Editorial From a certain point of view the UNA resembles Reykjavik itself. Although being small, it features a wide diversity. In the current edition you can find out about the greenhouses of Hveragerði, where even bananas grow, discover the peculiarities of Reykjavik and get yourself up to date with Iceland’s politics. Those interested in a work camp with Worldwide Friends can read about the experiences of the eco-messenger project which tried to spread the message of ecological awareness in Reykjavik’s schools. Also the UNA features a variety of tips for the soon-to-be volunteers among much and more articles.
We hope that you enjoy submerging yourself in this hot-pot of information and wish you a soon and pleasant stay in Iceland. - Your Daphne, Dre, Elvira, Garam, Giacomo, Leon, Melanie, Sayuri and Sun At this exposed position we would like to thank our magnificent leaders Ellen, Katka and Lisa. It is their heads, hands and last but not least improvisational skill which made this edition possible in the first place. ‘Muchas gracias’, ‘спасибо’ and ‘Vielen Dank’!
Eco messengers in Reykjavik ........................................................................................................... 4 Act like a local ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Worldwide Friends in garden of hot springs ............................................................................... 9 Power from the earth ....................................................................................................................... 14 Worldwide Reykjavik......................................................................................................................... 15 Nature Break ...................................................................................................................................... 16 Design March revisited ..................................................................................................................... 18 Cool head warm heart ...................................................................................................................... 20 Music time ........................................................................................................................................... 22 Parliament election 2013 ................................................................................................................. 24
Ecomessengers in Reykjavik Nowadays, environmental pollution is one of the world’s most difficult problems to solve. This is why various volunteering camps about environmental awareness take place here in Iceland. Eco-messengers in Reykjavik is a project that deals with this serious problem by spreading information about recycling to local people. As a matter of fact, volunteers from different countries worked on this program from 5th March to 17th March and performed it in several Reykjavik schools.
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What does this camp consist of? As we mentioned above, the purpose of the camp is to diffuse information about environmental pollution and recycling. To achieve our goal, first of all we had had a brainstorming and afterwards decided on the main topics of the program together. Then we arranged an introduction to the subject and prepared some games to make students understand better our project. Why does this camp take place in Reykjavik? The reason is that the recycling system in the city is not well-organized. That is owing to the fact that the city is full of landfills and rubbish dumps instead of recycling industries.
Daphne’s experience When I arrived here I was wondering: What am I doing here? In a foreign city without knowing the language; I was like a fish out of water. But now, after two weeks, I think that I have enjoyed my stay here because I spent a great time with my group and have realized the importance of the project. Moreover, during this experience I’ve had the chance to improve my knowledge about environmental awareness and pollution. Furthermore, the multi-cultural experiences were absolutely the best because during the camp everybody cooked traditional food from their countries, told us about their cultures and explained us some expressions in their languages. Going to various pubs, playing funny games and talking until late night, I entered into great friendship with the group mates and even now I keep staying in touch with them.
Act like a local Plane Iceland is not on the European continent, so it is expensive to come here. Actually, not all flight companies offer you a round ticket to Keflavik Airport, which is the main international airport of this far-far away island. You can go to Akureyri, another airport, but arriving in Keflavik would be much closer to reach Reykjavik. The capital of Iceland can be reached from there by using Flybus (and as a Worldwide Friends volunteer you get 50% discount with a voucher). If you live in Europe, it will not be a big problem because you can choose the nearest main city of your country for departure. However, if you are not from Europe, you should first transfer to a big city and from there consider every possible route to Iceland. I would recommend choosing a transfer city like London, Amsterdam or Copenhagen. You should be aware that prices can differ according to date, time and special offers. For example there are daily flights to Iceland from London or Copenhagen. Festivals and events in Reykjavik. Reykjavik is a little city but it is full of life. You can find many interesting events litterally any week of the year may it be a fim festival, music festival or art fair, free concerts in the bars or exhibition openings. Just look it up, Reykjavik has something for everybody. During the last weeks it was German film festival and Green days, festival focusing on enviromntal topics and eco awareness. The later was held in the area of university and offered many interesting lectures, pub quiz, exhibitions, clothes swap, documentaries and even a concert. We decided to visit a screening of Chasing Ice, impressive film capturing melting of glaciers in photography timelapse. 6
Drinking party Rúntur is Icelandic pub-crawling on Friday nights. It could be translated as ‘Round Tour’ and was devised as weekend entertainment by youth bored during the winter months of near-endless night. It’s an Icelandic way to pass the time on long, dark winter nights or during the seemingly endless days of summer. Even if some residents of Iceland may not know what Rúntur is, all of them know that Friday night is different to any other night. You can start conversations with everyone in the streets, and nobody will hesitate to talk to you or join you. You do not have to offer beers round the table because alcohol (like everything) is expensive in Iceland, so nobody will be disappointed. However be prepared to share bits of your own drink. Make sure that your trip schedule includes at least one Friday night!
Sport Sport is an important part of Icelandic culture. Below we provide a list of some theses sports. Glima is a traditional sport. It is a form of wrestling that dates back to the Middle Ages. It is the oldest sport practiced in Iceland. The first settlers measured their strength by fighting each other. This form of wrestling is practiced only in Iceland today. Handball is considered the national sport in Iceland. In fact the male national team won the silver medal at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. The team is the best example of successful international sport in Iceland. Football, basketball and athletics are also popular sports in Iceland. There are also sports closer to nature, which are part of Icelandic culture. Horseback riding is popular in Iceland and a large number of people have a horse. Icelandic horses are recognizable owing to their small size and robustness. Skiing and hiking are also sports that you can practice in the magnificent setting of the island. In addition, if you want to be near the sea, it is possible to practice kayaking in the fjords of North West Island. Now there are no more excuses for not doing sports in Iceland!
Food Hotdog Bæjarins beztu pylsur (English: The best hot dog in town) often shortened to simply “Bæjarins beztu”, is a popular hot dog stand in central Reykjavík, Iceland. This stand gained popularity because Bill Clinton ate there. Bæjarins beztu pylsur is one of the three stands in Reykjavik and its price is reasonable considering Iceland’s average prices. Skyr is the traditional yogurt of Iceland. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. It has been a part of Icelandic cuisine for over a thousand years. Traditionally, it is served cold with a topping of sugar and cream and it can be found in any mall. Saegreifinn is a Lobster Soup House near the harbor and was introduced as one of the world’s best food places by the New York Times. Don’t spend money for buying drinking water. You can drink tap water for free almost everywhere!
Graffiti in Reykjavik Reykjavik is full of art! You can find it everywhere,
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on a random walk through the streets. For a city of its size it is suprisingly rich in unexpected corners and hidden treasures. Alas it also has an official graffitti park and several murals by famous icelandic artists. If you like grafitti you can get some inspiration here or just begin strolling the city...
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Worldwide friends
In the garden of hot springs
Coming to Hveragerði is like entering another space. Sudden silence interrupted only by the birds, steam of hot water raising towards clear sky, waves of mountains enclosing the town by all directions. Hveragerði means garden of hot springs and you will quickly understand why. Gardens and greenhouses are the core of the town. If you’re searching for a peaceful place to reset your mind, or you just want to escape the business of the city , this might be the right place to be. Worldwide Friends have been there for many years by now and we decided to find out what makes this place so special. On March 25th we went to visit this small town only one hour by car from Reykjavik. Upon an arrival there, we went to explore the town and we had an opportunity to make some interviews.
Worldwide friends in the garden of hot springs The famous clinic If you ever visit Hveragerði you will notice that it is a place all about health and environment. World Wide Friends works in the green houses and the volunteers can use the facilities of the clinic. In the clinic we met Ingi from the clinic of Hveragerði and asked him several questions. WWF: We are working on an article for Worldwide Friends` magazine Una and we are writing in this issue about Hveragerði, greenhouses, about the workcamps that you are having here and also about the clinic . So can you tell us something about what is going on in here? Ingi: Yes. You know already what Worldwide Friends are doing here. So, in a short story we have been practicing this clinic for 60 years. Since 1955 it is almost 60 years. In the beginning we had space for 40 people. It has increased to 140 people. In the beginning, the reason it was built here in Hveragerði was because of the hot springs because of the power in the earth. So we use boreholes with hot steam to warm up all the houses, the greenhouses, the swimmingpool etc. So we are sustainable, in a way, with our own power. And our goal or dream is to produce some electricity as well. So we had stay here the whole time and we still try to avoid artificial stuff. We try to stay as healthy with the food as we can. 140 people are staying here every day and we have 100 employees so it is quite important for this small town. We call ourselves of this business Rehabilitation centre. The main focus is rehabilitation for Icelandic people who are part of the
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health insurance in Iceland. So if you are Icelandic, you can go to a doctor and doctor applies for you and you can stay from 3 to 6 weeks depending on what problem you have. WWF: And it is kind of for free? Ingi: Not free, the health insurance covers around 70 % of the costs. So if you stay here let`s say for one month after an accident or cancer surgery or trauma or depression, whatever, you can choose from different room types. If you want a simple room you pay like 30 thousand per week and if you want a hotel room with television and nice bathroom you already pay like 60 thousand. And now people from other countries are getting more interested to stay here. WWF: And do you know why it is so? Ingi: I think it`s word of mouth. We are kind of isolated. It was a clinic for Icelandic people and we didn`t advertise. But last year we have been participating f.e. in ESPA which is an European Spa Association. Some people want to come here or some people just find us here and think it`s quite interesting and then word of mouth is slowly, slowly increasing. People see some alternative. WWF: But actually you treat here all kinds of problems, it`s not only if you have a car accident. Ingi: No. A lot of different things. You can go to some clinics who specializes in hips and they don`t have any psychiatrist. Because part of a physical problem is maybe up here, you know. (laugh) So we like to think that mind and body is the same, we have to work on both. That`s why we also keep the food as clean as we can. For example now the crises in Iceland or in whole world almost.
In Iceland it started in 2008 and it`s hitting now Iceland mentally. Association of Iceland. It started in 1937. The guy, who started it People have been unemployed maybe for 3 years and now they was a medical doctor. He was 11 years old when his mother died, are not able to stay unemployed anymore. (He goes away to greet it was in 1881 and he decided when he was 11 that he would besome people, then he continues) So if I tell you about what kind come a doctor to help people with all kinds of problems. And the of problems we treat here, there are people who come here after problem at that moment in Iceland was the food because you ate hip operation, after heart operation and also obesity. And now, the only salted smoked unhealthy bad food. Vegetable at that time times had changed and there are people with huge problems, they in Iceland? No way. Maybe once in a year with a boat from Denneed surgery maybe so they like to come here or the doctors like to mark. So he found out that that the food was very important for send them here to build up the physical ability to go to a surgery. the health and then he realized that there was some connection And also the arthritis and constant pain after maybe an accident or between mental health and food. That`s why we are still serving just chronic. So we use a lot of therapies like water gym, hypnosis, vegetarian food. WWF: Hypnosis? WWF: And fish. “There are many different Ingi: Yes, we use it. And mindfullness. It is Ingi: And fish. In the beginning there was no fish. things that we can eat.� kind of meditation but it actually isn`t Just vegetable and beens but now we have fish twice meditation, it is hard for me to explain. We are actually the first to per week. start to use it in Iceland. You stay here at this moment and forget WWF: When people are coming back from the workcamp here, what is behind or ahead. We use it a lot to help people with stress everyone is talking about food. It`s like the food is so good... problems, sleeping problems or other mental problems you can Ingi: I have met a lot of people from WWF and sometimes I meet say and we are quite strong there. people later, they maybe come back to Iceland and you are walking WWF: And you said that you were not serving meat here. Do downtown Reykjavik and then someone comes and they are talkyou think that meat is unhealthy? ing about this place, it is not only the greenhouses, it`s the food, Ingi: Yes, definitely some meat is not healthy. But I use it at home, it`s the special environment and the hot river and thing you don`t you know. It is mainly about something else. You can get a lot of experience in other place. meat everywhere but when you come here we try to teach you to eat different kind of vegetables and beens and when you leave from here you believe that you can survive without meat. And we like to teach people how to prepare different plan. You know, when you open the fridge at home it is always the same in it. The milk is there, the ham is there, the cheese is there and the butter and you got used to always buy the same things. So when you come here and you start to experience different kinds of vegetables and beens, we use beens a lot, and then people think: O.K., I can do it. And the meat is not on the menu. Because there are many different things that we can eat. But we don`t get complains. WWF: We were just wondering if there was some specific reason or it is as you said to teach people that there are different things than meat. Ingi: In the beginning, this clinic is owned by the Nature and Health
University of Hveragerði In Hveragerði there are not so many young people but still there is an university. Maybe not so surprising it is the Agricultural university. This university totally fits in a place as Hveragerði. We met a student, teacher, Kaldur and the headmaster. WWF: What are you doing here in the Agricultural university? Student: I am studying agriculture. My specifics are how to grow trees and bushes, summer flowers and plants. Kaldur: I studied Greenhouse agriculture. I work here in the greenhouses of the university. Me and another guy are managing tomato experiments in the greenhouses which are owned by many farmers. In other greenhouses we’re growing bananas, coffee, bitter oranges. Visitors can come by and take a look what is really possible here in Iceland. In the school they are teaching forest tree agriculture. In the last year they are trying to get more into forest and garden plants, besides the greenhouses. Headmaster: This is an agricultural university so, we are involved in agricultural and horticultural educations even if in this area, we have only horticultural education. Briefly if you want to learn how to be a gardener in Iceland, you have to come here. Teacher: I am a teacher and I also run the production course. WWF: What do you think about the environmental awareness in Iceland? Student: I hope we’re getting more aware than before. I don’t think we are very aware and we have made some bad decisions concerning the environment, especially in Iceland. In the crisis we started to think differ-
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ently and I hope we’re now in a new path. Kaldur: It is always getting more, people are getting more aware. Also in consumer awareness, in stores and what they are buying, where the products come from. The school is taking a big part in environmental awareness. The school is also teaching organic agriculture, which is new from what is was. More people are taking those classes and it shows that the awareness is growing. Headmaster: I don’t think that environmental awareness in Iceland is now so serious. We have the idea that Iceland is a clean country though. I think that the general public in Iceland feels that he has to do everything to get the situation better. However, nowadays circumstances are changing and people are becoming more aware than they were before. Of course, in horticulture we are very aware of this and, as you know, besides geothermal energy to heat up our houses we use also natural sources of carbon dioxide for the plants. We have some areas, at least two, in which people drilled holes into the ground to find hot water but instead, they found carbon dioxide using for the plants because, as you know, plants use CO2 for the photosynthesis. Furthermore we have also natural sources like cold water which we use for producing plants. To conclude I think that in horticulture we are using clean energy and natural resources as much as possible. Teacher: I think that environmental awareness in Iceland is getting better. Regarding this school I believe that students give high importance to this subject. WWF: Do you think the recycling system is working well in Hveragerdi/Reykjavik? Teacher: Well, in Hveragerði I think that
the system is working well, they started to recycle few years ago. Regarding Reykjavik I can affirm that recycling system is not working. We have a teaching course every first semester about correct-recycling. We teach them how it is possible from organic waste obtaining compost. Personally I have several bins in my house and I try to put each material in the correct one. After this operation I have to bring all my garbage to the recycling industries. Of course, this is not a problem for me but maybe other people bother doing this travel.In my opinion there are no excuses why Reykjavik is not recycling. WWF: Do you focus on eco-friendly education? Teacher: Well, courses here are mainly conventional but due to the fact that students are really interested in this subject we teach them both conventional and ecofriendly methods. Afterwards, they can decide either become conventional gardeners or eco-friendly gardeners. WWF: Do you have to pay for recycling? Headmaster: Actually we don’t pay if we recycle but you have to pay if you don’t recycle and so, this is a kind of promotion to make people recycle. Furthermore other communities in the southern part of the country have started the process of having more than one bin in their houses.
Office of Hveragerði comunity The two previous interviews made us even more curious. We decided that we wanted to know all the ins and outs about Hveragerdi and visited the office of local community. WWF: How many people are living here in Hveragerði? Helga: (After long looking in the computer) Today it is exactly 2283. What kind of people live in Hveragerði mostly, students or elderly people? Helga: A lot of older people live here, but a lot of people who live in Hveragerdi work in Reykjavik or in Selfoss, so you have every type. We have much more older people. If you take the numbers of the whole Iceland we are much higher in the number of the elderly . It is because we have a big elderly home here. We don’t have many students, because we don’t have a high school in Hveragerdi. The young people who live here go to high school in Selfoss and then to university in Reykjavik. They are used to move from Hveragerdi, but sometimes people move back, just like I did. What is interesting about Hveragerði? Helga: We’re a very small town not as busy as in Reykjavik. It’s just a half hour drive from Reykjavik. You can do what you like to do in Reykjavik and then you come home and it’s easy and it’s nice to have children here. That is the reason why I came back here, my family lived here and it is good for children. What can people do who live here? Helga: There is not much work for people who had a long education. You have the clinic, NLFI, where you can swim or exercise and it is a very nice place. People come there after they have been to the hospital. There are a lot of people who are staying there all over the year and the NLFI offers a lot of jobs. It has been here for more than 40 years and it is a part of Hveragerdi. Would you say the local people are aware of the environment and health? Helga: Yes, we call it also the health city, because there is a lot of health here in Hveragerði. We also call it flower town and we have two kinds of celebrations in the summertime both called flower days and people from Reykjavik come here in the summertime to buy flowers. We have a lot of flowers and greenhouses. There were more greenhouses but now the amount is less. It is because the price of the electricity is getting higher and you need a lot of lights especially during the winter days. We have a beautiful hot river and we have the best swimming pool here in Iceland. It is old, but it is very nice. What would you recommend to a tourist who is visiting Hveragerði? Helga: (Showing a lot of pictures.) If they have a long time walk up the mountain Reykjafjall and go to the hot river or take a walk around it. Go to the earthquake museum. Take a walk inside Hveragerði, you can take a walk beside the river. It still depends on the time you have. And of course go to the swimming pool. What do local people think about volunteering? Helga: They have awareness that they are here and they know about World Wide Friends. We always talk about World Wide Friends. They have been here with celebrations like the flower days.
Power from the earth Glacier melting, climate change, natural disasters... the newspapers are full of gloomy commentaries about them. Every day the world produces carbon dioxide that is released in the earth’s atmosphere and will last there for one hundred years. This increased content of carbon dioxide accelerate the warmth of our planet causing ‘Global warming’. One possible solution for that is to replace and retrofit current technologies with alternatives that have comparable or better performance without emitting carbon dioxide. We call this ‘Alternative energy’ such as wind, geothermal, solar energy. In Iceland, most of the buildings and even swimming pools are heated with geothermal hot water. Iceland has at least 25 active volcanos, many hot springs and geysers. Geothermal power plants in Iceland produce approximately 26% of the nation’s energy. In addition to this, apart from geothermal energy, 73.8% of the electricity is generated by hydroelectricity and 0.1% by using fossil fuels. Why are they using geothermal energy? Due to the special geological location of Iceland, there is a high concentration of volcanoes in its area. The Icelandic geothermal energy has been used for many years even though the first use of geothermal energy in Iceland happened by accident. In 1907, a farmer in west Iceland took steam from a hot spring that ran below his farm through a concrete pipe and into his house several meters above.
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Geothermal energy is used for many purposes. The first experiment to use geothermal energy for house heating was in the middle of the 18th century. The steam from the hot water is used to heat up ground water. That water is pumped into pipes, which go into houses and heat them up. Another usage of this energy is for heating greenhouses. In Hveragerði, there are many greenhouses and driving there from Reykjavík, it might be spectacular to see the greenhouses during the dark nights in winter. Furthermore owing to the energy there are possibilities of baking bread, heating up pedestrians and drying products such as fishes’ heads and wood, etc. Geothermal energy is not only used for technical things but sometimes for getting inspiration... As a matter of fact one of the most famous Icelandic poets, Snorri Sturluson, who lived in western Iceland approximately 800 years ago, had a round pool, which he used to bath and get enlightened. Arguably, the future of geothermal energy can pretty much be summed up with a single word: more, because geothermal energy holds a huge potential. In trying to predict what a clean energy future looks like, recent research shows that geothermics will eventually account for around 1/6th of the world’s power supply. Regarding Iceland’s development, plans are on the way to turn it into a 100% fossil-fuel-free nation in the near future.
Worldwide Reykjavik
The change from a culturally homogeneous society to a multicultural society is a recent phenomenon in Iceland. The latest data from Statistics Iceland shows that immigrants in Iceland numbered 25,926 on January 1st, 2013, making up 8.1 percent of the total population, which means immigrants are slowly getting increasing. Moreover, in 2012, 413 persons were granted Icelandic citizenship, compared with 370 in 2011. Therefore, I was wondering why people come to live in Iceland. Unusually, it was gorgeous sunny day in Reykjavík when I met an amusing Mexican man, who has been living in Iceland for 4 years. His name is Rodrigo. Nowadays he is renovating his new house. He told us about his impression about living in Iceland. Rodrigo, 30-years-old, Mexican: ‘Why do you live in Iceland?’ “Thank you” says Rodrigo, sitting on a couch and swinging his legs. “Thank you very much.” Rodrigo, who has done a workcamp as a volunteer like me and took part in some workcamps as a leader and also a staff of Worldwide Friends made me wondering why he chose Iceland.
“When I was 27 years old, I was thinking about my future,” says Rodrigo. At that time, he would like to choose exotic country, which is very different from his country. “Iceland has breathtaking views even there is no trees among the road, which is absolutely rare,” he says and I could not agree more. What he particularly likes is life in a peaceful city and various wild life of the country. Not only all the incredible phenomenons of nature, but also fabulous swimming pools and friendly Icelanders. One day he went to a town in southern part of Iceland as a leader of a workcamp, it was extremely small town which had only three bars, so he did not expect anything extraordinary to happen. However, He went to one of the bars with his camp-members and suddenly, they saw one person dancing in the bar comepletely naked! They were laughing a lot and it brought attention to them in the bar. Afterwards, people came to their table, introduced themselves, and went out all together all night long. Iceland is small country but full of surprises. Rodrigo have lived in Iceland for a long time therefore, he could give some advice to us. “If someone wants to get a job in Iceland, he has to speak Icelandic very well, which is really difficult. That’s why many foreigners who managed to find a job in Iceland are related to tourism,” he says. But he didn`t share only positive experiences, but also a warning. “Icelanders are friendly when you meet them at the first time, but when you are getting to know them; they are not as friendly as before. In addition to that, they might have a certain preference or prejudice to foreigners. Of course, they are kind and good people in general. Now I know how to act with them.” According to him, Iceland has some benefits for him, because Iceland is almost in the middle of Mexico and Europe, what makes it easy to travel as well as visit home for holidays. Finally, I asked him if he wouldn`t mind to say something to future volunteers and visitors, who would be reading this magazine. “Firstly, don’t miss a great opportunity to see one of the most beautiful countries in the world. If you decide to come here, you should bring not only your swimming suit, but also warm clothes. Do not forget: here is ‘ICE’land,” he says. As I step out of the house, the man with the best manners in Iceland calls out. “Have a good rest of the days in lovely Reykjavík.”
Nature break
Northern lights The Northern lights or Aurora Borealis is an amazing and marvelous phenomenon that takes place here in Iceland from September until the end of April. The Lights occur high above the surface of the earth where the atmosphere has become extremely thin, in an altitude of 100250 Km. Wouldn’t it be extremely interesting to know what causes this spectacular phenomenon here in Iceland? It’s electricity that causes it. As a matter of fact it is solar winds and streams of charged particles streaming toward the earth and reaching the ionosphere, generally in three days. When the particles collide with the atoms of the ionosphere, the atoms are excited and full of energy. These atoms aim to get back to a more normal energy state and release energy in form of heat or light as in the case of the Aurora Borealis. The Northern lights can be usually green or white but sometimes there are considerable colour variations,as the pressure 16
and composition of the atmosphere varies at different altitude. This stunning phenomenon is present in various antique societies: in ancient Roman mythology Aurora is the goddess of the dawn and in the Old Norse narrative there are many explanations of how this beauty is generated. For example in the chronicle Konungs Skuggsjá there are three explanations of the phenomenon: that the ocean was surrounded by huge fires, that the sun rays could reach around the world forming light during the night, or that glaciers could accumulate energy so that they eventually became fluorescent. Coming to Iceland you will have the great possibility to appreciate this astonishing phenomenon, so don’t forget to look at the sky during the night!
Marvelous Blue Ice in Iceland Jökulsárlón is a large glacial lagoon situated in the southeast Iceland, approximately 5 hours by car from Reykavik. Upon arrival in Jökulsárlón, every traveler starts in awe of the beautiful blue ice, which is one of the natural wonders of the world. The bright white snow on the surface is markedly in contrast with the deep rich blue inside the glacier. Then why is ice blue? As you know, snow is white because full spectrum light is scattered and reflected at the boundary between ice and air. Also, we can discover a similar principle via the white bubbles at the top of a beer - small pockets of air reflect and scatter
visible light. Ice only appears blue when it is sufficiently consolidated that bubbles do not interfere with the passage of light. Without the scattering effect of air bubbles, light can penetrate ice undisturbed. In ice, the absorption of light at the red end of the spectrum is six times greater than at the blue end. Thus the deeper light energy travels, the more photons from the red end of the spectrum it loses along the way. Two meters into the glacier, most of the reds are dead. A lack of reflected red wavelengths produces the color blue in the human eye. The dense ice of the glacier absorbs every other color to the spectrum except blue what we can see.
Puffins Iceland is home to one of the world’s largest colonies of puffins with about 10 million individuals. The largest single puffin colony in the world is in Westemann Isles, islands that belong to Iceland. This strange and cute bird has black and white plumage and a large orange beak. They have also a white face and a black head. For their aspect, puffins are both beautiful and fun to look at. Their wings are short and adapted for swimming , they can dive to depths of up to 60 meters and beat their wings up to 400 times per minute. Puffin is able to achieve an average flight speed of 80 Km/h. A Puffin lives for an average of 25 years and the oldest Puffin ever caught was 35 years old. The average height of a Puffin is 20 cm while the average weight is 0.5 Kg. Puffins breed in colonies on coasts and islands, they used to dig burrows underground even though sometimes they breed in rabbit burrows. Like many birds puffins eat fish and zooplankton, but in contrast with other birds they collect fish during the haunting and afterwards they swallow them. The Puffins were hunted between 1995 and 2007 but afterwards restrictions have been imposed to limit the hunting with positive results. Here in Iceland Puffin is considered a mascot and a symbol of the island in each shop soft puffin toys and postcards with Puffins are sold. Local organizations also organize excursions and trips to watch this strange bird from May to August. To conclude if you will have time to come to Iceland you will have absolutely the possibility to find a lot of souvenirs, pictures and postcards of this amazing bird and; why not, to take part in a puffin watching excursion.
Design march revisited
This is the fifth year that the Design March festival was held in ReykjavĂk. It is one of the most important events in Iceland. The festival took place from 14th to 17th of March. The festivities were all over the city. Design and fashion were highlighted by exhibitions and workshops. Actually, this event is an opportunity to meet designers, ask them about their work and discuss different concepts. For example we were interested in the following questions: where does designer’s creativity come from? How could a designer exploit and express it? And ow does design change throughout time? To find out we went on and interviewed Ellen, a girl who worked in this festival as a blogger. Description: Name = Ellen Age = 25 Nationality = Dutch How long have you been in Reykjavik? = I have been here since the beginning of January How much time did you spend in DM? = I was there all four days
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Interview: Why did you work at Design March? Ellen: “I’m very interested in design, especially in fashion design. I wanted to take part in this festival because it is very important for my future. I worked there as a blogger and I was really excited for my role.” What did you see in this festival? Ellen: “I saw openings, exhibitions and I visited Mundi fashion show.” What was the best DM work for you? And why? Ellen: “I think “Water and Earth” was the best work, because it was really different and creative. It was the first time I saw so strange exhibition, and actually it gave me new perspectives”. What did you see in this exhibition? Ellen: “I saw unique jewelry inspired by the wild nature. These jewels were incredibly special in a particular way even if I couldn’t wear them.” Do you think that designers used any recycled materials for their exhibitions? Ellen: “Yes, for example, in Dyrindi exhibition there were handbags, purses and cushions made by materials recycled in Iceland”. Do you prefer utilitarian or avant-garde style? Ellen: “I like avant-garde style because it inspires me being creative with utilitarian style.” If you had to design a bag, how would it be? Ellen: “If I had to design a bag, probably I would create something with a lot of colors and with a lot of crazy things. I think I would use leather, cotton and wood”. How is design in the Netherlands? Could you compare Dutch design and Icelandic one? Ellen: “Icelandic and Dutch designs are quite similar. As a matter of fact, you could easily find second hand and vintage things in both countries. Maybe Icelandic designers try to be more innovative than Dutch ones. ” In which way do you like to dress? Ellen: ”I like to wear colorful and extravagant clothes. But some days I prefer to wear simple and comfortable clothes.” See you next year, from March 27 to 30, 2014!
Conversations in a swimming pool It is said that in order to talk to an Englishman one should visit a pub, for conversation with a Frenchman one should head for a café and to meet an Icelander - one should sit in a hot tub. There are several geothermal swimming pools in Reykjavik and all are teeming with gossip, business talk and political discussions. The bathing culture in the island of fire and ice goes a long way back to the 9th century, when natural hot spots were used to recover from the daily freeze. In present days whole swimming pools developed around this tradition, featuring swimming lanes, steam rooms, gym equipment and aqua gymnastics on a regular schedule. A one-time ticket costs 550kr. but volunteers with Worldwide Friends are entitled to free entry for their whole stay. .Several visits are highly recommended not only because of the healthy effect of sitting half submerged in 42° C warm water on a winter day, while admiring the rising steam in the setting sun. Also it is a unique opportunity to connect with the locals in their ‘natural environment’. Our two favorite pools are Sundhöllin, on Barónsstígur, 101 Reykjavík and Laugardalslaug on Sundlaugarvegur, 104 Reykjavík. The former is a small and relaxed pool with gym equipment, three lanes, two hot tubs and one steam room. The later on the other hand is much bigger and offers a fun outdoor slide, a seawater hot-tub but no gym. Good times for a visit during the week are as early as 8 am, to mingle with
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the pre-working crowd, or 6 pm, for the after-work swimmers. There is nearly no place an Icelander is as open as in the holy halls of the swimming pool. What we felt was that when we were sitting in the hot-tub, we were no strangers anymore but had something in common – warm water and a relaxed state of mind. There were a few things to find out during the visits. The average Icelandic visitor has been using the pool multiple times a week for a considerable part of his live. We even found people who have been swimming regularly five times a week for the last 15 years.
Cool head, warm heart
Talking politics most of the visitors are huge fans of Reykjavik’s mayor Jón Gnarr (a portrait of whom can be found in the article on elections). However no one could actually recall what Jón has been doing during his term, except ‘moving around some statues’ and ‘organizing a demonstration against racism’ in the cosmopolitan capital. Most of the visitors resent the ongoing accession to the European Union, including one male visitor who instead proposed to merge back with Denmark. ‘We act like a big nation but we are simply too small’, being his exact words. Also the pools are useful to find things to do or stay up to date! In the steam room we were told that Hekla volcano is showing unusual seismic activity which could prelude a soon eruption. That is a piece of information that seems good to know if you consider that the volcano used to be called the ‘Gateway to Hell’. Of course one has to be prepared to deal with the typical Icelandic sense of humor, which can appear quite dark to the first taste: ‘Your friend Hitler needed 3 month to close the airspace above Europe, our volcano needed only 3 hours’.
One French man whom we met was spending his last day on Iceland in the hot-tub. ‘I thought this is the most Icelandic way for finishing Icelandic life’. A conception that we would like to warmly recommend to you as well.
Music time
Music time
Music has reasonably various colors depending on the countries of origin and Iceland seems specialy outstanding. One of the most important aspects is that Icelandic music does not impose any limitation concerning the creation of new genres. For an example Bjork, a singer from Reykjavik, caused a huge sensation by making different types of music. This is why we decided to go to an Icelandic concert in Reykjavik, on March 22. We settled for Dusty Miller’s concert where we had the great opportunity to interview the singer of the band. About Dusty Miller: - The group consists of five people, Elli, Kari, Tommi, Roggi and Aron. - It is an Icelandic group and they are from Reykjavik. - They play piano, guitar, bass and drums. - Their music is a fusion of both rock and jazz music. 22
Interview Q: When did you start playing? A: I started playing in a band when I was 14, and afterwards I have been playing with this band since 2010. Q: What are your influences and what are you inspired by? A: Music, of course! But in particular, I’m inspired by classical music and jazz. Q: What are your favorite musicians or bands? A: Led zeppelin, a rock band. That’s my favorite. Q: How many times have you had concert in Reykjavik? A: We had 20 concerts during one year in different cities in Iceland, we went also abroad, even if in few countries. Q: What are your next plans? A: I’ll release our album and keep playing music, of course. And enjoy my life. Q: How many instruments do you play? A: Three instruments. Piano, guitar and bass. Q: Where do you mainly work? A: In Reykjavik. Q: What is music for you? A: Everything. Their music is improvised. They seem to have everything in place and can well percieve the atmosphere, spirit of the place at the current time. Fingers of the pianist had been hovering over the piano like those of a man possessed by something. Singer’s voice was manipulated freely from bass to treble. Drums, bass, piano and voice exquisitely intertwined, their music filled up the room and I felt wrapped by it in a pub. Violent at one moment and suddenly sweet, the singer`s voice had changed in many ways during the concert. We recommend you to come and listen to this band.
Parlament election 2013 On 27 August 2013 the Icelandic population elects the new members of its parliament. This is a possibility for new parties to get seats in the Parliament and it is also important for matters of accession to the European Union. The Althing, Iceland’s parliament, is composed of 63 members who are elected every four years. It passes bills and resolutions which are first assessed in readings. Speeches are held in Icelandic, recorded and then published on the website www.althingi.is as soon as possible. They are also transmitted in real time on TVs in every room of the parliament so its members are informed wherever in the building they might be. The government’s leader is Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir from the Social Democratic Alliance. She is the first woman to lead a government in Iceland and also the first openly lesbian Prime Minister worldwide. Her party is in coalition with the Left-Green Movement. It was elected in 2009 after the former government preliminary resigned in the wake of the economic crisis of 2008, because of the so called ‘Kitchenware Revolution’, the first violent riots in Iceland since 1949. As result the Independence Party lost its governmental mandate for the first time in the history of Iceland. The head of state is President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who represents Iceland in the world. Without the necessity of approval from the parliament Grímsson can appoint the Prime Minister (Forsætisráðherra) and the
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other ministers (Ráðherra) but usually the government is negotiated by the winners of an election. During Sigurðardóttir’s term Iceland left the torments of the economic crisis behind and started an ongoing process to revise its constitution to incorporate the lessons learned. However support for the left has been dropping ever since, which makes a conservative coalition of the Independence Party and the Progressive Party the likely winners of the upcoming elections. One reason could be that Social Democrats and Left Greens could not agree on matters of EU accession and filed a precautionary application. This does not only contradict the pre-election promises of Left Green Movement but is also highly unpopular in Iceland, where 70%* of the population would oppose an accession to the European Union. * Capacent Gallup Poll, 06.03.2013 – “If referendum now, how would you vote [on EU accession]?” (http://www.si.is/malaflokkar/althjodlegt-samstarf/frettirog-greinar-um-althjodamal/nr/9609)
Mayor Jón Gnarr He suffered from dyslexia, worked as taxi driver and is a famous actor and comedian. Jón Gnarr, the mayor of Reykjavik, is a phenomenon and one of the few Icelandic politicians really known outside of the island. Jón was born in 1967 and had a rough start in life. At the age of 5 he was treated in psychiatry because of a misdiagnosis with severe child retardation. Jón Gnarr truly suffered from dyslexia and ADHD. After school his way led through work with Volvo in Sweden and being a taxi driver in Reykjavik, allegedly his main source of inspiration for the later work as comedian. ‘I used to be a nerd’ is the title of Jón’s standup comedy show which is nearly as famous as his acting of Georg Bjarnfreðarson in the series Nigh Shift, Day Shift and Prison Shift (of which the later can be found on the on-flight entertaining system of Icelandair). The political aspirations of the avowing anarchist and surrealist began as a satirical project when he found the Best Party as an effort to mock Icelandic politics and to make the live of citizens more fun. However in the aftermath of the financial crisis support grew fast and in 2010, 6 month after founding, his party won a majority of 34.7% at the municipal elections in Reykjavik.
“May the force be with you”
The promises leading to this election included: The acquisition of a polar bear for the Reykjavik zoo, free towels for the swimming pools and a drug free parliament by 2020. Also he promised to break all his promises in an effort to turn hidden corruption into open corruption. Being a major apparently did not afflict his wackiness. In 2010 Jón appeared at Reykjavik Gay Pride festival dressed as a drag queen, announced that he would only enter a coalition with people who watched his favorite series “The Wire” and could be met dressed up as Jedi on the streets.
Party
Cause
EU
NATO
Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn)
Less taxes, less expenditure of state, conservative, liberal
Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn)
Interests of fishermen and farmer, liberal
Social Democrat Alliance (Samfylkingin)
Social-democratic
Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð)
Environment, social-democratic, equality, direct democracy
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Articles and pictures: Daphne, Dre, Elvira, Garam, Giacomo, Leon, Melanie, Sayuri and Sun Main photographer: Elvira
Sources and references: Wikipedia, National geographic, Statistics Iceland, BBC http://matadornetwork.com/nights/ how-to-drink-on-the-reykjavik-runtur/ http://www.foodtourism.com/page/5/ http://waterfire.fas.is http://science.howstuffworks.com http://beforeitsnews.com/watercooler-topics/2013/01/meet-jon-gnarrby-far-the-coolest-mayor-in-theworld-2431548.html