Trip

I've been cruising through the Iceland Eyes archives lately and am truly realizing, ten years on, just how much content I've accumulated on this site. So much history and so many cool photos ( if I may say so myself  ~.^ ) describing a whole decade of life in Reykjavik! It's been really amazing witnessing and documenting the growth (and growing pains) of our city, now one of the most popular destinations in the world.


A few of my readers might remember this pic, first posted in March 2008. It's moments like these that really tap into the soul of this blog project for me ~ those normal, everyday scenes that have a little bit of humor and a lot of heart.

Here's what I wrote in the original post:

 Another wonderful Sunday down at the Zoo (Húsdýragarðinn) at Laugardalur... 

The days are getting longer at an amazing pace now. During the first week of March it's like an extra set of lights has been turned on in the heavens, and suddenly 7 a.m. is dawn and 8 o'clock still sees a hint of brightness on the horizon. By the equinox a few weeks from now we'll officially be out of the dark days and cruising slowly toward the eternal sunlight of summer. As I say every year, it's just as amazing each spring that summer will once again come round. 

Just waiting for the tulips...

If you haven't recently, give yourself a few minutes to do a random cruise through the past ten years of Iceland Eyes by visiting the 'You might also like...' photos below. Or you can select a month from the Archives at the very bottom of this page and take a little trip back in time. I think you'll enjoy it : )

Flight

Everything this represents...

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Note: 88 ~ A Love Letter to an Island is now available as an ebook as well as in print. A few reviews:

"I love how you piece together different fields from science, daily life and the slightly supernatural areas into a coherent, involving description of life in this city." ~ Thomas Dähling

"Wow! All I can say is wow! Your book changed my life...When are you starting on the next one? ~ Guðmann Þór Bjargmundsson

"I'll just say that reading this slim volume is nothing like a genteel browsing through a personal memoir, it's more akin to diving into a psychological mælstrom. 'Alva' taps into some very deep primal forces in an internal monologue which takes place in the span of 88 days." ~  Professor Batty, Flippism is the Key.

Evening

On some evenings during long arctic sunsets, we look north out of the top-floor window of my parent's house and watch our local pyramid turn pink.

Fresco, Jaya Grocer @ Intermark/ Double tree KL

I found out that I could go to Jaya Grocer in Intermark to buy fresh salmon or lamb or beef and have it cooked at Fresco. Fresco is a small restaurant located just outside the main entrance of Jaya Grocer. To get fresh salmon cooked on the spot With NO extra charges is a great deal!

Example: I buy a salmon from Jaya Grocer which cost rm21 and I get that exact portion cooked with no extra charge. We all know how measly portions in restaurants can be when it comes to serving salmon and lamb.

I also ordered something off the menu in Fresco - Aglio Oglio. It had beef bacon in it which was too salty to my liking but the spaghetti was reallllllly good.

This is my 2014 highly recommended place to have salmon and lamb and pasta :)

Bubba Gump Shrimp @ The Curve

Onion tower had too thick batter.

Bucket of fries, lobster, shrimp amd fish. Alll fried.

First time at Bubba Grump Shrimp and I regret choosing those two dishes because it was all fried stuff. But it did taste good if u r a fried food lover.

Mentaiko Spider Roll @ Sushi Zanmai

Sushi Zanmai is still my favourite restaurant for Japanese food! A must have - mentaiko spider roll

Protestation

My last post was dedicated to Ukraine, and this one is dedicated to the island I'm living on. We've had so much muck expose itself in the past two weeks that it's like we're punch-drunk, reeling from being hit with some new scandal or exposed lie every single day. So many pointing fingers, so much name-calling, so many promises rescinded on.
People who have stood tall for this or that important cause, and who have been lauded and even awarded for their efforts, are being labeled hypocrites, sometimes very rightly so. Slander suits are being waved about as threats from all angles, and 88% of over 1500 college teachers just voted to go on strike in two-week's time because of the current government's absolute unwillingness to match their salary levels with other government employees with comparable education and responsibilities (I should say our salary levels - I've been teaching English courses at a technical college for about 6 years now - but the college I teach at is a privately owned business and so we weren't involved in today's vote, which was for teachers employed by the state. We will vote next week...) It feels like we're so overwhelmed with indignation, disappointment, disillusionment and frustration that we might just explode. But who really has the energy left to do even that?

No, we're not in a dictatorship, we don't have guns pointing in our faces or stark, desperate food shortages. We're not being bombed or invaded, and we haven't even had any inclement weather to speak of for weeks. But because we're such a small population, and because we're basically all cousins, it always (as I've noted many times before in the past decade), always feels so much more personal when the dirtier side of politics, press and power are exposed. Shouldn't the 300,000 of us be able to manage living together on this lump of lava in some semblance of an ethical manner? We have such a great opportunity now to achieve great and lasting change in this country, to be a true model of cooperation and sustainability!

As always, I encourage you to go to Iceland Review and The Reykjavik Grapevine for more journalistic info on what's been going on here. And though we may not be on the top of the list of current dramatic world affairs, keep our little island in your prayers anyway, ok? Moving forward into a brighter future isn't always easy, and every good thought counts : )