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.