Oh, Denmark!

We went on a big walk today as a family. Sometimes, long rambling walks make the very best days. We stopped for brunch at the Laundromat Cafe where we met some other Americans, walked by the cruise ships, took Riley to his new favorite playground and saw a BMX bike stunt competition. A very successful day in Copenhagen. We only got rained on briefly twice and otherwise enjoyed nice weather. (Imagine!) On our walk we came across a bookstore which had a hilarious sign that you would not see in the US. As best I could tell, this was a normal used bookstore. I do not know why this is the sign they chose... but here it is (see right). 

The bookstore sign and all of it's busty glory reminded me of a restaurant experience we had earlier this summer when Riley looked up at the ceiling at a restaurant during a meal and began saying "Mom, mom mom mom". I was very excited until I looked up a the ceiling and saw what he was referring to as mom. A topless mermaid. Embarrassing! (see left) Denmark does love its topless women. Beaches are top optional all over the country - boobs just aren't taboo at all. 

Also less taboo are things like English bad words and rude gestures. See the Party Now, Apologize Later billboard for a lovely middle finger display. Also interesting about this sign is the roll of American cash as if all we Americans do is carry big wads of money, wear gold bling, drink and flip people off. Hmm.  I am not entirely sure what they are selling here, but I know I don't want my kid seeing imagery like that and thinking it's cool. 

Along those lines, Riley and I have been rocking out to the radio in the mornings. We have a radio in our bedroom and Riley seems to think it is a magical box. The pop station has mostly English language songs and most of them are American, so often I know the songs and Riley and I dance to them while I am getting ready in the morning. A couple weeks ago a song came on with a woman talking and she says something like "When I went to Spain and I saw the people party, I looked at my friend and said, What the fuck?" Then, "What the fuck" repeats many times like a record is skipping. When I heard this broadcast on the radio in the middle of the day, I thought, "What the fuck??!!!" and promptly turned the radio off. Since then I have heard this song at a shopping mall and in the grocery store. Awesome. I hope Riley doesn't notice.

Moving on to random misappropriations of English. The word for lunch in Danish is Frokost. Danes also love brunch (which is something I love about Danes). I recently saw this sign on a downtown restaurant and had to laugh. I think that whoever wrote it didn't realize that Brunch is already a combination of Breakfast and Lunch. Now they have come up with Frunch which is a combo of Lunch (Frokost) and Brunch - which really makes this meal ... this Frunch, two parts lunch and only one part breakfast right?

                                                                                                                                                                  And finally, from a mall food court where we went to seek shelter from another rainy day in Denmark. The coffee shop is called Kong and the quick place to grab pre-made food is Kong Venience. Oy.

Summer - Was it ever here?

It is nearly September and I am pretty sure I missed summer all together. We had a few hot days. In fact, I remember two days when I came home in the afternoon with Riley and put him in a onsie and we both sat by the windows trying to get a breeze. On these two days I wondered why Copenhagen didn't have air conditioning anywhere. But I do not wonder that now as I sit in my apartment shivering in long pants and a longsleeved shirt.

When we moved here in January after our seven hour flight with our seven month old and two dogs, we emerged to go through customs. The Danish customs agent asked why we were in the country and Neil and I both proudly said "We're moving here" practically in unison. The customs agent scoffed, "You're moving here?" he said. "Well, I hope you like our two winters. We have a white winter and a green winter. Most people prefer the white winter because that is when we turn the heat on in our homes and get comfortable."

At the time, I was deliriously tired and didn't really get what he was saying. I was more hung up on why he wouldn't be nicer to people moving to his country than I was on what he was trying to tell us. But now I get it. We did have gloriously long and sunny days which are getting shorter and shorter. And it was beautiful and green all over the city, but brrrrr.

We had all kinds of wonderful visitors this summer including our friend Lia, my parents, our friends Jeff and Shannon, my Aunt and her friend, and my cousin Lisa. (I hope I am not forgetting anyone.) We also went on a fantastic trip to the Baltics (Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania). Many blog-worthy things happened, but I didn't get around to blogging about many of them. Hopefully fall and the white winter that's coming up will provide me with a bit more time for introspection. Stay tuned.

Pippi Longstocking

As some of your may know, I am prone to wearing my hair in two braids a la Heidi or many 10-year-old girls. I realize the style doesn't lend itself to a great deal of sophistication, but I have never been too concerned with making other people believe I am sophisticated based on my appearance. My hair braids easily and when it's humid or windy, two braids are preferable to a head of frizz. So, I have been parading around as a little girl quite a bit this summer.

Recently, Riley and I went to the zoo with some friends. When we arrived, the babies were hungry for lunch so we sat at a cafe on the outdoor patio. When we sat down and parked the strollers, a little girl at the table next to us got very excited and began yammering to her mom in Danish. I thought it was cute that she was so thrilled to be sitting by two babies and moved on with getting settled and giving the boys snacks while my friend Daniella went in to get food. The little girl kept up her frantic chatter and finally her mom looked at me and apologized.

"I'm very sorry," she said. "It's just that she thinks you are Pipi Longstocking."

I looked down and saw now that the little girl was looking at me and my two braids with complete wonder and awe.

"Oh my goodness, I said. That is so funny. I guess not many grown women wear their hair in two braids."

The little girl's mom of course agreed that not many grown women do choose the hairstyle.

I said hi to the little girl and she blushed.

A little later I turned around in my seat to see her peaking over the back of her chair at me and then ducking to hide when I saw her. This caused me to giggle a little and her mom apologized again.

"It's just that she thinks she's just met her idol," she said.

Then they packed up and headed away from the cafe, but not before the girl said "Hi Hi Pipi!" to which I replied, "Hi Hi".

It made my day to be mistaken for Pipi Longstocking. Apparently, she's pretty popular here in Denmark. There is a whole line of Pipi toys at all the toy stores here and I am guessing there is a TV show, but I'm not certain.

Just in case you were wondering, no my braids were not sticking out on the sides, but apparently, just having two braids was enough to let my little fan know I was Pipi.

Death Defying Sunbathing

Dear Neighbor Who Sunbathes On The Top Floor On Top Of Your Window Box With No Balcony Below,

I miss seeing you sunbathe on sunny days. I am very sorry if my entire family photographing you both times you were performing your death defying stunt was a bit of a deterrant from future sunbathing. Should you decide to try your hand at it again, I promise to be more subtle with my photography.

Sincerely,
Jodi

Movies in Denmark

Neil and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean the other night and it was our first movie experience in Denmark. In most ways, it's the same as seeing a movie in the US. But there were a few interesting differences. When I went to the ticket counter to purchase my tickets, the man told me I could sit in the fourth row center or further back on the sides.

"Huh," I thought. "I'm not going to a play or a concert, what's with the assigned seats?"

But every seat in the theater had a number on it and entering the theater was much less stressful because we didn't need to race to get good seats. I think US theaters should adopt this right away.

The concessions in Denmark are better than in the US, too. Granted there are a few independent cinemas like the E Street Cinema in DC where they serve alcohol and higher quality snacks which are pretty fantastic. But at the regular run-of-the mill theater in Copenhagen, the concessions were awesome. Denmark has a fondness for Bland Selv (or blend it your self) candy - the kind where you scoop things out of bins and make your own mix. In the US, they may have these at movie theaters, but not near the level they have in Copenhagen, there was literally an entire room with walls filled with candy choices - it was amazing. There were also self-serve slushies, alcoholic drinks, other candy, popcorn, chips, etc. It was like a convenience store in a movie theater with a fantastic selection of blend yourself candy. Mmmm.

Neil and I chose some candy and headed in to the movie which was in the original English with Danish subtitles. I have done an abysmal job learning the language so far, but am trying so I found myself spending the first half of the movie reading the subtitles in an attempt to learn more Danish, but then I realized it was really taking away from my enjoyment of the actual movie and Johnny Depp so I avoided the subtitles from then on.

By far the most hilarious part of the movie experience was the name of the theater itself: Cinemaxx which just makes me think of Cinemax in the US and the shows they have on late at night (perhaps some of you also called it Skinemax?). Apparently Cinemaxx is a European cinema chain and nobody here giggles at the name. Oh, I am so American.

Photo Backlog - Or Proof Jodi is Always Thinking of Blogging, But Rarely Sits Down to Blog

A few weeks back, Neil and I went on a date to Copenhagen's Ice Bar. We'd read about the ice bar well before we considered moving here. Some travel magazine or another had an article about ice bars and ice hotels - there are several around the world - and we decided we must visit one.

So, after three months of living in Copenhagen, we headed to the Ice Bar. When we arrived, we were ushered into a reception area/gift shop and informed that we needed to wait until the next time slot and that the cost was 60 kroner (about $30) per person which included one drink. This seemed a little steep, but we couldn't turn back. We paid the money and waited.

When it was our turn, the Ice Bar hostess placed large blue faux-fur-trimmed parkas over our heads that had gloves attached. The effect was instant ridiculousness.  

 Then we were ushered into the bar. It was much smaller than I expected and yet also felt empty since they only allow something like 10 people in at a time. My best theory for this is that the more people, the more likely the bar is to melt from the body heat. The room was very cold and also pretty amazing. The bar was made of ice, the tables, the chandelier. Everything but the floor was ice. We ordered our drinks and they cam in ice glasses which melted to the shape of our lips as we drank. (one of the coolest features, for sure)

We spent maybe 15 minutes in Copenhagen's Ice Bar before we'd finished our drinks (which were delicious) and felt sufficiently frozen so we headed back out to the street. No need to rush back, but it was fun.

 As you may know, Copenhagen is a bike town. Everyone here bikes and nearly every street has wide raised bike lanes. In rush hour, it is common to see more bikes on the street than cars. Women bike in skirts and men and women bike in their work clothes. It is fascinating to biker watch for the fashions alone. I think the prevalence of bikes has to do with the fact that Denmark is flat, so it's an easy way to get around, cars are expensive and highly taxed and people just grow up biking, so they bike. I have seen lots of  creative uses of bikes since coming here. The other day, I got a crepe from this pancake bike. The lady who makes the crepes and drives the bike said it's not that easy to pedal because it's so heavy.

 At a grocery store called Qvickly, their in-store coffee bar had a hilarious reference to (dated) American pop culture. So random.

This cafe door cracked me up. The misuse of quotes is pretty annoying, but the great use of both sides of the glass is commendable. It's funny how English is used in signage and advertising here. I see English frequently, but usually only a few words are in English, the rest Danish. I think it might be a cool-factor or cuteness-factor to use a bit of English in your signage here. But I am really not sure. I do, however, enjoy being able to read things once in a while.

In our continuing quest to do the touristy things you're supposed to do in our city, we climbed to the top of the Church of Our Savior. It is a very beautiful church both inside and out and the views from the top are fantastic.Inside is a very old, very large organ that was rehearsing a classical music concert the day we visited. As far as tourist attractions go, this was a highlight.

This is a restaurant in our neighborhood. When I first arrived in Copenhagen, I wondered why anyone would go to someplace so rudely named. "Go away? Fine, I will." But one day I walked by and smelled a delicious aroma coming from inside. It has turned out to be one of my favorite places to get food. It's basically a take out place, which might account for the name. They have delicious curries, sushi and other snacks like salads and cold noodle dishes. I am partial to the banana coconut mango chicken curry - delicious.

And finally, some pictures of our neighborhood swans and baby ducklings, still a highlight for me as I continue to enjoy Denmark. More blog posts coming soon. Happy spring.

Clarifications on Happiness

It seems that my post about my theory on Denmark's high happiness rating was taken in the wrong way by some. I would like to clarify my theory by saying that a) I do not think this country is perfect, b) I still love the US and will gladly move back there in a couple of years. But that doesn't mean I don't see some ways my home country could be better. c) I was simply commenting on one of the reasons I think Danes enjoy their country, not making any statements about what it's like for immigrants here.

I am in a privileged position of living outside the Danish system and not trying to stay here permanently. I know that immigrating to Denmark is very difficult, and increasingly so. I also know that a segment of the population would like Denmark to be only for Danes. Just as I do not agree with those in America who want to keep all foreigners out and force everyone to learn English, etc, I do not agree with much of the Danish immigration policy. However, I did not start this blog to discuss Danish politics - it's a blog to document my experience living in Denmark.

I hope to come up with subsequent theories on the happiness of the Danes and I will post them here as well.