This week, Kelsy is actually going to blog on Sunday. Now, isn’t that incredible?
It’s 2PM on a Sunday afternoon and I just realised that I’ve got time, for once, to do what I promise every week. This week, I shall blog On Time.
So what’s happened this week in the Faroes?
Well, for a start it’s getting colder pretty quickly. These days you’re lucky if the temperature reaches nine dregrees. It doesn’t happen often. Downtown, there’s one of those electronic billboards that tells you the time and the temperature, and it always seems to say six or seven. Yeah, it’s cold, but I don’t mind.
About three weeks ago, I woke one morning to see the mountains in the distance covered in the first dump of snow for the winter. I’ve never lived anywhere you can see snow from your window, so this was a big thing. But the next day it was gone and it hasn’t happened since.
It was very early, everyone said, and that means that maybe winter will come early to Tórshavn, that MAYBE I will get a white Christmas. I hope so. My host family spends Christmas in the North, anyway, in Klaksvík, which is picture perfect and looks like something from a postcard. I’m sure it will be even more beautiful in the winter, covered with snow. It’s colder in Klaksvík, so I live in hope of snow on Christmas day.
But yeah, you do NOT go outside without a jacket, or at least a thick jumper and a scarf, unless you’re keen for frostbite. Even on days when the sun is out, the sky is blue, and it looks as if it should be a wonderfully warm day, I can see my breath when I walk to and from school. It’s a cold little country, this, and people keep telling me that sometimes in summer it reaches twenty degrees. I have a suspicion this happens about once every ten years ...
Having said all this, I love the weather here. Yes, it’s cold, it’s windy and for the most part it’s grey, but the air is crisp and clear and breathing feels much healthier than it ever did at home. And on days when it’s overcast, grey and threatening rain, that’s the time I love it the most. I don’t know why – maybe because it reminds me of New Zealand weather. But I enjoy it.
I went to Klaksvík last weekend, with my host family. That was nice – it was for my host-grandfather’s birthday and there were scores of people who had heard all about me but not met me. (I swear, everyone in this country knows me these days. Wherever I go, there are people saying ‘Hey – you’re Kelsy from New Zealand?!’) And so I had lots of host third cousins once removed and the like introducing themselves and everyone seems to know someone who has been to New Zealand, come from New Zealand, holidayed in New Zealand, worked in New Zealand, been on exchange in New Zealand. The Faroe Islanders have a strange idea that I come from a place very similar to this. It’s because New Zealand is, like the Islands, physically isolated from the rest of the world. They sometimes seem a little disappointed when I explain that that’s really the only similarity. I think the 4.15million difference in the population is what does it.
Yeah, there really aren’t that many similarities between New Zealand and the Faroe Islands – I’ve been waiting for the culture shock and the homesickness but it hasn’t happened, which surprises me as everything seems so different. There are a lot of new impressions. Well, everything is new. I think the biggest difference for me is how amazingly kind and generous the people are – all of them, and how welcoming and accepting they are of me, a foreigner who barely speaks their language.
New Zealand, though we are loath to admit it, has an increasingly large racism issue, and yet we remain one of the most multicultural countries in the world. This is something I find very difficult to understand, especially as I have come here now, to a place where foreigners are not only accepted, but almost revered. I have been asked to speak in several places, I am invited to every party and function that takes place, people go out of their way to translate for me when I don’t understand. They’re so amazingly helpful, and it’s all because I’m not from this place. The other exchange students are having the same experience – people here are amazed by us, by the fact that we made it up here, and so they treat us more kindly than any people we have ever come across before.
I think this is also partially affected by the incredibly strict immigration laws here. The Faroes are a very, very small community and they take steps to ensure that the community remains primarily Faroese. As a result, in order to move to the Faroe Islands, one has to first secure a job, or enrol in a school, and then make payment to the Faroese government, either in the way of money, or by promising to give up a percentage of income for the first five years that one resides here.
There aren’t many foreigners in the Faroe Islands because of this, and those that there are mainly come from Denmark. There are a few from Norway. And so, we from New Zealand, are a great novelty.
What astounds me the most, though, is that people welcome us readily into their homes. My host aunt, who I have never met, has invited me to stay in the upcoming holidays on the Southern island of Suðuroy, where she lives. My contaktperson, Leila, has invited me to the Western island of Vágar, where she lives, and promises to take me to the beautiful island of Mykines, a spot frequented by the few tourists that know this place. In the supermarket I met a man who is married to a woman from New Zealand, and we am invited to their house for dinner one night – they live in a very small farming village about an hour out of Tórshavn. Another family that knows my host parents has a branch of their family living in Wellington, and they also have invited me for a meal at their home, regardless of the fact that they speak hardly any English themselves. I think that shall wait until my Faroese is better.
Anyway, this is a very long blog, so I shall leave now to do my physics and French homework, once I have translated it out of Danish!
Kelsy
20070930
20070925
Photos for you, because Ruthie requested them!-
Enjoy.
Sadly I have no idea what order they're in as blogger likes to rearrange things spontaneously but I shall try and if they seem a bit odd then I'm sorry, blame the silly internet.
1 - The view of Eysturoy over the bay of Old Hoyvík.
2 - Nólsoy over the bay of Old Hoyvík (background) and Hoyvík's Hólmur, the little island in front.
3 - A stonehewn meat-drying house in Old Hoyvík.
4 - Old Hoyvík - technically it's an open-air museum but it is proposed that the president, the Løgmaður, shall live there in the near future. They do have modern houses there too, though ... 2 I think.
5 - Stacey, the other New Zealander (we keep each other sane because we're both nuts).
6 - A really cute motorbike I found in Tórshavn one day while wandering with Stacey. The flag on the right is the Faroese flag but I can't figure out what the red and green one is. Not Scandinavian anyway. Anybody know?
7 - Grass rooves about 10 minutes walk from my house. They're so cute. I'll never get over them.
8 - A truly beautiful sunrise ... you don't get to SEE these often as it rains a lot but when you do see them, they're fantastic.
9 - Mattias, an un-naturally good pianist in my class, at the first class partay of the year.
10 - Hanus, dancing (also in my class - he's unique).
11 - Christina, Hjørdis and Billa. I actually think they ALL model ...
12 - Tór and Hallur, singing to Hurt by Johnny Cash. The best thing about this is that they never say a word normally. Gotta love class parties!
Enjoy.
Sadly I have no idea what order they're in as blogger likes to rearrange things spontaneously but I shall try and if they seem a bit odd then I'm sorry, blame the silly internet.
1 - The view of Eysturoy over the bay of Old Hoyvík.
2 - Nólsoy over the bay of Old Hoyvík (background) and Hoyvík's Hólmur, the little island in front.
3 - A stonehewn meat-drying house in Old Hoyvík.
4 - Old Hoyvík - technically it's an open-air museum but it is proposed that the president, the Løgmaður, shall live there in the near future. They do have modern houses there too, though ... 2 I think.
5 - Stacey, the other New Zealander (we keep each other sane because we're both nuts).
6 - A really cute motorbike I found in Tórshavn one day while wandering with Stacey. The flag on the right is the Faroese flag but I can't figure out what the red and green one is. Not Scandinavian anyway. Anybody know?
7 - Grass rooves about 10 minutes walk from my house. They're so cute. I'll never get over them.
8 - A truly beautiful sunrise ... you don't get to SEE these often as it rains a lot but when you do see them, they're fantastic.
9 - Mattias, an un-naturally good pianist in my class, at the first class partay of the year.
10 - Hanus, dancing (also in my class - he's unique).
11 - Christina, Hjørdis and Billa. I actually think they ALL model ...
12 - Tór and Hallur, singing to Hurt by Johnny Cash. The best thing about this is that they never say a word normally. Gotta love class parties!
20070924
So I figure I've been in this country over seven weeks and I still haven't really told you anything about the country itself. Except for a few things when I first arrived, and before I came, you still know very little about the essence of this strange little country.
Strange to you, but not to me any more. I can understand their customs now, they make sense to me. I've lived amongst these people for a while and I get what they do because everything comes with a reason.
Being an isolated little country in the middle of the North Atlantic, the Faroe Islands had to learn to be self-sufficient a long, long time ago. And so they farmed the wild, wiry sheep that they brought from Norway in 800AD and grew potatoes, because that was all they COULD grow in the shallow, infertile soil. And they dried the lamb because it was too tough to cook otherwise, and they kept it outside in the cold - no need for a refrigerator. They caught fish - there was an abundancy of that, and they hunted whales when they came into the bay.
Today, they eat the same food and it's delicious, I must say. Though I shall be well and truly over potatoes when I get back to New Zealand.
It's funny how they cook, sometimes - they love the skins of both meat and vegetables, even though they don't eat them. Fish and potatoes are often cooked with the skins on, because that way they absorb the nutrients better. It's healthier. And then you peel the potatoes and/or fish on your plate.
The food is very, very good, though. lots of herbs, spices, meat. There are lots of salads now, though apparently there never used to be. And it's good.
They still eat a lot of dried lamb and fish, and grind (whale meat) when they can get it. Dried lamb and fish is delicious, but I haven't tried grind yet. I'll let you know on that one.
The people are the kindest I have ever met. My class make me word lists of Faroese, they teach me every day. My host family are fantastic - they help me with everything and I feel like a real part of the family. As if letting me live in their home for a year wasn't enough. And even people on the street are absolutely happy to help you if you ask for directions or anything. They all speak English, some, at least, and if not they will point you in the direction of someone who does.
The weather is very, very cold. Sitting on maybe seven or eight degrees most days, but that's OK. The air is amazingly clear and on a good day, the sky is incredibly blue. At night, you can see the Northern Lights, but not properly yet. That will come in the winter. The wind is gale force most days, too, but nothing for the Faroese. And the rain isn't as I expected. Their torrential is my drizzle. And they have no electrical storms. But it's all made up for by the fog.
If you can imagine torrential fog, this is it. You can't see your feet when you walk in it - thats how thick it is.
The houses are beautiful - sooo colourful, and some of them have rooves of grass. The gardens are lovely and from most houses in Tórshavn, you can see the sea. Tórshavn central is especially gorgeous, cobbled streets and houses very, very characteristic of the old Faroe designs. I'll put photos up when I can.
And there are always ships on the harbour. It's so fantastically beautiful.
My week has been good - school again, and I'm back at it now, though in a few weeks I get a week-long Autumn break. I like school here, though. It's very social.
I had my host grandad's birthday on the weekend in Klaksvík and that was fun - also had an AFS thing in a little town called Gøta where I finally got to see the other AFSers, Celeste and Katharina again (they live in Klaksvík and Toftir, both about an hour and a half's drive from Havn). So that was good.
Anyway, I must head off to bed as I have school in the morning, but I shall leave you with this thought:
the word høna in Faroese means both chicken and stapler, and the word for staple is egg - so when you staple something, the stapler lays an egg. Genius.
Goðanátt, Kelsy
P.S Comments, guys, comments ...
Strange to you, but not to me any more. I can understand their customs now, they make sense to me. I've lived amongst these people for a while and I get what they do because everything comes with a reason.
Being an isolated little country in the middle of the North Atlantic, the Faroe Islands had to learn to be self-sufficient a long, long time ago. And so they farmed the wild, wiry sheep that they brought from Norway in 800AD and grew potatoes, because that was all they COULD grow in the shallow, infertile soil. And they dried the lamb because it was too tough to cook otherwise, and they kept it outside in the cold - no need for a refrigerator. They caught fish - there was an abundancy of that, and they hunted whales when they came into the bay.
Today, they eat the same food and it's delicious, I must say. Though I shall be well and truly over potatoes when I get back to New Zealand.
It's funny how they cook, sometimes - they love the skins of both meat and vegetables, even though they don't eat them. Fish and potatoes are often cooked with the skins on, because that way they absorb the nutrients better. It's healthier. And then you peel the potatoes and/or fish on your plate.
The food is very, very good, though. lots of herbs, spices, meat. There are lots of salads now, though apparently there never used to be. And it's good.
They still eat a lot of dried lamb and fish, and grind (whale meat) when they can get it. Dried lamb and fish is delicious, but I haven't tried grind yet. I'll let you know on that one.
The people are the kindest I have ever met. My class make me word lists of Faroese, they teach me every day. My host family are fantastic - they help me with everything and I feel like a real part of the family. As if letting me live in their home for a year wasn't enough. And even people on the street are absolutely happy to help you if you ask for directions or anything. They all speak English, some, at least, and if not they will point you in the direction of someone who does.
The weather is very, very cold. Sitting on maybe seven or eight degrees most days, but that's OK. The air is amazingly clear and on a good day, the sky is incredibly blue. At night, you can see the Northern Lights, but not properly yet. That will come in the winter. The wind is gale force most days, too, but nothing for the Faroese. And the rain isn't as I expected. Their torrential is my drizzle. And they have no electrical storms. But it's all made up for by the fog.
If you can imagine torrential fog, this is it. You can't see your feet when you walk in it - thats how thick it is.
The houses are beautiful - sooo colourful, and some of them have rooves of grass. The gardens are lovely and from most houses in Tórshavn, you can see the sea. Tórshavn central is especially gorgeous, cobbled streets and houses very, very characteristic of the old Faroe designs. I'll put photos up when I can.
And there are always ships on the harbour. It's so fantastically beautiful.
My week has been good - school again, and I'm back at it now, though in a few weeks I get a week-long Autumn break. I like school here, though. It's very social.
I had my host grandad's birthday on the weekend in Klaksvík and that was fun - also had an AFS thing in a little town called Gøta where I finally got to see the other AFSers, Celeste and Katharina again (they live in Klaksvík and Toftir, both about an hour and a half's drive from Havn). So that was good.
Anyway, I must head off to bed as I have school in the morning, but I shall leave you with this thought:
the word høna in Faroese means both chicken and stapler, and the word for staple is egg - so when you staple something, the stapler lays an egg. Genius.
Goðanátt, Kelsy
P.S Comments, guys, comments ...
20070917
Goðan dag!
The funny looking letter in the word above is called ed. Really! It's quite interesting, the ed, because in Faroese, you don't pronounce it.
So goðan is pronounced gowonn.
The g on dag इसं't pronounced either, so you wind up with 'go-wonn-dah' which means good day in Faroese. It's a more formal hello.
My Faroese is, thankfully, becoming a lot better very quickly. I can mostly understand what goes on around me which is the most fantastic feeling, but I'm still extremely grateful to my friends when they translate the stuff they think I'm not getting, because quite often they think right.
Speaking Faroese is significantly more difficult - their grammar is very hard and while it's easy to distinguish the idea of a word from the main sound of it, it's harder to figure out which of 3 to 6 forms to use in conversation. There are male, female and common genders, and then there's past tense, present tense, future, and then there's definite or indefinite. It's hard. Trust me. When I understand things, I rarely understand entire sentences, but a few words in them, and the use of the word ikki always infers not or no, so I get the general idea.
Ikki, by the way, is pronounced 'itchy' and always cracks me up, because people often use it as a question, and sometimes when a teacher has said something that seems strange the entire class sits there going 'Itchy?' and I can't help but laugh.
There are some funny translations like that. Dot in Faroese is prikk, and in chemistry, we do prikk diagrams (they're called Lewis Dot in New Zealand). I was actually in hysterics when our teacher first started talking about those.
But yes, this is a fantastic language - it's very pretty, much more so than Danish which has lots of funny sounds and is spoken from the back of one's throat. Faroese sounds almost like English and indeed sometimes when I'm just about to fall asleep in assembly, my brain Englifies phrases and I hear very strange things in English that the speaker has not said. This, as one would imagine, can be hilarious.
I'm late posting again ... I'm terrible for this, aren't I? But I went to a football match last night (Klaksvík vs. Argir and Klaksvík lost) and then to a really great concert which featured an acapella gospel choir. It was amazing, there was this one guy (who I discovered this morning has sung with a girl in my class, she has their albums so I can borrow them and copy them, yay!) who was so abnormally good it wasn't funny. He had a fantastically pure voice. Everyone in this country can sing, but he was the best I'd heard yet.
And on Saturday, Stacey (the other kiwi. I can't remember whether I've introduced Stacey) and I sat around and ate pizza and watched The Return of the King (LOTR) which made us think that New Zealand was very beautiful and no wonder people asked us so many questions about Lord of the Rings.
Because they do. I'm heartily sick of the Lord of the Rings, though to be fair, most people probably wouldn't have heard of New Zealand if they didn't exist. Oh, dear. Sheep and LOTR. That's it, really. Oh, and sharks. They love to hear about sharks. And they're always impressed by weta and eels as well.
On Friday night, we had my host dad's birthday party. He very much liked his present, which was a tie with little kiwis on it and a tie pin of the silver fern. New Zealand represent!
I also got to stand up and give a speech about NZ which was fun because there were lots of questions and I was even asked to demonstrate how New Zealanders shear sheep - they can't understand how we do it so fast, but having said that, sheep in the Faroes are shorn with scissors and it takes about 20 minutes per animal.
Wouldn't exactly be practical in New Zealand.
Anyway, Stacey and I are now going to mission it into Tórshavn to get ourselves library cards (I finished school at 12PM today. Good deal, I think!)
Farvæl, Kelsy!
P.S Comment away guys ... acknowledgements, remember?!
The funny looking letter in the word above is called ed. Really! It's quite interesting, the ed, because in Faroese, you don't pronounce it.
So goðan is pronounced gowonn.
The g on dag इसं't pronounced either, so you wind up with 'go-wonn-dah' which means good day in Faroese. It's a more formal hello.
My Faroese is, thankfully, becoming a lot better very quickly. I can mostly understand what goes on around me which is the most fantastic feeling, but I'm still extremely grateful to my friends when they translate the stuff they think I'm not getting, because quite often they think right.
Speaking Faroese is significantly more difficult - their grammar is very hard and while it's easy to distinguish the idea of a word from the main sound of it, it's harder to figure out which of 3 to 6 forms to use in conversation. There are male, female and common genders, and then there's past tense, present tense, future, and then there's definite or indefinite. It's hard. Trust me. When I understand things, I rarely understand entire sentences, but a few words in them, and the use of the word ikki always infers not or no, so I get the general idea.
Ikki, by the way, is pronounced 'itchy' and always cracks me up, because people often use it as a question, and sometimes when a teacher has said something that seems strange the entire class sits there going 'Itchy?' and I can't help but laugh.
There are some funny translations like that. Dot in Faroese is prikk, and in chemistry, we do prikk diagrams (they're called Lewis Dot in New Zealand). I was actually in hysterics when our teacher first started talking about those.
But yes, this is a fantastic language - it's very pretty, much more so than Danish which has lots of funny sounds and is spoken from the back of one's throat. Faroese sounds almost like English and indeed sometimes when I'm just about to fall asleep in assembly, my brain Englifies phrases and I hear very strange things in English that the speaker has not said. This, as one would imagine, can be hilarious.
I'm late posting again ... I'm terrible for this, aren't I? But I went to a football match last night (Klaksvík vs. Argir and Klaksvík lost) and then to a really great concert which featured an acapella gospel choir. It was amazing, there was this one guy (who I discovered this morning has sung with a girl in my class, she has their albums so I can borrow them and copy them, yay!) who was so abnormally good it wasn't funny. He had a fantastically pure voice. Everyone in this country can sing, but he was the best I'd heard yet.
And on Saturday, Stacey (the other kiwi. I can't remember whether I've introduced Stacey) and I sat around and ate pizza and watched The Return of the King (LOTR) which made us think that New Zealand was very beautiful and no wonder people asked us so many questions about Lord of the Rings.
Because they do. I'm heartily sick of the Lord of the Rings, though to be fair, most people probably wouldn't have heard of New Zealand if they didn't exist. Oh, dear. Sheep and LOTR. That's it, really. Oh, and sharks. They love to hear about sharks. And they're always impressed by weta and eels as well.
On Friday night, we had my host dad's birthday party. He very much liked his present, which was a tie with little kiwis on it and a tie pin of the silver fern. New Zealand represent!
I also got to stand up and give a speech about NZ which was fun because there were lots of questions and I was even asked to demonstrate how New Zealanders shear sheep - they can't understand how we do it so fast, but having said that, sheep in the Faroes are shorn with scissors and it takes about 20 minutes per animal.
Wouldn't exactly be practical in New Zealand.
Anyway, Stacey and I are now going to mission it into Tórshavn to get ourselves library cards (I finished school at 12PM today. Good deal, I think!)
Farvæl, Kelsy!
P.S Comment away guys ... acknowledgements, remember?!
20070909
Hey guys, I'm back. Because it's Sunday and I've decided that for once, I am going to blog On Time.
Gosh, I am good.
It's intriguing being on exchange in the Faroe Islands, because somehow, I am becoming Fit. Yes, Fit. Me! I put it down to the really vicious P.E lessons we have once a week which are actually insanely fun because they play heavy metal while we do press-ups and sit-ups and play crazy games that I can never understand. And the hill I walk up every day after school which is insanely steep and very large - it basically goes straight up a cliff, which our school is built under (my school, by the way, is in the most beautiful setting. There's a lot of forest around it, cultivated of course, and to get to school everyday, I walk through it along these cute little paths. And there's a river with waterfalls! It's gorgeous). And well, you're just compelled to be fit here. Walking is beautiful, there are fantastically pretty landscapes up in the mountains if you walk 15 or 20 minutes. The views are incredible. So yeah, I'm becoming Fit. Weird, huh? I think I'm taking up badminton next week, intriguingly. And on Saturday, I'm doing a Fun Run ... never would have gone near one of those in New Zealand, but however.
This can only be a good thing, right?
Yeah, so I've discovered that going to the Studentaskúli in Hoyvík is a little hard out when it comes to the social side of things. Last night, I attended a class party which was overly hilarious and generally fantastic and thankfully, about 2 minutes walk from my house. They party all night here, though, and I arrived home at about 5AM. Ouch.
And we went out for dinner beforehand ... and then on Monday and Tuesday night we went bowling, and on the Thursday before that, we went to see a movie ... yeah, they're uber social and they seem to like to invite me, which is fantastic. We all get along really well.
And AFS is social, too! On Friday night Lisa (from Austria) and Stacey (the other New Zealander) and I sat around at Lisa's and watched movies - but for the most part we discussed our exchanges so far. Everyone is having a fantastic time, so I have come to the conclusion that the Faroes are just a good place to be.
AFS assured us all that culture shock and homesickness would hit us soon in the exchange with a vengeance. But I've been here over a month and haven't had either, so mayhap it just won't happen. I hope not. I don't want anything to ruin my exchange.
But yes, everything is doing fantastically well, and I can understand a lot now, so yeah ... I'm having more fun than you could ever fathom.
Do comment! I'm always glad of your opinions. Just click, acknowledgements, right under this.
Kelsy
Gosh, I am good.
It's intriguing being on exchange in the Faroe Islands, because somehow, I am becoming Fit. Yes, Fit. Me! I put it down to the really vicious P.E lessons we have once a week which are actually insanely fun because they play heavy metal while we do press-ups and sit-ups and play crazy games that I can never understand. And the hill I walk up every day after school which is insanely steep and very large - it basically goes straight up a cliff, which our school is built under (my school, by the way, is in the most beautiful setting. There's a lot of forest around it, cultivated of course, and to get to school everyday, I walk through it along these cute little paths. And there's a river with waterfalls! It's gorgeous). And well, you're just compelled to be fit here. Walking is beautiful, there are fantastically pretty landscapes up in the mountains if you walk 15 or 20 minutes. The views are incredible. So yeah, I'm becoming Fit. Weird, huh? I think I'm taking up badminton next week, intriguingly. And on Saturday, I'm doing a Fun Run ... never would have gone near one of those in New Zealand, but however.
This can only be a good thing, right?
Yeah, so I've discovered that going to the Studentaskúli in Hoyvík is a little hard out when it comes to the social side of things. Last night, I attended a class party which was overly hilarious and generally fantastic and thankfully, about 2 minutes walk from my house. They party all night here, though, and I arrived home at about 5AM. Ouch.
And we went out for dinner beforehand ... and then on Monday and Tuesday night we went bowling, and on the Thursday before that, we went to see a movie ... yeah, they're uber social and they seem to like to invite me, which is fantastic. We all get along really well.
And AFS is social, too! On Friday night Lisa (from Austria) and Stacey (the other New Zealander) and I sat around at Lisa's and watched movies - but for the most part we discussed our exchanges so far. Everyone is having a fantastic time, so I have come to the conclusion that the Faroes are just a good place to be.
AFS assured us all that culture shock and homesickness would hit us soon in the exchange with a vengeance. But I've been here over a month and haven't had either, so mayhap it just won't happen. I hope not. I don't want anything to ruin my exchange.
But yes, everything is doing fantastically well, and I can understand a lot now, so yeah ... I'm having more fun than you could ever fathom.
Do comment! I'm always glad of your opinions. Just click, acknowledgements, right under this.
Kelsy
20070905
20070903
Well HELLO, first blog of September.
It's the 3rd today, and it's insane to think that I haven't seen New Zealand for over a month.
I'm really starting to feel like This is The Place I'm Supposed To Be, and that's big. It's really fantastic.
Today is one of the beautiful Faroese days you get when there's no wind, rain or fog, and the sun shines and it's warm, not hot, but at least warm, and the sea is flat and calm and only a little darker than the sky. The islands themselves are the greenest thing I think I've ever seen.
It's weird, though, living here in Hoyvík, because I have a view straight out over the ocean. It's beautiful, but a little overwhelming. When I look at the horizon, I see no islands. Just a straight line between ocean and sky (sjógvur og luft) and nothing beyond. My idea of the sea has always been the Gulf Harbour, where islands dot the horizon in every direction. It doesn't seem so spacious. But here, the nothingness, the knowledge that these tiny islands are the only thing for thousands of kilometres in all directions, is a little strange. And difficult to get used to. The landbound horizons are also strange, for a different reason. There are no trees. They just don't exist here, except in some gardens, where people cultivate them and protect them from the animals that wander free around the villages and roads.
Yeah, this is different from New Zealand.
My school is also very different, as I explained a few posts ag, but I can get used to that as well. Everyone is so kind. One girl translated an entire period's biology notes for me, from Danish into Faroese AND English, then gave me a list of all the words that weren't universal, and what they meant. And they just do this for me. Because they can. No matter what class I'm in, or who I sit with, the person next to me is always willing to translate.
Today, my class went into town, because we had 2.5hrs free as our English (Enskt) class was cancelled. So everyone wandered around in the mall for a while, and then we headed back.
Our art class was good fun - we got put out, so to speak, to draw nature. I drew a leaf. Sadly, I can't draw, so I put a little label on it with an arrow, that says leaf. And another, in Faroese - blað, and another in Danish (blad), because that's the language my teacher speaks.
So that was fun. I finished school at about 1.30PM, but for the previous hour and a half, we had just sat in the sun and discussed .. everything. It's really gratifying when people start to speak English, because there's nobody else they could be talking to but you, and it makes you realise that yes, they want to include you.
And now, because the sun is still shining beautifully, I may go for a walk into Old Hoyvík, which is a very cute little village just across the road.
Kelsy
P.S Do leave comments!
It's the 3rd today, and it's insane to think that I haven't seen New Zealand for over a month.
I'm really starting to feel like This is The Place I'm Supposed To Be, and that's big. It's really fantastic.
Today is one of the beautiful Faroese days you get when there's no wind, rain or fog, and the sun shines and it's warm, not hot, but at least warm, and the sea is flat and calm and only a little darker than the sky. The islands themselves are the greenest thing I think I've ever seen.
It's weird, though, living here in Hoyvík, because I have a view straight out over the ocean. It's beautiful, but a little overwhelming. When I look at the horizon, I see no islands. Just a straight line between ocean and sky (sjógvur og luft) and nothing beyond. My idea of the sea has always been the Gulf Harbour, where islands dot the horizon in every direction. It doesn't seem so spacious. But here, the nothingness, the knowledge that these tiny islands are the only thing for thousands of kilometres in all directions, is a little strange. And difficult to get used to. The landbound horizons are also strange, for a different reason. There are no trees. They just don't exist here, except in some gardens, where people cultivate them and protect them from the animals that wander free around the villages and roads.
Yeah, this is different from New Zealand.
My school is also very different, as I explained a few posts ag, but I can get used to that as well. Everyone is so kind. One girl translated an entire period's biology notes for me, from Danish into Faroese AND English, then gave me a list of all the words that weren't universal, and what they meant. And they just do this for me. Because they can. No matter what class I'm in, or who I sit with, the person next to me is always willing to translate.
Today, my class went into town, because we had 2.5hrs free as our English (Enskt) class was cancelled. So everyone wandered around in the mall for a while, and then we headed back.
Our art class was good fun - we got put out, so to speak, to draw nature. I drew a leaf. Sadly, I can't draw, so I put a little label on it with an arrow, that says leaf. And another, in Faroese - blað, and another in Danish (blad), because that's the language my teacher speaks.
So that was fun. I finished school at about 1.30PM, but for the previous hour and a half, we had just sat in the sun and discussed .. everything. It's really gratifying when people start to speak English, because there's nobody else they could be talking to but you, and it makes you realise that yes, they want to include you.
And now, because the sun is still shining beautifully, I may go for a walk into Old Hoyvík, which is a very cute little village just across the road.
Kelsy
P.S Do leave comments!
20070827
This morning, right as I was about to head off to school, my host dad, Magnus, heard that there had been a whaling on the beach at Tórshavn. He asked if I wanted to go and well, of course I wanted to go. It's very much a part of the culture here.
And so we rang school and told them I'd be late, I grabbed my camera and rang the other kiwi here, Stacey, who we picked up from the swimming hall, and we headed down to the beach.
I want to explain the whaling before I put in photos of it, because it looks barbaric, but it's not. The Faroese have many reasons and justifications for their whaling, such as:
-the whales eat the cod and haddock around the Islands, which form the base of the Faroese fishing industry
-whale, or grind (pronounced grint) is a traditional source of food for the Faroese and has been since time immemorial. It is, however, more than this. It is also a practice deeply ingrained in their culture.
-the killing of whales is extremely humane. They are not harpooned, but their throats are cut on the shore. Each whale survives no longer than 15 seconds once it is beached.
-the whalings occur only when the whales come into the bay. They are not hunted, but rounded up, and only when they can be sighted from the shore. This can happen five times a year, or not at all.
-no profit is made from the whaling, but the meat is divided equally between the households represented on the shore at the time of the killing. A large book is put on a rock and names are entered into it and later, when the whales have been weighed and measured, their meat is divided to each family who requested a share.
It was a truly beautiful day today. The sky was clear of clouds and perfectly blue, the sun shone more strongly than I think I have seen it since I have been here. I was awoken at 5AM by the sunshine coming through my blinds.
The beach in Tórshavn is small, and as we walked down to it we could see that there were hundreds of whales (230 to be exact) laid out along the shore, and they were still bringing them in. A few were still being slaughtered - humanely with a great hook that sliced a wedge from the throat of the pilot whale, but most were already dead and being hauled in onto the beach. Each whale had ten or fifteen men on a rope, and some were waist deep, chest deep in the water which was bright, vivid red with blood. There were around a hundred boats all floating close to the shore. These had been the boats used to bring the whales into the bay.
When whales are first spotted, the call of 'grind' goes out across the entire city. Within ten or fifteen minutes, everyone knows that the whales have come to Tórshavn, because the call is shouted from house to house. Everything goes on word of mouth - indeed my host father found out about the whaling from our neighbours.
Many men, mostly those who own boats, head down to the shore to help. Many go out to help bring in the whales, others wait on the shore to slaughter them and bring them to the beach with their ropes. The boats surround the school and bring them in, just as one would round up sheep. They bring them closer and closer to the beach, until they can be tied with ropes and killed on the shore.
What I couldn't believe about the whaling was the audience. People go just to watch, and though it is fascinating for me, still a relative tourist, in terms of whaling anyway, I couldn't understand that it would be so astounding for the Faroe Islanders. It took me a long time to realise that it is because it is so much a part of their culture. Their parents, their grandparents, their forebears, have all butchered the whales, and so it is a very, very important tradition.
Once the whales are all killed and laid out on the shores, they tie them in groups of 2 or 3 to the boats remaining, which then tow them from the bay into the harbour. In the harbour they are lifted from the water with a huge crane and onto forklifts, which then transport them to a clean area where they are laid on the ground, measured and weighed. I was lucky enough to see the measurement of the whales, and they have a special system whereby they calculate how many househoulds can recieve meat from each whale.
In the evening, when the weighing and measuring is finished, another call goes out - this one of 'grindaboð', or whale message. They call all of the registered people into the middle of town to collect their allocated whale, and the town is a buzz of celebration and conversation. The days events are assessed and the whales are counted and divided. This is carried out by the police.
And that is the whaling, or grindaráp, as it is called in Føroyskt.
I'm afraid this computer does not like uploading photos, so I can add only a few, but I am glad to email them. Please don't go sending any to newspapers or Greenpeace or anything, though, as that tends to cause unnecessary controversy.
20070820
I think 'Nyt indlæg' is new post ... it must be because I just clicked it and wound up here.
So yeah, as you can tell from my photos, a lot has been going down and I figured it was time for a real blog where I actually told you stuff instead of making you guess from my fragmented captions.
I started school last Monday! It was fantastic. We had orientation week ie No Real Work, so that was cool. In fact, I think we fingerpainted, danced, made name cards for each other, and sang a Faroese song together with actions. We also got lots of Talks about ... no idea what. I couldn't understand and it was too boring to warrant translation.
My class is cool - see link to my class photo. If you want to look at my school's website, it's http://www.hoydalar.fo/ - there's a big photo of my school but it looks very tiny. The school is anything but tiny, it's massive.
Yeah so anyway my class are pretty great - they translate everything for me, they talk to me in English, they discuss music almost as well as any kiwi (they have different musics) and well, they're just good fun. Everyone plays an instrument. EVERYONE. Everyone sings, or nearly. Most people, anyway.
It's insane how musical this place is. One girl in my class, Kristina, is such a good cellist that she actually got to go and perform in an orchestra for this insanely good Danish violinist. She's also an incredible singer and pianist ... my hat goes off to her, she's just amazing. Somehow she manages to be nice as well ... yeah ... hat off. And everyone is like this - another girl, Karin, who is very cool and has ... pinkish reddish hair if you find her in my photo, she sings and plays piano and attended a music school in Denmark for a year on a scholarship. And then Mattias, he's played piano for 10 years (his mum teaches my host sister drama and her name is Hedwig - hahaha!). EVERYONE plays. It's so amazing .. and they have jam sessions and everything. It's so great. I think I am going to love it here!
But anyway, Real School started today. Or, kinda ... I'm not sure if such a thing exists in the Faroes! You see, our first class which was meant to last 95 mins, lasted 35 because our teacher, Brynjálvur (I can't pronounce it either) just didn't have anything to teach us. Weeeeird. So we sat around for an hour until our English teacher arrived - she was very nice and the class lasted the whole hour and a half but she kept stopping for breaks so I suspect we only did about an hour's work. It was nice to be understanding stuff, though!!
THEN we had art. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am SHOCKING at art. I can't draw to save myself, and today, we had to draw EACH OTHER. I was drawn by a girl called Sunniva, who is depressingly good. I had to draw her too, and she wasn't recognisable ... it was awful ... then we had to write our names on them and put them on the ground in the classroom. Highly embarassing stuff, as one would imagine! Luckily, there were ones worse than mine.
But our teacher decided to finish up 35 mins early, so we got out of school at 12.55 today! I arrived home at 1PM and have been writing letters and attempting to blogify my photos ever since.
School here is Very Different. We get free broadband access and there are none of those annoying locks that Mahu puts on webpages. Mp3 players and phones are allowed in class - people actually answer their mobiles from time to time. There's no uniform. O, and nobody does the homework because all the textbooks are in Danish and they claim not to understand it, even though everyone speaks fluent Danish. Hey, at least my excuse will be true!
But yeah, if you get the idea, it's pretty cruisy. Or it has been so far. O, and we get an overseas trip, though I have a sneaking suspicion they tend to put them in the summer holidays and so I will be heading back to NZ while my class goes to Prague or something. But we can hope, can't we?!
O yes, and I went to Klaksvík on the weekend, to visit my host grandad. Who doesn't speak a WORD of English ... it was good though, because I HAD to speak Faroese.
But there was a festival ... Sailors' Day, and it was really cute. But we wound up back at the harbour at about 2AM somehow and there were a bunch of drunks trying to catch fish, which had been put in a barrel for little kids to look at. One guy was worryingly good at it - see photos!
O and they had a live band which were quite hicksville but there were loads of old people dancing which was hilarious. They were so drunk it was like bumper cars ... ah, good fun.
Anyway, I'm going to go and finish my letters and probably sleep. Hope you liked the photos!
Kelsy
So yeah, as you can tell from my photos, a lot has been going down and I figured it was time for a real blog where I actually told you stuff instead of making you guess from my fragmented captions.
I started school last Monday! It was fantastic. We had orientation week ie No Real Work, so that was cool. In fact, I think we fingerpainted, danced, made name cards for each other, and sang a Faroese song together with actions. We also got lots of Talks about ... no idea what. I couldn't understand and it was too boring to warrant translation.
My class is cool - see link to my class photo. If you want to look at my school's website, it's http://www.hoydalar.fo/ - there's a big photo of my school but it looks very tiny. The school is anything but tiny, it's massive.
Yeah so anyway my class are pretty great - they translate everything for me, they talk to me in English, they discuss music almost as well as any kiwi (they have different musics) and well, they're just good fun. Everyone plays an instrument. EVERYONE. Everyone sings, or nearly. Most people, anyway.
It's insane how musical this place is. One girl in my class, Kristina, is such a good cellist that she actually got to go and perform in an orchestra for this insanely good Danish violinist. She's also an incredible singer and pianist ... my hat goes off to her, she's just amazing. Somehow she manages to be nice as well ... yeah ... hat off. And everyone is like this - another girl, Karin, who is very cool and has ... pinkish reddish hair if you find her in my photo, she sings and plays piano and attended a music school in Denmark for a year on a scholarship. And then Mattias, he's played piano for 10 years (his mum teaches my host sister drama and her name is Hedwig - hahaha!). EVERYONE plays. It's so amazing .. and they have jam sessions and everything. It's so great. I think I am going to love it here!
But anyway, Real School started today. Or, kinda ... I'm not sure if such a thing exists in the Faroes! You see, our first class which was meant to last 95 mins, lasted 35 because our teacher, Brynjálvur (I can't pronounce it either) just didn't have anything to teach us. Weeeeird. So we sat around for an hour until our English teacher arrived - she was very nice and the class lasted the whole hour and a half but she kept stopping for breaks so I suspect we only did about an hour's work. It was nice to be understanding stuff, though!!
THEN we had art. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am SHOCKING at art. I can't draw to save myself, and today, we had to draw EACH OTHER. I was drawn by a girl called Sunniva, who is depressingly good. I had to draw her too, and she wasn't recognisable ... it was awful ... then we had to write our names on them and put them on the ground in the classroom. Highly embarassing stuff, as one would imagine! Luckily, there were ones worse than mine.
But our teacher decided to finish up 35 mins early, so we got out of school at 12.55 today! I arrived home at 1PM and have been writing letters and attempting to blogify my photos ever since.
School here is Very Different. We get free broadband access and there are none of those annoying locks that Mahu puts on webpages. Mp3 players and phones are allowed in class - people actually answer their mobiles from time to time. There's no uniform. O, and nobody does the homework because all the textbooks are in Danish and they claim not to understand it, even though everyone speaks fluent Danish. Hey, at least my excuse will be true!
But yeah, if you get the idea, it's pretty cruisy. Or it has been so far. O, and we get an overseas trip, though I have a sneaking suspicion they tend to put them in the summer holidays and so I will be heading back to NZ while my class goes to Prague or something. But we can hope, can't we?!
O yes, and I went to Klaksvík on the weekend, to visit my host grandad. Who doesn't speak a WORD of English ... it was good though, because I HAD to speak Faroese.
But there was a festival ... Sailors' Day, and it was really cute. But we wound up back at the harbour at about 2AM somehow and there were a bunch of drunks trying to catch fish, which had been put in a barrel for little kids to look at. One guy was worryingly good at it - see photos!
O and they had a live band which were quite hicksville but there were loads of old people dancing which was hilarious. They were so drunk it was like bumper cars ... ah, good fun.
Anyway, I'm going to go and finish my letters and probably sleep. Hope you liked the photos!
Kelsy
For some reason, this stupid thing has put everything on in anti-chronological order. But I'm going to caption everything in chronological order, so start at the bottom, OK?
1. Team kiwi with the NZ flag at arrivals camp.
2. Sinead being super sexy with the flag.
3. Olivia, Emily, Sinead and I - I think we all tried to ruin it at once.
4. Me looking uber self righteous with the flag..
5. Cory and I making fools of ourselves with the flag..(phew - last of the flag photos)
6. Flying into the Faroes we were confronted with ... this. Very, very beautiful.
7. My host family - Magnus, Jóhanna and Kristinbjørg!
8. The Faroes from the top of a mountain. A few of them, anyway.
9. My neighbourhood - Á Mýrini.
10. This adorable little path we found in Agir (seriously, like 5 minutes walk from the city centre - imagine this in Auckland!!).
11. Jóhanna on one of the adorable little bridges - yes, I know, we have matching coats ..
12. Kristinbjørg in Tjørnuvík, the town we went to see a whaling (see post somewhere below).
13. The beach at Tjørnuvík ... now imagine it covered in dead pilot whales.
14. Klaksvík Sailors' Day!
15. The Jóhanna sailing ship (over 150 years old).
16. Two traditional Faroese fishing boats (yup, they fish from them. In Faroe weather ... go figure).
17. Drunk catches massive crab, drunk kisses crab ...
18. Drunk procures a stingray from somewhere ... thankfully doesn't kiss it ...
19. Some really pretty coloured boats docked in Klaksvík, with the city lights in the background.
20. A beautiful waterfall in the valley above Klaksvík.
21. A view of Klaksvík from the mountains.
22. The very large, very cliff-like, very imposing mountains that seem to surround EVERYTHING in the Faroes.
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