Except for some core words that look or sound just like they do in both languages, Icelandic and English are nothing alike on the surface—despite a common Germanic background—they diverged over a thousand years ago. English has been through at least three major shifts since then, and Icelandic, spoken almost entirely on just one island in the world (and in Gimili, Manitoba!), has remained almost the same since then. Icelandic is as close to Old Norse as you can get today. It’s interesting to listen to because every few worlds will kind of sound like something I think I can understand. It’s like listening to English being mumbled through a wall.
I like it here. It’s calm and quiet, but there is a lot going on at the same time. The weather, well, my phone’s summery of dreary is spot on. It’s unusually warm for this time of the year, around 8 degrees, so it’s all very Vancouver in the winter here at the moment. The air is damp and cold, everything is grey, and the position of the island on the planet and within the time zones means the sun comes up at after 10AM while I’m here. It was surreal eating a big, late breakfast and having it still be dark outside. No one, and I mean no one, is doing anything in the city until at least 8AM, and even then, it’s not until the sun is up that the city really gets going—none of this Ontario‐style leave for work before 6AM nonesense. Like I said, I like it here.
There are meant to be more pictures for this post, but it is after midnight in whatever time zone I’m in (I’m stuck someplace between EST and GMT) and want to see if I can get some actual sleep since I’ve not really had any more than a few hours since Sunday night. Instead, the featured image is a quick pic from my phone of where I had Iceland’s version of the full English breakfast—delicious eggs and bacon with some of the best bread I’ve had in a while, and, AND… yogurt that didn’t make me sick! I don’t know what they’ve done to yogurt in Canada, but they should stop.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, I’m going to visit a hot spring and see some of the countryside. Actually even if it’s still dreary I’m going to visit a hot spring and see some of the countryside.
Until then, góða nótt og sofðu vel.
p.s. — ð is pronounced like the th in the so the above is goh-tha no-ht og sov-thu vel or good night and sleep well. See? Like English through a wall 🙂