catching up

At the moment one day is taking the other, and although I continue to think about blogging I lack the time to sit down and do so. So catching up from last post: From the basement in an upscale neighborhood in Cambridge we are readjusting to a 2nd floor apartment with lots of light and a new neighborhood in Brighton. It hasn't exactly been an easy move. I never shared the process of finding an apartment in Boston, but it was such a pain I didn't bother to go into the details here. In brief the availability of rental apartments in Boston/Cambridge have dropped from 10% to 1% this year resulting in a limited market and very high prices (although it is already expensive). We were looking on our own, through (recommended) real estate agents and via hints from friends and acquaintances. Everything we saw was in such poor condition and it was so discouraging see our requirements go lower and lower as we saw what was available. Because we were looking for something from September 1st, the biggest move-in date of the year in Boston, the market was extremely aggressive, and we were advised to be quick if we saw something we liked as it might otherwise be taken by others. So we came to this place in Brighton, and it look more decent than anything else we'd seen. There was a balcony, a good layout of the apartment and other little kids in the building. We were told another couple was going to look at the apartment in the afternoon. On our way home we decided to take it. Bjarni was biking down to Brighton to pay the deposit, while I went to see one last apartment in Somerville. Before he paid the security deposit he called me, who was inspecting another really crappy place, and I could tell him to just go ahead with the check.
We then got the place two weeks ago. It was so dirty and things which they promised would be fixed were still broken... Ugh! For a little while we were trying to figure out how to get out of our one year contract, because we were so disappointed with the place. Since then we have been scrubbing it all down thoroughly, complained to the landlord who have sent cleaners and carpet guys. And now it's slowly coming together. It's far from perfect, but it's our home now and man are we going to make the best of it!
I'll be back again soon. With updates about our new Jewish neighborhood, our American child care experience, pictures of this new home of ours and more. See you soon. :)

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packing again

Just as Cambridge and the Harvard area is filling up with students, who are either returning or arriving for the first time with proud parents and stuff to fill a dorm room, we are getting ready to leave our temporary, first home here in the Boston area. Ay, we are going to miss it here: Hanging out at Harvard Yard, the playground by Cambridge Common, the good coffee shop down at Mt Auburn, the library, the friends around the corner and so on, but we can't fit into this apartment anymore. Our boxes from Vienna have arrived waiting to be unpacked, all the knick knacks and pots and pans from Boston's only IKEA are standing around (unpacked) in the living room, and this afternoon a couch we bought 2nd hand from two Icelandic girls arrived and hardly fits in. Over the weekend we'll be moving, and I'm so excited to get to unpack everything properly and create a proper home for the three of us. Silja will for the first time have her own room. Hoorray. That extra room really has been long underway.

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summering

Summer has seeped into this space, and although there are many things to share, my time in front of a computer is currently minimal... Hence the silence. I don't remember when was the last time a summer seemed to last this long. Apart from the occasional downpour and thunderstorm it feels like it has been warm, sunny sandal-weather for three months straight. Even the locals comment on how great this summer apparently is. And since I'm mostly hanging out with a toddler, we are outside pretty much all the time. Pretty amazing when the weather is so good, although I must admit I am sort of ready for next season to come. Most weeks looks like each other this summer: While Bjarni is at work, the rest of us are out and about, hanging out with friends, going to different playgrounds, and when the humidity and heat gets too high stay inside. We've got the hang of renting a car on weekends, to get out of the city and explore. We went to New Hampshire in the area by Lake Winnipesaukee a couple of weekends back, which was so relaxing and different from our own little neighborhood we have come so accustomed to by now. Some pretty exciting things are brewing though: an upcoming move to our own place (double yay!), our last many boxes of stuff finally on their way from Iceland, Silja starting daycare and some projects I'm working on to balance out my current career as a homemaker.
Until September though we will continue this full on summer mode. So see you later, later...

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celebrating two

Silja turned two earlier this week, and has been celebrated with several cakes, birthday songs in different languages, balloons and presents - including a bike helmet which she loves. We had her little friends over this weekend, and it was like seven little monkeys were let loose in the apartment, but it was fun and absolutely great to have a proper birthday party for her.
At two she speaks mostly Danish, but understands everything Bjarni says to her in Icelandic. There is a couple of words she always says in Icelandic: lika (also) and labba (walk). Her English vocabulary is slowly expanding: She will sometimes say thank you to us, instead of tak/takk, she walks around and tries to count to ten by herself, which goes well until four and then she continues in Danish, and she sings parts of English/American songs she has learned in music class: twinkle twinkle, ABC, ring around the rosie, bah bah black sheep, old macdonald (ol mafonal). We never hear her say any German words anymore, which is obviously quite understandable, but still a little sad, because Bjarni and I really liked those little German words coming from her. In September she'll start day care (just two days a week), and it'll be interesting to see how that affects her language.
She loves being with other kids and is not shy of walking up to them to say hello or give them a hug, she constantly has scratches and blue marks because of running everywhere (so wearing a helmet is not a bad idea). Lately we've also said hello to this little crazy kid that demands we HAVE to leave the stroller outside instead of inside, and she HAS to have that dirty stick with her, because otherwise it's the end of the world and she will lay down and screeeam. Ah yes.. those are fun times.
But in the end she is of course the cutest, brightest, funniest little person, which her mamma and far can't stop squeezing all day long.

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our impossible names

Names like Dorte and Bjarni, are just not working well in American English, which became obvious quite fast when we first arrived to Los Angeles. When Bjarni’s name was called in class it was Beejarney, and my name, well that without fail always creates its own little stir. ‘Now how do you pronounce it?’, ‘Can you spell that please?’ I should probably be better to introduce myself as Dortaah, and then we can perhaps move on, but it just feels so wrong, although I in fact find it charming to be Dorti, Dorta, Dorotey, and all those other versions.

So, it’s totally fine and surely a good conversation starter, when we first need to discuss and settle that whole name issue. However, sometimes a name is just something that needs to communicated fast, so we can move on to what really matters; like ordering a coffee. When you order coffee at Starbucks in America they ask for a name, and in those cases we have become John and Dora. Smooth and easy. Always. Bjarni used to be a Will in LA (after his last name Vilhjalmsson), but has now changed to John (close to his middle name Johan). I stick to Dora, which also ended up being what I was called in two of the jobs I had in LA. It felt very strange in the beginning, but now I don't even think about it.

I guess it’s bit of a paradox then that although we ourselves are always confronted with our strange names we have chosen a last name for our daughter that is hard to pronounce in anywhere but Iceland. Her last name is Bjarnadottir (daughter of Bjarni), which is in accordance with the Icelandic naming tradition. In Vienna they always just called out Anna in the pediatrician’s office, and we would pass by giggling nurses, who apologized and said they just couldn’t figure out that last name. I can soon spell that last name both forwards and backwards, because I do it all the time over here. But in the end there is a lot more in a name than just to clarify spelling or pronunciation. And in the case of the impossible Bjarnadottir it has to do with tradition and about a concrete sign of some roots, which I think is valuable when growing with more than one point of cultural reference.  

What's your experience with impossible names?

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independence day

Yesterday we ventured into the city center along with thousands and thousands of other people to celebrate the American Independence Day. I was rooting for a real American 4th of July parade, when trying to make plans for the day the night before. We saw one when we lived in LA, and I figured firetrucks on parade, music, and little kids dressed in red, white and blue would be fun for Silja (and me!). Well, turns out Boston is the 'Olympics of 4th of July' according to a TV announcer, and they don't just do a parade. They have a whole festival spreading out over a week culminating in the 4th of July, which is packed with events ending with a massive firework show over Charles River. It was a beautiful summer evening, which unfortunately ended in a downpour. At that time we were luckily already home, watching the fireworks on TV. Happy 4th of July!

... and P.S. I spotted the dance walker by City Hall. Do you know him? If not, you need to see this and this clip. I promise it'll make you smile. I'm building up confidence to try it out. 

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thirty one

We spent yesterday touring around the coast north of Boston hanging out at Crane Beach and eating fresh seafood and ice cream in Rockport. I don't remember when was the last time my birthday felt so incredibly summerly. Hopefully 31 has good things in store for me -- it certainly started off nicely.

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