Day 46-konudagur

   February 19-Today is the first day of the ancient Nordic month of góa.  This is significant in modern Icelandic life for a few reasons.  First, it marks the end of the preceding month, þorri, and therefore the end of the time period of the þorrablót feasts.  Second, it marks the beginning of the last month of winter, since góa ends around the spring equinox.  Icelanders, historical and modern, figure that the months of þorri and góa are the toughest parts of winter to bear, so the beginning of góa means they are halfway through this period of time.  Third, the first day of góa is konudagur, which means women's day.  It is the day that the husband is supposed to be particularly nice to his wife.  Husband's day, or bóndadagur, takes place the first day of þorri, which was Januray 21.  Since konudagur snuck up on me, I was not adequately prepared, but I did get Sally a matroyshka doll decoration while in Reykjavík today.  Besides, just the fact that we are in Iceland is still special, even if we have been here almost 50 days.
   We got more snow last night, so there was about half a foot of snow on the ground this morning and then it started to rain.  The kids were getting a little rambunctious, so we tossed them out and they enjoyed playing in the snow for almost an hour.  Elisabet, who is a neighbor kid and a kindergartner with Spencer, ended up joining them and they built another snowman.  Joslyn insisted that my English lessons with Elisabet were working well, because she could say different body parts of the snowmen.  She may be right, but there are so many sources of English in this country that I don't figure I better count this as a success story yet.

Cream puffs are traditionally eaten on bolludagur.

   Belinda, the head of the Fulbright office, threw an early bolludagur party today for the American Fulbrighters in the country.  Shortly after noon, our trusty Corolla blazed its way through the chassis-high wet snow in the parking lot and out onto the road.  We were off for Reykjavík yet again!  We got into town a little early, so we went shopping, hence the previous
reference to the konudagur gift.  There were only a few Fulbright students at Belinda's but the other two faculty members showed up, so we got to talk to them again.  Pam and Marilyn are doing great and socializing with the locals a lot.  Maggie is not doing as well.  Her boyfriend, daughter, and dog are all still in America, so she has become quite homesick.  While being surrounded by English-speaking American family members all the time certainly has stunted our attempts to learn Icelandic, Maggie's experience does remind us that the presence of our family members over here ultimately does make the time here much more enjoyable.

   Pétur, an Icelandic Fulbrighter, who spent time working at a halfway house in Minneapolis in 1990, was also at the party.  He is now a pastor and he provided us with a short bit of education and entertainment.  First, he handed out sheets of Icelandic music.  While he played the guitar, we all tried our best to pronounce the Icelandic words and sing the song.  I am sure it sounded horrendous to the native speakers.  The second song was "Home on the Range," but in Icelandic!  If it weren't for the tune, I would not have recognized the song.  Pétur then had everyone right down a regret on sheets of paper, which
he burned to represent forgiveness by God and the release of us from that regret.  He then taught the kids how to use the ashes from the burnt paper to make the symbol of the cross on their foreheads, so they got a little bit of education about Ash Wednesday in the process.

   The biggest hit at the party from the kids' perspective was Belinda's hairless, Sphinx cat, Birta.  This may not seem to be the most logical choice for a cat to have in a place named after frozen water, but the reality is that Birta is pampered to such a degree that she has very little to do with the "ice" in Iceland.  Belinda has actually written a children's book in which Birta is the main character.  The story specifically addresses Birta's hairless nature, because its main themes are prejudice and differences between individuals.  We intend to find and buy one of the books now that the kids have met and played extensively with its main character!