THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF WORLDWIDE FRIENDS ICELAND

GETTING CLOSE TO “CLOSE TO NATURE”

UNAM A G A Z I N E

Team

Romania

JapanRussia

Andrei Melinte23 years

Yuka Nakamura19 years

Sasha Khakhan19 years

Salut, I love science, riddles, jokes, adventures and people. I love photography and I want to have a viking beard.

I am from Tokyo, but I was born and raised in Saitama, very close to Tokyo. I love to knit and I have a diary ^_^

Hi, I like to draw and I am a property master in Moscow. I like pants with stripes and I have curly hair :)

july 2014

Drawings made by Sasha Khakhan

S-Korea Russia

Romania

Arim Lee23 years

Valeria Piksaykina19 years

Laura Baban26 years

Say: “Kimchi!!!” I am from South Korea, but I study in Germany. I love to cook korean food for friends.

Aliquam tincidunt vel enim quis posuere. Nam elit est, fermentum ut felis eget, gravida accumsan erat.

I am always smiling! I like to meet new people and to know about their culture. I

have a dog in Romania and I miss him!

Privet! I love photographing, reading and do-ing sports: snowboarding and swimming. I hope you will enjoy our magazine!

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Getting close toWORKCAMP

July 22

Who are they? THEY GREETED US WITH A FRIENDLY

SMILE. WE SMILED AT THEM TOO. WE

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT OUR

NEIGHBOR SO WE FOUND OUT THAT IN

THE WORK CAMP “CLOSE TO NATURE“

TWO RAFAEL AND MA-

RIA FROM SPAIN, JULLETTE, CHARIENE

AND CHIARA FROM FRANCE, MATUS,

FILIP AND KALARINA FROM SLOVAKIA,

MARTA AND GIULIA FROM ITALY, NORICO

FROM JAPAN, JONGYONG FROM SOUTH

KOREA.

What are they doing? ‘CLOSE TO NATURE’ TEAM IS DOING A LOT OF THINGS BUT ESPECIALLY

THEY FOCUS ON ‘NATURE’  

THEY SPEND MOST OF THEIR TIME IN THE NATURE. THEY PULL UP THE

WEED AND PICK UP THE TRASH IN THE MOUNTAIN. ALSO THEY REPAIR

THE OLD HOUSES LIKE PAINTING. THEY MAKE THE ESKIFJORDUR BE

CLEAN AND BEAUTIFUL..

USUALLY THEY WAKE UP AT 7 IN THE MORNING. SOME MEMBERS

PREPARE THEIR LUNCH. THEY BRING A LOT OF BREADS, VEGETABLES

AND HAMS FOR EACH OTHER.

AT 8 O’CLOCK, THEY RIDE ON THE BUS. ABOUT AN HOUR LATER, THEY

ARRIVED AT THE PLACE THEY SHOULD WORK. EVERYONE HOLDS ONE

KNIFE FOR EACH TO CUT THE WEEDS. WE ALSO RECEIVE OUR KNIFE.

We were there to help themWE ARE HERE TO EXPERIENCE ‘CLOSE TO NATURE’. AND THEY START TO WORK. THEY KEEP WORKING AND WORKING

AND WORKING……. NEVERTHELESS, THEY LOOK SO HAPPY..ON THE OTHER HAND, WE, TWO JOURNALISTS, WERE JUST

STANDING NEAR THEM. WE DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO. THEY ARE PROFESSIONS. BUT WE WERE ONLY AMATEURS.THEY

TAUGHT US HOW TO CUT THE WEEDS. WE ARE WILLING TO HELP.

Close to nature

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Talking with leadersLAURA AND KUT TOLD US THAT THEY

WANTED TO VISIT ICELAND, INTERACT

WITH PEOPLE, AND HAVE DIFFERENT

EXPERIENCES. ON TOP OF THAT, THEY

FEEL A SENSE OF FULFILLMENT, SAYING

THAT THEY WILL NOT DO THE SAME

WORK WITH THE SAME PEOPLE  EVERY

DAY SO SPENDING SPECIAL TIME WITH A VARIETY OF VOLUNTEERS CREATES A LOT

OF MEMORIES FOR THEM TO BRING BACK TO THEIR HOMETOWN.

FURTHERMORE, CALLIE TAUGHT US THE BEST TIPS FOR WORK CAMPS. “VOLUN-

TEERS SHOULD BRING A RAIN GEAR, WATERPROOF PANTS, AND BRAVERY FOR

HITCHHIKING! ALSO IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTICE THAT THIS COMMUNITY IS A VERY

SMALL TOWN WITH LESS EXCITEMENT. THEREFORE THE LOCAL PEOPLE HERE CAN

GET MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO MEET VOLUNTEERS FROM MANY DIFFERENT NA-

TIONS. VOLUNTEERS HELP THE COMMUNITY IN MANY WAYS; NOT ONLY DOING THE

WORK, BUT THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE RESIDENTS AND VOLUNTEERS

COUNTS TOWARD THE TINY SOCIETY.”

Why did they choose this work camp?JULLETTE, WHO IS FROM FRANCE, WAS FASCINATED BY THE

NATURE THROUGHOUT ICELAND. MOREOVER, HER DESIRES

OF DISCOVERING THE COUNTRY AND MEETING NEW PEOPLE

BROUGHT HER TO THIS WORK CAMP.

KALARINA FROM SLOVAKIA TOLD US WHY THIS WORK CAMP

ATTRACTED HER INTEREST THE MOST. SHE SAYS “I DREAMED TO

VISIT ICELAND ESPECIALLY, EASTERN PARTS OF ICELAND.”  SHE

ALSO PREFERS A MANUAL WORK TO ART-RELATED WORK

LIKE  OUR WORK CAMP,“JOURNALISM AND PHOTOGRAPHY”.

JONGYONG WHO COMES FROM SOUTH KOREA GAVE US ABSO-

LUTELY AN UNDERSTANDABLE ANSWER. “I LIKE COMPOSURE

AND SEE ICELANDIC LANDSCAPES QUIETLY. IF I WORK AT

‘CLOSE TO NATURE’, I CAN HAVE MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO SEE

THE BEAUTIFUL SCENERIES.”

What is the best thing about this work camp?MATUS, A SLOVAKIAN BOY REPLIED WITH MUCH EXCITEMENT “IT IS

AMAZING THAT WE CAN GO TO THE SWIMMING POOL IN ESKIFJOR-

DUR EVERY DAY.” SWIMMING IN POOLS OR TAKING A HOT BATH IS

USUALLY NOT WHAT WE CAN DO IN EVERY SINGLE DAY.

JULLETTE AND KATARINA SEEM THAT THEY BOTH ENJOY ACTIVITIES

ON FREE TIME LIKE GOING EXCURSIONS OR HIKING MOUNTAINS.THE

LIFE HERE IN ESKIFJORDUR MAY BE QUITE SIMPLE COMPARED WITH

THE LIFE IN THE BIGGER CITIES WHERE MOST OF THE VOLUNTEERS

LIVE. HOWEVER, WE WILL NEVER GET BORED FOR SURE BECAUSE

AMAZING ACTIVITIES THAT YOU HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE

ARE WAITING YOU!

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Our impression about the

work campexchange

Yuka & ArimYuka: “It was a great opportunity to experience another volunteering work and interact with other people from a different volunteering work. At first, I did not expect to  do the work like using knives and removing weeds because I thought I was supposed to just write an article. However, after do-ing the actual work in nature with other volunteers, I have become more aware of their thoughts and the importance of their work.  What is more, working in nature was not very attractive to me since it rather seemed a physical work. Although to begin with, I cut a grass with difficulty, cooperating with other people brought a sense of accomplish-ment to me at the end.  Truly, I could felt much closer to nature after the exchanging day!”

Arim: “I was really happy to be with ‘Close to Nature’ team. It was quite dif-ficult to wake up early in the morning. But I should be wake up at 7 because I want to see how they work. Therefore I felt a sleep during the whole time in the bus. Anyway I was impressed that they’re very well organized. Even they have a lunch, they share their food very fast and evenly. They were playing games while eating and there is no end to their laugh. They use their free time happily and pleasantly. After the lunch time, they go back to work immedi-ately. Working with them was so hard because I’m not used to it. However it was worthy ultimately. We are being more considerate of them. It was a great experience for us. I am sure that we can be good neighbors.”

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Close to nature has to conquer all the Lupin in Eskifjordur

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The old school is an accommo-dation for work camp members and leaders in Eskifjordur. If you are lucky enough to stay in the east of Iceland, you’ll probably stay at the old school!

The old school was established in 1910. At the beginning, it was an elementary school not for work camps. However, the old school was too old and small for all children in Eskifjordur. It was made of wood, only wood. So it was too weak and there’s no choice but to make new school and it is established near the old school. The old school could not be ‘school’ anymore. From 2007 is the house of people from all around the world, the volunteers from World Wide Friends!

TALK WITH GABRIEL THOROLFSSON

Gabriel is a local resident in Eskifjordur. He lives here more than 10years. He wants to tell us about the ghost in the old school. Some people who stayed in the old school said they saw a woman (maybe ghost) outside the window of the school.

He said “There is a myth about a ghost in the house we are staying.”

The myth tells of how she hanged herself because of depression. She was a cleaning lady in the old school. When the school was closed, she didn’t get the job at the new school. She didn’t have any family or friends to talk and lived alone. So she just stayed alone at

home and only talked to people when she had to go outside. But she couldn’t handle her situation anymore. Then she used her extra key to go into the old school and went to the boiler room where she would hang herself.

But we found out that the story that all of our volunteers are afraid IS JUST A LEGEND!

On 25th of July, I met two women at the old school! One of the women is Fmgibjogh Kristinxleni who was a student of the old school for 10 years(between 1973 to 1983)

Another woman is Margret Karlsdottir who was a teacher from 1982 to 1983 in the old school and teacher of the

History ofthe old school We are living in a school built in 1910...

A Ghost Is Living

in The Old School?

Buhuhu!

It is just a legend!

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new school from 1990 to 1994. Also her father was a techer of the old school.

I can hear many stories of the old school from them. They said there are some differences between the past and the present in the structure.

Margret said “The downstairs of this school was library. Also there were 4 class rooms in the upstairs and the kitchen was a room for keeping the books.”

Fmgibjogh said “The classes started af-ter 12p.m. and the age of students were between 6 to 16. After they graduate the school, they used to go to the col-lege or get a job.”

Margret said “Teachers should teach all things like mathematics, English, Biology and so on. There were 8 to 12

students for 1 class bur there are only few teachers.”

However, when I asked to them “Did you heard about the cleaning lady?”

They shouted at the same time. “No, No, No. I never ever heard about it!” And they told me that “I never saw this picture when I was in school. And all the pictures in the old school goes to the new school! The pictures of people who were in this school are all going to the new school.”

So we find out that the ghost is not true. The next campers who will stay the old school don’t need to be afraid!

We have another good news! The old school will be reno-vated!

There will be more toilets. Now there’s only one toilet in the old school, in the second flour.

The kitchen will bigger than now.

There will be a shower room! You can take a shower whenever you want! It’s very important. On the other hand, now we have to go to the swimming pool and it takes 40 minutes back and forth.

There will be a leaders’ room! The old school will be better and better every year!

Sooo, come to Eskifjordur! It will be fun, it will be an unseen ex-perience, it will be like nowere!

ON PHOTO: The old school in the year that it was build. Now the windows have been repainted by

World Wide Friends, one of the four classroom became toilets for girls and for boys, the library downstair

became a sleeping room for at least 16 volunteers.

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7 books to read in Iceland

We have ask some of the volun-teers from the other work camp about the books that they have brought with them in the lug-gage. Look what we have found out!

Callie from America is reading “The Crimson Crown” by Cinda Williams Chima, a very well written and won-derful book about a queen who falls in love with a tief.

Pepe from Spain is reading „La ver-dad sobre el case Harry Quebert“ by Joel Dicker. Is a thriller about a murder witch happened 40 years ago. A writer discovers new evi-dence and tries to solve the case.

Marta from Italy is reading „Il teorema del pappagallo“ by Denis Guedj – the history of matematics

written like a story.

Katarina from Slovakia is reading from her Kindle the „The Silmaril-lion“ by J. R. R. Tolkien – a fantasy book about the Fantasy realms.

JongYong from South Korea is reading a heavy book, „Ethika“ by Aristotel – what people think about justice and patience.

Juliette from France is reading Barburse, „Le Feu – Journal d’une esconade“ - a book about the War World I.

Matus from Slovakia is reading „Časotrasenie“ by (Kurt Vonnegut), a story aboua Universe where times goes back 20 years.

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Wild birds usually don’t pose, but sometimes you get lucky...

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TutorialBird photography in Eskifjordur

But if you know some basics of bird photography, it becomes much easier to capture amazing moments of the birds’ life. Here in Eskifjordur the vari-ety of birds is not that impressive but you can easily shoot some nice pictures of geese or seagulls.

Where to go

Near the water is the easiest to take bird pictures by far. There are usually geese on the surface or seagulls that might fly really close to you, so they are

easier to capture. You can go on the dock – the one close to the old school or to the small lighthouse at the city end. If you are lucky some smaller rarer birds will get close to you.

If you are more patient or you need a bigger challenge you can go hiking (e.g. the waterfall near the pool) and shoot birds in different places with different backgrounds. The better you hide yourself, the safer they will feel coming near you. Tuck yourself in next to a tree or bush, or hide behind a

BIRDS ARE VERY INTERESTING CREATURES, BUT IT’S NOT SO EASY TO PHOTOGRAPH THEM. WILD BIRDS USUALLY DON’T POSE WHERE YOU WANT AND, MORE-OVER, IT’S OFTEN DIFFICULT TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO TAKE QUALITY PICTURES.

With patience, good camera

and the perfect timing, you

will get the best photos from

your excursion to Iceland.

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to camouflage yourself, and try to stay as still and quiet as possible.

When to go

Early morning is best. I find within the 3 hours after the sun rises the birds are at their most active. At this time the sun is not at full strength which gives you nice even light. Two hours before sunset can also be a very fruitful time.

Equipment

Even though some expensive lens and camera would definitely help, you can still do a good job with a usual telepho-to lens and an entry-level DSLR. You can even do a good job with a compact or bridge camera if the subject is not moving and they are courageous enough to let you close to them. For starters a 200mm lens if perfectly fine, though a 300mm one is even better. But don’t be scared away, you can also do a good job with a 80mm lens or so in some particular cases. Remember that a good photographer, I believe, will make better bird photos with mobile phone than a poor one with the most expensive equipment.

Ansel Adams said that There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

Camera settings

Exposure - When photographing birds, using shutter priority mode and a fast shutter speed will ensure you are ready for any action that might happen, even if the bird is standing still at the mo-ment. You never know when it will take flight and you want to be ready when that happens.

Using a wide aperture will give you a shallow depth of field, which helps to isolate the bird from its background and direct attention to its shape and

and color.

When you want to have total control over the shutter speed and aperture, use manual mode and set the ISO to auto. That way, the camera will decide which ISO is the best to balance the exposure.

Focus - How you focus on your subjects will depend on which approach you’re taking, as well as what equipment you have. Some lenses and some camera bodies auto focus faster, and much more accurately than others, so some experimentation is needed to get a sense of how quickly your auto focus motor moves.

Birds are moving subjects, so if you do use auto focus, change it to the “con-tinuous focus” mode (usually called

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AF-C or AI Servo) which tracks mo-tion. However, you might find that you get better results by learning to focus manually.

There should be an AF/MF switch on your camera and/or lens. If you switch it to MF (manual focus), you can turn the focus ring on your lens to adjust it by hand. This is fairly easy when your subject is still, but it takes a lot of practice to be able to do this quickly enough to lock in on a moving subject.

One method is to set up a perch (such as a bird feeder), with your camera on a tripod, and pre-frame and pre-focus your shot where the bird will be. When it lands, you just have to hit the shutter. There will be no focusing delay, so you can get the exact moment you have been waiting for.

Composition

Take care not to neglect your back-ground. It should be clean and simple. Too much clutter will distract attention from the subject itself. Use your per-spective and point of view to remove unwanted background objects from the frame, and choose a large aperture to blur them out.

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“Close to Nature” gave Giulia the chance to play with her camera usually don’t pose, but some-

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The origin of the elves in Iceland goes back to Germanic paganism and mythology. They were origi-nally a race of minor gods associated with nature and fertility.

In Iceland, elves were mentioned in both the sagas and the Eddas (Prose Edda, by Snorri Sturlus-son). They can be the same size as humans or even smaller, and are dressed like humans. Elves are usually invisible, but can be seen if they feel like it. They can be helpful and kind to those who do them no harm, and repay favors with favors. On the other hand, they can also be malicious and take revenge if harmed. Elves in Iceland are often pictured as splendid and beautifully dressed, especially in colorful

silk. They usually dwell in nature, especially in forests, rocks, hill-ocks, wells and springs. Like elves, trolls are also part of the ancient heritage of the Scandinavian mythology. The Icelandic Trolls are human-like in form, they are still inhu-manly strong, huge and ugly. The Trolls are very often thought to be fearsome and cruel creatures. But, like the elves, trolls in Iceland often treat people as they are treated and they return favors for favors, exerting vengeance if harmed. The Icelandic Trolls live in moun-tains, caves and cliffs, especially bird cliffs. Like humans, they live together socially. They fish, culti-vate land and keep animals. They are very good at handicrafts and hold feasts.

The hidden people of EskifjordurICELANDIC FOLKLORE IS A RICH FIELD, RANGING

THROUGH STORIES OF MAGIC, ELVES, TROLLS,

GHOSTS AND SPIRITS OF ALL KINDS.

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Dwarves are real! We found them at the pretty house owned by Veiga and Roppi

We found none of these creatures in our two weeks of work camp. But we found a lot of real dwarfs. 100 of them! Near to the old school live Veiga and Roppi, two husbands that collect them. Their dwarfs are different forms and sizes and the oldest has 40 years, was bought by mother of Veiga. The little guy was repainted by Roppi. All of them live in front of her house. She told us she will continue to collect them and she hopes one of her five children will continue her tradition.

Also, in their house we discover other jewelry. The husband of Veiga , Roppi, makes some new models of ships and boats. The couple has a huge collec-tion of spoons from the different coun-tries. They like to collect some boots from Holland called klomps.

We do not know if elves, trolls, ghosts or spirits really exist, but we do know that Veiga, Roppi and all the 100 dwarfs are real and really hos-pitable. Go visit them if you come in Eskifjordur!Nulla facilisi. Morbi dictum urna eget nisi bibendum lacinia.

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The SeahouseRestaurant

At the end of Eskifjordur, we can find a fine sea-food restaurant near the shore. The restaurant, “Randulffs-sjohus” in Icelandic, is a solo place where we can taste a genuine traditional Icelandic foods in this town.

The local cuisine like shark-meet, dried fish, raindeer, and fresh seafood from the fjord are offered at the restaurant. Produced in Eskifjordour, those dishes are well-known as the very and best Icelandic food. When you get into the restaurant, the beautifully decorated interior will absolutely spur your curiosity into the Icelandic journey; you would discover trousers and traditional clothes hanging on hooks, large amounts of antique collection or old pictures of the East Iceland on the wall. It is no exaggeration to say that you can enjoy the fascinating museum as well as the meals at the restaurant.

The history of the sea house

There is a noteworthy story concerning the sea house up to the present. It was built by Norwegian Peter Randulff in 1890, The place was once used for landing and processing the herring caught in the fijor , which had greatly contributed to building up the first growth of the fiord in East Iceland. The successful fishery was practiced by 1930 when the lack of herring coming to the fiord posed a serious crisis on fish-ing industry in Eskifjordur.For next 75 years, the seahouse remained closed. In 1980, “East Iceland Museum Society (Sjóminjasafn Austarlands) ” led to the renovation of both the exterior of the sea house and the jetty next to it. In 2003, the organization became a sole owner of the house and

the restaurant was finally re-opened with the cooperation of Mjóeyri guesthouse and tourism center that locate in its neighbor in 2008!

There are a lot of activities available that Mjóeyri provides. If you are interested in the recreation here in Eskifjordur, it is going to be great opportunities for you to stay in Mjóeyri guesthouse and rent a boat, watch deer and go fishing within the fijor., for example.

A repute from in the local community

As mentioned above, the restaurant is the best place to visit for traditional Icelandic meals in Eskifjordur. However, not only guidebooks but the residences in this community also recommend you visit the restaurant. I could have a chance to meet a Icelandic living in this town for decades. He says that “ If you go to the restaurant, you can find many aspects of Icelandic traditions. Of course, trying the Icelandic cuisine may be the fastest way to feel something conventional about East of Iceland. Besides, notice that there are many houses painted in red colors in East of Iceland. Those red houses are once used as fishing houses. The distinguishable buildings are very representative of old houses here. Also, in winter, you will see the contrast of colors ; white snow, red house and black roofs. The view is also a traditional Icelandic scenery.

Now, I am convinced that the combination of unspoiled nature and Icelandic traditions here definitely muse many visitors coming to Eskifjordur.

The restaurant is filled with Icelandic traditions!

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Location: Strandagata 96, Eskifjörður, Iceland1

Business hours: 12:00-21:00 (June - September)2

Tel: (+354) 477 1247 / (+354) 696 0809 3

Contact Email: mjoeyri@vortex.is4

More detailed information: visit www.mjoeyri.is 5