one year

Tomorrow is one year from the day I stepped off the plane, met my friend Heiða in the waiting area, and walked out the glass doors into a windswept rainy land and an uncertain future.

After that one year, I can say unequivocally that I love it here. I love the way I can see the mountains every morning on the way to work. I love the blast of fresh air that hits me every morning on the way out the door. I love the otherworldly light, the big sky, and the ever-changing colors. Green mosses and grasses are covering everything this time of year, and driving out of the city I find myself in wilderness in no time... just lush green and jagged rocks and distant craters, or glaciers, or lakes, and dirt roads, plenty of places to camp out where I can be alone with no sounds but the wind and sometimes the rainfall at night.

I am feeling very good about the Icelandic language these days, too. I just bought my first novel in Icelandic and I have started reading it (slowly) and even understanding it only in pieces it is such a treat. It's a view into a whole new world, a new way of seeing the world, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn this great new thing and see the world through new eyes.

To the many, many people who have helped me settle in here, and helped me through some rough times and culture shock, takk kærlega. Þið eruð best í heimi. I couldn't have done it without you.

Here's to another year!