Christmas Greetings 2010

Dear Friends far and near,

It is time to share all our news with you. It has been a year of action, no doubt about it!

The highlight of the year was the visit of Dad and Bobbie, who came to stay for two weeks in the summer. We had super weather and we made good use of the time travelling around and showing Bobbie the sights. The most memorable journey took to us to ocean, glacier, fjord, waterfalls, highlands and Þingvellir lake at

sunset: all in one day. The garden was great to relax in on “rest” days and we spent a lovely afternoon at the summer house in Kollafjörður in the company of family. Dad was presented with a Breidablik football shirt and challenged to wear it on the plane on the way home. Since Dad has been back in New Zealand we have been able to keep in good contact by holding regular video chats. Kieron even demonstrated, in live action, his method of making pancakes; stand back Nigella Lawson.

The other major social event was a mini gathering of the clans under the glacier Hekla. It was the one and only camping trip of the year, and although it rained cats and dogs the whole time, the company made for a good atmosphere. We visited old farmhouses, childhood homes and sung songs into the wee small hours.

David reached a half century this year, celebrating by raising a glass with friends in the beautiful city of Paris. A great weekend of pavement cafes, art galleries, pavement cafes, restaurants and pavement cafes. A landmark event in the sporting history of Iceland was the founding, in the spring, of the Reykjavik Raiders rugby club. David is an enthusiastic supporter of the club when he is in the country; banned from playing full contact, he does enjoy playing touch rugby. He freely admits that he is slow and has to rest between sprints, but from time to time young Eirikur joins in the practice. There is nothing quite like the father and son combo on the field of play! We hope the club will go from strength to strength.

There has been lots of work to do. David went to Haiti with the Red Cross and then was working in the National Emergency Operations during the Eyjafallajökull volcanic eruptions. After Easter, David took up a new position in the International Red Cross office in Budapest. It means a lot of travel away from home, but so far it is going well enough.

For the first part of the year, Anna Bryndis more or less moved into the Red Cross office. There was loads of work around the Haiti operation and the volcance eruptions to be done. When that calmed down, the training season began and Anna was organising courses in Reykjavik and in the countryside. Anna Bryndis also managed a visit to Africa this year, which included a trip “up country” in Sierra Leone. That was a great experience. Added to family trips to Danmark, Brussels and a romantic weekend in Paris we can say that Anna Bryndis’ travel urge was satisfied for this year at least.

Rebekka´s main news is that she successfully passed the entrance exam to Medical school and has started her first year. Not quite yet with the white coat and stethoscope, more like buried under text books. However, there is a good atmosphere in her year and fun to be had. Rebekka is involved in a schools outreach programme called “Teddy goes to hospital” and get to practice her bedside manner on school kids and teddy bears. Being a full time student also means having to work two jobs, one in a tourist shop and the other in a bookshop – that’s got to be a dream job!

Eirikur is enjoying his last year in Junior high school and finding out which senior high school he wants to try for. He is quite taken with a school that has a strong focus on graphics and art, but there is strong competition to get in so it will be nose to the grindstone from January 1st onwards. Eirikur has also been investing a lot of effort in swimming training; the hard work is paying off. When Eirikur is not in the pool he is either drawing or busy growing. He likes being taller than most of the family.

Sandra Kristin is in her last year of junior school and will soon be on her way to Hagaskóli next year. It will be a change from being the biggest to being the smallest in the school again. Sandra has become a great fan of horses and spent most of the summer and a great number of winter weekends at the stables riding and caring for the horses there. You can certainly see a big change in the way that she manages the horses; much more self assurance and command when she is in the saddle. Ballet is also a big part of her life. Now that she is with the older group, she is practicing both classical and jazz ballet. The big break through this year has being going up on her “points”. The Christmas show was just last week and it was a very competent performance from the girls. Sandra says though, that the thing that stood out most in her mind were the day trips with Afi Tony. We have to agree, it was a very good summer and a very good visit indeed.

 

So, with another year behind us and gaze fixed on the future, we, the little Lynch clan in Iceland, wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy new year.

Raddish harvest

Catering the school spring festival with Sandra

Walking on mountains

Summer.

Now the sun is shining and the grass is growing at full speed, the lawn mower has to come out of hibernation.We have been told that the trick is to cut the grass long to begin with. That is okay by me as it means less trips to empty the grass cuttings. 

We have a thrushes nest in the garden, with 5 babies. The adults are busy making endless trips to feed the young.

The word is that the volcano is dying down, so looking as if the summer is saved. Normal flights and no ash fall.

The first Icelandic Rugby team

Volcano pictures

Spring blog

Today is the first of May and it seems by the way the sun is shining that spring has finally arrived. There is that something in the air and it is time to start in the garden.

Now the garden will be taking centre stage. We have to work first on the lawn and then it will be the turn of the flower beds. We are doing some experiments with trying to grow herbs and vegetables in a corner of the garden. We are optimistic that some of the plants will last the summer… the are some especially sunny spots which might make up for the cooler winds that we have in these latitudes.

The next major operation will be the getting the grill going again and getting the beer in the fridge.

The first quarter has been a busy time, earthquakes and two volcanoes. I have been to Haiti and then in the Civil Protection Emergency Management Co-ordination centre working on the response to the volcano eruptions. It is just amazing how vulnerable and fragile the systems in Europe can be. Now it is just a question, mainly, of wind direction and weather which will decide how the flights in and around Europe will be effected in the coming months.

Rebekka has come home from Mexico this weekend. Dad is cooking up a pot of the most famous “twice boiled stew.” Simple buts tastes so good.

Sandra´s volcano poem.

The volcano live cam http://www.vodafone.is/eldgos see and read !

Christmas greetings 2009

Dear Friends far and near,

As we write, Christmas draws close, and although its cold, cold, cold outside we are still waiting for the snow to fall and complete the scene. Still, at this time of year, we look back at all the busy days we have had and wonder how on earth it is possible to pack so much in!

Rebekka graduated this year, with pomp and circumstance, from the Reykjavik Grammar school with a good grade point average and commenced her first year, (Freshman as they call it in America) in the University of Iceland studying biochemistry. University is very different from High school, as Rebekka is finding out, but thankfully there is a core group of MR friends that she can hang with. Rebekka is also, as all good students, working hard doing extra jobs, especially in the summer months working for Ishestar, which is a tourist firm that offers horse riding tours. For the winter, serving on the checkout in Nóatun is gone, baby, gone and has been replaced by working shifts in a book shop (oh dream job ! although it must be said that the reality is sometimes a little different from the dream.)

Eirikur was confirmed this year into the catholic faith and this marks a rite of passage for him. He looked so grown up in his suit and tie. It was a wonderful day marked with parties and presents, and a brunch in the highest restaurant in Iceland. Eirikur has had braces fitted on his teeth and we admire his stoicism. It can’t be comfortable wearing them. Eirikur is going for less acting this year but instead he has joined the swim team and, this autumn, has been training hard. Luckily, not all of the training sessions are in outdoor pools, his team has access to the brand new indoor pool in the Laugardalur sports complex. The real shock though, getting used to that fact that it is a 50 meter pool. Sleeping is also another (almost) fulltime hobby that he enjoys; it is paying off though, because that’s when he does his growing. He is almost as tall as his dad now.

The main event of the year was the visit of Dad to Iceland as part of his European tour, which included England, Ireland and France. He basically stayed the whole month of August with us in the valley and managed to hit the best weather of the decade. We did chillin´ and some day trips out into the countryside. One of the most memorable was a day trip out to Snaefellness glacier and the bird sanctuaries. Of course, we had a big coffee party to celebrate his visit and it was an opportunity to gather family and friends. Many cakes were baked and it turned out to be a great day. From there Anna, David, Rebekka, and Dad travelled in group formation to England to attend Rory and Laura´s wedding. It was a typical English wedding with hats, loveable vicar and picturesque church. All in all, a super weekend and an opportunity for the Lynch family to meet up… first time in a long time.

For David, there have been major events on the work front. What started out as a short 6 week mission to fill a position in the Headquarters in Geneva has lasted until the end of the year. There has been quite a lot of travelling attached to this position, but David has been able to manage camping out in Geneva and returning regularly to Iceland for refits of clean socks and underpants. Plans have had to be rearranged and then re-re-arranged but thanks to everybody’s flexibility everything has managed to work out fine. Some of the advantages of this trip though, have been a chance to catch up with old friends, do a touch of skiing and get trips into the Stockholm, London, Kampala and Amman.Sandra has been busy growing into her position as a member of the senior class in the school. She has tried to dodge the swine flu and might just have got away with it. Ballet is still front and centre in terms of hobbies, but Sandra is also part of an acting club and in the school choir. This year, Sandra spent most of the summer at the stables learning to ride Icelandic Horses. Sandra is also getting good with knitting needles.

We had a shock at the beginning of the year when Anna had an accident and fell downstairs. Anna had to take things slowly for a couple of months after that, and this included having to cancel a trip Africa, but from then on she has been at the centre of things as usual, making sure everything runs smoothly and that the garden in looking tip top. The bottom end of the garden has been cleared of ugly tree stumps and has been grassed over; new shrubs have been put in. Anna has also visited Geneva this year, to have a tour of the City, enjoy the Music festival and get her first taste of the après ski life in the Swiss Alps.

There has been enough to deal with in this particular year, not least of all dealing with the fall out of our countries economic meltdown. We felt compelled to pick up our pots and pans and to demonstrate, joining in the groundswell for change. Despite that we still are healthy, (not sure about sane) living in a lovely house surrounded by good people and making the best of what life brings us.

We, the little Lynch clan in Iceland, wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy new year.

Amman

Sandra school play

Sandra stars as the mummy witch who magics a friendly who eventually ends up having their own TV show. Spooky stuff.

Sandra School play

Africa : Up country Uganda : Soroti

Here are some pictures of our field training, which started with four days of classroom work and then two days of fieldwork. We are focusing on good programming practice to help people get back on their feet after a disaster. We call it in the trade recovery programming.

Red Cross Supports the Peace column

This is Yoko ONos peace column which is a massive light that reachs high into the sky. It was turned on last night and Red Cross is a supporter of this. Go Red Cross for peace!

Autumn in Geneva

We are coming into the days of mellow fruitfulness as the summer draws to a close. The lakeside is looking beautiful in the moonlight.

Touring in France after a decent lunch.

Visit to the National Park

Skyping GVA - Reykjavik

Modern communications are amazing !!!!

Summer photos