Lögberg-Heimskringla - 03.12.2004, Blaðsíða 6

6 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 3 December 2004
A reason
for
everything
The Snorri Program is a co-operative project of
the Nordic Association of lceland and the lce-
landic National League of lceland. The first group
participated in the program in 1999. The following
year, Ásta Sól Kristjánsdóttir was hired as the
project manager and has been in charge ever
since. Steinþór Guðbjartsson heard her story.
Ibelieve that there is a rea-
son for everything,” Ásta
Sól says as she refreshes
her memory regarding her ini-
tial involvement in the project.
Started with a fíeld trip
“In 1996 I was studying
Psychology at the University of
Iceland, and I must admit that I
was kind of bored and I didn’t
know a lot of people. Neverthe-
less, I wanted to socialize, so I
went out on a so-called ‘field
trip’ and afterwards to the Stu-
dents’ Bar. There I started talk-
ing to a ‘foreign’ girl who was
on the Govemment of Iceland’s
scholarship to study Icelandic
at the University of Iceland.
She tumed out to be the nicest
person ever. Her name is
Kristin Good and she’s from
Winnipeg. We became really
good friends and I promised
Betel Home Foundation
Gimli
Selkirk
/J A^vaAitum

GelelvudUtq. 89 qea'ii
al GantinuMi Ga/ie
fa/ithut the ComnunUy
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Ásta Sól Kristjánsdóttir (centre) with Snorri participants Jennifer Holand and Brad Hirst at
the 2004 INL/NA Convention in Hecla, MB,
her I would visit her in Canada.
I hardly knew anything about
the country at the time.
“A year after she left Ice-
land, or in July 1998, I visited
her and her family. This was
the same year Almar Grímsson
visited Gimli for the first time
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so we were both there for the
first time without knowing
each other, and without know-
ing that we would become such
a big part of the Snorri Pro-
gram. Kristin’s parents are
Chris and Lenore Good.
“Before I left on my first
trip to Canada, my father found
some relatives of ours in Cana-
da through the Intemet and had
been exchanging emails with
Darla McKay in Toronto. My
great-grandmother’s sister had
emigrated and had 13 children
in Canada. Darla is one of the
her descendants. Although I
knew about the relatives it
sounded so unreal and I just
wanted to have a good time in
Winnipeg. Therefore I didn’t
bother contacting those people.
“I had been in Winnipeg
for three weeks when I
received a phone call from
Runa Magnusson. She had
heard from Darla that a cousin
from Iceland was visiting, and
through the then-consul Neil
Bardal she found out that an
Icelandic girl was staying with
the Good family.
“Apparently Runa had
been mnning all over Gimli
looking for me during íslendin-
gadagurinn. She invited me out
for dinner at the Forks. Very
much to my surprise, there
were about 25 relatives there to
greet me. It was really touch-
ing. It was a feeling that I will
never be able to forget. I had
never even met those people
before and they cared about
me. They had even trained the
waitress to talk to me in Ice-
landic!
“Runa had met my amma
and afi in Iceland and she
showed me pictures.
“I was really impressed.
Sadly, Runa passed away a
year later, but it is because of
Continued on next page
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