Sunrise, sunset

These pictures were just taken out my window at 10 am this morning. The sky is full of the blueish glow of daybreak...

Being so far north, Iceland deals with much bigger shifts in the amount of light it receives than most Americans are used to. In mid-summer they experience the infamous "white nights" of the north (which i actually got to live in in Russia in 2004) Upon choosing to come here in January I was interested, even excited, by the prospect of days with very little light. Maybe I'd even be trapped inside painting all day. But the truth is, they get light. They get truly beautiful light. It just starts a little later and ends a little earler.

The sun comes up 10 or 11ish. This means hauling yourself out of bed before then is almost impossible. All the residents agree. For special events and trips we can do it. And a girl who just was studying in school here swears you are expected to be in class at 9 (when it is still mostly dark out.... beginning to hint at a day). But we generally don't see much activity in this house until 11 or 12. (Personally, I set alarms for 9 to get up and do yoga : P )

Then, because the sun is so low in the sky all day, you don't get much direct light. Instead, you have lots of amazing, piercing, gorgeous, magical, ambient light. Or clouds. Lots of clouds. Sometimes the mountains across the harbor will glow golden, seemingly from the inside out. It really is quite a feeling. I try to go out every day its remotely sunny just to walk around and bask in the city lit entirely like an independent film. Around 3 or 4 the sky starts to glow pink and orange in parts and by 5 its dark again. Although the days are getting longer. My first day here, I watched a very slow sunset at 3:15.

So the shortened days aren't really a problem. Just another amazing thing to be a part of; and a brilliant excuse to sleep in every morning. Stores have shorter hours than I'm used to and everyone warns you to take vitamin-D or use the crazy light box thing at the pool, but that's about it. So Good Morning!!