This is Our Life…Not a Vacation.

Our first full day in Iceland was largely spent in our suburban neighborhood about 15 minutes outside of downtown Reykjavik.  Consistently, over the past few months, we have spoken to the kids about this being our life, not just a vacation.  We would not be cramming in as much as possible every single day.  We would not be eating out much (though we will on occasion to sample the food of the country we are in.)  We would be cooking at least two meals a day.  We would be establishing school routines.  We would at least have down time in the mornings and evenings.  We would be almost exclusively staying in houses, rather than hotels, so we have more space, a kitchen, multiple bedrooms, etc.  We do not want to rush.  We want to enjoy, breathe, experience.  We spent our first day trying to build the practical framework for this.

We began the day by exploring our first Icelandic grocery store, Bonus.  Largely, of course, it felt like a small grocery store in the US.  We bought groceries for breakfasts (eggs, toast, and yogurt each morning) and dinners (Valerie is the wizard with limited ingredients as Iceland is super expensive).  We let the kids pick an inexpensive snack (Bob Snail fruit rolls from Ukraine) and we found the delicious and inexpensive chocolate (something milk chocolate from Denmark).  The carts were easier to use and actually drifted which was generally fun, haha.  They also had a full refrigeration room.  Actually three.  Rather than refrigerated cases, they have a full walk-in room for meat and dairy, another less cold one for vegetables, and another even less cold one for fruits and eggs.  We would later learn that, Kronan, the other major grocery store chain, has “regular” refrigerator cases…no fun!  Anyway, we stocked up on groceries.

Ezra and I then went on a search mission to find a local soccer field.  We would later learn, at least so far as I am writing this ten days into Traveling Neverland, that it seems each town large enough has the same mini soccer field at their local park.  It is small, sort of like a 7 v. 7 field, but it generally serves the purpose.  We began his morning soccer training, which he has done about 80% of the days we have been here so far. (Naomi’s ballet teacher also suggested some websites for Naomi to continue ballet.  I think Valerie has only had her do this once so far when Ezra and I are at soccer, but this could also be a fun routine.)  

We also established the beginnings of a learning schedule with 30 minutes of reading in the morning and at least 30 minutes of journaling in the evening.  We will build on this for their home schooling, but I am not pushing “school” right now as it is summer break and we just began our adventure; also, we are world schooling and they are learning culture, history, language, sociology, psychology, geology, environmental science, and animal/plant conservation and behavior every day in ways that are in depth and hands-on.  Both of the kids are so excited to learn in all ways.  Immediately Naomi has been interested in far more reading than I request and Ezra more journaling than I request.  We have also taken to using car rides and the evening before an activity to study up on it and learn information through articles and videos.

Finally, we really like the apartment in Reykjavik.  It seems like an AirBnB that the owners actually live in (at least partly) as there are things around and in closets that are clearly theirs, but it is also clear that they want to make us feel at home.  The apartment is only 15 minutes from downtown and also on the east side of downtown so it is closer to any days trips we would take as the west side of downtown is the coast and ocean.  The kids have one bedroom with a bunk bed, which is, oddly enough, their favorite thing (seriously, they have requested that I try to find them bunk beds whenever I can) and Valerie and I have another room.  The kitchen is a good size and well stocked and the living room is quite large.  There is a nice balcony and both a washer and dryer, which is a nice convenience to have.  The shower cubicle is tiny which is difficult, but overall this is a great place.  Iceland is the most expensive country in the world and so the apartment, like the groceries, isn’t cheap, but comparatively to other places we will be staying in Iceland, it is a good deal.

Four quick stories:

1. The apartment has a few toys and games in it for our use.  The kids immediately found monopoly and made up an alternate version (Ezra playing several players at once and Naomi acting as banker).  It is interesting though because it seems to be the Irish version of Monopoly based on street names, etc.

2.  Naomi and Ezra also found an Uno card deck in the apartment.  Naomi got the hang of it and loves Uno.  Ezra likes it too.  Now that Naomi fully grasps it though, she is quite the card shark and wins at least half the time she plays (much to Ezra’s chagrin as he is trying to mess with her with many of his decisions in the game, haha).

3. There is a framed poster of the Icelandic alphabet over the kitchen table.  The kids are very interested in it.  Naomi created her own version of the “ABC” song with this alphabet.

4. As we have an electric car, we have to be thoughtful about charging it.  We were initially very excited to see that the parking lot of our apartment building had two chargers for electric vehicles.  After trying to use them many times, we kept getting error messages.  I spent a lot of time researching and found another company whose chargers I thought would work.  I was very pleased to find that they had chargers in the parking lot next to the local bar literally diagonal to the side of our apartment.  We have been using them to charge the car, usually dropping the car there when we come in for the night and walking home (I generally go bring the car back right before bed.)