Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.03.2010, Síða 6

6
Tourists have been f locking to Ice-
land in greater numbers ever since
October 2008 when Iceland’s econ-
omy crashed and its currency came
tumbling down with it. This isn’t
surprising considering that from
2007 to 2009, the króna lost roughly
half its value against the Dollar and
the Euro. In theory, one year post-
crash, a Dollar or Euro could buy
twice as much as it could one year
pre-crash. In reality, however, that is
not the case.
With the fall of the króna, Iceland
finally seems accessible to the world.
However convincing this might be,
the favourable exchange rate is only
half the story. The other half of the
story is that while the value of the
króna has decreased, prices of goods
and services have increased (with the
small exception of white bread).
Take it from McDonalds, which
closed shop in Iceland last year after
importing meat and other supplies
became too expensive. In fact, if Mc-
Donalds had not left the island, a Big
Mac would have cost 780 króna, or
$6.36 USD, making it the most ex-
pensive Big Mac in the world, accord-
ing to the 2009 Big Mac Index.
This increased cost of imported
goods has led to a resurgence of the
ever-popular nationalist/consumer-
ist slogan “Veljum íslenskt!” which
advocates the purchase of Icelandic
goods over imported goods. In fact,
The Federation of Icelandic Indus-
tries is offering its members a special
badge to indicate their Icelandic sta-
tus in advertising and branding ma-
terial (an amusing side to this new-
fangled ‘nationalist consumerism’ is
that a variety of companies have been
found to falsely label their products
as Icelandic. But we digress).
Therefore, despite the favourable
exchange rate, there is no denying
that Iceland is still in many ways
quite expensive. However, it is defi-
nitely on sale for the tourist (as was
proclaimed in the super-tasteful
post-kreppa “HalfprIceland” ads in
November of 2008). Although pric-
es of goods and services aren’t 50%
cheaper, they are still on average
30% less expensive than they were
in 2007. Thus, it’s no wonder tourists
are packing in by the planeload while
tons of Icelanders are shipping out
with no return address.
Flour 89 135 51.69 %
Rice 224 515 129.92 %
Oatmeal 296 306 3.38 %
Rye bread 576 679 17.88 %
White bread 390 383 -1.79 %
Whole-wheat bread 296 373 26.01 %
Lamb, mixed cuts 591 617 4.40 %
Beef, stew 1634 1818 11.26 %
Chicken 441 518 17.46 %
Forcemeat 534 546 2.25 %
Lamb smoked and sliced 3383 3821 12.95 %
Haddock, gutted 490 690 40.82 %
Halibut 1993 2235 12.14 %
Salted cod 1281 1411 10.15 %
Milk 76 110 44.74 %
Skyr 238 297 24.80 %
Cream 643 806 25.35 %
Dairy cheese 932 1255 34.66 %
Eggs 417 571 36.93 %
Butter 403 569 41.19 %
Margarine 260 434 66.92 %
Tomatoes 222 277 24.77 %
Cucumber 222 356 60.36 %
Apples 120 202 68.33 %
Oranges 103 235 128.15 %
Raisins 323 663 105.26 %
Potatoes 107 184 71.96 %
Granulated sugar 124 228 83.87 %
Coffee 906 1333 47.13 %
Chocolate 194 259 33.51 %
Coca-Cola in 50 cl can 99 135 36.36 %
Vodka bottle, 700 ml 3140 4394 39.94 %
Red-wine, 750 ml 1490 2597 74.30 %
Beer, Icelandic in 50 cl can 229 326 42.36 %
Beer, imported in 50 cl can 225 325 44.44 %
Cigarettes 601 843 40.27 %
Men’s shirts 4757 7421 56.00 %
Jeans 8191 13204 61.20 %
Electricity, kWh 8690 9487 9.17 %
Geothermal water for heating 6523 7156 9.70 %
Oil for space heating 6738 10599 57.30 %
Petrol (95 octane) 13470 19350 43.65 %
Refrigerator 55039 141701 157.46 %
Air ticket, Reykjavík-Akureyri 10120 11370 12.35 %
Bus tickets, Reykjavík 227 227 0 %
Cinema ticket 900 1074 19.33 %
DOs:
• Do take the bus. Prices have not in-
creased since 2007.
• Do buy forcemeat, but do not
Google its definition. The price has
only increased by 2%
• Do eat fish. The price of halibut has
increased by 12%, salted cod by 10%
and gutted haddock by 41%.
• Do fly to Akureyri from Reykjavik.
The price of this flight has only in-
creased by 12%.
• Do buy alcohol in the Duty Free
Store. The State has a monopoly on
alcohol sales and the price of a fifth of
Vodka has increased by 40%, a bottle
of Red-wine by 74%, and a can of beer
by 43%. *Note, if you get caught try-
ing to bring more than the permitted
amount of alcohol into the country,
you will be fined and your booze will
be confiscated.
• Do buy coffee. If this is your drug of
choice, know that it has only increased
by 47%. However, if you are addicted
to Starbucks, be sure to bring some
with you because although Starbucks
has 4,500 coffeehouses in 47 coun-
tries, they do not have a presence in
Iceland. Thank god.
Don’ts:
• Don’t forget to pack your jeans and
men’s shirts. The average price of
jeans and men’s shirt have more than
doubled.
• Avoid fruit, unless in danger of scur-
vy. Iceland’s climate is not especially
ripe for growing fruit. Thus, prices of
apples have increased by 68%, raisins
by 105% and oranges by 128% *Note:
raisins and oranges are not sale items.
They are more expensive than pre-
crash prices, despite the favourable
exchange rate.
• Do not smoke. The price of ciga-
rettes has only increased by 40%, but
they are bad for you and they were
expensive enough already.
• Absolutely do not purchase a refrig-
erator. I probably don’t have to warn
you about this one, but in case you
were thinking about it, absolutely do
not buy a refrigerator, which has in-
creased in price by 129%. You can
feel very sorry for Icelanders on this
one, especially since to make matters
worse, their real wages have also de-
creased by 7.3%.
Article | Shopping
Iceland’s Post-Crash Sale – 30% OFF!* *For Tourists ONLY
ANNA ANDERSEN
HÖRÐUR SVEINSSON
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 03 — 2010
I am a complete moron.
No seriously, I am. Despite
holding all sorts of degrees
and wowing people with
my rapier wit and all round brilliance, it
looks like I’m dropping out of my current
Icelandic course. Did I want to do this?
Certainly not, but it seems I’ve hit the
proverbial mental wall in my quest to talk
like a native Icelander, all Já-ing and Jæ-
ing all over the shop.
Surely other foreigners living in
Iceland must be suffering the same
problems learning Icelandic. Or is it just
me? As part of our colonial hangover,
we Brits are notoriously bad at learning
a second language. But it wasn’t meant
to be like this. I thought I would have
Icelandic licked and learned in two years.
It has been nearly 3 years now.... and
counting.
I do realise my successful integration
into mainstream society depends on me
learning Icelandic. In fact, it’s necessary
for me, as my mother-in-law doesn’t
speak any English. But dear Icelanders,
can you take a second to consider
actually how bloody difficult your
language is to learn? For example, I’ve
lost count on the different ways to say
the word “black” (I had it last at about
25). For a culturally ignorant drone like
myself who’s just used to saying it the
one way (err... black), this is just taking
the piss! And that’s before I get to THE
NEVERENDING RULES on how you say
words in singular, plural, with the definite
article etc, etc. I didn’t even know what
the definite article was until I went on an
Icelandic course. I assumed everyone
was referring to Budweiser beer!
And trying to remember all of this
AND Icelandic sentence structure means
trying to talk Icelandic to a native ends up
being a purely miserable and exhausting
affair. What I want to say is in my head,
but it’s like it’s surrounded by frosted
Perspex at least several inches thick and
it takes everything I have in my being
to make a tiny crack to the core. Then
the person I’m speaking to replies back
in fast Icelandic and I’m screwed. Cue
complete frustration throughout my daily
life, which usually ends up manifesting
itself in the form of impotent rage at
things that are totally outside my control.
Things like the price of chicken in Bónus,
the state of the political body in this
country and Sprengjuhöllin.
So how to get past this learning
block? Well for me, there’s no other
choice but to go back to the books and
perhaps get my wife to talk dirty to me
in Icelandic more often. After all it is the
language of love!
And what of my fellow Icelanders
when they talk Icelandic to foreigners?
I would love for them to consider the
following.
- If I’m talking to someone in English,
please don’t come over and interrupt
us by going “BARA TALA ÍSLENSKU!”
(Speak only Icelandic). This is highly
unlikely to activate that dormant part
of my brain that will allow me to speak
another language or move objects
though telekinesis. Oh, and it’s fucking
rude as well.
- If you are talking to a non-Icelander
in Icelandic and they perhaps happen to
use, say, the wrong case declination for
a noun, try not to immediately interrupt
them by going “actually you’re meant
to say it like...” Afterwards is fine, but
cutting them dead is, well, pretty dick-ish.
- Speaking slowly and clearly when
you chat with me would help ooooh so
much! The only Icelandic people I can
truly understand are the newsreaders
on TV. Everyone else just sounds like a
malfunctioning lawnmower.
I’m sure that with a bit of time and
understanding we’ll all manage to get
along in sweetness and harmony sharing
the same lyrical tongue before it all
descends into fisticuffs over Icesave and
Eurovision.
On Learning Icelandic
Christ, they
all talk foreign
here!
Opinion | Bob Cluness
TIPS FOR TOURISTS:
NAVIGATING THE
POST-CRASH SALE
GOODS
AND
SERVICES
PRICE
IN
2007
PRICE
IN
2009
PERCENTAGE
CHANGE IN
PRICES
Average prices (ISK) are from November of each year, Source: Statistics Iceland, www.hagstofa.is

9. 699$
7.699$
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