University

Univ Iceland.jpg, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Well, I'm back in the learning saddle again, this time to get my English teaching credentials. It's a pretty stiff year-long process which includes on-site assistant teaching at an elementary school. My first class, "Theories in Education" was yesterday, and it seems like it'll be very informative. I'm definitely going to pay deep attention during the courses on organization and curriculum developent because I have a tendency to create as I go, which can be exciting but not always very logical. My goal is to teach at the college/university level, though gaining momentum at the elementary level is definitely not a bad idea.

Life here in Reykjavik is pretty sweet these days. Of course gasoline prices are up to almost $7 a gallon, so we're walking a lot more, but the weather's good, etc.

There was a wierd spate of arson this weekend, but they were all minor fires probably set by stupid, bored and not too sober teens.

The country's politicians are gearing up for another round of elections, but since I can't seem to understand the Icelandic governmental system I have no idea who's running for what, or even when.

And finally for this post, there is actually a shortage of labor force here on the island: it seems there are not enough people willing to take on low wage jobs in preschool and after school care, restaurant and fast food, supermarket checkout and mail and newspaper delivery. Hmm...could it be because an hour's wages, buys you a sandwich and drink (but only at a grocery store, not at a restaurant) or a gallon of gas or half a pair of decent nylons? (i.e. an hour's minimum wage doesn't get you very far.)

Icelanders are very proud of their reputation for being well educated, with 100% literacy. But maybe the nation is educating itself out of a labor force...that is if a family's (modern) basic needs cannot be met with the minimum wage rate in this social democracy where it is now.

Just for fun, here's an example of modern life for a person who makes 1000 kronur per hour, decent wages for the above-mentioned jobs:

(Skip this if you don't like math or depressing social news)

Full-time wages per month, pre-tax: 160,000 kr.
Taxable income of that total: 90,000 kr.
Total of above amount after 40% tax: 54,000 kr.

Net monthly income (70,000 + 54,000): 124,000 kr.
(Union fees are deducted from your wages, plus other bizzare little amounts I'll never understand.)

Monthly costs:
Rent: av. 60,000 kr. for a two bdrm
Food & sundries: 25,000 kr.
Heat, water and electricity: 5,000 kr.
Phone, basic service: 3,000 kr.
Hot school lunch: 5,000 kr. per kid
Gas (just a guess): 10,000 kr.
Car lease: 13,000 kr.

Total: 121,000 kr.

That leaves 3,000 kr. for emergencies, entertainment and clothes. Hmmmm...

This is close to a real case scenario...I know someone, a single three-child parent, who gets a 140,000 paycheck once a month. She is well educated and is working as an accountant at a government-run museum. She has finally taken over the lease on a car because she had to move into a government-assisted apt a long way from where she works to be able to afford rent. Her son, 12, has a rare form of behavioural disability and needs, if not constant, then a lot, of care. She drives to work and back only. Swim classes for her 10 year-old daughter cost 8,000 a month and the government let her know last year that the special music classes they recommended for her son's development were not subsidized, and that she owed them months of backfees. She barely makes ends meet each month but just kind of grins and bares it. In all fairness, she receives some kind of bare baones alimony from her ex monthly and about 60,000 kr. per child every three months from the state. Thank god, eh? Of course I've heard that Hawaii is pretty expensive too...

(photo from Jónas Hallgrímsson: Selected Poetry and Prose)

Bums, Reykjavik

Bums, Reykjavik, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

While cruising through GummiE's blog, I found a link to this site about a very important issue that I know has affected me personally. Check it out.

The above (generally content-looking) bums, by the way, most probably do not have blogs...

And one more thing: I have to say that offers of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who God's own Pat Robertson said should simply be assasinated(watch him say it here), and Cuba's intrepid Fidel Castro prove very ingenous "diplomacy". Even Kofi Annan's UN relief-offer announcement the other day had a hint of irony and slight deprecation. Suddenly the lion has a thorn in its paw and all the "mice" of the world are offering to help pull it out, even the Evil Communist Enemy mice. Because its about people's survival, isn't it? Even if those people don't, in general, wear suits to work...

Installation

Installation, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

This is one of those fancy French pay potties being erected on Vegamótastígur just off Laugavegur in Reykjavík. I think this is the second one in town, the first being all the way downtown at Ingólfstorg, where all the little skater kids practice their ollies and slides.

While I was taking this picture, one of the worker guys kind of guffed and mumbled scoffingly, "You're taking pictures of this?"
I replied, "Yes, of this monstrosity."
"Monstrosity? What do you mean?" he questioned, sounding kind of offended.
"I mean that it's ridiculous and that on weekends there are going to be more guys peeing on the outside of it than ever pay to go inside." And I pointed at the two bars just a few yards away.

But I guess they're good for tourists, eh? I mean the locals know that all you have to do is go up to the second floor of Mál og Menning, the big bookstore at Laugavegur 18, and use the toilet there (when you go up the main stairs its through the door to the right.) Or of course just pop into just about any coffee shop, grab a latte to go and use the facilities.

But its nice to offer this kind of service, at a 100 kronur per pop, to our friends from other countries. Valentina tells me that you have to be 10 years old to use these auto potties by yourself. That's good to know.

I've just never actually seen anybody use the one at Ingólfstorg, and this one is in a much stranger location, propped up on an odd side street that runs between Laugavegur and Skólavörðurstígur, just a wall's width from the midtown jailyard (that's the jail wall in the photo). Are there going to be signs posted throughout town directing visitors to this unit, or are the city planners just hoping people will stumble upon it by happenstance, or maybe find out by word of mouth?

Anyway, its already been tagged with grafitti and I guarantee by the end of the weekend it will have been put to use as a relief station, just wrong way out.

Stapafell

Stapafell, on the Snæfell Peninsula, is a charming little mountain that hovers over the beautiful town of Arnastapi. This photo isn't new, but I thought it would be nice to post some more Icelandic scenery. Some of us can never get enough...!

While doing research for a translation job, I ran across this site again. It's not the most attractive, but it does include some excellent links for those who want to not only see more of Iceland, but learn more as well. Some of the link topics are really obscure, but interesting. Enjoy!

Friends and Neighbors

Aaaack! Haven't blogged in a week!

In the interest of posting something, anything, here's a photo from Toggi's phone of some interesting people...our friends, alas. They really are weird (in everyday life, that is) but aren't usually so dolled up. Ási, far left, is a clothign designer; Begga, center, is an artist/performer; and Kristjan is an East Coast Ivy-League writer who has, like me, repatriated to the Old Country. All highly educated folk with loads of talent. This is from last weekend during Culture Night in Reykjavik at a cute little Garden-ival in our friend's backyard. Fun night, goood stuff.

Little Moneymakers

Valentina (in blue) and Telma held a tombóla, or mini flea market today in front of Krambuð, the cute little store at the very top of Skólavörðurstígur, just across the street from Hallgrímskirkja. There wasn't much foot traffic today during the hour they were out being capitalists, but they did make enough to buy a four-pack of jawbreakers (which they have to save until Saturday, nammidagur, or candy day).

I wanted to post something sweet and colorful because I also want to mention that this weekend in Reykjavík there were two drug/alcohol related stabbings, one that resulted in death. Unfortunately, it turns out that the murderer is the son of a murderer: his father killed someone in, I think, 1976. This news made me think how sad it is that we're entering out second generation of murderers here; I remember a time when I could safely and proudly say that murder didn't happen in Iceland, at least not even once a year. With Capitalism, modernity and consumerism comes much to be thankful for, but also a loss of innocence for a small and once-isolated nation. Sad.

Name Game

Newly engaged Icelando-phile Jared asked me a very good question in yesterday's comments, and I thought I'd go ahead and address it here.

Q: why doesn't your dad's name end in "son"? my-mother-in-law-to-be's last name is thorisdottir.

Well, Jared, here's the scoop:

A: My father's given name is Þórir, or Thorir. Just like your fiancée's grandfather, i.e. your mother-in-law-to-be's father. My father's father's name was Páll, so my father was christened Þórir Pálsson. His mother, Steinnun Sighvatsdóttir, never married Páll, but my father was still his son, hence "Páls-son." When my father was nine, his mother married an American who worked out at the Naval Base at Keflavík, Stanley Roff. He adopted my father and gave him the family name of Roff (which, incidentally, used to be a much longer Russian name that was shortened at Ellis Island when Stanley's forfathers fled the Revolution).

So actually I am "Þóris-dóttir" or "Daughter of Thorir" just like your future mother-in-law, but I go with the family name Roff for convenience, as I have dual citizenship and all my US papers us that name.
My mother is Ásthildur Brynjólfsdóttir here in Iceland but goes by Asta Roff in the States. My sister is Addy Roff in the US, Steinnun Ásta Þórisdóttir in Iceland. My daughter's father's name is Jóhann, though, so her full name is Valentína Jóhannsdóttir. No Roff


Got that?

Here's a link to the main page of my online family tree, if you're more curious. Actually, using this online service, called Íslendingabók, I along with most Icelanders, can trace my ancestry directly back to 830 a.d., to one Eirikur "The White" Högnason, one of Iceland's first settlers as well as Eyvindur Bjarnasson, born around 810 a.d. and married to Rafarta Kjarvalsdóttir, daughter of Irish king Kjarval. Oh, and Leifur Eiríksson, or Leif Eriksson "the Lucky." And actually pretty much everyone who came here on that first boat. Trippy, huh?

By the way, the above picture has no connection. It's just a good shot of the inside of Fry's Electronic SuperStore, the one in San Jose with the Mayan theme. A computer lover's dream...