Árdís - 01.01.1950, Page 37

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
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in an outer hall and wear soft slippers in the school rooms. At
first Lilia found her school work difficult since the teaching was of
course conducted in the Icelandic and her knowledge of the
language almost nil. I remember one day when she came home
feeling very discouraged. “Mother,” she said, “I’m supposed to
translate Danish into Icelandic and I don’t know either one!” The
two older children 16 and 19 years of age attended a boarding
school some distance away, at Laugarvatn, coming home only for
Christmas and Easter. They too found it hard but were so interested
in this new experience that they never even suggested g'iving it up.
Their school was a modern building situated under a Mountain and
overlooking a lake. It had a large gymnasium, a green tile walled,
indoor swimming pool and steam and shower baths. There were
girls’ and boys’ dormitories and the students were from all over
Iceland, many of them from Reykjavik whose parents thought the
country environment better for them than the hubub surrounding
the city schools. Our children surprised us and learned the language
quickly. By Christmas they conversed freely. They formed friend-
ships with a host of young people with whom they now correspond
in Icelandic — though in turn they sometimes receive replies in
English since that is a required subject in the schools there.
Our home (Utskálar) was situated on the top of a hill in the
middle of the town. The house is about 70 years old, strong and
sturdy, having weathered many a gale. Not far from the house was
a fresh water pond, usualiy graced by a flock of wild swans
swimming about. Only for a short time during the winter did the
pond freeze sufficiently to make skating possible. The coldest day
while we were there registered 20° Fahrenheit.
Our parish consisted of four churches one of them, the
Hvalsnes Church holding particular interest because it was the
first parish served by Hallgrimur Petursson, Iceland’s most
renowned religious poet. It is a small country Church situated on
the west coast of the Reykjanes Peninsula, near a fishing village
called Sandgerði. This parish is first mentioned in Church annals
in the year 1200, so it is over seven hundred years old. In 1370 a
Church in this location was dedicated which was served until 1811
when the parish was divided, forming the parishes of Kalfatjörn
and Utskálar—Hvalsnes being a part of the latter. The present
Church there was erected in 1887, built of hewn rock with an