Day 12-Alex goes to Reykir

   January 16-Today was the big day; Alex finished packing her bags, boarded the bus to go to school, and was off!  She was a little nervous when she left, which is very understandable.  She has spent time away from home before, like two weeks at Summer Enrichment Program at the University of Northern Colorado last summer.  However, when she was there, she could contact us by using her friends' cell phones.  We do not have a phone yet (because getting one, like most anything you do in Iceland, requires that you have a "kennitala," which is essentially an Icelandic social security number; we will get ours when the department of immigration finishes our paperwork) and students are not allowed to have cell phones at Reykir anyhow, so she won't be able to contact us this week.  I don't think she is too concerned by the fact that she has only had a couple days to get to know the kids in her class, because she has gotten along with them so well.  We have happened to meet a couple parents whose kids have gone to Reykir and they say that it is a trip that the kids talk about for years before (in anticipation) and for years afterwords (wistfully).  It has made us all feel a little better that she is actually not going that far away.  If you look at the map in the day 3 post, Reykir is on highway 1 just below the top of the map.  Highway 1 is the red-marked roadway that continues on north of Bifröst, veering to the east at each intersection.  If things do get bad, her teacher can call the university and we can go pick her up.  I don't think that will happen, though.

   Sally taught again today.  This course is one I teach every semester so the material is not that difficult, but the cultural divide catches me at strange moments. My class is mostly composed of exchange students from other parts of Europe. Almost every student brings a laptop to class to follow along on the Powerpoint slides and take notes. Yes, you read that correctly. I am having to teach with Powerpoint and go slow. This is one of the big challenges for me. The other is that in class there is one Icelandic lad who would fit in at any Western State class with his leading questions concerning format and examinations. (He felt it was unfair to have points deducted from examinations for multiple choice questions that he got wrong; this had recently happened to him in another class here). He has also emailed me that my assignments (which must be turned in electronically) should not be due during the day but at midnight like all of the other professors. I had already discussed this topic the day before with another professor and the university policy is that homework is due whenever a professor decides that it should be, but most homework it due two days after the lecture with a deadline of 5pm. It is good to know that the US does not have an exclusive monopoly on these 'precious gems'. The other students are great and ask very insightful questions, when I don't slip up and bring slang (like "pop" for soda pop) into the lecture. I found that they also use Google Translate if I have used a word that they don't understand. Unfortunately, Google Translate does not cover all economic terms.
   Sally and Shan spent the afternoon getting work done.  The sun actually came out for ten minutes or so.  Shan wasn't quite sure how to handle that, but Sally used the opportunity to take a break and let her skin produce some vitamin D.  We all practiced our Icelandic tonight using Joslyn's school book as our guide.  We learned how to say that we are learning Icelandic and how to tell people our names.  It is not enough to maintain a conversation of any depth, but it is a beginning!
   It turns out that Spencer's school gives weekly updates on the students' activities and includes pictures as well.  Here is his teacher's remarks about Spencer's arrival last week:

Þetta er hann Spencer sem er nýfluttur á Bifröst. Hann talar ensku og börnin sanna enn og aftur hversu laus þau eru við að láta smáatriðin flækjast fyrir sér.  Þau leika sér saman og eiga heilmikil samskipti hin ánægðustu þrátt fyrir að tala ekki sama tungumálið/ This is Spencer, he has just moved to Bifröst. He speaks English, the children proof once again how free they are from the walls of different language.  They play together and are having a lot of fun. 

   If you would like to see other pictures of Spencer or see what he is doing each week, go to http://www.hjalli.is/hraunborg/ and click on the tab "Kjarnar" on the left-hand side.  A new pop-up menu will appear.  Select "Guli kjarni," which means yellow class; yes, they use colored rooms just like the Tenderfoot Preschool and the Lake School kindergarten.  Click the uppermost tab that appears, which is called "fréttir og auglýsingar," and you will be able to see all of the pictures and text.  For instance, a short ways below this picture there are more pictures of Spencer playing with blocks and playing cards with the other kids.  Knowing Spencer, I imagine he just taught them how to play poker and is fleecing the poor kids!  Anyways, enjoy!