Springtime Reflections

Springtime in Reykjavik is very beautiful. It seems to come on all of a sudden...tiny buds on trees and bushes suddenly explode into leaves of green. When out walking you suddenly notice daffodils and tulips in front yards. Sidewalks that were covered in snow and ice just a few months back are lined with lush green grass. And you suddenly look outside at the bright sky and realize that it's 10.30 at night! The light is the most impressive thing about this season. It effects your body and spirit a lot more than you might think...In the winter, it is easy to go to sleep early and often; it feels like hibernating. The opposite is true in the late spring and summer. Everyone who has visited Reykjavik in the light season has undoubtedly experienced that sense of absolute shock and disbelief that it's actually so late in the day. Last spring, I remember waking up, taking a shower, and starting the coffee pot before I realized that it was 3am...not 7 like I thought! The soft light of midnight makes waking up to breastfeed very tolerable...Since I am the type of person who likes to go to bed early no matter how bright it is outside, I am thankful for the chance to appreciate the light of arctic spring with my hungry grunting baby on the boob (see me trying to stay positive about the fact that I haven't had more than 4 hours of sleep in a row in six weeks?!)

I recently discovered a new type of screen saver on my laptop; I can select a photo album from iPhoto that will randomly flash across the screen. I chose the album of pictures from my trip to the Pacific Northwest last spring, which may or may not have been the best idea. Seeing pictures of a trip to Portland I took with my mom, grandma, aunt, and lovely cousins, pictures from Riley's graduation celebration in Olalla, our vacation in sunny Lake Chelan, and just goofing off in the backyard at home has made me feel homesick for family, friends, and greenery of Washington. For as lovely Iceland is in the summertime, I am seriously homesick for the Northwest.

I find myself thinking back on this time last year. I was just finishing up with the second semester of grad school, and getting ready to go home for a visit and embark on my thesis journey. I spent my trip in the Northwest connecting with family and friends, drinking fantastic beer, and reading about education for sustainability in the backyard in Olalla while working on my tan. I was so impressed by the height of the trees and the ease with which plants flourished in Olalla; it was obscene! I had just felt so pleased with myself because my little herb garden on the balcony had grown a few centimeters when I stepped into my parent's garden and was assaulted by a rosemary tree (that's right, not bush...tree). When I left to come back to Iceland, I remember thinking I would finish up my thesis and then it would be time for Tumi and I to move somewhere else. I made a list of pros and cons of living in each country (dork) and was going to see which place would be better to live in. After a month in the Northwest summer sun, I was resolved to leave Iceland just as soon as I could. Needless to say, my mind was changed a few months later, probably due in large part to planning for Elsa María's arrival. The conclusion of my pros and cons list (nerd) was that there are good and bad things about both places, so instead of deciding which place would be better, I chose to to focus on the good things about wherever I ended up. Hence the positive thinking about Icelandic spring and desperately trying to shove down feelings of homesickness for the Pacific Northwest.

When I reflect on life a year ago, I am struck by how very much my life has changed. Of course, having a baby changes everything about your daily life, but it is amazing how quickly it changes not only everyday activities, but your whole life plan...Last year I was ready to pack up and leave Iceland, now I'm planning on being here for at least the next few years. Last year I had the flexibility in my schedule to leave for a month and a half, now I am uncomfortable being away for more than an hour or so. On my last birthday, I was out at a summerhouse with my friends and got drunk and jumped in a lake at midnight...not likely to happen this year (although I suppose it might be possible if I decide it's really how I want to celebrate). Last year I was gearing up to start my thesis, now I'm officially an MSc and not sure at all where my life is going professionally.

With all those reflections bouncing around in my head, I look forward to this summer. We have a series of friends and family coming to visit over the next three months, and I am excited to see familiar faces from home and show off my new baby and country! This year, instead of visiting home, home is visiting us :)

Family...take your positions for the World Cup, please! Thank you!

This is the face she makes when we put her in her little bouncy chair. I call it the "Where the hell did you just put me?!" look.

Lifting up on Pabbi's chest:

Is it true that watching TV rots your brain, Elsa? Oh yea...Let's read a book instead, baby girl!

Like father like daughter...

I finally caught one of those beautiful smiles on film!

This video is special for Great Uncle Pat, Great Aunt Shawn, cousin Brennah, and cousin Nolan...check out the sneezin'!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtCF8tFgH1U

Elsa María; the best thing since air!

It's official...I'm smitten.

Last weekend, we held a 'naming party' for our little lady and announced to the world that she will be called Elsa María Kolbeinsdóttir. It is common for parents in Iceland to wait a long time before naming their babies (though waiting more then six months will get you fined!). I think the reason people here wait so long to name their babies has to do with the harsh historical trends underlying the culture of child-rearing in such a difficult environment. Lots of families in the olden days lost children, so to save themselves the heartache (and probably to avoid tempting fate) they held off on the naming until they were sure the baby was going to be strong enough to survive. The tradition stuck around, and as my mother-in-law explained to me, preparations for the baby's arrival in Iceland should be done quietly. You don't blab to all your friends about the nursery decorations or the new baby clothes you just bought, and you certainly don't have a baby shower! Such excitement will wait until the baby is born (healthy) and survives (God willing!). In Iceland, most babies have a christening party in which the parents announce the name and the baby is baptized. While we opted for the secular route, we still wanted to have a celebration to officially mark the special event that was choosing a name for our little lady, as well as give family and friends a chance to meet her.

Can I talk a little bit about how cool Iceland is? First of all, one of the reasons I decided to move here (well, aside from Tumi, obviously) was to go to graduate school. The Environment and Natural Resources program here is taught in English, and because of the overwhelming governmental support for education, tuition for grad school works out to about $600 a year. The one year I worked for Pacific Science Center between undergrad and moving to Iceland earned me a tax return that paid my entire graduate school tuition! In my opinion, this is the way education should be handled all over the world. And then there's healthcare. All of my prenatal care, and delivery, and postnatal care was free....that's right, FREE! We paid about $50 for the ambulance ride to the hospital, and I've paid about $30 for breast feeding advice, but other than that, all of our care was paid for by the government. The midwife COMES TO YOUR HOUSE EVERYDAY for a week after the baby is born to check up on you and answer your questions. Then, a nurse comes to visit every week or so for the first month to weigh the baby and provide even more help. We have an appointment to take Elsa in for her first check up actually IN the clinic in two weeks. I absolutely love this set-up, and when I feel homesick, it helps me to remember the really good things about the place I chose to live; like that the government invests its resources in creating a healthy, well-educated society, which are both goals I can fully support!

People here pay ridiculously high taxes, but that money goes to education, healthcare, social security, and other services the government provides to take care of its people. In America, our tax dollars do go to some support services, but a huge amount also goes to killing people in less fortunate places. All of which begs the question; Why can't Americans take better care of themselves?! We pretend like we're the biggest, strongest, best-est country in the world, but we neglect the poorest of our citizens. Only recently have we started to embrace the idea that adequate health care is a human right! Imagine an America where a university education costed $600 per year....what kind of a country would we be able to make then? Think of all the talent that is going to waste because of the prohibitively expensive price of a college education, and higher taxes to support a 'socialist' state doesn't sound that bad. That's the end of my lil' rant...mostly I feel very lucky to have been given such excellent education and care and support while living here.

Oh, and Tumi gets 6 months PAID PATERNITY LEAVE! Thank you, Iceland!

Elsa María is a wonderful baby. She is growing more and more everyday, and getting even more adorable all the time. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I made something as beautiful as she is! Looking around the room at all the people who came to meet her last weekend and celebrate her entrance into the world, it is clear that she already has a fabulous community of people who love her dearly, and are happy she is here with us...It struck me during the party that all those people are really only HALF of Elsa María's folk. There is a whole other bunch of people across the sea waiting to meet her and see how she grows up. How lucky we are to have such a community of support! We are planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest next Christmas, and are very excited to meet the other branch of Elsa María's family tree :)

(Hey Aunt Gunnhildur....Does this look like somebody you know?!)