As it often seems to be the case in the life of the undersigned, when things happen, they happen swiftly, unexpectedly and in multitude. I'm flying to Finland via Copenhagen tonight, and be in Helsinki tomorrow morning.
After I made the realization that there is a chance that my days in Iceland may be growing thin, I've been going through a rather wild barrage of thoughts. What did I come here for, did I achieve that? What did I learn? What did I see? What did I not?
Perhaps most importantly, if given the chance to stay,
would I want to?
I'm not sure any longer.
I've loved being in Iceland. I wouldn't trade any of the moments I've spent in here away. And yet, now when I'm about to go to my own lands, without having any idea when I will be back in here and for how long, it doesn't feel hard to go.
And I can't quite understand why.
The one thing I do know is that my Flickr has a couple of new photos. Yesterday evening, after a mind-clearing conversation over a pint glass, I didn't want to go to sleep. Instead I took my camera and wandered around Seltjarnarnes, looking at the incomprehensibly beautiful landscape that has been my home for the past five months and trying my best not to do injustice to it with the camera.
I'm coming back here in a week though, that's for sure. I suppose the most likely "what next" scenario is that I'm returning without a job in Finland as well. That frees me to live as a vagabond in Iceland for June, and I will try to make the most of it. See many of the things I wanted to until I run out of money. I hate to have the €€€ dictate my summer so much, but I can't not to.
If I happen to get employed in Finland, then...
I will come back to move away the rest of my stuff and say a few bye-byes if it's time to go, but I wish I could've given the country a better farewell.
maanantai 28. toukokuuta 2007
lauantai 26. toukokuuta 2007
Short term failures, long term uncertainty
It's been stressful for the past two weeks.
Despite my frantic search for a job, I'm still unemployed, and truth to be told, I can't afford that for much longer.
In any case, I'm going to Finland for a week soon, probably leaving on Tuesday. My mother has her 50th birthday next Thursday, and even if she's not really making a number of it, I'd like to be there. After that, I'll probably meet some friends during the weekend, stock up in salmiakki and rye bread, go visit a sauna and a forest for the first time in five months, and whatnot.
However, the job issue is starting to very problematic. When I came here initially, I thought that I might struggle with the studies in here a bit, but at least getting a job shouldn't be a problem. Turned out that the exact happened. I did very well with my studies, managed to complete everything and actually more than I intended, and with decent grades too. And now it seems like the employment became the issue instead.
For the past two weeks I've been running around, sometimes calling and mostly visiting pretty much everything I've managed to think of. Just trying random places or asking for the advertised jobs they offered to me at Vinnumálastofnun, or paikallinen työkkäri på finska. I've tried so many things from stockroom stuff to cafes the post and smaller delivery companies to car rental companies to Icelandair to gardening, and virtually every single time the answer is either "sorry, we're looking for someone to stay permanently" or the way more common "give me your number and I'll call you tomorrow, I think I have something".
Since I'm typing this, y'all can probably guess if anyone ever called.
I just don't know. I can't comprehend that I'm this undesirable for an employee, but I suppose it's either that or then it's not as open a work market as I've been told it to be. Again, I haven't been picky with what I would take, but it looks like nobody is willing to give me a job with anything. I suppose I'm doing something wrong. Finding something would probably be easier in the countryside, but now that I've committed myself to this apartment for at least June, I wouldn't like to leave now and pay for it, not living there at all.
I now started to apply for some possible places in Finland. I guess the competition over there is even tougher, but at least I can try. Coming in here has been a huge financial investment already, and I can't spend this summer without working somewhere to compensate that.
It just makes me a little befuzzled. I originally thought that I'll have a lot more chances to travel in Iceland during the summer, when I can actually afford to do it. I've seen so little of what I've wanted to see so far. And now it might be that I can't stay for much longer.
I will come back again in the beginning of June, after that week in Finland, but I don't know how long I can stay for. I don't even know what I would prefer. If I'm lucky enough to get a job in Finland, I'll probably need to take it and leave Iceland for now, having experienced much less than I would've liked. The more likely alternative is that I'm coming back here as a vagabond for June, traveling around the country as much as I can, and go back to Finland in July, either living with dad in Helsinki or trying to study something in Vaasa.
Such is the way things go. Enviroments change, but I still have trouble in finding myself a summer job.
Despite my frantic search for a job, I'm still unemployed, and truth to be told, I can't afford that for much longer.
In any case, I'm going to Finland for a week soon, probably leaving on Tuesday. My mother has her 50th birthday next Thursday, and even if she's not really making a number of it, I'd like to be there. After that, I'll probably meet some friends during the weekend, stock up in salmiakki and rye bread, go visit a sauna and a forest for the first time in five months, and whatnot.
However, the job issue is starting to very problematic. When I came here initially, I thought that I might struggle with the studies in here a bit, but at least getting a job shouldn't be a problem. Turned out that the exact happened. I did very well with my studies, managed to complete everything and actually more than I intended, and with decent grades too. And now it seems like the employment became the issue instead.
For the past two weeks I've been running around, sometimes calling and mostly visiting pretty much everything I've managed to think of. Just trying random places or asking for the advertised jobs they offered to me at Vinnumálastofnun, or paikallinen työkkäri på finska. I've tried so many things from stockroom stuff to cafes the post and smaller delivery companies to car rental companies to Icelandair to gardening, and virtually every single time the answer is either "sorry, we're looking for someone to stay permanently" or the way more common "give me your number and I'll call you tomorrow, I think I have something".
Since I'm typing this, y'all can probably guess if anyone ever called.
I just don't know. I can't comprehend that I'm this undesirable for an employee, but I suppose it's either that or then it's not as open a work market as I've been told it to be. Again, I haven't been picky with what I would take, but it looks like nobody is willing to give me a job with anything. I suppose I'm doing something wrong. Finding something would probably be easier in the countryside, but now that I've committed myself to this apartment for at least June, I wouldn't like to leave now and pay for it, not living there at all.
I now started to apply for some possible places in Finland. I guess the competition over there is even tougher, but at least I can try. Coming in here has been a huge financial investment already, and I can't spend this summer without working somewhere to compensate that.
It just makes me a little befuzzled. I originally thought that I'll have a lot more chances to travel in Iceland during the summer, when I can actually afford to do it. I've seen so little of what I've wanted to see so far. And now it might be that I can't stay for much longer.
I will come back again in the beginning of June, after that week in Finland, but I don't know how long I can stay for. I don't even know what I would prefer. If I'm lucky enough to get a job in Finland, I'll probably need to take it and leave Iceland for now, having experienced much less than I would've liked. The more likely alternative is that I'm coming back here as a vagabond for June, traveling around the country as much as I can, and go back to Finland in July, either living with dad in Helsinki or trying to study something in Vaasa.
Such is the way things go. Enviroments change, but I still have trouble in finding myself a summer job.
tiistai 15. toukokuuta 2007
Luck be a weirdo tonight
I love my new neighbourhood to death. The surprising thing might be that it is definately at its best at night.
On Saturday night, after all the Eurovision craze, the following party with random people made me at last realize that I'm not made for the stereotypical exchange student living. Not like I didn't know that even before I came here, but that night it just finally struck. I have never felt like being so alone. I had to negate that somehow before going home, before even making an attempt to tuck myself into bed.
We've been blessed with a magnificently clear and sweet weather for the past couple of weeks, so I felt like doing the soul searching at the Seltjarnarnes peninsula beaches. The south side of the peninsula was being quite dimly lit, the sea an unstable and shapeless mass, the lights beckoning from Hafnarfjörður.
As I kept strolling forward, towards the western tip of the peninsula and the northern side of it, the sky started to change. The deep blue started to have slightest hints of yellow, which would later grow to golden. The sun that was turning and planning to rise in a somewhat immediate future also coloured the sea differently, the giving life and shapes for the waves approaching the shore. The water turned from a dark void to a moving organism. I felt calmer again, maybe, hopefully, learning even a little bit about my position in the universe. It was not drinking along those people of whom I barely knew a couple, it is at the serenity of the sea during a windy spring night.
Tonight, as I was coming home from a dinner, the view experience was completely different, but no less touching. A couple of hours earlier, the sky was spattered with a plenty of orange in addition to the blue and yellow. This time it was almost still, the same colours reproducing on the water surface, distorting the horizon. The sea looked so crystalline and shining that it was almost like one of those autumn mornings when you first see how the local pond got the thinnest shimmering layer of ice on it during the night.
My shortcut to the house cuts past the swimming pool and a couple of schools, and I was wondering why there were a couple of cars with their engines running at the parking lot. It became apparent very quickly though, as the scent of the sweet smoke reached me from surprisingly far.
And for me, being high on landscape was more than I'll ever need.
On Saturday night, after all the Eurovision craze, the following party with random people made me at last realize that I'm not made for the stereotypical exchange student living. Not like I didn't know that even before I came here, but that night it just finally struck. I have never felt like being so alone. I had to negate that somehow before going home, before even making an attempt to tuck myself into bed.
We've been blessed with a magnificently clear and sweet weather for the past couple of weeks, so I felt like doing the soul searching at the Seltjarnarnes peninsula beaches. The south side of the peninsula was being quite dimly lit, the sea an unstable and shapeless mass, the lights beckoning from Hafnarfjörður.
As I kept strolling forward, towards the western tip of the peninsula and the northern side of it, the sky started to change. The deep blue started to have slightest hints of yellow, which would later grow to golden. The sun that was turning and planning to rise in a somewhat immediate future also coloured the sea differently, the giving life and shapes for the waves approaching the shore. The water turned from a dark void to a moving organism. I felt calmer again, maybe, hopefully, learning even a little bit about my position in the universe. It was not drinking along those people of whom I barely knew a couple, it is at the serenity of the sea during a windy spring night.
Tonight, as I was coming home from a dinner, the view experience was completely different, but no less touching. A couple of hours earlier, the sky was spattered with a plenty of orange in addition to the blue and yellow. This time it was almost still, the same colours reproducing on the water surface, distorting the horizon. The sea looked so crystalline and shining that it was almost like one of those autumn mornings when you first see how the local pond got the thinnest shimmering layer of ice on it during the night.
My shortcut to the house cuts past the swimming pool and a couple of schools, and I was wondering why there were a couple of cars with their engines running at the parking lot. It became apparent very quickly though, as the scent of the sweet smoke reached me from surprisingly far.
And for me, being high on landscape was more than I'll ever need.
tiistai 8. toukokuuta 2007
Life at the sidewalks
One of the essential Reykjavík area characteristics are the relatively narrow sidewalks. I haven't yet discovered whether this is the cause or the effect, but the local walking behaviour seems quite different from what I've used to. The Icelanders don't seem to like making way, so we foreigners end up sailing from one side to the another, dodging the determined looking locals walking their perfectly straight lines.
This naturally isn't a problem since I'm used to doing it anyway, but it makes me wonder what happens when two groups of Icelanders going to different directions meet at the narrow trodding paths. I never realized to observe, but based on my own experiences, I'm assuming an inevitable crash. Actually, I think that Mike Patton visited Iceland when working on Faith No More's Album of the Year and wrote the track Collision on Icelandic sidewalk behaviour.
No, the jokes aren't going to get any better. Suck it up and bear with me.
The narrowness makes the cycling a little tricky at times as well. While you'll definately attract more attention from the other traffic participants when you're on the saddle, there often isn't ample room to maneuver. As a result I find myself interacting on the other sidewalk users a lot more than I'm used to. The thankful headbobs and smiles, ushering someone else to go with a wave and the like are quickly becoming the second nature.
This naturally isn't a problem since I'm used to doing it anyway, but it makes me wonder what happens when two groups of Icelanders going to different directions meet at the narrow trodding paths. I never realized to observe, but based on my own experiences, I'm assuming an inevitable crash. Actually, I think that Mike Patton visited Iceland when working on Faith No More's Album of the Year and wrote the track Collision on Icelandic sidewalk behaviour.
No, the jokes aren't going to get any better. Suck it up and bear with me.
The narrowness makes the cycling a little tricky at times as well. While you'll definately attract more attention from the other traffic participants when you're on the saddle, there often isn't ample room to maneuver. As a result I find myself interacting on the other sidewalk users a lot more than I'm used to. The thankful headbobs and smiles, ushering someone else to go with a wave and the like are quickly becoming the second nature.
maanantai 7. toukokuuta 2007
You've come a long way, baby
Last week was so busy that I can't really believe that I still didn't make any progress with the history essay or acquire any furniture to my room. At least now I have a duvet, took care of the moving paperwork in Icelandic, dealt in many occasions with the customer service of my Finnish bank (keys to the online bank expired and they sent the new ones without any address, unsurprisingly they never arrived) and went to a police auction.
Speaking of the latter, it was for stray bicycles they had found, a tradition that's held in Finland as well. Most of the bikes were so new and good looking that I can't believe anyone would've just abandoned them, but oh well. This resulted in outrageous prices for some of them. I went there in hopes of picking up something old and rusty for a couple of thousand, but for two hours it looked like everything would either be out of my price range or a tricycle. The median price must've been over 10.000 ISK, some were going for well over 20k. Luckily at last something I wanted came up. An adult sized oldie that nobody else wanted, so I picked it up for a thousand. I was a little concerned since it looked quite worn out, but to my delight, turns out that it works almost flawlessly. The front gears are stuck but everything else is either fixed in two minutes or working as intended.
Two of my German co-habitants also went there, but failed to show sufficient perseverance and left after thirty minutes, being shocked by the prices the Icelanders were willing to pay for used bikes. I wanted to ride away from the auction with something though, so I stuck around, and got rewarded. When I rode it home, their curiosity and patriotism was sparked by the fact that it's apparently been made by a famous East German factory. Whenever I'm leaving Iceland, I think I'll be able to sell it to them for profit.
Especially since they apparently understood that my price announcement of "eitt þúsund" ment "eight thousand."
The weekend saw a surprise visit from a friend back Vaasa, who recently came to Iceland via Nordjobb and is living and working in Borgarnes now. She brought another svensk nordjobbare with her, and I got to act as a terrible tourist guide to the Big City as they both hadn't been there yet. We strolled around Perlan, Hallgrimskirkja and 101 during the day, before going back to some Seltjarnarnes touring, which was almost as much exploration for me as it was for them. The original plan was to cook at home and then dispatch to the Reykjavík nightlife, but as it usually goes, things didn't go like planned. Eating late, watching the sun peacefully set to the sea while having a couple of glasses of wine and having conversations with a wacky mix of Swedish, English and Finnish drained the energy.
Around 1 at the night we were still determined to go, but the Swede fell asleep on the couch shortly after, and looked so happy that waking her up would've just been too cruel, so instead the two of us just kept talking. The interesting thing is that the two of us didn't know much about each other or even talked before really, despite having started the same studies at the same time almost three years ago. One of the mysteries of life, it seems. How far you sometimes need to travel to learn to know a little from someone who has always lived so near.
Speaking of the latter, it was for stray bicycles they had found, a tradition that's held in Finland as well. Most of the bikes were so new and good looking that I can't believe anyone would've just abandoned them, but oh well. This resulted in outrageous prices for some of them. I went there in hopes of picking up something old and rusty for a couple of thousand, but for two hours it looked like everything would either be out of my price range or a tricycle. The median price must've been over 10.000 ISK, some were going for well over 20k. Luckily at last something I wanted came up. An adult sized oldie that nobody else wanted, so I picked it up for a thousand. I was a little concerned since it looked quite worn out, but to my delight, turns out that it works almost flawlessly. The front gears are stuck but everything else is either fixed in two minutes or working as intended.
Two of my German co-habitants also went there, but failed to show sufficient perseverance and left after thirty minutes, being shocked by the prices the Icelanders were willing to pay for used bikes. I wanted to ride away from the auction with something though, so I stuck around, and got rewarded. When I rode it home, their curiosity and patriotism was sparked by the fact that it's apparently been made by a famous East German factory. Whenever I'm leaving Iceland, I think I'll be able to sell it to them for profit.
Especially since they apparently understood that my price announcement of "eitt þúsund" ment "eight thousand."
The weekend saw a surprise visit from a friend back Vaasa, who recently came to Iceland via Nordjobb and is living and working in Borgarnes now. She brought another svensk nordjobbare with her, and I got to act as a terrible tourist guide to the Big City as they both hadn't been there yet. We strolled around Perlan, Hallgrimskirkja and 101 during the day, before going back to some Seltjarnarnes touring, which was almost as much exploration for me as it was for them. The original plan was to cook at home and then dispatch to the Reykjavík nightlife, but as it usually goes, things didn't go like planned. Eating late, watching the sun peacefully set to the sea while having a couple of glasses of wine and having conversations with a wacky mix of Swedish, English and Finnish drained the energy.
Around 1 at the night we were still determined to go, but the Swede fell asleep on the couch shortly after, and looked so happy that waking her up would've just been too cruel, so instead the two of us just kept talking. The interesting thing is that the two of us didn't know much about each other or even talked before really, despite having started the same studies at the same time almost three years ago. One of the mysteries of life, it seems. How far you sometimes need to travel to learn to know a little from someone who has always lived so near.
keskiviikko 2. toukokuuta 2007
A taste of Seltjarnarnes
Curious is the way things go.
I spent yesterday in one of the worst hangovers imaginable, which made the prospective moving business a little tricky. First of all, I had to get to Seltjarnarnes, so I got into a bus. A wrong one at that. How'd I manage that, I have no idea. Luckily I realized it soon enough.
After managing myself into a right bus, I wasn't completely sure where to drop off. I had tried to memorize the map of Seltjarnarnes since I didn't have anything printed. Luckily it ain't especially the biggest or the most wildly laid out town, so I managed to find the location quite efficiently. I also managed to control my bodily movement and the shaking apparently well enough to convince the folks renting the room to let me in. It turned out though that I sort of knew them from before. Have you ever shared a house with a German construction engineer, architect and plumber?
Me neither.
As of now, instead of noisy neighbours and non-existent household equipment, my room is lacking lighting, curtains, a bed and basically all other furniture, a door and an internet connection, but it's still an improvement over where I used to live. I can see a little sea from the yard, and to get to the shore for a proper panorama, I only have to walk a couple of minutes. The house of the single family flavour, a little on the older side, but definately cozy and on a beautiful neighbourhood. The services are close and the sweet, sweet Seltjarnarnes seawater pool is ten minutes away. Lovely.
The walk to downtown Reykjavík isn't much longer than it used to be either, but in addition to some furniture, acquiring a bike would probably be useful. I heard that the local police holds auctions for stray bikes in here too, and it should be soon.
I believe I will start wandering around tomorrow looking for a job, and whoever I talk about it to, seems very encouraging about finding one. Maybe I'll tempt fate and waltz into Morgunblaðið as well. And who knows, maybe I'll even have a door later this week!
I spent yesterday in one of the worst hangovers imaginable, which made the prospective moving business a little tricky. First of all, I had to get to Seltjarnarnes, so I got into a bus. A wrong one at that. How'd I manage that, I have no idea. Luckily I realized it soon enough.
After managing myself into a right bus, I wasn't completely sure where to drop off. I had tried to memorize the map of Seltjarnarnes since I didn't have anything printed. Luckily it ain't especially the biggest or the most wildly laid out town, so I managed to find the location quite efficiently. I also managed to control my bodily movement and the shaking apparently well enough to convince the folks renting the room to let me in. It turned out though that I sort of knew them from before. Have you ever shared a house with a German construction engineer, architect and plumber?
Me neither.
As of now, instead of noisy neighbours and non-existent household equipment, my room is lacking lighting, curtains, a bed and basically all other furniture, a door and an internet connection, but it's still an improvement over where I used to live. I can see a little sea from the yard, and to get to the shore for a proper panorama, I only have to walk a couple of minutes. The house of the single family flavour, a little on the older side, but definately cozy and on a beautiful neighbourhood. The services are close and the sweet, sweet Seltjarnarnes seawater pool is ten minutes away. Lovely.
The walk to downtown Reykjavík isn't much longer than it used to be either, but in addition to some furniture, acquiring a bike would probably be useful. I heard that the local police holds auctions for stray bikes in here too, and it should be soon.
I believe I will start wandering around tomorrow looking for a job, and whoever I talk about it to, seems very encouraging about finding one. Maybe I'll tempt fate and waltz into Morgunblaðið as well. And who knows, maybe I'll even have a door later this week!
Tilaa:
Blogitekstit (Atom)
