These past two weeks at Sólheimar have been wonderful. The community here is one of a kind, and I am happy to be part of it. Lunch in the dining hall is when we have the opportunity to see most of the people of Solheimar. In the short amount of time I have been here, I have formed a connection with Hanny, Reynir Petur, and Disa. Although it was intimidating to be put in a community with people who have disabilities, these three have shown me that there is nothing to worry about. There honestly is nothing much different between me and these three. Hanny loves to talk and connect with people, which reminds me of my own ambition to connect with people and just be a friendly face to anyone. Reynir Petur is a hard worker and a storyteller; I am astonished of all the things he has done in his life. I strive to have as many stories of what I did with my life by the time I am his age. Finally, Disa is so playful and encapsulates the inner child within all our hearts. There seems to be an unwritten social rule that playing is just for children and once you become an adult you must be stoic. Disa goes against this though and loves to play by pulling the beanies off of unexpecting people in the dining hall. I admire this because my I have a wacky personality, I love to dance and play and just be silly, so I am very happy to have that in common with Disa.
The CELL group also started workshops this past week. We worked with forestry and in the greenhouse. I worked on an organic farm this past summer and it was really neat to see the parallels between that farm and the Sólheimar greenhouse. Both do not use pesticides or herbicides on the plants, which is fantastic because there is nothing better than eating organic fruits and vegetables. One thing I loved in the greenhouse is the rows have carts that you can scoot on while planting. It is so nice to sit on them and scoot your way down the row rather than being on your hands and knees. Forestry was great too, I had the opportunity to plant blackberry bushes. Goomy runs the forestry program at Sólheimar. He loves to share his knowledge of organic farming with the students that help him. He was speaking of the importance of organic matter and oxygen in the soil, and also the importance of keeping the soil watered. While I knew a lot of this information from the past summer, I enjoyed his excitement and genuine love of teaching.
Kevin Katz