January 1999

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

Dear fellow members.

Þorrablót is coming up and this time it should be a great one. I wrote the new ambassodor of Iceland, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson and his wife Bryndís Scram a letter last year and invited them to be our guests of honor at the Þorrablót. Much to my surprise, since these are very busy people, they accepted this offer and will be attending this year. The only problem is that the budget of the Embassy does not allow them to travel here on Icelands expens so we have to pay. The cost is not going to be enormus, but for a small association like ours it is going to cut into the budget. The flight and hotel will be $680.00 but hopefully because of this special occasion we will get more people to attend and maybe some donations from members.

What will we benefit from their visit? First of all, this will give us the chance to meet the ambassador and strengthen the relationship between the embassy and the Icelandic community in Chicago. Secondly, Jón Baldvin and Bryndís are known to be very interesting and cheerful people that are the joy of every party. Lastly, the association needs a boost in its memberships and attendees at the Þorrablót if it is going to become as strong as it was few years back.

At the Þorrablót Hörður(Bassi) will be singing and playing for us as he did so well last year (some members were dancing for the first time in their lives) and we will have Icelandic and American food together. The Blót starts with a cockteil like last year and hopefully Völli will be cutting sculpture in ice at the same time. Völli is the Icelandic chef that works at Charlie Trotter’s. After dinner we will dance the night away, and of course the raffle will be at its place.

I hope to see all of you there and please bring some friends and friends of Iceland.

Best wishes,
Einar Steinsson, President

ÞORRABLÓT

The Þorrablót is going to be held on February 27th at the same place as last year, The Swedish American Museum on: 5211 North Clark, Chicago. Phone number 773-728-8111. The house will open at 6pm, cocktails will be upstairs 6:30 and then dinner, dance, singing, raffle and so on.

We have a special deal with a hotel in that area which is within walking distance of the museum. It is The Chicago Lodge on 920 West Foster; their number is 773-334-5600. Their nightly rate is $64 but for us they have lowered it to $52 for the night. All you have to do is call them, tell them you are with the Icelandic Association of Chicago and they will be happy to help you. We encourage everyone who can to take advantage of this to do so. Parking will be available at Clark and Foster and also on side streets and at the bank one block north of the museum, no permits will be needed.

As Einar pointed out our big news is that the Icelandic ambassador Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson and his wife Bryndís Scram have agreed to be guests of honor this year. They will be flying from Washington D.C. that same day. We are hoping to see as many of you as possible and by all means invite friends and family to come along, the more the merrier as the Icelanders say.


ÞORRABLÓT FEES

This year’s fee will be $45.00 for members in advance and $50.00 at the door. Please send checks to Einar Steinsson, 2212 N. Rockwell St, Chicago, IL 69647. Phone # 773.489.4621. email: estein3@uic.edu. We are also reminding those who still have not paid the membership fee ($25.00 or $15.00) to please send that at this time also. We will need both payments before Feb. 20th.


NEWS FROM HOME

It seems like the volcanic activity on Vatnajökull has not said it’s last quite yet. In the beginning of December it started erupting again not too far away from where it erupted in 1996. This time however the water accumulation was not as great so there was no extensive flooding. It went on for a couple of weeks and was declared over just before the New Year. Even though the water wasn’t extensive the ash accumulation was a bit more and therefore the new peak stands higher than any peak around it.