Today was the last day of the summer literacy program for school-age refugee kids that’s run each year here on the south side of Grand Rapids MI. It’s a lot of work with dozens of volunteers and some incredibly patient organizers, but it’s worth it when you see the improvements that these kids have made with English speaking and writing. Most are still behind their grade level going into the school year, but the gap is more narrow now!
Accepted the offer. I am pretty pumped, y’all. In some ways it’s a lateral move, but I feel like I’m getting out while the getting is good (there’s some real dumb shit on the horizon tech-wise at my current joint), plus modern tech stack and all that other good stuff.
Also dang @ineffablebob you make Michigan like 1% less triggering for me. Well done!
Thanks, everyone. I highly recommend getting involved with the refugee support community for anyone that has the resources, whether that’s time or money or in-kind donations. Lots of places around the country…and world…have a resettlement community that flies under the radar most of the time. For a lot of these folks, getting away from the immediate physical danger they faced in their region of origin was only the first step, and adjusting to their new life takes a lot of work. It’s really rewarding to be involved with that process, particularly with the youngsters like those we work with at the Refugee Education Center.
Thanks for the kind words @marquac! To be fair, they’re all taken from a generic iPhone 7s - it’s just Iceland that’s very photogenic :)
@Tman - we did a semi-guided tour that seems pretty popular in Iceland. Basically a tour company books the car rental + hotels + transfers and gives you a marked map and a guidebook on a recommended itinerary but lets you decide how you want to ultimately spend each day which worked out well for us. In the end we drove around 2000km over 8 days in a Kia Hatchback (the Ceed, which seems to be a European only model) and we had a blast. Some of the gravel roads were a bear but you can totally get by most of Iceland w/o a 4x4 in the summertime.
Not trying to be snarky, but a recent trip through the Iceland airport while waiting for a connecting flight revealed to me that the food is kinda weird – all smoked, salted, jerky stuff, or, well, just weird. I mean, I saw something labeled a “Viking Delicacy” and it was pickled rams’ testicles. And someone I talked to who spent a few days there said restaurants in Iceland were extremely expensive because they have to import so much. How did you find the food?
A lot of traditional Icelandic food seems to be of the dried fish category so the airport is filled with it for souvenirs - doesn’t seem to be major part of the actual Icelandic cuisine all that much from what I saw. ‘Modern Icelandic’ dishes served at restaurants were primarily lamb and fish based - quite good but a bit on the salty side. There are still some exotic stuff that is available (e.g. a puffin burger) but I passed on most of those.
Icelandic breakfasts were awesome though - good quality Skyr (which is sort of a Yogurt/Cheese hybrid) and their spiced Rye bread was quite addictive.
Food prices are high but since I live in NYC it didn’t seem too bad - sort of like paying midtown prices everywhere. A typical main course would be around $30 + $7-10 for alcoholic drinks at a restaurant (but no tip!). Breakfast buffets at hotels seem standard in Iceland so I think you can get away with just eating out once a day even if are pretty active - I also saw a ton of tourists stocking up food at local super markets as well if you want to be more budget conscious.
I do suggest staying away from any fusion Asian food in Iceland though - it was overpriced and terrible.
My second wife’s mother loved hakarl. How she found it each year in Brooklyn we never knew. But after the first year, where many tried and failed and vomited, she would keep it for herself. On the back porch. While we would drink very much alcohol on the front porch. And when the wind was right, maybe still vomit. For old times sake.
