-Jan 23rd. Last night the temperature rose giving us periods of rain and wind; nothing major but a break to our cold snap which by New England standards isn`t that bad. Around 5.30pm I left for downtown to attend the beginners Icelandic class sponsored by the post. Ten showed up, mostly from Europe, and after the initial settling down (names, forms, etc) our teacher started with the basics. It was stuff I knew before and believe most of the course (terminates end of Feb) will be nothing new. However, I like the idea of starting at a given place and moving forward systematically. Best part is that the course has no tests or the like (am indisposed for that burden). In the long run, the hours given over to it add up to eventual Icelandic citizenship should I go that route in the future. Then again, I may ask the post to continue with a longer course since they encourage this, all paid for. I think the course will go well: starting tomorrow are classes during work time for which I get paid.

-After work I stopped off at LIN, the governmental office for student loans, to visit a lady I know well. She`s second in charge and has a lot of down-to-earth horse sense. We talked about what I entered recently, namely, that people who marry Icelanders and who live here often end up disliking the country. They fell in love, were (initially) oblivious to the fact that they`d have to move to Iceland and later found out they were stuck here. In other words, my friend said such was not my case even though it`s the case of 99% of foreigners in Iceland. Quite another thing to move here out of love for the country, etc. This ability to consult a wide variety of friends for various matters here in Iceland is a veritable gold mine for which I remain grateful.