March 14, 2010
Twin Peaks, Iceland
It's sort of nice to just live my life here. No packing up my home every morning and rushing for a bus, being with people for longer than a day & really getting to be friends with them, getting to know the town and the locals, sleeping in, having a home...
It's been an action packed week and a half here in Skagastrond. A couple of Fridays ago a strange thing happened- quiz night at the country western bar. When I arrived, I was put on a team with Siggi, a gentleman who works for the town. I’m not very knowledgable about Icelandic history or football so I was basically dead weight. In the end, we only got 12 out of 20 questions right and came in last. But it was so fun!
After pencils down, the townsfolk got friendly. I presume the normal people left directly after the quiz because pretty much everyone I spoke with was extremely… interesting. Subjects of conversation included the automatic popcorn button on a microwave, scrapbooking, trolls (they believe in them here, which I think is cool) and autism.
A few days ago, I visited two very awesome ladies- the village fortune tellers. They live in the oldest house in town, from the 1900’s, and the interior has been restored to fit the period. I love early 1900’s design AND fortune telling, so I was in hog heaven. I sat down at this very fortune teller-y table and got my cards and my palm read. It was amazing! One thing that she got from my palm was that I’d make a good teacher.
Fate had a chance to prove itself the next day when I taught a three hour photography class at the community college. I gave a lecture about basic compositional and creative teachniques and then led an activity. Half of the students were really into it, half were really bored. Props to all the teachers in my life- it is hard!
After those three grueling hours of work, my housemate and I went to the swimming pool. The water is heated geothermically and they don’t put any chlorine or chemicals in it. In addition to the regular pool, there was a sauna (the cool kind where you put the water over the hot stones) and hot tubs of varying levels of hotness. I had a little wardrobe malfunction when I was swimming and the top part of my bathing suit floated away. Luckily there were only two little girls in the pool and they got a chuckle out of it.
This weekend I got a visit from Jon, a friend who I hung with in Reykjavik. It was a good opportunity for me to explore Skagastrond a little more- climb on the lava cliffs overlooking the water, walk around the black sand beaches and do a little hiking outside of town.
This evening my housemates and I hosted an all girls potluck party with some of the other artists. We had to make a silly hat for the event and then exchange and wear somebody else’s at the party (so girlish, I know- not my idea). I whipped up a very stylish turban made from a ripped up t-shirt that I sometimes use as a painting rag and I had to wear a little paper sailor hat. We looked like a bunch of special needs people standing around in these ridiculous hats. See pics for evidence...
Tomorrow I’m going on a three day trip to the Snaefellsnes peninsula in western Iceland with a few of the other girls. It’s got a glacier that, according to local legend, doubles as an alien landing pad, lava fields, beaches with spherical rocks, an installation by the artist Roni Horn, and a place called the holy mountain that I’m so curious about.
Stay tuned for details!
