Vacationing 101 – Always take you Camera

Our first day in Reykjavik has been kind of uneventful. Shell has arrived safely with this morning and has a little jet lag. So today we have been lying around the hotel.

Our plan is to rest up today before setting off to see all the sites. For this reason, we missed the lunch service at the hotel restaurant and decided to take a taxi to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch with the intention of retuning shortly after we ate. This ended up being interesting since the taxi driver got lost, driving around the city centre. But we finally arrived and were able to obtain some what of an American meal, which I have been craving for some time now. After eliminating all hungry pains and regenerating our energy, we decided to walk down one of the shopping streets located nearby. Once we started off, both of us realized that we forgot to bring the camera. In addition, this was worse due to fact the weather today was rarely nice and sunny.

Most of our hiking adventure today was not that spectacular and there was not much that called for a picture. But one thing led to another and we ended up at the Hallgr ímskirkja, which is the largest church in Iceland and in my opionion is remarkable.

We ended up walking the remaining distance back to hotel, but we will have to go back and take some pictures. Luckly we can see it from our hotel and I am able to include a picture.

Bored

First let me say that I don’t know why I am writing this. Due to the reason that I feel only one person reads my blog and this particular person is current on a plane coming to see me here in Iceland. For this reason I know she will not be able to ready this anytime soon. Maybe I am wrong and some other people actual look at this page, but of course I am writing this anyway.

After living in Iceland for over a year in East Iceland, I still would say that I have not really experienced Iceland. Currently I am living in an area that has a total population of approximately 1500 people, which spread through out over 150km and is doubled by the construction work force. I have taken several drives around the area to return with some pictures of a glacier, many pictures of waterfalls and rocks, and not much more. This would be sufficient for one trip, not the several I have taken. Needless to say that there is not much to do.

So is Iceland one of the most isolated areas in world or is there much more to this island?

Well the obvious answer would be, yes there has to be more. Over the next few days I will be able to answer that question by experience. Currently I am waiting in Reykjavik for Shell to arrive for several days roaming around West Iceland. Since I want to share all these experiences I am waiting in the hotel for her to arrive and currently taking advantage of decent internet connection.

“THIS IS ICELAND”

At work we have a plan of the day meeting every morning, which includes a weather report. Most of us have no idea what the weather is going to be for the day and since we are in a fairly isolated area there is not much of a weather report. For this reason, we always leave the forecast to a local.

When I first started working here, this guy giving the forecast was fairly accurate. For example one day, he told us that it would rain for most of the day, but it would stop at 3:30. Later that day I was walking back up to the office when the rain stopped suddenly and I looked to see what time it was. He was a little off, it was 4:30. Not too bad. But the past few months it hasn’t been he hasn’t been as accurate. This has lead to very vague reports, which we always seem to include a possibility of snow (light snow he calls corn flakes), rain, and wind. Then when the weather is bad he always ends the report with “This is Iceland”.

Today, he made the statement before the meeting. As I walked through the door.

Random Thoughts

I know that this is a little late, but January 16th marked my one year anniversary being in Iceland. You may ask how did I celebrate this joyous occasion? Answer, consume enough rum to remove all thoughts of this event. Unfortunately I had to sober up and there is the constant reminded of still being here.

“Hoth” represents the place I live fairly well. My recent attempt to escape my current imprisonment on this ICE land has made me rethink the title of my Blog. My thoughts are of a different SiFi movie. “Jim on the Gulag Planetoid Rura Penthe” is better realization of my current status. For those who don’t know, Rura Penthe is the ice-covered Klingon penal colony from Star Trek VI. But I’m going to stay with the “Jim on Hoth”, mainly because the sound of the new title doesn’t appeal to me like the current title and I am more of a fan of Star Wars than Star Trek.

My attempted escape failed, but the good news is couple of friends has just recently fulfilled this seemingly impossible feat. So there is still hope.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been going through withdraws from lack of decent consumables & entertainment. Occasionally I regress back to childhood by finding bliss from cartoons and PB&J. But this came to a screeching halt when I found out that my Peter Pan PB was part of the recalled, of course this is after I eaten half the jar. But don’t worry. No Salmonella and the “Captain” has saved the day again, and no this captain is not Kirk. Just recently I received a care package from my lovely wife, which contained a box of Captain Crunch. In addition to some newly acquired movies, life is better now.

Urinal Cakes

During my lunch break I usually will take a look at news, which usually includes a little bit of everything from International to the local newspaper back home. At least a couple times a week this usually leads to the “Weird Wide World” section of tri-cities herald online. I find that this section does an excellent job of placing so many weird stories from all over the world. Even MSN and CNN cannot even compete with the “THE HERALD”.

Usually I just browse through the short description deciding if any are worth reading more, when I came across “N.M. orders 500 talking urinal cakes”. Now with a headline like that I could resist to see what they are talking about. Sure enough the state of New Mexico has order 500 talking urinal cakes at $21 each, in the attempt to help prevent men driving while under the influence. The states idea is that men that have been drinking at the bars/restaurants, they usually use the bathroom prior to getting behind the wheel. These devices are motion sensitive, so when someone walks up to urinal a women’s voice that is flirty says the following:

"Hey, big guy. Having a few drinks?”

“Think you had one too many? Then it's time to call a cab or call a sober friend for a ride home."

And then finishes up with best part

“Remember, your future is in your hand."