Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.07.2013, Blaðsíða 9

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. júlí 2013 • 9
I decided about three months ago to quit my job and embark on a journey.
Now I’m staying for a few
months with my friend Judy in
Nanaimo on Vancouver Island
and absolutely loving it. So far
I’ve gone glamping (glamour
camping) with my friends
from Vancouver, done some
serious bargaining at the flea
market like a true Icelander,
shopped like a maniac, had my
fortune told, gone out dancing,
met tons of awesome people,
had one awkward date, taught
Icelandic at the Icelandic club,
had a cooking lesson with a
professional chef, had a fantastic
meeting with a future leader of
the First Nations people in BC,
taken up Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
gone on vacation to Victoria
and stayed at the beautiful
Empress Fairmount Hotel, had
high tea like the Queen and
been a princess to the Fjallkona
for the Icelandic Independence
Day celebration. And I’ve only
been here a month.
Being single, childless and
a little bit of a gypsy, I tend to
embark on these journeys quite
often, to my mother’s despair.
I make my travelling decisions
very abruptly and often without
the mother-friendly notice. I
love travelling and learning new
things about the world and new
things about myself. I consider
myself not as something
fixed, rather something to be
expanded. As I have realized
throughout my young adult
life, sometimes it is even more
important to figure out what it
is that you don’t want in life.
My dating record will support
that argument, seeing that now
I know that I do not want to
date the following: sociopaths,
kleptomaniacs, men who like
to wear my shoes around the
house, and botanists.
I like to push my bound-
aries and take myself out of
my comfort zone. I like taking
classes and this time, while
in BC, I decided to take up
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a full-contact
self-defense sport. Having
survived competitive ballroom
dancing, I thought to myself:
how hard could this be? But
I found that I was way out of
my element, and far outside my
comfort zone, but enormously
excited nonetheless. It all started
when I came across Island Top
Team here in Nanaimo. They
teach Brazilian jiu-jitsu and
mixed martial arts (MMA),
so I decided to embark on a
personal journey of discovery.
I was slightly nervous because
I didn’t know what to expect.
Usually at times like these,
we Icelanders automatically
expect the worst. I entered what
I thought would be an ego-
oriented and testosterone-filled
environment. It turned out to be
anything but. When I entered
in this small class space I was
entering a world of humility,
respect, learning and humour,
a friendly zone, regardless
of gender. I knew, however,
that I would look like a fool
during my first class (and, as it
seems, pretty well every class
after that), but it has been so
much fun, the instructor has
made me feel very welcome
and at ease, that I got over my
embarrassment pretty quickly.
Robert Biernacki, the head
instructor, originally from
Vancouver, is the only martial
arts black belt in the mid-Island
area. He holds three of them: in
Tae Kwon Do, combat jiu-jitsu
and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He is a
seriously talented and friendly
guy, who has lived all over the
world including Europe, Africa
and the States. However, what
impressed me most about this
guy was that he was able to
pronounce my name after only
one try. That never happens when
I speak to people here who are
not of Icelandic descent. Also, he
got my patriotic heart pumping
when he said that he knew
who Gunnar Nelson was, and
considers him the best European
“grappler” there is. Gunnar
is the first Icelandic Ultimate
Fighting Championship fighter.
Because of Gunnar Nelson, the
MMA scene is getting really
big in Iceland. Recently, I even
came across a BA thesis from
the University in Akureyri on
the history of martial arts in
Iceland and their image in the
media. Tae Kwon Do and mixed
martial arts are both relatively
new in Iceland, however Glíma
wrestling has been practised
since medieval times, so maybe
it is in our blood.
According to Biernacki,
Brazilian jiu-jitsu can make a
smaller, weaker person more
equipped to take on and defeat a
much stronger person, so it is a
good way to learn self-defense
and gain self-confidence, for
women in particular. Biernacki
says “nobody gets to be a bully
here or bring in a bad attitude,
so women are welcome and
encouraged. I would love it if
more women came out.” Island
Top Team opened in October
2012, and the team took home
golds, silvers and bronzes
last month in competition in
Vancouver and Victoria, so this
club is on to great things.
It is quite humbling to
realize that you are not twenty-
one anymore. I am thirty-one,
so I get ecstatic whenever I
get “carded” by a doorman or
a bartender. Practicing with
people almost half my age, I
secretly curse their strength
and youthful stamina, but I still
try to do my best, awkward
as I may be. I could let that
frighten me, but I have come
to realize that everything you
want is usually on the other
side of fear. It also seems that
I have finally reached the level
of self-confidence where even
though I look like an idiot, it’s
not the end of the world.
Class etiquette dictates that
one should always show up for
class like one would show up for
a date. You use deodorant, take a
breath mint, and act friendly. I,
being a “girly girl,” showed up
with all that plus makeup and
perfume. That proved to be a
drastic mistake. After wrestling
for two and a half hours with a
complete stranger in what would
probably seem, to a stranger,
to be very compromising and
awkward positions, I stumbled
out of class and looked at myself
in the mirror. I looked like a lady
of the night … after a very long
night. I had mascara running
down my neck and I was so red
that it looked like I was ready
to explode. Too exhausted to
get cleaned up, I rushed home
high on adrenalin and incredibly
pleased with myself. Proud,
even.
I had a date after class and he
was already at the house to pick
me up when I arrived. You can
imagine his face when I arrived.
He was probably thinking that
he had been way too drunk and
visually impaired the weekend
before when he asked for my
number, poor soul. I didn’t care
because I was so pleased with
myself. I felt empowered by the
mere fact that I was still alive
after class, yet humble because
I could do almost nothing right.
But I was trying, and that was
the point for me.
My date was a botanist and
wanted to talk about plants. All
I wanted to talk about was how
empowered I felt as a woman
after my Brazilian jiu-jitsu
class. Needless to say, there
wasn’t a second date.
The day after my first class, I
woke up and all I could feel was
pain. Every inch of my body was
aching. I had to seriously talk
myself into getting up and getting
dressed, which proved quite
the challenge. “Well, obviously
I have to suffer a few times,”
I thought, “before my body
adjusts,” A few classes later, and
I was still in excruciating pain, all
bruised and battered. I’ve been
tossed from side to side, flipped,
tripped, choked and I don’t know
what else, yet never felt so alive.
I have had quite a lot of practice
at falling and landing on my
bum during class. I didn’t fear
this at first, seeing that I’m quite
well-stocked there. Apparently
my carbohydrate intake has not
been helpful at all in taking my
falls. I still constantly feel as if
I’m going to faint or throw up
at some point during class, but I
do it because after class I have
a feeling of victory, and it is a
victory over no one other than
myself. What a feeling.
In the days leading up to my
first class, I was sitting outside
with my lovely next-door
neighbour and telling her how
excited I was about my upcoming
Brazilian jiu-jitsu class.
I remember that her facial
expression became slightly
surprised when I said that. But I
knew that reaction already. My
mom had shared her concerns
about this upcoming experience
of mine. “What do you mean?
Will you be wrestling around
with strange men? I do not care
for this!” she said. My next-door
neighbour was outside with
Judy when I came home from
my second class, almost faint
with exhaustion. They were
beside themselves laughing.
Apparently they had been
talking about my Brazilian
jiu-jitsu excitement, and the
neighbour had expressed her
surprise at how excited I was.
“Well,” she said, “I guess
European women are probably
more open towards such things
than we are.” Then she said
“I just don’t understand how
excited she was, I’ve been told
it hurts so much.” Judy told her
she didn’t understand, and then
the neighbour came out with it
at last. She told her that she had
heard about body hair waxing.
Apparently, she thought that
Brazilian jiu-jitsu was a form of
intimate body hair removal.
You can only imagine our
amusement when we clarified
this.
Island Top Team’s website
is www.islandtopteam.com
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The North American Icelandic Community Newspaper . Since 1886
Hrafnhildur Sigmarsdóttir
Reykjavík, Iceland
Nanaimo Journal
PHoto: Judy sóLveig wiLson
Hrafnhildur grappling with blackbelt Robert Biernacki