6/11/09

Went to Icelandic class. Ate lunch with Aki and (gosh...it's bad that I don't know her name...the Vietnamese girl) at Sandholt Bakery. Apparently the Vietnamese girl actually lives in Akranes and takes and hour bus ride every day to get to the Icelandic lessons. I had a sandwich with bacon, turkey, lettuce, tomato, sauce, and hard-boiled eggs, a mini passionfruit macaroon, and a danish-like pastry for later. I got a text from Flo saying she might have a driver and to meet her at Karamba, a coffee shop. Joao had returned a day early because the Germans didn't like the scenery or something, which I really can't understand.

Guy, a dude (guy sounds redundant if I say it..again) from Australia was also CouchSurfing with the same host as Flo and drives. Apparently has also been called "Gooey" once. He had just spent about 3 months in the states, traveling and staying in New York for a while with a guy he met in Vietnam, who pretty much drove him all around. During this trip, he stayed in Durham for a few days with a CouchSurfer who lives by the Dog House. ahahah. He had just arrived in Reykjavik at 6 AM that day. He said it was nearby this super tall prison in the middle of town. I'm not too surprised. Apparently, he was trying out this weird sleeping thing in which he would sleep for half an hour every 4 hours.

Joao and Flo wanted to go to the hot springs in Hvergerdi, so we decided to take the bus there. We were supposed to meet at Hlemmur, the bus station, at 2, but I was 10 minutes late, as usual. Guy decided to stay back, rent the car for Friday and nap. We had to take the bus to Mjodd, another bus station, then to Hveragerdi. The station ran out of change for 1000, so I had to buy a 10 kr caramel at this little shop in the station to get change back. The guy was nice about it..ahaha. It's annoying having to have exact change for bus tickets.

The bus rides were fairly uneventful. We talked briefly about...counterfeit goods (because Flo's counterfeit Lesportsac that she bought in Tel Aviv was really falling apart), and greed of American corporations and whatnot. ahaha. When we got to Hveragerdi, the stop was at a Shell station. We realized we would have to walk about 4.5 km to the start of the hiking trail in addition to the 3.3 km to the springs, not including the trip back. We tried hitchhiking on the way up, but nobody stopped. We asked a group of French campers how much further it was. They were mildy helpful, but they didn't say anything about...following them, which would have been nice. I could not for the life of me remember if we went on the gravel road or the paved road and felt wracked with guilt. In the end, it turned out to be the right one, though I kept saying that I didn't see the cliff I peed behind in my distress. ahaha. The hike was PRETTY brutal, and I remembered how much I struggled on the way up, but at least this time I sort of knew where we were going, though it was really tiring. It was a super nice day though, and the sun was up and everything...perfection. Flo mentioned that I walked funny...ahaha. I told her I was very much aware of this fact.

We got to the springs, ate some food, and got in. There was a part where the waves came over the rocks, and sitting in there was like sitting in a jacuzzi. ahaha. The sun came out, and it was pretty freaking sweet. Joao called it the perfect afternoon. Not so sure about perfect...maybe without the hike it'd be perfect. We soaked in there for a while. Taking self-timer shots was a bit of a struggle. ahaha. Three couples (at least) hiked up to the stream and saw us there. ahaha. The last couple decided to get in too. They really weren't shy about stripping off their clothes. ahaha. I struggled some, but it was alright. Joao seemed really concerned about getting mud on his shoes, I think. And I was like uh...they're hiking shoes. But I didn't say that.

The hike back wasn't bad at all. The flat walk back to Hvergerdi was the worst, and we were starving. We stopped by this Icelandic version of Subway shop. The guy was really nice and told us to get pizza at a place down the street, but we thought we didn't have time. Got a hot dog at the Shell gas station because I was starving even though I really wanted a burger. We waited over half an hour for the bus to come (came at 10:10). Then at Mjodd, we boarded a bus that went to Hlemmur. Unfortunately, as this nice kid on the bus told us, the bus would loop around one neighborhood twice before going to Hlemmur. So we saw a lot of the Reykjavik suburbs...ahaha. We got back around...11:30? Then we went to DeVito's pizza right outside Flo's host's place. I went with her into the flat to see if Guy was there, and it had the cutest decor ever. It's green on the outside and the walls and stairs inside are also green and yellow. The floor is splattered with paint, and there are Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe prints on the walls. The flat was pretty freaking nice too. A lot bigger and nicer and probably more expensive than the one I'm in.

I decided to run out to the harbor because the sunset was AMAZING. Then I ran back to DeVito's pizza. Ate a slice of Joao's pizza with...onions, pepperoni, and mushrooms, and it was delicious. He was eating with a knife and a fork, and I was like...yeah no. Apparently Brazil was also playing Paraguay in soccer, which was being shown on the TVs in there. Then we made the trek back down Laugavegur. There were a ton of people out partying already, though it was probably only midnight at the latest.

Talked to Linda for about an hour or so on Skype and went to bed around 2:30AM.

6/12/09
Got up around 8:15AM and took a shower. Got a text from Flo saying to meet at the hostel at 10:15AM. We were supposed to meet up in front of Hlemmur again, but Guy took a while to wake up, so we waited outside their flat. Guy walks in this kind of stumbling manner, so we were like...oh great...he is in no shape to drive. He was dressed quite stylishly though in his chambray blazer, teal skinny jeans, tweed scarf, vintage sunglasses, and tennis shoes from Vietnam. Walked the 30 minutes to the hostel.

There was some confusion about whether or not Guy actually had reserved a car the day before (hostel receptionist took his name but nothing else), but we ended up getting a car. Stopped at a gas station to buy some provisions. I got a carton of juice and pancakes. The cashier could tell I was American but didn't know where NC was. ahaha. Guy apparently subsists on apples, water, peanuts, Snickers, and cheese and crackers. We got to Mosfellsbaer, and we saw a Kronan there, so we stopped again. I got tomatoes and a lot of Berry Company juice-purple superberry and goji berry. Yum!

Guy is a good driver in the sense that...he is very sure of himself, though a VERY scary driver. I think he was probably going...140 km/hr around these steep curves and passing pretty much every car. And up to 160 km/hr or 100 mph. ahaha. I think we all feared for our lives. He is a very interesting person and was hilarious and entertaining once we got him talking.

Apparently he went out to Bjorn's friends' place but took a long nap there. Then he walked around at about 4, showered, went to the 10.11, where he was prodded by a drunk person, came back around 5:30 and slept until Flo woke him up.

We first drove around Hvalfjordur, which was quite pretty, but the roads were super windy and scary. Stopped in Borgarnes, at the VERY tip of Borgarnes, where there was a kind of parking lot. Ate some tomatoes and hummus. Guy took the opportunity to do donuts (or wheelies, as he called them), the empty lot. It was amazingly fun, though I continued to fear for my life. I didn't realize what he meant by wheelies, so I did not have my seat belt on at the time, which made me collide with Joao on the other side of the back seat..ahaha. Centripetal force goes inwards? bahaha.

The car wouldn't start for a while after that when we stopped at a cafe, which was a bit scary. Borgarnes would be a really shitty place to get stuck. Guy said we could settle down and stay there forever, pointed to two guys walking by, and said Flo and I could marry them. ahahaha. The car finally started again, and we ate at a Filipino restaurant. Ironically, Flo, Joao, and I all ordered plokkfiskur, a traditional Icelandic fish hash with potatoes served with rye bread. Guy slept in the car. The Filipino lady who owned the place was super nice and knew about Egil's saga which took place in Borgarnes.

We all tried to talk to Guy to keep him from falling asleep. He talked about going to Vietnam and constantly being pestered by Vietnamese people about buying things. I asked Guy what kind of pretentious music he listened to, but all he could think of was Nick Cave and Dinosaur Jr. This turned into a conversation about Australian bands, which I apparently know very little about. I wondered if I could somehow blend in. Our first stop was Snaefellsjokull, a glacier. There was a little singing cave where dwarves were supposed to live. The glacier was quite nice, but I liked the ones along the South Coast more. I think this is when he ate the cheese and crackers...said he would do anything for me to have the cheese that I brought. I later sat on it on accident. Guy liked swerving onto the gravel roads because of the traction and doing little zigszaggy things. He would also stare out the windows at the scenery while driving, which made me really anxious. Often We also saw some sheep up close, and Joao threw crackers at them. Drove for a bit more and stopped at the pebble beach, which was pretty freaking amazing. I also got my shoes wet, thinking the waves would not hit me. ahaha. We stayed there for a pretty long time, until about 6:30-7. Guy talked about one of his friends who gave up a perfect architecture job to be with a girl who dumped him a week ago and remembered he should probably give his friend a call. We didn't really stop on the way back except for a gas refilling at Borgarnes, where Guy got some more Snickers.

Finally got back to Reykjavik around 9:40-ish and sorted out payment and everything. On the walk from the hostel back to our respective places, Guy asked us if we felt relieved that we were still alive, like we had just been on a plane with bad turbulence and thought we were going to die. Then I told him Joao was a plane engineer, so they talked about...planes for a while. I was carrying my huge backpack with my towel along with 3 containers of juice. It was really heavy, so I wore it in front of me for a bit., which was really awkward. Guy said if I were fat, I would feel that way all the time. We passed by Hofdi House, and I told them that's where the Cold War was ended. Guy randomly told me (though I can't remember how we got on this topic) that proportionally, swans have the longest penises of any animal and that the Ugly Ducking was some allegory for sexual dominance. We got to the small square next to Hlemmur, sorted out the money, only I ran out of smaller denominations of kronurs, so Guy just gave me 100 kronur.

Stopped by 11.11, so Joao could buy a sandwich for dinner. We said to meet about 40 minutes later to go to the Singapore Sling concert that Flo and her host had been talking about. I walked back to the flat, showered, put in contacts, and was barely ready in time. Joao also waited for me on the wrong street (one street over), so I stood there like an idiot on my street corner, eating my pancakes because I was starving.

Walked over to Sodoma, went in, and nobody was there. Asked some people inside, and they said to go to London around the corner. We were worried the show had ended as it was supposed to start at 10. Didn't start until 11:30. It was pretty awkward. We just sat there for a bit, at a table near the side and the speakers. Joao got a beer, but I didn't get anything..obviously. The first band had a female "singer," but basically she just yelped. She also wore a pair of Balenciaga knockoff heels. We went outside and walked around for a bit because Joao thought it was too loud. It was freaking cold outside though. Stopped by the 10.11, and he got a chocolate muffin. Went back in to see the next band, which was crappy poppy-punk-ish, but bad, with English lyrics. It took me a few minutes to even realize they were singing in English. Waited over thirty minutes after the end of their set for Singapore Sling to start. We saw this girl drop an full glass of beer on the ground and just walk away. Seemed like everyone in the bar knew everyone. Flo and Guy finally showed up around 1-ish. Guy had some trouble getting to the bar. Stood up a bit closer to the stage to watch Singapore Sling, but they pretty much sucked too. Before they started, while we were standing around, Guy took out what he called his rape whistle and blew on it, but it was really quiet. Guy would sometimes turn around and make this pained face that he seems to make quite often and the rock on symbol with his hand. It was probably because I looked freaking bored and was standing right in front of the singer the whole time. And two of them were wearing sunglasses, which is obnoxious. I got really tired, and just watched the people around me dance and get really into it. The people there were really awkward dancers. This one guy next to me just kind of rotated about his torso and shook his shoulders really weirdly. Another girl air drummed very poorly. I stood there trying to avoid stepping on this glass on the ground. They were also probably quite drunk, which likely helped. Icelanders seem to be pretty abysmal dancers though, or maybe they were just drunk. Joao and I left before the set was over because it was so crappy and loud (for him. I had earplugs, being the prepared person I am.) It was only 2, but some people were already seriously drunk. We saw one guy carrying his girlfriend. ahaha. On the way crossing Laekjargata, these two guys approached us, trying to get us to take a bite of their waffles. One guy got all up in my face was like, "Do you want a bite of my waffle?" I declined, then he said "You're very pretty." Great. The only people who tell me I'm pretty are my mom and super wasted guys. ahaha. Went to Vegamot, which a guy recommended to him. It was ridiculously crowded and humid, with a lot of dancing. We went up to the second floor, but the line for drinks was really long, and we left. Dillon seemed pretty packed too, so we didn't even try to go in. The door to Joao's hostel was locked, and he rang the buzzer, and a guy came out. Joao called it a night and went back to his hostel.

I decided to wander around a bit more and felt totally safe about it too. I bought a burger from the burger truck at the plaza and ate it while wandering around the plazas. There was some crazy screaming dude though in the other plaza, and I tried to stay away from him. I ended up bumping into Guy and two Icelandic guys he had befriended, Bjossi and Ari (Arni??), who were smoking outside. Talked to Arni mostly. I told him about the waffle guy and said, "I didn't want any of the guy's waffle," which he found quite amusing. ahaha. He was shocked when I said I didn't drink and was entertained when I told him I was studying folklore. He said 70% of Icelanders believe in elves, and that they build roads around elf rocks and such. He said super large rocks and cliffs were considered elf palaces. ahaha. Then he put his arm around me and talked to me about the Icelandic language. ahaha. Said something about a superstition-if you give a knife to someone, they have to pay you back for it? It doesn't even sound like a realy superstition. I love talking to drunk people...very friendly. He and Bjossi kept bumping into friends and talking to them. I think Guy called them fake, peroxide blondes. ahah. Talked to him a bit about my folklore proposals and research and stuff, but I think he was pretty drunk at this point, so it kind of went over his head. Went into Hemmi and Valdi so they could use the bathroom. When we went outside, Flo was there! With a Dan, a friend she had met in Tel Aviv and bumped into again on the smoking patio at Sodoma. So weird. Dan is from New York, and Guy asked him where he was from. But then Dan was all like "I asked you first," and Guy blew his rape whistle and pointed at him. We went to the Celtic Cellar where these two guys were doing Eurovision covers. These girls were singing along to every word. ahah. Guy made his face and complained about the shitty music. We all sat around, and I pretty much just listened to Guy because he is hilariously entertaining. He made a friend named Elvar (sp?), and apparently his ex (didn't date officially but lived together) was named Elva...as he typed out on his phone showing us the two spellings. He said she was a beautiful, beautiful girl. Dan corrected him, saying that she was, but now she's just a bitch. But Guy admitted that he had screwed her over, so she was still...beautiful and not a bitch in his book. ahaha.

As Elvar was sitting down, this random girl came by and kind of made out with him and left? ahaha. But only Dan and I noticed this exchange.

Somehow they got on the topic of hip-hop and put his watch on the button of his shirt, pretending to be Flava Flav? I talked to Dan about my not drinking. He thinks all the folklore just comes from really drunk people. Guy and Elvar were getting tired of the pub. Guy was irritated with the people in the pub, and he and Elvar devised a plan of beating up all the people and leaving-they contemplated whether or not to enlist Dan in the process. Guy and Dan were really confused by the brightness outside. Guy asked Elvar what he usually did on weekends. He said if he didn't bring a girl back, he would drink until 6AM, go back, go to work, and start drinking again around 3PM unless he had something else to do. Guy asked him what this "something" was-he said personally he liked to play putt-putt. ahahah.

Elvar said he had two cats and that they were easy to take care of because he didn't have to walk them. Guy said he hated cats because they were mean and all independent and stuff. Admittedly, my own experiences with cats here haven't been good. I can hear them hissing and snarling outside m window...

Guy decided he was tired of the Irish pub and wanted to leave. We stood around outside for a while trying to decide what to do. This one girl nearly walked straight into Guy because she was so drunk. At this point (or maybe it was outside Hemmi and Valdi?), he was randomly blowing his whistle and pointing at people. I looked at it more closely, and it had Smokey the Bear on it and "PREVENT WILDFIRES." I questioned how useful it would be in actually preventing wildfires, and he said that after blowing on it, they would automatically hear it somewhere and send reinforcement. Guy and Elvar decided to go to Bar 11 or something. I think the rest of us eventually decided to just go back to the flat because it was so chilly out. I got back at 4:30/5-ish. And now it is 6, and I seriously need to go to sleep.