I live in Iceland AMA

[Whynotnowbaby]

As the title says. I’ve lived here for a couple of years now having moved from the U.K.

This concept sounds wonderful. Truly!

We loved Iceland - toured around the country a few years ago. Our kids loved the local pool in Mossfellsbaer. We liked the off-beat Icelandic humour evident in the contemporary art we saw, the creativity, great music and the sense of practicality.

We found places like Seydisfjordur took bloody ages to get to (if worth it) and seemed like they’d be much less accessible in the winter. Do people in the east of the country tend to fly to Reykjavik when they have business there, or drive? Going in and out of the eastern fjords was endless and there were airfields everywhere.

Betty I think people generally fly to Reykjavík I’d they are in isolated communities but those communities are also pretty self-contained. I have a friend who was brought up on a tiny island and she said they barely left the island, ordered clothes by mail order and perhaps went to the “big smoke” (Akureyri in the north in her case) once a year.

Ah yes, Akureyri had the first traffic lights we had encountered in over a week.

Hi!

Do you have a traditional Sunday meal?

How is Christmas celebrated?

DH wants to drive up the cliffs as he used to watch it on trans world sports. He has asked whether this is an activity he could partake in as a tourist. I of course think that he is bonkers!

Ha! I used to live in Reykjavik. Many years ago.

caribou that’s cool, what were you doing here?

Ladyg I’m afraid I don’t know what Icelandic people eat for Sunday lunch. I do know that going out for a weekend brunch is very popular and that pizza - homemade or takeaway - is virtually compulsory on Friday nights. So much so that school dinners are planned to have a lighter meal on Fridays to take it into account!

Christmas is amazing, a combination of the Christian traditions and the old Yule traditions. The Yule seems to take precedence with the high point for children being the visit of thirteen “Yule lads” (a cross between trolls and Father Christmas) who come and deliver a (small) present each day before Christmas. Their mum eats naughty children and their cat bizarrely eats children who don’t get new clothes for Christmas. The traditional Christmas meal is hangikjöt, it’s smoked lamb but much more smoked than anything I have ever eaten in England- it tastes like someone left it on the table during a house fire to me!

I also don’t know if tourists can do the cliff driving but I doubt your travel insurance would cover it!

Sorry to bring Covid into this... I am booked to come to Iceland end of October, holiday of a lifetime - even if we are allowed to fly, will Iceland let us in?! I’m assuming corona is being quite well managed in Iceland, but we don’t hear much about it here?

@Fourcandelabras Yes, we are nearly Covid free (for now) has quite a lot at the peak but now six active cases remain and society is slowly reopening. Iceland is actually a world leader in its response and have done more testing per capita than any other country which has then contributed to a lot of research.

They have said that from mid June you will be able to come into the country without quarantine as long as you have a test at the airport. The problem may be getting here. Hardly any flights at the moment but I assume they will start to resume something a bit more routine once the testing is in place.

Do you ever see Sportacus!!! 😂

No questions to add but thank you for sparking happy memories of my two Icelandic trips (to date; 3rd one already in the planning stage). Landmannalauger remains the most phenomenal place I gave visited.

Actually, one question springs to mind. How do (most) Icelanders feel about the whaling that is still carried out? It's the one aspect of Icelandic culture I hate and does give me pause to consider visiting again.

I love it up there. Have been several times and was just now speaking to a friend from there about relocating for six months (as a start) when possible. How did you start to learn the language? That's been my regret so far when I've visited - not knowing it.

laurie not Sportacus but I have met the girl who plays Stephanie, she has done some workshops in our school.

Maidofkent I haven’t really discussed whaling with anyone but it seems out of kilter with the gentle, often vegetarian or vegan, Icelanders I know. Clearly some of them must think it’s a good idea though which I find hard to accept

I started learning on Icelandic online, it’s a free course created by the university and the very first course (pre level 1) is quite accessible. After that it gets very difficult very quickly! I try to speak it whenever I can but it’s not easy to get an opportunity when everyone speaks English to such a high standard you feel you’re wasting their time by insisting on using your halting Icelandic!

@Whynotnowbaby crossing fingers! I’ve wanted to visit Iceland all my life, though I get that missing out on a holiday because of Covid is pretty low level impact in terms of everything that’s going on at the moment Great that the government is doing so well keeping infection levels down - that’s brilliant.

Me too! I moved in 2011 so been here a bit longer than you. I wonder if I've met you before :)

I really think it's one of the best places in the world to live, we are so lucky. What's your favourite pool?

GCITC Ég var búin að vera að læra íslensku í 3 ár þegar ég flutti og þá talaði ég alls ekki lýtalaust en gat þó bjargað mér. Ég held það sé ekki hægt að verða alveg reiprennandi nema maður flytji hingað. Gerðu það bara! ;)

Whynotnowbaby thanks for the reply and information. I'll look it up.

puffinshop maybe, it’s a small world! Definitely feels like the safest place to be at the moment! My favourite pool is Patreksfjörður in the Westfjords but I also love Álftanes for somewhere more local, how about yours? I’m keen to try out some new ones!

Mosfellsbæjarlaug for the kids, definitely. It has the best slides! It's not our 'local', though, so we don't go that often.

In the whole of Iceland, for beauty I haven't seen better than Hofsós.

Have you been back yet? We were planning to go for a celebratory swim when they reopened but then realised that everyone else would probably have the same idea and the weather hasn't been the best so we are waiting a few more days.

DS (12) was supposed to go on a school trip to Iceland and then lockdown happened.

Now rescheduled, but what currency would you recommend I send with him?

@Whynotnowbaby

I love Iceland and would love to move there.

Can you tell me how?

I'm disabled so that may be a problem - is it points based or something?

I also have a very niche job so again finding a similar job could be difficult. DH is a p/t photographer so could potentially do that. He's also an engineer full time.

What about schools, particularly English speaking (with Icelandic tuition)

Also regarding travel. I saw that Iceland are encouraging people to return but surely Keflavik airport is going to be mobbed!

I hope you don't mind me jumping on your thread, OP, but I can recommend some Icelandic fiction.

Independent People by Halldór Laxness is a masterpiece. Anything by Halldór Laxness is great but that's the best one in my opinion.

The sagas are a lot of fun, especially Laxdæla saga and Njáls saga. You might think medieval literature would be tedious but it's really not, if you can get used to 50% of the characters being named Þorgeir.

101 Reykjavík by Hallgrímur Helgason (the film is also brilliant).

There's so much great stuff that hasn't been translated which is such a shame!

Interesting thread OP
I know little about Iceland
DS spent a week there on a school trip a few years ago and loved it.
I am due to visit with friends for a special brothday in October. I think it will go ahead?

My question is what do you miss about UK that you can't get in Iceland? If anything..

Puffinshop that sounds like a good tip, I’ve never been there so will give it a go. I haven’t braved them yet, I think I’ll give it the weekend and then hopefully it will calm down. Dd has been back at her swimming lessons since 1st though.

@nuttymomma unfortunately I think it has got much harder post Brexit. I haven’t investigated so there may still be more opportunities but if we are now on the same footing as everyone else from outside the EU it’s tricky. You have to have a job offer from a firm to do a job that they have tried and failed to recruit for within Iceland and in the EU. There are a few Americans in the school I work at so it is possible to get work as a teacher on that basis but there are only two, very small, international schools so you would need to be a qualified teacher offering the subject they happened to be recruiting for at the time. In terms of English teaching, there are very few jobs for that and most schools would want you to speak at least a little Icelandic so you can participate in staff meetings etc. and again you would need to be a qualified teacher to get them. That is my understanding but @PuffinShop may know more than I do.