Summer days

We took a one-week vacation to a campground on the east coast of Fyn (location) where we rented a small cabin. We were very lucky to get beautiful weather, the only rain occurring one night while we slept. The rest of the days were sunny and warm. At times, too warm. Vacations are certainly different with Anya, but we quickly settled into a routine which made everyone happy. Anya is an early riser, especially with the early Scandinavian sunrise. After an early breakfast and maybe a stroll around the campground we were off to the toddlers' playroom. After an hour of fun we were back to the cabin for a snack then off to the nice indoor pool for some swimming fun. Anya really enjoys being in the water. She could watch mommy and daddy going down the water slide and all of the other swimmers having a good time. After working up a nice appetite from an hour of swimming, it was back to the cabin for lunch then a nice naptime. Afternoons included a ride on the campground "train" and spreading out a blanket in the shade to watch the cars go by (bbrrrmmmm!). A walk around the campground and a swing in a shady playground wound things up before dinner. Our one day trip took us to Egeskov Slot, located about 40 minutes away by car.

The last week was Jazz Festival in Copenhagen. We went to three events with Anya. The Jazz for Kids performance we attended was excellent. I will forego any comments on the other two performances because they were free other than to say that the performers were enthusiastic.

Yesterday we had friends over to visit with their (nearly) one-year old daughter. Anya was not feeling well and slept much of the morning and again in the afternoon before turning in for an early bedtime. Today, to our relief, she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and with no signs of what we thought was the cold that daddy brought home from vacation.

First day of school

Our big milestone this week is Anya's start at day care. She has had lots of fun, but has not yet stayed for the entire day. When she's acclimated, we plan to drop her off at 8AM and pick her up at 3PM. Up to now, she's only gone for the morning. The staff has been excellent with Anya and the other children.

One of Anya's favorite activites is watching the garbage truck (pictured) which comes once or twice a week. The system here is that we throw out combustible waste into a metal tube. The truck comes by periodically to suck out the garbage from our apartment block and take it off to the waste incineration plants. The waste heat from those plants is returned to us in the form of hot water and heating (link1, link2). Anyway, Anya is much more interested in cars and trucks than dolls, and this is a big, noisy truck. She also likes playing ball, but only if there isn't a car or truck within reach.

Friday (Constitution Day) was the last public holiday (½ day off) until Christmas Eve.

In other news, last week marked the third anniversery of our move to Denmark. We also received notice that our residency/work permit extension was approved, so we'll be staying longer.

April Sunshine brings May . . . what?

April and May in Denmark mean public holidays and the beginnings of a real spring that brings everyone outside to enjoy the lengthening days. That is if it isn't cold and raining. This year we've been very lucky. April in Denmark set record highs this year for both temperature and sunshine. In the Copenhagen area, April averages 167 hours of sunlight. This year's total was nearly double that with 312 (see chart).

With all the sunlight we've been out as much as possible walking, enjoying picnics in the nearby parks, and eating at outdoor cafés. Having a few extra days off around Easter made it extra nice.

During the week before Easter (immediately after the last post) we took trips to two art museums, Louisiana and Arken where we saw a large Max Ernst exhibit and a collection of works by French impressionist works. The best part was watching Anya pass judgement on each of the paintings or sculptures as we strolled through the museums. Anya would consider each item on display and turn away if it did not appeal to her. If she approved, she would extend her hand in an odd benevolent gesture. She seemed to especially like portraits featuring closeups of people with expressive faces. Also, some of the modern art, for example works by Asger Jorn were a big hit. Another (less esoteric) trip took us to Ikea. I can't write much more about that.

The Saturday before Easter we spent in Malmø. It was our first visit there and we found it to be nice for a walk around the downtown area and a stroll through the park. We did some shopping and took advantage of the lower prices on top of the 70% discount on exchange rate between the Danish and Swedish currency. I'm not sure if the savings made up for the train fare over and back, but we enjoyed our visit nonetheless. We ate a good lunch at a cafe downtown and explored the St. Peter's Church.

Anya will begin going to vuggestue (day care / lit. "crib room") in June. We're excited that she'll get to meet lots of new friends, and in a couple of years she can correct our Danish mistakes. The staff are very professional and we're comfortable that Anya will be in good hands.

Farfar and Farmor (J&P) arrived last week to visit us. Anya has enjoyed having some new people to entertain and we've enjoyed having some new entertainers in our troupe.

Following up on an earlier post, the new pizza place down the street (Mo's) has taken over as our primary pizza joint. As for the bagel shop, we're waiting a while to give it another chance.

I'm going to post this before I get tempted to include any more things...

Spring is here

Spring is here, finally! Yesterday was a glorious bright spring day, as was Friday. We took the train up to Klampenborg north of Copenhagen to enjoy a walk in the woods, soak in some sea breezes, and have lunch at Bakken - the "other" amusement park in the Copenhagen area. Anya enjoyed watching the people at the park and on the train. Anya's favorite word right now is "Hi" or "Hej" in Danish. They both sound the same and have the same meaning. The bonus for her is that she gets a nice reaction from some people when she says it. Many people ignore her, but she's persistent and will often at least get a smile from even the surliest looking people.

One Danish word we're sorry to have learned is "aflivning." We discovered last week that our cat, Sammie, had a large tumor in her intestines. She was not quite nine years old and had always been very healthy, so we were shocked to say the least. The first clue we had was when we saw that she was no longer eating the remnants of the soft cat food we use to conceal Kevin's medicine. She has always had a good appetite. We don't think she suffered but we both feel sad that Anya won't get to grow up with her. Despite being testy with guests, she was sweet to us and nice to Anya. We'll remember her fondly.

Since our last post, we've made the change to daylight savings time, as it's called in the U.S., or simply "summer time" as it's called here. Personally I think Denmark should opt out of this system, just as they did with the Euro. There's plenty of sunlight to go around in the evenings during the summer, and whether the sun sets at 9:00pm or 10:00pm is not that important to me. Of course, my feelings may be colored by the concern that we'll be to get Anya to sleep this summer well before 9:00pm (bedtime has already slipped from 7:00 to 7:30) when it's full sunlight outside.

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As expected, we got the car back from the shop looking nearly new again. That good news was tempered by the theft of my bike a week later. Now with a new bike and a nearly new (looking) car, here's hoping I won't have to report anything else to the police.

Update

For those still checking in, a rare update. It's difficult to write much here because the daily routine has taken over and the winter seems to drag on. Here is a picture of Anya in the nifty backpack we got from some friends. We still use the stroller too, but this is a nice way to get out and about. The train station is in the background and some signs of spring (yellow flowers) are popping up from the ground. Summer still seems a long way off.

The car situation is nearly resolved. We shopped around and found the second estimate to be $500 lower than the first. Happily we received a contribution toward the repair costs (not insured) from the apartment dwellers where the New Year's Eve party took place. All in all it was kind and generous of them to help out since they had no legal obligation and the police dropped the case. As for the police, I shouldn't have expected them to go all out with swat team and helicopters to find the perpetrator, but they could have at least put a stamp (or return address) on the letter they sent to inform us that they had dropped the investigation. The letter arrived in a plastic bag with a note that we could open the letter and be obliged to pay 25 kroner (more than $4.00) or return the letter to the post office unopened and pay no fee. Suspecting the letter might relate to our car situation we opened it only to be disappointed to hear that the case was no longer being pursued. Anyway, the car is being fixed (slowly) and should be ready next week. The windshield had to be imported and the first one arrived damaged. If all goes well, we'll be on the road again next weekend and hopefully all of the road salt will be washed away by the recent and upcoming rainy weather.

Two new businesses are opening down the street. Mo's Pizza and Bagelman may work their way into our routine if the food is palatable. The closest pizza shop has crust like crispy pita bread and it always rains when I pick up orders from our favorite pizza shop (not sure why). The bagel shop will be a nice option. With the pizza and bagels, Alexa said we might as well be living in Brooklyn.

Anya has turned one year old since the last post. She is growing up before our eyes, developing some picky eating habits. It seems her favorite foods in order of preference may be banana, apple, and broccoli. Hopefully the broccoli stays on the list. The food not on the list sometimes ends up on the floor, but is usually eaten grudgingly after she's convinced herself there is no banana (or apple or broccoli) left on her tray. She definitely has her own ideas about what she wants. One example is that she doesn't want her nails cut, so we've resorted to sneaking into her room a half-hour after bedtime to trim her nails while she's asleep. Maybe there are parents out there with better solutions, but that's working for us for now.

Turning the corner?

As I may have shared before, January is a difficult month in Denmark. Winter stretches out ahead and the revelry and pynt (decoration) leading up to Christmas and New Year's is long past. The weather is reliably cold (but not that cold) and wet (in a misty, drizzly way) with the sun a rare fleeting sight low on the horizon. You don't have to take my word for it - this is all dutifully archived by our friends at the Danish Meteorological Institute (www.dmi.dk).

Despite all that, we can actually look ahead to February when things begin to turn the corner and March when each day is noticably longer than the last. The public holidays around Easter and the weeks after give way to the manic days of May and suddenly it's SUMMER! So, as you can see - summer is just around the corner... isn't it?

Anya has been doing "sooo big" raising her arms to demonstrate how big she is. This sometimes gets mixed up with waving bye-bye because we taught her both at the same time. She loves to hear us whistle - rewarding us with a toothy grin!

Are you ready for some (amerikansk) football?

The newspaper yesterday brought the good news that the Eagles-Giants game will be televised today live (7:00 p.m. Denmark time). I should know better, but after the Phillies success this year - anything is possible. So with our evening plans set, I can go ahead and update the blog for the first time in a while...

The latest blog hiatus corresponded to my paternity leave, a six-week stretch from the end of November to the beginning of January. This included a four-week trip to the U.S. (Maryland and Pennsylvania) where we were able to introduce Anya to a large part of both of our families. She seemed to thrive on meeting all of the new people. The trip was not without some excitement. Anya's first plane flight had to be cut short after the wing flaps malfunctioned and required us to return to Copenhagen about a half-hour in the air. After a fast landing and a few hours of sitting in the airplane we learned that we would not be using that plane and would have to rebook our flight. The overnight stay featured a cold shower in the hotel and a complimentary dinner at a Pakistani restaurant. Fortunately, the next day's flight was uneventful.

Adjusting to jet lag had been difficult since returning to Denmark, especially so for Anya. Since it's dark for most of the day, she doesn't have much to go on. We're keeping her routine going and she's nearly there, except she's been waking up at 3:30am (which is just as dark as 7:00am, so who can blame her?). Aside from jet lag, another shock on returning home was discovering that the new year's festivities in the fourth floor apartment above where our car was parked included tossing bottles out of the window. It will go to the shop this week for a broken windshield and several dents. The police have been informed - we'll see what happens.

Finally, best wishes to all for a happy and healthy new year.

Mmm Mmm Mastering "M"

Anya has been entertaining us with her babbling. She participates in the dinner table conversations and after a long stretch of experimenting with vowels, a consonant is a welcome sound. The letter for the week is "M". "Mah mah" and the occasional "Oh bah mah" get a good laugh from her audience (i.e. mommy and daddy).

Along similar lines, we got a laugh from this video from the Phillies World Series Championship parade which shows that Philadelphia fans are not just insensitive louts who would even boo Santa Claus. There wasn't much excitement in Copenhagen when the Phillies won, and it was strange to be somewhere where nobody really cares. At first I compared it to being a soccer fan in the U.S., but after thinking it through it's more comparable to being a team handball fan, rooting for your home team from afar. At any rate, it's exciting to think that after 28 years they finally have another championship. Let everyone else say "Wait 'til next year." I'm still enjoying this one.

The Robot Boys and Old-Time Baseball

A couple of weeks ago we watched the finale of Denmark's "Talent 2008" program, another in the continuing series of reality shows and "Idol" spinoffs that have swamped the world. The thing about doing these in Denmark is that it's such a small country that there's a good chance that the people on these programs are only 2-3 degrees of separation away from most people in the country. Given that Danes are generally modest, I'm surprised that they got as many volunteers as they did. Anyway, the winners "Robert Drengene" (The Robot Boys) put on a good show and came away with 250,000 kroner. This clip is worth watching (from their semifinal performance). This clip is from their first performance in the competition. I like watching the judges' and audience's reactions. Another participant who didn't make it past the semifinals is pretty amazing with the hand flute (starting at 1'15").

Today I listened to game 5 of the World Series. I'll tell you who won... it was the Yankees taking the series by winning the final game 10-6. Oh, did I forget to mention this is the 1949 world series? Since we can't watch the games from 2008 here, I've had to satisfy myself with some baseball history which I came across on the internet. The full game is online complete with Gillette razor ads and every pitch from start to finish. I was struck by how evenly matched the teams were: Berra/Campanella, DiMaggio/Snider, Rizutto/Reese, not to mention Jackie Robinson at the height of his career. Also, it was a treat to hear Mel Allen and Red Barber call the game, bringing it to life over the radio and even a device that they would never have imagined in their day (my iPod). It was also the first World Series game played under lights (turned on late in the game which runs just over 3 hours).

Anya is having fun playing the "Uh-Oh" game where we give her something and she drops it to the sound of Mommy saying "Uh-Oh". This is good for 15-20 minutes of good fun. She's also sitting up in her new Norwegian high chair to eat her meals.

Out and About II

It has been a busy few weeks. Anya's weekly routine, along with any other appointments, includes "baby singing" and mothers' group meetings. Baby singing is held at our local church and is led by a violist from the national symphony who happens to be from Wisconsin, though she has lived her for 30+ years (I guess she likes it). The class is all in Danish and includes 10 children and lots of fun activities accompanied by singing or viola. The mothers' group is the second in which Alexa has participated. The first dissolved after several mothers moved away. Being English-speaking groups, the mothers are all from somewhere else and move on for various (generally work-related) reasons.

Late September saw our first dinner out with Anya staying with a babysitter. We were invited to join some people from work for a dinner at a nice restaurant north of Copenhagen. We dropped Anya off with the babysitter (at a friend's/coworker's house) and we were off for a nice night with adults. We missed Anya, of course, but she slept peacefully and was happy to see us when we picked her up. This was followed the next day by a "team-building" event that Andy had at work. It involved sailing out of the Copenhagen harbor and back (about 4 hours total) followed by dinner at another fancy restaurant, this one run by a famous (in Denmark) chef named Bo Bech. The restaurant won a Michelin Star and featured all kinds of interesting creations on the menu, the highlight being deep-frozen almond milk, cooled in liquid nitrogen, whichs sublimated immediately in our mouths. The dishes were interesting for their creativity, but also for the absurdly small portions.

The last week of September took me on a field trip to northern Spain. There was beautiful countryside, good food, nice people, and of course - rocks. This picture may appear to be from a fancy hotel bathroom, but it was part of a new ampitheatre carved out of a mountainside where there used to be a quarry. The rocks reflect several episodes of alteration which give the interesting patterns. Earlier in the week, we were in the Sierra del Cuerra montains from which we could see the Atlantic coast when the clouds lifted. Although it was fun, it was difficult to be away from Alexa and Anya. I'm glad I don't have to travel more than I do.

In the past weeks we began working our way through Matador. This a famous (again, in Denmark) Danish television series. It has nothing to do with Spain or bullfighting, Matador translates as "kingpin" or "Monopoly" (according to my handy Dansk-Engelsk dictionary). It is 24 episodes set in the years 1929-1947, of which we have the first eight. We're already hooked, and fortunately the DVD's have English subtitles, though we could get by with the danish subtitles (for the hearing impaired) as we sometimes do.

On a final note, I include a picture of our orchid which unlike other plants we have had in the past, thrives on benign neglect.

"Vores vaskemaskin er gået i stykker"

The last weeks have us back in the routine after our vacation. Anya has started a baby singing class that meets on Fridays through November. She enjoys it very much. I ran in the DHL relay on September 4th. Teams of 5 run a total distance of 25km through a park near our apartment. This was my second time participating in the race which was followed by a good barbecue which negated any health benefits gained from running the 5km distance.

We spent the last week of August on Sjællands Odde, a cape located a 1½ hour drive NW of Copenhagen. We had some good weather, some bad. The area is very nice with water close by in all directions and beautiful farmland for long walks. Brombær were ripe for picking and the house we stayed in had all the comforts of home. Anya did not know that she was free to sleep late, since we were on vacation, but it was a nice change all the same.

The weather was beautiful this past weekend, making us feel a little guilty thinking of our friends in Houston who suffered through hurricane Ike. We're glad we weren't there, but we've been thinking of those who were. Fortunately it wasn't a worst case scenario. Saturday we took advantage of a large street "loppemarked" (flea market) nearby our apartment. We mostly purchased baby clothes and other accessories. There was a very good turnout due to the good weather and the number of sellers. Given the high prices here and the rate that Anya is growing, we'll be keeping our eyes open for others as a good way to keep her in clothes.

Today I got to practice the phrase :"Vores vaskemaskin er gået i stykker" which means our washing machine is broken (literally has gone to pieces). It has periodically (and with greater frequency) been failing to pump the water out after washing. For the unsuspecting victim, this condition can lead to a flood of water across the bathroom floor followed by a few choice expletives uttered when soaking up the consequences with any available towels. We put up with this for a while because we could see when it didn't drain then change the settings or run it through another cycle to get it to pump out. When that approach stopped working, the plumber came to look at it and called in a technician who "fixed" it in less than 15 minutes. It took three loads of laundry to learn it wasn't fixed. So, our patience is running out along with our previously large supply of Danish coins (thanks to the møntvask, i.e. coin wash laundry down the street). Along those lines, I direct you to this link provided by my dad. Here's hoping my next post will herald the arrival of our new washing machine...

"Min nye ordbog" and Olympics in Denmark

One of our early sources of information on life in Denmark was Joel's Blog (link not working at this time). In one entry he expresses his satisfaction with his new dictionary, or ordbog (lit. "word book"). Since Anya arrived, our formal Danish lessons have stopped and we are supplementing with Danish programming and newspapers - alternately the tabloid Nyhedsavisen and the intellectual Weekendavisen (wiki). We are planning to subscribe to receive Politiken (wiki)1 or 2 times per week.

Anyway, I digress. Our new Danish dictionary contains a pronounciation guide - something we'd been lacking beyond the basic material in the small Berlitz dictionary. As we and other Danish students have learned, it's the pronounciation that trips us up. We can manage with the grammar, and our vocabulary is getting bigger (slowly), but without knowing how to pronouce these new words on the page they're not much use in conversation. To supplement in the pronounciation department, I've discovered a large number of Danish podcasts that will keep the melodious tones of the Danish tongue in my ear, should I choose to hear them...

Enough on Danish. We have enjoyed watching our first Olympics in Denmark. Being up with Anya in early morning hours has allowed us to see many events live (6 hour time difference from Beijing). The sports broadcast here are often not what we're used to seeing in the US. We got the normal offerings of track & field and swimming but also copious amounts of handball, badminton, ping pong (sorry, I just can't bring myself to call it table tennis), and sailing. There was some drama with the Danish sailing team in the 49er division (don't know what significance 49 holds). There are no "human interest" stories and events are covered start-to-finish (including the marathons, triathalon, long distance cycling, preliminary swimming and track heats, all of it). Much has been written about Danes having low expectations, so no medal is taken for granted and there is genuine joy in getting a bronze medal not to speak of gold. As of this writing, Denmark has achieved its goal of seven medals. In all, it has been a good few weeks for Denmark and for us.

In Anya news, her food reperitoire now includes broccoli, buckwheat cereal, rice cereal, avocado, prunes, and carrots.

I dag er Anyas (halvt års) fødselsdag

Today is Anya's ½-birthday. She celebrated by turning over and pushing up today without getting her arm stuck. We celebrated by eating some birthday cake after she went to sleep for the night. Recently, after learning to turn over, she's been waking up to discover her arm is stuck underneath her. She calls for mommy and daddy to fix this situation and then begins the process again. She's always happy to see a friendly face at 4:00am.

We had a very nice visit with friends on Sunday and enjoyed a nice Danish lunch with gravad laks, shrimp, herring, chicken, Danish meatballs, leverpostej, and lots of accompanying goodies.

I came across a new (to me) Danish word in some of the reading material from the visiting nurse. We're preparing to feed Anya solid food and the nurse provided a 100+ page book published by the government. Granted there are lots of pictures, but it's very thorough nonetheless. It recommends cooking more for dinner and saving the "rester" for the childs lunch the next day. Rester=leftovers. I can remember that.

The sunset cannon just went off - 9:04pm, the days are quickly getting shorter, autumn is not far off. In four months it will be going off sometime between 3:30 and 4:00pm.

Holiday time

July is a quiet time in Copenhagen - that is, if you're any distance away from the tourist attractions. By some accounts, half of the population is on vacation in late July which in concrete terms means short lines at the post office, numerous shops with signs indicating that they've closed for 2-3 weeks or more, and plentiful parking in the neighborhood. The weather has just turned from predictably uncertain to delightful and we're looking forward to a nice weekend doing nothing special.

Mom/P and Dad/J visited for two weeks and flew back last Tuesday. Anya was alternatingly charming and cranky but mostly cute. Here's a picture with us at breakfast. It was fun to watch how her hair grew over two weeks. She and her parents enjoyed the visit with her grandparents.

Så har vi kørelys

It will be a little harder to meet random strangers now that we've gotten driving lights (kørelys) installed on the car. Traffic law in Denmark requires lights to be on at all times when driving, so it's easy in the bright summer days to forget to turn them off, resulting in a dead battery a short while after leaving the car. This has happened twice, both times I was able to find helpful strangers to get me back on the road. The last time was in Dragør during G&L's visit in April. It was a sunny day and as we left the car, I even looked back to ensure the lights were not on. To make a long story short, two drivers offered aid. Both were happy to take time from their weekend to help a stranded American speaking poor Danish. This was also true the first time it happened (in 2006) when I spoke no Danish at all. In Dragør we learned not to get a jumpstart from a Peugeot (apparently the electrical systems are not compatible). The Opel provided the juice we needed and we were soon on our way. Thanks to G&L for their patience and understanding. Anyway, those days may be over now that the lights are hooked up to the ignition.

We're having a relaxing weekend following our multiple social engagements the previous weekend (when it rains it pours). We had vienerbrød for breakfast in honor of my bithday followed by ice cream in the evening, so I'm headed for sugar detox next week. We had planned to eat out at a café for dinner and the weather was cooperating, although reluctantly. We ended up getting takeout because the cafés were packed with people having supper before the Bruce Springsteen concert.

Last weekend included a very nice barbecue in our apartment courtyard with lots of other families from the surrounding buildings. We met some delightful people and discovered how many young children live in the immediate area. The next day was the choir summer party where we ate dinner at a "familiehave" (lit., family garden). When we arrived a group of men dressed in American Civil War uniforms (mostly blue, one gray) and women in period dresses were just leaving. I wish I had asked what the occasion was.

Anya is doing very well and her parents are only moderately sleep deprived, that is to say I can still operate a motor vehicle. Here's a picture of her at the choir dinner sporting her sun hat.

Another source of entertainment this weekend is watching the celebrating gymnasium graduates. Gymnasium, as far as I can tell, is equivalent to college preparatory school. After the rigorous year-end exams, the graduates celebrate for about ten days wearing their distinctive white caps and riding around in the back of large trucks.

Lastly, on the subject of "some people have too much money," see the following pictures. This is a private yacht that has been moored in Copenhagen harbor this summer, Alexa and Anya's stroller provide a scale for the first picture and in the second - yes - that is a helicopter. Why it's painted battleship gray, I'm not sure. Maybe to ward off pirates. More can be read about it here.

Happy Father Day

Here's a picture that makes this father happy...

Not-So-Ugly Ducklings

There has not been too much to talk about here. We pretty much spend time taking care of Anya and being impressed by her cuteness and continued development. She's now into cause-and-effect where she does something to get daddy to act ridiculous and then repeats it ad infinitum to see how long daddy plays along. It might be kicking or shaking her legs or opening her mouth really wide. Daddy's so silly. She's also more vocal and experiments with making sounds. The happy sounds are after a nap or during a fun diaper change. The other sounds are when she's tired and can't fall asleep.

We've enjoyed the beautiful weather here. We are forecast to break the May record for sunlight hours. That doesn't guarantee a nice summer, but we can enjoy it while it lasts. We enjoy after-dinner walks in the sunshine and treat ourselves to meals at outdoor cafes. Light is lingering late into the evening now. Riding home from choir rehearsal in the 10:15pm twilight was fun. The choir concert is next week and we're singing mostly Scandinavian songs which we prepared for the trip to Holland in early May.

Part of spring is watching the arrival of a new generation of our web-footed friends at the lakes near our apartment and in the moat around Kastellet. Here's a picture of some recently hatched not-so-ugly "ducklings".

Womb-bear and The Box

Two things have made our life easier over the last two months. These two things are "Womb-bear" and "The Box".

Womb-bear was a gift to Anya from Alexa's mother. Besides being soft and cuddly he has special powers which make Anya and her parents fall quickly to sleep. Womb-bear can be activated to reproduce the sound of a mother's heartbeat and circulation which babies hear in the womb - a pulsating, swushing sound that will be familiar to anyone who has been involved in an ultrasound exam. Outside the womb it is meant to sooth a fussy baby. While Anya is far from fussy, she can occasionally be excited enough at bedtime that it's difficult to put her down. That's when we call in "Womb-bear". Unfortunately, we don't really know how long it takes for Womb-bear's powers to take effect on Anya because it seems to work equally well on adults as it does on babies.

"The Box" is something we learned about from a friend at work. It is provided by a company called Aarstiderne ("the seasons"). A box comes each Wednesday to our door and contains organic fruits, vegetables, a large bottle of juice, some interesting seasonings, and a treat. It's usually enough to make meals for a few days where we only have to buy meat to supplement the vegetables. We also get recipes (in Danish) which teach us some new words and give us some surprising good meals. Most of all, without leaving our apartment we get the basis for healthful meals with ingredients we would not normally have a reason to buy on our regular shopping trips.

I must mention that a third thing has made life easier for us over the last month. That was the visit by mom/Peggy who helped out with everything, especially while Andy was on a business trip to Qatar. It was a minor shock to resume all those things we had stopped doing when she graciously came to help. We're still eating some of the meals she prepared and froze for us. Anya (and her parents) greatly appreciated her love and attention over the two weeks.

Spring again

Spring on the Danish calendar arrives on March 1 each year. No worries about solar equinoxes (equinoxi?) or the first sighting of a migratory bird. This may be one area where Denmark as a society is optimistic. In reality Spring arrives somewhat later and we had a taste of it today. The temperature reached 11C/53F and people were out in droves. We took a walk with Anya in the stroller to the harbor (pictured) and back around the ramparts of Kastellet. The sun was shining and buds are on the trees. A few short weeks and we'll be able to expect more days like this and warmer. We missed the first day of ice cream season this year. That also arrives on March 1 and, unlike the weather, reliably offers free ice cream at various seasonal establishments.

Moored at the harbor were several British ships. I can't help thinking that people here (if they have any taste for history) may get a nervous tick when these foreign naval vessels visit the port. See here or here.

Anya is doing well, has grown to approximately 3.4 kg/7.5 lbs. She is noticeably more active and expressive from week to week. It's fun to watch her grow. I'm back at work now with new perspective of a first-time father. It seems that work is both more important and less important at the same time. More important seen from the role as providing for Anya's future but also less important in the sense of the adage that no one on their deathbed ever expressed the wish that they'd spent more time at the office.

UPDATE - I wrote this post yesterday and the picture to the left illustrates how quickly things deteriorated after a beautiful crisp, clear morning. Note the flags, not nice weather for riding home.

Pictures

Thanks for your patience... Anya's been home for two weeks and we're getting used to the routine, just in time for daddy to go back to work a week from now. We're learning new skills like one-handed keyboard typing, finding our way around the apartment in the dark at 2AM, and reading the many Danish baby-care publications provided by the hospital. Regarding the care we've received, we can only be overwhelmingly positive. The nurses, doctors and midwives has been highly professional and compassionate - except for an strong reluctance to provide over-the-counter (in the U.S.) pain medication.

The cats are co-existing well with Anya, despite a drop-off in petting time, though Kevin's hair is definitely in need of some attention and Sammie is still disturbed that we shut her out of the bedroom. Fortunately(?) we're so sleep-deprived that her scratching at the door is not enough to keep us awake.

Anya Marie

Anya Marie was born the 6th of February at 2:00am at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. She was 6.03 lbs and 20.1 inches long. Both Alexa and Anya are doing well and we're getting excellent care from the hospital staff.

We're hoping to set up a "web album" with pictures as soon as we find the time... Stay tuned!

Melodi Gran Prix

First things first - no baby yet. We're only 3 days over the due date. Alexa may not agree, but the upside of an extended pregnancy is another "last restaurant meal" before the baby. Tonight we went to Chico's Cantina to make another stab at finding a good Mexican restaurant here in Copenhagen. This was better than the last place we went, offering free chips and salsa, a nice atmosphere and friendly service. This time we had the enchilada platter which was okay (cheese-good, chicken-okay, beef-not so good). We may go back and try the fajitas. The sparkler-adorned sorbet dessert was a nice touch.

On Saturday we settled in for the Melodi Gran Prix finals. This competition in Denmark determines which artist/group goes on to compete in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. People vote via text message and the results are compiled by region to determine the winner. At several dinners and parties we've heard our friends reminisce about Eurovision and Melodi Gran Prix competitions from years past, and we found ourselves getting a little caught up in the experience. Andy voted for "La' mig være" performed by The Dreams (lyrics). Alexa voted for "Den jeg er" performed by Charlie (lyrics). All of the other songs in the finals were sung in English. The winner was "All Night Long" by Simon Mathew.

Land of Lego

Today is the 50th anniversary of the introduction of Lego. The Danish story can be found here. Google celebrated with a Lego-logo. Some Lego facts:

• 7 boxes of Legos are sold every second;
• 36,000 lego pieces are made every minute;
• 400 billion pieces have been made since 1949, enough to build 10 towers to the moon;
• the highest Lego tower built to date is 28.74 meters (94 feet);
• six Lego blocks can be combined in 915 million different ways (not including different color combinations);
• the name Lego comes from a combination of the Danish words "leg" (play) and "godt" (well).

Legos will become a bigger part of our life in a few years. Until then, I'll enjoy walking around the apartment in bare feet without fear of stepping on one of those little plastic bricks (sorry Mom & Dad). I'll look forward to a visit to LegoLand in a few years.

In other Denmark news, the national men's handball team won the European championship. This is the biggest sports news since the soccer/football team won the European championship in 1992, but like football/soccer I just don't get it. I would say that handball is more exciting than football/soccer, but I need someone to explain the finer points to be able to appreciate it more. More news about that here and here, and a description of the game for people like me.

Since I'm writing this, you can guess that we're still waiting for the baby to arrive. We're doing fine and will be all ready, as soon as I get the car seat installed...

Are They Happy in Allerød?

Thanks to Mom for letting us know about the segment on Denmark broadcast on 20/20 last week. It looks like word is getting out - this was a report based on a study released in April which confirmed the earlier study in 2006.

There are many Danish place names that end in ...rød. Hillerød, Birkerød, Asminderød, Lillerød, Solrød, Søllerød, Usserød, and Vipperød. It was explained to me that rød is an old way to spell clearing in Danish - rydning is the current spelling. Some of the town names I can translate using my little Danish-English dictionary: Lillerød (small clearing), Solrød (sun clearing), Søllerød (measly clearing). My favorite is Allerød, a town north of Copenhagen. The literal meaning of Allerød is clear from their town seal. Yes, those are three tree stumps.

As for the baby - due at the end of the month - I'm reminded of the drilling reports I read early on in my career as a geologist. The drilling reports are daily reports summarizing all the drilling activity for the engineering staff back in the office. They're full of abbreviations and I kept coming across "WOW" which at first glance would indicate something really exciting. As it turns out it is shorthand for Waiting on Weather. So, now I can say that we're WOB.

Welcoming the New Year

We enjoyed being in Denmark to welcome the new year. Last year we traveled on New Year's Eve and arrived in Copenhagen the morning of Jan. 1 to find fireworks debris everywhere. We could only imagine the excitement. This year we were able to watch the fireworks from the comfort of our own apartment. Pictured here are the remains of what was launched from the intersection 20 meters from our front door.

Growing up, fireworks were associated with Independence Day. In a way similar to what we saw here, makeshift shops selling fireworks appear shortly before the big day. What was different here, aside from the season, was the power of these fireworks. In the U.S. a person could buy a range of things from firecrackers to small bottle rockets to roman candles. Big rockets that create the colorful sky bursts high in the air were part of professional fireworks displays, and not something launched by you neighbor from the street in densely populated areas. Here they are both legal and abundant and enthusiastically launched to celebrate the New Year. There was a mild prelude over two days which sounded like it could be the background to a reporter's interview in a war zone (scattered cracks, whistles, and booms).

At sundown on New Year's Eve (shortly after 3:30pm) activity picked up with a crescendo building toward midnight when the sky really lit up for about an hour before tapering off slowly. I have to emphasize that this was all done by individuals. Most of the concentrated action was contributed by what is essentially a fireworks display in-a-box. These are boxes with dozens of rockets arranged to launch sequentially with different colors and patterns when they explode in the sky. We had a good view of the intersection closest to our apartment where people gathered to launch their fireworks. At one point on our street, 4 men - all well past middle age - set up to launch their rockets from the middle of the street. When the second rocket went astray and glanced off a third-floor window across the street before exploding above the parked cars nearby, they scampered off like guilty adolescents to a marginally safer location. We could also see (and hear) more fireworks in the reflections of the windows across the street. Those were being launched from the next intersection northwest of us and from the lakes just a bit farther away. A bike ride later on New Year's Day showed that "our" intersection had more than average, but was by no means exceptional, based on the volume of fireworks debris.

A couple more pictures here showing the Christmas decorations around Kongens Nytorv near the city center. A statue in front of the national theater (old stage) bedecked with a wreath, and the lights decorating the department store, Magasin.

The Queen's New Year's Eve speech part 1, part 2 is a traditional part of New Year's Eve. This year she spoke to the country of the need to care for each other and to welcome immigrants whom the country needs (for its labor force) as much as the immigrants need Denmark. She also sends New Year's greetings to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, both part of the Kingdom, though with degrees of autonomy. As people trying to learn Danish, it was good for us to watch because she speaks very clearly. This leads us to ask, "Why can't everyone speak like that?!?" Anyway, frustration aside, we have made progress since last year. It's difficult to notice day-to-day, but during the holiday season, we've found ourselves in similar settings far more able to comprehend the conversation going on around us. Here's to hoping that trend continues in 2008!

Godt Nyt År

Our Christmas holiday has been a bit of a wash with us both managing to catch colds. It remains to be seen whether it is the same cold or two different ones. We did manage to hold a dinner party for friends on the one day (Thursday) we were both healthy. We had a Latin-American themed dinner with Cuban black bean soup, tacos with corn tortillas, guacamole, and salsa (all from scratch), among other toppings, along with Mexican beer and Argentinian wine. It took almost the whole day to prepare, but it was worth it. We also had leftovers for the next two days.

On the Danish front, we've been reading a book I received/won in the gift exchange during our choir dinner. It is Kunsten at Græde i Kor which was the basis of the movie, The Art of Crying. We read a couple pages aloud and translate while taking in the rays of our "happy lamp" each morning. We're almost through chapter 1 and we're enjoying the quirky view of late 1960's rural Denmark.

Baby is growing and kicking and preparing for the world outside. We're still expecting her at the end of January. With that in mind, and aware that our expectations on timing may be optimistic, we bought a bunch of stuff this week and populated the baby room with what I blandly refer to as the "software". We've had the "hardware" - furniture - since October. Some of this stuff is impossibly small and the rest is just too cute. There are two days left in 2007, and I'm still mulling over Mom's suggestion that a 2007 baby will give us the tax deduction for the whole year. Alexa was not impressed with my fiscal responsibility after I proposed that option.

I'd like to end by saying "Tak" to all who have checked in on us. It's nice to know people care enough to click on our site and see what we've been up to. As always, you're welcome to email or call with your news (no pressure). If you need our contact information, just post a comment and I'll send you an email. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, peaceful, fulfilling New Year!

Glædelig Jul

The darkest day of the year is behind us, and it's a good time to revive the blog after our hiatus. It has been nice to see that people have been checking in. Don't take this the wrong way, but it reminded me of operant conditioning (the only thing I recall from the Psychology 101 course I took at Bucknell) to see that the number of "hits" remained similar, despite the lack of a "reward" in the form of a new update. Anyway - that unintentional experiment is over and I appreciate that everyone cares enough to check up on us once in a while.

Today is Lille Juleaften, or Christmas Eve Eve. Since presents are traditionally opened on Christmas Eve, there are lots of children (and adults?) at the height of anticipation. Shopping has been crazy and since everything shuts down for the 24, 25, and 26th we were out yesterday stocking up for our meals so we don't go hungry. Grocery stores and restaurants are closed, so there's a risk of going hungry if we're not prepared. We did however see a deli today that will be open all three days, so it's not as dire as we imagined. In any case, everyone was out stocking up. Since shops are all in walking distance and driving and parking to go grocery shopping is not practical, we normally shop every day or two for the next day's meals. This week we carried a large load home and it should hold us for a while. The biggest scene was at the butcher shop where I took my number and discovered there were 34 people ahead of me. Normally, there are one or two people there at any one time, so this was definitely the Christmas rush. This was one day I wouldn't be bringing home the bacon.

Being the last Sunday in Advent, we went to our first full Danish church service this morning. It was at the Kastellet church and the service included a baptism. There were six hymns, three of which had eight or nine verses which allowed me to figure out the tunes by the end. The hymnbooks lack music notation, so you have to recognize the tune for each hymn by name. The service was very traditional and outside of the hymns, not very participatory. Our Danish is still not good enough to catch everything, but it was worth a try.

Last week our choir held it's Christmas concert. We both sang, and there was a full house in the church. The encore piece was "When You Wish Upon a Star" which is associated with Christmas here because for years the only time Disney cartoons were played on television was Christmas morning. Another highlight for me was "Glæde Jul," the Danish carol to the tune of "Silent Night" which was arranged by our director. As with last year we had Christmas dinner with the choir and lasted to around midnight, though the party continued to 5AM. We just don't have that stamina.

We're looking forward to "en dejlig jul" - a Merry Christmas - and we wish everyone the same.

Quick Hits

Not much time, but I just wanted to post a picture showing the current state of the baby room. In a phrase, all hardware - no software. The cats think it's all for them (see Sammie under the crib) - they have no idea...

Otherwise, it's getting darker here - but we haven't yet resorted to the happy lamp. Maybe next week when it begins to be dark until we leave for work.

No ketchup for you!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most sophisticated person in the world, but I was reminded of that on Saturday last weekend when we tried out our (formerly) favorite cafe which had recently re-opened under new management. I ordered the burger and when it came I asked (in Danish) whether they had ketchup. The waiter said "nej" and patiently pointed out the olive oil and pesto mixture which I was supposed to enjoy with my fries, sorry, my pommes frites. Otherwise, the menu and portions have gotten smaller and the prices have gotten higher, so I'll be taking my unsophisticated palate elsewhere in the future.

Speaking of my unsophisticated tastes, we went to Ikea last weekend and purchased baby room furniture. At home I had the view that Ikea was an economic and stylish, if time-consuming, way to furnish a home. By friends here it has been described as "a necessary evil," and one asked "hvorfor det?" ("Why!?") when we said we had been there. Anyway, we don't have the time or energy to develop the fine sense of furniture design that seems to be innate in our hosts. Pictures forthcoming.

Entertainment has lately included "2900 Happiness", a Danish soap opera. It's basically a take-off on Bevrly Hills 90210 and it takes place in Hellerup and other area of Nordsjælland (North Zealand) which is where the rich and famous in Denmark live. Since our Danish is limited we still have little idea of what's going on, but since nothing much happens in each show we're not really missing anything. I like it because it helps me learn common phrases and situations where they're most appropriate.

Also last weekend we watched a very good Danish drama on DVD, "Efter Bryllupet" (After the Wedding) with Mads Mikkelsen. We both enjoyed it. It was well-received here and got many good reviews internationally.

The recent piece of Danish news is the announcement of an upcoming election on November 13 . . . 2007 . . . in a few weeks, that is. Right now all the light poles throughout the city have multiple pictures of parliamentary candidates. Since there are nine parties with seats in parliament there are lots of posters to be spread around. It's hard to believe it will all be over and done in a little more than two weeks.

Kulturkats

Kulturnat (Culture Night) was Friday. That is the annual event in Copenhagen where many city businesses, arts institutions, museums, and government offices open to the public and put on performances. Included in the cost of the Kulturnat pass ($15) is public transportation. I think this year's logo (left) is extra cute. We've started calling Sammie our "kulturkat". We enjoyed a visit to the city hall which has lots of architectural flourishes, inside and out. Inside were booths set up by the various political parties. There was also a tour of the city archives including a section on the 1807 bombarding of Copenhagen by the British. I had heard of this before with only references to a naval bombardment, but the displays said that 30,000 British troops landed and laid seige to the city from the landward side. This interesting letter provides a first-hand account of both this battle and a battle 6 years earlier. We heard two concerts on Friday. The first was Widor's 5th organ symphony, including the Toccata which I remember from Dr. Payne's postludes at Bucknell University candlelight Christmas services. This was at Helligåndskirken. Afterwards we wandered over to Vor Frue Kirke to hear the Copenhagen Boys Choir. After all of this culture we had to call it a night because we had another big day coming up on Saturday.

Saturday started off with the usual Danish class. Our class has shrunk after a reshuffling of the students among other classes. It makes it more fun because we get more opportunities to talk. From Danish we left to sing at the wedding of a woman in the choir. It's a tradition that our choir sings at its members' weddings. This was our second Danish wedding. Our first was the reason for our visit to Denmark in 2005. We understood more this time, hopefully in two more years we'll understand everything. Rather than impose a hungry choir on the wedding dinner, we met later for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Copenhagen. At first a rather rude woman tried to turn us away telling us that there was a private party. I agreed, saying that I was coming for a party of our own and managed to work my way in and find my way to the basement where our table for 20 had been set up. We had an entertaining Italian waiter who tried to appease us as it became clear that our group was playing second fiddle to the group upstairs. After a few hours of hearing singing from the basement, the other party's guests started peeking down the steps at us to see what was going on. Later a famous (in Denmark) actor came down to say hello. It was Thomas Bo Larsen. After a while we went upstairs to sing for them and they seemed very appreciative. We lasted until quarter after midnight (not quite 6 hours) then headed home on our bikes.

Finally on Sunday we slept late then headed off to Ikea which was open on a rare non-first Sunday of the month. There we bought a soft mattress for Alexa and a wall-mounted medicine cabinet. We also scouted out the furniture we'll be getting this weekend for the baby's room. Today I picked up another sleep aid for Alexa that we had mail-ordered. It was a big long pillow which should help guarantee a few more good nights of sleep until the big day comes. It was left at the post office after an attempted delivery last week. This package was the biggest to date that I've managed to carry on my bike. Granted, it was a just a pillow, but it's still fun to see what I can manage to carry on two wheels.

On with life

The Phillies didn't make a good show of it, but just wait 'til next year... Until then, I'll try to develop an undying passion for soccer (just kidding). On that front, the news story of the week: American football gaining yardage on soccer.

We had another epic choir dinner on Saturday. Saturday was an all-day choir rehearsal followed by the dinner. It was quite a treat. The rehearsal was fun too, with the afternoon led by John Høybye, a well-known (in Denmark) Danish composer. Afterwards we relaxed while the dinner team prepared the meal. We were on the coffee/cake team that prepared the snack which followed the "light lunch." As you can see, this choir always knows where their next meal is coming from. The backdrop to our choir activities was the attempted occupation of another city building by Ungdomshus (Youth House) activists which occurred less than a quarter mile from our rehearsal. Streets were blocked off and several choir members got turned back when they attempted to go home before our big meal. Back to the meal...we had 5 courses (7 if you count all three appetizers as separate courses) ranging from cucumber soup to smoked salmon guacamole wraps to pesto pasta then the roast duck. Everything was delicious and we had a good time getting to know people and practicing our Danish with patient friends. It was a good exercise in immersion. I we did that every day we would be fluent and 50 pounds heavier.

Talking Baseball

One thing about living in Denmark is that there aren't that many baseball fans. Well, let's just say that there aren't ANY baseball fans. I've been getting my fix by watching video highlights on mlb.com but there's no talk about the game at work. All this time, the Phillies have been creeping their way up the standings until yesterday when they made it to

first place!

Tied with the slumping Mets! It remains to be seen whether a team without pitching can win, but the big bats have carried them this far, and with three games left anything is possible. It would be a nice end to the season if the team that has lost over 10,000 games in its history could pull off what a month ago seemed nearly impossible. Until then, I'll be waking up early to catch the scores and highlights and going to bed wondering what will transpire on the diamond while I sleep.

The Little Mermaid vs. Big Bob

The weird news story of the week: Big Robert! Apparently, a giant (60m / 200 ft) statue is being donated to Copenhagen. It will stand out in Copenhagen harbor ("København Havn" - I just like they way that sounds) and be visible from Sweden. No word on whether visitors will be able to walk up into its head for a good view of the city.

In baby news.... We went to the ultrasound on Monday. I've found that as life goes on there are milestones which appear mysterious or intimidating, but after they're past become another experience which never play out like I envisioned. It's not that things are better or worse, just different. I'm not sure whether it is because of my expectations or my lack of information. The ultrasound was one of those experiences (others might be: flying in an airplane, going to college, getting a job, getting married, buying a house, selling a house, moving). I didn't know what to expect at the ultrasound, and I didn't think of what I would do in the event something was found to be wrong. Fortunately, everything is in the normal range and all the parts were in the right place.

On Saturday I was lucky enough to get lots of unplanned extracise (i.e. exercise performed in the process of doing something you were going to do anyway). About half way to Danish class I got a flat tire on my bike. I locked it up and walked on to class arriving about 5 minutes late. Alexa went on ahead and told the teacher I would be late. It turned out that the teacher's bike chain had broken on the way to class and she ended up taking the train. During lunch I bought a tire tube and after class I walked home (45 minutes), picking up the bike on the way and repairing it when I got home. Fortunately the weather was especially nice - on a weekend, no less! Later I rode over to cat-sit and then we did another bike trip to go see SiCKO. On SiCKO, I highly recommend it. If it's propaganda, then it's only fair that we get the alternative to the normal propaganda we're exposed to. Also, I can vouch for the material about the European healthcare systems. There are differences between the British / French (described in the movie), and Danish systems, but many things they have in common.

My last observation of the week is that I looked around at our weekly breakfast meeting last tuesday and everyone (20+ men) but me was wearing black shoes. I havn't heard any rules against wearing brown shoes, and I wouldn't expect there to be any, but for some reason it's not common. I was happy to see someone later in the week in the cafeteria with brown shoes, so it's not just me.

Back to Denmark

We're back from our summer vacation and ready to resume our updates. We had a nice trip back to the US to visit our families, see some old friends, and buy stuff. Thank you to everyone who hosted us and who took the time to visit. It's impossible to see everyone on a two week tour but we gave it a shot, making the trip from our arrival in Newark to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, about 1250 miles of driving in all. It was great to see everyone and also exciting to share our news that we're expecting a baby sometime around the first of February! We have lots of preparing to do, but we got lots of good ideas on our trip and will be getting ready for the new arrival.

The weather on our trip was sunny and warm the whole time - a real summer after what we had here in Denmark the last few months. On our return to Copenhagen we were greeted by a downpour and dropped into what felt like late autumn chill, wind, and rain. The rain let up and left us with crisp autumn days which would be nice were it not September with much more autumn and winter to come. I overheard someone on the plane from southern Sweden say that this year's summer was autumn and autumn will be winter. I shudder (shiver?) to think what winter will be...

In other news, we took a long overdue trip to the dentist on Thursday, our first dental visit in Denmark. Good news - no cavities! Unlike medical care, dental care is only partially covered by the national health care system. We paid two-thirds of the cost, making the price for cleaning, deep cleaning, and x-rays about $90. We were pleasantly surprised by both the price and the facilities. We'll go back in 6 months and do it all again.

Last night we met a friend from Houston who has moved to Denmark to work. It was nice to see another familiar face and catch up on things. We had dinner at a cafe nearby, but it was too cold to sit outside.

Running routes

It has been nearly a year in our apartment here and I've really enjoyed access to some nice running trails. I try to run a half-hour three or four mornings per week. This summer, despite the rainy weather, has been very enjoyable. Winter can be trying when it involves running into a cold windblown rain, but I still managed to keep up the habit. Mostly I run around the lakes which are two minutes (running) from our apartment. On weekends, like this morning, I've been running around Kastellet which affords nice views of the harbor (with cruise ships coming and going in the summer), the fortifications, and the city. Today I ran once around the inner ramparts and once around the outer ramparts and past the Little Mermaid. In the future I may add a route through Øster Anlæg park and around Kongens Have by Rosenborg Slot.

Our Danish class started yesterday after a summer recess. We both felt like we didn't lose any ground and in fact may be understanding more than when we stopped in June. We have the same teacher, but half of the class has been moved to a different teacher, so we can get to know some new people.

On the subject of Danish, we celebrated a birthday this weekend. We've learned the Danish birthday song. The (rough) translation is:

Today is Alexa's birthday: hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!
She is certain to a gift that she has wanted this year,
And wonderful chocolate with cake.

The other verses, which we haven't memorized, are about how the person gets to come home, have a party with family and friends, with wishes for long life and fulfilled desires. These are all good things, and more fun to sing than the standard English fare. Really, "Happy Birthday to You" is a song with lyrical complexity exceeded by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and that's not saying a whole lot. To end on a positive note, they're both easier to memorize.

On a final note, by the time you read this the Sea Stallion will likely have arrived in Dublin after a 40+ day journey from Roskilde.

Slo go to Oslo

A week ago we took a mini-vacation on the overnight ferry to Oslo. We left on a Friday evening, stayed Saturday in a hotel in Oslo, then returned to Copenhagen on Monday morning. It was a relaxing, civilized way to travel, much more enjoyable than flying if one can afford the time. While in Oslo we took in the Norwegian Folk Museum (maybe the last in a series of open-air museums), the Viking Ship Museum, the Munch Museum, and the Stenersen Museum. We also visited Vigeland Sculpture Park and strolled along Karl Johanns Gate. The last hours were spent at the Åkershus fortress.

The ferry to Oslo comes complete with several restaurants, bars, clubs, and a movie theater. We ate too much at the buffet breakfast and dinner. I found the quality of the dinner better on the outbound trip than on the return. Between meals and sleeping we enjoyed sitting on the deck and watching the coastline scroll past, at least until the wind picked up. At one point it was slinging plastic chairs across the deck and people headed for cover. Everyone told us it was a smooth ride, but we went through some weather. It was nothing serious, but enough to bring waves from the west once we got into the open water north of Sjælland which set the boat rocking. This made sleeping a bit challenging at times. On the return trip we had the additional sensations of the rocking boat layered over the special effects of Spiderman 3. The travel sickness bags stationed at the stairs indicated that the rough ride had been anticipated. Fortunately we didn't need them.

After dropping off our bag at the hotel, our first stop was at the Norwegian Folk Museum. We took the bus from the city center out to the peninsula where many of the museums are located. At the museum we saw many preserved homes and farm buildings which indicated that Norway was far more rustic compared with other parts of Scandinavia based on what we saw in the other open air museums (Skansen, Den Gamle By, Kulturen). One treat was the stave church which was occupied by a Spanish tour group when we went in. It was reaching back a ways to recall enough Spanish to understand the tour guide. I managed as much as: La Ultima Cera = The Last Supper. The reenactors were baking lefsa, chopping wood (pictured) and demonstrating Norwegian Folk Dances. Another fun stop was to visit a preserved Oslo apartment built in the early 1900's. It gave us some insight to our own building in Copenhagen which is now fully whitewashed, but originally was more colorful. Another photo shows Alexa outside a one-room schoolhouse.

At our visit to Vigeland Sculpture Park I was a bit distracted by a short Italian man who I was certain was Yogi Berra. I managed to get a few photos of him and on further review discovered his smaller nose and ears distinguish him from the famous Yankee catcher. The sculpture park was a bit over the top. It's good that the artist was able to have an outlet for his creativity. At some point it seemed like an interesting idea gone too far, but the park setting captures the work nicely. Had it been in a museum, it would have seemed very repetitive to walk into room after room of naked bronze people in various poses. In all, the statues raise questions about the struggles of humanity on many scales, personal to societal.

The Viking Ship Museum held two well-preserved Viking ships and the lower part of a third. I learned that the dramatic dragon heads at the prow and stern were used in ceremonial vessals and not warships. On warships, captains would mount staves with their personal insignia to identify themselves. As ships may be used by different captains, they could just swap out their personal emblems then head off into the sunset to wreak havoc.

The Munch Museum records the life work of a disturbed artist. Unlike many disturbed artists, Edvard Munch lived to the ripe old age of 81 and captured many self portraits tracing the journey. Security at the museum was very tight, coming on the heels of the recent theft of The Scream, Munch's most famous work.

Moving ahead to this weekend. Finally beautiful weather in Denmark - on a weekend no less! Yesterday we visited a friend from work and enjoyed the bike ride up through the "Whiskey Belt." In the span of two hours we walked to the beach, enjoyed tea and cookies in his garden overlooking a field and the Danish countryside, and soaked up the sun. One outcome of this visit was that Alexa was able to meet another of my co-workers. A second outcome is a borrowed book "Arabia Felix" on the Danish expedition to Arabia 1761-1767 written by Thorkild Hansen. So far it's a good read, interesting insight into life and politics at the time and a reminder of how much we take travel for granted. The book describes the troubles the expedition faced merely getting to the North Sea from Copenhagen. Granted, they left in January, but after travelling 2800 miles (out and back several times, returning to the calmer waters near Helsingør) they were still only 30 miles closer to the Mediterranean Sea. After a very enjoyable visit, we and our bikes hopped the train back to Copenhagen.

. . . and deliver us from the Vikings.

I'm a little late getting the word out, but you can still follow the voyage of the latter day Vikings from Roskilde to Dublin. The Sea Stallion is a replica built based on the original ship recovered from Roskilde Fjord and preserved at the Viking Ship Museum. Sixty men and women are serving as the crew. The website has lots of links to historical information, crew diaries, and other scholarly input (armchair diaries). The ship left on July 1 and is scheduled to arrive in Dublin before the middle of August.

The Swedish Interlude

We enjoyed a weekend of (mostly) sun by taking in the last days of the Jazz Festival, watching Italiensk for Begyndere, and taking the train to Sweden to explore Lund.

Friday evening we saw the end of a jazz performance by a good group at the Østerbro stage, only a 10 minute walk from our apartment. Saturday had some promising weather, so we went down to the harbor and saw another band featuring a xylophone. It was enjoyable - modern, but not too "out there." Afterwards we took a walk down Strøget before heading home. On the way we picked up Italiensk for Begyndere which is a Danish film from 2002 that won some awards, see here for reviews. We both enjoyed the film - it developed slowly but really drew us in.

Finally, we took the train to Lund. Lund is a university town in Skåne (southern Sweden). Lund was founded by one of the early Danish kings (Knut the Great?) in 990. It remained part of Denmark until 1658 when it was ceded to Sweden, thus beginning "The Swedish Interlude," as described in the museum we visited. The Swedish Interlude continues to this day. Danish flags flew alongside Swedish flags, demonstrating the divided loyalties of the region (it's a long way to Stockholm). We spent most of our time at Kulturen, an open-air museum with about 40 homes mostly from the Skåne region. Like the other museums of this type in Scandinavia, we enjoyed the insight into the history of the region. Since most monuments preserved for posterity were built by the military, the church, or the aristocracy, these museums are a rare chance to see another side and get a feel for how people lived then. You can see a picture of me crawling out of a Småland farmhouse that was home to a family of 9 until the father ran off to America, not to be heard from again. Unfortunately Kulturen didn't have the reenactors like the denizens of Den Gamle By or Skansen, but it did have good written descriptions about the people who inhabited the buildings preserved on the site.

After Kulturen we visited the cathedral. It was compact, as cathedrals go, but impressive and solid. We were treated to a half-hour choir concert by a touring group from Bowling Green University (Ohio). They did several African-American spirituals and some other favorites we knew from our choir days. It was a nice reminder of our own European choir tour 12 summers ago.

Radishes and all that jazz

We're learning this summer why all of our Danish friends were excited by the beautiful weather we had last summer. After record amounts of rain this June and a cool (not yet above 20C/68F) July, this may be a "year without a summer" we've heard about. Things are looking up for the weekend, so we're hoping to get out and explore.

We've discovered another fun way to learn Danish. There are Danish-dubbed Peanuts cartoons broadcast on Saturday and Sunday. It turns out that the Danish word for the Charles M. Schulz creation is "Radiserne," Danish for "The Radishes." I'm not sure why they're not called Jordnødder (peanuts; lit. "earth nuts"). I haven't seen these episodes because they're not the holiday-themed shows that I'm used to seeing in the U.S. All the names have been changed somewhat and we haven't yet deciphered most of them. Charlie Brown is Søren Brun, Peppermint Patty is Rikke Rask (Rask is "healthy" in Danish), and Snoopy is Nuser.

If Schroeder were here, he would be out enjoying the Copenhagen Jazz Festival (rain or shine). We saw a the Anders Larsen quintet on Saturday, and we'll try to catch some more music this weekend. I'm not enough of a Jazz connoisseur to pay for tickets, but there are tons of free performances at indoor and outdoor venues all around town. It is interesting that there are certain parts of US culture that are nearly gone in the States, but have been preserved in Scandinavia in a kind of deep-freeze. Jazz, heavy metal music, and a continued fascination with Cowboys and Indians of the American West come to mind (see this or this).

Bonfires and bridges (Båle og broer)

The last two weekends have had us traveling across Denmark. It's funny - one year here (after 9 years living in Texas) and we think a three-and-a-half hour drive is a long trip. We drove to Århus for a midsummer party held on Sankt Hans Aften. We met some new friends and got re-acquainted with people we met when we attended a wedding here two years ago. We warmed up with snacks out in the garden and a game of croquet followed by a BBQ meal. We noticed from two parties this summer that grilling here is very democratic. Everyone brings their meat (and/or veggies) and finds a place for it over the coals. This contrasts with the typical American approach of having the grillmaster with all his tools at the ready serving up the food of his choice. It all worked out. The weather held, with only a few sprinkles during the afternoon before it cleared up and gave us a beautiful evening for the bonfire. Afterwards the party continued. We lasted until 1am, but most carried on later into the night.

This trip was our first experience with the Great Belt Bridge which connects the islands Sjælland (where Copenhagen is located) and Fyn. This was for a short time after it was completed in 1998 the longest bridge in the world, surpassed by a bridge completed shortly after in Japan. It was a bit unnerving, but we enjoyed the experience. It was also the largest toll I've paid (DKK205 each way, approx. $35), though I understand that the bridge to Sweden costs more than twice as much. One of our favorite songs that the choir sang in the spring was "God Morgen Lille Land," which was written for the dedication of Storbæltsbroen (Danish for The Great Belt Bridge). We sang the song in the car on the way up the long span of the bridge.

Last weekend found us on Fyn again for a four-day mini-vacation. We went camping in Bogense, located on the north coast of the island. The campsite was in a good location close to the beach and marina and an easy walk into town. There was also a supermarket close by and nice paths for walking and biking along the coast. The weather did not cooperate so well (as can be seen in the photos), but we brought our rain clothes and the tent held up, so it didn't turn out too bad. An Irish friend at work says there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes. On Saturday we went to a old-time street market fair in Bogense followed by a Celtic folk music festival during which the weather gradually improved to the point where I picked up a little sunburn from sitting out at 7:30 listening to the music. We also took a 10km bike ride Saturday afternoon in the rain along the coast and then back to town on some country roads. Bogense features the world's oldest windmill built solely for electric power generation (see picture). It was built in 1942 but taken out of service in 1953 after the town switched from DC to AC power.

On Sunday we visited Harridslevgaard Slot located 3km outside of Bogense. This is a privately-owned castle from 1606 which hosts weddings and is open for visitors. The funniest part of the tour was when we walked up to the great room and saw in the middle of the floor two miniature greyhounds curled up together. I guess it is their house too.

Frederiksberg Have

Last week we passed our level 3 Danish test (yay!). It doesn't seem to mean much, we're still in the same class with the same book and the same teacher. It's been going okay and now we're on our own for the summer. We get a summer break and now hope that we don't forget everything.

Last weekend it was very hot (by Denmark standards, not Texas standards). On Sunday we headed over to Frederiksberg Have for a stroll. We had heard it was nice, so we took the Metro over to check it out. I've attached some pictures. It was a large park with lots of trees, some clearings and a palace adjacent to the Copenhagen Zoo. Lots of people were out picnicking, reading, or just soaking up the sun. We saw lots of herons which inhabit the park along with the usual swans, geese, and ducks. By next year we'll also be able to see elephants thanks to a zoo expansion which will give the elephants more roaming room and also make them visible from Frederiksberg Have. During our walk we stopped at shaded benches to cool off and people-watch.

Stevns

Where to start? We're in the middle of a busy week after a busy weekend which included a very hyggelig choir party and a fun excursion to Stevns Klint with colleagues from my job. Our choir performed its spring concert on Tuesday of last week and it was very nice to have J&P/(Mom&Dad) there to see it. Little did they know when they attended my brother's first elementary school orchestra concert that they would be in for 30 more years of music recitals. I can only hope the quality has improved with time (no offense intended, K). We celebrated Saturday with a barbecue. Tension was in the air because of the ongoing Denmark-Sweden football match which ended in dramatic style with a 1) Danish player punching a Swedish player, 2) a red card from the referee banishing the Danish player, and 3) an assault from a Danish athletic supporter who ran onto the field, took a swing at the referee, and made it back to his seat before security caught up to him. All this after drinking 15-20 beers (by his own admission). This was after Denmark had crawled back to a tie after being down 0-3. We went back home by way of the train station close to the football park, and people seemed to be taking it rather well.

Other enjoyable highlights of their visit include the ballet at Operaen (including the water bus ride across the harbor and the stroll along Nyhavn), the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (an amazing collection with impressionist art, Greek and Roman sculpture, neo-classical sculpture, and Egyptian antiquities) and visits to Roskilde (Viking ships and dead kings) and Karen Blixen's house. Regretfully we did not know enough to suggest the Glyptotek to G&L, our previous guests, but it's definitely on our to-do suggestions for future visitors. My favorites at the Glyptotek were the coin collection (with all of the Roman emperors over 500 years) and the statue heads. The statue heads reminded me of an Steven Wright line, " I went to a museum, and it had all the heads and arms of the statues that were in all the other museums."

At our outing in Stevns, we first went to Stevnsfort where they are establishing a Cold War museum. It is still in progress, with limited opening times. Summer 2008 will be the official opening. The fort was a secret systems of tunnels dug behind the chalk cliffs looking out on the Baltic sea. The intent was to monitor Warsaw Pact military movements and defend both land and sea against attack. The fort includes two turrets with 150mm guns from the German Gneissau battlecruiser. These guns and other defenses were originally established around Denmark as part of the Atlantic Wall defense system. As occupiers adding insult to injury, the Germans even made Denmark pay to build these defenses. The fort was interesting with long dimly-lit corridors, 80's vintage computer equipment, escape passages to the sea, and cool spiders. The cave spiders there are found only at the fort and on the Danish island of Bornholm. They made me think of Smudge from GoblinQuest. Nearby is Stevns Klint where chalk cliffs and a church perched on the cliff edge are slowly being eroded away. The church was built in 1250, presumably a safe distance from the cliff. In 1928, after being closed for 18 years because of the cliff erosion, the chancel fell into the sea. In the cliff below the church, the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, at which time when the dinosaurs went extinct, is accessible. There has, however been significant erosion due to eager geologists collecting samples. I've attached a picture of the cliff compiled from several shots and merged together using the autostitch program (free download). Try it, it's easy.

Eat at Joe's

My posts have been less frequent lately with the arrival of our guests, but keep checking in on us! Our latest guests, J&P (AKA, Mom & Dad) are off to Norway on the ferry to Oslo. Weather has been a mix of beautiful and not-so-good, but weighted toward the better days so far. Since their arrival on Thursday, we've taken in Rosenborg Slot and the crown jewels, the Botanical Gardens, Amalienborg Palace, the changing of the guard, the waterfront, a bus tour and a boat tour. On Saturday we had dinner and a nice visit with Alexa's cousin from Sweden and her boyfriend. Friday's dinner was at Joe's Restaurant and Cafe in Valby. At the changing of the guard I learned that there are three sizes of guard details. It depends on whether the queen is home or not. When she's home, there's a full detail with band and everything including mounted police for crowd control. The group we saw on Sunday was the smallest detail where they were just guarding the building. Apparently the band also plays on Wednesday up until the middle of June whether the queen is home or not. I've posted an old picture of the full detail.

Joe's Restaurant was just like it sounds - a local place with good food and nice unpretentious atmosphere. When we arrived at 6:30, we were only the second group. By 8:00 the place was packed and we left satisfied at 9:00 while it was still bustling. Unlike the U.S., people spend the whole evening at a restaurant, there's no thought of "turnover" to get multiple customers at a table through the course of the evening. At one Copenhagen buffet restaurant, someone observed that the meal was so quick that the restaurant might serve 2 or even 3 groups in a single night. That's a new concept here, but I still find it awkward to flag down the waiter to get the bill after a couple of hours.

Catching up on something I forgot to mention in the previous post, when G&L were visiting we went for a walk after dinner and decided to go to Kastellet. This was on Thursday May 3 which is the day before Store Bededag. Store Bededag (lit. big prayer day) is the product of a decision a few hundred years ago to combine 10+ religious observences into a single holiday. It also happens that there is a Copenhagen tradition that people walk around the ramparts of Kastellet the evening before Store Bededag. There were over 1000 people walking around with others picnicing and a military band along with a strange hat contest (pictured). Apparently the tradition isn't that big because all of our Danish friends had not heard about this annual event.

Fine ferry friends

We've been busy with our guests, G&L. They headed home on Sunday after a great streak of beautiful spring Danish weather. The next day I watched hail falling outside my office window. Hopefully J&P will get the good weather when they arrive next week. During their visit, G&L took a side trip to Oslo and three day trips from Copenhagen (Roskilde, Helsingør, and Lund, Sweden).

Last weekend we visited our friends M&P who live near Århus. It was wonderful to see them and they were gracious hosts in every way. We saw the sights including Moesgård, Den Gamle By, Århus Domkirke, and the occupation museum. We enjoyed the trip there, driving across Sjælland to Sjællands Odde (odde=cape) where we caught a fast ferry to Århus. The whole trip took a little over three hours. Sjællands Odde (pictured) is a beautiful part of Denmark with the sea visible on both sides as you drive. There is a little town which is besieged by heavy traffic every few hours when the ferry comes in. The ferry was fast, kicking up a rooster tail the whole way. On the return trip dolphins playing in the ferry's wake couldn't keep pace.

Den Gamle By (the old city), one of the stops during our 2005 visit to Denmark, is an open-air museum of buildings gathered from different parts of Denmark and reassembled in Århus. On our last trip it was pouring rain and we ducked in and out of the old buildings trying to stay dry. This time we had complete sunshine. There were period actors scattered around, including two guys brewing beer in the old brewery. They said they like their job. They provided free samples for visitors who purchased a souvenir glass. Moesgård was an interesting museum covering the bronze age, iron age, and Viking age history of the area where they found a "bog man" who had been thrown in a bog after being killed 2000 years ago. The chemical composition of the water in the bog preserved him and now he lives in a glass box in the museum. The grounds surrounding the museum include a large wooded area and a walk down to the sea along with a stave church, iron age reconctructions, and a collection of stone age sites.

Yesterday the Swedish royals came to visit Denmark. They looked like they were doing much better than the bog man we saw in Moesgård. They arrived at the harbor next to my workplace, so someone went out and took a few pictures. Here is a photo of the Danish Queen with her cousin, the king of Sweden. The Swedish crownprincess Victoria came also, but I don't have a good picture of her. In the evening we watched the beginning of a big state dinner on TV. The queen and king made speeches after an awkward period where the guests made small talk. It actually made me glad that I'm just a commoner.

Friends in fun places

It's nice to have friends visiting from Houston. The weather has cooperated, being sunny and rather warm for April but just now cooling off. They have traveled around on their own during the weekdays. In the evenings we've enjoyed dinners in the apartment, hearing about their days and catching up on news from Texas. This weekend we enjoyed spending time with them, going off to Trelleborg and then touring Rosenborg Castle (the part not under renovation) and seeing the treasury and crown jewels.

Trelleborg is the best preserved ring fortress from the Viking age built by Harold Bluetooth, son of Gorm the Old. The fort was attacked by a rival army led by his son Swein Forkbeard who eventually prevailed and became the third in the line of Danish monarchs which continues to this day. I mostly tell this because of the cool names. Lately they've been in a rut with every king since 1513 being named either Christian or Frederick. A brief respite is provided by Margrethe, the current queen; but another 70+ years of Christian/Frederick can be expected given the current heirs to the throne...

Trelleborg is a an hour and 15 minute drive from our apartment. On the way through south Sjælland we saw fields of rapeseed blooming a brilliant yellow. At the fort we enjoyed watching the sheep and lambs in the adjacent field and also explored the reconstructions of Viking houses (picture #3). For dinner we went to a cafe on the church square in Slagelse (picture #4) a nice town in western Sjælland. It was cool in the shade, but the cafe provided blankets to help us keep warm while enjoying the fresh air.

Rosenborg Castle is one of my favorite places in Copenhagen because of the history and the beautiful grounds. Unfortunately it is currently under renovation so only three rooms are open for visitors. For now, a visit to the treasury with the crown jewels is included in the ticket price.

Now our friends are off to Oslo on the ferry before returning to Copenhagen and a short jaunt to southern Sweden and Jutland.

Gæster kommer!

After another trip to Ikea, we made some long overdue improvements in preparation for our coming guests. We added some mirrors in the dining room and living room along with some doors for our living room bookcases. Finally we hung some pictures. Yesterday was our usual Danish Saturday class followed by a nice dinner at a different cafe nearby.

Not much excitement last week. The beautiful weather gave way to some cold and a little rain, just in time for the arrival of our guests. It will pass and next week looks promising. Here are some pictures from our trip to Scotland. Note the second photo with the pair of Scots in kilts flanking the door. They weren't even related.

Breaking news - Denmark has a new princess. No name as yet. Read more (in Danish) here.

Accents and rhythms

Last weekend we were off to Scotland to attend a wedding. It was a wonderful visit. We had terrific hosts whom Alexa last saw when she visited in 1985. I will post some pictures when I get them back from the photo shop (we forgot the camera...). The only other hitch was that our departure flight from Copenhagen was canceled because of bad weather in Amsterdam where we had a connection. We were re-booked and arrived 4 hours late. Our three days in Scotland included the wedding, a warm, festive affair held in an old manor house; a visit to Robert Burns' birthplace (with a fabulous lunch at the Brig o'Doon hotel, and a visit to the People's Palace in Glasgow. We saw beautiful scenery during our drives through the countryside. The best part of Scotland, however, was the people. It was most enjoyable to talk with our hosts and the guests at the wedding. A side effect of all the talking was that we started picking up hints of the Scottish accent. I know if we stayed there any length of time it would take hold pretty quickly. That would just be icing on the cake for me, since I've been told I had a German accent (by a waiter in central Pennsylvania) and asked what part of England I was from (by a British ex-pat in Denmark).

Back in Denmark we're on cat-sitting duty again and we spent Saturday in an all-day choir rehearsal after going to the first hour of our Danish class. The rehearsal included some new songs and a clinician who taught us an arrangement of an African American spiritual (This Train is Bound for Glory). It wasn't easy, but by the end he had us in the spirit. A quick dinner (3hr 45min - short by Danish standards) followed the rehearsal. In all it was a Danish-filled day and very enjoyable. Today we will soak up more of the beautiful weather with a picnic in Kongens Have followed by Casablanca at the cinema.

Out and about

In the last week or so we took two excursions, one to Møns Klint and another up the coast on our bikes. In between I took a quick trip to Oslo for work.

Møns Klint is Denmark's version of the white cliffs of Dover. We drove about two hours south to the island of Møn and spent a couple of hours strolling along the top of the cliffs and looking out on the water. It was a blustery day, but no rain. We didn't go down to the beach at the base of the cliffs because the stairs were closed due to the risk of landslides common in winter and spring. We'd like to return in the summer to camp overnight and spend more time exploring. On this trip we filled the tank for the third time since arriving in Denmark. One amusing thing is the behavior of the new digital camera which has a palette that strongly favors purple. I recall this happening on the first "roll" from the old camera (same make) before going away, hopefully it won't last too long.

I next went to Oslo for a 2-day training course in the middle of the week. I had some time on a Tuesday afternoon to stroll around Oslo and enjoy the beautiful weather. I saw Vigelund Park and the Akerhus fortress on the waterfront. Before the start of the course I had a brief Danish conversation with the guy next to me who introduced himself in Danish, so I thought I'd reply in Danish. The teacher and several other participants were Norwegian, so it was interesting to hear the Danish/Norwegian conversations. Norwegian words are very similar to Danish but the pronunciation is closer to Swedish.

Last weekend we took the train north with our bikes and rode north from Klampenborg to just south of Vedbæk. There was an excellent cycle path that ran along the railroad right-of-way. The weather was perfect and we stopped for ice cream on the way back. It was about 25 km in all (I like kilometers, because it sounds like we went farther than we really did....).

Sunshine

It seems like I comment a lot on the weather and the light patterns here. I think there's a strong biological and psychological link to the amount of sunlight we get. Now the days are lengthening at their fastest rate, about 4 1/2 minutes of daylight added each day, so we've rapidly moved from mostly dark to pleasantly light soon to go to the manic summer days of excessive daylight. It's nice to come full circle from our arrival last year. I've posted the next week's weather forecast from Denmark's weather service. It was such a nice change to see those suns and the forecast warm(er) temperatures after months of clouds and rain.

Tomorrow we're planning to go to Møns Klint to get out of town and enjoy the nice weather. We also want to scout it our for our guests visiting this spring.

In other news, The Olsen Band is being produced as a musical. Hopefully we can learn enough Danish to enjoy it when it hits the stage. Otherwise we can watch more of the old films.

More fun in Copenhagen

This week's excitement came in the form of a new cycling route to and from work. Since September, I've been going by the most direct route, along one of the main streets out of the city center. It was nice enough, but I had to wait at lights at two major intersections along with breathing car exhaust which in my mind counteracts some of the health benefits of riding in the first place. The new route follows the harbor front in front of Kastellet and past the Little Mermaid before crossing over the railroad tracks and heading into Østerbro where we live. Although it is a little farther, there are no lights, almost no traffic, and what might be called a hill which gives me a bit more exercise for my trouble.

Today we took a walking tour, following the new cycle route into town (past the Little Mermaid and Kastellet) then to the palace where we arrived there just in time for the noon-time changing of the guard and military band concert. The funniest thing was that the band marched out onto the square to the tune of Sousa's Liberty Bell March, better known as the theme to "Monty Python's Flying Circus." I like to think that they had a hard time keeping a straight face through the whole thing, but of course they did. After continuing to Nyhavn and along Strøget we walked past Rosenborg Slot where the crocuses were blooming as they were in April when I visited Copenhagen for my interview. It was a long winter last year, so the crocuses bloomed month later than this year. After the crocuses we stopped into the art museum (Statens Museum for Kunst) for lunch and a view of some of the Danish artwork we enjoyed a couple of years ago during our visit to Skagen. As I've mentioned before, museum cafes in Denmark are very nice with good food at reasonable (for Denmark) prices.

Ice cream season

Things in Denmark happen on a schedule. Recent examples include the onset of ice cream season and the release of the Easter beer (yes, Easter beer, a.k.a. Påske Øl). We stopped at an ice cream shop on our bike ride home from Charlottenlund Fort. Today was one of the first warmish, sunny days of (not-quite) spring, and the Danes were out in force strolling along the coast and soaking up the sun. Crocuses were blooming, so after a long winter it looks like spring is really on its way.


For the second year in a row, Denmark has made its way into the international news. Last year it was the Mohammed cartoons, this year it is Undgomshuset, "The Youth House." Some pictures here of the riots, tearing down the house, and some of the more peaceful protests. Being a recent arrival here, I can't speak much about the events surrounding this building, but everyone here has an opinion and most that I've heard have been sympathetic to the youth, though not supportive of the violence. On Saturday we took a ride through the neighborhood on our way to our weekly Danish class. We saw graffiti and remnants of fires set in the street to block traffic. We also saw about seven vans of policemen driving through the area, so tensions were still a bit high.

With the improving weather we're riding our bikes more. It's nice to get some exercise while saving time and money that would have been spent on the metro or trains. One weekly trip is to our Danish class, a 25 minute ride at a relaxed pace. On Tuesday we plan to ride to choir practice which is held not far south of our Danish class location. The Danish course is okay, but we realize we were spoiled to have the private tutor for so long. It is nice to meet some other people, though, and learn about what brings them to Copenhagen.

... but what do you do when you get there?

It is said that, "All roads lead to Rome." Our road took us to Rome last week. The trip had ups and downs. I won't go into a description of the sights - other sites can do that better than I. We stayed four nights, enough time to hit the highlights: the Colosseum, Pantheon, Roman Forum, and St. Peter's Basilica. We missed the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel because lines were very long and opening times were very short. Instead we went to the Doria Pamphilj Gallery. It was nice because it was not crowded - everyone else must have been waiting in the Vatican Museums line. The weather was pleasant, 55-60 deg. F, partly cloudy most days, and far better than the snow that was accumulating in Denmark.

We had a funny exchange at the hotel. Upon leaving to go touring the second day, the desk clerk asked us to leave our key. We hadn't done that on previous trips, I guess because we just left without passing by the desk. We did as requested after another guest confirmed that was normal. Upon returning and asking for the key to room 501, the response was "Impossible! Impossible!" (pronounced: eem poss EE blay). Not knowing our Italian numbers, I think he must have thought we were asking for the key to room 51, which does not exist. This was funny because we had only dropped off the key (to the same person) a couple of hours before and the hotel was rather small with few guests in the low season of February.

A second source of the giggles was when, after a large hotel breakfast (with tea, coffee, juice) we took a long walk to the Pantheon. By the time we got there, nature was calling to the extent that we said, "There's the Pantheon . . . . THERE'S McDONALD'S!" McDonald's . . . restroom for the world.

One not-so-funny event was getting pickpocketed on the Metro. I write this only as a bit of catharsis, but I prefer not to talk about it because it brings back the frustration of knowing I'd been targeted and taken advantage of by the seedier elements below street level. I was aware of the risk, keeping tight hold on my wallet and passport, but didn't think anyone would be interested in my two-year old digital camera.

In summary, Rome for me falls into the same category as what used to be New Orleans - a nice place to visit, but wouldn't want to live there. Like New Orleans, there are some rough edges in Rome that diminish the experience a bit, but the amazing sites make it worth a visit.

Arken

Last weekend we went to see the "Sculptures of the American Dream" exhibition at Arken, a modern art museum south of Copenhagen. It was a bit disquieting and comforting at the same time to walk among these life-size figures that look so familiar. Several pieces were set up in ways where it required a double-take to determine if they were part of the exhibit or museum visitors. The style was called "hyper-realism" and we left debating whether it was really art. After considering it further, I came to the conclusion that if it makes you think, it's probably art. Equally enjoyable (or maybe more) than the exhibit was the cafe. We've noticed that most of the museums in Denmark have excellent food available at their cafes. Highlights in our museum food experiences include Frederiksborg Castle, Louisiana, the Workers' Museum, and now Arken. We only had sandwiches, but they were delicious and accompanied by a beautiful view of the sea.

We're looking forward to returning to the area around Arken this summer. There's a beach and lots of well-marked cycle paths. To get to the museum, we took the train and walked 2.1 km from the station to the museum on a dedicated cycle/walking path. It was very easy to find, but not easy to walk into the steady strong wind with temperatures at or around freezing. It had occurred to me on the train ride that I could have driven; that thought reoccurred frequently during the walk. In any case it was good exercise, the walk back to the station was very easy with the wind at our back, and I didn't lose my excellent parking space...

Olsen Banden

Our entertainment this weekend was watching the first Olsen Banden movie. The Olsen Gang is a made up of three guys who, from the two films we've seen so far, carry out different capers to steal something very valuable and run off to Mallorca to enjoy their newfound wealth. There were 14 films in all, all of which follow the same pattern. We had to watch the CD with subtitles for hearing-impaired Danes, since there were no English subtitles. There is a lot of physical humor, so we there wasn't much lost there. It's also a chance to see scenes of Denmark from the past including old cars and different sites in Copenhagen and other towns.

Otherwise, we're both recovering from colds (again). We had a big social weekend planned with a visit Friday with a couple for whom we were planning to cat-sit, a dinner this evening with another couple, and lastly Monday dinner with our former Danish instructor. We've rescheduled things and hopefully we can be healthy for the next go-round.

Out with the old, in with the new...

Winter finally arrived last week. Monday (Jan. 22nd) we had a few inches of snow and nice brisk, cold weather. Something we haven't seen for a long while after living in Houston and having a warm Christmas holiday on the east coast last month. Saturday it snowed again, leaving another couple inches followed by a nice sunny and warm-ish day. I rode my bike to get a haircut in the morning, and discovered that what I heard was true. In every way, bikes take priority over cars. By 9AM the bike lanes had been plowed and the streets were still a mess. That made the intersections tricky because the cars dragged the snow across the bike crossing, but I survived. In the afternoon we took a long stroll down Østerbrogade to find a drill. Over the weekend we mounted some pictures on the wall (yes, we're still moving in) and took another long walk and otherwise relaxedasy since we're getting over yet another cold (not as bad as previous ones).

On the Danish language front, last Wednesday marked the last of our company-paid lessons. We miss our teacher, but she's been kind enough to keep in touch and we're planning to get together sometime next week. We found ourselves wondering what to do with our Monday and Wednesday evenings this week. Of course we should be studying, but we figured we'll take a week off before diving back into things.

Today we went to a language school to get signed up for a course that runs on Saturday mornings and uses computer programs to support homework during the week. We tested out at level three. I'm not quite sure what that means, because each program here has its own scale. In any case, the levels at this school go up to level six which is probably functional, but not fluent. If nothing else, we'll get to meet some other folks in our same situation.

In that vein, I went on Sunday to a meetup of an international residents of Copenhagen that get together monthly for "Vi Taler Dansk" meetings. The goal is to use what Danish we know and learn from each other in a non-threatening environment. The people were very nice and we'll enjoy doing more with them in the future. We played a Danish quiz game where we moved pieces around a board that was a map of Denmark with spaces at each of the major towns. We answered questions and had to visit four cities from all parts of the country. It was difficult to answer some of the obscure Danish trivia, but it was good practice and a nice chance to learn more about the land where we live.

So, between the meetups, our choir, the old lessons, the new language classes, and our few Danish friends, we should have lots of opportunities to practice. That's good, because we'll need it.

I Dreamed

In our choir we're singing Danish, Swedish, and English pieces. It's been fun to learn and read some of the Danish poetry as we're learning the Danish language. It's also an insight into the culture. Many, like the sample below contain references to nature and the Danish countryside. We look forward to singing more.

Here's a sample, written by Aage Berntsen (1885-1952)

Jeg Drømte
Jeg drømte i min Ungdom, Kærligheden
var som en Solskinsdag, en Dag i Maj,
hvor under Himlens rene Blå vi vandred
hen ad en hvid og vårlig Blomstervej

jeg drømte i min Ungdom, Kærligheden
var Foraarsfugles store Jubelkor,
var Sommerhavers stærke Rosenånde
var som en Sang med hede, skønne Ord

Nu ved jeg, ak, nu ved jeg, Kærligheden
er som en Vandring over skarpe Sten,
er som en Vandring mellem mørke Hække,
hvor Rosen dufter bag en tornet Gren

er som en Nat, når Regnens Væld er stilnet,
er som en sølvbleg Sommernat mod Nord,
hvor Hjærtet fyldes tungt af alle Tider
og Nattergalen hulker Sjælens Ord.

(attempt at a translation)

I dreamed

I dreamed in my Youth, Love
Was like a sunny day in May,
Where under Heaven's clear Blue we wandered
down a white and spring-like Flower strewn lane

I dreamed in my Youth, Love
was Spring birds' big happy choir,
was Summer gardens' rose scent,
was like a Song with hot, sweet words.

Now I know, arghh, now I know, Love
is like wandering over sharp stones,
is like wandering between dark hedges,
where the rose fragrance is behind a thorny branch

is like a Night when the Rainfall has stopped,
is like a silver pale Summer night in the North,
where the Heart is filled heavy by all times
and the Nightengale sobs the soul's words.

In other news, we found an option for Danish lessons after our tutor finishes. It a course that a friend recommends that uses a combination of computer and classroom learning to allow for a more flexible schedule. The traditional schools here typically involve about ten hours of class time per week, after work or during the day. Maybe we're wimps, but after a full day of work - three hours of Danish may push us over the edge. Hopefully, we're disciplined enough to do the online training at a good pace. We'll see.

Blown away

We're back in the routine here again, not much news to report. The flip side of the autumn darkness is that it's getting noticeably brighter now - light after 4PM. So, after all, it's only about a four week period from early Dec. to early January where it seems excessively dark. It is gradually getting colder, still not nearly as cold as normal.

The winds are getting strong. I'm not sure if it's normal, but today we went for our run along the lakes and at times could make no forward progress. We even had to turn around once because we were getting pelted by small pebbles blown off the running/walking path. The average winds today were 22 m/s which translates to a little over 50mph, but gusting to above 60mph. Just a reminder that we're living on an island. The upside is more electricity (is that bulb burning a bit brighter?) since Denmark gets 15-20% of it's energy from wind power. The best source of information about the weather is the Danish Meteorological Institute where you can see information on current conditions and forecasts, just remember your Celsius conversion table - in the top right of the weather page is an British flag to click on for information in English.

In closing, here is a good site for pictures of Denmark showing many of the tourist attractions in the area.

Godt Nytår

Happy New Year to all. We're back after a very nice Christmas trip to the states. We enjoyed seeing many friends and family. We returned to Copenhagen on the morning of New Year's Day to find it very quiet but with lots of spent fireworks covering the streets. It must have been quite a show. I'm sure the cats were not amused. Here, instead of having community fireworks displays like the Independence Day celebrations in the U.S., people buy their own fireworks and set them off in the streets or in parks, etc. We'll have to see what it's like next year.

When we got back from our trip we found Kevin (our newly-identified Norwegian Forest Cat or norsk skovkat in Danish) even fluffier than before. It turns out that the reduced sunlight in the fall/winter triggers his coat to grow out. He'll shed in the spring, so we'd better have the vacuum ready. He never went through this cycle when we lived in Houston because the light change was not so dramatic. Speaking of the changing light, we're on the upswing now and it's already noticeably brighter than when we left.

Today we took a nice bike ride to a park between Emdrup and Husum on the north side of the city. We saw lots of birds, mostly ducks, herons, and swans. We also visited a large church (Grundtvigs Kirke click on "Galleri 2" or "Galleri 3" to see photos) and ate lunch at a cafe.

Glædelig Jul!

We are enjoying the Christmas season in Copenhagen. We took another walk last night to see the skating rink at Kongens Nytorv and browse the Julemarked along Nyhavn. Next time we may actually rent skates and try out the ice for ourselves. The lights around the square are beautiful and it was crowded on the ice and on the streets.

Last weekend we attended our choir's Julefrokost. We had traditional food including a herring course (three kinds + marinated, roasted, and "curry" - in a mustard sauce). Second course was various kinds of pork including the traditional flæskesteg. There was a dessert of rice pudding and beer, wine, and snaps. The meal was catered in a badminton clubhouse. Badminton is big here, not just for picnics.

During the meal we sang a few songs including "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" in Danish, Whisky in the Jar, When you Wish Upon a Star, and some others I have since forgotten. We also sang "skål" songs for the frequent toasts during the meal. We held a gift exchange after dinner where everyone brought a gift then people took turns rolling a die (have to roll a six) to see who could pick a (wrapped) gift from the gift table. When those were gone, the game continued with people stealing gifts from other people until time expired. I ended the game with a DVD ("Phone Booth") and bubbles. Between activities and songs we got to know some of our fellow choir members better. Much of the entertainment came from the other group in the room, 20 or so new aspiring police trainees. They had started before we arrived and were still going strong (more or less) when we left. So, we survived Julefrokost season. It was fun and we look forward to it next year.

Sun and sand

I can't write much about Denmark today because I spent the last week in the Middle East (my first visit). I was in Qatar for three days followed by two days in Oman. In Qatar (besides working) we attended the Asian Games being held in Doha. We also went to a shopping mall in search of dinner. After searching high and low we settled for Applebee's. It was a bit strange - it could have been Kansas City. Qatar is certainly open to products and franchises from the U.S. (Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, Starbucks and so on).

The Asian Games were lots of fun. I read that they're trying to get the 2016 Olympics, so this was a bit of a test run. Turns out that they didn't have enough hotel rooms, so they couldn't accept lots of visitors from outside. That's okay, because plenty of outside visitors are already in the country doing virtually all of the work in Qatar (mostly from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Phillipines). At the games we saw badminton where the Chinese won the woman's gold medal.

The other event we saw was Kabbadi. This was a bizarre game combining the finer points of tag and tackle (American) football on a tennis court. Two teams of seven take turns sending a player to the opposing side where he tags an opponent and tries to return to his side while being tackled all in a single breath. China is clearly getting geared up for the 2008 Olympics, getting more gold medals than the rest of the countries combined.

The most striking thing about Qatar is the amount of construction that is underway. It has already in the span of six years built more office towers than there were in downtown Houston, and there are more than 20 tower cranes in operation. A funny thing was that they almost invariably built the office towers in twos. "Why build one when you can build two" seems to be the motto. I'd like to go back in five years to see how it has changed.
Oman was a nice place. We spent most of our time in the mountains where it could sometimes look like west Texas, except for the camels. One night we had free time to explore Nizwa where we saw the restored wall around the old town along with various shops. The weather was nice, 25C/77F and sunny, a big change from here. Both countries were very safe. Gas prices were 50 cents/gallon in Qatar and 70 cents/gallon in Oman (if I did all of my conversions correctly). Most everyone in Qatar drove large SUV's. Not unlike Houston a few years ago.