“That we leave our homes, that we step through our doors to the world, that we travel our whole lives not because we want to collect exotic T-shirts, not because we want to consume foreign adventure the same Western way we consume plastic and Styrofoam and LCD TVs and iPads, but because it has the power to renew us—not the guarantee, not the promise, just the possibility. Because there are places our imaginations can never construct for us, and there are people who we will never meet but we could and we might. It reminds us that there is always reason to begin again.” - Stephen Markley, Tales of Iceland or "Running with the Huldufólk in the Permanent Daylight"
Never in a million years did I think my exchange application to the ATA would result in a visit to Bessastaðir, the home of the First Family of Iceland! To make a long, and cheeky, story short we were invited to meet the First Lady for coffee...I guess you can take the girl out of Canada but bit Canada out of the girl! You see, Ms. Reid is from the Ottawa Valley and wanted to chat with the first principals in the Iceland - Canada exchange. We arrived at Bessastaðir mid-afternoon and were treated to some Icelandic pancakes, coffee and hilarious stories of her 4 children. It was endearing to hear about their road trip playlist strategies, the tuba-player`s struggle with the long walk home and the birthday parties in the library alongside centuries old artifacts. Eliza is very down to Earth, accessible and rather funny. I appreciated her taking time out of her very busy schedule to chat with us. (Note to my Dad: no need to bail me out, I was very well behaved!) Bless Eliza, and thank you for opening your home to us! Next adventure - bláa lónið! (Blue Lagoon!) Pictures coming as soon as I figure out the Icelandic commands for "download to the desktop".... Have you ever had one of those days were you didn`t realize how tight and sore you muscles were until they weren`t anymore? That was us in the Blue Lagoon yesterday! This geothermal marvel is a spa in southwestern Iceland. The spa is located in a lava field near Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in a location favourable for geothermal power, and is supplied by water used in the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power station. It is basically blue, salty, hair-tanglling luxury wrapped up in a hot bath and mud masks! Thanks to Bryn, Dadda`s principal counterpart in Reykjavik also on exchange with us, we had an amazing 6pm booking and spent the better part of 2.5 hours soaking, laughing, and relaxing. Conditioner piled high in our hair, silica mud on our faces and a whole lot to talk about we connected our lives and our work altogether amidst the mud and hot water. Hattie, Robinson, and Timperley were honourary guests as we walked through the contexts in our schools, our vision for our communities, and our professional learning journeys. It was a very lovely way to spend a Thursday evening. Check out below...thank goodness Dadda walked in and helped me with the download situation!
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started this morning in the sports hall for a dance lesson. My new buddy Robert has hurt his foot and needs to rest it, as he is a stellar soccer player, so he offered an excellent colour commentary on the process as his class gets ready for the annual Fest. Justin Timberlake needs no translation, his coolness transcends culture and language. Got this feelin` in my boooody!!!! A quick snow storm blew in just in time for recess and I got to see the snowball zone in action. If I had been thinking more quickly I would have been out there ready and waiting. Next time!!! After dancing and a coffee I was off to the sports hall again for a gym class. Honestly, I think parachute games are a hit no matter where you go. Binni`s class wqas very patient with me as we played parachute games and a great form of what I would call "Hospital Tag". Let`s just say when I was tagged and had to be carried to the hospital it was a group effort, one that almost caused an embarassing moment as one little one grabbed my pantleg instead of my ankle! Whew! Near miss... ;o) After my exciting Gym inspired morning we were off to Bessastdir to meet the First Lady of Iceland. See the next post for details about that and our trip to the Bláa lónið the Blue Lagoon! Bláa lónið A side note from Wednesday after school.... When your staff meeting starts at dessert o`clock you know you are in for a treat....or 7!! Once or twice a term the whole staff gathers for an hour long meeting with treats and updates, professional conversations and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday. Ok, not sure if they always sing but we sure did yesterday! The feeling in these gatherings is much like ours on Friday afternoons. The laughter is easy, stories from the week are shared and new staff are welcomed. All that alongside Icelandic desserts and you have a productive meeting! Into the evening we spent time as a family. Dori made an amazing roasted lamb shoulder with his new giant container of Montreal steak spice (thank you Dave!) and we talked about the impending Wow Air closure made official this morning so check your tickets if you are planning a trip here. We then curled up to watch the Swedish sensation "Girl in the Spider`s Web" from the Steig Larsson series. There is something so much better about seeing the original Swedish cast...more authentic. Neighbour stopped by before their weekend getaway to Hamburg and we shareds a few more laughs about travelling hijinx like lost bags and a lack of toothbrushes. Day three brings the adventure to SPRING SCHOOL!!!
For three days this week the children coming here next year from 4 local Kindergartens are visiting all morning. Cinch sacks in hand, name tags on coloured shirts and nervous smiles prevail as these soon to be “big kids” find their way in the grade one space. Reminders about gentle hands and hanging up your belongings need no translation as we have very similar visuals in our hallways at Marlborough. “Word soup”, or a word search to us Canucks, helped me learn some key vocabulary. Ljón for lion, gottéri for cookies, and the ever popular (read - darn near impossible to say) fiðrildi for butterfly and I’m all set for an animal safari with treats! Go me!! It is very clear that tranistions between schools are important here. This is so tinely as we were JUST talking about that very thing two days before I left Canada. How do we best support the students coming in to and leaving our care... Next it was on to grade 5 to help prepare for next week’s annual fest (festival). Ladies and gentlemen the theme is CIRCUS! Imagine my delight when I was asked if I could play Chess and Battleship with a group of students while other groups practiced. Oh yeah I can, let me at those chess sets!! I felt immediately at home as I got to know a few of these kids as we battled across the checkerboard. Stories of immigration from Poland, step siblings and even a degu (like a small looking chinchilla) were main topics of conversation. In the end, kids are kids. They laugh when you make a goofy face, want to see pictures of your own children and ask how you pronounce that weird name of yours. Weird name repetition I get.... :O) I laughed to myself on my first day when I found the 5 point scale we use on the walls in each classroom. This scale refers more to sound levels, not stages of self-regulation, but the function is much the same. "Where are you at, and is that where you should be right now" With promises that I will come back and see their circus performance, and a new set of friends here at Brekkubæjarskóli, I feel more like a guest than an interloper! Thank you again for making me feel so welcome everyone! The commute from home to school is quite literally a dream. An 8-9 minute walk from home and we were walking through the main entrance among all the littles making their way into the day at school. It wasn’t 2 minutes before people started welcoming me, introducing themselves, and making me feel very much at home. My first official duty was as tourist when two lovely young ladies from grade 7 took me on a personal tour of all their favourite places. Helga and Eyglo were fantastic tour guides showing me the black hole, the attic, and the escape routes in case we had a fire drill! I feel very safe here. ;O) I even found Icelandic versions of Harry Potter just for Cai! They talked about their families, how they learned English and some of their favourite things to do. I had a very explicit lesson in the Snowball Zone with a very strict warning that I’d get what I got if I chose to go in there at any time. Lol...little do they know that Canadians are excellent throwers of snowballs...watch out! There is construction in the back fied and we stopped to watch the “mechanic giraffe” lifting heavy blocks of cement into place. When I explained that we call that a ‘crane’ Helga laughed, “we do too, but I just like to say mechanical giraffe!” Me too now Helga, me too. When I came back to the office, Dadda and I walked around again and I saw a whole new school! We visited classrooms and hallways I had yet to see with not one mention of an escape route or the mysterious “legit insane asylum” room. In fact none of the adults here know about that room... Secret room for students? Haunted classroom? Imagined zen zone with a horror-type twist? Who knows...but stay tuned because if I find it I will certainly let you know! Each class has a boot room and hooks for their things, with many kids walking around in socks most of the day. They recycle and compost much like we do, thank you Mrs. Gartner’s class, and have reminders posted all over about the year’s theme kurteisi metnadur. Be polite and do your very best. (Insert picture - boot room and Kurteisi) I can tell you that if I could pay to NOT have to make my lunch every day I totally would! Steamed fish, a salad bar, and lovely dark bread were on today’s menu. It was delicious and best of all we didn’t have to make it ourselves! I wonder where we could put a cafeteria in at Marlborough… I chatted and got to know a few more staff members over lunch and coffee and shared all about my adventures with Helga and Eyglo. Many of my stories were met with uproarious laughter and a general sense that my tour guides were just perfect for the task of touring visitors around. I would agree, it was a lovely introduction to my new home of the next two weeks. Thank you for making me feel so welcome everyone! I apologize for the delayed posts...technical difficulties! My iPad doesn`t love the blog setting!
After arriving at 0 dark 30, it was wonderful to just get home and have a cup of coffee! Settling in to my new digs and unpacking all my goodies felt great! My humongous suitcase is now officially 3/4 empty ;O) Sitting with Dori and Hjordis and Dadda felt like I was home in another country. We laughed and ate and laughed some more. Later that afternoon I got to meet the main event - the grand babies! Valur and Binni are so much fun and, I must say, remind me a lot of my own two boys with their humour and energy. Valur has white blonde hair and blue eyes and loads of energy. I looked at him like “well, hello there...I know you!” While Binni kept us giggling with his funny faces and belly laugh. It was like seeing a younger version of you again Cai-Cai! The marshmallow guns were a huge hit as was the Pook toque for Gisli. The “smelly sock hat” brought forth much laughter as we experimented with all the diffferent ways we could arrange the socks. Thank you Theresa! Icelnadic scones were on the menu for lunch. These crepe-like pancakes were so delicious topped with butter and jam, smoked lamb and cheese or a new fav maple syrup! I think my Icelandic family think Canadians have a HUGE sweet tooth. I must say I enjoyed the smoked lamb and look forward to trying all the new things my days ahead hold for me. We braved the weather and went for a kick walk out to the sea before the amazing dinner Dadda was cooking up for me. I took one photo and then my camera pulls a lens error and I cannot fix it. (insert mild swearing and serious frustration here...) The waterfront has a public hot pot and beautiful black sand beaches and the salty spray on my face reminds me of walking along the sea wall, back home in Vancouver. We sat down to a delicious Indian dinner of masala, rice and homemade naan bread! With Coltrane in the background and warm dinner in our bellies the conversation flowed well and I felt so at home. I couldn’t think of a better place, or better people, in with whom to spend my evenings. To bed at midnight, trying to ice the jet lag, then long sleep lay ahead. I can’t remember the last time I slept until almost 11:00am!! I did feel much more clear headed after my first cup of coffee and treated the neighbour Fanney to my Canadian short-haired bed head! Lucky lady she was.... We munch on this amazing olive and seal salt bread, much like a ciabatta, with cheese and butter, jam and hummus. It was so delicious! (Even with the distraction of my terrible hair...) We spoke of travel and adventures both past and future and I felt like I had known Dadda, Dori, and Hjordis for years....laughing in the kitchen while we ate. Early in the afternoon we packed up into the car for a drive out to Hraunfossar, a “lava mountain” waterfall. En route we stopped at an awesome little Kaffhus (coffee house) in the town of Borgarnes in the Borgarfjörður (Borgar fjord). The latte was lovely, as was the sweet treat the cafe was famous for - the Love Testicle! Lol....its was really like a giant timbit with raisins but not quite as sweet as a donut. After a lovely coffee and sweets we trekked on to Reykholt to see a monument to Snorri Sturluson, the author of one of the most famous Icelandic sagas. There we stopped to admire a beautiful church from the 15th century and pay homage to this famous author/historian. Next it was on to Hraunfossa, where the many small waterfalls come straight out of a lava field. This amazingly blue water reminds me of Cozumel, only really really COLD! Glacial run-off in tempestuous eddies froth and churn below stone arches and a man made bridge. One side, Barnafoss, is the children’s waterfall. At one time it was the site of a stone arch but two children, skipping church, went missing and their footprints led to the stone archway. They were never seen from again and, in her grief, the mother had the stone bridge destroyed so as not to lose any more of the town’s children to it’s depths. Hard to say something so tragic is beautiful….but it is. Heading back up to the car we were stopped by a local farmer with a plate of Icelandic pancakes. She offered me one and, when asked about payment, she answered simply “just a smile”. Well, after diving in to the tasty goodness she was certainly well paid! These rolled crepes were filled with sugar and just the perfect treat after hiking around a bit in the chilly wind. Back at the house we got ready for Sunday dinner with Gisli and his family - roast lamb and potatoes. I can tell you that the lamb in Canada is incomparable to the lamb here! It is so delicious here! More time around the family table, laughing with the little ones, and enjoying the company was a great way to spend the evening. After sharing the virtues of their newly acquired marshmallow guns (man they really let those marshmallows FLY!) we laughed some more and played together at the table. “Bless” is the way we say goodbye here and I can’t think of a better way to say goodnight after such a great evening. Early to bed and early to rise as I get ready for my first day at school! Watch out Brekkubaejarskola, here I come! Ok, I pride myself on being a fairly low-key traveller. I am well-organized but am open to what a trip offers me. New restaurant? Yup, sounds good. Off the beaten path adventure? Totally, let’s go! Got my passport? Yup, checked twice, expires in 9.5 years. So, imagine my surprise when I happened to be checking my baggage allowance for Icelandair and saw my departure flight to Toronto was not at all the time I had booked. No email, no contact...just switched, by quite a bit. Ok, so I do what any experienced traveller does and I check in with the airline. Turns out I am not even confirmed on that flight, it is merely a suggestion. So my booking was altered, my flight is not confirmed and I leave in 5 days. No biggie, confirm, continue packing, arrive early.
The CBE is the second largest district in Canada next to Toronto and we all start Spring Break today. I KNOW it is going to be a busy day at the airport. Moms with strollers know, people travelling with Fido and a massive bike in a box know, yet Westjet somehow misses the memo. I bet it is out in cyberspace right alongside the email sharing my unconfirmed flight details! Insert head smack here…. I try to check in online for the past 24 hours, no dice. I try at a kiosk at the airport, nope sorry, try again, gotta get in that looooong line. You know the one, the one with 3 agents checking people in and a computer system that keeps freezing up. Awesome. As the organized traveller I pre-booked my seat, added my personal info to the booking and was early to the airport. Despite those efforts I ran to security, kissed my guys goodbye in two nanoseconds and ripped through security. Enter “random” search…..seriously? Lol….ok, ok travel gods I’m here, I’m out of breath and I am trying really hard not to show my frustration. And I’m low on caffeine, like really low...and breakfast? Yeah, that was so yesterday’s news...no breakfast for this girl. I board the plane, looking forward to my mid-plane aisle seat and find myself in the VERY last row, in the middle no less, with no opportunity for breakfast or coffee in the foreseeable future. I dropped my pen...I am almost embarrassed to tell you about the weird combo of gymnastics-calisthenics it took to get it back in my cramped hand. Thank goodness I have nice neighbours! Sooooo all that being said, I am excited to finally be en route to Akranes, Iceland! I should arrive at 6am local time, looking a little rumpled but hopefully not too haggard! At least I have my toothbrush handy….oh geez….did I pack toothpaste? Lol…course I did! Twice. ;O) March 4, 2019 According to my iPhone's countdown clock I have 19 days, 12 hours, 34 minutes and 16 seconds until Dadda and I reconnect face to face! We have kept in close contact, texting, SnapChatting and emailing these past few months and the time has simply flown by! Life finds it's own rhythm, commitments reinstate, and the Earth spins once again as though a life changing experience did not just happen...except it did, and you are forever changed as a result. I am very excited to share that my ticket is booked, my blog is back up and running, and my new hikers are ready to hit the trail - Iceland is under three weeks away! Are the ready for me? Time will tell. ;O) When this whole process began, Dadda and I had a mere few weeks to get to know each other digitally, share plans, hopes and insights, build an itinerary and clean the house. (Ok, ok, that was on MY list, not hers!) Now, months after our initial exchange we are ready for Exchange 2.0 and, if it is possible, even more excited to spend time together! Our families feel like they know each other, to do lists are being crafted, and my Google searches have a very predictable focus, ready or not Akranes HERE I COME! With two lighthouses, a folk museum, never ending views of the Atlantic, and my adopted Icelandic family, Akranes is a perfect backdrop for the second half of our exchange. Staying true to how we started this adventure, Dadda and I began planning 2.0 using a Google Doc. Below is a capture of our conversation (edited for length!)
Dear Aubrey, Now it is my turn in asking the questions :) I have a lot of answers in the google docs sheet we used in september but I have questions about the school and what you want to see during your stay. 1) What are you most hoping to see, experience, talk about? I am looking forward to seeing your school in action. I want to learn about how you support students that struggle and see how you work with bilingual students. I want to talk more about where you find yourself up against old impressions and outdated pedagogy. I want to celebrate the path you’ve traveled and see your passion inside a school’s walls. Our role can be quite lonely, I look forward to chatting with you about how you are working to make a difference at your school and for your students. 2) Would you like to visit a Kindergarten? ABSOLUTELY!!! I would LOVE to see a KG and experience how your system works with its youngest learners. It is also really important to me though that I don’t disrupt the learning for ANY students. I want to be present, and throw myself into the experience but not at the expense of learning for children. That being said, if I can get messy with the little guys I would come home with a huge smile! 3) If you could go anywhere in Iceland, or experience anything, what would it be? Iceland is a very small country so fire away :) I want to experience Iceland as you see it. I would love to take photos of the northern lights and the amazing landscapes, the place where the tectonic plates meet but I really just want to see the places you value, you hold close to your heart. Ok, I really want to see your lighthouses in Akranes too ;O) we will take a walk to the lighthouse. 4) What do you know, or believe to be true, about the people in Iceland? I believe that the people are friendly and fairly open to others. I think we will have more in common than not and I think we value family, work-life balance and nature in the same ways. I think that your education system is dedicated to working with all students and hoping to gain some understanding of how being in a somewhat isolated country affects your connections to the world and other systems. If your family is anything to go by, I think people in Iceland are fun, work hard and dedicated to enjoying their life. I think they are minimalist, they don’t need a lot of “things” but would prefer to spend time with people, not money on physical items. I think they THINK they have mountains….but we know different ;O) I think they are likely very forward thinking in their social structure, taking care of their children and elderly with equal compassion. You mentioned that they speak english as a result of western influences like tv and movies. I wonder if they think we are more like US citizens? As people, we are more like you than Americans….They will find out when they meet you that Canadians are not like the US. Then, when I thought things were moving along quite well, Dadda drops a bombshell... We will go to Bessastaðir (drink coffee with the president and his Canadian wife!) and from there to the Blue Lagoon. Ummmmm...WHAT?? You see, when we were in Lake Louise in October we were chatting about how the Icelandic president married a Canadian girl, Eliza Reid, from Ottawa. I joked that maybe I should email her and ask if she wanted anything from home? Tim Hortons? Coffee Crisp? Ketchup chips? Well, it seems I need to find room in my suitcase for a dress (that goes with my winter boots?) as we will be visiting the President, First Lady and their 4 children when we are there. OMG.....is there etiquette for that? Do I curtsy? What kind of gifts should I bring? Do they care if I have toque-head?? So so so many questions....but I know I will be in good hands. Dadda won't let me make a fool of myself. Too much. I think. I hope. Hello Siri? What is the protocol for meeting the Icelandic president? https://www.macleans.ca/politics/liza-reid-on-life-as-icelands-canadian-first-lady/
Wish me luck and, if you are like me and tiring of this arctic weather, come to Iceland its -5 right now! Nothing like going to the Arctic Circle for a balmy winter holiday! More coming soon.... |
AuthorAubrey: "Leader of the Elves"....that's me. Mom of two amazing guys, wife to one bigger (yet no less amazing) guy and teacher of little ones. Blogging about the adventures (usually with my rubber chicken in tow) is one of my favourite things. Archives
April 2019
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