Chapter 8 - Pros and cons...

Today marks 1st May... Labour Day... which is a public holiday here. Every year on this day, all the people with motor bikes come out to play and take part in a huge parade through the city, with the intent of raising awareness that the bikes are back on the streets after the long winter. I sat on the back of Birna´s bike and it was great fun! There were hundreds and hundreds of bikes – it looked awesome!


Well Birna and I have started talking about what we are going to do post June (my departure). We have decided that we want to be together... so now we just have to sort out some logistical problems / minor geographical obstacles! So we have both started a list (yes we are both geeks)... Birna´s list is of the pros and cons of living in Australia, while my list is the pros and cons of living in Iceland.

Birna´s list for moving to Australia...

The pros:
• The weather
• Part of her family lives on the Gold Coast
• Lower cost of living

The cons:
• Being away from family and friends
• Giving up a great job with good pay and good perks
• Possibility that she may not get as good a job as she does now and one that pays less
• Gay rights are very poor compared to that of Iceland (ie. Australia does not recognise gay marriage or allow artificial insemination for lesbians, and Australia provides limited benefits for gay couples. Iceland allows all those things).
• It is difficult to get into Australia as a foreigner.

My list for moving to Iceland...

The pros:
• Gay rights
• Experience of living abroad
• Its easier for me to get into Iceland than for Birna to get into Australia

The cons:
• Being away from family and friends
• The weather
• The language barrier
• Fewer job possibilities (given language barrier) and therefore possibly lower job satisfaction
• Higher cost of living

As you can see, both our “cons” list outweigh our “pros” list. My ideal solution would be to live in Australia for 8-9 months then spend the summer months here in Iceland... although finding a job that would allow us to take three months off a year would be kinda hard to find. (Finding work here in the summer months wouldn´t be so hard). We still have some problem solving to do to come up with a solution that works for both of us. If you have any bright ideas... be sure to let us know!

Anyway... I finally started my Icelandic course. So get this.... My text book is totally written in icelandic - no english translation! Day one the teacher walks in the room and speaks icelandic... apparently she is not allowed to speak any english! Is there something I´m missing? Does the word ´beginner course´ mean something different here? And out of the 11 people in the course, I am the only one who is truly a ´beginner´- everyone else has lived and worked here for some time and has some concept of the language, so yes I feel like the dumb arse of the class.... I am the annoying person you sit next to who keeps saying “I don´t get it” ... “What did she just say?” ... “What does that mean?” “What was that? I missed it...” And yes I got homework too, but seeing as I can´t read what I´m supposed to do, I think I´ll just have to say that “the dog ate my homework” when I get back to class... Then the teacher will probably make me sit in the naughty corner for not doing my work! Oh well, I´ll just kick and scream and throw a tantrum!