Guð

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Ari Sigvaldason

Ari, who has earned his Masters in Politics from the University of Copenhagen, runs a charming photography shop, Fótógrafí on Skólavörðurstígur in the heart of Reykjavik. He specializes in thoughtful, timeless black and white snapshots of daily life in our little city, and offers everything from postcards to posters of his, and other artists' works.

This photo of Ari's caught my eye, first for the lovely colors and secondly for the suggestion of beautiful things broken, abandoned, and returning to nature. Looking more closely, though, the gilded word Guð, or God, floated up from the center of the scene and a metaphor began to emerge.

I will write, I thought, about the ongoing debate on the separation of church and state, and slip in a mention of the Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið, which is dedicated to maintaining a modern form of Norse paganism. The society, I would share, is a defining force in the movement to halt taxpayers money from flowing automatically into the Lutheran church system. I would also note the ongoing drama over the building of an Islamic mosque here in Reykjavik, and how, after a decade of delay, the issue is once again fragmented by inter-faith debate.

Ultimately, I would let the few wet green leaves be a delicate reminder that we are all of Nature born and back into Nature we will return. From the raw stuff of this earth we have created glorious structures, symbols and systems, many of which are now cracking under the strain of misuse, neglect or obsolescence. The question then is, what will we help to maintain, and what will we simply let go...

Plenty of things to smile about

Pakora is chicken breaded with something and fried. I found out about Pakora from the supper during pub crawl. The sauce was good!

I don't know why of al the pakoras in the bag, I had to snap a pic of this one.

Looks like a penis!!!! LOL

My first attempt at making egg tarts, yau char kwai, and pao was laughable.. One mistake was sharing it with everyone without tasting it myself first. It was the worst cooking ever!! I was a tad bit too ambitious to make too many new things at once. Egg tart FAILED. Yau char Kwai.. heh was wheat flavoured! Pao became fried pao because Alex and I tried to steam one 'shit' shaped pao and it came out looking like the real shit from the toilet bowl! Ohhh it was hillarious... So, we ended up with chocolate, peanut butter, jam and ice cream filling for the pao and fried it.... Can't wait to rectify the mistakes. "I could have poisoned someone!" :)

Food testers

Looks can be decieving

Yau char kwai

For the past few days, it has been snowing. It was pretty foggy today. Visibility was really low. A car could've knocked me down due to the fogginess when crossing the road today! Anyway, winter is still pretty because everything white is pretty. The 'botak' trees were covered with snow :)

Received a Xmas card and a santa chocolate from Zi Fen :)

My Xmas gift to her was a plate of claypot chicken rice I made... :)

Faiz's attempt of making honey chicken rice which wasn't bad at all :)

Lastly, my hair is growing longer.... :)

Tub

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Sophie Mara

Sophie writes: This picture was taken at the family summer cottage last July, a beautiful day, beautiful light, beautiful sisters, beautiful daughters.

It is nice to be reminded of the sweetness of summer at times like these, because it's cold out there! Winter has hit all over Western Europe and some areas to the east. Airports in the UK are snowed in, frost and ice are impairing traffic in Germany and France, and schools are closed in many regions. In the US, heavy rains have hit California, much to the chagrin of a good friend of ours who took her family out to Hollywood for their first West Coast adventure last week, and have been huddling under umbrellas on wet and empty streets and beaches nearly the whole time.

Here in Iceland, though, we've only had a baby cold snap: -5° Celsius with high winds for a few days. Brrr! But we have no snow, and none is foreseen on the horizon. It may well be another rauð jól, or red (snowless) Christmas here on this northerly island. Regardless of what may come, we can give many thanks for the calm and crispness we are now enjoying here in Reykjavik.

Winter: How 'low' can you go

• More snow is expected to fall in several areas today, with forecasters predicting the temperature in England could reach a record low of -26.1C tomorrow.
• Weather forecasters expect parts of Britain to see snowfalls of up to 8in this morning and sub-zero temperatures to continue.

• The mercury was expected to plunge to around -20c in parts of the Midlands, north west England and Scotland, last night and possibly even further tonight.

Semester is over!

The celebration to commemorate the end of the semester this time round was different.

First, it was a stop at the city for a little LOVELY shopping.

Then, badminton and running on the treadmill in between.

After gym,it was pub crawl time with great company.

After the pub crawl, it was clubbing at Garage.

Followed by a Malaysian food feast party where brilliant chefs came out displaying their masterpieces!

Whats left of me now is the agonising aching body from head to toe due to all the sudden excessive activities in such a short period. Just goes to show how unfit I am :p

Graze

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Aaron Young

Aaron writes: This picture was taken within 24 hours of arriving in Iceland, the first of three planned days. I was on my way to see the famous geysers and majestic waterfalls, stopped to have a look at the ponies, enamored by their natural dressage. Two of them came to greet me, flirted a bit and continued grazing. So inspired by these creatures, their air and their view, I have now been in Iceland for a month.

I cancelled my trips to Holland and Paris, scribbled two little movies and sent requests back to Los Angeles for funding with love. Frankly, colleagues were highly concerned. They only knew a smattering of Iceland, but enough to talk me out of the first film due to impetuosity and lighting conditions. And then, the very next night, a full moon lit up the streets of Reykjavik to absolute perfection. My colleagues then deferred to my discretion, which is staying in Iceland until the essence of Her beautiful people are expressed for the cinema.

(Aaron is currently waiting on film funds, while trying to bottle and export magical Iceland air).

Thank you, Aaron, for this graceful image!

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Regarding Wikileaks and its strong connection to Iceland, The Reykjavik Grapevine currently leads the local pack with current details on the situation. And here is a good read from September on local MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir's relationship to Wikileaks and Julian Assange himself. (For the more daring, here's a link to Birgitta's appearance on Red Ice Radio.)

The Smoke Alarm ExperienceS

Unlike back home where smoke detectors in houses are scarce, the halls where I am currently living in has smoke detectors placed in the kitchen, one along the corridor and in every single bedroom. I live in a five storey high building. Thus, when one unit sets off the smoke detector, the smoke alarm for the entire building rings! I should say it BLARES so loud till it always feels like your ear drums were going to burst and my heart never fails to beat fast due to the shock of the blaring. It is especially nerve-wrecking to be awaken when one is in deep slumber. I practically jumped out of bed the first time I experienced the smoke alarm going off.

The usual cause of the blaring was not due to real fire, but just the neighbour's excessive 'smokey' cooking or steam after a hot shower, which sets of the sensitive smoke alarm. Having to evacuate everytime the alarm rings INTO the cold outside, isn't exactly FUN....

Just like I was told, after the first false alarm, I will have my own set routine of things to do while evacuating.. like grabbing a jacket and long pants.. then keys... then shoes.. then out the door....