Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.12.2019, Page 5

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. desember 2019 • 5
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NEW to the
Lögberg-Heimskringla
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Adult Icelandic Flag Shirt $30 (s−xxl)
Youth Icelandic Viking Shirt $25 (s–l)
Toddler I Heart Amma Shirt $20 (2t–6t)
Toddler I Heart Afi Shirt $20 (2t−6t)
To Purchase
Visit: www.lh-inc.ca/shop2
Contact: 204 284 5686 | LH@LH-inc.ca
When my aunt was a recently married
bride (she was eighteen), she and
her husband were very poor. They
lived in a shanty. Jack was an ordinary airman
in the Air Force and the pay was not intended to
support both him and a wife. However, my aunt
was beautiful and he was dashing in his uniform
and they, like many young couples, were full of
hope. Love, they believed, could overcome all
problems.
Their first Christmas all they had between
them was ten cents. Mind you, ten cents still
meant something. You could buy something
with ten cents. It was two-thirds of a haircut, for
example. It was two-thirds of a ticket to a movie.
It was two ice cream cones. Still, it was just ten
cents.
They set up a tree and decorated it with what
they were able to make.
My aunt went to the butcher shop and she said
to the butcher, “Can I get some hamburger for ten
cents?”
And the butcher, who had known her all his
life, for this was a small town, Gimli, Manitoba,
where nearly everyone was related by blood or
marriage, even though new interlopers like my
uncle were appearing because an airbase was
being built for the war effort in Europe, said,
“Sure, Florence.” And he took her dime.
He went to the back, away from the counter,
and when he returned, he gave her a package
wrapped in brown waxed paper and tied with
butcher’s string.
When she got home and opened the package,
there was the hamburger – and with it, short ribs
and steak.
When my aunt was in her eighties and in a
nursing home she still had not forgotten that
Christmas. She’d told me about it many times
over the years and I was always happy to hear
and re-hear it.
We have advanced to telling time in
Icelandic.
Klukkan er tvö. It is two o’clock.
Klukkan er hálf sjö. It is six thirty.
Klukkan er korter í tíu. It is a quarter to
ten.
Doing a classroom assignment,
we were shown a page of clock faces
on the white board in front of us. We
were supposed to first give the time in
English numerals and then write the
time down in Icelandic words.
“So,” the instructor said. “What time
is this?”
The room was silent. Even I, who
knew very well that the clock face said
1:55, didn’t speak up.
The silence extended.
“I get it,” the instructor said. “How
many of you can tell time with a clock
like this?”
I held up my hand, but I was in
the minority. In these days of digital
everything, telling time with an analog
clock is becoming a lost skill.
Reading Week
Fall reading week is relatively new
at the University of Manitoba, falling
this year during the week that began with
Remembrance Day. For many students,
especially those carrying a full course
load, this was an opportunity to catch
up on required reading, assignments and
study time.
For people like me, auditing only
one course, it was a vacation. Now that
the vacation is over, there remain only
three weeks of class time before the
exam period begins.
I do not remember time passing so
quickly when I was a full-time student
myself. One term seemed endless then.
Langamma’s story
I have given myself an Icelandic
project.
My paternal grandmother’s family
lived for some time in a community
west of Langruth, Manitoba, named
Marshland. The community no longer
exists. Its cemetery lies within the
confines of a community pasture not
far from where my husband and I used
to live.
According to A Tribute to Soldiers
and Pioneers of the Langruth District,
published in 1950, Marshland’s
central literary figure was J. Magnús
Bjarnason. “A poet and writer of
considerable note,” he taught at the
local school until it closed in 1911.
I remember my Amma talking about
him.
I have an essay written in Icelandic
about my langamma, Amma’s mother.
It was written by J. Magnús Bjarnason
and included in a larger collection of
essays about local citizens. I have
given myself the task of translating
this essay, using what I have learned
in Icelandic class and referring also to
online and other resources I have been
told about.
Spoiler Alert: It would be possible
for me to cheat. I do already have a
translation provided by relatives in
Iceland.
But I am determined to do this on
my own. When I am finished, it might
be interesting to compare my translation
and theirs.
KLUKKAN ER ...
Sharron Arksey
Winnipeg, MB
CLASSROOM
NOTES
The 10-cent Christmas W.D. Valgardson
Victoria, BC
Robert T. Kristjanson
125 5th Avenue
Gimli, MB R0C 1B0
Fax: 204-642-7306
Phone: 204-642-5283
CHRISTMAS
# 24 Dec 15 - Deadline Dec 2
NEW YEAR
#1 Jan 1 - Deadline Dec 10
Contact Jodi
jodi@lh-inc.ca
(204) 284 5686
TF 1-866-564-2374
Holiday Issues
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Wouldn’t your amma and afi be proud?
THE ICELANDIC NATIONAL LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA
Tel: (204) 642 5897
Email: inl@mts.net www.inlofna.org
Are you proud of your Icelandic Heritage?
Do you want to see it preserved for your children and grandchildren?
Are you a member of your local Ice andic Club?
Don’t know where they are or who to contact?
Visit our website for more information or contact our INL office.
If you don’t have a club in your area but are interested in
forming one, please call the INL office.
Greetings from
Gordon J. Reykdal
Honorary Consul of the
Republic of Iceland
Suite #10250 – 176 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5S 1L2
Cell: 780.497.1480
E-mail: gjreykdal@gmail.com
PHOTO: PIXABAY
An old-fashioned butcher’s shop