Tiddling around in Copenhagen

Well, as usual, my family is keeping me plenty busy!

After a couple of days of work we had a nice weekend, my aunt's boyfriend had his birthday which went very well. I also got to go have dinner and movie time with my other cousins Stig and Anne, which was very fun. Ridiculous Canadian and a giggly stringbean of a Dane. I love my family.

And Sunday I was brought over to Copenhagen by my aunt Jette and uncle Per, who I have seen more recently in the States. Their house is the same as it always was - nice and old and comfy and full of interesting books and old furniture. Strangely one of the only houses I've ever been in without snacks, thank the lord ^_^

I have taken a couple of walks, but haven't gone too far afield. My aunt and uncle have been working pretty full time, so lots of self-entertaining, which is just fine with me. Tons of films to watch, lots of books to read and LOTS of studying to do.

Class started this week, and hooooo boy, it's going to be hard work. Danish uses a huge amount of German and English, so the grammar and vocabulary is much much easier than other languages I've tried to learn, but the pronunciation? Holy. Moly. I've read a joke before that it's easier to speak danish with a potato in your mouth - sadly, it's almost true. I'm not sure that that many vowels are allowed in a mouth at the same time >.< Bleh

But I shall prevail! My class is full of either college students or young professionals. A Greek kid, a Hungarian girl, an Italian guy, a Finnish guy, an Iranian guy, and Icelandic girl, two German girls, one British guy, a Chinese girl, two French guys, one Dutch guy, and another American girl... yeah, we're a good mix. Everyone is very nice though, and the group I'm sitting in is (naturally) the peanut gallery of the class, so we're having a high old time. My teacher called me out on speaking German the first day because of my wonky pronunciations >.<>

Anywho, that's about all I have to report for now. I'll be buying my return-home tickets sometime in the next week or two, so that info will also be available shortly, hehe. Now, to get all of my Morocco photos online...

I freaking love Danish Tile Floors...

... and you know why? Because they're HEATED - freaking genius.

But anyway, long several days. First a goodbye to my absolutely wonderful FMBS members, who carried me from one end to the other of my journey - not literally, but you know what I mean. Then on up to Denmark!

The flight was full of white-blonde haired Danish kids who were giggling over ipads or plushies (strange folks these Danes), and then into the airport at Copenhagen. First thing to note - people not checking your passport when you land = odd. Second, train tickets are freaking expensive here - almost $60! And then, while waiting an hour for my train, I munched down on a Polser. If you're not Danish, you don't understand the delicious of a Polser (there is a different 'o' used, but my keyboard isn't fancy, so I'm not typing it) - Danish hotdogs - delicious. And yes, Anita, it was a Fransk Hotdog - you may cry, hehe.

Two hours on the train let me see a lot of the beautiful Danish countryside while heading to Odense, where I have been staying with my aunt. While on the train though, the most interesting person I saw was a girl playing her Nintendo DS. Normal you say - not while wearing a tophat and neon pink and black plaid crotchless chaps, it isn't. ^_^

Found my aunt instantly upon my arrival in Odense and met her boyfriend, who is very nice (he is, in fact, the man who is responsible for my webs. He picked me up a USB modem from work that I can use while in Denmark - yes, internet ANYWHERE - really really awesome). We drove home (saw a Dresden look-alike sulking down the street in a floor-length duster and a wide-brimmed hat... kinda weird). Coffee and Danish Pastries were had, dinner made shortly after. Jheez, Danish food is good - I forget after a long absence. And I got a phone call from my dearest parents during dinner to top off the nice day ^_^

Monday we went out to Helnaes (spelling note: blend the a and the e together to get the correct symbol) to my aunt's summer house and while she cut grass I picked blackberries and plums - yes, country excellence. It was a lovely warm (by danish standards) sunny day, so watching the clouds whip across the bay was amazing. Pictures - I will post them when I can.

Tuesday I went in to work with Tante Dorrit to bring lunch to her BF - we ended up staying around for a couple of hours working (she works for a chain of fabric/sewing stores, and her BF is in charge of stocking everything - so we're getting all of the magazines for the next several months divided up, stuffed with patterns, and shipped off to the right stores - 28 stores btw - LOTS of work). After that, we came home and had coffee with my cousin Stig (pronounced Stee), which was fun, as I haven't seen him in YEARS. And then I was dragged off to Ballstix, which is a 'sport' that was invented by my aunt's previous instructor. Basically, you take a medicine ball filled with air (rather than sand or water), put dull spikes all around it, paint it orange, and then use it to balance on and stretch on. Sort of a gymnastics of self-torture and massochism... yeah (shut up, redundance is allowed.) Incredibly painful, very good workout, and kind of fun - I'm terrible at it, and it doesn't really exist far away from Odense, so no, I won't be continuing with it, hehe. And we got home to the BF making dinner (my aunt found her a man who can cook REALLY well), which was followed by a dinner conversation in which I was speaking English to my aunt, German to her BF, and they were speaking Danish to one another. Yup, that's my family for you.

Wednesday we went out to an annual market/fair on the south half of the island - basically, take the cherry blossom festival, all of the mud you could possibly find, and make it a million times bigger. That was this. HUGE. And Danish. We had fun wandering, Tante Dorrit got me a nice rain slicker (in exchange for more slave labour at the warehouse tomorrow) and we had a great time just wandering in the mud and crowds. Good fun. Also, lunch was had in a big circus tent full of picnic tables, beer and a stage with a band singing country music... Danes have surprisingly convincing southern accents...

This evening, up to my cousin Anita's house to have dinner with her husband and daughter - excellent people, lots to say and fun was had. I really really have missed my family out here ^_^

Tomorrow, more work early early! So... since I'm back up in 6 hours, I guess sleep time should happen now... Woo! I shall check in soon, hehe.

NOTE: On the way home, my aunt pointed out an ambulance and said that ''That is the doctor's car.'' I almost died. No seriously - grabbing the wheel to follow crossed my mind... luckily for Tante Dorrit, I can't drive stick...

Transitionary Phase

Well, we're in Spain.

It was sad to see Morocco go, but I'm ready for a change in scenery. Time to get up and freeze my butt off in Denmark!

We left a couple of days early and are staying in the foundation President's house in Malaga (just in case there was issue) but that means a couple of days of rest inbetween the flurry of activity - EXCELLENT idea, by the way.

Because yesterday we had...

Chefchaouen, Morocco -> Ceuta, Spain

2 hr Car Ride (with 30min stop to drop off a kid, 1 hour border crossing, and 30mins at the bank trying to sort out money)

Ceuta, Spain -> Algeciras, Spain

2 hr Ferry Ride (1 hour waiting for the ferry initially)

Algeciras, Spain

45mins of Taxis and waiting between the ferry and bus station

Algeciras, Spain -> Malaga, Spain

2.5 hr Bus Ride

Malaga, Spain

45mins Car Ride through traffic and to the suburbs for my last housing in Spain

Tiiiired puppy. And to those of you who ask 'well what about the planes, bikes and trains?' - I'll be taking a plane and a train on Sunday, and my uncle is lending me his bike for the duration of my stay in Denmark. Don't worry - they're covered ;P

But yes - two days of rest/repacking/transitioning from Spanish to English.

To English? Why yes - among the household at the moment is the President and his Wife, their grown daughter (just graduated from ETS, where we lived/taught in Germany), their grown son, his wife, their 22-month daughter and dog (the wife is from New Jersey, so everyone speaks English very well). So lots of Spanglish in this household! Altogether a happy one though, so I'm pleased ^_^

Transition days - these are they.