Regnvejr og Blæsevejr

(rainy and windy weather)

One of the most common topics of conversation here is the weather. I know it's a bit of a cliche, but it's true. Since we arrived, we haven't had much reason to complain about the weather; but of course we arrived in June. July and October had record high temperatures. August was rain. Today was our first real storm. There was a steady 40-45mph wind all day with rain and snow. From my office window I could see whitecaps in the harbor and the flag poles straining against the gale. People at work prodded me, saying that this weather only lasts until June. And if it doesn't clear up before next summer - it will by the time summer '08 rolls around. While I know the novelty will wear off eventually, it's still a nice change from Houston where autumn did not really feature strongly in the calendar.

The worst part of the last week was the coming of standard time. It's now getting dark around 4:30. We still have 7 weeks until the winter solstice when I'm told we'll be down to 7 hours of daylight. I console myself by thinking that I could be living in Norway instead. The Danes seem to combat the darkness in part by filling up their social calendars with julefrokosts (Christmas lunches). These are big parties (either lunches or dinners) put on by employers or social groups. I have two coming up - 1 with work and 1 with our choir. I'll report more on that when it comes up. After Christmas there is a winter holiday week in February and most people try to go south. In between, I guess they hunker down with family and friends and candles and food and wine and anything else that gets them through the winter.

On another note, my danish driving license (kørekort) arrived in the mail last week. I'm official!