On The Way Home

Jen and I happily scored a lift from Silica Heaven to the airport bus stop yesterday. The stop is located at the BIG Disneyworld-esque Blue Lagoon, just a ten minute walk through the lava fields from our wondrous Icelandic crib (with its own plenty-big, private geothermal lagoon). Sure, we coulda hoofed it but these Silica worker bees are wonderfully kind and helpful.

On our way out I was quizzing the staff – where were they were from and how many languages did they speak.

Remember now, I can’t hear accents (or much else besides VERY loud concussive noises. backfiring cars. The clickety clack of stupidly high heels on marble floors. Painfully Loud talkers – not that I know what they're saying, mind, they’re just an annoying roar) so, I gotta ask since I totes wanna/NEED to know.

Jen graciously ‘terped for me – not like I ever give her a say in this. I just start quizzing folks and then look at her expectantly for the ASL translation. Jesus, she’s patient and long suffering.

In any case, the first clerk said, Kansas. I read her lips and repeated KANSAS, rilly? (silently adding FER FUCKIN' REALS!?) Now, Jen says I did NOT say this with a disdainful I hope you vote and NOT Republi/Fascist tone of voice. Nor did I ask When did you escape? Yea me. Still, I got the vibe that she, aware of her state's rep, was responding sheepishly, particularly to the how many languages question. (Just English though she’s currently studying Icelandic – yea her!)

I began feeling some serious Iceland seperation anxiety on the bus.
Solution? Jen and I will return to this magnificent, otherwordly
place in December

I would’ve liked to take more time and asked her what prompted her move to Iceland, what does she think of Sharice Davids and, again, does she send in her absentee ballots for every election. Why didn’t I? Our driver was waiting and I still had one more desk clear to buzz.

This second one was from the Ukraine—she speaks Ukrainian (of course), Russian, Icelandic, Spanish and English. Wow! Yep, I’d have enjoyed a long interview with her too. Dammit – I should’ve started earlier.

Is that Greenland, I asked Jen.
Mebbe we should go there?

The dude who drove us over to the BIG Blue is from Sardinia. He speaks Sardinian (natch), Italian, Icelandic, Spanish and English.

Ooooo, did I feel like an ignorant American twat or what? I allowed that I get by in ASL, know some German (NOT as much as I used too) and a smattering of words and phrases in other tongues. I LIKE other languages — they bring spice and depth into the spoken AND written word. You maybe already noticed that my scribbling is littered with words from a half dozen other places. This is one aspect of my travel and explore fever. Language – a window into interesting worlds.

I believe next time we’re at the Silica, I'm gonna make a point to viðtal/intervista/entrevue/TALK with the worker bees more.

An aside – did you know? The German word for interview is Interview AND also Unterredung, Einstellungsgespräch, Auswahlgespräch. COOL!

I even want to entrevistarse con the unhelpful young man who officiously made us put our John Hancocks down for a borrowed corkscrew (? like we’d bother to take a three dollar corkscrew home with us) and then he threw some shade when we didn’t know which specific bus company, for our airport run, that we wanted to use (DUUUUDE, helping us, explaining this shit to us, is yur job!). Yeah, I wanna know where he's from too and if he was raised by pandas.

Meanwhile, at Keflavík Airport, we managed to get pulled over by security not once but twice. Warum? Beats the fuck outta me BUT the security folk were VERY nice and efficient. Then we had to suffer the usual Keflavík running of hte bulls for boarding. There’s no early boarding (though the desk worker TOLD me there was) and no organized boarding by row. Nope, it’s all just a huge haphazard mess. Incredibly though, our flight managed to take off on time AND got to Boston 50 minutes ahead of schedule.

This made Coco happy and, of course, isn’t that the most important thing?  Yes, yezzzz it is.