two days ago

The most insane thing happened

I was at work about a week ago and there came in a fisherman that was here only for a few days. He asked me if we sold stamps and me, always so funny said "Aw, you're going to send me a letter, that's so sweet of you" He then actually promised that he would send me a letter, I didn't really take him seriously... we'll see if when I get home there will be a postcard waiting for me...

Already after that I was thinking to myself what a fun person that was taking me so seriously and not just giving me a funny look like I was a moron. I was in no way expecting what came next! 

two days ago when he's about to leave he shows up at my work to buy two beers to take away. When he steppes in I see he's holding a guitar and just think to myself, what the hell is he walking around with a guitar for? Before I know it he's standing in front of me at work singing me a song that he wrote to me after the first time we met. It was the most absurdly, ridiculously romantic thing I have ever experienced and there I was standing like an old potato. My body went so numb that I got the same feeling as when you tangle your hands up and after a while don't remember which muscle moves which finger. 

So spontaneous and crazy I can't get over it. Doesn't matter what happened before or would happen after, we really need more people like him in the world. Just doing something so crazy so in the moment, taking a big risk that you'll look like an idiot but doing it anyways makes life worth living.

Probably someone will think it all just sounds like a big cliché but can it really be considered that when nobody does anything like this anymore?

midnight sightseeing

Since I'm working every day the night is the only time I have free. So yesterday night I went out for a walk to see some of the things around me

straight to the point

It was very dark outside and I went to look at some tractor. I hear some breathing and almost have a heart attack when I notice there are 3 horses standing next to me 

This one was by far the nicest, I didn't want to leave him and when I finally did he followed me. I'll be going back to visit him

here horsy horsy

the breiðdalsvík wall

getting the ball the first time it went into the water... there were 2 more times after this one

view

I changed apartments and just got to this one, such a cozy farm view from my window. Love it

The view from the back

...

I love this about Iceland so much, where ever you go there is always wasteland close by. I always miss that when I'm abroad, being able to walk only 5 minutes in one direction and laying down. You can put your ipod in your ears and be unbothered for days if that's what you wanted.. 

the view from the front 

There you can actually also see the whole down, including the house where I was living before. Tonight I had a drive around the town and it turns out there are FIVE streets here...

Nice flag of a bank that actually went out of business around 2008?

London

I was going to make a blog 2 days ago.

Then when I went home to write it I just suddenly got an emotional meltdown!

I turned the computer on and before it even turned on I felt this rush of hormones going through me. The sock slipped off my heel while I was still wearing my shoe and as annoying as that can be it does not explain my reaction. All of a sudden I find myself sitting on the middle of the floor crying because of it. I'm dead serious; I sat there, alone in a random house, in the middle of nowhere crying because my sock didn't stay in place.

A series of unfortunate things had happened in the night, I spilled white wine on some fancy man, broke a cup, couldn't find my keys while standing outside in the pouring rain and my phone was battery dead. I didn't think I had taken those things so into my heart but my sock not staying where it should obviously just filled the meter!  

When I had sat there for about 10 minutes crying I realized I had no clue why I was crying and started laughing at how silly I am. So there I'm sitting... laughing at myself while I'm still crying and having no idea even why it all started! 

Now that you all think I'm crazy I'll move on to the real purpose of the blog! 

I just bought a ticket to go to London 

There was a 24 hour offer and 13 minutes before it ran out I decided enough is enough and I need to go somewhere. I ran home to get my credit card, turned the computer on and filled out all the information so fast that in the rush I pressed enter. Next thing I know I have a ticket in front of me. I didn't give myself time to think it all through, which was good I guess because as you can see on the picture I bought the ticket 3 minutes before the offer ran out.

This is my adrenaline. haha

I have around six weeks before I go and even having only six weeks I still got worried it was too big of a commitment buying a ticket so in advance. You never know, but the university is guaranteeing that I'll be in the country at that time so it should all be fine!

I called my mom the next day telling her I'm going away and all she did was ask me "aah okei, where are you going this time?" no "Oh my god?? when did you book a ticket?? what are you thinking??" nothing! Makes life so much easier having parents like mine, although I still haven't called my dad to inform him I'm leaving

London here I come... in six weeks

101

I took some photo's from the air some days ago and completely forgot about them until now

101

My dear Reykjavík, I miss you so much.

some adorable kids I met 

Reykjavík art museum

bæjarins bestu, a tiny place that's been there since 1972 if I remember correctly and has never moved or gotten any bigger even though there is always a queue. (I was just lucky when I took the picture) best hotdogs ever! 

the best bookstore where you can find ANYTHING

Klappastígur where my great grandma used to live, I still remember it so well!

Love the Iceland made of glass there, so artistic like the rest of Reykjavík. 

week

Today it‘s been a week since I came here. It feels as if I only arrived here a couple of hours ago.

So far I like it here. I would never want to live here for a long time but I like getting to experience the difference of living here or in the city. There is more difference than I thought there would be. They even use different words here, I sometimes catch myself staring at my co-workers thinking what the hell they meant by something they said. Then they’re always referring to something on cows and stuff and then I’m completely lost!

I find it very difficult to understand how you can live your whole life in a small place like this though. Wherever I go I always feel like there is more to life, more that I should see and do before I decide where I want to be for the last 40 years of my life. Then again the people here seem so happy with just not knowing if there is anything else out there that they would like to do. It feels as if I’ve gone back in time about 100 years where everything just revolves around the basics. Having food, clothes and a roof over your head is what it’s all about and any other entertainment becomes a big deal since there is nothing to do here.

One man today told me that he was very happy staying here. He had been seeing what else is out there, in 1980 when he went to Höfn (A little town 150km away from here). Maybe I’m just too stuck in my travelling lifestyle but I can’t for the life of me understand how you can become content with never trying anything new.

You can see the whole town out my window, there are like 3 streets or something haha

Today something actually happened. To start with I got a marriage proposal; a very strange truck driver gave me a ring and asked me if I would marry him. He then of course promised that he would give me a better ring if I would say yes. Only thing I was wondering about is what he was doing walking around with a ring in his pocket.

Then a man that lives here and comes every day, probably around 60 years old also told me that he loved me, very much. What vibe am I giving out that’s making me so lucky? A truck driver and a weird 60 year old man both in one day! Then I also had an interview with a guy I met here who is going all over Iceland, and from what I understood the whole world taking interviews with people. He was very different, so it was fun talking to him about everything and nothing… until 3 in the night. Great waking up again the next morning!

Workaholic

Just finished a 14 hour shift and im going back to work in 8 hours! Vuhuu! I got some good news though, four friends from italy are coming to visit iceland in only 2 weeks! Im soo sad im not going to be in reykjavik to be able to show them around but they're gonna come where I am... That will be my only day off... Or perhaps two! I haven't stayed in a tent for very long so that will also be fun :)

Plus ill also get to practise some italian, finally!I havent been talking or doing anything with my italian for way to long. Besides here at the hotel that is, where ive been im charge of explaining what the italians want.

Even before they know i speak italian they start telling me what they want in italian... What!? Hahaha the girl I'm working with has come to me so many times going "you have to translate, if I say I don't speak italian they just say even more things in italian"

 They loved the fact that i spoke italian so much that one woman even gave me her number, address and email in case i wanted to come study in italy, then i could live with her...

I miss that so much about italy, how everyone wants to keep you, feed you and take care of you 24/7.

Greaaat now i still have to take a shower and go to sleep and there are 7,5 hour until my next shift. 

Somebody save me!

day two.

So far I really like it, I'm working like a crazy person and only having enough spare time to sleep and hardly check facebook/hotmail/theblog.

I'm living in a hotel which is both good and bad.

Good 

• All you can eat breakfast!! When I realized that I couldn't stop smiling for hours. Hadn't really thought about it before but now I can't wait to wake up in the mornings. I get all the free food I want, and believe me, with the food they make here you want to be eating non stop
  Now my only thought is if I'll come out of this place fatter or skinnier because it might go both ways. Fatter from all the food I'm eating or skinnier from moving constantly 15 hours a day.
  
  

Bad

• I'm living out of my suitcase. Since the hotel is also always fully booked I have to be changing rooms all the time so I can't really be unpacking at any point.
• Had I known that I would have packed a little smarter, not just thrown everything into the bag thinking I could fix it later..
• Even if I'd want to go out, I hardly find the longing to do so, there is absolutely NOTHING to do here. I can literally count all the houses in this...."village?"  by just looking out the window

What a small and pathetic lighthouse hahah! 

Anyways, the people here are different, which I wouldn't have expected. Surely I assumed they would know more about sheep's and cows than me but not much more than that 

They are way more open than the "city" people that like to keep their personal life to themselves.

It's such a small place that where everyone knows everything about everyone so they just don't see the point in hiding anything either way.

The first day here I asked a girl what she had been doing that day since her shift started later than mine. Her response was partly normal "I just woke up late, went to get my nails done, had some food with friends, hung out ...." and then the weird part... "..then I went and got some sex, then I just took a shower and came here...you?"

Don't get me wrong, this is exactly how I talk to my friends, but that's different. I know them. I wouldn't say this to someone I don't know. Some driver also gave her his number and by the end of the day the whole town new about it and was questioning everything. 

It wasn't just her though, everyone talks like this. Openly share every little detail of their life as if they were an open book.

Older couples talk about their sex life as if nothing is more normal.

The most uncomfortable of all though is when the older men start making sex jokes or comments. I never know how I should respond. Should I laugh or am I then implying something? because that's the last thing I'd want to do. It's as if everything is sex related here. 

One old man bought coffee today and almost instantly returns the cup. "Wow, you finished? that was fast" I said. His response "Short but very good, just like I like my orgasms" and of course then he also gave me a wink. I don't even know what facial expression I gave him because I was so confused what I should do that it took me about 30 seconds before I managed to make a little "hehe" sound and make an excuse to go back into the kitchen. 

This is definitely going to take some getting used to, but I'll get there... eventually! 

I'll be putting more weird local habits if I'll find any more haha! Also notice how I've decorated the blog with pictures I took around here. Fits well with all the sex talk, right?

Well now I'm getting a headache I'm so tired after today's shift. tomorrow... repeat!

funfunfun

-Kat

Breiðdalsvík

Not only have I taken the job on the other side of Iceland, I'm actually arrived...

I got woken up on Sunday by a phone call asking me if I still wanted to take the job, when I said yes the response was "ok great, there's a flight leaving tomorrow, see you when you arrive" 

Reykjavík is the red spot on the left side of the map & Breiðdalsvík on the right

Last time I went somewhere I went as far away on the planet as I could without starting to return. This time I'm going as far away on the Island as I can hahaha

I'll be here for about 5 weeks, working and living at the hotel. Good way to save money, I think I'd actually have to make effort to find any place to spend it. There are only around 120 people living here, one hot tub and swimming pool (which doesn't work), one tiny gas station & a little shop.

Every time someone walks past my window I get all excited, vuhuu other homo sapiens !! 

So far I like it though, I'll work my butt off and enjoy being alone for a while, that's going to be weird since I haven't been by myself for many years. 

I'm working in 10 hours so I better get some sleep, I haven't woken up to an alarm clock in many months so I'm a little nervous I have just lost the ability to wake up on schedule. Plus I just realized that I forgot my onepiece at home so I'm a little depressed and mad at myself :(((

-Kat

9 am

An 11 hour workday is finished at 3 in the night. What do you do then?

You would think I'd take the first chance I'd get to go home to bed. nono, after that I went to meet the girls downtown, stayed there until around 4, then I don't know where time went but we were home at 7... Since then I've just been laying around, doing nothing! 

On top of that I have this new thing where I have to sleep like 10-12 hours. If I don't I'm just napping the whole day or falling asleep here and there... so now when I go to sleep I'm going to wake up around 7 tomorrow afternoon? ohhh! I thought about just staying awake the whole day and going to sleep tomorrow night, but I have a strong feeling that I'll hate myself tomorrow if I do that... 

Now in other news I'm getting blind. My eyes refuse to do me the simple favor of making it possible for me to see what is more than 5 meters away from me. My glasses are also too weak now so when I use them I get a massive headache within 2 minutes. So what do you when do? 

Go and get new glasses. So that's what I did... or was going to. The cheapest I could find were on the scale of 50-70 thousand krónur. Guess who's just going to accept being blind for now? ME. Just don't get offended if I don't say hi to you on the streets now. I have enough trouble recognizing faces, but now on top of that my vision decides to blur everyone out like they're R rated? fml

In other-other news I think I might be moving to the countryside. The real countryside where you can count all the houses on one hand. 

I'll get it all cleared tomorrow or monday exactly when I'd be going but I guess I'll be staying for around 5 weeks. I'll be working my ass of at a hotel and in the spare time I'll just nap hahaha! 

I look like a person that has enough patience to stay in the middle of nowhere for more than a month right?

It's a good opportunity though, I can get time in the nature, get one with nature, find my inner self, go on a whole eat pray love icelandic version. or whatever other bullshit I can come up with. hahaha who knows! I'll come back a renewed person. Hopefully not a vegetarian or something crazy like that though

I'm gonna watch friends and maybe start considering falling asleep.

Happy Sleeping

-Kat

midnight frisbee

On saturday I had a trial at a nightclub downtown. It was the most organized place I've ever worked at! Although the three places I've now tried out are so very different I like them all very much for different reasons. Plus it's always fun to be the new girl, almost at least. 

One thing I always hate about being new is how every mistake is blamed on me. I do something wrong and I'm told it's wrong. Fine, I then spend the rest of the night watching out not to do that again. Then before you know it, someone already working there has done that same mistake, but who gets the blame? New girl! Of course they think it's my fault since I'm the only new person there... I just don't like coming off retarded repeating the same mistake more than 3 times and not understanding the simplest instruction. 

Also, who made the unspoken rule that as soon as there's a new girl at the bar she should get picked on. I would like to get a moment alone with that person. 
New girl? GREAT! let's now all throw ice at her or even better... hold her down and put ice inside her clothes and then hold her until it all melts! I'm not innocent, I participated in doing that to the new girls when I was the "old" bartender at the last bar, but right now I'm feeling very sorry for myself.

So on to some random nights after...

out of the blue a push up competition started

poor newspaper lady didn't get any peace from some guy

uhhh?? hahah

Sunna went outside and picked flowers that she then put in her earrings. 

halló halló! 

Some random guy stopped and with his strong french accent started talking about how "Sometimes when you think you need to pee during sex, you're actually having a very strong orgasm" Now imagine that being said with the voice of a tiny french guy. Very funny!

What's going on with that hair?

Sunny

Frisbee at 2 in the morning, what else?

'Cause I've had the time of my life
and I owe it all to you

It was a very dramatic heart-touching moment for them

Stupid Australian wearing flipflops and then complaining about being cold

Turns out I suck at frisbee, yet another sport I suck at...

Shit just got real

handstand

aww!

p.s. no clue why everything is highlighted white, I just have no patience trying to figure out how to fix it

-kat