Bildudalur

Our training in Reykjavik ended on 23rd May and we enjoyed one last night out in the city before heading to the wilderness of the western fjords. It was sad to leave the city where so many random occurances have taken place. it seems that whenever you set foot on the streets something unexpected happens and those are always the experiences that I seem to enjoy the most. For example one afternoon we were wondering around looking for some exhibitions but all the galleries and museums seemed to be closed. we were starting to wonder why we came out but then a stunning icelandic woman asked us what we were doing and we joked that we were shooting a video as we had a couple of people recording sound and taking photos. she ended up taking us all out to a hotel bar and buying us 3 rounds of icelandic shots as we had to try the local spirits. it was a comedy turn around in our fortunes!

on the 24th May we met the 4 volunteers coming to the camp that I am leading. There were 3 girls from USA, Germany and Czech Rep and 1 guy from England. They were all very nice and with such a small group of short term volunteers joining us meant that my job would be fairly easy. The drive up to the west fjords was special as the scenery just got better and better passing loads of waterfalls, craters and finally arriving at the fjords which are majestic. When i first arrived on the plane and saw this barren landscape i never believed i would enjoy it as much as i have. i really cant begin to explain how impressive these views are.

In Bildudalur I have been leading a group of 17 people (4 short term volunteers plus 13 EVS volunteers who were at the training with me). The town is situated at the bottom of a fjord and there is 24 hours of light which is a bit strange but awesome as we can enjoy the scenery all day long. the other day we were playing football till midnight!

We have been doing a number of different projects: clearing out an old builing which is going to be made into a monster and archeology museum, painting a new art gallery, making a pond and a waterfall, helping with some excavation at an archeology site nearby and doing some art with the local kids. Our local contact is an absolute legend called Jon who is always smiling and seems to trust us with everything which is cool as i have been driving his car and his forklift! it is great to have a variety of jobs as we have been able to swap around a bit and learn some new skills. As leader of the group i have been in charge of food, organizing the work, making sure we get to work on time and generally being a link between the volunteers and Jon. All is going well and what i thought was going to be a stressful job has actually been fine as everything has run smoothly.