WEBVTT - Conversations with Cornesy - Hannah Kent 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.120 Get over and welcome to conversations. 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:02.280 Now. 0:00:02.320 --> 0:00:05.479 Look, if you need any proof that I was a 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:09.720 cultural ignoramus, it is the fact that I had no 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:13.000 knowledge of today's guest and the work that she's done, 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:17.360 and how famous she's now become. Hannah Kent is a 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:22.000 South Australian lady who's written a couple of amazing books, 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.400 and she's just I was reading a review in the 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:27.120 Week in Australian and a couple of weeks ago, and 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.200 I told the story of this rotary exchange student her 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.760 lands in rageavic and Iceland. Can imagine in the middle 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:36.199 of the night that's permanently dark at that time of 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.839 the yearn in the middle of winter, and there's no 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.760 one there to meet. How does she negotiate that? Well, 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:45.880 it's all written in her book, Always Home, Always Homesick, 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.080 a memoir by Hannah Kent. Hannah, welcome to the program. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.200 Thanks for coming so much for having me. It's a joy. 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.400 I couldn't imagine what it's like this Well, I think 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.680 a little girl at seventeen. I don't think that's an 0:00:58.680 --> 0:00:59.880 insulting description of her. 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.040 No, I'll take it now, at the wise old age 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:04.240 of forty. Yeah, it was definitely very young, though at 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.039 the time I probably thought that was very grown up. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:10.600 So your lob in Rashevi in the didn't I say 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:11.120 it correctly? 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:12.720 Reykovic very close. 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:14.840 Well you can now speak Icelandic. 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:16.800 I can. Yeah, it took me a little while. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.680 I just keep thinking of that sweetish ship on the chef, 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:24.800 on the muffet. It must have been a difficult language 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:25.319 to pick up. 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.640 Oh that's what it sounded like, suddenly to my years. 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.559 When I first arrived, I remember I had this extraordinary 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.400 experience of when I did laugh finally land in Keflabic Airport, 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.160 which is about forty five minutes outside of the capital Reykuvic. 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:39.520 It was about midnight, you know, it was dark, as 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.440 you say, and when no one came to get me, 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:44.880 I thought, well, I better do something about it. And 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.200 someone very kindly gave me some coins and pointed me 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.320 to a payphone because I had one phone number of 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.160 one contact in Iceland. And I remember I went over 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.200 there and I put the coins in and I dialed 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:56.520 the number and this woman picks up and she has 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.720 this beautiful, melodious voice. But I couldn't understand nothing. I 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.279 could and even tell the words apart from one another, 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:04.560 and I'm sort of trying to interrupt her and say, 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:06.800 you know, I'm sorry, do you speak English. I'm Hannah, 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.520 I'm the exchange student, and she that she hangs up 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.079 with me, and then so I called the number again 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:14.920 and that I hear the woman and I realize, of 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.400 course that it's not anyone at all. It's just the 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.560 Icelandic equivalent of your fault, your coal can not be connected. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.160 So yeah, that was probably the first time I ever 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.840 heard Icelandic. It wasn't necessarily an auspicious beginning. 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.480 So you loved it. And I know it's because I've 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:35.160 read but our listeners. Why the airport's closing. It's getting 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.680 close to midnight. The airport's closing. You're an hour or 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.000 forty five minutes away from the capital city. You don't 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:45.520 know the airport's cleared, everyone's gone. What's going through your mind? 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:46.360 How are you feeling? 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.400 I probably, you know, I was a very optimistic young woman, 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.359 and I probably allowed about an hour before I really thought, oh, yeah, 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.000 I think I've been forgotten because by that stage, as 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:58.640 you say, there were no more flights coming in, and 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.040 there was no one else there, and after I called 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.200 that number, I didn't really have anything else I could do. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:05.600 I mean, this is two thousand and three January two 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:08.760 thousand and three. When I arrived, I knew nothing about Iceland. 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:10.880 It was this It's a country now that I know 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.280 many people have traveled to, and it seems to have 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.680 a cultural prominence, you know, whether it's the music or 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.320 the writers. People know about Iceland, But back then I 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:21.760 really didn't. All I had to arm myself for this 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.959 exchange was Burke CDs. I had listened to two Berk 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:29.240 CDs and my aunt had also very kindly torn out 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.560 six pages of a Gourmet Traveler, which was all about 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:33.920 icelandic cod and this is what I had, you know, 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:35.800 So I didn't. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't. 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:37.600 I didn't even know what the country looked like. I 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:41.480 remember peering outside of those airport you know, windows, sliding doors, 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:47.960 and seeing nothing. The darkness was so absolute, permanent darkness. 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.200 Te yeah, well they in around that time, they have 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.960 about three or four hours of I wouldn't necessarily describe 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.440 it even as daylight, but sort of as a blue gloaming. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.320 But at this time midnight it was pitch black, and 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.360 so I just sort of sat there in the airport, thinking, oh, right, well, 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.720 something will happen. They'll either eventually remember and come and 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.320 get me, or you know, I'll just keep waiting here 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:11.040 till morning. There was nothing else I could do. I 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.440 didn't have a mobile, And eventually I do see this 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.280 woman coming over to me, and I'm thinking, finally someone's here. 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.359 She comes up, but she's not she's not smiling, and 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.000 I'm thinking, oh, no, what have I done? And she 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.359 comes up and she speaks to me in Icelandic and 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:28.240 I apologize again, you know, for together the talathu enscrew. 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.640 You know, do you speak English? Which was the only 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.400 line I knew, And then she says, oh, you can't 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:37.000 stay here. The airport is closing. And I had no idea. 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.680 I'm like, oh, sorry, should I go wait outside, you know, 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:41.960 pointing to where I can see just these mountains of 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.120 snow and she looks at me like I'm crazy. He says, no, 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.160 don't go outside's crazy? Uh do you have someone that 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:50.360 I can call for you? And I was like, oh, yes, 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:52.040 I have this number, and I gave it to her 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:54.040 and she dialed it and she said, no, you're no 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.440 this number isn't working, and then she said, look, you 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.320 can't stay here to do that. Really well, oh, I've 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.040 listened to a lot of and she says she points 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.960 outside and there's a bus with someone just finally getting on, 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.040 and she says, look, this bus is going to Rekkuvic. 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:08.960 You just have to get on it and I'll see 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:10.480 if I can find someone to come and get to, 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.960 you know, security guard, no idea who I was. So 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.720 I'm like, oh, but I don't have a ticket, and 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:17.159 where does it go? And she's like, just get on 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:19.520 the bus. It's going now. So I start making a 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:20.920 run for it because I can see that the bus 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.000 is closing, and you know, I get outside, it's freezing cold, 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:26.599 and I'm just slapping my hand against the side of 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:30.120 the bus which has started to pull away. Eventually it stops, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.040 it lets me on and I get on, and then 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.240 for forty five minutes I'm taken through this just more 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:37.599 darkness until eventually we get some street lights and I 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.359 see this quiet capital city of Reikuvik, And eventually we 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:41.960 put up at the last stop and I'm the last 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.760 person on the bus and the driver says, you know, 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:46.680 you have to get out and so I do this 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:48.800 empty parking lot and then I see a man in 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.360 a dressing gown waiting for me. That's going to this 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.080 Land's Welcome to Iceland, Hannah, and I was sort of 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.279 wide eyed, and he comes up and he says, oh, sorry, 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.279 I thought you were coming next week. I just completely 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:03.160 forgot here. So that was my first taste of Iceland. 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.760 Okay, we'll come back to that, because I was intrigued 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:10.200 by your first host family. Why did you pick Iceland? 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:12.719 I know you explained it in the book, but people 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.880 will say, why would you pick as an exchange student? 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.680 You could probably pick France or Italy or the USA 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.040 and some places like even Canada, even though it was cold. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:25.400 Why Iceland? 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.080 You know what? I didn't pick it. It was I 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.200 went on in a rotary exchange student. I was in 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.039 year twelve, so I would have been sixteen years old, 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.919 and I remember sitting in assembly and the counselors running 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.120 through community notices and then she sort of says, oh, 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.400 the local rotary club is accepting applicants for their twelve 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.080 month exchange program. And at the time, you know, I 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.240 was someone who had always loved writing and always loved 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:49.960 the arts. But being in year twelve, I had felt, 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.840 you know, really strong pressure to choose a career or 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:55.920 a vocation that would be stable, that I would be 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.200 set to for life. I didn't know who I was. 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.000 I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.040 as soon as she said that, I thought, oh, that's 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.120 twelve months grace then to make those decisions. I wasn't 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.480 even thinking of where I would go. I came home, 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.080 I told my parents, I'm going overseas for twelve months 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:12.640 next year. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:14.280 to take a gap year. They're sort of looking at 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:16.160 one another and there's a bit of upbeat and then they, 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.680 you know, coming straight with their support. I have an 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:23.000 amazing family. But all through the application process, I had 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.360 no idea. I hadn't really thought about where it was 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.960 that I would like to go until I had to 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.720 fill out a form where we were all applicants were 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:32.840 asked to nominate I think about five countries to be 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.880 considered for, but ultimately it said, this is a courtesy, 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.080 we're going to interview you, we're going to match you 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.920 up with the place. And so I think at that 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.840 stage I thought, well, where do I want to go. 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:45.800 What do I want to see? And I'd never seen 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.440 snow before, you know, grew up in the Adelaide Hills 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:53.440 and beautiful Paramount country snows. I remember one time in 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:55.520 the year ten it snowed and then immediately melted and 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.480 everyone went completely bananas. But no, I just thought that 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.480 that would be pretty extraordinary to go somewhere completely different. 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.360 And so I think I did list, you know, Canada, Norway, Sweden, 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:08.440 and I hope the committee would get the gist. But 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.880 it wasn't until I was in my final interview where 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.800 they were asking us questions such as, how would you 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.679 feel if you know you encountered this or that problem 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.360 or challenge, And I was asked how I would how 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.200 I would respond if I were sent somewhere where it 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.280 was dark, you know a great deal of time in 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:27.240 the winter, and I was so enthusiastic. Without thinking, I 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:29.720 just said, oh, that would be amazing. I would love 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.560 to experience that. And I remember the rotarian picking up 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:34.520 his pencil and sort of doing a big cross next 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:36.679 to my name, and that's I'm pretty sure that's why 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.040 I ended up being the only person sent to Iceland 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:39.400 that year. 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:41.840 Tell us about the early years. It seemed to me 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:46.920 you were a childhood comfort or solace escape in books 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.000 from an early age. I did, I did about your 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:51.120 mum was a teacher. 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:53.640 Yeah, my mum was a primary school principal, and I 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.359 think she saw very early on that words and stories 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.240 were something that made sense to me. I was very 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:05.480 shy child. I was very softly spoken, often didn't speak. 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:09.679 I was quite solitary too, not in a way, not 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:11.600 to say that I was lonely, because I don't remember 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.000 ever really feeling lonely as a kid, but I was 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.480 just that little, shy, daydreaming child. And I think as 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:19.880 I taught myself to read quite early on, probably because 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.720 my parents read to me very early on, and I 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.679 quickly made the correlation between those symbols on the page 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.760 and the words that were being spoken, and words then 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.320 became a means by which I could make sense of 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.720 the world around me. It was something that felt magical 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.040 to me. As soon as I started reading, and I 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:40.280 could read to myself silently in my head, I realized 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.360 that I never really saw the words on the page. 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:44.800 I just saw, you know, like movies in my mind, 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.160 and I could completely leave whatever situation I was in 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.520 or whatever emotional state I was in, and be someone else. 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:53.240 I could go to the other side of the world. 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:58.840 I could time travel. This was by five. I remember 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.400 being I remember having this feeling. I remember being in 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:05.120 reception and having this response to books. It was quite 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.800 it was quite early on, and I remember my frustration 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:09.880 then at school when I had to sort of dutifully 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.520 chant aloud the big books with my teacher and just 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.960 the excruciating weight before she turned the page. I remember 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.680 that very clearly. But yeah, very soon after that, probably 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:21.880 around the age six, my parents tell me that I 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:23.760 announced that I wanted to be a writer, and I 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.520 think that's because I worked out that this magical thing, 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.280 you know, these magical objects were actually made by people, 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.160 and I thought I want to be able to wield 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:32.000 that kind of magic. 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.520 Have you got any of those early writings. 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.840 Oh, my gosh, I do. I have my first short story, 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.000 which very clearly I already have a you know, a 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.679 taste for the dramatic. Yeah, it's about a fish who 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.560 wrecks vengeance on the local community when they start up 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.440 a fish and chip shop locally and family start getting murdered. 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.880 So yeah, it secks. It sicks. Yeah, I've still got 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:53.520 a copy of it. 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.920 What did Your mum was a high school school principal. 0:10:57.679 --> 0:10:59.720 Your dad was principle and wanted you. 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.000 My dad worked in in finance, you know, for a 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:06.240 long time he worked managing people's super funds. 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.840 And you went to high school at Heathville. 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:09.400 I did. 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.160 He thought high school country. It's not really country, but 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:13.880 it's in the hills. 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:15.800 Yeah, I guess regional. I'm not sure. 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:17.160 Renowned for its volleyball team. 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:19.280 Yeah, I was. I was on one. I mean I 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.400 was probably the shortest person on it, but very definitely 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:24.280 back caught. But I loved it. It was great school. 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:28.319 Hannah Kent, he's my guest, folks. Autobiography. I think that's 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:29.319 the best way of describing it. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:31.079 Memoir. 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.480 Memoir. That's a memoir. That's what it says, always home, 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.120 always home, So a memoir. I should have seen it 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.240 on the front cover back shortly, folks, My guest today 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.280 and conversations is Hannah Kent, a young lady who grew 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.679 up in the Adelaide Hills, had a fascination with reading 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:49.480 and writing. Wrote her first story and first book when 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.160 she was six, and she still has got it about 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.560 a fish who reaped vengeance on the local community for 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.640 the for the fish and chip shop. But her memoir 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.920 it's called always Home, Always Homesick, based on I guess 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:10.520 her experiences as an rotary exchange student in Iceland. Anyway, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.280 if you just tuned in, you've been accepted to go 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.199 to we haven't been accepted to go to Iceland. You're 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:20.559 still making your decision. If you submitted your requests and 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.880 someone comes along and says Iceland, and what goes through 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:24.760 your mind. 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.120 I was shocked. I was pretty taken aback. And I 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.160 remember the first thing I did when I put the 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:31.559 phone down was, you know, the family's crowding around. We 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.440 went and got the atlas, because that's what you did 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:35.400 back then. You got out of the atlas, and we 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:38.240 we found Iceland, and you know, there was one page 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.199 half a page sort of dedicated to it, and all 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.199 we can see is, you know, two dots on it. 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.000 One's down south Raykiavik, the capital, and then there's another 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:48.880 one in ARKWADERTI and I had been told that most 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.000 people who were sent to smaller sort of populations tend 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.520 to be around the capitol. So I was like, oh, okay, great, 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.240 you know, I'll probably be around Raykivic or Aarkuderti this 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.680 other town that you know, reads a mention on the atlas. 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.440 But then about a month before I was due to leave, 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:04.920 I was told that I was going to be sponsored 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:07.560 by the Rotary Club of so the Croaker, which looks 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:09.480 a lot like soda Cracker when it's written down. 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.880 I've tried. I've seen the name written and I can't 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.400 fathom how you can understand all the little symbols on 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.120 it and pronunciation. 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.160 I had no idea. So yeah, and we didn't know 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.000 where it was. It took ages. We had to hunt 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:25.880 it down on the internet, you know, back in the 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:27.839 days when you unplug the phone and wait for the 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.280 dial up. And eventually my mum found it. And it's 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.920 this little little town right up top, right in the north, 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.319 on the edge of this fjord. And I was thinking, 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.520 oh my gosh, I can't get further away from home 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:40.880 than this. My dad's saying, you know, any further and 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.120 you're starting to come back home again. And eventually, yeah, 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:45.920 that's that's where I was sent. But I mean, I 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:47.720 knew so little about it. It was I knew it 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.520 was a fishing village, and that's all I knew. So 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:51.160 I imagined it would be close to the sea, but 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:52.960 I had no idea what to expect. 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.240 Any So we've heard what happened when you landed. We've 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:58.040 heard what You've got to finally find someone in Raka 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.360 because who knows you and he expects you. Then you 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.400 head off to your host's family. Now i've seen the 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.800 description of your host family. You're pretty brave when it 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:12.000 comes to discussing people's. 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.440 Well, you know, I feel like that's the prerogative of 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:19.560 the novelist and the memoirrist, I guess, but you know, well. 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.120 There's another segment here. Well, where is it? I've made 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.280 a note of it. One day, I'm sheltering from the 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.080 rain and the shed of k the woman who takes 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.840 care of me and my sister after school. Kay is 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:33.360 one of the first truly mean people I've ever met, loath, seminiar, 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:37.000 open contempt for children, and who refusal to allow us 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.360 the sanctuary of her warm living room when it's raining. 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.360 Kay might still be alive, she's reading, she. 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:44.520 Might be She's had a name change, so she might 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:45.640 know who she is, but no one else. 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:46.920 Oh that's not a real name. 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.480 No, And I made sure to do that because lots 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:51.120 of people who have their real names in there. I 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:52.920 was able to contact and I told them what I 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.240 was doing and asked for their permission. But people who 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.120 I'm no longer in touch with, you know, as you 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:00.200 can imagine, Kay and I are not exactly best of friends, and. 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.880 I just not weld she might. 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:05.800 She might, but I stand by it. One of the 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.240 wonderful things in writing this memoir was that I had 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.240 a huge amount of diaries and notebooks and letters and 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:14.880 emails home. So whenever I felt like, oh this, you know, 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.120 this is not necessarily unkind because there's always grounds for it, 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.360 it was always something that I had in record, you know, 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.080 I could corroborate. I guess I didn't want to, you know, 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.200 say things that maybe I might later doubt. So everything, 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.760 you know, all the all the sort of nuances of 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.640 these particular kinds of relationships are absolutely true. 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:37.000 So your first host family wasn't particularly welcoming, No, I was. 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.640 It was quite an extraordinary thing I hadn't had. I 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.400 had had an experience when I was traveling to Iceland 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:44.800 of landing in Ansterdam. One of my stop over cities 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.920 and seeing a rotary exchange student't be greeted by their 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.400 host family. You know, there were balloons and there was 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.600 a big sign and they're welcoming them and give them 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:55.640 a big hug. And I remember thinking, oh, yeah, this 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.640 looks great. I'm looking forward to this. And then when 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:00.560 I finally you know, I didn't I have that same 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:02.400 reception at the airport. And then when I took this 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.680 little tiny plane up to sow the Crocker and it 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:06.480 was dark again, I couldn't even see what this town 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.200 looked like. And they were there. They remembered me, but 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:14.560 they were incredibly reserved. And I remember almost immediately thinking, oh, 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:16.800 if I already made you know, a cultural faux pas 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.320 here and they, you know, if I'd done something to 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.840 annoy them, because they were so silent. And then when 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:26.520 we finally pulled up at their house, their son was there. 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.600 He was their sort of lenning against the doorway, and 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.600 I was introduced to him. You know, this is kind 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.320 of that. I think he was about eighteen years old, 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.760 so just a touch a touch older than me, and 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.120 he didn't say a thing. He just turned around and 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:41.320 went back inside. And I remember I turned to my 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:43.920 host father. I said, oh, can he speak English? And 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.480 he was like, oh, yes, very well. I thought, oh again, 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:48.680 I'm not sure what's going on, and he didn't speak 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:50.120 to me. I don't think the entire time that I 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:54.080 was there. So even now I'm a bit curious as 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.160 to what might have been going on with that family, 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.200 because they were an incredibly silent family. Initially I thought 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:00.880 it was just with me, but then I realized it 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.040 was also amongst one another, you know, in themselves. They 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.080 spent a lot of time apart, and as an adult 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.520 looking back, I think, oh, you know, they probably had 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.159 They probably weren't in a good position to take on 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:16.960 an exchange student at the time, being seventeen, I'm thinking, 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.000 what have I done? You know, this is something this 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.280 is on me. I'm not extroverted enough, or I don't know, 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.879 not learning the language fast enough. But I've since spoken 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.359 to many people within that community who have said, oh no, 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.359 I think I think they had their own issues. I 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:32.680 think they probably shouldn't have just had an exchange student. 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.200 What's it like frontic up at school the next day? 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:40.480 You can't speak icelanding some of them they speak English. 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:45.200 But were you confident or your nervously. What's going through 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:45.639 your mind? 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.520 I was incredibly nervous. Yeah, I sort of landed on 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:50.240 the weekend and then I was told I knew I 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.119 would have to go to school. That was a requirement 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.400 of the exchange, even though I'd finished in Australia and 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.040 I thought there'd be a few more days to settle in. 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:00.399 But the now on Monday, I was told. You know, 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:02.560 by that stage, i'd seen a little bit of the town. 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.399 It was very small. There was this bright orange building 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.240 sort of on the side of a hill, and that 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:09.359 was pointed to me out That was pointed to me 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.639