After the girls took their bus to school this morning, Shan, Spencer and I played a couple of quick UNO games and then we took Spencer to school. A conference was held on campus today concerning the future of agriculture in Iceland. Shan and I attended the talk given by the Finnish Minister of Agriculture, which was the only talk in English. His lecture focused on changes in Finnish agriculture, since Finland joined the EU in 1995. This information is pertinent, because Iceland is considering joining the EU and is trying to understand and forecast the consequences of this action. The Finnish agricultural industry was already consolidating before they joined the EU and this trend continued during the subsequent 15 years. The number of farms has declined while the surviving farms have gotten larger. Commodity prices declined after Finland's accession into the EU, but consumers have not seen as much of a decline in the price of food, mainly because the retail sector is making a higher profit. After the talk, Shan noted to me that the United States had the same experience starting in the 1930s, and that it accelerated after World War II and continued right up to the end of the 20th century. I do wish I spoke Icelandic better, so I would be able to participate in more of these learning opportunities.
Spencer’s kindergarten classmates visited Varmaland today along with their parents, who got a tour and information about attending school there next year. Spencer was concerned that we had missed the meeting. Once we explained that he wouldn’t be going to Varmaland next year, he was a little disappointed. We reminded him that he would be going to the ‘big’ school in Gunnison, and he was happy again.
I drove to Borganes to restock the cupboards and purchase a few birthday gifts for Joslyn who turns ten on the 17th. When the girls got home from school, it was only partly cloudy and relatively warm, so Shan took them and Spencer for a hike. They headed off into the hills west of Hreðavatn and got some nice views of the area. Meanwhile, I stayed home and completed my syllabus for the economic development course I start teaching at the end of this month.
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| The kids in front of Lake Hreðavatn. Bifröst is to the upper left of the lake. |
Shan had a research student, Tyler, in his lab back at Western State College this past year and the decision was made to let Tyler continue with his research while we were over in Iceland. Thankfully, Tyler had spent enough time in the lab that he was able to continue to work mostly independently in Shan's absence. This past week, Shan has been corresponding with Tyler to help him with the research talk he was to give to the NES department today. Shan e-mailed Tyler after the talk to see how it went and Tyler told him that it went well and was well-received. Shan was relieved to hear that.
Joslyn wanted to have three girls over for a sleepover for her birthday. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a date that worked for all three, so she will just have to make due with two sleepover birthday parties. Maggi dropped off Erla for her sleepover this evening at 8pm after she got done with gymnastics practice in Akranes. Joslyn was very excited since Erla moved to Borganes last month and they have not gotten to see one another very often since then. Sleepovers in Iceland seem very similar to the US version. The kids played the Justin Bieber game, watched a few episodes of Glee (with Icelandic subtitles for Erla) and ate lots of candy, popcorn and cake. Erla gave Joslyn a very nice Rock Band Sketchbook. Imagine my surprise when she opened this present, since I had just purchased the exact present earlier in the day for her! Hopefully, I can return it or another girl will be receiving it as a gift in the future.
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