New Year in Iceland x

We spent New Year 2014 in Reykjavik, the wonderful capital city of Iceland; most Scottish people jet off to warmer climes at this time of year but we all missed Finland and decided to head to another Scandinavian country for some fun, snowy times!

The airport in Keflavik is amazing and I loved this quote from the Bjork song, Joga.  

This was taken at the beautiful Lake Tjornin the morning after we arrived as you can tell by my unruly hair!
Lake Tjornin is in the middle of the city and is a really popular spot for families who come to feed the amazing range of ducks, snow geese and swans.  Malika and Ameenah loved feeding the birds although I found being chased by hundreds of hungry birds quite petrifying - think Alfred Hitchcocks, The Birds.

And of course the girls loved playing for hours in the snow making snowmen, snowangels, snowcats....

How amazing is this snowcat!!

We sung songs from Frozen as we built our snowy friends!

The girls were delighted with all the snow!  We haven't had heavy snow in North-East Scotland for a few years now so this was a real treat...

Lake Tjornin froze over on the third day of our trip so we had a lot of fun chasing each other across this amazing landscape....Ameenah was in the buggy for some of the trip and I could not recommend pushing a buggy in the snow - my arms ached the next day!  I wish we had gone native and bought a sledge....

Icelandic horses were a big theme of the trip...We went on an amazing trip one evening to see a horse theatre performance called the Legends of Sleipnie, at the Fakasel Horse Park.  Malika and Ameenah absolutely loved this and they got the meet the horses after the performance and go for a visit to the stables.  The performance used a lot of multi-media and told historial icelandic tales with old Norse mythology and exhibition riding to show how unique and beautiful the Icelandic horses are.

Here is a link to their website: http://www.icelandichorsepark.com/legends-of-sleipnir---horse-theater.html

Such a funny picture of Malika and one of the stars of the show!
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I'm popping in the album Takk by the brilliant Icelandic band Sigur Ros here as it was soundtrack to our trip....

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I decided after the brilliant horse theatre trip to try to organise a horse riding trek for myself and Malika.....Malika and Ameenah have such different emotional needs at 5 and 2 years old, and I often feel that my focus is on Ameenah as she, at 2, is currently into everything and full of super energy.....

Malika and I definitely needed mum and Malika time and I wanted to spend time together with Malika doing something she would remember (hopefully...)  We went out on a two hour trek with the brilliant Laxness Horse Farm who are based 20 minnutes outside Reyjavik.  Malika had never been horse-riding before (bar a few pony trips where she was led round a field) and I worried about how she would get on.

However Maika was a natural on the Icelandic pony....she rode brilliantly and showed no fear navigating across frozen rivers and across icy paths....i was so proud of Malika and so delighted I had booked us on this trip together (most of the companies only take children over 7 years old...)

https://www.facebook.com/laxneshorsefarm

I mean wow!!!!! I feel so lucky to have ridden through this landscape with my brilliant daughter...

Malika and I looking quite windswept!

 Deep winter white view across Lake Tjornin to one of Reyjavik's most famous landmarks, the Hallgrímskirkja, Lutheran Church...

And the Northern Lights!  We were so lucky to see the Northern Lights again... absolutely amazing way to start the New Year...

Travelling to Iceland in the Winter with my daughters was incredible and I would thoroughly recommend it...

However it is useful to know that hours of daylight are very limited in January....The days did not get light until around 11am and started getting dark again around 3pm!  Its quite disorientating to begin with and trips definitely need to be planned to ensure the right conditions...

Despite this Iceland in the winter with kids is simply magical and full of twinkling Christmas lights which gives the city such a cosy, festive atmosphere...

As well as numerous snowy activities there is so much to do for children....

Malika loved the National Museum of Iceland which is full of child-friendly exhibitions.  They have a childrens trail to follow which explores viking graves, boats, viking costumes etc... I have a lot of photos on my instagram feed so please go there to see more!
http://www.thjodminjasafn.is/

There are also lots of local geothermal pools which are fantastic!  We loved going and swimimng outside in the warm water while snowflakes fell on us....The hot-tubs are addictive!  The local pools are really cheap and a big part of Icelandic culture;  locals go to hang out there in the evenings in the way Scottish folk would go to the pub.

Here is a link to the one that was beside the apartment we stayed in...http://visitreykjavik.is/vesturbaejarlaug

But of course we also made it to the Blue Lagoon, one of Icelands most popular tourist destinations and rightly so....it is absolutely stunning xx


http://www.bluelagoon.com/

We came back to Scotland armed with lots of great children's Icelandic books and have really enjoyed cosying up in front of the fire , reading these wonderful myths,,,,I would love to take the girls back again during the summer months (If I make some money!)...

Takk xx

Bjork - The anchor song

On Monday we're heading to spend our New Year in Iceland!  I'm trying to finish my social work essays before I go and getting in the mood by listening to the wonderful Bjork.

Enjoy Anchor Song, one of my all time favourites...


Happy Boxing Day!

This is what it looks like for me at the moment in a mountain of papers and essays!  xx

Immigration worries on Christmas Eve

(My dear mother-in-law Zahra Ouargha)

Eve of Christmas

and I am reflecting on my year of immigration issues at home and Morocco. 
It's been another year of immigration strain and worry.  Omar's application for Citizenship is only now being considered after eight years of being in a relationship and living in Morocco and Scotland.  In the middle of Omar's recent citizenship application the rules changed again and we had to spend hundreds on passing another english exam to meet the revised rules.
Over the years I have learned how to lobby Scottish politicians who in turn have lobbied the Westminster government after different immigration applications have been rejected and reconsidered.  Over the years I have been summoned to court in Govan, Glasgow to represent our immigration case, I have waded through lenghty and complex immigration forms which assume a high degree of literacy and are subject to constant change even in the midst of an application; this year I have lobbied in a right-wing climate of anti-immigration policy as I have experienced the difficulties of bringing my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to Scotland.

Earlier this year Omar's mother, my mother-in-law Zahra Ouargha, was diagnosed with a very rare form of skin cancer and has struggled with poor diagnosis and treatment in Morocco.  Following unsuccessful surgery earlier in the year, she is now in the horrific situation of receiving no treatment or medication in Morocco.

I have tried to bring her here on a private medical visa but after consulting private medical doctors here, I have discovered that they can not advocate to bring her here for treatment when they haven't seen her as it is against the general medical council ethics.  

I have stayed up late writing to my local MP about this "Catch 22" situation who has written to the current foreign secretary.  We are still awaiting an outcome of this...

I travelled to Morocco three weeks ago with Malika and Ameenah to visit Zahra and as always it is those closest to the person who is ill who suffers the most; Fatima my sister-in-law is really struggling to cope with her mothers illness.  My husband is going through all the classic stages of grief outlined by the psychodynamic theorist Kubler-Ross; he's stuck in denial and anger which has been hard to deal with.

So while my pictures from Morocco may portray a happy and colourful trip, behind the trip was a sense of sadness, grief and frustration at the bloody frustrating fact that while Zahra is dying, she is receiving no medical treatment or pallitative care.

We hope for news soon that she can come and spend some time with us here in Scotland, either that or we will be Morocco bound soon.....


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What stories lie behind our Instagram feeds?

Malika and Ameenah loved spending time with their Moroccan friends a few weeks ago but behind these pictures lay a different kind of narrative....

My sister-in-law Fatima xx 

We spent a lot of time by the sea wall in Essaouria playing and reflecting...x

And thinking about the interdependent lives of our Moroccan friends and neighbours.....compared to the independent lives we lead in the West x

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We will treasure these photos for a long time...xxx