A long time ago, Stacey (the other New Zealander) and I, wrote an account of all the stupid, stupid things we've done and that have happened to us since we've been here in the Faroes. Because A LOT of stupid, stupid things happen to us. And we DO a lot of stupid, stupid things. We're just as flaky as each other.
And this week, nothing overly exciting has happened - I went out on Friday and last night, and had an AFS day yesterday where we made thingys out of wool. That's really all. O, and I had mock exams in maths and chemistry (and bio but I didn't go to it).
So, because nothing exciting has happened, I am going to put in the List Of Stupid Stuff Kelsy and Stacey have done - a.k.a SAK Moments. There are many.
SAK Moments
-Kelsy going out for coffee after purchasing a bucket of jam (1kg) and putting it in her handbag (they don't have free plastic bags here and I'm a struggling exchange student)
-The Russian vodka theory - poor exchange students + a really good moonlighting system = MONEY (costs about $75 for 500mL of Smirnoff here).
-Stacey and Kelsy going out for pizza plus badminton racket which Stacey then managed to hit Kelsy on the [bad] knee with. The best bit is we were meant to go to badminton but we went to Pizza 67 instead ...
-The flying lawnmower theory - how do people here cut the grass on their rooves? Do they mow it? And what happens if the roof is steep and they lose control? Do people get ... killed? maimed? by flying lawnmowers?! (Later we discovered they use sheep. Yes, sheep.)
-Kelsy's insane random bursts of laughter ... usually in public places and class. Or AFS meetings while everyone is sitting around the table in awkward silence. NOTE, NZ FRIENDS: This is always, ALWAYS a result of an in-joke I have remembered. Or a party moment.
-"Who's shaving their beard?" - Stacey, when my host sister informed us that she was going to cut her hair. Funniest bit was, she came back with a random lump shaved off, just above her ear ... why do I never have a camera handy??
-Us going whaling ... me wearing a jumper with New Zealand on it ... possibly a not-so-good plan, better, though, than Stacey's continuous yelling of 'KELSY'S IN GREENPEACE! LET'S KILL SOME WHALES!'
-Stealing posters from Steinatun(centre of town)/everywhere ...
-Me getting yelled at by drunken Faroese guys at a concert who then asked my host sister to ask if I was horny. Yay.
-Taking down all of the posters at our school in the dead of night, except for one row which we couldn't reach, so then everyone thought that the poster stealers really liked Høgni Reistrup ..
-The guy in the phone shop, Kall, chatting us up hard out. He even went so far as to say 'So ... how do you like the guys here?' (I was so shocked I actually said 'What?!' and he had the nerve to repeat himself, then told us his life story. Apparently he moved here from Columbia when he was 3 but if he went back wouldn't feel the heat because he's black. Stacey: 'Doesn't black attract the sun?' (Though she didn't actually say it, thank god))
-Stacey unceremoniously plonking her handbag in my newly purchased ice-cream. Apparently she still feels bad. Maybe she can buy me a new one, one day.
-The Rating system. 1-100 and only applicable for those with genders beginning with M. -10 points if you're short. I believe it was -20 for acne but good hair gives you an extra 10. Beware, when we stare this is what we're figuring out.
-'Did Neil die?!' Stacey, after watching The Matrix Revolutions. A little confused, seeing as the guy's called Neo ...
-Stacey successfully lit the table decorations on fire at the [somewhat swanky] AFS function to celebrate their 50th anniversary. While we were in hysterics, the girl across the table calmly picked them up and blew them out.
-Us applying the rating system to the waiters (all of whom presumably understood English) as they served dinner.
-Us attempting to apply the rating system to identical twins (but seriously, one is hotter than the other). Oh, and they were also waiters. Very confusing as one stopped me and attempted to talk to me - he was one of my tutors at the beginning of the year (he was the hot one, by the way). I stood there shellshocked for a bit at the fact that he a) remembered me at all and b) remembered my name and then said [best line ever], 'BUT THERE'S TWO OF YOU!'
-'My foot has a soul.' -Stacey, at language class, a wee bit confused (as usual).
-'Leggings look silly when you take off your boots and expose ankle socks and half a foot of leg. Pardon the pun ...' - Me. I wish I'd come up with that one conciously.
-We invented a different way to play Guess Who? or Hvem er Hvem? This involved asking questions and the person on the other end giving the opposite answers. It's quite interesting and you invariably wind up with the wrong people.
-After a party at my mate's place we walked home at 2AM, possibly earlier, though I wasn't overly keen. Stacey, feeling bad at making me walk 20 minutes home alone, turned up half an hour later, knocking on the window and going, 'Are you OK?'
-Meeting Jannick the Dane on the bus, who, delighted that I could speak [some, or very little] Danish, started ranting. In Danish. He then gave us an intriguing liquor that is apparently based on Fisherman's Friend - avoid.
-I rang Stacey up at 11.50PM one night, much to her dismay. I'd decided to plan our weekend. She thought I was having a crisis. Or something. Now every time I say, 'I had a revelation!' (I actually say it a lot, worryingly) Stacey goes, 'Wow. You didn't ring me at midnight this time. Dry, Stacey, dry.
-Stacey at arrivals camp, talking to the German girl who told Stacey that she hated English. It was really nice and aftwerwards I was informed that Stacey had had an urge to turn around and start loudly discussing Hitler. Social skills, ja?
-HUGIN.
-Went shopping in the first snow in Havn! And ate ice-cream. Once a kiwi, always a kiwi.
-Singing Loyal at the AFS function, Stacey, who had a cold, held the mic a little close but we did OK.
-Lisa deciding that Stacey and Ice were madly in love (Ice is the extremely antisocial fellow from Thailand - we didn't think he spoke English for a long time until we realised he just didn't speak English to girls).
-Me and my perfume shopping, as Stacey and Celeste followed me around looking bored.
-Joining the TenSing Gospel Choir and leaving after an hour when they started the bible readings. Not trying that one again ..
-AFS 'recreation day' in the little town of Tjørnuvík where I bailed hard out on my tailbone (don't run in stockings, guys) and pretty much mashed my back. This was all made better with a few panadol and dancing the entire night (I think we got home at 5.30AM).
-My painkillers which my host sister wrapped in tin foil for me and which I whipped out and took on the dance floor (the night after I wrecked my back in Tjørnuvík) much to the horror of many onlookers, who probably all think I'm a drug pusher, or at least a junkie...
-Stacey's classmate, Grímur, informing me that he 'frrrrrreakin' LOVES Stacey' over and over again at some random party.
-Stacey calling one of MY classmates at about 4AM, only to discover HE WAS ASLEEP.
-'MY HOVERCRAFT IS FULL OF EELS.' Stacey deciding I was insane after I sat on the train in Copenhagen reciting Monty Python to Cory who had never seen it.
-'So I got a myspace and I have this random friend called Tom ... I don't know who he is! But I sent him a message asking,' - Stacey
-Wool-stuff-making-day in Skáli - I turned around to look out the window at one point and spotted 4 guys in full chemical suits with oxygen tanks, gas masks, helmets and everything, happily walking around the village. Everyone was extremely confused except Stacey, who spent ages trying to make me think I imagined it.
-Meeting one of the waiters from the swanky AFS dinner (see above) at the New Years party I threw. Even better, he was OUR waiter, he remembered Stacey setting the table decorations alight, AND asked what he got in the rating system (yup, they heard us, alright).
20080302
20080224
Another blog, another week. I can't remember whether I blogged or not last week, so I'm guessing I should be on time with this week's installment.
So, what has happened? Not overly much, really. The other New Zealander had her birthday party last night and that was pretty epic - I made it home at 8 this morning. We do pretty well with parties here in the Faroes! Haha.
It's getting a lot warmer here now - or not so much warmer, but less cold. Indeed it hasn't been below zero for about two weeks which is interesting as it's still February, the coldest month of the year. Having said that, it snowed today. Not much, but some. It's pretty.
I haven't seen the Northern Lights - I was told that they don't actually come out so much, and then only in the coldest months of winter. My host parents say the cold will return so I live in hope that Aurora Borealis will come with it. I desperately want to see it. I suppose there's also a chance that when I go to Iceland to visit Silja in 19 days time I will see it there - even though Iceland is so close to the Faroes (only an hour and a half's flight) it is much colder there because the gulf stream surrounds the Faroes and keeps them relatively balmy. In comparison to Iceland, anyway.
Um yeah, I came home from Suðuroy last Friday and went straight into an insanely busy weekend - I arrived in Havn at 9AM (having left Suðuroy at 7AM ... ugh) and headed home to sleep and wrap a gift for Hanus, a guy in my class who had a party for his 18th birthday that night. At 4PM I headed off to Venjingarskúlin (it means practice school) where I stayed until 8PM playing funk music (I was a guest saxophonist). That was good fun - it was a proper funk convention with about 40 musicians and I was very lucky to be invited as it was generally for MGK, the division of the music school for people intending to go to London and study Conservatory. But yes, that was wonderfully fun and after that I headed home and then walked down to Hanus' place for the party. It was pretty fun. My friend Mattias who is a fantastic concert pianist sat and played at this hideous piano that hadn't been tuned in 20 years and then eventually I sat down and we both played jazz improvisation. And eventually I headed home at about 3ish.
The next day I was due at the funk convention at 10AM but I think I rocked up at about 11.30. We played all day - really just like a jam session, and very enjoyable. Our group had 3 really good songs - Let's Groove Tonight, Celebration and Diggin' On James Brown. We stayed there until 9pM that night. I studied French when we got home, as I had a test on Tuesday.
On Sunday we all met at 11AM and polished up our songs for the last time. We had lunch and so headed down to the performance hall to set up for the concert we were playing from 4-5PM - I was given a baritone saxophone to play which was tremendously fun as it is just about bigger than me and plays notes so low they make your eyes vibrate so you can't see straight. I had a solo as well which I had to play on alto and so I had to switch instruments halfway through one of our songs. The concert went really well - everyone seemed to like it, and a couple of my friends, Sunniva and Christina, were there so afterwards we all (Sunniva, Christina, Mattias, Karl Andrias and I) headed out to get dinner at a café in town. Afterwards we all wound up back at Mattias' place watching DVDs, and then channel surfing - to our amazement he had about 950 channels because his Dad is Russian and so had subscribed to pretty much every channel in Europe. Or something. And we found the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and none of them had seen it so I insisted we watch it. And we did. And I think they'll be scarred for life.
But yeah, that was last weekend. And yeah. I think that's all I have to report!
Kelsy
So, what has happened? Not overly much, really. The other New Zealander had her birthday party last night and that was pretty epic - I made it home at 8 this morning. We do pretty well with parties here in the Faroes! Haha.
It's getting a lot warmer here now - or not so much warmer, but less cold. Indeed it hasn't been below zero for about two weeks which is interesting as it's still February, the coldest month of the year. Having said that, it snowed today. Not much, but some. It's pretty.
I haven't seen the Northern Lights - I was told that they don't actually come out so much, and then only in the coldest months of winter. My host parents say the cold will return so I live in hope that Aurora Borealis will come with it. I desperately want to see it. I suppose there's also a chance that when I go to Iceland to visit Silja in 19 days time I will see it there - even though Iceland is so close to the Faroes (only an hour and a half's flight) it is much colder there because the gulf stream surrounds the Faroes and keeps them relatively balmy. In comparison to Iceland, anyway.
Um yeah, I came home from Suðuroy last Friday and went straight into an insanely busy weekend - I arrived in Havn at 9AM (having left Suðuroy at 7AM ... ugh) and headed home to sleep and wrap a gift for Hanus, a guy in my class who had a party for his 18th birthday that night. At 4PM I headed off to Venjingarskúlin (it means practice school) where I stayed until 8PM playing funk music (I was a guest saxophonist). That was good fun - it was a proper funk convention with about 40 musicians and I was very lucky to be invited as it was generally for MGK, the division of the music school for people intending to go to London and study Conservatory. But yes, that was wonderfully fun and after that I headed home and then walked down to Hanus' place for the party. It was pretty fun. My friend Mattias who is a fantastic concert pianist sat and played at this hideous piano that hadn't been tuned in 20 years and then eventually I sat down and we both played jazz improvisation. And eventually I headed home at about 3ish.
The next day I was due at the funk convention at 10AM but I think I rocked up at about 11.30. We played all day - really just like a jam session, and very enjoyable. Our group had 3 really good songs - Let's Groove Tonight, Celebration and Diggin' On James Brown. We stayed there until 9pM that night. I studied French when we got home, as I had a test on Tuesday.
On Sunday we all met at 11AM and polished up our songs for the last time. We had lunch and so headed down to the performance hall to set up for the concert we were playing from 4-5PM - I was given a baritone saxophone to play which was tremendously fun as it is just about bigger than me and plays notes so low they make your eyes vibrate so you can't see straight. I had a solo as well which I had to play on alto and so I had to switch instruments halfway through one of our songs. The concert went really well - everyone seemed to like it, and a couple of my friends, Sunniva and Christina, were there so afterwards we all (Sunniva, Christina, Mattias, Karl Andrias and I) headed out to get dinner at a café in town. Afterwards we all wound up back at Mattias' place watching DVDs, and then channel surfing - to our amazement he had about 950 channels because his Dad is Russian and so had subscribed to pretty much every channel in Europe. Or something. And we found the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and none of them had seen it so I insisted we watch it. And we did. And I think they'll be scarred for life.
But yeah, that was last weekend. And yeah. I think that's all I have to report!
Kelsy
20080211
Yo!
So here I am again, on a Monday night, and on Suðuroy. Where is that, you ask? Well, the snowy photos two blogs down are taken in the village of Sumba on Suðuroy, the southernmost island of the Faroes.
Why am I here? Mini-exchange for a week - I go to the Vágs Miðnámsskúlin and it's fun - I am in a class with my host sister Susan who is 16 (she has 3 sisters who are 18, 11ish and 7ish). The class are all girls and all very sweet and have all added me on myspace! Haha.
So yes, I've been here since Friday and I am here until Friday and I have found out that on Suðuroy they eat Weird Food. We had fish cheeks two nights ago, and fish soup the night before that, and tonight ræstan fisk (which is rotten fish which is then boiled, has been explained) and tomorrow night we are eating baby petrels. I am really looking forward to it as I am told baby petrels are delicious. One has to make a special bread to eat with it, apparently. So yes.
Yesterday my host family took me out driving and Suðuroy is really very beautiful - the weather yesterday was fantastic also, sun and blue skies of the sort one never sees in Tórshavn - my host grandad said it was because the gulf stream surrounds Suðuroy and so the other islands can be knee deep in snow while Suðuroy relaxes in balmy seven degree temperatures. It's lovely here - I live in a little village called Porkeri, 5 minutes drive from Vágs where the school is. I will put up air photos of Porkeri soon but not tonight - it's adorable though, there are sheep walking the streets. They live there in the winter and one must be careful driving.
But yes, I have many beautiful photos of the scenery here on Suðuroy which is unutterably lovely.
I get back to Havn on Friday and I am really looking forward to it for a number of reasons - I get to see my class again who I miss dreadfully (if I miss them so badly after 3 days how will I go when I LEAVE?) AND we have a class party on Friday night. And of course I get to see my host family again who were in Klaksvík this weekend. I miss them.
Anyhoo, I do believe that's about it. Everybody leave me comments. Good little fellows. I'm going to go watch Coyote Ugly with my host sisters. Woohoo!
Kelsy
So here I am again, on a Monday night, and on Suðuroy. Where is that, you ask? Well, the snowy photos two blogs down are taken in the village of Sumba on Suðuroy, the southernmost island of the Faroes.
Why am I here? Mini-exchange for a week - I go to the Vágs Miðnámsskúlin and it's fun - I am in a class with my host sister Susan who is 16 (she has 3 sisters who are 18, 11ish and 7ish). The class are all girls and all very sweet and have all added me on myspace! Haha.
So yes, I've been here since Friday and I am here until Friday and I have found out that on Suðuroy they eat Weird Food. We had fish cheeks two nights ago, and fish soup the night before that, and tonight ræstan fisk (which is rotten fish which is then boiled, has been explained) and tomorrow night we are eating baby petrels. I am really looking forward to it as I am told baby petrels are delicious. One has to make a special bread to eat with it, apparently. So yes.
Yesterday my host family took me out driving and Suðuroy is really very beautiful - the weather yesterday was fantastic also, sun and blue skies of the sort one never sees in Tórshavn - my host grandad said it was because the gulf stream surrounds Suðuroy and so the other islands can be knee deep in snow while Suðuroy relaxes in balmy seven degree temperatures. It's lovely here - I live in a little village called Porkeri, 5 minutes drive from Vágs where the school is. I will put up air photos of Porkeri soon but not tonight - it's adorable though, there are sheep walking the streets. They live there in the winter and one must be careful driving.
But yes, I have many beautiful photos of the scenery here on Suðuroy which is unutterably lovely.
I get back to Havn on Friday and I am really looking forward to it for a number of reasons - I get to see my class again who I miss dreadfully (if I miss them so badly after 3 days how will I go when I LEAVE?) AND we have a class party on Friday night. And of course I get to see my host family again who were in Klaksvík this weekend. I miss them.
Anyhoo, I do believe that's about it. Everybody leave me comments. Good little fellows. I'm going to go watch Coyote Ugly with my host sisters. Woohoo!
Kelsy
20080207
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So I finished school early today and thought it would be a nice idea to upload some photos of my life and not just photos I have stolen from Faroese websites. I can't be bothered captioning them as I never know what order they're going to wind up in, but feel free to comment and ask if anyone or anything takes your interest. Ja, mostly from my friend's 18th birthday party, our class concert and the last day of school before Christmas (where I got painted). Enjoy!
20080203
OK, so here are some photos I Maoried off the portal.fo site - the news site for the Faroes, has amazing photos if you know where to look. This is the village of Sumba on the island of Suðuroy - I haven't been to Sumba but I have been to Suðuroy and it has way better weather than the other islands for some reason - it's only 2 hours ferry ride away.
There's also a really nice air photo of Havn I found on http://www.atlantic.fo/ (the airline site) - the massive boat you can see in the foreground is the Norrøna, the ferry that goes between the Faroes, Denmark, Scotland, Iceland, England, etc etc. And, after that (though I have no idea wat order these photos are going in) there are 3 beautiful photos of Mykines, the tourist island - 18 people live there but all the puffins do also and there are killer whales and things and it's just the most gorgeous place in the Faroes, though I haven't been there yet - I'm going in the summer when the boat starts going again. Yes OK the photos are going backwards. Mykines is first, then Havn, then Sumba. Enjoy, anyway!
Hello, it's Sunday and therefore I blog. For once, I am blogging on Sunday. Yes.
Well, all the exciting stuff that's happened since FRIDAY when I last blogged ... no actually I don't think there is any. Ooh, but when I woke up yesterday morning there was 8 inches of beautiful powdery snow over everything and it was just gorgeous. It had snowed loads more over Friday night and yeah, just couldn't have been more beautiful. It's melting now because it's raining. Ugh.
Um, apart from that there's really just Føstulávints, this festival they have here to celebrate ... Lent, kinda, but it's way different because all that happens here is that they dress up like it's Halloween and go door to door and stuff. That's tomorrow night, and my class are throwing a party and it's going to be awesome fun. I am going as ... a hippy. Haha.
Anyhooooo, I think that's about it. Sad and short, huh? It's because it's only 2 days worth of news. I wasn't partying last night OR Friday night for possibly the first time since I got here. That's news! We were meant to party Friday night but then the party was postponed to tomorrow night so yeah. It's cool because we get Monday and Tuesday off school for Føstulávints. It's like, public holiday Halloween! Way more fun.
But yes, I'll be heading off now. Leave me some comments - I will get around to putting photos on this thing somewhen, I promise!
Well, all the exciting stuff that's happened since FRIDAY when I last blogged ... no actually I don't think there is any. Ooh, but when I woke up yesterday morning there was 8 inches of beautiful powdery snow over everything and it was just gorgeous. It had snowed loads more over Friday night and yeah, just couldn't have been more beautiful. It's melting now because it's raining. Ugh.
Um, apart from that there's really just Føstulávints, this festival they have here to celebrate ... Lent, kinda, but it's way different because all that happens here is that they dress up like it's Halloween and go door to door and stuff. That's tomorrow night, and my class are throwing a party and it's going to be awesome fun. I am going as ... a hippy. Haha.
Anyhooooo, I think that's about it. Sad and short, huh? It's because it's only 2 days worth of news. I wasn't partying last night OR Friday night for possibly the first time since I got here. That's news! We were meant to party Friday night but then the party was postponed to tomorrow night so yeah. It's cool because we get Monday and Tuesday off school for Føstulávints. It's like, public holiday Halloween! Way more fun.
But yes, I'll be heading off now. Leave me some comments - I will get around to putting photos on this thing somewhen, I promise!
20080201
Góðan dag!
Well. A lot has happened in the last week and I am uber late blogging AGAIN. Sorry about that, things have just been so insanely busy!
I hope New Zealand has great weather right now because we had a BLIZZARD last night. Yes, a blizzard. Winds got up to 80m/s and everything had to close and batten down the hatches etc etc. We woke up to a foot of snow stuck to the North wall of our house. But it was beautiful, and I'm going sledding tonight with a bunch of my friends because finally there's enough snow to do it!
Yeah so, on Friday I went, at 10.30AM, to the ferry terminal to meet my band and travel to the island of Suðuroy - in true Faroe fashion, every single one of them was late and I wound up on the boat alone standing in the deck 6 restaurant and desperately hoping I was meant to be there. A girl spotted me and started talking to me having recognised the AFS logo on my bag, and as it turned out, she had gone to Australia for a year (she had a terrible Aussie accent), worked on the ferry in the restaurant, and lived in the village of Porkeri on Suðuroy. I was very thankful for her as the band was stil AWOL ...
Eventually they all turned up, thank goodness, and we set up our little stage thing with amps and keyboards and all that for our first performance of the weekend. It was INSANE, because there had been a massively huge storm the night before and the sea was really, really rough. We played, though, after a rough start where we hit a particularly huge trough right on our first count-in. It was kind of, 'eitt ... tvey ... eitt tvey trý fýra WHOOOOOOA'. Our tenor saxophonist, Eirikur, got really, really seasick and everyone pitied him enormously as he had 3 very complicated solos to play. Poor fellow. The minute the set was over he was off like a shot ... I have never seen someone actually turn green but he did.
The boat was full of politicians - the ferry company had invited them all to Suðuroy for this reception which we were all meant to be play at also. We were sitting eating our lunch on the boat and we turned around and hello, here's Joannes Eiðesgaard, the prime minister of the Faroe Islands. Good grief.
Anyway, so we got off the boat and headed to the reception which was in the village of Tvøroyri where the AFS coordinator, Elisabeth is from. On Suðuroy they speak with a strong, strong accent - instead of vit (we) they say oker, and tit (you plural) is tiker. They say jeg instead of eg (that's Danish and means I) and lots of other strange things I can't remember. For me, Suðuroy Faroese is harder to understand which should be interesting as I am doing a mini exchange there for a week on the 10th. And, strangely enough, I'm staying with the family of the girl I met on the boat.
Anyway, at the reception we realised that the venue was way too small for the huge sound of a big band and so we played rhythm section only with our two vocalists. So the rest of us got to hang around, eat food, drink wine and mingle. Mingling is important here - they do it a lot. Anyhoo, while mingling, this Joannes Eiðesgaard fellow casually wandered up to me and said, 'Hello, I hear you're from New Zealand.' (Everyone knows everything and everyone here.) I guess he was expecting me to go 'Hello, I hear you're the løgmaður,' but I really did NOT know this and so I just chatted away for a while thinking he was a local politician or something. He wandered off to mingle with other people eventually and the girl I was with, Hannah, was like, 'Don't you know who that was?' I was a little shocked to find that I'd just met the prime minister and hadn't even realised. Oops.
After that we went to our little house at Hotel Øravík where we were staying - Øravík is really a hilarious place as all it has of note is the hotel. Gosh, it's funny. But we had an entire house which was fun - I stayed in a room with Hannah (from Greenland, plays the trumpet) and two twins, Óluva and Maria, who both play the trombone. Yes, it was quite interesting.
That night we set up our stage at the Stóra Pakkhús which was to be our third concert venue, and we practised a bit until a grumpy old man came and told us to shut up. So we went bowling instead, followed by dinner at Hotel Bakkin, which was in the town of Vágs (this is a common name in the Faroes. Vágs. Everything seems to be something-Vágs or Vágs-something. It's pronounced Vox). Then, at about 10, we headed back to our concert venue to finish setting up and relax a bit before we started playing. We played from 11PM-1AM (you have to do this here because the audience arrive so late) but then we got encored so many times we wound up playing until 2AM. We got back to the hotel at about quarter past and then sat around eating and playing cards until 4 or 5AM when we all made it into bed. We had to get up at 8AM to catch the ferry and then it was late leaving anyway, but we didn't mind.
The ride back to Havn was almost as rough as it was going over, but lucky me, I never seem to have this seasick thing. Sjúrður, my fellow alto saxophonist, did, and the poor kitchen ladies had to come and clean him up in the cafeteria. How embarassing for everyone involved ...
But yeah, we arrived back in Havn to snow and ice and general gorgeousness (it had also snowed overnight on Suðuroy) and I headed home for sleep.
On Saturday night I went to my friend Olga's place for a girls' night involving a bunch of girls from my class. I made ANZAC cookies and took them in a tin and today Olga did the cutest thing - she gave it back to me filled with waffles. Haha. She's one of the people you just want to hug. The Faroes are full of these types of people.
Yeah so anyway, I got there and we ordered pizza and such, and sat eating and taking stupid photos of each other (as you do) and reviewing all the photos that have been taken of our class so far - we actually have our entire back wall in homeroom devoted to photos of our many escapades and it is getting fuller and more hilarious every day. Free period? Double lunch break? Print some photos. We even have a tally of how many times each person has appeared on the wall. It's awesomely cool.
Then we watched Pearl Harbor. Of course. And then we had tea and coffee and cake and cookies and then we headed home. It was very fun. Very cute.
School this week has been much as school generally is except our classes have been slightly more fun - on Wednesday we made a hot air balloon in physics and then cooked livers in biology (most disgusting thing I have ever watched ever in my life). We had a test in French on Tuesday and I was amazed today when I got top of the class! Three 11 scores, which is the second highest you can get and I don't think 13 was possible on this test. So yes, I pretty much rock at multilinguality. Multilingualism? Multilingualness???? Something along those lines.
Anyway, I do believe that's about all I have to report. Which is good as this is a long blog.
Leave me some comments, people!
Kelsy
Well. A lot has happened in the last week and I am uber late blogging AGAIN. Sorry about that, things have just been so insanely busy!
I hope New Zealand has great weather right now because we had a BLIZZARD last night. Yes, a blizzard. Winds got up to 80m/s and everything had to close and batten down the hatches etc etc. We woke up to a foot of snow stuck to the North wall of our house. But it was beautiful, and I'm going sledding tonight with a bunch of my friends because finally there's enough snow to do it!
Yeah so, on Friday I went, at 10.30AM, to the ferry terminal to meet my band and travel to the island of Suðuroy - in true Faroe fashion, every single one of them was late and I wound up on the boat alone standing in the deck 6 restaurant and desperately hoping I was meant to be there. A girl spotted me and started talking to me having recognised the AFS logo on my bag, and as it turned out, she had gone to Australia for a year (she had a terrible Aussie accent), worked on the ferry in the restaurant, and lived in the village of Porkeri on Suðuroy. I was very thankful for her as the band was stil AWOL ...
Eventually they all turned up, thank goodness, and we set up our little stage thing with amps and keyboards and all that for our first performance of the weekend. It was INSANE, because there had been a massively huge storm the night before and the sea was really, really rough. We played, though, after a rough start where we hit a particularly huge trough right on our first count-in. It was kind of, 'eitt ... tvey ... eitt tvey trý fýra WHOOOOOOA'. Our tenor saxophonist, Eirikur, got really, really seasick and everyone pitied him enormously as he had 3 very complicated solos to play. Poor fellow. The minute the set was over he was off like a shot ... I have never seen someone actually turn green but he did.
The boat was full of politicians - the ferry company had invited them all to Suðuroy for this reception which we were all meant to be play at also. We were sitting eating our lunch on the boat and we turned around and hello, here's Joannes Eiðesgaard, the prime minister of the Faroe Islands. Good grief.
Anyway, so we got off the boat and headed to the reception which was in the village of Tvøroyri where the AFS coordinator, Elisabeth is from. On Suðuroy they speak with a strong, strong accent - instead of vit (we) they say oker, and tit (you plural) is tiker. They say jeg instead of eg (that's Danish and means I) and lots of other strange things I can't remember. For me, Suðuroy Faroese is harder to understand which should be interesting as I am doing a mini exchange there for a week on the 10th. And, strangely enough, I'm staying with the family of the girl I met on the boat.
Anyway, at the reception we realised that the venue was way too small for the huge sound of a big band and so we played rhythm section only with our two vocalists. So the rest of us got to hang around, eat food, drink wine and mingle. Mingling is important here - they do it a lot. Anyhoo, while mingling, this Joannes Eiðesgaard fellow casually wandered up to me and said, 'Hello, I hear you're from New Zealand.' (Everyone knows everything and everyone here.) I guess he was expecting me to go 'Hello, I hear you're the løgmaður,' but I really did NOT know this and so I just chatted away for a while thinking he was a local politician or something. He wandered off to mingle with other people eventually and the girl I was with, Hannah, was like, 'Don't you know who that was?' I was a little shocked to find that I'd just met the prime minister and hadn't even realised. Oops.
After that we went to our little house at Hotel Øravík where we were staying - Øravík is really a hilarious place as all it has of note is the hotel. Gosh, it's funny. But we had an entire house which was fun - I stayed in a room with Hannah (from Greenland, plays the trumpet) and two twins, Óluva and Maria, who both play the trombone. Yes, it was quite interesting.
That night we set up our stage at the Stóra Pakkhús which was to be our third concert venue, and we practised a bit until a grumpy old man came and told us to shut up. So we went bowling instead, followed by dinner at Hotel Bakkin, which was in the town of Vágs (this is a common name in the Faroes. Vágs. Everything seems to be something-Vágs or Vágs-something. It's pronounced Vox). Then, at about 10, we headed back to our concert venue to finish setting up and relax a bit before we started playing. We played from 11PM-1AM (you have to do this here because the audience arrive so late) but then we got encored so many times we wound up playing until 2AM. We got back to the hotel at about quarter past and then sat around eating and playing cards until 4 or 5AM when we all made it into bed. We had to get up at 8AM to catch the ferry and then it was late leaving anyway, but we didn't mind.
The ride back to Havn was almost as rough as it was going over, but lucky me, I never seem to have this seasick thing. Sjúrður, my fellow alto saxophonist, did, and the poor kitchen ladies had to come and clean him up in the cafeteria. How embarassing for everyone involved ...
But yeah, we arrived back in Havn to snow and ice and general gorgeousness (it had also snowed overnight on Suðuroy) and I headed home for sleep.
On Saturday night I went to my friend Olga's place for a girls' night involving a bunch of girls from my class. I made ANZAC cookies and took them in a tin and today Olga did the cutest thing - she gave it back to me filled with waffles. Haha. She's one of the people you just want to hug. The Faroes are full of these types of people.
Yeah so anyway, I got there and we ordered pizza and such, and sat eating and taking stupid photos of each other (as you do) and reviewing all the photos that have been taken of our class so far - we actually have our entire back wall in homeroom devoted to photos of our many escapades and it is getting fuller and more hilarious every day. Free period? Double lunch break? Print some photos. We even have a tally of how many times each person has appeared on the wall. It's awesomely cool.
Then we watched Pearl Harbor. Of course. And then we had tea and coffee and cake and cookies and then we headed home. It was very fun. Very cute.
School this week has been much as school generally is except our classes have been slightly more fun - on Wednesday we made a hot air balloon in physics and then cooked livers in biology (most disgusting thing I have ever watched ever in my life). We had a test in French on Tuesday and I was amazed today when I got top of the class! Three 11 scores, which is the second highest you can get and I don't think 13 was possible on this test. So yes, I pretty much rock at multilinguality. Multilingualism? Multilingualness???? Something along those lines.
Anyway, I do believe that's about all I have to report. Which is good as this is a long blog.
Leave me some comments, people!
Kelsy
20080124
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
:)
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
:)
20080113
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!
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!
20080106
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 :)
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