraga. They load my 4 large plastic containers and 8 cardboard boxes, plus one baby crib, into their truck. I watch my things depart. In September, I ask the friendly girl (Magie is her name) if she happens to know when I might expect my stuff. Late September she tells me. I am most impressed. Extremely so. Mid October rolls around, and I have not gotten a call. And it occurs to me that I am going to be traveling through November. Hmm. So I call again. Well, yes, she tells me, looks like your shipment should arrive on the 31st of October. Now here I admit that maybe I was a little lacks. I had a lot to do before my trip, and so when they did not call me, I did not follow
Read more

Twitterverse

Although this is a function of the specific feeds I have chosen to follow, I have observed that Icelanders are much funnier on Twitter than Americans are. Americans tweet their opinions on political matters in categorical, condemnatory terms, or they use Twitter to bolster their professional expertise, a la LinkedIn. So kudos to the Icelanders for understanding the potential of the medium and maximizing it.
Read more

The sky weeps

For the last few days, the sky here in the San Francisco Bay has been filled with smoke, blown this way from a fire 100 miles away. At least 40 people died in that fire, a whole town destroyed, and many others missing. One reporter described the sky over the town as raining down ash. On this day, the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War I, the news in the US is filled with stories of the man who calls himself President, unwilling to step out into the rain to lay a wreath. Unwilling to partake in our communal, world wide weep. And I'm thinking about my trip to Iceland on Thursday, of the carbon dioxide the plane will be spewing into the sky. My third round trip from SF to Iceland this year, and I don't have anyway to make up for my carbon footprint. But in all honesty, I'm also wondering how bad the weather will be, if I'll have to be out braving wind and snow for the shot the documentary film maker wants, of me walking around outside. Will the landscape reme
Read more