Lögberg-Heimskringla - 21.03.1997, Side 8

8 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Fridayr 21 March 1997
An Immigrant’s Story
Leaving your homeland to settle
in a new land is always a major
undertaking. Even with all the
conveniences ofmodern day life
the difficulties of adjustment are
considerable. I received the fol-
lowing story recently from Edda
Kristjansson. Edda came to
America 26 years ago and the
memories ofthe experiences of the
first days and weeks in the new
land are etched in her memory as if
they had happened yesterday. For
her, as for many others, the langu-
age and climate changes were
considerable hurdles to overcome.
I will let Edda tell her story.
— Gunnur Isfeld,
lcelandic Editor
Icame to America with my family
in 1970. This event is undoubt-
edly the most extraordinary and
exciting happening in my life. We
arrived in Grand Forks on Sep-
tember 1, 1970. It was an exceptionally
hot day with the mercury reaching 90
degrees F. We were received at the airport
by Dr. Ame Brekke who at that time
was a professor at the University of
Grand Forks. My husband had become
acquainted with him in Iceland and he
assisted us in getting to America.
Dr. Bekke took us to the Westward
Ho Motel in Grand Forks and invited
us to come over and spend the day with
him and have supper with them that
evening. I began looking for some suit-
able clothing to wear in the heat, but
the only thing I had was a chiffon dress
which was actually a ballroom dress.
However, that is what I wore that day
and to the evening dinner. Dr. Brekke
and his wife, Beverley, received us
with great hospitality. Dr. Brekke took
us out to the University to show us
around while his wife cooked supper.
As I walked through the long halls of
the University, exhausted from the long
travel and the heat, with my 2-year-old
son, Kristján, and 8-year-old daughter,
Anna, I sincerely wished I could faint.
The following day after my hus-
band had left for the University, where
he was taking business courses, I took
the children to a restaurant to get a bite
to eat. There I had my first experience
with the English language, on my own.
I realized that my entire vocabulary for
food consisted of “milk,” “coffee,” and
“bread.” I had spotted some sandwiches
on our way in which I thought might be
good, so I asked for bread. The poor
waitress just looked at me with big
eyes. She looked all around, wondering
what it was I wanted. She brought us
some cinnamon buns with butter and
we ate those.
A few days later Dr. Brekke had
found us a suite to live in. When we
arrived at the place, it was completely
empty, only our suitcases and our
Icelandic “sæng” quilts. Later in the
day Dr. Brekke brought a sofa, which
was wonderful! We could now sit on a
sofa. Later in the day a woman by the
name of Beverley Rosinkranz came by.
Beverley was of Icelandic and Nor-
wegian descent. She was very proud of
her Icelandic heritage, but she had
never met Icelanders from Iceland so
she just dropped by to welcome us,
along with eight of her ten children.
She found out that we were living there
in the empty suite. She left and came
back later that evening with her
husband and ten children bringing us
everything we needed for a household.
There were beds for all of us, pots,
dishes, cutlery, glasses, etc. I later
found out that she collected usable
household items at her home and had
helped the Native People a great deal.
This Iady became very dear to me and
to this day we are good friends.
This same evening my husband
became very ill. We called Beverley
who came over immediately, for the
third time that day, to take him to the
hospital. Thus I became all alone with
my two children in AMERICA. The
police about me and he now knew my
voice. As you can imagine, the experi-
ence of helplessness was overwhelming.
I met some wonderful women in
Grand Forks. They sensed my struggles
with language and customs and came
by every moming during my husband’s
hospital stay with some baking and we
had coffee together. They talked and
talked and when they left I just said,
“Thank you very much, very nice,
thank you very much.”
Edda Kristjansson now lives in
Winnipeg and works as a Shaklee Rep-
resentative. A year and a half ago she
made herself available for volunteer
work with Alzheimer patients at an
Adult Day Clubfor the Lion’s Club of
Winnipeg. She is now employed by the
club. Iceland is always close to her
heart and last year she held an “lce-
landic Week” for members and staff of
the club. Edda decorated the display
corner with artifacts from Iceland,
hung an Icelandic flag on the wall and
displayed sweaters that she had knit
from lopi wool. Edda served a delici-
ous, traditional Icelandic lunch with
fruit-fúled pönnukökur for dessert. The
day ended with a video about Iceland. □
Guhnur woiúd like to hear from
more ofyou aboutyour experiences
as recent immigrants to Canada,
the USA or Iceland.

Edda’s Pancakes (pönnukökur)
2 eggs 1 Tbsp. sugar 1/4 c. melted butter
1 tsp. baking powder 2 c. flour 1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. milk
Pour the eggs and sugar into a bowl and whip lightly.
Add the other ingredients, melted butter and milk. Mix well. The dough
should be the consistency of an eggnog.
Butter the pan and drop the dough by the ladleful on the pan. Twirl the
pan so that the dough is thinly spread over it. It is not necessary to butter the
pan again, unless the dough wants to stick to it. Then, just add a very small
amount of butter. Lightly brown on both sides. Sprinkle the hot thin Pönnu-
kökur (pancakes) with white or brown sugar and roll up. Or let the pönnu-
kökur cool, and then fill with a teaspoon of blueberry or strawberry jam, or
berries or fmit, either fresh or frozen, and a teaspoonful of whipped cream.
Fold pönnukökur in half, and then in half again, forming a triangle. □
image I had of America was that it was
—full of crime. On the way to the
hospital my husband explained to
Beverley that I spoke no English and
that I was very much afraid to be alone
with the children. Beverley stopped by
the house again on her way home and
suggested we call the POLICE — and I
understood that. She talked to the
police and then handed me the phone. I
used my entire vocabulary: “Thank you
very much, I like it very much, I am
from Iceland, I don’t speak English.”
He obviously did not believe the last
statement, because he talked and talked
and talked. I assumed he was explain-
ing to me what to do in case of an
emergency, ... I could only say ... I
SAY HELP! He had told Beverley that
he would inform the other members of
Far left:
Edda in
her chiffon
dress, 1970;
left: Edda
infront of
her home in
Winnipeg;
below:
cooking
pönnukökur
at the
Lion ’s Club
Adult Day
Club.