A Guide to Icelandic Weather

Today is Sumardagurinn Fyrsti, or, the first day of summer in Iceland. It's a national holiday held every year on the first Thursday after April 18th (or the second Thursday after April 11th, depending on who you ask). It's based off an old traditional Icelandic calendar which only had two seasons (winter and summer), and is modernly celebrated with gifts, parades, sporting events, happiness, and this year... little snow flurries in between blue sky.

Although I'm used to Utah's bipolar weather, I think Iceland wins in dramatics. I've seen it change from bright and sunny to blizzardy snow six times in one day before. Six! Times!

Exhibit A - These are two photos I snapped about 5 hours apart yesterday (full disclosure, it got even snowier than the first photo and even prettier than the second photo):

Y u so cray cray, Islensku?

But have no fear, dear reader, for I have a few rad protips to help you survive the cluster eff that is Icelandic weather (at least for months February-April since that's how long I've been here... you're on your own for the rest of the time).

ICELAND PROTIPS - WHAT TO WEAR

• Layers, so very many layers. And have a bag big enough to put said layers in as you need to.
• Something windproof and waterproof is a must. I wear a Merrell Wakefield coat which has served me well for the $100 I paid for it off the bargin rack last summer.
• Warm scarves save lives. Maybe not lives, but at least necks, chins, and lower ears from being too chilly. Plus they add a pleasant bundledy-up feeling.
• Those who sweater together beat the weather. This is not a real saying, but sweaters are really recommended when in Iceland.
• A hood, hat, buff, or some over head warming device. If I could change anything about my coat, it would be a bigger hood with fur or fur-like substance around the edges. The wind here rips your face off and hoods are the number one prevention of this. Plus if you have a cool fur lined hood you can pretend you're a wilding from Game of Thrones.
• Waterproof shoes. Iceland is puddly.
• Three words: fleeced lined leggings. Oh baby.
• Cozy socks that don't look too stupid. You always take your shoes off in people's homes, so just remember that when you go for your holy of holies in the back of the drawer.
• And lastly my sweet friend Björg summed it up perfectly when she told me "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes!". 

Gleðilegt sumar, everyone! Bless bless!

2 Month Update

Well, I've officially been here for 2 months. That's 1/6th of the way. Crazy.


The Good News

- The sauce section at the grocery store is glorious. It seems Iceland likes sauce as much as I do. They even have fry sauce here (but they call it burger sauce). Some of the first Icelandic settlers to the United States were mormons who settled in Spanish Fork, Utah. They have fry sauce. We have fry sauce. Coincidence? I think not. (Everyone I've explained my theory to so far has been unimpressed...)

- The days are getting longer. Much longer. Two months ago daylight lasted from about 10am to 5pm, now it's around 6:30am to 9:00pm and getting longer everyday. The weather accompanying the longer days has been magnificent. For some reason I figured Iceland would be very overcast most of the time. False. The climate has been not unlike a spring in Utah... except for the piercing winds of a Satan.

- Icelandic is hurting my brain less. Street names (and other long words) usually make phonetic sense now instead of looking like a bunch of letters being thrown in random order. And the other day, I totally understood a random little boy who told me I had good looking shoes. Win!

- I've made a variety of wonderful friends. From the people in the LDS branch, to other au pairs, to other expats, to my host family: I'm surrounded by some really fun, smart, interesting, artistic, encouraging, funny, and all around great people. I count myself very blessed and lucky.

- I really dig the genuine trend of sweater wearing. I didn't know if the whole Icelandic sweater thing was just to sell crap to tourists or what, but it's legitimate. Lots of sweater wearers are to be seen all the time here. Men, women, children, everyone. I'm into it.

- Because I don't have the endless stream of entertainment from Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, my personal movie collection, etc., I've been reading a lot in my spare time. I've read 4 books in the last month, which very well could be a record for non-school-related readings. Though I enjoy reading, I definitely prefer visual and auditory storytelling, so pushing myself to read more has been a good and rewarding challenge. My current read: The Great Gatsby. I figured I should experience the original before I see Baz Luhrmann's highly anticipated interpretation next month.


The Bad News

- There is an alarming lack of beards. They exists, but not in the numbers I'd hoped for. By my highly scientific calculations, I figure only about 14% of the male population sports facial hair. I've seen some of the most satisfying beards since my arrival, which makes it a shame it's not more trendy. I don't know if it's the rugged landscape or the sweaters, but Icelandic men wear the look well. I just wish they wore it more often.

- I've yet to receive all my proper documenting paperwork from the Icelandic immigration people (or whoever is in charge of doing whatever they're supposed to do to get me whatever paperwork I'm supposed to have). Because of this, I can't do certain local Icelandic-y things like buy a bus pass. Lame, unknown person not being quick enough at a probably pretty hard job, very lame indeed!

- My dear sweet little niece Ivy is starting to forget me. I knew I should have whittled a life-sized statue of me in some heroic pose for her to display in her bedroom. Guess I'll just to step up the Skype dates instead.


And that's the update from across the pond... and to the north.
Bless!