(500) Days of Summer

I can't very well let my last post be my only post this week, since it was too negative for my taste. I don't like what I did and a part of me wishes I hadn't published that rant, but I stand by my words, so the only way to balance the negativity is to post another post.

I had intended to use this week to impose on you guys my views on writing styles, or even do a few grammar tips, but quite frankly, I'm not feeling that. Instead I have decided to show you what I'm doing this summer, and actually what I've been doing every summer since 2007.

As many of you might already know, I'm born and raised in a little country in the North Atlantic known as Iceland. Furthermore, I grew up close to a town of about 2500 people, which is called Húsavík, and it's situated on the north part of the country.

I started working at the Húsavík Whale Museum in 2007 and I loved it. I work mostly with foreign volunteers, and I've met some great people over museum. I try to delegate that task onto the volunteers, since I hate speaking in front of a crowd, but I have done quite a few guidings, both in Icelandic and English (and even two in Danish, now THAT was impressive :P).

I also get my own projects, like write and review texts, translate from Icelandic to English and vice versa, write news for the home page, and now I have the task of going over all info plaques and correct them (because there are a lot of embarrassing mistakes, unfortunately).

The whale museum also does research, and every day, someone goes out with the whale watching boats and records sightings and the route of the boat, as well as taking pictures of whales. Did you know that individual whales can be distinguished from each other, simply by looking at their flukes or colour patterns? It is pretty interesting. The fluke of the humpback whale, for example, has a very distinctive black and white pattern, some have a completely white underside, some are completely black, while others have spots and stripes.

I can't even begin to count how many whale watching trips I've been on. Not to mention that I acted as a guide for one of the whale watching companies in 2008. I've gone out in all kinds of weather, including a day when they decided the weather was too bad to sail in (of course that was decided after my trip), in blinding fog (though that was one of the most awesome trips I've had, since we ended up seeing six humpback whales, and we didn't even bother chasing them, most of them were that close), and in burning sunshine. I have gone on trips where we saw nothing at all, and trips where the ocean was so clear that you could see the whales underneath the surface. I have seen blue whales, sei whales, fin whales, minke whales, humpback whales, white-beaked dolphins, harbour porpoises, long-finned pilot whales and northern bottlenose whales. I'm still waiting on the Orcas :P

Despite cold and wet tours, much like the one I had today (it was nothing special, but we did see a blue whale and two minke whales, one of which even jumped for us), going whale watching is probably my favourite part of the job. To be able to go away from the stuffy air of the lobby and breathe in the fresh ocean air -- it's bliss. A lot of my brain storming is done out at sea, and I think a big part of my story, Simplicity is Key, was thought up while waiting for whales.

So, if there are any outdoorsy people out there, then I strongly recommend you coming to Iceland. It is the best place for easy hikes and beautiful scenery. And come to Húsavík, visit me, and go whale watching :)

P.S. - I have loads of good pictures just like these, and I might be uploading them to a good place somewhere, so if you're interested to know where they'll end up, you know where to find me on Rehab (I hope), and if not, you can find me on twitter @ragsstone :)