Julefrokost

Here in Denmark people follow traditions which are suited to surviving the dark winter months and enjoying the long summer days. Christmas and the preparations for Christmas are an important part of making it through the dark days. This time of year, people attend Julefrokosts. Julefrokost literally means "Christmas lunch" often in the form of a buffet with traditional Danish fare, beer, and aquavit. These are held by employers and other community organizations. Alexa and I both attended Julefrokosts on Friday, I with my work colleagues and she with hers. Spouses do not attend these parties as they did for Christmas parties in the U.S. We have another scheduled with our choir, but they cannot find a place to hold it so it will probably fall through. Alexa will go to one more next weekend for her other job.

At my Julefrokost on Friday we went to Sankt Gertruds Kloster, an old convent turned into a restaurant lit entirely by candlelight. We had several courses, appetizer (veal and pickled fig), starter (salmon and salad), soup (sea bass and scallops), main course (veal and buttery potatoes), and dessert (apple pastry and ice cream). Each course accompanied a wine selection. We sat down at 5:30 (17.30) and I stayed until some people started leaving around 10:00 (22.00), others were making plans to go to a bar. It was a nice time to talk with colleagues and get to know people better. These events have a reputation for getting out of hand, but that wasn't the case here.

On the language front, we have had our employer-paid Danish instruction extended by 5 more weeks. After that we'll try out other options. We've also discovered a group of international people trying to learn Danish that meets monthly for Danish conversation. That might be fun.