Fjölskyldan mín // My Family

My Icelandic Family:

Ingthor – host dad

Anna Maria – host mom

Thora (almost 6) – host sister

Frida Maren (almost 4) – host sister

Anna Maria is my head coach’s younger sister, and I get the privilege of living with her and her family while I’m playing here in Iceland for the next six months!

I.

LOVE.

THEM.

Seriously, y'all. I feel SO at home here already. I have my own room in their house with a comfy bed, a nightstand with drawers, shelves with a television that plays dvd’s, and an armoire that hangs clothes and has shelves, and a huge window with a beautiful view out of the front of the house! Anna Maria even decorated my room for me with picture frames and cute decorations. This room is way better than I imagined, and I am so thankful for Anna Maria and Ingthor’s hospitality! And their house is just a few blocks from our soccer stadium and training facility, which is super convenient!

They already call me their oldest daughter :)

"My daughters" 

Anna Maria is so sweet. She has gone above and beyond to make sure I feel at home. She makes dinner every night for the family (DELICIOUS dinners, I might add), does my laundry for me (I haven’t had my laundry done for me since middle school), buys food for the house and for me (she makes sure I have the foods that I like – which I’m not picky so that’s easy!), lets me use her bike whenever I need it (so convenient), and is so patient with me as I’m trying to learn Icelandic (I practice pronouncing words and Icelandic letters with her - which are so hard!). But I’m getting better every day! She knows English well so we can talk to each other and she can translate for me, but there are some words and phrases she doesn’t know so I get to teach her some English too. I’m so thankful for her and everything she does for me – I can’t think of a better person to have as a host mom!

chicken, rice, bread, vegetables

Icelandic lamb, potatoes, corn, peas

Ingthor is awesome too. His English is more fluent than Anna’s so I can also talk to him easily. I’m trying to get him to teach me a lot of Icelandic, but he wants to talk to me in English so he and Anna can practice getting better at English (we’re trying to compromise haha). He also has a very sarcastic sense of humor, which I find hilarious, so he’s really fun to be around. He has also been so nice and welcoming to me, and he has made sure I feel like their home is my home too. Which I do! I love it here already. I love watching him play with his girls; it's so obvious they adore him. And it's obvious they adore Anna too, and love playing with her. It's been cool to see their family interact and see the love they have for each other!

Thora and Frida Maren are both precious. They don’t speak any English (except for a few words and numbers), so the first few days here, since it was hard to communicate with them, they were very shy towards me. I’ve been here five days now and they are finally warmed up to me! A couple of days ago Thora asked her mom to ask me if I wanted to color with her – so of course I said yes! Then today Anna told me that Frida cried earlier because she said she hadn’t seen me all day and she was sad about that. How cute!! I’m not the greatest when it comes to playing with little kids because I haven’t been around them much (I’m the youngest in my family), but living with these girls I’m hoping to get better at playing with them. I'm also getting a taste of what parenthood is like with small children! One thing I’ve learned: making funny faces and being a “tickle monster” has no language barrier ;) And neither does laughter :) 

It's been so hard to blog when I've been busy getting settled, exploring and learning all the places in Akranes, training with the team, and catching up on sleep (jet-lag is KILLER). Hopefully I'll get accustomed to this time zone soon and have some more free time to write down my adventures! I still have to tell y'all all about my team and playing in my first professional soccer game! That post will come soon, I promise!! 

<3 Rach