Chapter 11 - Birna... New aunt & new home owner

Birna became an aunt (for the third time) on 5th May to a beautiful little girl named Karítas Sól Viggósdóttir (which means love and sun).


It´s interesting to highlight how surnames are derived here in Iceland. Basically, the first part of the surname represents the name of the child´s father and then son or dóttir is added on to indicate whether the newborn is the father´s son or daughter. So to give you an example, Birna´s dad´s name is Björn, so Birna´s surname is Björnsdóttir... and Birna has a different surname to her three brothers (who have the surname Björnsson), while her parents and other family members also have different surnames. This structure must make it a lot harder to draw a family tree!

In Australia, whenever identifying oneself, things are always structured around the person´s surname, followed by their first name... whereas here in Iceland, it is the other way round and the first name is the initial reference point. Even the phone book here is organised under first names, followed by the surname.

So anyway... some exciting news... Birna has bought a new apartment! It is so funky and cool! We looked at many apartments but as soon as we saw this one, we knew it was something special and it definitely had the “wow” factor! The apartment has been totally refurbished and everything is brand new. And the best thing is, that of all the apartments we saw, this was by far the best one AND the cheapest! Can´t ask for more than that! Check out the pics. The property settles mid July and we are really excited about moving there... albeit only a short time for me.