Day 99-typical Thursday

   April 12-It was another typical Thursday.  Everyone headed off to school.  Shan taught English at Hraunborg.  Shan and I ate lunch at Kaffi Bifröst.  Normally, most of the faculty and staff eat at one of the big tables at the café while we sit at a smaller table and enjoy a quiet lunch.  Today, we decided to try to sit with the other faculty members, so we sat at one of the large tables.  However, all of the faculty and staff sat at another large table.  So, again, Shan and I got to enjoy a quiet lunch.  Oh, well.  We’ll try again next time we eat at Kaffi Bifröst.  I do feel somewhat guilty about trying to sit with everyone because if we do join them, they feel like they need to speak English for our benefit.
   We have been keeping up on the news back home by reading the electronic edition of the Gunnison Country Times when it is uploaded each Thursday.  Today we read that parents of two of the kids' friends have had medical emergencies.  The worst part is that they didn't have any insurance and the pertinent parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act still have not kicked in.  Consequently, they are now in dire straits financially.  Reading about these situations back home is all the more frustrating, because we are sitting in a country that has a comprehensive health care policy and does not allow its citizens to be ruined by the vagaries of chance.  You would think that we Americans could get it figured out.  It's not rocket science.
   When I picked up Spencer today, he was play-fighting against Einar, Þorsteinn, and a third boy. They were using shovels for swords. Given that Spencer just turned six and the other boys are about to turn five, it was an evenly matched game.
   Joslyn had a swimming test today that included back float, free-style, breast stroke and back stroke. She said it was fun but somewhat hard. She is really going to miss swim class once we get back to Gunnison.
   When the girls came home from school, Alex ran off to hang out with friends. All Alex told us was that they roasted marshmallows over candles and set cheese puffs on fire. I’m just glad they chose to use someone else’s house for this!

Small signs of spring are slowly emerging around here.

   Meanwhile, Joslyn joined Shan for a quick hike to Hreðavatn, since it was not raining and there was some blue sky peaking out between the clouds.  They hiked down to the north end of the lake and explored a peninsula that sticks out into the lake from that shore.  Afterwards, they hiked further along the north shore. This turned into more of an adventure than they had intended, because they found themselves on old hay fields.  This was a problem because

Bifröst campus and Grábrók mountain. 

drainage canals were built around most of the hay fields in Iceland once farming was mechanized after World War II. These canals are often over five feet deep and can be quite full of running water, especially in the spring when the snow melts and the resulting meltwater percolates underground into these canals.  They crossed four canals in their hike before they got back onto the road and headed home.