Aug
11
Hi guys!
I’m Kári and I’m here today relieve Craig of his blogging duties and teach you about my quaint little home-country, Iceland. The fact that astounds most foreigners is our extremely small population. There’s only 319.368 of us, which accounts for a about 0.005% of the world’s population. But Iceland is not a small country, physically. It’s bigger than South Korea and slightly smaller than Guatemala and Kentucky at 103,000 square kilometres or about 40,000 square miles. The Icelandic nation is of Germanic descent and we descend from Norwegian immigrants and their red-haired Irish slave girls who settled here around 874 AD. Icelanders are in fact 50% Norwegian, 50% Irish with most of the male DNA coming from Norway but the female DNA coming from Ireland and the British Isles. This relatively newly discovered Irish factor probably accounts for the great amount of writing which was done in Iceland in the past – much greater than that of Norway and the other Nordic nations. Out of these the Icelandic Sagas (saga means story or history in Icelandic) are probably the best known. And yes, the settlers called it Iceland because there are glaciers here. We did not switch names with Greenland to confuse the Nazis. And no Iceland is totally not green, it’s more like a muddy greyish-brownish colour.
My first name, Kári, might look somewhat scary, with that accent and all (just be glad my name isn’t Þormóður) so here’s a primer: The á is pronounced like ow, as in “owl”, the r is tapped or rolled depending on your mood and the i is like the i in… well… in. It’s not like the one in machine but slightly lower. For that vowel, we have í with an accent. But since I live in the States currently, I don’t torture people (or myself) by going through all that all the time so you can also just go ahead and call me Cary instead. It’s usually easier for all parties involved.
My last name is Helgason and it means “Helgi’s son” cause my father’s name is Helgi. That is also my brother’s last name. If I had a sister, she would be Helgadóttir which means “Helgi’s daughter”. My mother is Emilsdóttir because her father was Emil (incidentally my middle name too) and my father is Magnússon because his father’s name is Magnús. These are called patronymics and used to be used all over Europe (most of those English last-names inding in -sen and -son descend from this tradition) but we are the only nation to carry on doing it. In the past few years, matronymics have become more common, where the mother’s name is used, and a few people use both.
Our language is Icelandic, which has changed the least out of all the Nordic languages since the first millennium, so we can still read our old books since 1200 AD. It is a Germanic language like English and we have a lot of words in common like ’skip’ ship, ‘land’ land, ‘hár’ hair, ‘maður’ man and ‘meik-upp’ make-up (just kidding, that’s borrowed). Icelanders learn British English in schools and we watch loads of American TV and movies so our English becomes this weird mix of Patsy, Veronica Mars and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (if you don’t know her, google her!). We also learn Danish, because Iceland used to be under the Danish crown until 1944 and people also learn either German, French or Spanish if they go to high school (and 80-90% of people do). And no, we don’t speak Portuguese, and no, we don’t speak Russian either.
For the better part of our great nation’s existence, we were very very poor. My ancestors used to live in small huts, called torfbæir (turf-huts, the singular is torfbær), dug into the ground, built out of rocks and turf:
Icelanders have never lived in igloos or snow-houses, just to clear that out. Don’t ever ask us either, cause we’ll probably lie and say that we did cause we think it’s so funny people actually think that and then we’ll laugh at you behind your back. But really, come to think of it, torfbæir are not much better.
Our housing situation starts to change in the 18th and 19th centuries and we start becoming slightly more civilised with every passing decade (or so we like to think) until we reached our high point in 2007, when we became the most developed nation in the world according to the United Nations HDI. Since then, everything has been downhill, our banking system collapsed, our currency collapsed and so did our dignity. But hey, fret not. We have a lesbian prime minister who is awesome, we still have Björk, Sigur Rós are still around, and we are not yet back to living in torfbæir. And the weather gets better every year, thanks to Global Warming. And yes, we are physically capable of feeling cold. But Iceland is actually not really that cold in the winter. New York City gets much colder. In the summer, it tends to be in the 59-69° F area (15-20° C).
We have lots of fish in the sea which accounts for a good part of our income. We sell it to various nations around us, including Spain, Britain and the States. A friend of mine found fresh Icelandic fish in Atlanta, Georgia, believe it or not. We also have lots of waterfalls which provide us with most of our energy in a completely non-polluting manner (though actually constructing the dams is a big issue here because it destroys a lot of land). Iceland is situated on the boundary between the North-American and Eurasian tectonic plates so we have volcanoes, earthquakes, hot springs and geysers (Geysir is our most famous geyser (it means ‘Spewer’) and that word you guys are borrowing from us, thank you very much). You may or may not have heard of the Blue Lagoon but that’s not a natural formation but a by-product of geothermal water processing (cause we use it to heat our houses). But it’s been made really nice and the silicon mud is good for your skin too.
Because we are so far up North, there is daylight most of the night from May to August and none at all throughout most of December to February. This is immensely freaky, even to me, who have lived in Iceland almost all my life. If you decide to take a visit during the summer, you might wanna bring along a sleeping mask and if you come in the winter, take some anti-depressants. Nah, just kidding. We don’t do that kind of stuff. We drink away our sorrows. But because the winter tends to be kind of gloomy, we have huge amounts of ghost stories. I might share them with you one of these days, but I think this is enough for now.
Wanna come visit? The flights are pretty cheap at the moment and because of our currency the króna’s collapse, the exchange rate is very favourable. For those that are into music, that seems to be among the few things we still have going for us and we have a really strong music scene, not just Björk and Sigur Rós. Maybe I’ll cover that later too!
So what do you think? Any questions? Comments? Stories to share? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Sjáumst,
Kári Emil Helgason
August 11th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Sweet post! I’ve always found Iceland interesting. It seems so mysterious and secluded… or is that just me?
And hurray to the Bjork cameo!
August 11th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Great and interesting post! What little I knew of Iceland was, of course, thru Bjork and a documentary I saw on her back in the late 90s. I forgot about Sigur Ros being from there and then I just read that so is Emiliana Torrini who sounds a lot like Bjork.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:05 am
“and geysers (Geysir is our most famous geyser (it means ‘Spewer’) and that word you guys are borrowing from us, thank you very much).”
Þú ert snillingur Kári! Flottur texti:)
August 11th, 2009 at 11:07 am
When I went to Sweden we changed planes in Reykjavík. The airport was very pretty and the tap water was delicious. We all dumped out our American bottled water to fill our bottles from the fountain. Someone told us the water came from a glacier, which was probably not true, people liked to lie to us because we were American.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:11 am
… I do want to visit iceland. I actually do. I need to start saving… I am not sure if I would rather go there to see the endless night, or go there to see the endless day, though. Ah, so hard to decide…
August 11th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I love this post so freaking much. I wish my TMST were as informative and entertaining as this one (and VUBOQs!).
I’m with Draegur. What time of year would you suggest visiting?
August 11th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I’m totally a summer person so personally I’d go then. Which is what I already do – I’m in New York over the Winter. And it’s a pretty great arrangement.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I definitely wanna hear some good Icelandic ghost stories!
I’d also like to know more about what the culture is like in terms of tolerance, parenting, interpersonal relations, etc.
August 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Love this post. I’ve always wanted to get to Iceland because I hear the geography is so interesting, with the hot springs and glaciers and such.
You didn’t talk about the trolls, though!
August 11th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Absolutely fascinating, and now I want to visit Iceland twice as much as I did before! Thank you so much for the detailed insights.
August 11th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Yeah Iceland. What a very cool post Kári. Canada recently signed a Free Trade Agreement with the EFTA countries, of which Iceland is one. I believe it went into effect July 1. Hopefully our trade will increase, we shall see.
I’ve heard it is really beautiful (seen pictures of course). I find the whole family with different name thing rather confusing because you could meet two people and have no clue if they are brother and sister based on their names. Mind you, with only 300,000 people you probably know everyone personally.
I’m curious to know where all those Irish women came from. Pillaging and plundering anyone? Hmmmm.
I grew up in Manitoba which I believe has the largest Icelandic community outside of Iceland. Its on a lake and called Gimli. They have a huge Icelandic festival there every summer and various high level officials from Iceland (Prime Ministers, etc.) often show up to wave the flag. My Grandmother used to make Vínarterta which I LOVED. Haven’t thought about that in years. Thanks for the memories. And no, we aren’t even CLOSE to being Icelandic, no idea where she got the recipe or why she made it. But yummy.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
All I knew about Iceland before this post I gleaned from a documentary when the Jackass guys went over on tour or something, and from a half hour TV show called Passport To Europe With Samantha Brown. She said basically most of the stuff you did, but she went to a shop where they make suits out of fish scales. Go figure. Oh, and I remember Reagan and Gorbachev meeting there, so that was it. But now I feel so much more informed!
Although, I did chuckle when you wrote ‘civilised’.
Silly British English, putting s’s where z’s should be. And by z, I DO mean “zee” not “zed”. 
HUGS…
August 11th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Stories? Stories? I’ve got two years of them. I was stationed in Keflavik for two years while I was a broadcaster in the Navy. The base has since been closed.
I was there when the laws there finally loosened up so Iceland could start to import beer. I enjoyed soaking in Blue Lagoon during the winter during a snow storm while occasionally thawing my hair out in the warm water because it was icing up. We knew which butter was salted because the Icelandic for it looked like frosted flakes.
Craig, you’ll be jealous. I saw Tim Burton’s Batman in Reykjavik with Icelandic subtitles. It was amazing to be in the crowd and examine the differences in humor. A friend of mine and I seemed to be the only Americans in the crowd and would laugh at completely different times than the Icelanders did, which of course made us laugh again.
I remember the Icelandic translation for Batman nearly fit across the bottom of the screen it was so long.
I went to my first gay bar there. It was the upstairs section of a bar in Reykjavik and is where I met my one and only Icelandic boyfriend. He was a complete sweetheart but the Navy kicked me out, so that ended that. We walked home from the bar to his place (no judging!) and walked by a plain white building (the buildings there are built into the ground) which he pointed out was the Mormon church. After my double take, he told me was Mormon. After my triple take, I told him I was. So, yes, I think I met what may have been at the time the only gay Icelandic Mormon in the world. At least that’s how I’ll remember it.
The weather there never did get too cold as Kari (sorry, I don’t know how to make an accent on a Windows computer. Bah!) says. It was the winds the were bad at times. I remember see a -50 wind chill factor at one point and even walked home from the broadcast station to the barracks in it after my shift.
Oh! Traffic law. Not sure if it’s changed, but in a rear-end accident the person in front was at fault. Love that!
Thanks for bringing all that back. I really need to write up my sailor stories on my blog at some point.
August 11th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
1) Batman = Leðurblökumaðurinn
2) I’d recommend a summer visit, too. Especially if you want to take a trip out of the city and see some nature. Driving in the countryside during winter can be a pain in the ass. And since I’m on the topic of trips around Iceland, I highly recommend a visit to the West Fjords (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfjords). It’s the most beautiful place in the world … but I may not be entirely unbiased
3) Someone mentioned tolerance in Iceland and I just have to add that as far as gay rights go, we just held our Reykjavik Gay Pride this past weekend with around 90.000 attendants at the parade! That’s almost a third of the entire population. This is not because a third of Icelanders are gay, but because the Reykjavik Gay Pride is an triumphant human rights event drawing not only LGBT people but our friends and family as well. It’s amazing, and well worth a trip to Iceland in and of itself. I could go on and on about the gay rights movement in Iceland and the vast improvements that have been made in only 30 years, but let’s leave it at this for now.
August 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Ah-ha! I thought Batman started with an ‘L’, but couldn’t remember for sure.
August 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Wow, it’s so interesting to here your memories, Tam and Howard. Tam, you can always tell if people are brother and sister, they’ll have the same father’s name. However, you won’t be able to tell on paper who a mother is related to. But you can tell who the father is, obviously, since all the children bear his name. Oh, and the Irish women, they were just taken by force, I reckon. And I love vínarterta and also lagkaka which is líke vínarterta except it’s brown and has white frosting instead of jam between the layers.
And Howard, Batman is Leðurblökumaðurinn in Icelandic
Which literally means The Leatherwing Man because bats are called leatherwings or leðurblökur. Can you remember what gay bar that was? I think the first one that wasn’t a private club was Spotlight and since you saw Batman in the cinemas that must have been it. But maybe I’m wrong. Such a cute story with that mormon. I don’t know any Icelandic mormons, actually. The regular butter is in green and yellow, the salted one is red and yellow.
Liz and David, I’ll give you some troll stories and ghost stories soon.
Oh, and Polt. Civilised is not written with a ZED!
August 11th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
It’s probably a safe bet that the word bær comes from the same root at the Scots word byre and the English word barn. I heart languages.
I so very much want to visit Iceland. Maybe I’ll get lucky and be able to sort out a trip before the economy improves there and it’s still cheap.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Kari – they had just stricken the law that made homosexuality illegal in Iceland and they had just opened the bar. It was straight downstairs and gay & bi upstairs. Supposedly it was the only one around so it was probably Spotlight.
August 11th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Informative and entertaining : ). Hopefully I’ll visit Iceland one day.
I’d like to hear some ghost stories, too.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Wow! That was a really great post! I learned a lot. One thing I learned is that you are a guy. All this time I had assumed Kári was a woman’s name. I also did not realize that patronymics were still used in Iceland. Thanks for sharing your background with us.
Iceland does seem like it would be a very cool place to visit. It seems like it would be very different from most places I have traveled before.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:07 am
Yeah, I get called Miss and she on the phone in the States ALL THE TIME. I always start talking in this bass voice to fuck with the people on the other end but I don’t correct them. It’s so much fun.
Oh and Mel, you are totally right about the byre/barn/bær thing. Interestingly, the Scots word is actually pronounced just like the Icelandic word. You’ll also see the Danish/Norwegian/Swedish word by. Bær in Icelandic can both mean a farm and a town. And we also have a cognate with town, tún, but that doesn’t mean town anymore, it now means pasture. I heart languages too
August 12th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Sorry, it’s the other way around. The one in back is always at fault. There used to be complicated law where occasionally the one in front could be if he braked without due care and attention or whatever, but that got changed decades ago.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Great post, thanks for sharing! I had not given Iceland much thought in the past as a possible vacation spot, but now you have me convinced! Oh, and I too would love to hear some ghost stories
August 12th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Decades ago was when I lived there, so that may be were I got that. That’s for the update.