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.