Day 74-BINGÓ



"Scout Club of Borgarnes"  In Iceland, the Girl Scouts
and Boy Scouts have the same parent organization. 



   March 18-While Spencer and Joslyn went outside to run around and play this morning, Sally and I stayed inside to get some work done.  No sooner had we decided that we should just spend a lazy Sunday around Bifröst, when the kids came storming back in with a totally different idea!  Joslyn's friends,

Águsta and Erla, recently joined the Girl Scout and Joslyn and Spencer brought them over to tell us about a bingo fundraiser for the Scouts this afternoon in Borgarnes.  There went our quiet day at home!  While Águsta and Erla hung around the apartment playing with Joslyn and Spencer, I drove down to Kristín's house to pick up Alex and Brynja to return them to Bifröst.  After the late nights at the sleepover, they were both pretty beat, but Alex managed to get through the rest of the day pretty well. 

   Águsta and Erla could not explain the location of the youth hall where the fundraiser was being held, so Erla gave us the address of her new home in Borgarnes, so we could go there and have her folks show us the way.  That worked out great, because this gave us an excuse to see Signý and Magnús's new house for the first time since they moved to Borgarnes a few weeks back.  It is a fairly big house with beautiful views of the Borgarvogur bay to the west of Borgarnes.  Since Signý and Magnús are both extremely busy with work and their Masters studies, they do not have much free time right now, but they gave us a short tour of the house before Signý walked us over to the fundraiser.  By mid-April, they will have a lot more free time and we will come down for a longer visit with them.

   The hall was filling fast when we arrived, but Joslyn's friends and the rest of the Bifröst contingent made room for us at a couple tables in in the front of room.  The next three hours were a lot of fun.  In many ways, the fundraiser was very similar to the weekly bingo fundraisers in Gunnison.  Local people and businesses had donated prizes, which were bagged together and given out to the winners of each game.  There was an intermission halfway through when we could buy coffee and cake made by the Scouts and their parents.  Yummy!  The money was being raised to help the Scouts pay for their summer camp in Norway.

   Bingo was played essentially like it is in the States, except that  every game had a different goal.  In one game, the goal was to fill each space around the "free" space.  In another game, everyone stood up, and each person sat down when a number was called that was on that person's board.  The last person standing won.  Alex got a bingo on the game when the goal was to to be the first to fill in the "G" column.  Unfortunately, four other people got a bingo at the same time, so they drew cards to see who won the basket of goodies.  Alex drew a "10," but some guy drew a queen, so he won.  Each of the other winners got a consolation prize and Alex really liked the stocking cap she got, so she was happy.  The cat silhouettes on her cap are reflective, which typifies most winter outerwear over here.  When we first arrived in Iceland, we were confused by this, but its usefulness quickly became apparent.  With so little daylight in December and January, people are often out and about in the dark, so it is just a matter of safety.

   Playing bingo was very good for our Icelandic numbers.  Our friends were very helpful, but we could figure out most of the numbers as the caller said them.  We continue to have the biggest problem with the number "1."  The reason is that "1" is spelled as "einn" in Icelandic and is pronounced "ate."  The number "21" is spoken as "twenty and one," which is "tuttugu og einn" in Icelandic.  This means that it ends in the sound "ate."  So, quite often, one or more of us filled in the "8," "28," "38" and so one when "1," "21," "31," and so on were actually called! 

   The bingo boards are the types that have plastic pieces that you slide over the number as it is called.  They reminded me of the ones I used when playing bingo down at Hale, CO as a kid.  It turns out that there were good reasons for that familiarity.  First, they date back that far, according to Jóhanna's mother Krisítn, who was sitting with us.  She grew up in Borgarnes and told us that she played bingo with these boards when she was a youngster.  Second, they were made by the company "Bingo King" in Englewood, CO!  Sally got to explain to everyone that they were made only ten miles from her hometown.  Talk about making odd connections in the least likely of places!