kirkegård

Not far from us there is a beautiful cemetery , which we explored a bit this weekend.  Each gravesite is separated from the next with a low hedge.  The ones pictured here are on the large size, but even the smaller sites have the same well-manicured hedge.

a cemetery like Roskilde's

Scattered throughout the cemetery are lovely fountains with watering cans.

The hearses here, like some other countries, have windows to allow everyone to see the coffin.

Many headstones have the phrase, "Tak for alt," which literally means, "Thanks for everything," but is generally held to a greater meaning to express deep gratitude.  I am unclear whether it is gratitude from or toward the deceased.

Danish haircut

In California a lot of boys in Arlo's class had hair on the long side, but life is different here!

before

after

Fire

No one was in any danger, but a fire in the school's fuse box meant no classes for two days.  A kid's dream?

The first day off we had a slow morning and then rode out to Risø to have lunch with David.  The kids were excited to eat out for the first time, even if it was just the canteen.  The highlight was having free hot chocolate from the coffee machine, one of many all over campus.  Less exciting was our Danish class afterward.

The ride to and from work is along a big road, but of course there is a fantastic bike lane and there are great views of the fjord and the experiments being conducted by the wind sector.

The second day we went into Copenhagen to check out the Experimentarium.  What a super place!  Everything had English information, everything was hands-on, and there was never a line for anything.  By the time the field trips had left it felt like we were sharing the museum with just a handful of other people.  It was a little pricey, even with Robin's new international student id card, but we had a great visit.

Using a viewer that reverses left and right

Trying to pedal without breaking a bone

I was pleased that we didn't get lost, but it is pretty easy to get around.  At the bus station there are not only schedules and a list of stops, but there is also a real-time listing of which bus is approaching next and when it will be there.  Inside the bus a display lists the bus route, the destination, and the next stop.  I don't know where we'll go, but now I have the confidence to try another adventure.

Vowels

Want a good laugh?  There are nine vowels in the Danish alphabet, but to my ear there are about five sounds.  Or maybe I can hear all of them, but I certainly can't say them.  If you want to try for yourself, you can go to this website, change it from Heather speaking American English to Mette speaking Danish, and type in the vowels.  I find if I put them in with a period after each one she speaks more slowly.  Let me know how you do.
a.
e.
i.
o.
u.
y.
å.
æ.
ø.

Trends

It is popular to wear Converse All-Stars and socks with marks on the side (not sure what they are called) and your pants tucked in.  Boys and girls do this, although it seems to be more popular with boys at the moment.

It seems that everyone wears scarves, from tweens to adults.  It is mostly women, but sometimes I see men wearing them, too.

This is just one type of scarf worn in one style.  There is tremendous variety.

Forest by Robin

On Sunday we visited this really cool forest. At first it was not very
fun because we just walked around, and even accidentally went off on a
path to nowhere. Then, we found this great trail of logs, rock and
rope. The point was obviously to stay off the dirt. We weren't able
to, but it was fun to try. We also saw this cool dragonfly on our way
to the shore of the fjord, which also was beautiful. I love the way
that light reflects off the ripples. It makes them look like they've
been touched up on the computer. 

I can now create original sentences in Danish, like "Jan og Lise lejer. Jan spiller fodbold. Lise lejer med dukkehuset."  This means "Jan and Lise play. Jan plays soccer. Lise plays with a dollhouse."

Rundetaarn

With a little extra time in Copenhagen we took the good advice of a local who said the 1642 Round Tower was a child-friendly place.  Spot on!  It turns out history can be interesting if you get to choose what to read and ignore the other bits.  Unusual displays included a bomb from the 1807 British attack and a book it damaged, the privy next to the library (maybe used by H.C. Andersen?), and a wonderful view from the top next to the observatory influenced by Tycho Brahe.

You may be able to see the bridge to Sweden in the background.

Cycling

I wish I were able to describe how completely cycling is essential to the people here.  One clue is the fact that I have seen more bicycle-lane sweepers than street sweepers.

Autumn

It must still be summer because Arlo hasn't started wearing long pants (and doesn't seem to notice the odd looks) and I was able to swim in the fjord this morning.  But fall is on the way because even though they aren't quite like Ohio's, the first buckeyes/chestnuts/kastanier are here.

Food, part one

Yesterday I was amazed to learn that sweet potatoes are not easily available.  There were only 2 x 450kg packages in the store and they cost the same as the 4kg packages of white potatoes.

Sweet potatoes and white potatoes - same price for each package

Baking soda comes in little containers that look just like baking powder.

baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda

Even the most up-to-date kitchens here have can openers that are like the camping kind.  They leave a jagged edge that looks like an invitation to get stitches.  The more expensive cans have pop-top lids.

can openers

jagged lids

Visiting the Doctor, by Judy

Same appointment, different point of view.

We got to the right place, but it looked like an apartment.  Should we just walk in?  Ring the bell?  Which bell?  I rang the bell, nothing happened.  I opened the door and was surprised to see a staircase.  At the top was another door.  Go in?  Knock?  We went in and saw a waiting room with patients and a secretary, but no one acknowledged us.  Finally I asked for help because I had no idea what to do next.  A patient showed me how to scan the health card and said that was it.  We joined the other people who were sitting quietly (not even reading!).

I was surprised that the doctor was running late after being told how timely the appointments were.  She was wearing street clothing and did not have a stethoscope anywhere in sight.  Her office looked a little like an apartment, but with a examination bed and scale (although no one checked height or weight).  It was nice to be able to speak English and she had a book to look up the medicine we had brought from the U.S.

There are only two pharmacies in town!  This is the only place to get anything beyond chamomile tea, although a new law may make it legal to sell aspirin other places.  There were about six people ahead of us, but there is no place to sit and wait, which is not a problem if you are healthy.  It seems that a lot of elderly and sick people might appreciate a bench.  Maybe there is a delivery service?

It was good to check out the medical system when it wasn't an emergency.   I liked the doctor's attitude and manner, but I hope we stay healthy this year.

Visiting the Doctor, by Robin

Today, I had a doctor's appointment. Mom had to pull me out of school
at 10.15, so when the class left at 10 for a movie of a jazz concert,
the teacher suggested that I should stay in the classroom. After all those
times of being found alone in the classroom because I had no idea where
everyone else was I finally had a reason.

The doctor's office was up a flight of stairs. It was the first time I'd been upstairs in a while.

So now I have a different pimple cream. I have to wait a month for it to be effective. This is disappointing. I just hope the stuff works eventually.

Mom was asking me why I had my raingear on if it wasn't raining, and I told her that it was because it would dry off better on me then it would in my bag, and then a few minutes later it started raining again. Yes, I told her, I know that I look weird. Sometimes it's not fun to be right, especially when you weren't trying. Telepathy? Or just me not dealing with my raingear? We will never know. [insert soundtrack here]

My little brother's Danish tutor just asked me if I had mosquito bites.
Stupid pimples. [sigh]

odds and ends

If you write the date the local way today is 8/9/10.  I don't have much problem adapting to this format and I am trying to learn to use the 24-hour clock, but it is only used when there might be confusion, like for train schedules.  They don't say, "Let's go to the movie at 19 hours," or even "Let's go to the movie at 7 p.m.," because they assume you know that no one goes to movies at seven in the morning.  They use common sense!  The hardest thing to adjust to is the idea that the half-hours are said in reference to the future.  Instead of saying 7:30 or half-past seven, they say half-eight.  If it is 7:35 they say it is five past half-eight.  It is five before half-eight if it is 7:25.  Another place halves come in is the multiples of ten.  There is a longer and more interesting explanation here, but the short version is that it used to be the Danes counted by 20s, so 50 is said as half-60 (half way between 40 and 60) and 70 is said as half-80.  I don't understand why 90 sounds like half-five.

There are no water fountains at school.  The kids bring their cups and fill them up when they need to.

The few squirrels I have seen are red (photo taken from a Google image).

The cafe at the Target-type store has highchairs for the little ones to use.  These cost over $200 in the US and I guess they are standard here because I seem them all over the place.

Nordsjaelland

When Arlo was a baby I would take him over to the track in his stroller so the ladies who walked each morning could entertain him while I had a little run or swim on my own.  One of his lady friends now has a summer home on the northern part of the island of Zealand (Nordsjaelland) and she invited us to visit.  We arrived at their home after using bikes, bus, train, and a car and thoroughly enjoyed the traditional Danish hospitality, beautiful weather, and the chance to speak English the whole day.  We played soccer/football, climbed trees, picked berries, and walked to the beach.  Despite the traveling, it was a relaxing and lovely day.

Phones

I caught Robin's cold and was going to take a nap and realized I wouldn't be disturbed by the phone ringing.  No political calls, no would-you-like-an-estimate calls, no don't-forget-to-do-such-and-such-for-the-schools calls, no calls with only silence on the other end.  Every single adult I know was at work (two exceptions - one US expat and one Japanese expat) and they probably wouldn't call anyway.

On the off chance that someone (my darling husband, 99% of the time) calls while I am not home, there is no answering machine, but a light flashes to indicate a missed call and I can see the number of the caller.  I had to ask a classmate's parent how to make it stop flashing because I couldn't figure it out.  I had never had a phone with "intuitive wheel navigation" before.

I have started carrying a cell phone because I was shamed into it by the school secretary.  I have called no one and have received no calls, which is good because we bought only twenty minutes for it.  If we start getting calls we can buy more minutes, but I think that is a long ways off.  I am proud to say that have memorized the phone number, in case someone asks for it.

When people answer the phone they say their name.  This seems to work well, although sometimes I answer with my usual hello so that the caller might respond in English.

Our phone numbers are eight digits, but there are no area codes.  I haven't figure out whether I am supposed to write the number as 12345678 or 1234 5678 or 12 34 56 78.

Doctor appointments are made online and if you wish for a call back instead of an email your mobile phone gets charged about $0.75.  I wonder what happens if you have a pre-paid phone?

Flush

Even though water conservation wouldn't seem like a big concern here, all toilets have a dual flush system.

It seems to work fine, although it does mean you can't keep a box of tissues on top of the toilet tank.  It doesn't matter because if you ask someone for a tissue, you'll be offered a paper towel or a personal pack of tissues.

Despite conservation in almost all other areas, paper towels seem to be used everywhere.  I have yet to see a cloth napkin outside of a thrift store.  It seems standard to put a roll on the table, for which they use special holders.