Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.08.2014, Side 39

FESTIVAL OF HYMNS
ON CULTURAL NIGHT
Saturday August 23
Hallgrimskirkja's Friends of the Arts Society 32nd season
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The Antique coffee house, Café Guðríður, will serve
coffee and delicious hot waffles in the south wing of
the church all day long to support the Friends of the
Arts Society of Hallgrimskirkja.
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:JOVSHJHU[VY\T, conductor /€Yó\YÍZRLSZZVU
;OL*OVPYVM5LZRPYRQH Reykjavik,
conductor and organist :[LPUNYxT\Yî}YOHSSZZVU
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)Q€YU:[LPUHY:}SILYNZZVU organist of Hallgrimskirkja
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.\óT\UK\Y=PNUPY2HYSZZVU electronic artist.
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Hallgrímskirkja, Skólavörðuholti, 101 Reykjavík
Sími / tel.: +354 510 1000, fax: +354 510 1010
list@hallgrimskirkja.is - www.hallgrimskirkja.is
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AXEL FLIERL organist
Dillingen, Bayern- Germany
plays works by
Bach, Wagner, Cochereau and Duruflé
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Ticket sale at the entrance
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2014 HUMANS39
school in Iceland.”
The fact that the younger genera-
tions are choosing to move to bigger cit-
ies, even outside of the country, must be
a national cause for concern. What the
future holds for those farming and fish-
ing practices that have been passed from
generation to generation, sustaining the
country’s economy, remains to be seen.
That’s entertainment!

“Mexicans are all about being with other
people,” Arlette says. “Iceland is a very
beautiful country, but if you’re used to
partying, having a lot of friends or living
a fast-paced life, this place might not be
for you.”
For Arlette, who is familiar with the
luxuries that come with living in big cities
in the US and Mexico, having the nearest
entertainment spots—restaurants, movie
theatres, and shopping centres—a stag-
gering three hours away was quite the
novelty. “If we want to enjoy a nice outing
or do something different, we go to the
gas station. It’s the only place that’s open
on Saturdays. You can get a burger or ice
cream,” Arlette says, matter-of-factly. As
far as entertainment options go, Arlette
had to say goodbye to catching the lat-
est movies at the cinema and access to
hundreds of international channels. “We
don’t have Netflix. Our options are limited
to the six channels we get on the TV—and
we only have so many because we have
cable!”
People are strange
By U.S. standards, Arlette is quite nonde-
script, likely to get lost in a crowd. How-
ever, when transported to a remote island,
surrounded by people of an entirely dif-
ferent genetic makeup, she admittedly
stands out. One can’t help but wonder
what it feels like to be so phenotypically
different from the rest of the population.
“People sometimes stare at you,” she
says, when the subject of her skin colour
comes up. “My daughter and I are consid-
ered peculiar here.” While her neighbours
have grown used to her presence, and
that of her daughter, occupying the role of
obvious outsider obviously wasn’t an easy
task for Arlette in the beginning.
The land of no tacos
Food is a favourite subject for most Mexi-
cans. They are proud of the marriage of
indigenous and Spanish flavours that
have converged to create one of the most
iconic cuisines of today. In Iceland, miles
away from her favourite dishes, Arlette
has mostly adjusted to local fare.
“Food here is really different. We eat
a lot of lamb and salmon.” Indeed, enjoy-
ing a plate of tacos seems almost impos-
sible given the location. “You can’t really
find any stores that sell Mexican staples
around here. I remember going to a Mexi-
can restaurant in Reykjavík years ago and
the chef was Chinese! Can you imagine
that?”
“Helvítis, I don’t speak Icelandic!”
Another big pill to swallow was the Icelan-
dic language, and the barrier it presented.
“In the beginning everyone speaks to
you in English when they sense you’re an
outsider. But as soon as they see you’re
staying for good, they switch to Icelandic.”
Living in a remote town like Vopnafjörður
made the necessity of learning the lan-
guage even more pressing. “Everything
here is in Icelandic. Fortunately, I can still
speak Spanish with my older daughter,”
she continues.
At home, however, their language dy-
namic is a bit more complex than that and
is the haven for a communication style
that would make a linguistic anthropolo-
gist blush. “While my husband speaks to
me in English, he speaks to the children
in Icelandic. With my children, I speak in
Spanish, English and a bit of Icelandic.”
Convinced that she needs to learn the
language spoken by her husband and
children, Arlette strives to become fluent
in Icelandic. “It’s hard, but I’m trying. I can
take online classes, but they are ultimately
very limited.”
“Oh the weather
outside is frightful!”
Five winters in Iceland have hardened Ar-
lette to the often-harsh climate. “It’s not
easy. If you’re not used to it, you can’t just
take the car and drive off in the middle of
a snowstorm,” she confides. “But it gets
better over time.”
The weather also affects the way they
handle their sheep. Everything has to be
planned to perfection in order to sustain
the family business. “Since it’s so cold
where we live, we have to shear half of the
sheep’s wool at the beginning of the year,
and the other half later in the year, when
it’s warmer.” During the summer months,
Arlette and her husband let the sheep
roam free, as is customary with Icelandic
sheep farmers. And, also in line with tradi-
tion, they fetch them from the wild just be-
fore the temperatures begin to drop anew.
It’s 11:00pm.
The day was long. Arlette took the
kids to school, she browsed the internet
for news from home, did some volunteer
work, attended Icelandic lessons, got gro-
ceries from the local shop, prepared din-
ner for the family and, finally, put the little
one to sleep.
It’s time to call it a day.
Arlette looks out the window once
more and sees the Northern Lights glow-
ing above. She takes joy in the blues and
the greens flickering in the night sky, as if
dancing to the beat of a song.
Finally, Arlette closes her eyes, thank-
ing God for one more day in this country.
No Mexicans were harmed in the writing of
this article.
Thank you, Montserrat Arlette Moreno for
your valuable time. ¡Muchas gracias!
And special thanks to the Mexican Embassy
in Denmark for helping me spread the word and
begin my research.