Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Sunday, April 20, 2003

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir

This information was found on the web page guide to women leaders, but the information can also be found on other sites (I added the boldface).

01.08.1980-01.08.1996 President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Iceland.
In 1972-80 Director of Iceland’s National Theater was the world’s first democratically elected female president. Since 1996 she has been involved in a wide range of international humanitarian and cultural organizations. She was a divorcee and mother of an adopted a daughter. (b.1930-).

For anyone wishing to learn more about Iceland´s history, factmonster.com has some info on Iceland.

Thursday, April 17, 2003

The countryside
This afternoon we are leaving on a short, 2 day, trip to the countryside, where mum & her siblings have an old farm. My grandparents lived there in the 50´s and 60´s, and when my grandmother died it was handed down to her 11 children, who now own it together. Some have built summer houses on the grounds, one of my mum´s brothers restored the old house and lives there full time (he is not a farmer though, he has a job in a neighbouring town). These 11 siblings now have 36 children among them (ages 6-40something), the grandchildren are too many for me to keep track... We all enjoy coming there during the summer, and there is always room for anyone who wants to stay in one of the summer-houses. My mum has decided where she wants to put her summer house, but has only gotten as far as putting up a fence... My guess is that it will be me and my husband who will put up a house there for us and my sister (and her future family). We will be staying there until saturday, will return in time to invite mother in-law for a traditional easter sunday roast leg of lamb.

Friday, April 11, 2003

Icelandair, our voice to the world

Icelandair´s campaign in the UK these days has posters that read: "Dirty weekend... only in Iceland" (w. pictures of Icelandic women in bikinis in the blue lagoon), "One night stand in Reykjavík", and the latest "free dip in every trip" (picture of a stewardess up to her crotch in the blue lagoon serving champagne to a man in a swimsuit).

What do you people think when you read this? I think Icelandair is telling british men to come to Iceland and have a quick "dip" or "one night stand" with the "cheap" Icelandic women. Or am I just illiterate to the deeper meaning of the english language, as Icelandair´s spokesmen have told me?

Thursday, April 10, 2003

A job!
It looks like I have finally landed a job at a small animal clinic here in Reykjavík. I couldn´t believe it at first, so I didn´t talk about it too much, I was afraid to jinx it if I did. I am supposed to start working on a trial basis in early may, after I turn in my thesis. To my surprise the practice owner called me yesterday to ask if they could put an ad in the TV guide´s easter edition with my picture and a "welcome to our new vet" message. I said yes, of course, and then proceded to frantically search my photo albums for a half decent picture of myself for the ad. No such luck. It seems I am the only one in the family who takes any pictures, so naturally I do not appear in many of them. I had a few passport pictures taken (at a photographer´s, not a booth, they´re usually not so good) and turned them in. I was told I would be printed in 70.000 copies, yaikes! We have a saying here in Iceland, when someone has their 15 minutes of fame, that they´re "world famous in Iceland". I am still sceptical though, the TV guide hasn´t arrived yet, the whole thing may burn in a freak fire at the warehouse, or something...

Saturday, April 05, 2003

The writer in me

I have a novel growing inside my head. The main character is becoming almost like a friend of mine and is begging that her story be written down. So far I have not responded to her wishes. Maybe I´ll "come out of the closet" as a writer someday, who knows. At the moment I´m too practical to even consider writing. I think I may take it up as a hobby after I graduate from vet school.

I am doing some writing, however, my thesis is slowly growing. I was at a lecture last thursday where a lot of veterinarians were present (of course, since the lecture was on skin diseases in Icelandic horses!), and I managed to trick one of them into helping me do the statistics on my project, since unfortunately I have discovered that my knowlege of statistics has declined considerably.

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

I am a feminist
In my mind a feminist is someone who recognises that there are gender discriminations in our society, and is willing to do something about it. There is a need to educate a large part of our society about feminism and feminists.

No, we are not ugly women who envy beauty queens and porn stars.
No, we do not burn our bras when we have meetings.
No, we do not hate men, nor are we all lesbians.

Yes, we are women and men (yes, real men are feminists!) from all walks of life, and different ages.
Yes, we are pissed that women do not get paid as much as men for the same job, even if they have a college degree.
Yes, we get angry when we see women are portrayed as objects and others made to feel inferior because they do not fit an "ideal standard of beauty"