Sunday trip: Snaefellsnes in early Janauary

 Spontaneous trip to Snaefellsnes peninsula on Sunday, January 10. First really sunny day since ages! What a colour palette and stunning beauty of shapes! Energy was in the air again :) 4 Polish peoples in the car, fun fun fun. 5 cameras including one polaroid.  Crazy tour around the peninsula, it was bright long after sunrise, until 6 pm. When sky is cloudless there is much much more light! Road was covered with ice in some parts, temperature -6 C and lower, mountains of light, joyful day! Takkkkk :)

How easy is life in Iceland? Lost and found :)

A short and funny story. On the thick layer of ice covering a part of a pavement of Laugavegur, the main shopping street of Reykjavik, I found a lonely debit card. In Iceland it also serves as an ID, there is a picture of the owner, kennitala (a security service number similar to Polish PESEL) and a bank account number.  What should I do in this situation in a huge city like Warsaw? Probably go to a bank,  contact the police? In Iceland it took me less then 1 minute to find its owner. As mot of personal data (yes, the ‘sensitive’ one, which is restricted in Europe) is accessible on-line, the quickest way is to use the most popular website ja.is. Almost all the Icelandic phone numbers, addresses and names are stored there. That’s like a modern version of old ‘telephone book’ merged with a map. Finally, as only 2 women with the same specific name (Ingibjörg G.) are in the base (you only look for names and patronymic name, there are no surnames in Icelandic society!), both living in Reykjavik, I could send an sms to each of them asking if they don’t miss their debit card somehow.. One of them just picked up her belonging few minutes ago. And that’s the end of the short story.
I’d already seen people forgetting they credit card in the local shop, so it may be not an unusual situation at all. So it’s just enough to put your name on your belongings, and sooner or later they will come back to you magically. Isn’t it a beautiful illustration how ‘THE EFFECT OF THE VILLAGE’ works? :))))

Happy New Year 2016!

I spent first days of the New Year going for a long walks at the coast of the West Town, my favourite Vesturbaer. Observing the beauty of the world and meditating, making plans for the Year 2016 and seting up new goals, creating a vision of life that I would like to have in the near future. It’s all about the quality of life I’ve chosen to have, a quality of social relations, quality of water and pure air, quality of being part of the community, quality of life among smiling and cheerful people, QUALITY OF SLOW LIFE :)))))))
In between Christmas and New Year I had an excellent week only for myself. My flatmate was away and I was sharing my house only with red talkative cat, my temporary guest. It made me feel good, very good. Working at the leisure centre in the afternoons and helping my rescue team with firework sale and all the necesary preparations, made me feel happy and fulfilled.
And the crazy firework explosions’ night in the heart of Reykjavik made me feel so cheerful and joyful. Time for a new beginning has come :)

 

Early December, Vesturbaer under snowy cover!

So much fresh snow! Snow record!
 Last time was 50 years ago.. :)

New hope: 4 hours of light plus 2 hours of twilight

New hope, December 26, 2015

Reykjavik in late December. Christmas time.. Dimmed light, late sunrises and relatively early sunsets.. Only 4 hours 7 minutes and 7 seconds of daylight. Huge silver fullmoon hunging over quiet harbour.
Slower life, silence or howling wind, snow and rain, black sand and melting ice. Everything in one. All extrems melted in one. Black and white, fire and ice, peacefulness and restlessness. Each day brings a surprise.
That’s a special time. Waiting for New Year and more vivid vibes. Hibernation, peacefulness, time to re-think many ‘important’ things and set up new goals.  Create new approach to life. Find a new hope. Reset, recharge.
Somehow I feel this time have a taste of new beginning. I decided to move to more advanced website with my photographies and blog. To have more fun and more challenges now. Welcome, my friends and all the good people. Enjoy!
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Autumn activities with Icelandic Search and Rescue team :)

As you probably know, I have join Search and Rescue Team in Iceland and I am going through 1,5-2 years beginner training since September. Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue Team (ICE-SAR) is a voluntary organisation and I am in one of the Reykjavik squads, HSSR. I am very happy about it! It was one of my dreams for a long time! Now I am having a lot of fun and learning a lot with wonderful people. My Icelandic level is already good enough to have lectures and take exams in this language. Still I need to learn a lot, but it is going very well! I will give you some more insight soon! :)))))

Hjálparsveit skáta í Reykjavík, or HSSR for short, is Iceland’s oldest land search and rescue team. It was founded by members of the Icelandic Scout Association over 80 years ago and has stayed strong ever since. These founding members had frequently been called upon in the previous years to assist authorities when their alpine and mountain­eer­ing skills were needed in incidents involving lost and/or injured people and they felt they needed to organize in order to maximize the effectiveness of their response, thus founding HSSR in 1932.

WEEKEND CAMPING TRIP 1: HENGILL (October 2015)

WEEKEND TRAINING 2: SEARCHING TECHNIQUES (October 2015)

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WEEKEND TRAINING 1: TRAVELING AND NAVIGATION (September 2015)