Day 23-teenage birthday party

   January 27-The day started out rather unremarkably.  I suppose that is newsworthy in an of itself.  Living and going to school in Iceland has become unremarkable.  How remarkable!
   As the day progressed, the clouds thickened and late in the morning we received an e-mail informing us that Varmaland school would be closing an hour early because the expected deterioration of the weather.  Sure enough, the bus pulled in at 1:30.  It did rain and snow some after that, but the roads did not become particularly slick.  Better safe than sorry, I suppose. 
   The girls relaxed around the apartment and did some math homework, before Alex headed off for her first Icelandic birthday.  Her friend Sigurlaug Sól was turning 13!  Of course, that means that Alex, too, is approaching that birthday herself.  That has been somewhat of a frightening idea in the past, but I must say that we have been very impressed by Alex's Icelandic classmates, teenagers or not.  I have yet to see any particularly obnoxious teenager behavior from them at all.  I will let Alex report more fully on her birthday experience.  In summary, they played some party games we had never experienced, ate supper and cake (after Sigurlaug blew out sparkler candles and opened presents), and watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Alex went through the American coins we had brought with us and gave some of them as a present.  Their novelty was quite a hit. 
   Sally recently uncovered some interesting information that partially explains this.  At the height of the economic boom in Iceland, 99% of all transactions in Iceland were paid with credit cards.  Since the crash, that number has "plummeted" to 98%.  One of Alex's classmates even got her own credit card this past week.  The upshot is that Icelanders just don't use cash anymore and many children have no concept of "money" as a tangible, real thing.  Instead, money is simply an abstract, numerical concept.  (I suppose that some economists would not entirely disagree with that notion.)  In response to this situation, instruction in personal finance has been added to the curriculum at Reykir. 
   After Alex came home, Joslyn and Spencer watched Cartoon Network (in English), while the rest of us played a game of Settlers of Catan (in Icelandic).  For you Settlers aficionados, this edition of the game is quite elaborate with three dimensional plastic pieces for settlements, cities, roads, and the robber.  We had a very nice time and the ladies even let me win.