Day 27-kennitala

   January 31-After getting the kids off to school, the adults set off for Reykjavík to get some shopping done.  We had to go during a weekday, because the thrift store is not open on weekends.  However, our first stop of the day (not counting the stop for coffee at the bakery in Borgarnes) was at the Fulbright office.  What we got there was probably the most important acquisition of the day: our immigration papers and our kennitala!  Now, we exist!  Now, we can open bank accounts, get cell phones, and be refunded money for returned merchandise in stores.  The ordeal we have endured to survive nearly a month in Iceland without these ten-digit numbers must rival that of the intrepid settlers who tamed the American frontier! 
   OK, it has not been THAT bad, but our lack of this identification number has definitely been an issue.  What is the kennitala?  Well, it is the Icelandic version of our social security number and Shan's is 270670-2969.  I bet your eyes bugged out there!  Actually, I have not gone crazy, putting that information out there where anyone can.see it.  The database connecting my name to my kennitala is publicly searchable via the Internet.  Prior to the widespread use of computers, this list was printed, bound, and distributed to libraries around Iceland as reference material.  In many ways the kennitala is used even more over here than the SSN is used in the States, but it is treated very differently.  The SSN is something akin to a person's PIN: if an individual can produce a SSN, they have often done enough to prove their identity.  Hence, we are used to locking these numbers up as tight as we can. 
   The kennitala, on the other hand, is seen more as an identifier, like a name or address.  The advantage of the kennitala, though, is that it remains constant, whereas a person's address will certainly change, and his or her name could be legally changed.  Furthermore, the government kennitala database connects addresses to the kennitala as well.  If an identity thief uses a potential victim's kennitala when opening an account, the bank will automatically use the address on file for the kennitala.  The potential victim will receive the account information from the bank and will then become aware of the attempted identity theft.  Some people argue that this deterrant actually decreases identity theft in Iceland.  There are others, however, who feel that this sort of a unique identifier can be used to easily cross-reference people between databases, which might allow too much information about an individual to be assembled in one place.  In any event, its wide use in Iceland makes it essential to live a normal life.

This picture of the Hays family Facetiming with family in the
States was taken with Sally's camera on her new tripod.

   Relishing our newly acquired relevance to Icelandic society, we headed over to the bank to open an account.......... and found out we needed to present our passports as well!  If it's not one thing, then it's another!  So, we started shopping.  First, we checked out a sporting goods store for cross-country skis.  There were no boots our sizes in the used section, so we decided to hold off any purchases or rentals.  The mix of rain and snow at Bifröst means that there is good snow sometimes and ice and rotten snow at other times, so we don't want to buy expensive new equipment and then not be able to use it.  We were near an electronics store, so Sally got a tripod to use if the aurora borealis is visible again and I got some speakers to turn our computers into the apartment stereos.  Interestingly, the speakers were the display set and the salesman said he would give me a discount on them, but first he needed my kennitala to process the new price.  I felt so validated as I gave him those ten numbers of power!  Fortuitously, right next door was a good-sized Vínbúðin outlet, which is the state-run chain of liquor stores, so we popped in to see what we could find.  We found a decent selection of beers, roughly comparable to the selection you would find at the good liquor stores in Gunnison, but at about double the price.  The variety of Icelandic beers was most impressive (duh!), but we were able to get the Duchesse, some La Trappe Belgians, and a couple different German hefeweizen as well  It was interesting to see that Sam Adams and a variety pack from Flying Dog Brewery were also available.
   Next we hit the thrift store, where we stocked up on rugs to cover the concrete floor in the apartment.  We also found a barely-used raclette dirt-cheap so we grabbed that as well.  Once we had done as much shopping on the cheap as we could we took the plunge and headed over to IKEA.  Sally complained a bit that a city of only 200,000 got an IKEA before the thriving metropolis of Denver.  Ultimately, I think she enjoyed the fact that we have one so much closer to our abode here than we do in Colorado, and after an hour of shopping we headed back for Bifröst.  We got lucky in both directions with clear skies and non-icy roads, although it rained most of the time we were in Reykjavík.  Nonetheless, we did not time this trip quite as well as the Reykjavík trip we made two weeks ago, arriving at Bifröst about ten minutes after the girls' school bus got back.  They had let themselves into the apartment and were about to head over to the kindergarten to pick up Spencer when we pulled up.