Hey guys, sorry I haven't blogged yet this week - it's going to be short, too, as I really have to walk home and organise myself to go to the island of Suðuroy tomorrow with my band...
Not very keen on the walking thing at the moment, though, as we have a SNOWSTORM. Yup, snow!
It's beautifully white outside and I love it.
Ah yeah so this week ... what has happened?
WELL, the Faroes had their election and this uber republican party, Tjóðveldi won. This is massive as they're strongly for severance of the connection with Denmark - so the Faroes may just be independent by the time I leave.
Hmm yeah that was on Saturday night and I was at my host aunt Sára's place where her husband Pall, who thinks I'm hilarious because I'm from New Zealand, brought out a bottle of Montana wine in my honour. I was so confused. You can't buy it here. I think he had it imported from Denmark.
On Friday night I had a really insane party to attend and no doubt you will all eventually see the photos - my friend Jeffri's 18th in this funny little village called Miðvágur. We came back on the bus at about 9AM the next morning, just as the sun rose (we didn't sleep. Don't be ridiculous. This is the Faroes) to see Havn under a fresh blanket of snow. It was the most beautiful morning I have ever seen. I did have fun trying to get into our house, though, as the uphill driveway was hideously slippery.
But yeah...not much else has been happening. School, you know ...
Anyways, must go and brave the snowstorm!
Kelsy
:)

Well hey. Blog. Again. Sunday. Woohoo!
Ah, so yeah. What has happened this week?
Well, school started again, which feels sincerely weird. It should be the summer holidays, but here I am starting a new term at school. We went back on Monday and it has been pretty much school since with a twist - I can now understand what goes on. All of it. It's a really nice feeling but now I have to do the work and that ISN'T a nice feeling. I'm still coming top of maths, english and chemistry though so that's a bonus.
I had a letter published in the NZ Herald a few days back. It was really strange because I didn't think they would publish it. I just wrote it in on a whim, considering that my situation was pretty unique. So that was fun.
I'm going on a mini exchange on the 4th of February for a week which sounds fun. I think I am going to Sørvágur where my contact person lives, to work in a kindergarten. I am quite looking forward to it.
I had a class party last night which was wonderfully fun. It was quite interesting though, walking downtown afterwards, as it was about -2 degrees and the roads were covered in ice. We also decided to go for a walk at about 2AM and just slid around a bit before wandering down to the national soccer field. Yeah, it was a fun night.
Next weekend I have a class party on Vágar, another island in the West. It is very odd to have a class party there as usually we walk into town once we're done partying in someone's house to go to the clubs or whatever. There are no clubs on Vágar which would make things fun. We can't get home until the interisland bus leaves at 8AM the next morning. So yes, it will be extremely entertaining, I imagine.
I am going to another island the weekend after next with my big band - we have been invited to play at something involving the election which is ... somewhen. And so we are going to Suðuroy, the southernmost of the Faroe Islands. It takes about 2 hours to get there by ferry and we are playing onboard as well as 2 concerts on the island. We stay there overnight and then come back the next day. That will be nice as I haven't been to Suðuroy yet, but I have a host aunt there.
But yeah, anyway, I think that's about all I have to report except for some travel arrangements - I am going to Iceland in March for Easter, Silja may well be coming here for a weekend next month, and in April my friend Cory, who is from Christchurch and on exchange in Denmark, is coming up for my birthday and to come to school with me for a few weeks! So that will be wonderfully, wonderfully fun. I am really looking forward to seeing them both, and showing off the Faroes!
Anyway, I'm going to head out. Or not out, it's blowing a gale and snowing, but I have maths homework which I guess should be done ...
Yeah, síggjast!

Well, happy 2008! Um, what has happened this week? I really can't think of anything particularly special except for NEW YEARS'! That was an epic night - I made it to bed at 9PM on the 1st of January. Ouch!!

But yes, it's a big family thing here and I was at home for the bells, where we all drank lots of champagne and watched everyone elses' fireworks. My host family had held a big dinner that night with my host dad's two sisters and their families and my host mum's sister from Klaksvík. My host grandad was also there, so we were about 20 people all up and it was lots of fun. My host cousin, Jón Petur, informed me that I simply had to watch the 90th birthday, which is a British comedy clip that has been on Faroese television on New Year's Eve since the '70s when it was made. It involves the line, 'Same procedure as last year, James,' which all Faroese people use. ALL OF THEM! I was very, very confused until I watched it last Sunday.

After midnight everyone made speeches in Faroese and it was all very fun, I trod on some poor dog's ear, I think the dog belonged to my host cousin Kristian but not entirely sure. And then I was driven up to my friend's place at Berjabrekka where I had finally found a venue for my class New Years' party (How is it that I always wind up organising New Years'?). There weren't so many from our class there, mainly because the dude I got to invite everyone invited selectively, but everyone brought other people so we had a nice little group there. It was a great party and everyone had loads of fun which is always great. However, having started a wee bit late we never made it into town which was a shame, but we did decide to party until the sun rose, which was at about 10AM. And then we made breakfast and sat around whinging about how it was raining and so going home wouldn't be an awful lot of fun as we all had to walk. I think I left at about 1PM. But yeah, wonderful fun.

Anyway, so that was my New Years' ... what else has happened this week? Not much ... yeah no really nothing at all. I spent last night watching movies with 2 of my friends. We watched Amélie, which is in French, and we watched it with Danish subtitles. I don't know if I understood the French, the Danish, or was just remembering it from having watched it with English titles, but I got it.

Mm, yeah ... Stacey and I went shopping on the 2nd or the 3rd or something ... but that's quite usual really.

There is a man on TV trying out coffins. He's speaking Danish so I'm not entirely sure why.

School goes back tomorrow - it feels unutterably strange, this whole 2 weeks of Christmas holidays thing. I clicked a little while ago that I get no summer holidays for 2 years because of this exchange. Darn. But ah, well. School fills time and it's not like I do an awful lot of work anyway! I'm not impressed though, my first class of the term is PHYSICS. An entire hour and a half of it. Not good. But hey, we get by. Hmm yeah I am chucking in a few photos from New Years'. Don't worry, people don't usually smoke cigars here - it's just a tradition for all the guys to do it at New Years'. Weird, I agree.

Mm, anyway, I think that is about it. It's really cold here at the moment. We went walking in this Velbastaður place today. I wore two pairs of socks, jeans, 2 shirts, 2 jumpers, a jacket, a scarf, a hat and gloves and I was still cold. Ugh. View was nice, though. Always is.

Anyways, yeah ... hope everybody had a GREAT New Years', and I will see you all in 6 months or so.

Lots of love, Kelsy :)