When we went to the turf houses, I had an unforgettable experience helping Hannes retrieve turf from his neighbor’s farm. Our end goal was to rebuild a collapsed wall that had been worn down after 5 earthquakes. By first glance, one could tell that it was about to fall apart, so, Hannes used this project to teach us about the fundamentals of turf house maintenance. Moments after Kristín took us on our first tour of the turf house, Hannes instructed us to get bundled up with warm wool socks, waterproof boots, rain pants, a warm coat, work gloves, and a hat. As I quickly realized after stepping outside, wool socks would have been a good idea to pack for this trip. After Hannes tore down the deteriorating wall, he told us about the basics of turf house building. He told us about the layer of sturdy stones and the layer of compacted turf that have be built interchangeably on top of one another in order to make a stable wall. Hannes instructed me and another Cell student to go with him to his neighbor’s farm to retrieve a couple pieces of turf to use on the wall. When we arrived, a dozen beautiful horses greeted us upon our entrance into the enclosed gate. The field was muddy after a long day of rain so it was hard to trudge though while pushing the wheel barrel across the field. After we piled a couple pieces of turf in the wheel barrel, Hannes instructed me to take the first trip pushing the wheel barrel filled with heavy turf across the field to the truck. It was extremely difficult to get passed the huge lumps of grass, mud, and snow, without spilling the turf, but I was determined. After a long struggle, I looked back at the horses I had passed in the process. I found such humor in situation that I just stood next to the wheel barrel and laughed. These beautiful creatures had just watched me struggle in my unbreakable determination to get a bunch of compacted dirt across a field. This situation made me think about the human struggle of getting caught up in the chaos of life and forgetting to take a moment to look around. We worked so hard to push that wheel barrel through the mud. We beat ourselves up about it and forget that there are dozens of beautiful Icelandic horses around us. We just have to keep our heads up and look around.
Alex Webb