Singing for the President

The tickets for tonight’s Advent Concert were sold out when we tried to purchase them.  We had no idea how big the concert was to be, nor who would go on what evening.

Tonight Peter found out why we could not get tickets and it had nothing to do with Wednesday night being everyones ‘free night’….nope, the President of Iceland and his wife were in attendance.  Now, this is not the States…heck, you can walk right up to Bessastaðir, the home of Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland.  However, once he has tickets, probably a sure bet the night will be sold out.

In other news, she will probably make the papers again.  This afternoon was the signing of the agreement between the town of Gardabaer and the International School of Iceland.  It was held at Sjalandskoli, the school that hosts ISI.  Since late last year, everything seems to make me, well, sentimental.

So watching the Icelandic students (a select few) sing Christmas carols in English and C and the her classmates sing Christmas carols in Islensku certainly tugged at my heartstrings.  One group sang and then sat down in perfect rhythm with the rising of their peers.  There is nothing like watching children singing in (almost) perfect harmony..but in two different languages and neither of them singing in their Mother Tongue.

C had a touch of stage fright, but mostly due to feeling overwhelmed.  She was asked to lead the students as the music teacher was quite impressed with her voice.  I think, however, the constant pop of the flashbulbs scared her…quite a few more photographers than I expected, but it was a momentous occasion.  After all, ISI is the only school in the nation that offers a complete curriculum in English for those who are not fluent in Icelandic.

Some of you should have received the video (of last night) by now, and hopefully, we will have more pictures posted here soon.  For now, enjoy this pic of the girls…