January 17-The whole family was dispersed across western Iceland today. Alex was on the north coast up in Reykir, Joslyn and Spencer were in the interior (Joslyn at Varmaland and Spencer at Bifröst), and Sally and I were on the south coast to attend the Fulbright orientation in Reykjavík. We dropped Spencer off at kindergarten around 8:30 and started driving through the darkness towards Reykjavík. Amazingly, the sky was clear and the roads were dry, so we made great time and got a beautiful view of Reykjavík across the fjord from the north with the moon hanging above it. Sally kicked herself multiple times for forgetting her camera.
With stops only made for coffee and gas, we made it to Reykjavík in an hour and a half, arriving just before the orientation began. There are three Fulbright scholars in Iceland this year: Sally; Pam Innes, an anthropological linguist from the University of Wyoming who brought her partner Marilyn with her; and Maggie Hansen, a faculty member from the University of San Francisco, whose specialty is the use of alternative medicine in nursing.
The two ladies who run the Fulbright office in Reykjavík (Belinda and Sandra) and a representative from the U.S. embassy (Laura Gritz, one of a staff of only 12!) gave presentations. I will talk about some of the stuff from the presentations in more detail on "slow news days" and as we become more knowledgeable about them. For this post, I will just summarize the talk about Icelandic history. I had never thought of it quite like this before, but Iceland was essentially a colony of Denmark until they gained their independence in 1944. The harsh weather conditions and the Danish monopoly on Icelandic trading made the island essentially a poverty-stricken hinterland from the 1200s through World War II. I have not had the opportunity to meet or talk to any elderly people, but stories I hear about them from the younger generations are amazing. By way of comparison, I would say the living conditions for generations of Icelandic people were at least as bad as the condictions that American homesteaders dealt with who lived through the the Great Depression in the middle of the Dust Bowl (centered on southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas.
Through all of this, however, the literacy rate remained very high and this is widely cited as a major reason that Iceland quickly prospered after the War. I imagine that Iceland's strategic location and the subsequent decision to establish an American military base here did not hurt. In any event, by the 1990s Icelandic krónur were in high demand and Icelanders became relatively richer and richer, much like Americans became relatively richer during that time period as their house prices became artifically inflated. At the height of the boom the exchange rate was 60 krónur per U.S. dollar, which is half what it is today. With that kind of buying power (and for other reasons), Icelanders went on a buying spree, which is the reason that there are so many American pickups and SUVs over here today. At the same time, Icelandic banks also went on a buying spree, acquiring foreign banks. It all came crashing down in 2008, resulting in an economic and political crisis. Interestingly, there was a worry among many natives that Iceland would regress to its pre-War poverty and hoarding resulted. However, the economy has since stabilized in much the same way that the United States' economy has stabilized. Long-term unemployment now exists (it didn't before the crash) and the country and its citizens are dealing with high personal and public debt. Politicians have become more partisan and their popularity has plummeted. Does any of that sound familiar?
After the talks, we had dinner with the other scholars, the presenters (except Laura, who had a speech by the U.S. ambassador to attend), and a representative from the Icelandic Department of Education. We had the chance to talk to the scholars a little more. The other two scholars are teaching and doing research at the University of Iceland. Pam's research involves studying the factors that affect the ability of immigrants to learn Icelandic. Maggie is studying the effects of guided imagery and music via iPads on adult post-surgical analgesia. In case you did not know, Sally will be researching the socioeconomic effects of Iceland's transition from carbon-based energy generation to hydroelectric and geothermal energy generation in order to apply any lessons learned to Colorado's ongoing attempts to make a similar transition.
It was interesting to hear about the other scholars' experiences so far. Pam and Mary Ann have been here a month, whereras Maggie got in just four days ago. The main differences between their experiences and ours so far stems from our different locations. Their location in Reykjavík means that they get all of the benefits of city-living, like cinemas, shows, restaurants, night-life, shopping malls, and other cultural amenities, none of which are available in our isolated location. However, there are also plenty of apartments to rent in Reykjavík and they can walk most places they need to be. Therefore, it is their responsibility to procure lodging and rent or buy vehicles. Our isolated location requires that we have a car to get to shops in town and that we live on campus, so Bifröst has provided us with a rental car and an apartment on campus.
After a delicious dinner, some coffee, and a dessert of skyr (a cheese with a consistency and taste that most closely matches Greek yogurt, but don't tell an Icelander it is yogurt!), we got our car and headed home. Sally drove for the first time to get a feel for the car. The weather had deteriorated some and there was snow on some of the road, which slowed us down. However, we pulled into Bifröst only about one minute after Joslyn's school bus did That is about as close to perfect timing as you can get! (We had given Joslyn a key to let herself in, just in case we were late.) Joslyn worked on her multiplication tables in the evening. She has previously learned them in Gunnison, so we decided to make it a lesson in Icelandic and we all learned Icelandic numbers from one to twenty and how to say "X times Y is". I am sure that will come in handy in a conversation at some point!
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