MERGE

I'm merging my blogs together to a new one and with a new address.

thewenjing.blogspot.com


This one's staying for good, promise.

Bless bless Mosfell!

I left Mosfellsbaer Friday morning with my 50lbs. suitcase in hand and a vague plan in mind. Fortunately, I've made a nice friend who agreed to house me last minute, and even cook me a delicious vegan meal!


Woke up Saturday and was in the mood for more adventure; dragged on my suitcase and took the bus to Selfoss. Met up with friends and couch surfer and couch surfer's friends. Learned that small towns are like small towns everywhere, meaning: there's not much to do except get drunk. Sure why not. Unfortunately this is one of those times when I don't have any photos to show. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about my camera getting punch spilt on all night.

Got to Vík by night time Sunday, and started work Monday morning. I don't know if I've mentioned already, but I finally left my crazy Icelandic host and found work down south at a hostel, which is where I am right now. Yesterday, I hiked up the nearby mountain with a German traveler from the hostel. It was embarrassing. He had hiked the Alps before, whereas I can't climb three flights of stairs without losing breath. Nevertheless, I made it!


And it was beautiful.



Vík, town of 300 inhabitants.
Fact: Right next to Vík is the Katla volcano which sits below the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. It is believed that a major eruption could cause a flash flood from the glacier which could wipe out the entire town of Vík. Katla is recorded to erupt every 40-60 years. The last recorded eruption was in 1918.

Yacht trip for two? Um...yes please!

"Sundlaugin"

means swimming pool in Icelandic. It's also the name of Sigur Ros' recording studio, which I finally visited today.


Turns out it's only a 10 minute walk away. Took me about an hour to find. The directions I got from various people involved "follow the river," "go around the school," "down the hill, then down another hill..." oh Icelanders.



The snow is finally starting to melt. It was a lovely day today.

How I feel most of the time

Weekend trip to Vik

Vik is on black sand beach. Yup yup.

Drinking with the traveling Austrailians and Koreans I met at the Nordur Vik hostel. I caught a ride with the Aussies back to Reykjavik on Sunday, and had our little adventure along the way.


Skogarfoss. The little black spot on the upper right is a person.


And then I was that person!



Ooooooo, the blue lagooooooon.

Then I popped their Taco Bell cherry. Yes, we have Taco Bell. I couldn't believe it either.

Icelandic horses - check!

I got off work early today and decided to take a walk toward the mountains. I had the vague intentions of finding the Sigur Ros studio, horses, or just a path to the mountain. Well, I got one done!


Have I mentioned that Icelandic people are veeerry nice? Well, they are.

It's a love/hate relationship

Snow finally stopped. Today was a drizzle kind of day.


I went to Reykjavik this morning to have coffee with a couch surfer at Cafe Babalu, possibly the cutest cafe I've been to. I think the decisive moment was when I walked to the back and saw the painting of two old men giving each other a kiss in front of a hobbit hole house.


I was having a great day until I had to walk the two kids home from daycare. Only a 5 minute walk, but had the teacher not come outside to help me, I would've had to forcibly carry home a screaming/crying/arms-swinging two year old while a four year old ran twenty feet ahead of me. The only thing that changed after her talk was the screaming/crying/arms-swinging part. My arm is still sore.
Spoiled is an understatement for the kids. Mental would be appropriate, though, for the father.

On the fifteenth day of the lunar new year

After swimming, Jingwen and I decided to feast with what we had. Today's the fifteenth day of the lunar new year, which marks the end of the new year celebrations. Jingwen actually went and got the sweet glutinous rice balls, which is what's supposed to be eaten today. In addition to all the Chinese food we made, I also decided to fry up some Icelandic haggis(slátur) that I got at the market yesterday. Delicious!

Snjór

We were planning to take a trip to a small harbor town today, the name of the town escapes me, as do most Icelandic, but miscalculated the bus by two hours. So instead, Emely, Jingwen and I went exploring downtown Reykjavik in the snow. They showed me some cool second hand shops and the flea market. I really still can't get myself to take my camera out in a crowd and take touristy photos, but I want it be known that I've tried Hakarl, also known as fermented shark, an Icelandic delicacy.
I will agree with Anthony Bourdain on this one. One of the worst things I've ever put in my mouth.

This storm isn't stopping and so won't the snow photos.


The reflections are from the bus window.



The unemployed, depressed, likes-to-sit-and-stare-into-space Polish man in my living room is...laughing? Drinking wine from the bottle and laughing at a movie by himself, oh boy.