Wonder Woman's boots

A good pair of boots can save the world.  They can not only save your toes from slowly falling off but can even prevent those suckers from beoming shriveled wet prunes after stepping in an optical illusion of a puddle. 

I have bought several boots this winter to try and deal with the amount of snow that we have had and the excessive amount of time that I have to spend in it.  Nothing, has proven to be a better friend to me than my red rainboots. 

Which is kind of embarrassing... ummmmm..... because they are red.  Not black, or really dark green, or gray, but RED.  And red sticks out here.  I walk on the street and people turn around to stare at my boots.  I don't think my boots would matter so much, if I didn't feel like everything I did lately was causing them to stare at me.  Its the 6 month culture shock, so I'm told, and I just feel a little out of step.  Its starting to become more clear what cultural things just don't make any sense to me and I'm starting to realize ways of thinking (both in me and in Danes in general) that are inherently cultural and not individual.  Some days its so frustrating that I want to walk out into the middle of a busy street and start yelling out a stream of questions.  "Why does every decision have to be a consensus?  Why does all food have to be freshly made?  Why aren't there over-the-counter-drugs?  Why is everything different?"

Which would be fantastic to get it all off of my chest for the few seconds before I died of embarassment.  But I found a less embarassing and less dramatic solution.  It came when I was walking home through the snow on the right.  I realized the only reason I was still dry and warm was my fantastically stand-outish red boots.  Blessed Boots.  They may cause people to turn their heads and think, "those didn't come from here" and then I got it.  Thats ok.  Stop trying to always learn the rules and always fit in, feel free to be the uniquely different you: full-on-red-rainbootingly- you. 

These boots do have powers and I love them.

Feeling Beautiful

What you are about to read is an actual conversation that is about things that actually matter.  Warning: men may want to not read this entry.

me: Today was a good day cuz
       I felt beautiful today

Unnamed friend: Oh I love feeling beautiful!

me: but then the wind came and messed with that
       Danish wind is unquestioned in its ability to ruin perfect hair

UF: uggh

me: I know. But its ok. b/c I was beautiful for awhile and thats enough

UF: I'm getting a hair appointment today. Then I'll feel beautiful too.

Feeling beautiful really matters, in fact, it may be a basic human right that at least all women should have the right to access.  I've spent hours lamenting what Danish water is doing to my hair.  How do I wash it?  What products work over here?  Who knew so much wind would require new facial moisturizers and new hair conditioners?  Europe doesn't feel the need to have the same hair colors as the US and I can't seem to find that exact shade that says ... "ahhh this is Jenny the way Jenny should be".

Its also curlier here, which forces new hair decisions.  How do I style this?  I think I want the hair of Shiri Appleby on the left.  I like the bangs and the slight curl.  But are bangs the way to go? 

Here are two options.  Jenny with and without bangs. 

Its a tough decision, but in the end, beauty is as much an attitude, a character descriptor, and a sense of being as it is a physical condition.  I can live with that. 

But deep down .... I want to be them all; beautiful outside and inside.  Or more accurately gorgeously me in all that I was created to be.

I cried because I didn't know what else to do

I could of been mad and I was, or I could of been confused and I was, but in the end I was too many emotions and I simply cried.  Life has been swirling around me in its varied complexities and its been hard to know what to think about any of the things that have happened in the past week.

Somedays the world becomes very small and you connect with people on a personal level that transcends any culture you are working out of.  In Haiti its not the politics that anyone is concerned about - its the children and the survivors.  In my program were no longer concerned about all of our cultural differences and instead are banding together to understand an ambigious and slightly unfair academic culture.  In my church it's not about all of the things that can annoy us about each other, but since we realize that we are not guaranteed visa stays or even unlimitless days together, we need to capitalize on the time we have.

I spent a day crying when life seemed to crash down on me, but I'm done now.  I cried for me and I cried for my friends, but today I'd rather go forward, hope in God for tomorrow, and diligently work towards what I see before me.  It's time to rechoose hope.

You would never see an American doing ...

My last blog outlined a few of the glaring cultural mis-steps that I've made in the last week, but there are some things that I still look at in wonder.  Serenity made the comment that, "There are very few things I can never imagine an American doing. There are so many different kinds of us..." Which made me start thinking, what are some of the quintessentially Danish things that Americans (at least the vast majority of us) would never do?

1) Think that salted black licorice is candy. This fact alone makes me question if Danes actually have taste buds.

2) Think that bread and cheese a breakfast make.  Just bread and cheese.  If you are truly adventurous ... put some jam on that cheese or have two breakfast rolls with different kinds of cheeses.  [Sigh] Our weekly brunches make me long for pancakes, biscuits and gravy, omelets, and hashbrowns.

3) Bike through the snow and ice in high heels.  I'm not really for sure what to say about this phenomenon, but I think it is commendable.

4) Keeping the time-code of Jente.  This one is a bit tricky but, Jente is a deeply held Danish belief that everyone is equal.  So equal that you would never show up late or early.  You show up on time.  This means if you arrive at someone's house too early you stand out on the doorstep until the exact time of your arrival.  Heaven forbid if you are late!  One of my professor's continually tells me that "It is your shame to be late."  I seem to be unable to hit the on your nose type of time and fail quite utterly here.

5) Refusing to go anywhere without looking fabulous.  In my first year of college, I went to my 7 am class in my pajamas for an entire semester. When I told this fact to the Danes they were astonished.  What was I thinking?  You must look good when you step outside your house.  Gone are the days that I could leave in sweatpants, pajama pants, hair in a bun, athletic shoes on, or without makeup.  Now I look good all of the time.  (Even to go next door to the Pakistani grocer for milk.) Its a sad development. 

6) Keep their wardrobe colors tightly constrained to black and nuetrals.  This entire country wears black and only black.  There are occassional bits of color, but I think they are from poor unsuspecting tourists that have yet to discover that black reigns supreme.  On rare occassions, I feel free to flaunt my love of color and people just stare at me, which is a bit weird, but I choose to think they love it so much that they can't stop looking. 

All in all, I love it here.  Its interesting that there is nothing like Wal-mart, you rarely eat out, and everything closes by 6pm.  You can change, you can adapt, you can learn the steps of the Danish dance.  It helps that despite the differences that people are people the world over and they can be just as crazy as any American I have ever met.  These pictures make my point better than I could express it in words. 

"You would never see a Dane do that..."

I've heard that phrase more this week than any other time since arriving in Denmark.  It must have been a very un-Danish week for me.  In retrospect,  I also found out it was un-Swedish and un-British so I'm thinking I was Icelandic.  (Having never been to Iceland, means that I was probably simply American.)

So here are some things you would never do in Denmark: 
1) Use the oven to make something that is just for you.  (Guilty.)
2) Wear athletic shoes to keep the snow out.  (Guilty.)
3)Turn on too many lights. Instead use candles to make up the difference. (Candles when you can have electrical brightness?)  Guilty.
4) Use the Danish language incorrectly.  I thought I was saying that I was sore, but instead I told everyone that I had murdered myself.  (Jeg radbrækket mig.)  Fantastic.
5) Climb on counters to reach high shelves.  (Guilty.) In my defense I'm shorter than the entire rest of the population, but step stools are apparently available.

On another note:  In London, they don't use the phrase goofing off.  How sad, since it is a fantastically useful phrase.  They do have a phrase for wasting your time, but not for the having fun part of goofing off.  So they asked me what you would say if you were wasting time and I answered, "I was piddling around."  Apparently there, piddling means peeing.  So ya, I just told everyone there that I was peeing around in the kitchen.  Fabulous.

Life is funny and some of the mistakes need to just roll off your back.  I'll do better next week or I'll just have to laugh at myself again.  In the meantime, I'm imagining myself on a lake, like Joshie above, and the wind is in my hair and I'm screaming for all I'm worth with the pure joy of speed and wind.  That's not so Danish either, but I think that's ok.

Six months in and what I miss most.

Two years ago when I was moving to England, (Oh you missed that? No worries it didn't happen.) I came across a list that told me what I would miss the most from the US.  I actually blogged about it back then and now that I am 4 days shy of having lived in Denmark for 6 months it seemed time to evaluate.

1) That old list told me that I would miss food and I do.  There aren't words to describe how much I miss some of the food.  These are at the top of my list: Campbells soup (you use them to make so many other things), pop tarts, sausage, American bread, chocolate chips, anything mexican, and anything Chinese.  Though to be honest, I have adapted and I now prefer eating mostly vegetables.

2) I miss speaking English and hearing English.  I'm learning to love Danish but, how could I explain missing a language that makes sense to me?

3) But more than anything, I miss people. 
Here's some examples of the people I love on another continent.  Serenity, Kristin, and Rebecca.  I've gotten the privilege to live with all of them at some time and their quirky senses of humor and ability to dress in black make me love them.

I miss kids.  This is Payton, my friend Jamie's oldest, and Serenity's boys, Jon, Jake, and Drew. These kids let me play with them for hours, challenge me in epic video game battles, allow me to play dress-up, and alternately believe I am a princess or a ninja warrior.  I adore them.

Teenagers.  They are fantastic.  Courtney and Meghann are some of all-time favorite teenagers and Nikki who just teenagerdom behind her, was in that category not so long ago.  They are the ones that can convince me to try crazy things, believe sleep-overs are fun, and make me laugh more than anyone else I know.




So that old list was partially right, I do miss things that are quintessentially American but, you adapt and you move on.  What you don't move on from are people.  I feel blessed to live in a world where living on another continent is not like living on Mars, untouchable and out of reach, but its more like living a long drive away.  Someday soon I'll make that drive, but until then I can just let everyone in the US know how much I love them.

Dinosaurs and such

I popped over to London for the weekend with Ellen, one of my housemates, and I got the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong wish: dinosaur bones.  (The picture is not of any actual exhibit in the museum, but of Jake, my friend Serenity's youngest boy who loves dinosaurs almost as much as I do.  I thought of him the entire time I was staring at those bones.) Apparently, most Brits have seen the dinoaurs, not dinosaur-Jake but the actual dead ones, countless times and they are just boring bits of rock/bone to them, but to two country girls transplanted into huge European cities, they are phenomenal.  So we went and they were indeed ... BIG.  Thats really all there is to say about them. 

We then went to the Victoria and Albert museum and became highly cultured and learned all number of things, but our favorite part of the overwhelming culture were molds that were taken of other famous European landmarks.  (i.e Trajan's tower, David, and various other things that are too cultured for me to remember their names.) Our reasoning for loving these specific items was that they were so... BIG.  Apparently we like big things. 

We also like being able to speak the language.  The whole weekend we just kept looking at each other and saying things like, "Washing machines in English are so much easier to use."  "Its weird how when there is a problem with the train and they let you know in English, how much better it is than just sitting there and hoping there is nothing that you really needed to know in all of that Danish that was just spoken."

London, what an amazing place, it not only feels free to have childhood wish fulfillment, but they speak English.  Phenomenal.

Sverige vs. Danmark

Its a centuries old rivalry that I am now living in and trying to decide the victor.  Which is the better country; Sweden or Denmark?  I live in Denmark, my family lives in Sweden.  I live in a large city, my parents live in a small, oh so small, town.  Denmark has more stores, but Sweden's stores are much bigger.  Denmark's national colors are red and white (not such good colors for me) and Sweden's are blue and yellow (yay blue!).  Its a tough one for me to decide.  Perhaps pictures will serve as undeniable data to help determine a victor. 

This would be known as snow; both beautiful and cold.  Sweden or more accurately, Älmhult was covered in the beautiful white stuff, while Copenhagen was cold and snow free.

Point to Sweden.

Pizza and Kebabs in Sweden are simply better.  I am not biased in any way on this issue, it has nothing to do with the fact that I have to have a kebab in Denmark, I know that the kebabs could not compare. 

Point to Sweden. Sverige: 2  Danmark: 0

Sweden has a game called "Assassins" that involves you buying and selling on the black market and then hiring assassins to kill off all of the other players.  This game is a Christmas tradition in our house.  Its actually illegal to sell this game anymore, which makes it all the cooler. 

Overwhelming point to Sweden. 
Sweden: 3  Denmark: 0

Unfortunately for Sweden, Danes are crazy.  No day in the entire year displays their craziness better than New Year's Eve.  There are fireworks, but that is commonplace in Europe, what makes the Danes stand out is that their fireworks might just kill you.  Everyone is shooting them, not those little bottle rocket types like in the US, but the massive, Disneyland-would-be-proud-of-you kind.  So not only are fireworks going off in a 360 view, but some are coming towards you. 

Resounding point of fun to Denmark.

On the food part of this debate, Denmark has an ice cream cake that may be one of the best culinary inventions known to man.  Every type of ice cream is represented as is marzipan and an unidentified crust.  Kebabs may be good, but this may be better. 
Point to Denmark.

Sweden: 3  Denmark: 2.

Finally, dancing.  Swedes are reserved creatures, while Danes come out of their shells for some good fun.  New Year's involves not only fireworks, but dancing.  Of course you don't need to have any real moves, in fact the less you have the better.  Its about fun, not talent.

Point to Denmark for loving the untalented.

Sverige: 3  Danmark: 3

So the debate still rages. For me there doesn't need to be a winner; I'm just happy to get to live a bit in both of them.

Christmas Elf of Papers

Dear Christmas Elf of Papers,

I know I should be almost done with my assignments, but the world has conspired against me.  I would still like to get a 12 on my paper (otherwise known as an A) despite my seeming lack of diligence.  I think that once you see what has been put in my path you will understand and help me.  O please help me. 

1) The first snowfall in Copenhagen, was also the first snow for many of my friends.  (See Berta and I -->)  There is no way to miss their joy and wonder at the white cold wet stuff that falls from the sky.  I would be remiss if I kept working through that. 

2) The United Nations Climate Conference is still going on and the protests are getting larger everyday.  This means that the metro shuts down or there are really weird delays and then I am late for everything and I can't get my paper done when I am suppossed to, because I am still on a train, or bus, or subway. 


3) All of those protestors make a lot of police come out and some of them are GOOD LOOKING.  I have to just stand and stare.  There is no other solution.  And of course, more valuable time is lost.

4) I went to Älmhult over the weekend to work, note how studious and responsible I am, but my parents don't want me to ever finish this paper.  I know this because they own a TV.  The TV had a magnetic pull to it that I could not refuse.  There were even shows in English and this thing called a remote so that I could sit in one place for hours.  Amazing.  Simply Astounding.  No work done.

5) I went to the library at school and I got hungry so I went to the kitchen for students, where we have ovens, stoves, and microwaves.  My plan was to cook with my class and then write a bit more, but the administration noted how much the internationals were at the school and put a table football in the student area.  (See us playing it - note Christmas Elf that they are NOT writing either!) Administration gave us a gift.  It would be very rude not to use it. 

So none of these things are my fault.  Please overlook all of these ummm... obstacles to be covercome ...  and help me get a good grade and then a good oral defense and while you are at it, some æbleskiver would be nice.

Sincerely, your friend, the hard-working student and all around nice gal,
Jenny

Some further dance steps

I am an American; there is no use in denying it.  What's more I was born in Missouri in a town of 17,167 people.  My town was surrounded by cornfields and cows and the nearest mall was two hours away.

So imagine the difference of today.  Not only is the nearest mall 5 minutes away (Oh joy! - its on the right), but the nearest country is only a half hour away. (Which is great because their malls are cheaper.  Double joy!) I spend my entire day becoming international.  I work at an international school where I interact with students from 14 different nationalities on a daily basis.  Not to mention that my university cohort encompasses 10 other nationalities.  Oh and then I go home to a houseful of Danes who are trying to teach me Danish. 

So what is culture?  Sometimes being an American is great and I can relax and follow all of the unspoken cultural rules I have always known and sometimes it is best not to be so unbendingly American.  For instance, lots of my friends come from countries that my country... ummm ... bombed.  Ouch.  Some of them have stories from when they were hiding in their basements while American bombs were dropping on their cities.  I remember playing childhood games where we were American spies fighting those evil Soviets.  Now former Soviet block countries have given me some of my best friends.  (Case in point: here is Jelena who is from Serbia, which is part of former Yugoslavia.)

It is eye opening.  Recently, when I was in Spain, I met an earlier batch of my University cohort.  I met a few Americans and I was shocked at how "American" they were.  They seemed brash, opinionated, and rude to me.  Jelena, who is Serbian, came over to me later that night and thanked me for not being very American.  I took that as a huge compliment.  Not that I don't love the US, because I do, but I want to both love it and love beyond it.  I want to learn how to see what things are important, what things are personality, and what things I can change. Its a process that is far from pretty in my emotions, but in the end its a great process.  A wonderful, painful, awful, beautiful process that I wouldn't trade for the world.

Lily finally got her own movie

The love of my childhood was a purple bear named Serenity.  It was important because it came from my best friend Serenity.  (You can see the amazing creativity I seemed to possess as a young person.)  She has always had dreams that were big and I loved that she dreamed in such a large fashion.  She seemed to reciprocate that feeling and believe in my dreams as well.  Go to Hollywood?  Sure!  Meet famous people for lunch? Sure.  Choose to believe that the small life you are currently leading is not all that you will ever do?  Absolutely. 

So now she is writing books that I KNOW will be published and I choose to believe that she will be successful at it.  I call her my own personal Hannah Montana because I like the idea of her having "the best of both worlds."  So if she is Hannah that makes me Lily.  Her friend that supports her and gets to spend a lot of time wearing a blue wig.  I love blue hair.  This is a win/win metaphor for me.

This week Serenity informed me that she thinks its about time that Lily got her own movie, which means many things to us, but more that she wants to see some of my dreams come true.  Little did she know that an hour later my dad would send me this video that does, in fact, star me.  Dream big because answers  can come in all kinds of ways.

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Smiles instead of Homework

Module Papers = hours spent reading research articles + learning economic theories + long supervisory meetings + putting it all down on paper.  It seems like such an easy formula, but I missed the part about not sleeping so I can get it all done.  This is what my work table looked like after an hour the other day. 

So, instead of writing that paper on the market model of education, I'm sitting here thinking about several things that make me smile.  You might feel the same way.

It's the climate change conference here in Copenhagen and environmental ads are everywhere.  This is a giant globe climate art thingy that is in the entrance to the Forum metro station.  All the random art from across the world is making me smile these days.

Dexter.  I taught all of the internationals how to carve pumpkins this year, thanks to Kristin's amazing gift of pumpkin carving utensils.  I opened the package at the university and you should of seen the excitement when I started handing out those little carving saws for our carving contest.  This was my entry, which I thought was quite amazing.  Unfortunately, Dexter's lab was unknown over here and I lost the contest. 

This is Samuel and I acting like idiots in front of Burger King.  This one is at the airport and it makes us super happy to be there occassionally.  Danes are so healthy its nice to be able to go the local American Embassy (AKA Burger King) and get your "passport stamped" by eating some quality unhealthy fries.  We are giggling in anticipation.

Thanksgiving gives culture shock a punch in the face

Culture shock.  Its a nasty, dirty word; almost to the point of being a 4 letter word. It comes in waves throughout your time away from your home culture and it can mess with your mind in ways that evil comic book villians would love to.  Thanksgiving was the most recent trigger of the evil word.  These were the four major hurdles that brought it on.

1) Turkey you say?  Impossible to find here and when you do - its expensive.  A typical 20lb bird costs over 550 DKK or over a $100.

2) Sides.  We spent days trying to figure out what vegetables we could and couldn't get.  The Pakistani store next door saved us on the last day with putting out 3 sweet potatoes.

3) Holiday?  Well not so much.  I worked Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday but I knew the US was off.  It plays weird tricks on your mind and makes you a grumpy worker.

4) I wanted to blame Denmark for not celebrating an American holiday, but how unfair is that?

In the end, my family and friends helped cook an absolutely huge meal that my international friends joined us in.  Despite all of the up and down emotions of the holiday and the extreme amount of work it took to make Thanksgiving basics, it ended up as the best Thanksgiving I have ever had.  It met all the requirements of food, family, and friends and added an international flavor it had never had before.  After all my fuss it was the Thanksgiving of my dreams.  Which means that the next time culture shock wants to come and mess with my emotions, I'll remind it that this Danish life and all the stuff that comes with it, is part of what I've always wanted. 

Take that culture shock.  This time you did not win and if we are keeping score, I don't think you'll win next time either.  Just a heads up.

Did I mention that we made a lot of food?

We tested unusual coffee creations

Made sure that there was a competition over the wishbone

Added Czechs and Ethiopians to the festivities

And made sure that Aaron could have one plate that was just stuffing.

Out of the box

Copenhagen. I love that I live here. Its a huge city, where I take all forms of public transportation every day. I love public transport. I know thats a little weird. Especially because it takes longer than a bike, which is the preferred way of travel in this city. But when I get on the Metro and its so packed that people are touching and I have to stand in just the right way to not fall over when it lurches, I know I am happy. Or when I pull into Nørreport station, the busiest station in Denmark, and any way you turn there are people moving in a river like current that you cannot fight against, I love that too. I love the amount of people. I love the languages. I love not being able to understand what people are saying so I can feel free to tune them out.

There are annoyances all the time and I need to learn Danish, obviously, but I think I LOVE feeling free. Thats why I love the people press. It makes me feel free from all the strings people wanted to put on me, or the little boxes they wanted to fit me into. At one time in life I thought that box was everything. Now though, I see how many people are not living in that box and I realize that my world was too small. So I love the painfully wonderful progress of meeting the world with open arms and letting it expand.

Broken Into

Last night my car was broken into. Ok, to clarify, I can't actually lock the doors, so it was opened without my permission. Either way a violation. Someone threw papers everywhere and stole my sunglasses, my broken sunglasses, and an unworking cell phone. I felt violated, but I couldn't really explain how since they took useless stuff. Actually I should thank them. They helped me clean out my car and I needed to do that anyway.

So I guess thank you unlawful intruder, you reminded me to renew my insurance and to clean out my car. The world at large is grateful. Though I personally would appreciate you staying away from now on.

Oh blessed height

This ended up being my DSW birthday present. I am now taller than buildings, trees, and telephone poles. Its a new feeling for me, all brought on by a fabulous shoe.

I've been in a lot of meetings lately and I have noticed a trend. There always seems to be someone who overpowers the meeting with excessive airings of their own opinion. Sometimes this is fabulous, say if you are a celebrity/royalty/cute two year old and we are salivating for your opinion, but most of the time I like moderation of opinions. Today I left a meeting wanting to take a cheese grater to my brain if it went on any longer. Ho hum. This picture expresses what I felt like all day. Thankfully there are no meetings tomorrow and thus, no need for a cheese/Jenny grating slide.

Supposedly What I will miss about the US

So I have 6 months before I move to England, 4 months before I head to Europe, and 1 day before my weekend is over. I've been eating up British customs and etiquette books and my most recent aquisition had this list. Feel free to add to it!

5 Things You won't expect to miss about the US, but will

1) Being in the same time zone. No doubt! Though for me, I'll actually be in the right time zone for most of family for the first time in 10 years. Cha-ching.

2) Late business hours. Seriously. What is the deal with everything closing at 6pm every night? I can't begin to count the number of times that I have finally realized that thing that I needed, that I couldn't live without, that I could wait no longer for had to be bought at 11pm. Thank goodness for Wal-mart.

3) Light Beer. Thats what the book says, I'm pretty sure that I won't be missing it, but Diet Coke... that might be a problem considering that it costs triple over there.

4) Crossing Streets Effortlessly ok. Who wrote this list? Like its easy to cross the street in the US? I think you take your life in your hands everytime you do it. At what major intersection is there ever enough time for a pedestrian to get across?

5) Comfort Food. They list Lucky Charms, Mac and Cheese, root beer, quesadillas, nachos ....
I'm pretty sure that I can live without all of those, but Ranch dressing and chocolate chip cookies? That might be the stretch I can't make.

6) Anything else? Just let me know what you think .....

Gotta Dance!

My only excuse was it was late at night and we had a camera and too much caffeine. The result of that combination was these pictures.

Let it snow, Let it snow

O the weather outside is frightful and for Jenny that is so delightful ....

Because it means ....

A SNOW DAY! The joy of every teacher. Or at least this one.