14th of December 2019
During this time of the year I am often asked if I’m going to spend the holidays in Iceland!
People get surprised when I tell them no and I am never going back there. My friends here in Portugal find it a little bit strange because their immigrants do spend the Christmas in Portugal, many of them at least. We do have quite a number of Portuguese people that work in France, UK, Luxembourg and even Iceland, and many other countries. Those immigrants, not all but many of them, spend their Christmases with their families in Portugal.
When I was in China I also got this question often.
So, I will never go back to Iceland. I am content and happy in my little land after recovering from the disappointment of not getting a permanent resident in China. It took me a while to get used to my little land. Everything is different from what I was used to but during the years I have become to love my little land, the land and the people who took me with open arms and have done everything possible to make me feel at home.
There are though 2 or 3 things I miss from Iceland; my friends, all the books that are published in December and the concerts. Being able to listen to the great artists during December is something worth missing. Of course there are concerts in my little land but they are different. Usually during the evening and the culture here is not to start on time! It´s also quite a task to find where the concerts are here but can be done when you know the right people and if you have been here for a while it becomes easy, you learn about the system!
This week the weather in Iceland has been horrible, snow, heavy snow and storm. When I saw the pictures and videos I realised how lucky I am to live in my little land even though cold during the winter and constant rain these months and fires during the summer. I don´t have to worry about not being able to get out of the house in the morning because the snow has hidden the doors completely.
During the summer months in my little land when the fires are raging we often loose the electricity and phones and in the winter we sometimes have bad, really bad stormy attacks, but the snow and the horror the Icelandic people experienced those last days is worse.
The weather in Iceland brought back memories from long time ago. The snow closing everything and we not able to get home from work, having to sleep in a friend’s apartment close to the working place, several of us and the floor was our bed during that night. Until midday or more the next day nothing moved.
And the memory of the snow and the traffic while driving to work in the morning and sometimes leaving home at 8 in the morning and arriving at 12 to work stuck in the traffic that did not move.
In the pictures here you see one of the heroes who does not give up, he fights for the live of his horse. They are both tired but eventually the horse is free and now it is ok thanks to its owner who did not accept the death but fought to save. True heroes like that are all around the country now.
Together they made it! There is a video of this on Facebook if you want to have a look
Yes I am happy to be far away from the snow and horror.
My thoughts are with the Icelanders that now, some days after the worst is over, still don´t have electricity. The government forgot to make sure the infrastructure was maintained. The problems with the electricity could have been solved many years ago if there had been a will. No, other things more important according to those who have been in control for decades and the priority not the infrastructure or the health system!
The corruption took over.
Will anything change for those who now are still without electricity after the storm? I´m not sure, there will be a committee and there will be talk, there will be a report and the report will be put in a drawer and when the next storm hits there will be a committee and report and everything all over again but nothing done!
Sad but hopefully something will change. For sure what will not change is me never going back!
Thank you my Icelandic friends who gave me permission to use your photos in this blog.
Hulda Björnsdóttir
My thoughts shared with you 