Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.03.2002, Blaðsíða 11

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 1 Mars 2002 • page 11
FRÉTTIR • NEWS
Letter continued from
page 1
streets and highways (all of
which are in impeccable shape
but incredibly skinny) to visit
Joan and Thora's other cousins
(flrst second, third and so on),
as well as various sites of inter-
est.
And from all this we
leamed that:
1. The relatives are excellent
cooks (the main dish customari-
ly being fish, which is not too
surprising since this item is the
mainstay of Iceland's economy).
2. The Icelanders all speak
English, often considerably
better than our own PM (no
comment).
3. Every home (at least every
home we visited) is a miniature
art gallery, with paintings
galore throughout the living
room and with one always right
above a couch.
During January to Mai'cli,
The Reykjavík Art Museum was
featuring a photography exhibit
entitled The Sofa Painting,
which offered numerous exam-
ples of domestic art arrange-
ments. (As one of the relatives
explained, because of the winter
weather, Icelanders spend many
hours indoors, so they try to
make the confinement as pleas-
urable as possible).
4. The members of Parliament
— Althingi — present their
speeches without interruption
by insults, wisecracks and cat-
calls from their colleagues. (A
procedure which, as is well
enough known, has been slav-
ishly imitated by their
Canadian counterparts).
Furthermore, these speeches
always stay within strict time
limits. Whenever the allotted
number of minutes has been
exceeded, the president of
Althingi dings a sizable and
obnoxiously loud bell right
into the ear of the chatterbox
concemed, and this seems to
move things along quite
briskly. Of course, Icelandic
politicians have had consider-
able practise in getting their act
together, as their Althingi was
first established way back in
930 AD.
5. Icelandic motorists, as they
deftly dodge one another on
their slender roads, do not
engage in one-finger salutes.
Also, seldom is heard a dis-
couraging hom.
6. Education: Higher educa-
tion in Iceland is free.
Evidently the Icelanders do not
believe in tossing their students
into the jaws of loan sharks.
7. Medical Services: As in
Canada (up to now), also free.
8. Taxation: A flat rate tax —
distinctly higher than what we
enjoy, or suffer, in Canada. But
nobody, in view of the benefits,
seems to mind being gouged.
9. Currency: Icelandic curren-
cy is in krónur. At the time of
our visit, $100 Canadian varied
in value from 5,641 to 5,872
krónur. A video cost me 3,750
Kr, a paperback book, 1,990
Kr, and a CD, 1,999 Kr.
However, let us move onto
more pleasant matters.
10. The Arts: Art galleries, cul-
tural museums, theatres, and
music performance halls
abound. Also, a number of
films have been produced
locally. Furthermore, jazz has
entered the scene — a foremost
practitioner being the pianist
Guðmundur Ingólfsson. (On
one of his CDs, he accompa-
nies the Icelandic international
pop star Björk — possessor of
a strange voice to which, in
order to protect the investment,
one is trying to grow accus-
tomed.)
Also, literature flourishes.
A trilogy of novels by Einar
Karáson has sold over 30,000
copies in a country of 280,000
inhabitants. (In Canada, which
is much more heavily populat-
ed, the sale of 5,000 copies
confers bestseller status).
ll.Nature Stupendous, with a
countryside wonderland com-
prised of rivers, geysers, large
sheep, small horses, and
numerous semi-mountains,
with dangerously deep ravines.
One aftemoon Thora's hus-
band, Ron, stood on a cliff
videotaping the grandeur of it
all. But then a fiercely power-
ful wind — the Iceland Clipper
— whipped off his cap. Cousin
Grímur began sprinting after it,
and Ron somehow disappeared
from sight. Had the wind
whisked Ron right off the cliff?
And, if so, had he pluckily con-
tinued videotaping as he
plunged down to a rocky
doom, to leave behind a mag-
nificent video legacy of
Icelandic cliff formation? As it
tumed out, though, we found
Ron hidden behind our car.
Also, his cap was saved from
that rocky doom. A happy end-
ing for our party.
And on this note we say
good-bye to sunny-in-spirit
Iceland. Maybe next time
though, we'll pay the full air-
fare and retum in the summer,
to avoid the Iceland Clipper.
John Parr has published
one novel Jim Tweed, edited
several books, most recently
Good Humour Man, written
short stories, articles and
b o o k
Shrimp
Goldeye
Lobster • Crab
Harðfiskur
and more!
We pack for travel
596 Dufferin
Avenue
Winnipeg, MB
589-3474
Eight Icelanders Chosen as Scandinavian Fellows
With American
Scandinavian
Foundation fellowship fund-
ing, fifty students, profession-
als and artists from Denmark,
Finlad, Iceland, Norway and
Sweden are currently caiTying
out research or study projects
in the United States this aca-
demic yeai'.
The eight Icelanders, rec-
ommended by the Icelandic-
American Society (Islensk-
ameríska félagið) in Reykjavík
are: Skúli Guðmundsson at the
University of Florida in
Gainesville, where he is work-
ing in physics; Gunnar
Gunnarsson, University of
California at Santa Barbara,
where he is working in mathe-
matics; Þórólfur Jónsson, at
Harvard University doing a
Master of Laws; Fríða
Kristinsdóttir at the Haystack
Mountain School of Crafts:
Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir, at
Pennsylvania State University
is working in sociology; Hulda
Þórisdóttir is at New York
University working in organzi-
ational psychology; Tinna
Þorsteinsdóttir is at the New
England Conservatory of
Music working on her per-
formance certificate in piano;
and Þór Tryggvason is at
Georgetown University work-
ing on communication, culture
and technology
SCAN, the Bulletin ofthe
American-Scandinavian
Foundation, Fall 2001
C&ilbart
Jíittural Kimua Cfö.
First Street, Gimli and 309 Evelina Street, Seikirk
J. Roy Gilbart, J. Wes Gilbart 482-3271
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