It has been glorious summer weather the last few days. Yesterday when I was going up Laugarvegur I took my hat off, then my scarf and finally even my jacket. Tourists stopped me to ask for the way and wondered whether I wasn't freezing.
I started noticing that it was really easy to tell apart tourists from locals. Tourists were wearing rain jackets, scarfs and hats; we locals were bathing in the sun in T-shirts and shorts.

In Germany every supermarket is stocked with a variety of chocolate puddings right next to the yogurt. In Iceland I find one, if I'm lucky. For everyone else who is suffering of chocolate pudding shortage and excessive laziness, here is my (for a change non-vegan) easy chocolate pudding recipe:

A coup of AB-Mjólk
3 tablespoons of cacao powder
1 sablespoon of sugar

AB-Mjoĺk is a kind of yogurt with added probiotics, so I can pretend I'm eating something healthy.

Because it is right next to the milk, is packaged like milk (it comes in 1L tetra packs) and has the Icelandic word for milk (mjólk) in the name, it is the object of the most commonly made shopping mistake of foreigners in Iceland. Message boards are full of stories of people ruining their coffee with AB-Mjólk. So for everyone out there: milk is sold in blue (Nýmjólk = whole milk), yellow (Létt Mjólk = skim milk) or violet (G-Mjólk = homogenized milk) packages.
AB-Mjólk is really tasty in muesli, I also use it to make dips or smoothies, just don't put it in coffee!

In Germany Eurovision is not a thing. Unless one belongs to a certain interested subgroup one might even miss that it was on. Not so in Iceland. Here it is inescapable. The songs play on the radio. Eurovision news are on the front of the daily newspapers. And the whole country watches the event. With time even the most resistant immigrant is assimilated. Me and my friends gathered in front of the TV to enjoy three hours of glittery silliness.

Slovenia: Headphones! Weird contorted dancing! Eurovision is going to be fun.
France: Everyone likes Les Miserables, lets copy it.
Estonia: The Icelandic commenter compared the artist to Johnny Cash. Because he is playing guitar. I guess I'm Hendrix then, I own an electric guitar.
UK: Every year the UK seems to make a point of showing they don't give a fuck about the Eurovision.
Armenia: Another duet... no wait a quartet! A sextet? I'm confused by the singing combinations on stage
Israel: My friend claims the song reminds her of belly dancing music
Lithuania: Has a clear selling point: We are a couple!
Serbia: Someone got the message that being proud of being different won last time
Norway: Here is a winning combination: Generic Eurovision song with something memorable (here the voices of the singers)
Sweden: Same as Norway. Here the special thing is the arty stage show. It occurs to me that the real artists in this contest are not the musicians, but the people creating the stage shows.
Cyprus: How did they get him to be in black and white on stage?
Australia: Are special guests because of the 60s anniversary of Eurovision and because in Australia Eurovision is as big as in Iceland. For a second I thought the singer is wearing no pants.
Belgium: A child! Why is he walking so funny? Ohhhh, he is dancing.
Austria: He is quaking, not singing. Why are they dressed up as the Beatles? The piano is on fire!
Greece: Finally! A pretty blonde woman singing a ballad in a glittery dress in front of a wind machine. This is Eurovision.
Montenegro: They are the first to not be singing English.
Germany: This really, really wants to be a bond song
Poland: There is no way to not make commenting on this uncomfortable. The singer is wheelchair bound and there are videos of her pre-accident. I'm just going to mention the wedding theme going on here.
Latvia: My friend claims this is a cheap copy of a singer called ?FTA Twix?.
Romania: The band really wants to be U2.
Spain: Now we are hitting all the Eurovision points. Woman in rope, the dress torn off to reveal a glittery outfit, lots of yahay! in the "powerful" chorus. Silly dance number in between.
Hungary: The woman seems to be confused about her presence on stage. Did they just abduct a random woman off the street handed her a microphone and pushed her on stage?
Georgia: Don't let the gothic outfit fool you, this is still the typical woman singing in front of wind machine Eurovision performance.
Azerbaijan: Fitting to the Little Red Riding Hood outfit worn by Spain, here is a werewolf themed song. More silly dancing ensues.
Russia: This woman seems to be singing for her life. Maybe literally.
Albania: This is so out much of tune.
Italy: Opera! Epicness!

During the scoring there was this awkward moment when it looked like Russia was going to win. Every commenter was quick to point out that this was about music (ehem). The presenter of the German scores called Conchita half a lady. The Russia got 12 points. Facepalms all around.
Everything ended well. Sweden won and Eurovision celebrated its glittery banality.

Extra points: draw the flags of the above mentioned countries on the appropriate places on this map

The administrators of Expat-Blog asked in the Forum to write some information about the Icelandic Health Care system. Considering I'm working in it, I decided to answer.

The health care system in Iceland is a NHS style system, which means everyone is covered by the Icelandic Health Insurance, which is financed via taxes.
There is no private system to speak of, but the current government is working hard on changing that, crippling the public health care system while a private hospital is planned to be built.

Immigrants who have been legally residing in Iceland for 6 month are automatically covered. If one is from an EEA country can get coverage via the European Health Insurance Card or is insured directly if one has been insuread/resided in one of the EEA member states 6 month previously. One has to request form E104 (or form E106/E109/E121) from their previous insurance provider and submit it to the Icelandic Health Insurance.
For none Europeans see here.

Even for insured patients there are quite a lot of out of pocket payments, for example for interventions, such as physiotherapy, psychological care or medication (often even for life threatening or chronic conditions, such as heart medication or cancer). The out of pocket payments are paid up to a certain amount, after which the insurance will pay a higher percentage or all. The out of pocket payments for medicine can be up to 62.000kr (425kr) in a 12 month period.
For one physiotherapy session alone one can expect to pay around 4000kr (25€) out of pocket.

Dental care is not covered by the Icelandic Health Insurance.

This is where the trade unions come in. Almost everyone (85%) who is employed is in a union. They play an important part in the social security system, offering financial support for holiday, education and healthcare. Unions will often refund part or all of the out of pocket payments for medication, dental care or therapies. They also have sick day funds for after sick pay rights expire (even for sick spouses or kids!) and disability funds.
See the these two links as an example: http://vr.is/english/sick-payfund/ http://vr.is/english/grants/
One can find out which union you belong to by checking your working contract or your payslip (union dues are taken automatically from the wages)

On some days a girl just craves a burger and a beer. For this reason I provide this guide to hamburgers in Reykjavík. It is not complete, it compares my usual haunts.

The cheapest - Stúdentakjallarinn
Located under the main building of the University of Iceland the Stúdentakjallarinn is the student bar and the prices are expectantly low.
They serve a good burger, not the best you will ever eat, but it comes with fries and a salad for only 930kr. The fries are made out of real potatoes. One can order add-ons such as bacon, cheese, mushrooms etc. The bar is almost always full of hungry and thirsty students and sometimes waiting times are long.

The best atmosphere - Vitabarinn
Located at Bergþórugötu 2 in the middle of 101 Reykjavík this is the place to meet for a quick burger before going out or for the hangover the day after. The burgers are comparable to the one from Stúdentakjallarinn, though a bit more expensive (1100kr for burger and fries).
The bar has been a neighbourhood hangout since as long as I can remember and the atmosphere mirrors that.

This is what a Hamburger tastes like - and free pickles! - Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar
They are located in a small joint at the harbour (Geirsgata 1), the interior consists of barstools and a few tables. It looks cool (posters everywhere), but is no place to sit and hang out.
It is the most expensive of the three: 1630kr for a burger, fries and a soft drink. The fries are awful, almost like from McDonalds and the whole thing does not fill you up.
But the burger, is a different category from the other two. The meat is thick and juicy, grilled just the right way.someone here knows what they are doing and that the fries, the bread, the veggies are just a distraction from what matters. One can get free mustard and pickles from the side table. I love pickles. I love this burger.
They do not serve beer, which means I have to sequence my burger and beer craving. Right across the street is Slippbarinn, so on two many Fridays then I'd like to admit it is burger and cocktails.