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22 May

Icelandic swimming pools

vesturbaejarlaugApart from friends and family, there are not many things I miss from Iceland. However, swimming in Icelandic swimming pools gives you a unique feeling of pleasure, different from anything else. I miss that sensational feeling.

Bathing in the geothermally heated water is a luxury not to be missed if you travel to Iceland. Chatting to the locals in the hot tubs is recommended as well.

Three useful links if you want to go swimming in Iceland:

Geothermal pools – An Icelandic tradition

Swimming in Iceland

What to expect in an Icelandic Swimming Pool

20 May

Queer education in Iceland

Gay Parade 2013On Friday, Ireland will vote whether to legalize same-sex marriage in what the government’s equality minister called “a referendum like no other.” Let’s hope Saturday will be a happy day and we can celebrate!

One of the things that make me proud of being Icelandic is that the matters regarding LGBTQ rights are quite progressive in Iceland. Gay people can marry in church and same sex couples have had equal access to adoption and IVF since 2006. The first openly gay prime minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, was elected in Iceland 2009 and the former mayor of Reykjavík, Jón Gnarr, dressed up in drag for The Gay Pride Parade in 2011. The Gay Pride Parade is a huge event in Reykjavik every year, with around 35 thousand Icelanders participating.

Unfortunately, bullying of queer students in Icelandic schools has been increasing, which is obviously a big problem. However,  if all goes according to plan, the students at the Faculty of Teacher Education at The University of Iceland will soon be able to take a course in queer studies as part of their education. Hopefully it will be a part of the curriculum of the University in the school year 2016-2017. Here you can read all about it!

19 May

Trip down memory lane

The year is 1975. I’m 14 years old, standing in front of my grandparents radio singing loudly to a tune that’s been played in the weekly show “Óskalög sjómanna” (Favourite songs of the sailors). The song has come second in The Eurovision Song Contest and is popular in Iceland.

And now let’s fast forward to 1999. The song All Out Of Luck, sung by Selma Björnsdóttir, has become really popular in Iceland, even before it’s Iceland’s entry in The Eurovision Song Contest. On the night of the contest I was visiting Sweden and had a bad fall on the way to a Eurovision party.  I twisted my ankle and in the waiting room of the hospital, accompanied by Icelandic doctors working there, I watched Selma perform. Fortunately I made it to the party before the results were in cause Sweden won and All Out Of Luck came second. It’s not unlikely that Sweden will win the contest next Saturday as well.

17 May

Unusual jewellery

Necklace from the 2014 collection Had a lovely day at the annual Primrose Hill Spring Festival. There’s always a variety of tasty street food from different corners of the world, music playing and stalls where artists, designers and antique dealers are selling their products.

Today I spotted quite unusual jewellery and was told it’s made from Vegetable Ivory. It’s a seed produced naturally by the “Phytelephas Macrocarpa” palm tree which only grows in the tropical rainforest of Colombia and a few South American countries.

Vegetable Ivory has become increasingly important as the only natural, ethical and sustainable alternative to elephant ivory, because the texture and colour are almost identical.

I talked to the designer, Martha Lizarazo, who is born and raised in Columbia but has lived in London for a long time. She is passionate about elephant conservation and says the use of this special seed also stimulates the economies in South America and preserves the rain forests. She founded Caliz London some time ago and it is growing fast.

Primrose Hill Festival

Primrose Hill Spring Festival

 

16 May

Spring or summer

Cherry blossomThe warm rays of the sun cover my face and the roses in the garden are blooming. My neighbours call it spring. I call it summer.

Last month I enjoyed the mesmerising beauty of the cherry blossom and magnolias. On the 21st of April 1960, Sylvia Plath wrote in a letter to her mother; ‘They are mowing the lawns everywhere, and the smell of cut grass, plants, and warm earth is delicious. Nothing is so beautiful as England in April’ (Letters Home. Faber, 1990. p.377) I couldn’t agree more.

Near Husavik, Iceland.

Photo: Hörður Jónasson

It was still snowing in Reykjavik earlier this month and up north the snowfall hasn’t quite stopped. The wait for spring in Iceland can be long but when it finally arrives and nature awakens, nothing is more welcome nor celebrated.

15 May

Jamie Oliver and skyr

Jamie Oliver in May 2013.Today it’s Jamie Oliver’s annual Food Revolution Day. For years he has been educating people about food and encouraging everyone to bring fresh, wholesome foods to the table. Cook from scratch. For this year’s Food Revolution Day, Oliver has launched a global campaign and petition to urge school boards to make practical food education compulsory in their curriculum. He has even launched a song, where stars like Hugh Jackman and Paul McCartney perform. Here you can read all about his campaign and listen to the song. The photo is from Food Revolution Day 2013.

I wonder if Jamie Oliver has ever heard of the Icelandic super food skyr. It’s possible to buy skyr in the UK now, thanks to the Swedish-Danish company Arla. They call it Icelandic style yogurt and promote it like this; “High in protein, low in fat and reduced in sugar, Arla Skyr is made from all natural ingredients, making it a great way to give yourself a boost throughout the day.” Made in Germany. Many Icelanders haven’t been too happy about this. Here you can read about that.

The skyr from Arla is not too bad in my opinion. It’s even better than some of the brands in Iceland, sold as skyr. Arla’s skyr is nothing like the “real” skyr though, the natural delicacy I grew up eating in Northern part of Iceland during the sixties and seventies. Skyr isn’t yogurt. Not originally. It’s actually a fresh acid-curd cheese made from skim milk. Read more about it here.

I think Jamie Oliver would probably like skyr and he would definitely prefer the old, traditional kind.

 

14 May

Mesmerised by sheep

10404342_850710088347526_6383692773440495462_nThe Icelandic nation is mesmerised in front of the screens at the moment as The National Icelandic Broadcasting Service (RÚV) has begun its first foray into so-called “Slow TV”, popularized by our cousins in Norway. The Norwegian state broadcaster has in the past had live feeds from f.ex. ferry sailing. The first Icelandic slow tv broadcast is from the annual birthing of lambs. It is being shown live for 24 hours.

 Meanwhile the Icelandic film director Grímur Hákonarson is bringing his new film, Rams, to the Cannes Film Festival. It has been selected for the Un Certain Regard section. Rams is set in a remote Icelandic farming valley, where two brothers who haven’t spoken in 40 years have to come together in order to save what’s dearest to them – their sheep. The film was shot in the remote valley of Bárdardalur in the north of Iceland this past winter. Grímur has told Variety all about it.

 Here in the UK, the news do not focus on rams at the moment. Not exactly. However Nigel Farage and prince Charles have been on the news a lot today. The former leader of UKIP, Farage, doesn’t seem to know if he’s coming or going these days. You can read more about it here.

Prince Charles 27 letters to then Prime Minister Tony Blair and members of his government between September 2004 and March 2005 have been in the spotlight. The question is if the letters influenced the government. The prince obviously cares about farming, cause writing to Mr Blair, he expresses a “growing sense of anxiety” that the Hill Farming Allowance, which supports farmers working on Britain’s uplands, could be scrapped. On the BBC news website you can read more about the letters.