Silja looking snowboardy
The blue lagoon
Silja and I being sexy as usual
The beautiful view from Þingvellir
Where the tectonic plates are moving apart at Þingvellir
Silja standing on a rock at Reykjavík's only white beach (the sand is imported and the ocean is heated)
Leif Eriksson or however you spell it. In front of the massive cathedral thing anyway
Silja standing on the [very, very frozen] Reykjavík pond
Silja and I at Kolaportið, the awesome waterfront flea market
Me somewhere in Reykjavík, big shopping street anyway
Huge cathedral in central Reykjavík (note amazing weather)Pond in central Reykjavík, you can just see the frozen bit in the background

Silja and I at a concert on Friday night
Silja looking hot as always
Silja and I atop the Pearl, or Perlan

Beautiful view of the city and the mountains from Perlan

Perlan, massive building made mostly of water tanks (.?)

Well hey hey, late again, but that's my culture now ... (in case I hadn't mentioned it before, everybody in the Faroe Islands is customarily late. As a rule.)

Um well, what has happened in the last week? Well, first things first, I got the week off school last week which was a total bonus except for the massive essay I had to write (for Faroese class but I got to write in English because even Faroese people can't write Faroese properly. Nice, huh?). But I only got 4 days while everyone else for 5 BECAUSE I was scheduled to fly out to Iceland at 11AM on Friday morning. And I did and hoorah, here I am in the 'land of the ice and snow, the midnight sun where the hot springs blow' to quote the trusty Led Zep.
And they have all these funny letters on the keyboard like þ and ð and ö and so excuse me if they pop randomly into my words, they're not meant to be there. Unless the words are Icelandic which is unlikely!

Um, yes. I am sitting here at Silja's house - for those of you who don't know Silja (and I pity you) she was my host sister back in NZ on AFS for a year (except I was only there for 6 months so I guess the other 5 don't really qualify) and I have finally made it up to Iceland to visit her. And, by finally, I mean 2,5 months after she made it back to Iceland. Haha. No rest for the wicked. But so far she seems to be handling me fine ... I have also met her mum, and her dad and her brother, all of whom I heard so much about in New Zealand so it's really cool to finally meet them. As Silja says, though, it's extremely weird to be together again on the other side of the world. It's like we are in the wrong country. But it's amazing and awesome and great all the same.

Uh, so yeah, I landed on Friday at about 12.30PM local time and headed to Silja's school with her where I went to her chemistry class (it was pretty fun if a little random) and met her friends. After that, we headed home and hung out for a while discussing stuff and the like. At 7PM(ish) her dad and stepmum picked us up and we went out for dinner with them to a pizza place where we got a really nice dinner of pizza (the waitress picked mine as I was incapable) and just discussed stuff ... I told a lot of stories that Silja had apparently neglected to tell them and yeah, 'twas a right laugh. Then we went to a concert which Silja's dad shouted, and it was fantastically great - if Icelandic and so pretty un-understandable. They had a fantastic sax guy. Look them up if you're bored - Sálin Hans Jón Míns is their name and they're really good even after they've played for 20 years. The concert was from 10PM until 12.30AM and as we went in we saw the Northern Lights, only for a minute or so but in green, pink and purple which was so extremely beautiful.
And yeah, afterwards we headed home to sleep!

On Saturday morning the plan was that Silja would get up, go to work, come back, pick me up and we'd head out Reykjavík sightseeing. Sadly she never made it out of the house before she fell asleep again and we wound up heading out at about 11ish and making a really shoddy job of the offices she was meant to clean before running off into Reykjavík to check everything out.
Reykjavík is beautiful and I love it. We went to a place called Perlan (the Pearl) which is a massive building built mainly out of water tanks that supply Reykjavík with water. There's a huge glass dome on top and a deck which you can walk around and see clear to the mountains on all sides. We were really lucky, as I flew in to the best weather Iceland had possibly ever seen - the bluest, clearest skies and not a wisp of cloud or breath of wind. It was beautiful and we could see all the way to this glacier way in the North. It was amazing.
Then we went to the only white beach in Reykjavík which is handmade and features snow and a pool of up-heated ocean, which is cool. Or warm. Silja and I found it pretty hilarious as it was about 5 degrees and we posed on the sunbeds they have there. They also have a volleyball net and all manner of beachy stuff - it's like they're really trying to turn it into Hawaii or something. It's very picturesque, but it's also very cold.
Following this we headed to a beautiful big church which is yeah ... massive and just pretty and can be seen from most places in Reykjavík. We headed in and looked around, there was a huuuuuuuuuge organ, and then we walked downtown, investigated the shops and the pond which was heavily frozen and which people were riding bicycles across (so we walked on it, just to say we did). And so we headed to Kolaportið which is the huge fleamarket on the waterfront. I scored some nice second hand clothes which Silja is now modifying and which are very cool. Eventually we headed home, and made a really interesting dinner, the recipe for which I am including below:
1. Overcook rice.
2. Put too much chili powder on the chicken.
3. Burn chili powder.
4. Find a random curry sauce a la internet recipe.
5. Take curry sauce recipe and put in every second ingredient.
6. Mix.
7. Eat.
That was risotto according to Silja and Kelsy.
The next day being yesterday we went snowboarding or rather Silja did and I spent the entire day sitting on my ass in the snow (what can I say, I have zero natural balance). Which was fun as the day was beautiful and there were lots of snowy holiday makers to watch including one guy who kept rocking up who was just as bad as we were. Or, I was. And it was really ironic as we waited two whole hours in a queue just to get the boards and boots (which are uncomfortable but hey). But yeah, it was pretty fun, especially when I bailed hard out on my back going up the lift! Seriously, I made it like 4m, I believe.
After we did that, we came home, got some hot chocolate, and then Silja and I headed out to the Blue Lagoon which is the most beautiful place in all the world (and very, very blue). Pictures and the like can be found on www.bluelagoon.com and yes, it's all very exciting. We sat in hot water and picked up mud with our feet and saunaed and spaed and all sorts of lovely geothermal things for a while. It was very, very nice. And warm. Except we had to run outside in the cold in bikinis before we got into the water, which was unpleasant. But yes, it's lovely and anyone who ever goes to Iceland HAS TO GO TO THE BLUE LAGOON because it is great.
Then we went home and had a really really good dinner involving lamb and baked potatoes (which I failed at having never had before). But yeah, we did OK!

Today we were going to go the Golden Circle (google it) but we never quite made it and we intend to go tomorrow. Early. Which means getting up at a normal time. Ouch. But yeah, today we wound up heading to the mall where I had Chinese food for the first time since I´d left New Zealand (and even seeing a mall was exciting as were the motorways we had to drive on to get there). And Silja bought pants and moisturiser and yes, it was fun. And I bought a hip flask with Iceland on it (..?).
And so we headed home and ate dinner which was leftovers of pretty much the entire weekend's food. And really good.

Anyways, that's a seriously long blog so I shall head off. Yay! And yeah, go to bed ...
Goodnight!

I saw the Northern Lights for the first time last night. I was driving back from Kaldbak with my friends Sunniva and Christina - we'd been at Sunniva's place eating candy and watching Sweeney Todd. It was 4.30AM when we headed back and as we got in the car I was complaining that I hadn't seen the famous Aurora Borealis yet. Christina said that they came out every night, it was just that cloud prevented us from seeing them.
I was not impressed.
But anyway, halfway back to Havn, the cloud in the sky just kinda parted and I was looking to see if they were there. And there was this greenish light but it wasn't especially exciting looking and I figured I just had a very optimistic imagination.
As we drove into Tórshavn, though, it became obvious that the Lights were out in full force, bright and strong and right above us. The clouds disappeared over to the horizon somewhere and we all got out of the car and just stood watching them for about 15 minutes. Sunniva and Christina said that it was the strongest they'd ever seen them. And they were just like big pillars of green light that shimmer and move. And sometimes turn pink. It was really, really amazing.

But yeah, that's pretty much the most exciting happening of my week - apart from that it's just been school, really - something I DON'T have to deal with this week as we have a massive Faroese essay that we get the whole week for. And we do it at home. Yay! :) I had to translate my story out of Faroese first, though, but thankfully I finished doing that today. It's called Sorg (Sorrow) and is very pretty and poetic and I discovered a lot of very interesting Faroese words - they have words for everything, I swear.
For example:
leikapettini - broken pieces of crockery one finds on a beach.
Clever, huh? And their word for shingles is very good as well - helvitiseldur, which literally means hell's fire.
But yes, Faroese is just one of those very functional languages with words for ... yeah, everything.
Anyway, I think that's about all I had to report except that I am heading to Iceland in 5 days and I can't wait! It shall be wonderfully fun.
And so I'm off ...
Kelsy

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).

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

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 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!

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!

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