Additional Update - Don't they know it's Xmas Danish puppet style

This was on TV last night. We especially liked the scissors. And the handbag. And pretty much everything.

http://tvclips.biz/video/19cxbNdkXec/gepettos-julesang.html

After this video ended, we stayed on the channel expecting some more puppet / muppet fun. A ten hour timer started at the top of the screen. Then for about a minute at a time, we would see various puppets, in their bedrooms, sleeping. We watched this for four minutes before we realized that it wasn't actually a show and was instead the sign off for the kids channel we were watching. We are smart.

There was another show called "Min Funky Familie" which we eventually figured out was some sort of singing / dancing competition between families. Think double dare meets family feud. In last night's show they sang Mamma Mia. After performing, the families were rated 1-5 in three categories. Musik. Style. Performance. A woman who sort of looked like Khloe Kardashian gave the ratings and the family with the crazy horn player won.

I'm not sure if it's always ABBA on Min Funky Familie. One can dream.

Mostly, DR Ramasjang is a pretty awesome channel.

Day 14 - Sleep and then on to Føtex for groceries

I really forgot how jet laggy the trip to Europe can be. We were in a coma until around 11.00 at which point we realized that everything closes at 15.00 (3pm) and we have no food. Plus everything is closed tomorrow for Nytår.

So it was off to Vesterbro to the Føtex for groceries and odds and ends to get us through tomorrow.

The "house" is where we live. The "A" is the Føtex. It was probably about a 10 minute walk. I think that Føtex is a sort of mid price place. It was big - two floors with the first floor being food, beverage, and cleaning stuff. The second floor was housewares and electronics. Think Danish Target.

Before buying groceries we went a little farther east and passed the the Københavns Hovedbanegård which is the largest and oldest train station in Copenhagen.

We walked a little farther and checked out Tivoli gardens. We might head over there tonight to watch the fireworks.

Speaking of fireworks, they have been going all day. It sounds like we're under constant attack.

Things are still pretty expensive at Føtex, but there was a much larger selection than at Netto, which is more like a bargain convenience store. It will take some getting used to with all of the descriptions in Danish, the weights in grams, and the prices in DKK. At some point I won't need to convert in my head.

Nearly all of the vegetables / greens are prepacked in plastic. Bulk / separate was only an option for some produce - lemons, some weird unknown fruits that looked like squashed orange tomatoes, scallions, leeks, and another weird fruit or vegetable that looked like a squashed green potato. It was sort of like chayote, but I'm sure it wasn't. I should have brought some chiles with me, they were like 15DKK for 2 or 3 jalepenos!

There appeared to be three tiers of produce. For carrots, for example, you had one bag at 20, one at 17, and one at 15. All the same weight and all the same type of carrot. I went with the cheapo carrots, I think the bargain brand was OKD.

It is a little weird trying to figure out the different brands. Laundry detergent was interesting. It helps a little that I have listened / watched so much British stuff as there are a lot of the same brands.

It was also nice to have a grocery store that sells alcohol again. Stupid Massachusetts.

After we loaded up our bags we headed home. Thankfully no rain. While typing this out, I saw this ridiculous commercial.

Good work Apollo.

Anyway, we found a Mexican place around the corner that still had reservations so we will be eating there at 20.00 tonight and then off to fireworks at either Tivoli or, if we're feeling like a longer walk, Rådhuspladsen.

Goht Nytår!

General Update - The Danish love Fireworks

I mean LOVE fireworks. I have no idea how crazy it will be tonight.

Day 13 - Arrival

We're here.

Flight was on time, eight hours. Super cramped. My neck pillow did not aid in sleep as much as I had hoped. The seat in front of me had some sort of electronic box below it that took up half of my "stow under the seat" space. Poor.

I woke up from my "sleep" at about the six hour mark. Karl would be happy to know that SAS considers Manchester the most important city in the UK.

At any rate, no snags. Got all of our luggage, grabbed our apartment keys at Avis, and hopped a cab to our temporary home in Frederiksberg. Here is Emily outside 12 Martensens Alle.

Oh snap. I'VE GOT THE POWER.

After unpacking a bit, it was time to explore / search for food. There are a number of very nice pasty shops in our neighborhood, but we needed something a bit heartier. Voila!

That is apparently called a Fransk Hotdog. French people must like to build some sort of hotdog / baguette shell, fill it with mayo, and then jam a footlong hotdog into it. Delicious.

Emily decided, and rightly so, that Fransk hotdogs probably don't pass for dinner. We hit the Netto at the top of our block and grabbed some ground beef, tomato sauce, pasta, some wine, and some other stuff. I couldn't find any dry pasta - I don't know what's up with that. This wine was not good, but that's what you get when you spend 45DKK for wine.

Overall, it was a fun day. No plans yet for NYE, but we'll see.

Day 12 - Exit Strategy

After a nice dinner with family, it was off to O'Hare for a 10PM flight. Eight hours later, we would be in Denmark.

I should have never flown First Class to Hawaii. Coach sucks once you understand truly how much you are missing. :(

Our heaviest bag topped out at 46 pounds. We win.

Above is the entrance to security at the international terminal. 

I did like seeing all of the Cubs gear front and center with a tiny shelf of Sox mugs below them. Sounds about right.

Day 7-8, 11 - More from Naperville

It was a nice Christmas. Charlie is sometimes especially not photogenic. Poor scary eyed Charlie.

It was great seeing my Grandpa - he's doing really well. We took him to Portillo's. Italian Beef? Check.

C-U Revisited - now blogging from Copenhagen.

When you're still on American time and you can't sleep past 3AM, it's time to waste time on the computer.

First, on our trip to C-U, I was further blown away by the number of windmills. Oh my.

Also on the drive back I was reminded of the time that I drove Zeshan home. He thought the following - around Kankakee, IIRC - was the Chicago skyline.

Lastly, here's me on the quad. This is what happens when Emily and I both take pictures and I am too lazy to grab them off of her phone.

Day 7 - Christmas Eve

In Denmark Christmas Eve is the more formal, bigger deal than Christmas day. They even have little Christmas Eve - aka Lillejuleaften aka Christmas Eve Eve aka December 23.

Emily, Charlie, and I will be celebrating our Juleaften with my family in Naperville. Sadly there will be no Gløgg. Perhaps next year in Copenhagen.

Day 4 - Back to C-U

The Union from Follinger

Emily hadn't been to Champaign-Urbana (or Urbana-Champaign if you're like *that*) in a while and I'm always up for a trip so we made the way down I-57 to say hello to our former - my favorite - home.

Made a stop in Park Forest to visit Emily's grandma. Good times.

Lunch at - obviously - Dos Reales with Emily's uncle Tim. My favorite host still works there! He moved far too quickly to snap a picture. Dos Reales? Check. Fajita Quesadilla? Check.

I have something like five people that I can talk Illini sports with and Tim is one of them. Good times.

Lincoln Hall

Next a trip to the quad. I hadn't seen Lincoln Hall since the renovations. So shiny and clean! I almost miss the decrepit-ness. Abe's nose seems far less shiny. Perhaps Tim Beckman forgot to rub it this year. *sad trombone*

The Union computer lab looks more like an Apple store now - it's crazy. That computer lab was always pretty pathetic. Not as bad as the one in the ME building, ack, I wish I could remember the name. Worst computer lab ever.

We met up with our old boss Jim Morrissey. He's over in RAL now, awesome space. I was happy to see that some of my "helpful suggestion" signs still exist! In my own handwriting! I'm some sort of long distance lab nazi. As as an aside, I was trying to decide whether or not "nazi" should be capitalized. I think I made the right choice.

Follinger from the Union

It was great seeing Jim, Genie, and Stephanie - I miss the lab. It was a great place to work.

The visit was done. It was fun taking I-47 home - I love all of the small towns. Strawn. Sibley. I always wonder about life in a town of one hundred.

Fun trip. I miss C-U. Most people think I'm crazy, but I could definitely live there indefinitely. At any rate, onward and, well, eastward?

Days 1-3 : The pains of blogging in retrospect

Day 1!
So here we go. This journey started a long time ago, but I'm going to start things on Tuesday the 18th of December - when you're transitioning to international dates, every little reinforcement helps.

Tuesday was moving day. Thanks Novo! I do not want to move my own stuff. Ever. Again. The movers showed up, wrapped everything in paper, and eventually packed those perfectly wrapped things in our very own shipping container! Fun times.

To file under "not fun times" once the movers left it was now up to Emily and Collin to sort out the rest of everything else. Pack everything up that needs to go to Chicago and / or Copenhagen. Ready the house for the de-leading folks. Ready the house for the new tenants. Sleep on an air mattress in an echo-y, cold, empty room.

Day 2!
I apologize in advance for this terrible - well, likely terrible - formatting. Either blogger is horrible or I am horrible at using blogger. This is what I get for not knowing how to do anything by hand anymore.

At any rate, not that you can see it from this horrible picture, but that's 4:06 on the clock. We missed our target time by 6 minutes! The car was fully loaded. Charlie was - for the first time EVER - in his crate with the door closed. We were off.

Somewhere around 1000 miles and 15 and a half hours later we landed in Naperville. Then sleep, precious sleep.

Day 3!
If the average Car Talk caller represents the average American car owner, it appears that a decent percentage of people name their cars. Sadly, we never named our Vue. All the better as it is now part of some sort of CarMax auction. Good luck dealers!

Moving a car to Denmark would be crazy. Buying a car in Denmark might be crazier. Emily and I will now learn to love riding bikes. Excuse me while I punch myself in the face. Such is life and such is the grand experiment that is this move. Collin will grow to love bike riders cyclists and may even begrudgingly become one himself! Oh the shame!

And Charlie, oh Charlie. As most of you know, Charlie is a very weird dog. I love him. Emily loves him. He is still weird. Eccentric, perhaps. Tonight was the first time he has done this since we have arrived. I am a happy man.