Lögberg-Heimskringla - 26.09.2003, Page 6

page 6 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday, 26 September 2003
7T Travel • Ferðalög
Ring Road, Rhythm, Hólar and Relatives
Iwas one of four students
granted a University of
Manitoba scholarship to visit
Iceland. Leaming Icelandic at
the University of Manitoba
awakened a whole new area
for me. http://www.umanito
ba.ca/faculties/arts/icelandic/.
I found and visited some of my
relatives in Iceland, practiced
speaking in the rhythm of Ice-
landic, enjoyed some really
good food, met a lot of beauti-
ful people, saw an incredibly
beautiful country, and experi-
enced Hólaskóli, Háskólinn á
Hólum í Hjaltadal (Hólar Col-
lege).
Iceland is the home of my
ancestors. It is beautiful
beyond dreams, home of exhil-
arating waterfalls, landscapes,
mountains, winding roads, hul-
dufólk, elves, trolls, ghosts,
museums, churches, sheep,
horses and generous, kind peo-
ple.
I contacted one of my
cousins and we went to the
mall. My cousin, Fanney, took
me to Kringlan,
www.kringlan.is. She spoke
some English that she learned
in school and I spoke some
Icelandic that I learned at
school. We were able to com-
municate! We met another rel-
ative, Ragna, who spoke no
English at all! Although I
spoke slowly with an English
accent and poor pronunciation,
they were patient and accept-
ing and if they spoke Icelandic
slowly, clearly and with simple
sentences, I had a better
chance of understanding. I was
lost when they spoke fast. In
Iceland, my cousins helped me
with the language
Near Sandgerði, my
cousin showed us where my
grandmother, my mom’s moth-
er, lived as a child. My reac-
tion took me by surprise. I
shook. I got out of the car and
walked around. I thought how
my ancestors had envisioned
the land, walked the same
ground, breathed in the same
air and felt the same breeze. I
imagined how they had lived,
dreamed and loved. I thought
of their lives and felt one with
them. I was filled with a deep
love, peace and an apprecia-
tion of being there. I trembled
and cried.
We met more of my
cousins in Neskaupstaður. My
cousin, Guðmundur, owns and
operates three building and
supplies stores, Byggt & Flutt,
in Neskaupstaður, Eskifjörður
and Fáskrúðsfjörður. If you
have building supply needs,
please contact him! You can
also practice your Icelandic.
We were invited for a boat
ride and met more of my
cousins as we rode up the fjord
in a fishing boat. We enjoyed
incredible hospitality. Guð-
mundur was quite a genealo-
gist as he discovered that his
wife, Ásta, was related to Elva
Jónasson, one of the other stu-
dents travelling. We had a dou-
ble reunion!
At Hólar College,
www.holar.is, we met with
Guðrún Þóra Gunnarsdóttir,
our instructress, for discus-
sions, first in Icelandic and
then in English, in the history
of Hólar, some famous ghosts
of Iceland, ghost stories, hul-
dufólk, elves and trolls. We
toured the grounds and saw
houses with thatched roofs and
a beautiful old church that
housed exquisite artwork and
carvings. We met Valgeir Bjar-
nason for agricultural discus-
sions, did cooking with Ingib-
jörg and learned about aqua-
culture. The main building
housed a museum section
including the first printer
Yggdrasill • The Tree of Life
“Any man ’s death diminishes me,for I am involved in mankind... No man is an island, entire of himself ”—John Donne • “Maður er
manns gaman. ”—Hávamál
Spotlighting lives lived and milestones in the lives of Icelandic North Americans.
Jona Louise Sigurdson
Jona Louise Sigurdson
passed away August 21,
2003, in Portland Oregon. She
was born November 1, 1919
in Riverton, MB, the daughter
of Sigurbjorn and Kristbjorg
Sigurdson.
When the family moved
to Winnipeg, they became
members of the First Lutheran
Church. Louise graduated
from the Winnipeg General
Hospital School of Nursing,
and during World War II she
served in the Royal Canadian
Army Nursing Corps in Eng-
land.
In 1947 she went to Ice-
land, where she spent a year
living in the land of her fore-
fathers and working in the
hospital in Reykjavík. It was
an experience she treasured.
She left Winnipeg in 1948
for New York, where she and
her sister Helga made their
home together, and became
United Stated citizens. In
1975 they moved to Portland,
OR, where she was Director
of Nursing at Parkview Nurs-
ing Home for eleven years.
She was predeceased by
her brothers Fred and Baldur
and her sister Thora. Surviv-
ing her are her brother Harold
of Vancouver, BC, Helga Sig-
urdson in Portland and Helen
Eksberg in Vancouver, WA.
Farewell, dear Louisa, till
we meet again.
Ainsley stands in the forest at Hólar
where Icelandic Bibles where
printed. This aided in the
preservation of the Icelandic
language.
In Húsavík, I met my
cousins, the two brothers,
Hallgrímur and Halldór, and
their respective wives and chil-
dren. The hospitality was won-
derful. I saw more beautiful,
ancestral land around Húsavík,
homes, museums and church-
es.
From Neskaupstaður,
another cousin, Magnús, came
and we went on the longest
and winding road on which I
had ever been. We went up the
mountain and down the other
side into another fjord. The
road was one lane, with one
side straight up the mountain
and the other side straight
down with no railings. My
cousins were quite peaceful in
the car, but for a prairie flat-
lander like me, the look of this
sheer drop beside me made my
heart race. The road zigzagged
down the side of the mountain.
There were little areas where
one can pull over if a car came
in the other direction. We were
in Mjóifjörður. Emigrants
came here from all around to
take boats to America. My
grandmother, at age four, went
with her mother on one of
those boats. The area was so
peaceful with rich blue colors
of the ocean fjord beautifully
stretching out. The sounds of
the waves slowly came in and
out and lazily made their way.
We went to the harbour and the
view from there was breathtak-
ing. The way up the long and
winding road seemed faster
then going down the one lane
dirt and gravel road.
On Independence Day,
Guðveig my cousin in the
Reykjanes Peninsula had a sur-
prise party for me. I was so
overwhelmed, I cried. My
cousins gave me gifts. The
party was wonderful and Ari
told me that my Icelandic was
good. I told him he was gener-
ous with his compliment
because I felt like my Icelandic
needed a lot of work and I
have so much more to learn.
They were wonderful.
When we were coming
home, our flight left Min-
neapolis for Winnipeg without
me. American customs chose
me and I remained alone at the
airport. I was so upset, I cried
again. I was graciously res-
cued by Julie and Walter
Sopher and Tim Arnason,
Canadian Icelanders taking a
later flight. They saved my
sanity by staying with me and
helping me through it. Thank
you.
I would also like to thank
Kristín Jóhannsdóttir, David
Arnason, Sigrid Johnson and
Helen Osmond of the Icelandic
Department and Collection for
making this trip possible. I
would also like to thank Elva
Jónasson, Jonas Einarson and
Margrete Tomasson, my trav-
elling companions, and all my
relatives and my companion’s
relatives in Iceland for their
gracious hospitality. I want to
thank Kristín’s parents in
Akureyri for their kindness
and generösity and to our
guides and instructors at Hólar.
I would also like to thank Lil-
lian for helping me with this
article and most of all I thank
my family in Winnipeg.
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