A Story and a Scheme

I have neglected this blog for the past week and for that I am sorry.

It has been an unusually quiet week for me. I have been going through my daily routines without anything all that remarkable to report back to you on. I kept thinking, 'it is time for a new post, buuuttt I have nothing interesting to tell them, or any new pictures to show them!'

So I will just write. And we shall see what becomes of this.

This picture does not quite do my new
 watch justice, it is not at all 'sporty'
looking, but is actually quite sleek
and chic.

I managed to make a sojourn into the the centre of Aarhus yesterday to see about finding a jeweller to fix the beautiful new watch I received from my family for Christmas.
I did have a 10 dollar watch that I have been wearing every day since I got here, but to tell you the truth, it was starting to look very worn and I was also getting an allergic reaction on my wrist from all of the cheap nickel.
I have been tolerating the itchiness and the eye sore because I do rely on it to get me places on time- until two days ago when it inexplicably fell off my wrist. On closer analysis, I discovered that one of the pins that attached the strap to the face had fallen out, never to be found and not to be missed.

So thank goodness for my new, beautiful watch from Roots that I will have, fixed, and ready to be worn today!

I have been casting around whether or not to tell you about my stretched earlobe. That sounds disgusting, but when babies pull on your earrings enough, inevitably, it will start to become more or a slit then a hole- so suffice to say, this is one more item on my 'to do' list.
Thank goodness it is only one of my ears, but my plan of action is that I am not going to wear any earrings in that hole and hopefully it will close up and I can get eventually get it re-pierced. In the meantime, today probably, I will go and get a piercing directly behind the slit, and then wear a smaller version of whatever I have in the other ear!
Why, you ask?
Well, quite simply because I have worn earrings every day since I was 12 years old, and I feel quite naked without them, so the thought that I would have to not wear any for the next several months is more than I can bear. C'est tres triste, non?
**Note: I will not include a picture of this, as I hope to have some readers left by the end of this post.



Alright. Enough of that.
Now for the real news.

Edinburgh

It would appear that in the end of April- for approx. four weeks, I will be going on a backpacking trip through Europe with my older sister! And frankly I am pretty hopped up on this right now.

 But there is one slight hitch, and that is Í have yet to discuss this with my family- my Danish family that is.
But I am not concerned, I get 5 weeks off and I think it will be a go.

Paris by night- magnifique!

The plan is that she will fly into Hamburg and I will meet her there. We will probably stay the night and do some sightseeing and then hop on a train to Aarhus, where she will then get to meet my family, and see exactly what I have been up to these last 7 months!

A day or two later, we will then take a plane from Billund to Edinburgh and stay with family for a few days and explore Scotland!

Next on our agenda is England.

Croatia: known for having some of the
most beautiful beaches in Europe.

My sister has a friend living near London so we will spend a day or two with her, before we move onto London.

That is all we have planned so far, but as money (or lack thereof) is an important factor
for both of us, we hope to see Paris and then move onto slightly cheaper countries and cities to explore. We will most likely go to Eastern Europe and may spend a few days enjoying the beaches in Croatia.

Right now, it is not very cold in Aarhus- and this is the warmest winter in Denmark in 20 years!!!
I can't help but feel I jinxed them, and somehow brought some of our balmy, Vancouver winters with me. But in any case it is hovering around the six degrees mark and is not quite cold enough to  complain, but still damp and dismal enough to make it feel like a verrryyy long winter. So dreaming about vacations and beaches, like the one pictured above (Croatia) are what is keeping me going right now.

Check back in the next couple of days for another post!

A New Post on a New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, full of 'jule hygge' (which essentially translates as cosy Christmas time) and all of the delightful things that makes Christmas so much fun!

I have written three blog posts in the past few days and haven't even posted one!
Why?
Well, frankly I am a perfectionist, and I am usually unsatisfied with what I do and specifically what I write. I always feel I am capable of so much more!

I need to learn to have a more 'laissez faire' attitude...which segways perfectly into what I really wanted to write to you about- New Years Resólutions!

Traditionally I have scoffed at the fact that gyms receive more new memberships in January than any other time of the year, and that universally, people see a new year as a chance for a fresh start.
Don't misunderstand me, it is not that I think any of thís 'fresh start' business is worthy of scorn!
Au contraire!
Rather, shouldn't every day, every hour and every minute afford the same opportunity? And not just January?

Well this year I am putting aside any pretences at 'high-mindedness' and joining the masses in penning my resolutions for 2012.
And I have a lot. I filled three full pages with my dreams, ambitions and goals for the next twelve months, and even then I felt it was just the scant, bare bones of what I really wanted to express.

I am not going to bore you with a list, but I will tell you it ranged from the trivial (drink more water) to the deeply personal.

I am 21 years old, and I have managed to survive the most difficult and challenging year of my relatively young life. I am ending this year with a very different mindset than the one with which I began it, and for that I am sincerely grateful.
I have high hopes for the next 12 months and feel nothing but excitement for what they may hold in store for me.

The celebrating begins tonight for me actually, a big family dinner, and then another one tomorrow night, on the 31'st...and then I will go into town after midnight with a friend to meet up with some more people and continue the celebrations.

Yup. Those are my plans.

I am including a clip from 'When Harry Met Sally,' one of my all time favourite rom-coms.
Why is this relevant? Because the end of the movie, the romantic climax, takes place on New Years, and well if you watch it you'll see. It is pretty cute.

Happy New Years everyone!

A Christmas Song For You

This song is so evocative of Canada, and my home- plus I love Joni.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone!



The Old Town...and a Glimpse into my Bedroom

Den Gamle By (The Old Town)

I have been living in Denmark for nearly six months now, and during the course of this time I have heard time and time again to go to Den Gamle By (the Old Town). Well, I am pretty sure I feigned interest only to immediately push the whole thing to the darkest regions of my mind. I suppose I thought it sounded slightly dull and tedious, and exactly like one of those culturally enlightening experiences you do simply to be able to check it off your list. To be able to flippantly answer when asked, 'Oh yes. I saw it. It was interesting...' etc.

Well, as these pictures bear witness, I finally made it to Den Gamle By and what is more shocking, I genuinely enjoyed it. I went with my Danish family last Sunday and the place was buzzing. You could barely move there were so many people there to see what a traditional Danish Christmas in the 18'th and 19'th century would have looked like.

What is remarkable about this place is that none of it has been replicated. Every single building, stone, and stick of furniture is authentic and has been transported from all over Denmark to recreate life in 'the Old Country.'

Hot Coals. It was bitterly cold while we were there and boy was I happy for this sight.

Oh yes- I thought this was picture-worthy, because never in a million years would
a public place in the US or Canada allow hot coals be left unattended for people's enjoyment.
Can you imagine the potential law suits?

It was EXTREMELY cold while we were there and you can see a think layer of ice on the canal.

A snapshot of a snapshot of Denmark in the 1930's.

The market, and a very patient horse pulling his load through the crowd.

Little I. and Julemæn.
As you can see she is not at all shy.
She wandered off and when I turned around she was deep in conversation with Santa Clause
and received little cookies from him for being such a good girl.

A garden used to grow herbs for the 'Apotheka' (the pharmacy)

This is NOT a part of the Old Town, but what you are viewing is in fact the
artwork that decorates one of the walls of my bedroom. I found these free cards at a
little cafe and decided that they would add some colour to my bare walls.

I added the flags for Christmas, but the little bird remains perched in my
window on a permanent basis.

My bedroom and the lighting fixture that I just dusted after finding
a tall enough chair to stand on.

I wasn't going to include this picture, buuuttt I decided, meh...why not?
Anybody that know me knows I am generally quite neat, with the major exception of my bedroom, and living here
has done nothing to change that.
This is the chair and the desk and the laptop that I spend...probably too much time on.

That little beige purse you can see sitting on the desk? It has been so abused
and overused it is falling a part, but it holds all of my loose change, cards, makeup, bobby pins,
receipts and has served me well.

And the empty plastic mug that you can see beside my laptop if you squint hard enough? That my friends is
the mug that I have become very attached to. It feels like an old friend
and I enjoy several cups of Earl Grey tea from its depths every day.

So there you have it.
It is all happening.
This is real life.

In the mean time, have a very, Merry Christmas to all- and to all a good-night.


P.S. Check back for a new post shortly after the Holidays (but before New Years).

A Theme for the Day

The second post today for the win!!

This is a song by a Seattle based band, Fleet Foxes, that just fits the weather, the season, and the mood of the day. I hope you enjoy it- myself and six and a half million other people certainly have.

A Decision and a Story

Since my last post on Sunday of last week, I have been wrestling with the question of candour and openness on the internet.

Well, more specifically, exactly how much of my daily mundane routines, should I hang out to dry for public viewing? Should I just write in 'stream of conscious,' devoid of grammatical structure? My uncensored thoughts and emotions vomited out onto a blank page for your casual viewing? Or would you be more interested in a list-like, narrated news bulletin?

I can tell you what you will not be seeing, and that is the latter.

Sorry. That is far too compartmentalised and boring to me and I will doubtlessly grow very, very tired or writing that way very, very quickly. Not to mention how tiresome it would be to you, feeling the pressure of being forced (that is right family, forced, unless of course you are lucky enough not to be related to me so you are no longer obligated to waste your precious minutes here) to read these lengthy tomes.

And so, I have tonight made a very serious decision, no longer am I playing the field. The field stinks. Both economically and socially (name that movie).
Instead, I will attempt to amuse you with anecdotes and trivial tales of my life here, and occasionally (and for your sakes hopefully not too often) sermonise to you on the things that I have discovered whilst living in my little nook of the world.

I am glad that has been cleared up. Shall we proceed?

On December 13'th I was invited, along with the other parents and care-givers, to attend a celebration of Santa Lucia at the local kindergarten.

I had no idea what that meant, or what this day is all about, so I quickly looked it up on Wikipedia before running out the door to be there promptly at 3 pm.

Apparently it is originally a Catholic religious holiday to honour Saint Lucy, a woman whose eyes were gouged out for her faith. Consequently, she is also the patron saint of blind people.
In Scandinavia, it is traditional for children to dress in white, flowing robes, and carry candles and sing a song for Lucia every December 13. Usually, one girl is chosen to represent Lucia and is given a wreath with four lit candles, to wear on her head.

I was ready and waiting with my camera to capture this spectacle, only to be told that there were no pictures aloud as it may distract some of the littlest ones who should stay concentrated on not lighting the child in front of them on fire with a wayward candle.

I apologise for the blurry, grainy quality. I felt that I was pressing
my luck taking not one, but two pictures.

It was an adorable afternoon, and I did manage to sneak a picture on my cellphone just for this purpose.
After the processional was over, the kindergarten had prepared homemade appleskiver and gløgg for us to partake in. And then shortly after, the Julemæn himself (Santa Clause) made a surprise visit much to the children's delight!

As for the rest of my week, it was fairly low key and uneventful.

Yesterday I went to a dinner hosted by my Spanish friends to say goodbye to the people leaving to go back home to Spain for the holidays.
They made traditional Catalan food for around 30 people, consisting of bread and grated tomato sauce, and tortillas, which are essentially egg and potato omelets.
We then all packed ourselves into a bus headed towards downtown Aarhus, and spent the evening at a ping pong bar and a disco.

I discovered something last night- that certain styles of glasses can be very polarising.

For instance, because it was drizzling and my hair was a wet, curly mess I decided to abandon the whole- sleek, chic, put together thing in favour of a more grungy, messy urban look. So I pulled out my new 10 kroner glasses from H&M and promptly forgot I was wearing them, until...

I must have been approached by no less then 10 strangers telling me they liked my glasses and were they real, and where did I buy them?
On the other hand, I was also told by certain people I looked much, much prettier without them. But little comments like that did not dissuade me, so I kept them on.

At the end of the evening, while waiting for the bus a homeless man ambled up towards me and proceeded in a raspy, smokers voice to mumble something in Danish. I explained to him I do not speak enough Danish to understand him, and could he possibly repeat that in English? And so he did.
What did he have to say?
He liked my glasses.

The end.

A Quiet Sunday Evening...



My new view from my bedroom window, after all of the trees were removed last month.

It is as the title suggests, a quiet Sunday evening as I sit at my laptop and type up a new little post to share with you.
Just to state the obvious, I have changed my blogs look yet again, and I hope it is slightly easier on the eyes than before.

 I spent the day as a spectator at a 10 km run in Aarhus, cheering on all of the brave souls out in the bitter cold, running at 'marathon speed.' This kind of event provides great inspiration, and keeps my hopes alive that- with any luck, I will be able to join them soon.

After that I went with my Danish family to see an old wheat mill that has been converted into a Christmas market and restaurant. I knew absolutely nothing about the process of milling wheat, and so I was rather surprised to see that the mill is situated on a river, so that the wheel can be powered by water.
The market was adorable and there was an abundance of homemade jam, candy, Christmas decorations, honey, and flour from the mill. Bing Crosby serenaded everybody throughout our tour of the mill (via the sound system, not a posthumous performance) and it was an all together delightful afternoon.

This post is not going to be especially profound, or particularly long, but I simply wanted to wish everybody a pleasant Sunday, and a happy third Sunday in Advent.
I also want to remind you that I have two new posts from the past couple of days, so do not stop after this one- chances are, you have some catching up to do! Check back later in the week for more updates.

Namaste.