Smelly fish day!

Also known as the Mass of St.Thorlak! I must humbly beg my loyal subscribers and avid readers of this blog my neglect of it in the past week. The saying goes that time flies, but in my case it just completely disappeared. I came home past midnight on Sunday 16th and it's been caos since. It wasn't until this friday that I managed to sit down in front of my computer before midnight struck. I have been spending my days shopping, presents and delicious Christmasy food. I have been wrapping presents (for seven hours on Wednesday), I have been putting up and decorating the Christmas tree (I put the lights on all by myself ... and it shows!).
But it's Christmas time and I am loving this, all of the crazy stuff we have to do and have done, and I have been managing even though I am as bruised and battered as I am. I am sporting a huge bruise on my knee where I landed on it on Friday a week ago, but on top of that I sport a huge black and blue bruise on the right side of my bad knee from the fall as well.
And to day is the last day to go shopping and the first day to mark the Christmas period for real. St. Thorlak's Mass, also known as Smelly fish Day because some think it a good idea to eat a very bad rotten smelly fish, while the rest of the lucid and more logically thinking (I) dine on smoked lamb with potatoes and white sauce and leafbread. Much nicer and smells yummie. Then tomorrow is the big night. The main festive day of our Christmas. The family comes together for dinner. Smoked pork with potatoes, pinapple slices, brown sauce, red cabbage, pickled cucumber, and all sorts of wonderful yummie things. After dinner there is the rice pudding with a tiny mandle put in and who ever gets the mandle receives a wee present. When dinner is over and most of us have recovered from the feast we distribute the presents from around the tree and it's a free for all in ripping paper to reveal the surprise inside (if there is anything in the package, heheheh).
I will have to leave you here and tell you how it all goes in the next few days if I find the time or time finds me.

The Yuletide lads - part 6

Pot Scraper

(Pottasleikir)

Pot Scraper, the fifth one,

was a funny sort of chap.

When kids were given scrapings,

he'd come to the door and tap.

And they would rush to see

if there really was a guest.

Then he hurried to the pot

and had a scrapingfest.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The flying Icewoman

Yes, yours truly took a flight a few days too early than she wanted to, and no I am not home yet. It was more light a short few second flight in the air and then a devastating crash. Thankfully no one got mortally wounded, but it hurt like hell!
I was in Boots of all places (where I usually go to get something to make me feel better like PAINKILLERS, but ended up with a pain this time around). I was walking into one aisle of the shop and then whoooosh ... crash ..... ooooooouuuuuuuuuucccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Straight down onto my right knee. RIGHT knee, not the left one, so don't worry it could have been worse. Although I didn't feel that at the time, I was scared shitless if something might have gone wrong but thankfully I was wearing my brace so that minimised any damage that might have happened. But it wasn't fun, my left ankle hurt but probably for doing that weird dance step you tend to take just as you are falling down, but the main impact was when I landed on the floor with my right knee. I now sport a huge bump and red skin and a promise of a wonderfully colorful bruise.
But don't worry I am fine, nothing got broken and I didn't hit my head either, I almost gracefully sat down on the floor after the first impact on the floor. That's me, first it's like 'Send in the Clown' and then 'My fair lady ... on the floor'. Apparently a puddle of some sort had formed in the middle of the isle and I was just the lucky 1000 customer to find it. I didn't get a prize though, didn't really want one to be honest, I kind of just wanted to go home and cry. What a wonderful way of starting Christmas shopping for real. But of course I wasn't going to let this stop me, as soon as I found out I could walk I left after the ladies in the shop had made sure I was fine and didn't need any further assistance. So I actually despite all this managed to bag another present, maybe even two or three. I truly hope that tomorrow won't have a building come down on me or something so that I can do a bit more shopping before coming home on Sunday! Can't wait to say hello to everyone and especially my bed.

The Yuletide lads - part 5

Spoon Licker

(Þvörusleikir)

The fourth was Spoon Licker;

like spindle he was thin.

He felt himself in clover

when the cook wasn't in.

Then stepping up, he grappled

the stirring spoon with glee,

holding it with both hands

for it was slippery.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 4

Stubby

(Stúfur)

Stubby was the third called,

a stunted little man,

who watched for every chance

to whisk off a pan.

And scurrying away with it,
he scraped off the bits
that stuck to the bottom
and brims - his favorites.


English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 3

Gully Gawk

(Giljagaur)

The second was Gully Gawk,
gray his head and mien.
He snuck into the cow barn
from his graggy ravine.

Hiding in the stalls,
he would steal the milk, while
the milkmaid gave the cowherd
a meaningful smile.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 2

Sheep-Cote Clod

(Stekkjastaur)

The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod.

He came stiff as wood,

to pray upon the farmer´s sheep

as far as he could.

He wished to suck the ewes,
but it was no accident
he couldn´t; he had stiff knees
- not to convenient.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 1

Let me tell the story

of the lads of few charms,

who once upon a time

used to visit our farms.

They came from the mountains,

as many of you know,

in a long single file

to the farmsteads below.

Grýla was their mother
- she gave them ogre milk -
and the father Leppalúdi;
a loathsome ilk.

They were called the Yuletide lads
- at Yuletide they were due -
and always came one by one,
not ever two by two.

Thirteen altogether,
these gents in their prime
didn´t want to irk people
all at one time.

Creeping up, all stealth,
they unlocked the door.
The kitchen and the pantry
they came looking for.


They hid where they could,
with a cunning look or sneer,
ready with their pranks
when people weren´t near.

And even when they were seen,
they weren´t loath to roam
and play their tricks - disturbing
the peace of the home.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

I got a brain-cell today

Yes, I was a bit more scatter brained today than most days, my friends noticed. So one of them very considerately gave me a brain-cell. I still have it but it is in my bag, maybe not the best place to keep it if I don't want to loose it. I might need it.
This has been a very active week to be honest. But a wonderful one and now it is only about 8 days until I go home for Christmas. First thing first.
I got an e-mail last week from my friend Shammi (my friends Dinesh's girlfriend) who is in Sri Lanka. I got so excited about the e-mail I contacted my friend Laura (their friend as well) and we decided to meet up on Wednesday and I would tell her the content of the e-mail. So I picked up a wee Christmasy present and a bottle of red wine and headed over to Lauras. I had barely said hello to her when I told her the news. Dinesh was flying to Sri Lanka on the 4th and they were getting married on the 6th! I am soooooo happy for them, they so deserve this and its something everyone of us have been praying for and waiting for. Although I was a bit sad that I couldn't have been there with them, they had said that when they would get married I was definitely invited. So now I just have to get them to marry each other again when I see them so that I can take pictures and say that I was at their wedding. But it was just such amazing news and wonderful that Laura and I were able to sort of celebrate with them, even though it was on the 5th we got together.
But it was so nice to see Laura again, because of the hectic schedule we both had last semester we didn't get an opportunity to see each other then, so it was almost a year since I last saw her. But it was still like no time had passed except we had a lot of things to talk about, it was great. She had been to India for a replacement thingy as she is studying to become a doctor. This is her fifth and final year and she is very very busy. She cooked a wonderful meal for us, she is such a great cook, you will never be diappointed with her cooking. So we just sat around drinking nice red wine and enjoying ourselves immensely talking about this and that for hours and hours and could have kept on going except that I had to go home as I had Old English class at ten in the morning.
I hope it will not have to be a year until I see her next.
Then today we (Sandra and Catriona and I) had decided to make it a night out before calling it quits at Uni before Christmas. We were to meet up in Buchanan Galleries af 4:30 where Sandra was shopping for a birthday present for her sister. She went to the Bear Factory (a wonderful place) and got her a teddy bear that says Happy Birthday in three languages (Welsh, Icelandic (that's me!!) and English (with a Scottish accent)). It was great, I almost lost myself in there. Then we went to get something to eat and we were going to worry about getting cinema tickets later. We ended up in the all familiar place of All you can eat Chinese Buffet place on Sauchihall Street and ate and ate and ate. The problem was that when it came to the deserts it was a toss up between staying and going to the cinemas. In the end we crawled out of the place (I want to say stuffed but Sandra said that it was rude, so I won't) and headed for the cinema, where we got tickets to see the Golden Compass. Nice enough visually, storywise hmmmm, and if ever there was a film screaming SEQUEL this is it. Even though I knew nothing about the movie itself I knew it was a part of a trilogy of books so I knew there were more movies to come but this was way to sequelly-endy for me.
But I just loved it, and for some reason I was having one of those days where my brain just didn't connect with anything so Sandra very helpfully drew a picture of a brain-cell and gave me. Something tells me it is not working properly, because here I am writing a blog when I should be in bed. I just had to get the news out that I am now an official owner of a brain-cell, a portable brain-cell!
Well, I am now off to bed and hoping for snow so that Catriona will be happy!

Quotes of the night: 'I have to go to the wee room', Catriona: 'It tastes very Christmasy' Elin responds 'I have never tasted Christmas, is it good?', 'Where are the tickets ... this is not funny!', 'Facaib (that sounds rude)!', 'That giggle!'.'The buses...', Elin: 'I went to the ballet and saw hihihihi' (and a bit of a twirl), Sandra responds: 'That's the best representation of a male ballet dancer I have ever seen!'.