Today I went to Bónus to see if they were putting the Jólakaka and other Christmas foods on sale. They were not, how strange.
Disappointed, I went around the supermarket down a small alleyway, and surprisingly uncovered an Esperanto center! They got the Verda Stelo, books in Esperanto, as well as a small introduction to Esperanto written in Icelandic.
I’ve been in Iceland for 20 days… and only 14 more days before I’ll go back home. I feel ambivalent. I usually write my journal entries on what I see and feel about them, but this time I can write more freely.
I came here to experience what living in Reykjavík in winter is like, and get better at Icelandic. I have accomplished the first goal commendably, but not the second goal. I can walk all the way to Seltjarnarnes (the town on on the west of Reykjavík) and back, in a snowing night, but I haven’t spoken a single Icelandic sentence with anyone. I can scan the Icelandic labels on supermarket foods and know instantly whether it is healthy, vegetarian, vegan, has what allergens (hint: they are written in CAPITAL LETTERS), etc, but I get nervous even facing the cashier.
I have a feeling that this social anxiety will be with me forever. It’s alright if I can work alone.
Goals for the rest of my days here: Take a few photos of “ponies in Iceland”, go on an aurora tour, not feel miserable too much.
I went out to see if some shops are open, now that’s it’s one day after Jól, but most of the shops were still closed.
While walking through the streets, I noticed a black cat. Closely I followed their pawsteps, hoping for some adventure to escape this sad, dreary world.
This is me, except I didn’t get a letter from Santa. And I really want to be a pony. Did I mention I really want to be a pony?
Anyway, today I didn’t go out. There would be little point in doing so anyway, considering that almost everything is closed today, except 10-11, which is a 24/7 convenience shop in Iceland, like 7/11. I wonder if they also have discounts on October 11th? Or should it be on November 10th? But 10-11 is expensive — about 2.5 times as expensive as Bónus supermarket, so I wouldn’t go to 10-11 anyway.
I spent the day on the Internet and studying mathematics. I should definitely get to translating that LGBT info sheet I got from Háskóli Íslands soon.
At about 6 pm, music starts to come in from the outside. I was mildly amused that I recognized some of them as American music.
I was lonely. Very lonely, on the day before Christmas, or Jól as it is called in Icelandic. Before Christmas, there was Yuletide, and the name of Yule remains in Iceland as Jól.
The window pain was covered with fog, and I drew on it to express my solitary sorrows. Water droplets collected around the strokes of eyelashes and flowed down like tears.
Weeping self-portrait on the glass pane.
I had a horrible dream that ended with me actually crying and hugging the plushie beside me when I woke up.
Then I spent the whole day doing mathematics and art. It’s a good day. I also bought a muffin. It’s a great day.
Today I walked like 8 km, to Hagkaup supermarket and back. The best thing about Hagkaup is that it’s open 24 hr a day. The less good thing is that everything there is like 1.5 times the price in Bónus. I bought three flavors of cod kaviar, and even though they are labelled as “original”, “lightly smoked”, “creamy and mild”, they all taste the same, except with different degrees of saltiness (they are all too salty). Continue reading
I’m going to run out of synonyms for “going around without a specific target” soon, when that happens maybe I’ll start using Icelandic synonyms.
What can I say? I am a πλανήτης, a wanderer.
I went out at 8 am, very early. The sky was going to stay dark for another 3 hours. I first went to Raðhús, but it was not yet open. It was dark and nobody was on the ice of Tjörn, so I decided to not walk on it. I went to the national museum, but it was closed for today, so I proceeded to Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland) and found Bóksala Stúdenta (student bookstore). Continue reading
I have uploaded a few videos from my travels, and created a playlist on YouTube.
Frankly I’m a bit unsure of showing them, since I don’t like my voice, but anyway, here they are.
My mother has lots of unchallenged beliefs about food, that’s why eating is so simple for her. I have been challenging her beliefs in food for several times and I have always won. She thought it’s not good to eat potato as staple food, and I did just that for two years. She thought it’s not good to not eat meat, and I did that since 2012 June.
Since coming to Iceland, I have intentionally not eaten any “cooked” food. By “cooked” food, I mean food that is, well, heat-processed immediately before being eaten. That means I can eat muffins, hrökkbrauð (Icelandic crispbread), some other baked goods, canned food, yogurt, skyr (Icelandic fatless yogurt), sauce and spices, multivitamin pills, salad, cheese, and a few other things.
Today I tried some baked goods and cheese products that seem to be only available in Iceland, and here are the results: Continue reading
cosmiainiceland 