Viltu elska mig á morgun

August 1, 2010

þjoðjatið Festival -- Day 2

Again, miraculously, no hangover by any of us when we woke up at around 1 or 2 p.m. Seriously, considering the night/morning before, I'm pretty proud of myself. Was it the 2 glasses of water I drank? The two hot dogs and a hamburger I ate? Did I maybe take some ibuprofen? We'll never know.

Eva, Audur and I made ourselves pretty and walked to Pizza 67, a sort of 60s themed restaurant in Heimaey, frequented by recovering festival-goers, and which serves pizzas with some unusual toppings, and also beer. As is typical after nights like the last, there was a lot of rehashing of what took place. Unfortunately, most of this rehashing was in Icelandic, so I still don't really know what happened on Saturday night beyond that which I both 1) personally experienced and 2) remember. The wait was long and painful, but the 12" banana and pepperoni pizza (this reminds me of a joke made during Laugavegurinn about pepperoni being a vegetable, and about picking pepperoni flowers...unfortunately it doesn't seem quite as funny now) I ate was delicious. Eva and Sjofn took the bus home, but Audur and I walked home. Sadly, I will not get to meet her baby Benjamin on this trip (I had been eagerly awaiting doing so since we all hiked the 50 meters or so straight down the crater Viti in 2008 when she was 5 months pregnant) due to scheduling problems, but we had a nice discussion about his progress.

When we got back to the guest house, Audur took a nap, but the other girls and the rest of the Icelandics began sitting around and drinking outside (where the weather was still sunny and quite good, although not quite as good as the day before). There were a lot of jokes going around, none of which I will repeat because they are unfit for family reading (and because most were in Icelandic and I didn't understand them at all, except for the frequent use of the work "sleikur"). Because I had finished my wine from the day before, and most of the cider had been consumed by someone besides me, I was stuck with the warm strong vodka/Fanta mix I had made from the day before. So this period mostly consisted of drinking slightly sweetened vodka while listening to jokes I didn't understand, followed by uproarious laughter. Surprisingly, this was pretty good.

After some time though, I retreated to the room to finish Less Than Zero, a book about teenagers in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. Very depressing, very good. So much so I'd consider reading it again, even though the cover is ripped off from when it got wet in the rain.

By 7 or 8, the sky was getting cloudier and cold, and as part of my outfit I put on the yellow rainjacket Eva had purchased for me, which is actually considered pretty fashionable for the festival. Some pictures were taken around this time, but I have not yet received them from the others' cameras. Here's one of me taken several hours later wearing the rainjacket:

I think we got to the festival at some time around 10, but there's not much I can say about it beyond that it was super fun, much more so than the day before, maybe more so than in 2008. There was a lot of singing, dancing, screaming, I lost that pair of (very cheap) sunglasses I'm wearing in the picture, I ate at least 2 more hot dogs, and it rained. Based on the last festival and the difference in excitement between Saturday and Sunday night, I am convinced that the rain actually makes things more fun, as long as it doesn't get too out of control.

Some highlights:

1. Pall Oskar's performance. Sparkly purple suit and all, sang his big hits, did some DJing. There is a reason this guy is the most popular in Iceland.

2. The fireworks that go off at midnight and the flares that light up on the hillside, each representing each of the years of the festival since the 1880s. I screamed only slightly less loud this time than when I first saw this explosion of color in 2008. Along with the screaming of the crowd, it's an intense moment. Here's a picture of that happening:

3. Dancing to a cover band singing Justin Bieber's "Baby."I actually didn't know of the song at the time, nor that it was by Justin Bieber. This should not ever be spoken of again.

4. I just remembered dancing with a group of Icelandics to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall". That was fun too.

5. Each time I found the group after losing them while I left to get a hot dog. "

6. The guy who sings the "Bahama" song came out to do an amazing cover medley, none of which I remember specifically.

I stayed a little bit longer than everyone else to watch a band on the small stage play John Couger Melloncamp's "Hurt So Good." Eva told me that I had to be back at the guest house by no later than 7 a.m. in order to catch our plane, so I very responsibly walked home in the rain and made it by 6 a.m.

K.K. -- Viltu elska mig á morgun