Iceland Niceland

A few things about this wonderful country:

☆ Icelanders don't have last names.
☆ Hot water in Reykjavik smells like sulfur.
☆ Icelanders are probably the friendliest people in the world.
☆ There are only two seasons: 'winter' and 'waiting for summer'
☆ They sell yarn at supermarkets.
☆ Icelandic coins have fish images on them.
☆ There are no dialects in Icelandic.
☆ Icelanders always wear their seat belts.

a beautiful family

During our three weeks in Iceland, we were based in Reykjavik at my friend Oscar's house. I met Oscar in 2002 when I was traveling in Vietnam with my good friend Laura. Oscar was traveling with his sister and we met in Halong Bay. We hit if off really well and traveled together for about two weeks. We kept in touch, and nine years later, we met again -- this time in Iceland! Oscar founded a volunteer organization called SEEDS (http://www.seeds.is/) and has been working to promote cultural diversity and international understanding. He is raising an adorable boy with Anna and has shown us the beauty of having a family. Yoshi and I are hoping to have children after our travels, so it was so nice to spend time with Oscar and Anna and see how they manage working while raising a child. They welcomed us into their home, showed us the 'real Iceland', and have been so wonderful to us. They are the warmest and most loving people ever! Thank you! Arigato! Takk!

Gifts we made for Oscar, Anna, and Andri-Mateo:

drawing by Yoshi

origami by Sahe

tiramisu and shave ice

Perhaps I was craving sweets.

The Jokulsarlon looked like tiramisu and shave ice to me.

Slow as a turtle

Hitchhiking again with our big backpacks.

This time we got picked up by a Belgian and Brazilian couple. Thanks guys!

Ash crossing

On May 21st, the day we arrived in Iceland, the Grimsvotn volcano erupted. We drove by the volcano for the first time on Tuesday. We couldn't see the volcano from the road but the area was covered in a blanket of ash. Every time the wind would blow, swarms of ash would cross the road.



We spent that night at Skaftafell. We were out of food (again), so we walked nearly two hours to buy bread -- with strong winds hitting our face and volcanic ash in our mouth.



We ended up eating instant noodles and bread that night. Good thing I brought my vitamins! Yoshi and I have been talking about travel cooking. It's easy to buy instant food but we want to try and be more creative and master the art of travel cooking.

Really bad instant noodles

6-person dorm room

Fish Burger

Sudureyri is a small fishing village in Northwestern Iceland. Population: 120. All fishing is done by rod and hook. They fish for cod and haddock, which are shipped to the U.S. and Europe for fish burgers. Next time you have a fish burger, think of the fishermen in Sudureyri!

Sudureyri

This was our second day hitchhiking. The town of Isafjordur is a 20-minute drive from Sudureyri. Not far at all. This time we got picked up by a friendly milk delivery man. Everyone in Iceland is so friendly!

Yoshi & the milk delivery guy

4 generations, family of 50

We celebrated Yoshi's birthday at a seafood restaurant in Isafjordur. The restaurant, an old log cabin, had a warm, cozy feeling to it with long wooden tables and benches. There was a big group of Icelanders so we were asked to sit at the table in the corner. An American couple and a Maltese couple joined us and it became the 'foreigners' table'. The two couples were on vacation and we all shared our traveling stories.

The restaurant is the red log cabin

Half way through dinner, one of the Icelanders stood up and started to give a speech (in Icelandic, of course). I guess the man was pretty funny because everyone was laughing (well, except us foreigners). And one after the other, the locals began giving speeches and telling jokes. Then, one guy stood up and said in English, "For those of you in the corner, let me explain to you what's going on. We are having a family reunion to celebrate my late grandmother's 100th birthday. It is an Icelandic tradition for one person from each table to stand up and tell a funny story. So now my friends, it's your turn!" The crowd burst into laughter and the spotlight was on us. I hate talking in front of people, but the Maltese guy gave a nice toast to the Icelanders.

The family was so friendly and you could tell how much they cared for each other. The children told jokes, the men shared old stories, and the women sang songs that have been passed down for generations. It was such a lovely dinner! I think I mentioned this before, but Icelanders are so warmhearted. And this family was no exception. They made us feel so welcome and they even sang Happy Birthday to Yoshi in Icelandic!

Two Thumbs Up!

We had another driving adventure on Thursday. We were supposed to drive our friend's car to Heydalur, a farm in the northeast, by noon so we left the house at 6am. We took turns driving and made it to the town of Holmavik by 11am. We were just 30 minutes away from the farm when the unexpected happened. We were lost, driving along a narrow gravel road, and when we tried to U-turn, the car got stuck in a ditch! Just 10 ft away was a cliff and no guard rails. If we backed up too much, we would fall! It was the worse place to get stuck. We jacked up the car, placed flat stones under the tires, and tried every imaginable thing we could think of. But the car just simply wouldn't move. Two hours passed... and miraculously, we managed to get the car out! It was definitely good team work and good spirits that pulled us out of there.

We arrived at the farm two hours late, and from there we hitchhiked. Our hostel for the night was located 75 miles from the farm. We started walking but only saw two cars in 30 minutes.

It wasn't easy getting picked up. One hour passed... We thought we would have to walk all the way to the hostel...

But then a car stopped for us! It was a nice old lady who was driving alone. She was on her way to a town called Flateryi to visit her parents. She was a farmer all her life and had five daughters and 13 grandchildren.

She was so kind to drive us all the way to our hostel. It was an hour and a half drive. We said, "Takk" (thank you in Icelandic) and she smiled and said, "No, thank you. It was much more fun than driving alone." What a nice woman she was!

The hostel we stayed at was a little house in the middle of nowhere.

The problem was food. There were no shops nearby, the hostel had no food, and we had eaten all our cookies and peanuts. All we had was a tiny bag of raisins. We knew we would have to go to sleep on an empty stomach, but I actually had a little something that would bring a smile to Yoshi's face!

A bag of instant rice with dried vegetables that I had secretly brought from Japan. It was Yoshi's birthday on Friday and I thought a consumable gift would be appropriate. And I knew he would miss Japanese rice! It was a day early but I gave him his gift that night. He was so happy! Look at the big smile on his face.

Don't forget to post a birthday message on Yoshi's blog!

Icelandic horse meat

Gunnar invited us over for dinner tonight. He cooked horse meat, which I had never tried before. The meat was salty but it went really well with the sweet white sauce. To be honest, I was a little hesitant to try horse, but it was fantastic!

And after dinner, we picked rhubarb from the garden and Gunnar made a delicious desert with marshmallows and ice cream. Thanks for the wonderful meal, Gunnar!

Japanese Night

On Monday, we cooked Japanese food for Oscar, Anna, and their friends. We went to two different Asian markets (Vietnamese and Thai) and bought as many Japanese ingredients as we could find. We couldn't get miso, cooking sake, bonito flakes and dried seaweed for broth, but we improvised and it turned out pretty good. We made sushi rolls, tamagoyaki (Japanese-style omelette), nikujaga (potato and beef cooked in fish broth), tofu salad, shogayaki (gingered pork), instant miso soup, and rice balls with furikake seasoning. Everyone enjoyed the food and they even suggested we stay in Iceland and open up a Japanese restaurant!

Yoshi explaining how to make sushi rolls

Let's start rolling!

Tada!

 

 

We folded chopstick holders with origami paper

Sushi rolls and tamagoyaki

Nikujaga

 

 

Shogayaki and tofu salad

Rice balls with furikake seasoning

Relaxing at the summer house

We spent the weekend relaxing at Anna's parents' summer house.
I am moved by how warmhearted Icelanders are.

Anna and Yoshi preparing salmon in the kitchen

Yoshi and Oscar BBQ-ing. They're in t-shirts but it's actually pretty cold.

Me pretending to read an Icelandic book to Andri-Mateo

On top of the Skodafoss waterfall

Eyjafjallajökull volcano which erupted in 2010

Icelandic horses

 

 

Yoshi walking on an ash-covered glacier

Black sand beach

Whale Watching

 

 

 

Not the best photos, but we saw puffins,

harbour porpoises, and minke whales.

Birthday party

Last night, we were invited to our friend's nephew's 3rd birthday party. Icelandic parties are usually buffet-style. Delicious dishes are laid out on the table, and everyone eats as much as they like. The family was so warm and welcoming.

The birthday boy

Soccer cake

The gift we got him

Everyone together!