social concerns

Our Prime Minister, Geir H. Haarde, has now come out and said that it would be much more logical for Niceland to adopt the US dollar than the euro.

Just picture it: paying for our dried fish and brennivín with greenbacks featuring Abe Lincoln, as opposed to Nicelandic krona notes featuring a picture of YT’s dad.* I’m just sayin’.

Still, hearing old Geir talk, it doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea. We already do much of our business in US dollars, so if we were to join a monetary union it’s a more logical choice then the euro, despite our being in Europe. Also - and I know that this is the really clincher - old Geir doesn’t actually want to take up the euro because it would mean that we’d have to join the European Union. I also know he has the backing of a large share of the nation on that front. Our independence was too hard-fought for us to succumb to another controlling body - at least that’s the sentiment among a great number of Icelanders.

At any rate, it seems like it’s becoming crucial to do something [anything!] - the rate of the krona has fallen by 40 percent [!!!] since the beginning of the year [HINT: if you’ve been meaning to visit Niceland, this is the time to do it] and who knows where it will all end. Trouble is, the greenback isn’t doing so well, either. Pound Sterling, anyone?

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY
This weather reporting is getting kind of dull - we have the same weather all the time, day after day. Brilliant sunshine, cool breeze, yadayadayada. The grass is starting to look parched - not something we experience very often up around this latitude. Right now 55°F [13°C - hell, why don’t we take up imperial measurements, too?] and the sun came up bright and early at 2.59 here in the capital, will set at 12.02 tomorrow.

* Trivia alert: my father actually served as a model for the drawing of Jón Sigurðsson, our independence hero, who is on the ISK 500 krona note, i.e. it’s a picture of my father’s body with the head of Jón Sigurðsson on top. So anytime anyone asks to see a picture of my father I can just pull out my wallet and show them the ISK 500 note, very convenient. Not that anyone ever asks, though.

Finally got out today to see hunky Viggo Mortensen’s photo exhibit at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography, which opened around three weeks ago. My timing happened to coincide with a) the fact that I was in the neighbourhood, b) it was free, c) a few days ago I saw Eastern Promises and really liked it a lot. [How about that scene in the sauna, hm? Mercy.]

The exhibition is all about trees, with which old Viggo appears to have a fascination, and it’s actually pretty good. I expected it to be horribly gloomy and dour because all the promo shots I’d seen for it had been that way, but no. There were actually a few photos there that had colour and sunshine, plus there were poems written on the walls, some of which were by old Viggo himself. [Hint: this is for those of you who clicked on that Flickr menu disk a few thousand times. I know what you like.]

Incidentally, Viggo’s taken a bit of a shine to us here. He visited for the first time a few years ago, and now he just can’t get enough and keeps coming back. Probably because he can be a loner here and nobody cares. I read some interview with him the other day in which he said that, right after the opening of the exhibition, he was going to get in a car and drive out to the boonies, and just stay there by himself for three days. Hope he realizes that there aren’t any trees out there. And that there may be polar bears.

Speaking of which!

That third bear turned out to be a horse. Silly, silly tourists! Clearly someone needs to educate them about the fact that polar bears have paws NOT hooves. Perhaps someone could arrange an exhibit in arrivals section of the Leifur Eiríksson Air Terminal - THIS IS WHAT A POLAR BEAR LOOKS LIKE. IF YOU SEE ONE, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RIDE IT. Something like that.

WEATHER: NO CHANGE
Brilliant sunshine, cool breeze, lots of goose-pimpled Nicelanders with exposed skin. Right now 11°C [52F]. Sunrise at 2.55 am, sunset at 12.03 am.

Well, the polar bear that was discovered roaming around up north yesterday and which they were hoping to capture alive was shot and killed this afternoon.

According to reports, the Danish experts from the Copenhagen zoo who arrived around midday were unable to get close enough to the bear to shoot it with tranquilizers. Apparently it became frightened and ran towards the seashore, so according to the police chief in the area “we had no choice but to shoot it”. [Don’t quite get the connection there - but hey, what do I know.]

Apparently it was a female bear, fairly old, and injured on both front paws. Which supports the hunch I had yesterday … I thought it was pretty suspicious that the animal kept taking naps all the time. Sure, maybe it had swum a long distance, but still. It just didn’t seem right. Also, it was very emaciated and, according to the Danish expert, would probably not have been able to tolerate the tranquilizers.

Anyway, it’s sad that it turned out this way. The thought of being able to rescue the bear and transport it back to its natural habitat was elating, but as our Minister for the Environment said [who actually interrupted her summer holiday to fly home due to this event] it was a risky operation. A lot of things would have had to come together for it to be a success, and unfortunately they did not.

On another note, I’m now starting to have serious reservations about our hiking trip up in that area next month. When the first bear was sighted EPI and I joked about the possibility of encountering a polar bear during our hike - but now that the second one has been sighted, it no longer seems to warrant that kind of flippancy. Particularly as experts say that it’s not unlikely that there will be more. [Yikes!]

Meanwhile, this whole episode starring the polar bear has completely superseded any reports of our National Day celebrations … yes, today is 17. júní, our National Day, and in lieu of a proper post about the occasion, I’ll simply defer to the ones I’ve written in the past, that I’m sure are still quite relevant: here and here and here.

THOUGH I CAN TELL YOU THAT IT’S SUNNY
And consequently fine weather for a National Day outing. The afternoon celebrations are mostly focused on families with small children, with lots of play equipment, bands, puppet theatre, that sort of thing. The evening belongs to adolescents and older, although sadly it also tends to turn into a bit of a drunkfest for the younger teenagers. We may head into town this evening; EPI’s sister always celebrates her birthday on this day so we spent most of the afternoon at her place and we’ll see how much energy we have left later on to go watch the revelers downtown. Although my fave Nicelandic band is playing on Arnarhóll hill at some point this evening [there are bands playing all over, all evening] so we may take a stroll down to see if we can catch them. There’s a bit of a pesky wind, like we’ve had all week; currently 15°C [57F], sunrise this morning was at 2.56 am and sunset due for 12.01 tomorrow morning.

I thought EPI was pulling my leg when he came home today and told me there was another polar bear on the loose up north. It’s been only 12 days since the last one, which as we all know was shot within a few hours of being discovered, generating a worldwide outcry. Consequently every attempt is now being made to capture this one alive. Experts from the zoo in Copenhagen are due to arrive around midday tomorrow and will try to tranquilize the bear and then capture it in order to transport it back to Greenland.

This polar bear is in a similar location as the last one and was discovered about 200 metres [!!! - 218 yards] from a farm, feeding on duck eggs at its leisure, smack in the middle of a protected nesting site for eider ducks. Having eaten its fill, it laid down for a snooze, and has been fairly relaxed all afternoon, just sort of hanging around in the general vicinity of the farmhouse, taking naps and such. It’s being kept under close surveillance by the county’s finest [happily the light nights make the job relatively easy] and the farmhouse residents will have to stay inside until tomorrow afternoon, powerless to stop Mr. Bear from chowing down on their ducks.

Meanwhile, the media reports that an older man in the area had a dream just before the first polar bear sighting that three polar bears came up on land. Obviously since polar bear sightings are pretty rare around here this premonition has attracted some attention, and now that the second bear has arrived in a relatively short time everyone’s just waiting for the third.

Another piece of trivia: both this bear and the last one were first sighted by little girls named Karen. The mother of the first Karen thought she simply had an overactive imagination and put no stock in her reports - until the bear was sighted by a farmer the next day. The Karen who spotted this bear, however, met no such disbelief. Incidentally, Karen is not a very common name in Iceland.

Anyway, it will be fascinating to see how things unfold tomorrow, whether they actually succeed in their mission to capture the bear alive. Apparently it’s a highly risky operation, since polar bears are not easily tranquilized and it can actually be fatal. Stay tuned!

So, I was just on my way out today when the earthquake hit. I was in the bedroom getting some stuff together and AAH was standing yacking away at me when I felt trembling and heard that eerie, creepy kind of rumble that always accompanies earthquakes. AAH didn’t notice, just kept talking, until I grabbed her and made for the doorway, and we stood there while the house shook all around us. Polly flew up screeching, the door to the hall cupboard flew open and the little lantern I have hung up in the hallway started swinging alarmingly back and forth. This seemed to last forever.

The most scary thing about earthquakes I find is the absolute powerlessness you feel in the face of their hugeness. The second most scary thing is not knowing if it’s over. Is this it, or is there more to come? Or - is there something bigger on the way? The shock hits afterwards: HOLY SHIT, that was an earthquake, should I run outside - or what?

The phone rang immediately; it was EPI calling from work, but as soon as I picked up the receiver it went dead and there was no way to get a connection for the next 15 minutes or so, neither with a landline nor GSM. Connection soon resumed, but police and civil defence were asking people not to use their phones unless absolutely necessary, to keep lines free for emergencies.

Anyway, it soon transpired that the epicenter was near Selfoss, about an hours’ drive from here [as it was the last time we had a major quake, in 2000] and the quake was somewhere between 6.1 and 6.7 on the Richter scale [reports vary]. I had the radio on in the car and there were live reports from Selfoss, where the reporter was clearly very shaken. Thankfully there were no major injuries to people [one good thing about living in Niceland is that they’re sticklers about building standards over here] but as you can imagine there was a fair bit of damage - outhouses collapsed at farms so sheep and lambs had to be put down, things fell off walls and shelves, household items were smashed, there was damage to roads and bridges, and there were landslides in various places. For the longest time people were strongly advised not to go back inside buildings for fear of another quake; the hospital and seniors’ home were evacuated and shelters were [and have been] set up both in Selfoss and here in Reykjavík, for people who can’t or don’t want to spend the night at home. Some buildings [like the hospital] are heavily damaged, with deep cracks in the walls and such, so obviously remaining inside is risky.

EPI’s brother lives in Selfoss; EPI spoke to him earlier. Turns out nothing was damaged at their place except for one egg cup that broke, which must be considered lucky since their massive mutha of a stove [it’s got three ovens in it] actually moved about 5 cm across the floor. Also, EPI’s brother had just finished some stonework in front of the house [a low wall of some sort] which was flattened. EPI was kind of concerned that their turf roof would have slid right off the sides, which would have been kind of unfortunate - but he needn’t have worried, it remained firmly in place so they’ll be spared the experience of sleeping under the stars.

Meanwhile, seismologists have determined that a major aftershock is not very likely since there were actually two earthquakes this afternoon, rather than one [which presumably accounts for how long it seemed to last]. Note bene, this is not counting smaller tremor that happened both before and after, and are still going on. This will also have eased a fair bit of the tension, which means that the people of Selfoss whose houses were not damaged are now officially free to sleep at home tonight. The others will have to spend the night elsewhere.

THANKFULLY IT WAS A GORGEOUS DAY
So the peeps of Selfoss could pass the time outdoors this afternoon without too much trouble. According to the reporter I listened to in the car, where she was standing women had come running outside in their bare feet - they’d been in the middle of a pedicure at a beauty salon, while others were having their hair highlighted so had a head full of aluminium foil [wonder what their hair looks like now!]. It was another utterly gorgeous day, right now we have 10°C [50F] and sunrise this morning was at 3.30 am, sunset due in exactly an hour, at 11.22 pm.

Once upon a time, the idea of a famous rock band playing in Niceland was about as far flung as Denise Richards’ wedding ring. Between, say, 1970 and 1990, you could basically count the number of famous acts that stopped here on the fingers of one hand. There was Led Zeppelin in 1972 and then there was Jethro Tull at one point, and Ella Fitzgerald, and that was about it.

Those were the days. Today you can’t seem to turn around without someone thrusting a concert in your face. Iceland, apparently, is the IT girl on the concert circuit. If it’s financially viable [a nation of 300,000 doesn’t exactly support stadium-sized spectacles] they’ll come and they’ll play.

Which obviously is a Very Good Thing. In the past we’d have to chase concerts to some country or another; now they come to us. Last week it was John Fogerty. Last Saturday it was Wayne Shorter. Last night it was Bob Dylan. In a couple of weeks it will be Paul Simon. And in a couple of months Eric Clapton. – I’ll say it again: we’re the size of a London suburb; we’re freaking Ealing. Can we support this kind of activity? ~ Apparently.

EPI went to see Dylan last night; admittedly at the last minute because he’s already spent a fair amount of dosh on concerts this summer and wasn’t sure he wanted to afford it. YT gave it a miss because I’m a not a huge Dylan fan [although I do know the lyrics of Like a Rolling Stone by heart, do not ask me how] but when EPI came home gushing about it I gave myself a couple swift kicks in the butt for not mustering up the pep to go. I have now decided to take my cue from EPI’s brother and sister-in-law, who are resolved to hit all the major concerts this summer – because when the circus comes to town, you should go.

Plus, just think of all the dosh I’ll save by not having to go to another country.

THE SUN STRUGGLED TODAY, REALLY STRUGGLED

… to get out from behind the clouds, but never really made it. Went out for a long walk at lunchtime with a friend and it kept threatening to shine the entire time. Meanwhile, it was pretty windy, but not cold, so bearable. Out by the golf course the arctic tern* is gearing up for nesting season [they fly halfway around the fricking globe to nest on a golf course, how misguided is that?] and it’s hard to know which is more life-threatening: getting walloped in the head by a golf ball or attacked by a tern. It’s currently 9°C [48F] and our sun came up at 3.35 am, went down at 11.16 pm.

* Factoid: In Icelandic the arctic tern is called kría, which is almost an exact replication of the sound they make when they’re attacking you. Kría is also an offhand term for a nap, don’t ask me why because I don’t know.

About 12 years ago, when I was just starting out as a freelance translator, I got a job translating a film script from Icelandic into English. It was written by a young up-and-coming filmmaker [who has since gone on to make a couple of attention-grabbing films] and the translation was commissioned by the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. The script was to be entered into a pan-European scriptwriting competition held by the national broadcasting services of all European nations and it had to be in English. A couple of months later it was announced that this particular script had won the competition, which was a fairly big deal and got considerable press coverage. Nowhere, however, was there mention of a translator, or indeed, a translation.

I was kinda peeved about that. Not only had I given my best to the assignment, but having my name associated with a prize-winning script would have been really helpful to me at the time. I was new to the trade, assignments were not exactly coming in on a conveyor belt, and I was supporting a small child on my own. So I called up the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service to ask why my name as translator hadn’t been included – wasn’t it common practice to have a translator’s name associated with his or her work? The Director of Domestic programming, whom I was put through to, was extremely defensive, bordering on hostile. No, they did not see the point in mentioning the translator because it wasn’t about the translation, it was about the script. I started to protest, at which he cut me off with the immortal phrase: Þú ert bara þýðandi úti í bæ sem færð greitt fyrir þína vinnu. Which basically translates as: “You’re just some translator who has been paid for your work.” Ah. Thank you for clarifying that.

This incident came to mind last week when I attended the opening of an exhibition held in connection with the Reykjavík Arts Festival. The exhibition – and opening – was at one of Iceland’s most highly-regarded cultural institutions, and a rather lavish catalogue – a book, really – had been published to accompany the exhibition. YT had been commissioned to translate all the text in the book – a significant body of work.

At the opening, the director of this particular institution, who by virtue of her role is one of the main pillars of Icelandic culture, stood up to make a speech. She spoke briefly about the exhibition, then turned her attention to the book, remarking how proud of it she was [deservedly so] and enthusing about all the people involved in making it happen. She cited the names of all the artists featured in the book, the editor, the co-editor, the person who wrote the text, the person who wrote the introduction, and finally, the designer.

Not a word about the translator. This despite the fact that 100 percent of the text in the book was translated, the translation had taken several weeks to complete and had cost this particular institution hundreds of thousands of Icelandic kronur [ISK 100,000 = USD 1,400 / EUR 900]. The translator was a nonentity.

This is merely one example of many, many.

Let’s ponder for a moment what Icelandic society would be like if there were no translators. For one thing, instruction manuals, packaging and such would be in a language other than Icelandic. Seeing as how most consumer goods are imported, that might create a few problems. The vast majority of television programmes and movies would be incomprehensible to a large part of the population. Communication with exporters abroad would be difficult at best, so imports to this country would presumably be severely limited. Icelandic companies and insitutions would not easily be able to promote themselves overseas, so export revenues for this country would be neglible. Foreign cooperation in just about every sector – defense, education, economics, communications, health, culture, arts, science, judicial – would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Icelandic writers and artists would not be able to promote their work outside of Iceland, and similarly Icelanders would not have the benefit of reading works from other cultures in their own language. The tourism sector would be set back by about a century.

In short, this country would regress back to the dark ages.

Most translators work independently and therefore we don’t have the resources to make our voice heard. But does that automatically mean that our work should be insivible? Or dismissed? Or not given the credit it deserves? I wonder if there will ever be an awakening concerning our important contribution to this society. Obviously things have clearly not changed much over the last 12 years, so alas, I am not very hopeful.

BLUSTERY BUT MILD OUT THERE
Overcast and it’s been threatening to rain, although I’ve yet to see a drop. Apparently we’re in the midst of an Icelandic-style heatwave, wOOt! Yesterday was heavenly, for example, and we wouldn’t mind a bit more sun later today or tomorrow. Right now we have 11°C [52F] with sunrise this morning at 3.38, sunset scheduled for 11.13 this evening.

Went to the end-of-the-year showcase performance by students at the National School of Dance this evening, held at the Reykjavík City Theatre. My youngest stepdaughter was performing … it’s her last show at this particular venue as she’ll graduate at the end of the fall semester and these performances are generally only held there in the spring. Anyway, as I sat there I started to get yet another case of the warm and fuzzies about living in Iceland because … THE TALENT. It’s amazing how many talented people there are in this country and how freely and exuberantly they display that talent. I mean, we’re a nation of 300,000 people, f’rcryingoutloud, and yet you NEVER sense that in the creativity of the people here. It would be so easy for this city or this country to be like any old outpost of the same size where people have no hope and no faith in their own resources or their own creativity, but instead it’s the opposite. In Iceland, virtually everyone is creative, and virtually EVERYONE believes they can do anything, even conquer the world. And as I sat there and watched these kids so full of energy and promise and just giving their all to what they were doing, I just thought YES! Just … YES!!

SCORCHER!

People: I got my first sunburn of the season today. It was fantastic. Went out to meet some colleagues for lunch and we ended up at the amazing Jómfrúin, which had tables set up out on the sidewalk. We were there for just over an hour, and I have a very fetching, sunburned half-moon on my chest matching the scoop neck of my American Apparel top. And it was HOT. At least 17°C in the sun. Right now it’s 8°C [46F], the sun came up at 4.15 this morning, went down at 10.35 this evening.

Niceland seems to be a bit of a media darling these days, what with all the tales of our economic troubles, the big feature in Newsweek, and an article on page one in the Wall Street Journal, which focuses on our alleged obsession with big souped-up jeeps that have been customized to drive all over our rugged landscapes. The main gist of the article [if I understand it correctly] is that this little hobby practiced by ‘thousands of people’ here in Iceland is one of the casulties of the current economic downturn, as gas prices are making the cost of tearing up the glaciers and general terrain for a weekend about as much as that of ‘a weekend trip to London’.

Meanwhile, the truth is that the monster jeep demographic is a fairly small one [I don’t know of a single person who practices this hobby, even in my extended social network], and has earned itself more than a lot of bad press here lately by attaching itself to the trucker demonstrations, helping them block roads and such, thereby causing a lot of grief for the general populace. Whereas people were sympathetic to the plight of the truckers, at least initially, the 4×4 club, as they call themselves, just made fools of themselves. I mean, blocking traffic and potentially endangering lives [causing delays for emergency vehicles] just because it is more expensive for you now to get your jollies tearing around up on the glaciers? Get a grip.

Not that they had a lot of popularity to lose. Their vehicles are especially designed for offroad driving, and offroad driving is completely illegal in this country [tourists take note!] for a very good reason: our vegetation is incredibly sensitive and it can take nature centuries to repair damage inflicted by a single offroad joyride. Also, just last weekend a particular case made the papers, concerning a jeep flipping over and onto the mountain hut at Landmannalaugar, causing damage of millions of kronur to the building. The culprits, who were guides for an unnamed [not by me – I would definitely name them] touring company and who were seriously inebriated, hightailed it away from the scene [unfortunately for them there were witnesses] and according to reports the park warden expected them to return and own up – but they didn’t. An investigation is now underway and with any luck heads will roll.

So, whereas the economic downturn is a reality here and a lot of people are reportedly struggling, the WSJ is a bit misguided in highlighting this as something indicative of our current economic woes. Indeed, yesterday’s Fréttablaðið wrote a blurb about the article and cited a quote attributed to one Alfred “Spotti” Bergisson, who was “willing to fight for his right to party” and who told the WSJ: “I just want to go where I want to go … I get energy in the mountains. I think there.” Which prompted Fréttablaðið to quip: “It’s very good for people to think … for example, about their treatment of the countryside and environmental issues.”

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY BUDS

It rained yesterday, was sunny this morning, and is clouding over now BUT all the buds are emerging on the trees, which is delightful. And the best thing – buds don’t cost anything or carry any interest in foreign loans! [or tear up the landscape!] We’re in for more rain later today and tomorrow, but generally it’s mild and everything is turning green. Right now 13°C [55F] and the day is getting longer by the minute – sunrise this morning was at 4.45 am and sunset is scheduled for 10.06 pm.