Sour Grapes & Stuff: Issue 3, 2015

Say your piece, voice your opinion, send your letters to: letters@grapevine.is

The Loveliest Letter!

To the editor of the REYKJAVIC GRAPEVINE.

Dear sir or madam would you be kind enough to publish an email letter of mine in your journal. I am in the process of writing a story about my day trip in Concord to your beautiful country that I made the day after I became 50 years old. That is on the 22nd August 1987.I took with me my wife and two daughters one aged 15 and the other aged13.It so happened that when we were coming into land at  Reykjavic our pilot  told us that the control tower of Reykjavic had asked him if he would fly low over Iceland because the people of Iceland had never seen Concord all they had done was hear it.So the pilot flew low over your island.I would also like  to ask in an email if anyone remembers that day and if they took any pictures of Concord landing at your airport and could they email them or send to me so I could publish them in my story of my visit. In addition I would like to know the name of the island that we visited that day which had had a volcano eruption on it.

yours sincerely

Nigel Ferris

Nigel would like readers to know that he has cancelled his book

Dear Nigel,

That is so cool! Any of you remember seeing the Concord on August 22, 1987? Email Nigel! And email us, too!

Love,

Your Friends At The Reykjavík Grapevine

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I wish to write in response to the last article published titled ´WHOEVER KEEPS TREATING IMMIGRANTS LIKE SHIT, YOU NEED TO STOP THAT!´ If you could please print this as a response ,as I felt compelled to get this humble message across.

Firstly I  would wish to address  that I am not Icelandic. I came to Iceland because of love.  Iceland is similar in some ways to my homeland , so I was instantly able to relate to the people and the culture although there are still some differences. This fire ice rock of an island has maintained elements that my homeland has lost, so it also attracted me to my new home where I am now.

Yes ,moving to a new land is a deep dive into the unknown, your confidence is rattled from time to time.  Sometimes you can feel completely left out in this new territory ( this has nothing to do with people more of self growing issue and learning more about yourself in different situations), You can feel like you are three  years old again , learning to read and write and beginning to walk! The first stages of development.  Attempting to learn Icelandic and trying to adapt, is not easy and alot of Icelanders have complimented me, with my efforts, they know it is not an easy task  and they have always commended me in my pursuit.

People from my own homeland have also being called ´racists´, so hearing the same stories in a different land is a curious thing, and you start to view these perceptions differently. Everywhere in the world the  very same cases come up. So I truely think this is a communication problem as well as huge misunderstanding between people.

I do not believe people set out to be difficult on others when they are from a different place, I am beginning to perceive it as possible misunderstandings.

We have to work on this!, without  causing unnecessary unease and resulting in victimization overload. Its far too easy to call people something ,separating them from you ,painting everyone with the same brush.  How can we progress with a divided mindset.  There are far too many positive things Iceland  that have allowed me to dream to achieve  and thought possible.  I cant overlook these things and allow  the few minor negative  instances damage my living experience here, We always remember insults over the compliments and that does not do justice  to the experience of living here  . If so many immigrant are so miserable here why oh why do we still persist in  living here?  I completely agree on the point that some workers rights are being dreadfully ignored but that will not continue for long. Icelanders are outraged by injustices on immigrants and Icelanders alike.

Yes,being fully fluent in the native tongue , will  determine what work you will be in,  Are these factors I knew before I moved, YES. I knew it would be difficult learning a new living language in ways but also absolutely worth it, I did not wish to move to another English speaking country or European speaking city, I made a decision to be here .

Even in my homeland I met difficulties, I have met rude arrogant people from my home country, I have encountered  one to two arrogant people here, I can not accuse them of being racist , I can only assume they are very unhappy individuals who lack respect for themselves and others. That is a universal problem I think we can all agree on.

hI came here  to grow up more ,aswell as  living alongside Icelandic people and the plethora of other nationalities here in the midsts of the vast stunning landscape I am privileged enough to walk on. I did not come here for the postcard snap of Iceland.

I wish to direct my last point to the writer of the last article . It is because you are different, you can excel beyond the average, you have a different story to tell,(rhyme not intended), There will be sweat and moments of frustration. But you have to strive past this.   Things always change at the end of the day.  Takk

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Dear Elaine,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. We actually received quite a number responses, expressing a range of opinions. Unfortunately we don’t have the space to print them all in this space, but we’ll be posting them all on grapevine.is in the near future.

Thanks for writing, all of you!

Your Friends at The Reykjavík Grapevine