Reykjavik 101; a Swan Song.

Today, on my last day in this Fine Land, I went to what might be Europe's finest record shop, 12 Tonar. They serve you coffee while you make your selections. Being that Iceland has very limited releases, the owners are very knowledgeable as to what a person might like. I think this 'stream-lined' decision-making process is part of the appeal of Iceland to my weary noggin.

Tonight I had a really nice night in Reykjavik, save for some rough mulled-wine at Kaffibarinn. It's funny, everything I try that's Danish (here's looking at you, mulled-wine) seems to suck.

Oh well, it was a really nice day here, activity-wise. Weather was frigidly cold, but that's alright.

I ate some superb noodles, which oddly enough, were advertised as being 'with' MSG. They were quite proud of this. The cook even double-checked with me, but I said 'sure, go nuts, if it's called for in the recipe'. Tasted good, but I felt a little dehydrated afterwards.

I finished the evening by walking on the Tjorn, which is now fully-frozen, save for one end, where they pump hot-water in to keep some ducks and swans happy. I also stumbled upon the Canadian Embassy, which is always neat. Foreshadowing, if you will.

Semi-frozen Tjörn.

Sleeping Rough.

Ug, I'm having a solemn, reflective time at the moment. As one is wont to do when leaving such a great place. Coming home. The Rat Race. Rejoining such pursuits. Frankly, I can't imagine it. I just came from some farewell pints with 'The Old Boys', a group of 'Founding Father' hockey players here...who I should have been playing with the whole time. More my speed, on all levels. Less testosterone & pressure, more relaxation & casual drinking after an hour of skating. I even scored two goals, one of which was on an end-to-end rush where I was looking pass the whole time, but saw no options, so just had to go Roof-Daddy.

Anyhow, fookkit, I'm coming home for a spell.

This is my favourite cafe in Akureyri. Kaffe Kolt. The owner, Magnus is what I would consider to be a Kindred Spirit. What he thinks is nice atmosphere (coffee, apple crumble, vinyl records & candles), I also consider to be Most Excellent. Yesterday, he gave me a free smoothie. The closest thing they have to Booster Juice here.

I will work at Kaffe Kolt if I come back to Akureyri. Magnus has assured me of this, for my post as Senior Contributor on TripAdvisor.com shot Kaffe Kolt up to #2 of 14 restaurants in Akureyri. Magnus was overjoyed.

Switching gears...

Josh & Lars at a pretty stellar supper/Wii night on Saturday. Lars & Helgi drank a litre of Reyka vodka. Ugh. I took it easy, as did Josh, for he had an important exam the next day. Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

Chef Helgi. Taking a swing at golf. We played Augusta National. 9-holes. Casual, you know. I shot 50. Josh shot 38, and won. Helgi and Lars both shot 52, but they were partaking in the vodka, as described above.

2-tie, all tie, I say.

Jola. Christmas. They do it so damn well here.

As a North American, it is odd to see multiple Santa's in one place. We are raised to think there is only one. He lives at the North Pole.

Here, however, there are 13. These two were singing at the local mall yesterday. It was pretty cool.

This chap. The Mailman, as he's known locally. Only other guy who regularly sports a mustache, regardless of time of year.

According to Chef Helgi, he got the name "Mail Man" a couple of Christmases ago, when he was hired as an extra worker at the post office to deliver the large volume of Christmas mail. Trouble is, sometime in February, the police opened his trunk & found 10,000 pieces of undelivered mail. He went to jail. Several months, I'm told.

I don't know his real name, but every time I went out here, he would eventually find his way into the establishment I had chosen to give my custom to that particular evening.

Penultimate Practice.

Good ol' Herman has my stall now, and I think that's great. He is a young player who has come a long way this year. He started playing for the 'B' squad, but is now a solid top-6 defenceman for the Vikings.

This little guy came with me to Iceland. If you look closely in the background, you can see a tiny heart in the hills. The heart is, in person, quite huge. They put it on the side of a mountain to buck people up during the winter.

Which is good, because the sun has been coming up around 10:30am, and going down at 3pm or so.

This is the view of 'downtown' Akureyri from the apartment I painted.

The aforementioned apartment.

A slightly better picture of The Heart.

The Spirit of Jola

is alive and well. Today, they had the unveiling of the Christmas tree at the town square.There was also this weird animal there. I don't know what it is. The school-children also descend upon the town centre to 'chase Santa' out of his hole.

This is what the movie theatre looks like at the moment.

This is the referee-scheduler, Siggy. We ran into each other at Gotobarinn last night. He's a nice chap.

Steinar is my best pal in Iceland. He was in fine form last night.

Keeping it classy.

Steinar's sister, Sylvia.

I really like this fishing boat. It's been docked here for quite some time.

The weird black-cat.

Orri enjoying a 'jolabjor' after my last game as an IIHF referee in Iceland.

The carollers below were awesome...and they didn't come around looking for money either, which was neat.

Enjoy!

Arion Banki - Icelandic Bank Adverts.

Apparat Organ Quartet.

This record just came out here. It kind of sounds like a Nintendo game, but I like to think this is tongue-in-cheek, in keeping with Icelandic humour. Jon Johansson, the founder of this band, joked that it took them three years to come up with a debut album because they had to 'invent their genre'. The genre, of course, being four dudes playing used-keyboards purchased at flea-markets or generally discarded. Interesting.

Come learn to ice skate in Akureyri. - Inspired by Iceland

Come learn to ice skate in Akureyri. - Inspired by Iceland

Quirks & Quarks of the Blue Lagoon.

Without a doubt, the Blue Lagoon, is Iceland's #1 attraction. Everyone goes. Since I am doing nothing out of the ordinary these days (which is nice), I thought I'd share some intricacies of this very unique place...so without further adoooo:

1. Should you be willing to attempt a few words in Icelandic, you can get in for 60% off. This was about the scariest thing I've attempted, but was successful, and boy-oh-boy did it feel good. I would not have known about this Icelandic quirk--it's in no guidebook, nor are the prices posted at the lagoon itself, but was told by a couple of guys on the hockey team to give it a try. I mentioned the 'locals price' thing to my Icelandic teacher, Hrefna, and she was rather shocked/embarrassed that I'd found out. She thinks it doesn't reflect too well on the country. I figure it's fair enough--Icelanders can go to a local pool 15 times for the regular price of entering the Blaa Lonid, as they call it. With the 60% discount, it makes it more palatable for them to make the drive, as it is 35 minutes outside of Reykjavik;

2. There is, somewhere around the lagoon, a Geo-cache. I didn't know what that was, but I guess it's like a game you play with a GPS device, to find the cache, leave your name, remove a token (keychain or nick-knack), and put something else in. Like hide & seek for grown-ups with GPS devices. I've not taken a look for the cache, as I do not have a GPS device, of course;

3. I think these sun-chairs are the most relaxing part of a very relaxing place. It's easy to fall asleep here, and it's not a place many people seem to come to;

4. Not too far from the Blue Lagoon, there was an earthquake last night. A mere 3.1 on the Richter scale...but kind of scary, because it came from Katla, the most-active volcano on the island.

Graduation Day.

Academic Achievements ranked by order of importance:

1. BCom, Faculte Saint-Jean, Edmonton;

1A. Islensku fyrir utlendinga, Simey, Akureyri;

2. High School French Immersion, Hugh McRoberts, Richmond; and

DFL. LL.B, Moncton.

This is Hrefra, my Icelandic teacher. She gave me a farewell hug.

Hrefna, incidentally, means 'whale' in Icelandic.

This is Wilhelmus, a Lituanian handball player. He is in Akureyri for handball and to live with his girlfriend, who is an Icelander.

I would say Wilhelmus is about six-foot-five.

At the computer are Iris and Ryan Patrick.

Iris is from Holland, while Ryan is from Virginia. Ryan started his own computer company here--he basically hooks up wireless networks for hotels.

Incidentally, I made Iris cry on Monday. She wouldn't shut-up about Jehovah's Witnesses. On an on. Apparently, her boyfriend's family are of that particular religious pursuit. Finally, after hearing about them for the umpteenth time, I said "Let's focus on learning Icelandic, for Christsakes".

Cue the waterworks.

Hrefna and Guga, who runs the school and presented us with our hard-earned diplomas!

Ploskkfiskur.

How to Make Plokkfiskur: an Icelandic Plokkumentary (featuring a Mother-in-Law) from Iceland on Vimeo.

Swiping Sausages...since 1932

Just for comparison's sake...

Distance from Perth to Akureyri is: 9402.5 Miles ( 15131.9 Kilometers / 8165.1 Nautical Miles ) Approximate flight duration time from Perth to Akureyri is 19 hrs, 31 mins

But my long-lost brother, sister and I shall be mere city blocks from each other at Christmas. Such a nice thought!
It's almost time for the Six White Boomers...oh wait, it is time!

Iceland has the "13 Jolasveinar", which translates to 13 Christmas Boys, or Yule Lads. My favourite is 'Sausage Swiper'. He's mischievous! Come to think of it, many of them are rather devious.

List of Yule Lads

The Yule lads are said to "come to town" during the last 13 nights before Christmas, each staying for two weeks before departing. Below are the 'official' thirteen Yule Lads in the order they arrive (and depart).

Names in English are based on Hallberg Hallmundsson's translation of the poem.

Icelandic Name	English translation	Description	Arrival	Departure
Stekkjastaur	Sheep-Cote Clod	Harasses sheep, but is impaired by his stiff peg-legs.	December 12	December 25
Giljagaur	Gully Gawk	Hides in gullies, waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the cowshed and steal milk.	December 13	December 26
Stúfur	Stubby	Abnormally short. Steals pans to eat the crust left on them.	December 14	December 27
Þvörusleikir	Spoon-Licker	Steals Þvörur (a type of a wooden spoon with a long handle - I. þvara) to lick. Is extremely thin due tomalnutrition.	December 15	December 28
Pottasleikir	Pot-Licker	Steals leftovers from pots.	December 16	December 29
Askasleikir	Bowl-Licker	Hides under beds waiting for someone to put down their 'askur' (a type of bowl with a lid used instead of dishes), which he then steals.	December 17	December 30
Hurðaskellir	Door-Slammer	Likes to slam doors, especially during the night.	December 18	December 31
Skyrgámur	Skyr-Gobbler	A Yule Lad with an affinity for skyr.	December 19	January 1
Bjúgnakrækir	Sausage-Swiper	Would hide in the rafters and snatch sausages that were being smoked.	December 20	January 2
Gluggagægir	Window-Peeper	A voyeur who would look through windows in search of things to steal.	December 21	January 3
Gáttaþefur	Door-Sniffer	Has an abnormally large nose and an acute sense of smell which he uses to locate laufabrauð.	December 22	January 4
Ketkrókur	Meat-Hook	Uses a hook to steal meat.	December 23	January 5
Kertasníkir	Candle-Stealer	Follows children in order to steal their candles (which in those days was made of tallow and thus edible).	December 24	January 6

Beautiful home-made lopi.

This is Aron. He is the time-keeper for the club. His mom, Ollie, is basically a one-woman dynamo, who keeps the club running. In her spare time, she managed to make him this trendy pink-lopi. Apparently, it only took two weeks of knitting. I'm thinking of donating my referee fees for the duration of my time here, in exchange for a blue one!

World's Shortest Career in Radio:

Today I came into the dressing room and tried to put Plus 98.7 on to listen to while getting changed into hockey gear. I couldn't get it, but that was not a huge surprise; our stereo is pretty rickety. Then, Runar came in and told me Plus 98.7 had quit broadcasting! Now, when you listen, there's just a repeated message asking any listeners whether they wish to buy some used radio equipment! Insane! I was actually the last human voice on it, last night.

When the station manager left, he took the Nintendo Wii with him, so maybe he knew. But at the same time, he'd just installed a green screen to do tv adverts, which would have been a laborious process. So I don't know if he knew the plug was about to be pulled. Regardless, my two shows will have been my only shows. I am glad I ended last night with the words "Goda nott, Akureyri". Indeed.

Demolition Man.

This is the demolition crew at a pair of apartments we are gutting.

Lars, from Denmark.

Lars enjoys working for ten minutes, followed by a 30-minute coffee break. I don't mind, as it allows me to sweep up the pieces of broken tile and start fresh. Plus, we're down to one chisel and one pair of safety glasses, so we pretty much have to share.

Altogether, we make one solid construction worker.

and me. I'm a slow & steady wins the race type of guy.

Museum of boxes.

A box inside a box, inside a box.

Knitting outside.

Siglufjordur.

Is my new favourite 'secret' place in Iceland.

It's on the Northern-most tip. Siglufjordur residents would say 'let's go south to Akureyri'. Not many people would utter such a sentence.

Anyhow, Siglufjordur reminds me of Jasper, but on the edge of the ocean. The salt wafts over everything, but, to borrow a phrase from Paris, time feels soft there.

This is at the edge of Iceland.

We went to a newly-constructed pool in a village called Hofsos. It's a pretty great pool, overlooking the ocean.

We also went to the weird old man's Christmas lodge, where it's Christmas 365 days of the year.