Heading to the farm in Selfoss today, but I have a problem. Today is Kvennafrídagurinn, National Women's Day, which in Reykjavik means a goliath-scale demonstration during which tens of thousands of women descend on the city and protest the disproportionately lopsided payscale between men and women in Iceland. They leave work at 2:25, an hour symbolizing the time after which they theoretically do not get paid (if their hourly rate were comparable to the men's). BUT, the woman I am farming with is in Reykjavik today and can pick me up two hours before the protest starts, or I can stay and pay a slightly exorbitant fee for a bus down to Selfoss and actually see the demonstration. $#^$^#*&^($*&(#_. The money is dwindling but I think I have to stay. Mundane problem but we're all ethralled, no?
'Twas the first day of Winter two days ago, free soup in the streets. At first I thought it was something like a food stamps line so I stayed out, but then I saw the fur coats clammering for cups of soup and decided this was for everyone. Icelandic lamb and vegetable stew. Takk.
Also, first snow since I arrived today.
Also also, I saw the Northern Lights from the roof of my hostel last night. It's incredible how quickly they change. They were not the most vivid since I am in the city, a soft green arc that blended perfectly in line with the streak of white light from Yoko Ono's "Imagine Peace Tower"— a light beam she built here in memory of John Lennon that is turned off every year on his birthday and the anniversary of his death. Why she chose Iceland I have yet to find out, but kudos to the gods and the woman that broke the band for that momentary luminescent synchronicity.
