Reykjavík Grapevine - jul 2022, Blaðsíða 31

WELL, YOU ASKED
Problematic Bugs and
Unfortunate Dating
Words: Asha Edmondson
What are your mosquito popula-
tions like?
The universe knows that Icelanders
have to put up with enough climatic and
environmental hell, so it decided to give
us the gift of no mosquitos. The blood-
sucking bugs of dismay are clearly not
as cut out for Icelandic winters as us
Icelanders are, so Mosquitos: 0, Iceland-
ers: 1. Don’t fret though! If you are
visiting Iceland and you’re homesick
you can get a reminder of home sweet
mosquito-ridden home by visiting the
midges at Lake Myvatn. The midges are
so similar to mosquitos that tourists
often claim to have found mosquitos
in Iceland. Don’t be like them, you now
know better.
What is dating life like in Iceland?
This question brought about lots of
discussion in the office, as many of
us have not personally experienced
the Icelandic dating scene. The most
conclusive answer we got is that dating
in Iceland involves drunkenly hooking
up with someone enough times that it is
more convenient to move in with each
other than not. If you’re trying to find
your rom-com-esque love story, Iceland
is not the place for you. However, if
you’re done with the back and forth
of normal dating and you just want to
settle down with the first person you
meet, Iceland is perfect for you.
What do Icelanders do in a (rare)
heatwave?
If you can consider 15°C (disregarding
wind chill of course) a “heatwave,” then
Icelanders do the same exact thing as
every other day, except with maybe one
less jacket. In fact, while the rest of the
world has been melting in puddles of
their own sweat for the last few weeks,
we in the north Atlantic have actually
been able to enjoy a nice stroll outside
in short-sleeves on a few occasions.
Thanks for your sacrifice everyone else,
finally a weather win for Icelanders!
CITY SHOT by Joana Fontinha
National heroes
31The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07— 2022
Micaela Alexandra Ajanti
Words: Alice Poggio Photos: Joana Fontinha
There’s a sense of calm after a storm
that can only be felt after a crush-
ingly busy Friday night at Tides. A
waiter approaches the last guests.
“If he’s not too busy, we would love
to see this evening’s chef, we can-
not say enough great things about
the food,” the diner says. “Or she!”
her friend quickly clarifies. Proving
her point, out from the smoke of the
recently extinguished grill, walks
Micaela.
Apparently, such an exchange
is common for the junior sous-chef
from Finland. She’s a no-nonsense
woman though, and is unvexed by
the guests’ assumption that she’d
be male. “Although it doesn’t happen
much in Iceland, I find people tend
to underestimate women, but it only
pushes me more, it feeds me,” she
says.
A series of fortunate events
Micaela’s first choice of degree was
in nutritional therapy, an interest
she developed due to severe health
conditions. “I felt really useless,” she
recalls. So she studied as a means
to take matters into her own hands.
But just studying food from a book
wasn’t enough for her. “I needed to
work with my hands, I wanted to cre-
ate.”
So she applied to chef school, in
fact only sending in her documents
15 minutes before the application
deadline. “Why not?” she thought.
But once she started, she couldn’t
let go. “I was hooked.”
Then came the opportunity to
study abroad with an Erasmus pro-
gram in Iceland. It was the perfect
fit for Micaela. “I remember think-
ing: ‘I would never want to live and
work in Iceland. It's a small island,
it’s cold, and it’s expensive.’ So that
was my chance to visit,” she smiled.
“I could have never imagined what
came next.”
Staying hungry
In Iceland she met Sigurður Laufdal,
then the head chef at Grillið, who
quickly became her mentor. Soon
after, he asked her to stay. And so
Micaela, who was once so adamant
to relegate Iceland to a holiday-only
destination, ended up staying.
Months turned into years and
when the opportunity arose to work
as chef de partie in the country’s
first five star hotel, she happily took
on the challenge. “I love surrounding
myself with people that are way bet-
ter than me, that’s when I learn the
most, and I never want to stop learn-
ing more. If I hear colleagues talking
about something I don’t know, I just
go to the bathroom to Google it. I love
that.”
All shall pass
But nobody’s an expert, and every-
one experiences self-doubt. In fact,
Micaela admits that that’s “a weekly
struggle” for her. “I know that it is
only a feeling and that it will pass, so
I find a way to be at peace with it, and
let it take its course,” she explains.
Nonetheless, it’s always best to build
a good support system, she reiter-
ates, and, as she says, “to have the
kind of people around you that you
can go to and say ‘I’ve been lacking
motivation.’” For Micaela this person
is head chef Georg Arnar Halldórsson.
But what is it about the cutthroat
and stressful culinary world that so
captivates the young Finn? “The fast-
paced lifestyle, the learning curve,
the people. This industry is all about
the people,” she says. “And if the
people are right, the atmosphere is
amazing and you’re always having
fun. It doesn’t even feel like work, you
want the tough days, the late nights
and the early starts.”
The Islanders is our series where we
interview interesting people in Ice-
land about their unique lives. Know
someone we should speak to? Email
grapevine@grapevine.is
The Islanders
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