Officially the longest hiatus in the Made in Reykjavik blog history. Leave it to me to write less after resolving to write more. There ya have it.
Tomorrow is my 5 year Immigrantversary. I moved to Iceland August 28th, 2008, so tomorrow makes five years. It feels significant. Probably for lots of reasons...it has flown by (of course) but so much has happened to me since that day I stepped on an Icelandair flight at SeaTac with two suitcases stuffed to the brims and headed for the cute one-bedroom apartment on Framnesvegur, it is hard to wrap my head around how much has changed.
For starters, there are all the major life-events that I seem to have plowed through like a steam engine within the past 5 year chunk of my life. I went to gradschool. Got married. Finished school. Had a kid. Then another one. Got a job. Grew up. Life-event wise, it has been a significant chunk, the past 5 years. It's fair to say that Iceland has been kind to me. Those big life-altering events make reflecting on the 5 year chunk all the more profound, since day-to-day life has such a vastly different shape than it did when I first moved here.
I know I have also changed in the past five years, but it is hard to put a finger on how. Living in a place with a different climate, culture, and language just changes a person. Interacting with people who speak English as a second language has altered the way I use my mother tongue. I've also gotten quieter. I don't think I was very loud before, but I know that my ignorance of the Icelandic language (though not as stark as it was 5 years ago) has forced me into an observer's role more than I would have been in the US. At parties or the lunch table or other occasions where folks are sitting around shooting the shit, I watch. I listen. Sometimes I speak up, but not as much as I want too. I'd like to think that this has helped me to understand people better, being forced by my ignorance to passively listen to conversation instead of actively participate. I find that when I am with other Americans, my speech gets louder and I laugh more. Maybe it's the language. Maybe it's a difference of culture (Icelanders are kind and funny, but not as wild, boisterous, or raunchy as Americans tend to be..or at least the way MY friends and family tend to be).
Another reason why it feels so significant is that when reflecting on the 5 year chunk of time, it is hard not to guess about what the next 5 years have in store for me. I can swallow the fact that they will likely not be quite as eventful as the past 5 have been, but I hold hope that they will be just as positive. It is kind of a daunting feeling to try and guess what life will be like in 5 years. It is hard to imagine that it will be exactly the same as it is now, but I see them taking place in Iceland. Probably.
If I had told myself 5 years ago what life would be like in 2013, I would have not been too surprised. Maybe about the whole 2 kids thing, but not all that surprised. Still, myself of 10 years ago probably wouldn't believe 2013-Me. I think the UW-bound 18 year old sorority girl would faint to hear about environmental science, a husband met on the bus, Iceland, and children. I guess I'll just have to check in again in 2018 and see how life is.
Hope I remember to blog between now and then.
(Oh, and as a side note, there are adorable child pictures from our recent US trip on the way. My computer is old...5 years now, since I bought it right before coming to Iceland! and it is time for a new machine. This old clunker can't upload pictures anymore...)
Tomorrow is my 5 year Immigrantversary. I moved to Iceland August 28th, 2008, so tomorrow makes five years. It feels significant. Probably for lots of reasons...it has flown by (of course) but so much has happened to me since that day I stepped on an Icelandair flight at SeaTac with two suitcases stuffed to the brims and headed for the cute one-bedroom apartment on Framnesvegur, it is hard to wrap my head around how much has changed.
For starters, there are all the major life-events that I seem to have plowed through like a steam engine within the past 5 year chunk of my life. I went to gradschool. Got married. Finished school. Had a kid. Then another one. Got a job. Grew up. Life-event wise, it has been a significant chunk, the past 5 years. It's fair to say that Iceland has been kind to me. Those big life-altering events make reflecting on the 5 year chunk all the more profound, since day-to-day life has such a vastly different shape than it did when I first moved here.
I know I have also changed in the past five years, but it is hard to put a finger on how. Living in a place with a different climate, culture, and language just changes a person. Interacting with people who speak English as a second language has altered the way I use my mother tongue. I've also gotten quieter. I don't think I was very loud before, but I know that my ignorance of the Icelandic language (though not as stark as it was 5 years ago) has forced me into an observer's role more than I would have been in the US. At parties or the lunch table or other occasions where folks are sitting around shooting the shit, I watch. I listen. Sometimes I speak up, but not as much as I want too. I'd like to think that this has helped me to understand people better, being forced by my ignorance to passively listen to conversation instead of actively participate. I find that when I am with other Americans, my speech gets louder and I laugh more. Maybe it's the language. Maybe it's a difference of culture (Icelanders are kind and funny, but not as wild, boisterous, or raunchy as Americans tend to be..or at least the way MY friends and family tend to be).
Another reason why it feels so significant is that when reflecting on the 5 year chunk of time, it is hard not to guess about what the next 5 years have in store for me. I can swallow the fact that they will likely not be quite as eventful as the past 5 have been, but I hold hope that they will be just as positive. It is kind of a daunting feeling to try and guess what life will be like in 5 years. It is hard to imagine that it will be exactly the same as it is now, but I see them taking place in Iceland. Probably.
If I had told myself 5 years ago what life would be like in 2013, I would have not been too surprised. Maybe about the whole 2 kids thing, but not all that surprised. Still, myself of 10 years ago probably wouldn't believe 2013-Me. I think the UW-bound 18 year old sorority girl would faint to hear about environmental science, a husband met on the bus, Iceland, and children. I guess I'll just have to check in again in 2018 and see how life is.
Hope I remember to blog between now and then.
(Oh, and as a side note, there are adorable child pictures from our recent US trip on the way. My computer is old...5 years now, since I bought it right before coming to Iceland! and it is time for a new machine. This old clunker can't upload pictures anymore...)
