Danish Darkness Descends :S

Yeah I like alliteration and I'm not afraid to show it.

It's official. It's almost 1pm here in Copenhagen and that means I have 3.5 hours more of light today. WHAT. This is when the sun sets in Seattle at the darkest point of the year  :S

(Speaking of emoticons though... Danes are ALL about them. I can't sort it out. On the one hand super NOT emotive, but so free with the little punctuation-based emotions. Makes me realize my gendered assumptions about this sort of thing when my guy friends are always sending me smilies and hearts.... still throws me off, I'm embarrassed to say!)

This week at the HIA Senior Fellows board meeting we were setting dates for our upcoming events and it was hilarious to me how much winter weather / darkness factored in! No one wants to arrange anything in December because it's hyggelig enough with all the Christmas and people are busy and cosy.... But then someone suggested we set the New Year's brunch, workshop on conflict resolution and application reading party in February because "we'll need something to look forward to". I thought it was a bit humorous but there was nothing funny about the looks on their faces. We then realized that we were going to have chill out a bit and not have an all-HIA-all-the-time month of February...

A couple months ago my friend Rasmus told me warningly that I better find hobbies that I can do in doors and activities that will bring me in contact with other humans during the winter. Again I thought he was making fun of the situation somehow but oh hell no he was dead serious. And he's followed through, too! He helped connect me with a friend who plays frisbee and I'll be going to my first practice next week :)

THAT EMOTICON WAS ENTIRELY UNPREMEDITATED.

All this darkness has also made me realize how crazy I've gotten about hygge times and candles. The other day I was having lunch with a Canadian friend. We lit about half a dozen candles in the middle of the day and stared at them dreamily. It was at that point that we both had to admit that something is up with this place... neither of us would EVER do that at home. Nor would I find it sensible to even buy candles. Now it's like... oh, 4pm candlelight, duh!

Wish me luck with this gloomy Scandinavian business. I can't complain too much though because Hege and Lotta will remind me that Norway is further north and Helsinki is wayyyyy further north. The shortest day of the year in Helsinki is six hours long... I just looked it up. That's just sick.

Tillykke med fødselsdagen TIL MIG!!!!!

It was just my birthday, and a lovely one at that. Tillykke med fødselsdagen is Danish for happy birthday but it means, literally - congratulations on the day of birth! So when danes say happy birthday they often just say "tillykke!" or, to me, "congratulations!!" Which is very nice but always makes me giggle because I feel like my birth is one of the things for which I'm least deserving of congratulations. But thanks!

These photos are all shamelessly taken from Lotta's blog... http://lottaleverlivet.wordpress.com/

Nice weather on my birthday!! Apparently that means I've been a good girl this year. You're welcome, Copenhagen!

Birthday lunch

Yum, Yum.... that Danishest.

Studying....

Søde Mari made an individual apple cake for me for my birthday!

View from the window :)

Birthday pants

Rasmus, the consummate advocate of political correctness, gave me an offensive Danish children's book about pygmies for my birthday.... pretty spot on gift, he knows how to irritate me like a brother :)

My sous-chef.... whenever I mentioned that I needed something she popped up to get it done before I could tell her otherwise!

Lotta loves her jumping photos.... 

 Danish licorice shots...

Day after birthday... bahahaha

I had a great day. After waking up at 4am because I was so excited it was my birthday - YES, I am a child - I listened to some podcasts and went back to sleep until 11. hahaha.... then went to a friend's house where a group of us studied for our upcoming exam by discussing - but I came just in time for a delectable lunch, a bit of discussion and then some cake. Mari, who hosted us, was kind enough to back a cake! A traditional Danish fall cake with apple - she made one big one and then one little individual cake for me! So sweet.

Lotta helped me set up for the party.... after shopping we got back to my apartment at 5pm with the guests set to arrive at 6:30 and the place was pretty much a disaster. Lotta only remarked, "Oh, this isn't how Hege and I would have approached it!" Then I putzed around in the kitchen for a while getting stuff ready and Lotta, clearly about to burst, just said - "OKAY, we need some Nordic efficiency Alice, where is your vacuum cleaner." I did need her Nordic efficiency, a truer thing has never been said. So I order her about in the kitchen and she saved my ass organizationally.

We skyped with my family while we cooked but the connection wasn't so good so it was essentially just my mom and dad cutting in and out saying I LOVE YOU ALICE, ALICE!!! WE LOVE YOU! ALICE??? while Lotta looked on in amazement. After about fifteen minutes of love-festing she told me  that that she had now perhaps heard my mother tell me she loves me more than her mother had said that to her in her entire life. I mean, my parents even brought in the dog and declared that "Pearl loves you!!!"

As we approached 6:30 miraculously the dinner was pretty much ready... and I started to get texts from Danish guests who were going to be "late" meaning 6:35-6:40.  It was so so fun to have people over and cook for people I love. I was totally blown away by the kindness of my friends - two groups of them joined together to get me birthday gifts - it was so sweet to even think to get me anything, much less such thoughtful gifts. Vibeke got me one these ingenious Danish latte makers that I always admired in her kitchen when I lived with her this summer! Many of you can expect them for christmas, they're AWESOME. And then there was Rasmus' precious politically incorrect pygmy book :)

Most people ended up going home early since we have exams coming up... but hell, it's my birthday and I'm in Copenhagen! Lotta, Hege, and Rasmus and I went out and someone Lotta and I didn't get home until 5am... I like the Danish going-out scene. It's pretty chill! At one point we were finishing up a drink at a bar and I almost immediately was asking people what they wanted to do - stay, go, another drink? what?? and they were just like... uhhh let's just chill out, right? The nights last longer because people aren't quite so go-go-go pressured about it as I've seen in the US. We ended up dancing at a small PACKED place. It was super fun. Thanks, friends!

And thank you always to my ever-supportive family... I got birthday cards from many of you - snail mail is the most thoughtful and welcome treasure, thank you.

Kærlighed,
Alice

Danish babies here and there, Babies in the public sphere, Danish babies everywhereee

I have been harping on this for months.... Denmark is FULL OF BABIES. It's really pretty overwhelming. I've contemplated doing a survey of my bus rides - the frequency / number of babies per bus ride. But I'm not dedicated enough to baby statistics to pull that off especially since I bike now unless I'm going out and saturday night at 2am is not the highest baby-traffic time. Even though I HAVE seen people pushing strollers around like it ain't no thang on friday at 11:30. I've also considered surveying the relative amount of men and women with babies on public transit... for SURE more daddies with babies in public here than anywhere in the US. If only I had little research assistants to do my bidding, the number of sociological surveys we could get done!

As I write here in a cafe near my house I can see no less than three babies. One baby cries as her mom rocks and soothes her, another happily squirms after having finished up a big bottle of lunch, and a third naps while parents eat lunch. About 15 minutes ago two little boys who were very recently babies left with their parents... they were wearing matching danish-child outfits of rain boots, huge colorful raincoats, and striped t-shirts that are probably more hip than anything I owned before college.

A joke I heard recently:

American: "Why are there so many gay nannies in Denmark?"

Dane: "... those are the children's fathers..."


(You could also insert Sweden or Scandinavia or Norway for Denmark there.... as with most Scandinavia jokes I've ever seen - unless it's one group at the expense of the other)

Think I'm kidding??? here are some real live photos of babies in carriages in Copenhagen. EVERYWHERE, I tell you. The first three I just found online but the others I took along the lakes, in Nørrebro, and in Assistens Kirkegaard respectively.

People sometimes leave their babies outside in the buggies while they eat / have a coffee date... oh trust and social cohesion. This photo nicely shows how black-on-black-on-black fashion also extends to the baby accessory realm.

Inventive baby bikes...

This looks like a Lagkagehuset, a popular bakery chain... and one extremely attentive Danish baby.

Also note in the right lower corner the baby bike seat.... One of my favorite scenes in Copenhagen is someone biking along with their baby totally asleep, strapped into one of these seats, flopping around behind them. They're totally safe, don't worry. Danes are nothing if not attentive to child bike safety.

That's just cute.

nye venner! / uusia ystäviä!

I have listened to the first 24 chapters of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the last two and a half days.... I am a PROUD fan. I've been sick, this isn't just a normal day-in-the-life-of-alice update. Last night two of my lovely new friends came and took care of me. I am just filled with love for them and wanted to blog about it. You know how everything seems horrible when you're sick just because you can hardly work up the hutzpah to make toast much less do something more long-term or interesting? Well I was feeling extremely whiney and lonely and sad... and Nash and Lotta came and cheered me up immensely.

I had been looking forward to "kulturnat" when all the museums and other spaces are open late and everyone is out and about doing things.... but that will have to wait. I did a test drive to see how i was doing and went to the grocery store half a block away to get some oranges. I had to lie down for an hour afterwards hahahaha.... so no kulturnat for me.

Lotta and Nash came and made homemade tomato soup for me and kept me company. So sweet. And beautiful soup.... Lotta took pictures so I'll post them later. Anyway... not much to say besides, thanks you two! Made my day. That and JK Rowling.

Candle experimentation and brunch

The end result of my enthusiasm whilst blowing out the candles. I'm gonna have to calm down if I plan to last the "hyggelig" candle-filled Danish winter...

Sunday brunch. We aren't playing games.

My most loyal and beautiful blog-follower!

It took a solid portion of the afternoon to handle the situation...

She's demonstrating how you speak "Mediterranean" with your hands. Hege took an intensive Italian course in Rome in which they actually had a section on how to use your hands when you talk :)

Adorable hostess

Note the wall art.

?

Maybe she just noted the wall art.

Coooffee coffeecoffee

Gettin' down with the Norwegians

Yesterday my friend Nash and I decided that we're "eating our way through Europe"... which is slight exaggeration, but entertaining nonetheless. Tonight two Italians from our program are having us over for a delectable Italian feast and last night our friend Hege took us along to a Norwegian feast at the local Norwegian Seaman Church of Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is a pretty "blond" space... but this was extreme. It was almost all women so the straight blond hair was just EVERYWHERE. Nash is a black man. With a loud English accent. I am blond, of course, but with an overenthusiastic American laugh and strange command of Danish with a somewhat random accent (I've heard Polish, Swedish, German... and of course American). Lotta is a Swedish Finn, so she has her own issues there. And Laura is a pretty enthusiastic Belgian who was an hour late - which doesn't seem to be a very "Norwegian" thing to do. SO we integrated pretty well is what I'm trying to say. The past week or so in our course we have been studying Diasporas from various angles... and then we realized we were right in the middle of one!!

After a hardy - and I mean HARDY - meal of lamb, cabbage, potatoes the priest announced that there would be a "cosy time" in the adjacent room with coffee, dessert, and a trivia quiz. I swear, the Norwegians practically SPRINTED to clean up the dishes so they could get on to their cosy time. I've never seen a band of young people clean so efficiently. We didn't thrive in the Norwegian quiz setting but Hege did what she could for us. Of course Danish and Norwegian culture/tradition aren't insanely different... that was part of what made the whole thing funny. It was so explicitly NORWEGIAN even though much of what was happening could have been elsewhere in Denmark... just without people identifying with being Norwegian together. The language is a bit different of course. And Hege would probably want me to add that they had some Norwegian snacks and chocolates. But mostly the distinction seemed like a collective identification with not being "from here" - so in that way I wasn't really pretending. Hahahah no, I'm just kidding, we were total Norwegian posers.

TUSIND TAK DENMARK

I feel moved to thank the nation of Denmark. Thanking nations isn't something I do regularly, I must note. I tend to shy away from fierce displays of nationalism or dogmatism. I don't like it when any political leader says we live in "the best nation on earth" etc, etc because I think it's simply hyperbole and absurd. But... THANK YOU DENMARK. Thank you.

Earlier today I wrote about the Danish bureaucracy. And yes, it's frustrating and I won't take back any of my political commentary on it. Still, there are important fabulous things about Denmark that I want to highlight! Today when I received my Danish "CPR" number which will make me legal in Denmark for the next 2.5 years I was extremely surprised at my own emotional response. The woman handling my paperwork asked me a bit about the upcoming election while she processed my documents and before I knew it she was writing down phone numbers for the two doctors closest to my home address. She then gave me a little information on free government classes for learning Danish, wrote down the emergency phone number in Denmark for me and told me I should check in with either of those two doctors or call such and such nurse who is available 24/7 if I have any quick questions.

I didn't get it. Damn it I have been to Denmark for two five week programs about Danish society and studied Denmark for my thesis - and I just didn't understand. I have a mild medical condition that I need to take medication for daily. My insurance in the US has never covered it and I was worried that in Denmark they wouldn't want to send me to the doctor if I needed those pills. Timidly I asked... "I'm sorry if this is a silly question but... how much does it cost to go to the doctor?" The Borgerservice official stared at me with a look of pained sympathy, shaking her head. "It doesn't cost you anything in Denmark."

Health care. Legal residence. I'm not kidding - I almost teared up as I left the Borgerservice place.

MY APARTMENT

It's always hard to make this kind of photo make sense.... but I tried my best. So - Welcome to my abode!!!

My room from the door... that's Snohomish county on the wall there :)

from the Snohomish county map corner - I like the partially cut off book case thing.... I don't have too many books but it's nice for displaying things, having a counter.

From my bed. Two uninstalled lamps in the corner there. My roommate's room is right through that door - that's not the door to the hall (that is to the immediate left of the decorated door, out of view, on the other wall)

Cute little cabinet in the kitchen

Shoe holder in the front hall. That's the door to the stairs on the right and the door to the bathroom on the left.

the bathroom. Pretty Copenhagen cosy.

Closer up on my random decorations.

I live in Denmark now...

Hello! I am writing from MY apartment in Denmark. That is a pretty nice feeling. It's clear to me how important it is to make this place feel homey and MINE. It is also clear that when you travel with two bags you do not have the possibility to create so much clutter. A novelty for me to be sure!

The trip here was great - made friends with two very eager SPU nursing students headed off for their European adventure. One very quietly confident and kind, the other a freaking spark plug. We spent about 15 minutes guessing each others' names at the gate in Seatac and then they ended up sitting right behind me on the flight to Reykjavik. Once in Iceland (WHAT A FUNKY PLACE EVEN FROM THE AIRPORT) I met an elderly woman from Edmonds who grew up in Norway and was off to visit relatives. Her granddaughter, my age, was traveling with her to help - and of course see Norway herself. I could feel that I was in the state of mind to meet people happily and openly.

When I landed in Copenhagen I headed straight for y friend's house.... but I underestimated how far it is from the metro. No matter, it was good weather for pulling a hundred pounds of luggage across the city. Many people - often Danes themselves - go on and on about how cold and stiff Danes are. In my personal experience that has never been quite the case. Yes, they don't want to grin at me on the metro and might not giggle and hug nearly as much as me, but those aren't the truest measures of warmth anyway. Emerging from the metro I boldly attempted to lug my bags up three flights of stairs... I made it about two steps before two middle aged women offered to grab one of my bags shortly followed by two groups of young people who carried the other. Clearly wondering why anyone needed that much stuff they asked where I was from. When I explained I was staying for graduate school they were so extremely excited and surprised. One of the ladies practically exclaimed as I was headed down the street, "Enjoy Denmark!!"

I will do my best.