Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.09.2006, Page 8

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David Jón Fuller
Iceland’s Snorri Program is as popular as ever these days, as is the Snorri Plus
Program — and in 2006 it be-
came a somewhat intergenera-
tional affair.
This year, the interest
sparked through the Snorri
Program brought at least one
participant into the Snorri Plus
— Agnes Stefansson Cooke
from Calgary, AB is the grand-
mother of Snorri participants
Steven Mills (1999) and Sarah
Drake (2004).
The Snorri Program began
in 1999 as a way for young
North Americans of Icelandic
descent (18 – 25 years old) to
spend time in Iceland, living
and working in various commu-
nities, learning the language,
and making contact with their
relatives. It is currently a coop-
erative assignment between the
Nordic Association and INL-
Iceland. The Program Coordi-
nator is Ásta Sól Kristjánsdót-
tir.
Roughly 90 people have
taken part since the beginning,
and interest shows no sign of
decreasing.
This year there were 15 par-
ticipants, from all over North
America: Layne Douglas Fing-
land of Lundar, MB; Kristján
Þór Kornmayer of Alpharetta,
Georgia; Kristin Graholm of
Toronto, ON; Olivia Ortega of
Vacaville, CA; Melissa Ander-
son of Coquitlam, BC (lives in
Victoria, BC); Tarak Kjartan-
son Oswald of Winnipeg, MB;
Joseph Scholberg of Chicago,
IL; Erica Graholm of Toronto,
ON; Heather Stephens of Win-
nipeg, MB; Daniel Gange of
Winnipeg, MB; Kristjan Sig-
fusson of Winnipeg, MB; Le-
anne Roed of Winnipeg, MB;
Megan Williams of London,
ON; Kristin Lilja Emilsson of
Urbana, IL; and Bryan Her-
mansson of Redwood City, CA
(lives in Boston).
Participants this year in-
cluded many who had never
been to Iceland before as well
as some who had.
For Kristján Þór Kornmay-
er, it was a kind of homecom-
ing. He had been to Iceland a
number of times before — to
be baptized and visit relatives,
among other reasons. This was
the first time he had made the
trip by himself, and he stayed
for three weeks with relatives
as part of the program. “The
experience was great; they
were extremely hospitable and
the daughter was my age so we
were able to spend time togeth-
er,” he says.
His mother speaks flu-
ent Icelandic, so he had some
background in the language.
But, he says, “despite my head
start, Icelandic was and is an
extremely difficult language
to learn. Memorizing all three
genders and trying to put it to-
gether with the grammar was a
daunting task. I think it would
take years to get a firm grasp of
the language!”
Kristján worked at Engja-
skóli, a children’s school. He
admits he was a little appre-
hensive about that, as he had
little experience working with
young children. “But at the end
of three weeks, I was honestly
sad to leave them,” he says.
For Melissa Anderson, who
had never been to the country
beforte, it was a chance to ex-
plore her heritage. “I often get
asked by strangers, ‘Hey, where
are you from?’ — and more
politely asked by friends. Not
many seem to fully accept the
response, ‘I’m from Canada.’
When I start to list my roots and
say ‘Icelandic,’ it gets people’s
attention... I wanted to explore
personally what this meant; I
wanted more understanding
than just the word.”
Melissa lived on a farm
called Garðakot in northern
Iceland, between Sauðárkrókur
and Hofsós, and she worked at
Holar. In addition to trying out
Icelandic words (“I discovered
that I have an ability to pro-
nounce a single word 25 differ-
ent ways,” she says), she expe-
rienced life on the farm.
“I milked cows, rode Icelan-
dic horses — and fell off; my
horse unfortunately wasn’t bi-
lingual, saw my first cow birth
and death, and ate many things
I’d never eaten and, well, may
never eat again.”
Everyone finds somethng
surprising when visiting a new
country, and this took vari-
ous forms for Erica Graholm.
She too wrestled with the lan-
guage,. “I always approach a
new language structurally,” she
says. “I figure if I can learn
the grammatical rules, the rest
will come easily. Well, there is
nothing easy about Icelandic.
Language must be the key to
understanding Icelanders — it
makes their insular nature a
8 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 15 September 2006
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Tel 204 623 5331
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NORDIC PHARMACY
...we do little things
PHOTO COURTESY OF MELISSA ANDERSON
Melissa Anderson feeds a lamb at the farm where she lived.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ÁSTA SÓL KRISJÁNSDÓTTIR
Steven Holmes from Vancouver, who took part with his sister Lorna and father Peter, by Hraunfossar in Borgarfjörður.
REKINDLING THE FIRE
Snorri Program and Snorri Plus spark desire to return to Iceland