Edited and published by: Clubhouse Geysir, Skipholt 29, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland. Tel: (354)-5515166.

e-mail: kgeysir@kgeysir.is. Website: www.kgeysir.is

1st edition 2013

The Geysir Chronicle

The picture (see above) was taken of Geysir´s members and staff on August 14

th. The occasion was mainly that we had reached that moment to take a picture

of members and staff while such picture had not been taken since the year

2005. It is clear that the picture is a success and the group is proud and great.

The picture was taken by the photographer Helgi Halldórsson (kneeling in the

front). He is well known to the members of the Clubhouse Geysir for his inter-

esting photos. He has exhibited in the Clubhouse Gallery as well as in different

galleries in Reyjavík and on the Internet. The future certainly looks bright and

promising with this crew steering Geysir Clubhouse.

Proud Clubhouse Colleagues

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Editor´s note International Mental Health Day

October 10th 2013

It has been a

busy year at

Geysir Clubhouse.

In the beginning

of the year we

were working on

getting accredita-

tion from Club-

house Interna-

tional which we

received after a

visit from Iris and Annlaug from the

accreditation team in April. We hired

a new director in May, a former col-

league from the office unit, Þórunn

(Tóta). We welcome her as our new

director. The summer was rainy but

also eventful. We went on our annu-

al travel to Akureyri, members and

staff together—the Fountain House

way. One staff from the kitchen

unit had been expecting a baby that

was born in November. The autumn

went by very fast and now we are

preparing the Christmas program

for our Clubhouse. We have been

working on staff evaluation as well

as budgeting for next year. Christ-

mas card making is in full progress,

as well as the usual huffle and buffle

of the office, making the newsletter

and recording attendance and also

making lunch in the kitchen and

doing the laundry. We are looking

forward to the future and are posi-

tive towards the new year.

Best regards, Elín Oddný Sigurðardóttir Editor of Geysir

Chronicle

Geysir participated in the Interna-tional Mental Health Day October

10th. There was a great march through the centre of Reykjavik to raise awareness of mental health issues in Reykjavik. After the march, Geysir also participated in a special program in Harpa Con-cert Hall with music, speeches and presentations from different

resources available for people suf-fering from mental illness in Ice-land. The program ended with the Icelandic foundation “You can” awarding scholarships to people with mental illness to pursue their studies. The day was a big suc-cess and Geysir was happy to participate once again.

Contributors to this edition of Geysir Chronicle:

Elín Sigurðardóttir, Benedikt Gestsson, Eva Ólafsdóttir, Gunnar K. Geirsson, Arnar Laufeyjarson, Ólöf

Þóra Steinólfsdóttir, Arnar Valgeirsson, Helgi Halldórsson.

Mental Health day parade in Reykjavík

Elín with her one year old son.

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Filip is a new volunteer at Geysir

And he wants to be a doctor in psychology.

Filip Simonfy turned 26 in October. He has a Masters degree in psychology from the Comenius University in Bratislava which is the capital of Slovakia. Filip began working as a volunteer at the Geysir Club on Sep-tember 5 th 2013. He is participating in

EVS or the European Voluntary Service which here in Iceland the Interna-tional Youth Exchange (AUS) is an agent for. He has done a lot of fun things during the short time he has been in Ice-land, like sheep round

-up at Skeiðum where he had a really good time. Arnar Laufeyjarson, member of Geysir, met with Filip and asked him a few questions. Where are you from? I´m from Slovakia, born in Banska Bystrica but I used to live in Bratislava before I moved to Iceland. What is the weather like in Slovakia? There are four seasons, the summer is hot and the winter is cold. It can be very beau-tiful in the fall and in the spring. Do you have any siblings? I have one brother who is three years older. Do you have a girlfriend? No (he says laughing), I‘m single. What is your favourite colour? Black.

Are you on Facebook? Yes. What is your favourite beer brand ? Urpiner lager from my home town. Do you have any hobbies? I like going to concerts, art exhibitions and I like sports. I‘ve been to concerts here in Iceland for example in Kex Hostel and Loft Hostel where I listened to folk music and jazz. Then I went to see a brass band in Harpa (Reykjavik‘s Concert Hall) it was very nice seeing musicians dressed up doing brass. I listen to a lot of different genres of music. Do you do any sports? Yes, for a while I was doing Kung Fu but now I mostly do jogging. What were you doing before you came to Geysir? I worked in a rehabilitation centre for peo-ple with mental disorders in Bratislava. Why Iceland? I´m really interested in Nordic countries and I like Icelandic culture and nature. How long will you stay in Geysir? I´ll be here for a year. So how do you like Iceland? I think Iceland is very beautiful and inter-esting, and the people are very nice. What would you like to do while you stay here in Iceland? Travel and meet lots of people. But what about when your stay here is over? I would like to do a PhD in psychology. Any last words? Yes, thanks for the interview and I hope to

contribute something to Geysir and I am

looking forward to the rest of my stay.

Arnar Laufeyjarson

Filip in full gear in the kitchen unit

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Pétur Hjálmarsson –Pé tur - is the bass player and music consultant for the band Keli and the Kidlingarnir (Keli and the Goat Offsprings) the house band in Geysir. He has a Masters degree in electrical trades and is a aircraft model enthusiast, among other things. He arrived a few years ago to Geysir to fix the wirings and then as he says, accidentally ended in the house band. He started off by playing once a month and then it turned into a weekly thing. You could say the Offsprings lead by Keli have become a great band. Arnar Laufeyjarson sat down with Pe tur in the conference room in Geysir and asked him a few questions. What does Keli in Keli and the Offsprings stand for? Wéll, my friénd Thorkéll, who I know from aircraft model making, is the accordion player for Keli and and the Goat Offsprings and he is called Keli. Where do you come from? I‘m from Blonduo s in the northern part of Iceland. Have you played in other bands? I started in O smenn (The Mouth of the River) in Blonduo s from 1966 to ´68 but when I was in high school in Akureyri from 1968 to ´69. I played with the accomplished band Geislar (The Rays). During my apprenticeship as an electrician I went back to Blonduo s and took up where I left off with O smenn ´69-71. When I went to Reykjaví k to study music I was in a band with Maggi Eirí ks (famous Icelandic musician) along with a few others. The band was called Lí sa (the name Liza) and played in Sigtu n (one of the most popular nightclubs in Reykjavik, at the time) among other places. I was in the band Da tar 2 (The Soldiers 2), and then there was the band Bla ber (Blueberries). From 1975 – 1983 I was the singer, bassist and manager for the band Galdrakallar (Wizards) whéré, among othérs, thé

remarkable dudes Villi Gudjo ns and Hordur Smari Haraldsson where included. Later I played in various groups among them was Tofraflautan (The Magic Flute) including Jon Olafs (a great keyboard player), Stefa n Hjorleifs (a guitar hero) and Ma r Elí asson (éxpériéncéd drummér). Sométimés Bjartmar Gudlaugsson and Thorgeir Astvaldsson (Icélandic Célébs) playéd with us to. And finally there was the Birgir Gunnlaugsson band and the Stefan P. band from 1986-2005. About now Pétur is on a roll and its very nice to hear him talk about old times, but what could his favourite band be? It is hard to say. I have a degree in classical music from the Reykjaví k School of Music. There I learned to play flute and piano. I really enjoy listening to Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Symphony and then Led Zeppelin interchangeably. I was also into punk music! Are you a family man?Yes I have a wife and three kids and I live in Gardabaer (In the Capital area). What´s your favourite food? Fish and applés, preferably together! Your favourite color? Blué. Are you on Facebook? No. Do you play any sports? Not at the present time, but I used to be in football and track and field. I even got a medal in the Icelandic

Geysir´s musical mentor

Keli and the Goat Offsprings playing at the Christmas party

2013. Pétur is standing on the far left.

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An interview with Þórunn Ósk Sölva-dóttir. the new man-aging director of the

Clubhouse Geysir

Where were you born and raised? I was born in Fáskrudsfjord but raised in Kópavogur city.

Where do your descend from? They came from Svarvaðardalur and from Flatey on Mýrar in Hornafjord. What school did you attend? First ,I attended Ísaksschool , then Hlíðarschool. I was there one or two winters as I can best remember. Then I attended Digranesschool. After that, I attended Víghólaschool. From there I attended the Col-

lege Menntaskólinn við Sund and graduated from there in 1979. Then I ended up in a social pedagogue school and graduated in the year 1985.

How many children do you have? I have three sons , three stepchildren and eight grandchil-dren. What sign are you? I am a Capricorn.

What is your favourite food? All Icelandic food, skate and talg is a delicious food along with all the other things I like. What is your favourite colour? Blue and black.

What is the most beautiful place in Iceland in your opinion? Tálknafjörður and Mývatnssveit. And abroad? I really don‘t know, but I think

from what I have seen it was in Norway around Bergen. Tell us a good joke. A man came into a bar and asked: Who owns the Rottweiler dog in a leash outside? A big hulk said he was the own-er. Then the other man said: Excuse me but my dog seems to have killed your dog. It suffocated when my Chiwawa got stuck in his throat.

In the end congratulations with your new job. Thank you very much.

Interview: Ólöf þóra Steinólfsdóttir

A capricorn who loves skate and talg

championships in track and field in 1967. How about other hobbies? I´m a fanatic aircraft model maker and my current fleet consists of 20 aircrafts. After I build them I fly them with other enthusiasts. My biggest aircraft is nearly 3 meters long and I have built over 35 aircrafts and I also dabble in boatmaking. I´m also a master electrician and I have my own company which I started in 1987, „Electrical Wiring and Intercom Service“ so there is a lot to do. Are Keli and the Goat Offsprings playing at the christmas party in Geysir? Yés, wé play about 3-4 times a year in various Clubhouse

events. The Christmas gathering is on the 5th of December from 6-9 p.m. Great food and a lottery and of course great traditional music. As I say goodbyé to thé good spiritéd and great story teller, Pe tur Bassi, I would like to mention that while being in Keli and the Kidlingarnir he is also in a band called 3B or the Bitter Blues Band (formérly Thé Wagon of Thunder) where Eidur O rn Eidsson sings, while Saevar A rnason plays the guitar and Ingo lfur Sigurdsson plays the drums. Now Keli og kidlingarnir (Keli and the Goat Offsprings) consists of Pe tur Hja lmarsson Odinn Einisson, Thorkell Jo hannesson, A rni Jo hannesson, Benedikt Gestsson and Hulda O sk Traustado ttir. Interview Arnar Laufeyjarson and Arnar Valgeirsson

Pétur mentoring in

Geysir Clubhouse

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In mid July, my family and I ventured for a

week to Bjarnarfjörður in Strandir in the

western part of Iceland. Bjarnarfjörður is

west of Húnaflói and is in the nearest fjord

to Steingrímsfjörður. It is a four hour drive

from Reykjavík, even though the distance

has recently been reduced, since we now

can drive through Búðardalur, where we

indeed stopped to admire the scenery. We

didn‘t get to enjoy the sights as much as we

had hoped, since it was a cloudy day. But

the weather wasn‘t cloudy all the time and we did have a couple of days when the

weather was very nice. Strandir is a won-

derful place to visit and it offers a lot of

interesting and fun things to do while you‘re

there. We went swimming in the pools in

Drangsnes and Laugarhóll. Bjarnarfjörður

river runs through the valley and gathers

water from Trékyllisheiði. The best thing about staying in a summer

house is that you can do fun things with

your family while getting some down time

in-between. The Sorcerer‘s Cottage (Kot

kuklarans) isn‘t far from the pool in

Laugarhóll and it is the second instalment

for the Magic Expo at Strandir. The pool

itself is called Gvendarlaug after Guðmun-

dur the Good, a bishop who sanctified the water in an older pool that lies above

Laugarhóll. Another interesting festival in

Drangsnes was the eighteenth Harbour Fes-

tival (Bryggjuhátíð) where different kinds of

seafood are served, for example pizza with

seal on and whale meat. You can also enjoy

a number of different things

while being there, such as

picking mussels or travelling

to the islands to collect eggs.

There is always something

good to eat in the summer

house and this trip was no

exception. We barbecued

leg of lamb and served it

with salad and other deli-

cious side dishes. We also

made Belgian waffles with

cream and jam. The scenery

at Strandir is amazing with

its majestic mountains. All in all, it was an

amazing trip and I look forward to visiting

Strandir a next year again.

Arnar Laufeyjarson

A week in Strandir

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Geysir Festival day on June 8th On Saturday the 8th of June, members, staff, visitors and friends enjoyed Geysir’s annual summer festival with a barbeque, flea market and a mini-marathon. We were honoured by the presence of Mr. O lafur Ragnar Grí msson the president of Iceland, Annie Mist, a double world-champion in Cross Fit and other great performers, such as Helgi Valur and Þorsteinn Guðmundsson. Below you can enjoy pictures from this great event.

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Geysir Clubhouse is open all weekdays from 08.30 - 16.00 except Fridays until 15.00

GEYSIR‘S MISSION STATEMENT

Respect – Open mind – Friendship

We welcome those who struggle with or have struggled with men-tal illness, to participate in constructive work on an equality basis, with the aim to increase their social inclusion and enhance their quality of life. We do this by: Being a safe place Offer diverse tasks in a work-ordered day Increase member‘s self-esteem by taking into

account their strengths, interests and abilities at each moment Offer study and work-search support

Offer temporary employment opportunities

Collaboration – Discussion – Consensus

Making liver and blood pudding

On October 17th and 18th we made our traditional Icelandic liver and blood pudding. A great group of members and staff of all ages participated in the work. The produce will be a welcome addition to the Clubhouse menu. Above you can se members and staff working on the pudding.