Today they announced the sea was calm enough, and this would be our only opportunity to kayak. There were 2 people inflatable kayaks, so Shannon and I went together. The weather here was 11C this morning. It didn't seem like we went very far, basically just to shore and back, but my fingers were cold despite me wearing my snow gloves.
After kayaking we had time to go into the small town. There are only probably 40 buildings in this town on the Langanes peninsula. We went to the grocery store, past a school, and looked into the swimming pool. In Iceland, all children are required to pass a swim test.
When we came back from town it was time to do the Polar Plunge. They said the ocean was about 44F and that the shock on people's faces was much less than when they do it in Antartica and it's below 32 degrees F. The photographers and videographers were there to capture our jumps. We did one with all three of us together, me holding Quincy in a watertight bag. Carlos told us the first time was the worst because of the shock, but the 2nd and third time were better because you were already cold. So then we each did solo jumps. When we were done, the hotel manager was serving hot chocolate.
The rest of the day was simply lecture while we are on the ship. For tea time the served scandinavian pancakes (which seem like crepes to me). I was adventurous in my tea today. I decided to try tomato mint tea, but it was too tomatoish.
Tim finished his Brendan voyage talk. I am amazed at how dedicated they were to their trip. They met severe waves, whales, and icebergs. They had ocean come and fill their sleeping quarters. I can't image how cold it was to sew a patch on the outside of the boat after hitting an iceberg. And the fact that their sleeping bags were wet and there was no sun to dry out their clothes sounds miserable. When they talked to a doctor before the trip he said, "You aren't going to contract any germs or anything, because where you are going the germs won't be there...they aren't that stupid." One interesting change that happened to them as they traveled for more than 7 weeks from Iceland, to Greenland, to Canada in a medieval structured ship, was that their speech patterns slowed down because they had all the time in the world :-)
For the cocktail hour, we sampled some Icelandic foods. Our Icelander, Dagny, on board got for us dried haddock (like fish jerky, yuck), flatbread and hangikjot (lamb smoked with dung, which tasted fine), and licorish chocolate. She wasn't allowed to bring shark on board because of Nat Geo policy. It's always interesting to see what animals cultures consider food, verses which animals a culture finds unacceptable to eat. We didn't get to try it, but pylsur is hot dog and where we disembark is said to be a very famous hot dog stand visited by President Clinton.
Dinner was in the Chart room. Every night 12-16 people are invited to the chart room for a special dinner. We started with a Champagne toast, then "Dalaromacka" smoked mackerel on dark rye bread mustard sauce, chives, red onion and confit egg yolk followed by a sweetcorn and roasted garlic soup. We then had lemon sorbet as a palate cleanser. I ordered the entree of Seared Duck Breast with pumpkin, sweet potato puree, garlic baked broccoli and red wine juice with sage and brown butter. Dessert was a white chocolate mousse with homemade red grapefruit sorbet. We finished the evening with tea and coffee, and then went to the lounge for Elves and Troll stories from native Icelander, Ragnar. He also told the story of Adam and Eve and the hidden people.
After kayaking we had time to go into the small town. There are only probably 40 buildings in this town on the Langanes peninsula. We went to the grocery store, past a school, and looked into the swimming pool. In Iceland, all children are required to pass a swim test.
When we came back from town it was time to do the Polar Plunge. They said the ocean was about 44F and that the shock on people's faces was much less than when they do it in Antartica and it's below 32 degrees F. The photographers and videographers were there to capture our jumps. We did one with all three of us together, me holding Quincy in a watertight bag. Carlos told us the first time was the worst because of the shock, but the 2nd and third time were better because you were already cold. So then we each did solo jumps. When we were done, the hotel manager was serving hot chocolate.
The rest of the day was simply lecture while we are on the ship. For tea time the served scandinavian pancakes (which seem like crepes to me). I was adventurous in my tea today. I decided to try tomato mint tea, but it was too tomatoish.
Tim finished his Brendan voyage talk. I am amazed at how dedicated they were to their trip. They met severe waves, whales, and icebergs. They had ocean come and fill their sleeping quarters. I can't image how cold it was to sew a patch on the outside of the boat after hitting an iceberg. And the fact that their sleeping bags were wet and there was no sun to dry out their clothes sounds miserable. When they talked to a doctor before the trip he said, "You aren't going to contract any germs or anything, because where you are going the germs won't be there...they aren't that stupid." One interesting change that happened to them as they traveled for more than 7 weeks from Iceland, to Greenland, to Canada in a medieval structured ship, was that their speech patterns slowed down because they had all the time in the world :-)
For the cocktail hour, we sampled some Icelandic foods. Our Icelander, Dagny, on board got for us dried haddock (like fish jerky, yuck), flatbread and hangikjot (lamb smoked with dung, which tasted fine), and licorish chocolate. She wasn't allowed to bring shark on board because of Nat Geo policy. It's always interesting to see what animals cultures consider food, verses which animals a culture finds unacceptable to eat. We didn't get to try it, but pylsur is hot dog and where we disembark is said to be a very famous hot dog stand visited by President Clinton.
Dinner was in the Chart room. Every night 12-16 people are invited to the chart room for a special dinner. We started with a Champagne toast, then "Dalaromacka" smoked mackerel on dark rye bread mustard sauce, chives, red onion and confit egg yolk followed by a sweetcorn and roasted garlic soup. We then had lemon sorbet as a palate cleanser. I ordered the entree of Seared Duck Breast with pumpkin, sweet potato puree, garlic baked broccoli and red wine juice with sage and brown butter. Dessert was a white chocolate mousse with homemade red grapefruit sorbet. We finished the evening with tea and coffee, and then went to the lounge for Elves and Troll stories from native Icelander, Ragnar. He also told the story of Adam and Eve and the hidden people.
Another famous story he told was Bukolla. There was a mother and son that had a cow, but one day the cow went missing. The son went to look for the cow. He called for it, and the cow answered back but far away. He repeated this as he walked, and each time the cow sounded closer. Finally, he found the cow in a cave of the Trolls. The cow and the boy stole away, but the trolls were chasing them. The son asked the cow, "What are we going to do?" The cow answered, "Take a hair from my tale and put it on the ground." So the boy did so, then the cow said, "From the skin on my back to the hair in my tale, may this piece of hair become a lake so large that no one can go around it, only the birds fly over it." And so a huge lake sprang up between the boy and his cow and the Trolls. When the trolls saw it the lady troll said, "go and get our bull." So the boy troll went and got the bull from their cave and the bull drank the whole lake. The boy and the cow had gotten away, but the trolls quickly followed them. The son asked the cow, "What are we going to do?" The cow answered, "Take a hair from my tale and put it on the ground." So the boy did so, then the cow said, "From the skin on my back to the hair in my tale, may this piece of hair become fire so large that no one can go around it, only the birds fly over it." And so a huge fire sprang up between the boy and his cow and the Trolls and allowed them to get away. But the troll brought the bull and the bull peed on the fire, put it out, and the trolls were able to catch up. The son asked the cow, "What are we going to do?" The cow answered, "Take a hair from my tale and put it on the ground." So the boy did so, then the cow said, "From the skin on my back to the hair in my tale, may this piece of hair become a mountain so large that no one can go around it, only the birds fly over it." And so a huge mountain sprang up between the boy and his cow and the Trolls. The troll lady said, "go back to the cave and get the drill." And so they drilled a hole through the mountain, but the troll lady was too impatient and tried to squeeze through before the hole was big enough and she got stuck. Before they could get her out, the sun came up and she became a rock stuck int he mountain. The best part of the way Ragnar told the tales was at the end he would say something like, "And geologists agree that the rock that is stuck there today is not like the ground around it, but that it came very far from the North, so that proves my story that the rock in the mountain was the Troll that had come from the North and got stuck."
Summary:
Wow moment-The amazingly fancy chart room dinner. It was very fun to be treated to that.
Worst part of the day-Tasting dried haddock
Human/nature connections-It makes sense that germs can't survive well in cold weather. I wonder what temperature germs die at? Do Icelanders pass less germs and get less sick than people in other parts of the world?
Teaching Connections-Again, I love the Icelandic folktales. The stories are a little harsh, kinda like the weather. They don't all end happily, in fact some are kinda grim, like Trolls eating children. But hearing the stories are so fun. I'll probably have to cut out the depressing, dark Troll stories cuz the parents won't like their children having nightmares, but there are some that I can use with my students. I'm glad I've heard many different Icelanders tell folktales so I know how to re-tell the tale to my students. I think we will use Bukolla to create a musical performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment