04 April 2006

Gleðilega Páska

´Tis the season here, again. It looks like Easter is almost as exciting around here as Christmas. We get more days off work (a five-day weekend next week) and people in my office are travelling far and wide during the time, both in Iceland and across the stones. Earlier today two women dressed as chickens came through the office, pushing a cart full of boxes. They delivered one of these to each person. This thing is taller than the length of my hand, adorned with a drunken looking bottlebrush chicken, and is apparently full of further goodies. It's the special company packaging too, with the logo surrounded by pastel eggs. I guess Easter is big.

Unlike Christmas though, there have been NONE of the signals I am accustomed to at this time of year. No bunnies, no sickening chicks-wearing-bows pictures, no mint-peach-lavendar-pink-baby blue décor beswagging the fruit displays in the grocery stores. There doesn't seem to really be much in the way of special Easter foods at all actually, not even special páskasmjör (we had Christmas butter, so it seemed like a possibility). Nothing but chocolate. It's also confirmation season now, so the radio is peppered with ads for special confirmation bargains to be had. I guess it's important to buy books or electronics for this important event.

The weather has also not added much in the way of Eastertime feelings. It snowed yesterday and this morning, so even that tender spring air isn't around. The Icelandic seasonal calendar is just two- summer, and winter, but I'm beginning to think they really should be called dark, and not dark, since the weather's about the same now as it was in January. I can't say I love those humid days of July and August in New England (part of why it was easy to think of moving away), but every now and then, like today, I wish for a little of that springtime balminess.

Ship sighting: The tanker Keilir is coming in today, among some of the usual Eimskip/Atlansskip/Samskip/various fiskiskip suspects. I like this one because it's named after such a cool mountain.

8 comments:

Paul said...

fun times.

If it makes you feel any better Boston is in a roller coaster of weather. We were teased with a summer day in the 70s over the weekend, and then it was wet and dreary on Monday and Tuesday, and it's supposed to be cold with flurries on Wednesday. Booooooo

Anonymous said...

I hope that snow didn't ruin the early buds in your neighborhood.

You speaking of confirmations made me wonder: Are Icelanders generally religious?

ECS said...

Hey PLo: I know the weather in Boston is every which way, but in my imaginings it's always about 65-70f and sunny. Don't ruin it for me :-)

Carmen: J and I just had a talk about this while making dinner, and we agree that it's more about tradition than religion. People like getting together with family, and they like a good party, so any big holiday is a great excuse for those. The seriously practicing, regular church-going population doesn't seem to be in any greater percentage here than in the States.

Anonymous said...

Easter eggs- yum.

You want balmy weather? Well you can have our severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watch that I nervously sat through last night. The sky was purple- purple I tell you!

However it has been warm enough that I could plant my tomatoes- visions of tomato-y goodness this summer....

cK said...

Across the stones? Is this an Icelandic phrase? I like it. Is this across the pond? only to sign less distance (since you're quite close to Europe and eastern Canada).

Lovely.

I had a German instructor who used to live on the harbor in Hamburg. He loved it. He talked of the ships often too. When he moved to southern Illinois, he was so goddamn lonely. He missed his bakeries, the water, the ships. He missed the Greens (of which he was a member). I think he went home after one year.
-cK

ECS said...

Angel: yeah, I'm growing a basil plant. indoors. It's doing nicely though, and maybe it will eventually be un-windy enough for me to put it on the balcony. Not today, that's for sure!

cK: across the stones means crossing out of Iceland, since we're kind of ringed by lava rocks here. Don't think it matters which direction you're going once you cross them though!

I haven't lived here for long but I think I'd miss the ocean terribly if I left. I feel like I've been creeping towards the ocean my whole life, as I've moved progressively closer every time I set up residence in a new place. It'd be hard to get closer than this though. However, I hear that some of the plains of the midwest can feel like ocean, and there's a similar big open sky feeling. I'd love to see it someday.

tsduff said...

Your Easter goodies sound so fun - if anything out of the ordinary happens around this place it is because I have to arrange it. No surprises here.

The days off sound stupendous - if I ever move to Island, and IF I ever was fortunate enough to get a job (considering the fact that I speak no Icelandic whatsoever) that will be one of the greatest perks :-)

Anonymous said...

FYI - New England weather never fails!
Today's weather, sleet, snow and temps just above 32fahr.
It was COLD and then freezin' cold. My nose was freezin, my hands were freezin' and my toes were too.
Nothing to miss out on, as they measuered 2 inches snowfall in some Boston suburbs