Bearings

Despite having no clue which direction north is, I am starting to get my bearings here in Reykjavik. In saying that though, the only place that I am 100% confident in finding every single time is the supermarket. I found most of my classes, I can normally find my house, I know which way is out of the city and that’s about it. Admittedly though, finding north is extremely difficult with no sun or compass...

University of Iceland

Hallgrímskirkja

Where the sun should have been

It snowed

Icelandic flag flapping in the hurricane force winds

Street art

Colourful buildings lining the streets

I think it would be fair to say that this week has been an Icelandic cultural experience.

I have been exploring Icelandic film culture. My introduction to Icelandic film was ‘Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre.’ Enough said.

I met a few (slightly intoxicated) Icelanders. They quickly assured us that:

‘Sober Icelanders hate foreigners, but drunk Icelanders love foreigners!’

Punny

After this, ‘What just happened?’ definitely became the mantra of the evening. As it turned out, we happened to be in the company of the Latvian Comedic Duo. As the name might suggest, their humour was incredibly racist…

Racist about blacks. Racist about Kiwis. Racist about Americans. Racist about Brits. And it goes without saying that they were racist about Latvians.

They assured us that in Iceland, despite black music being illegal in Iceland (it’s not – they were yarning), ‘nigger’ was not an offensive term because nobody black lives here. What just happened?

One of the guys even told us that his mother used to carry around a pad and tally the number of black people that she had seen. What just happened?

But that wasn’t funny (according to the other), as both his parents were now dead. What just happened?

Our Icelandic friends gave one of our company a battery claiming ‘If somebody in Iceland gives you a battery, it means “I love you.”’ What just happened?

So, while I am starting to get my bearings in terms of where the supermarket is, my cultural bearings are completely out of kilter. I have been left reeling and have no idea which way is up. There is no such thing as politically correct here. 

What just happened?

Enjoy the sunshine!