Collin is slowly getting more accustomed to his job and all the adjustments and newness that goes along with it. We have a pretty nice routine with Charlie where Collin and I stagger our work days by a few hours so Charlie's not alone for too much more than 8 hours. I do miss seeing Collin in the morning and on some days when our schedules are busy and we can't grab lunch together I don't see him until dinner time. But Charlie is seeming well-adjusted and settled in, so that's great. It was too difficult for us to continue with his old dog food so we have switched him to a Danish brand and he seems to really like it alot, so that was a relief.
This past Tuesday we attended a welcome reception in our neighborhood's city hall (or Rådhus). It was available to all new residents in Frederiksberg.
There was a 30 min introduction by the Borgmester (kind of like a mayor, I think) in Danish of course. Collin and I entertained ourselves by watching the accompanying slide show and pointing out the random words we recognized here and there. This was followed by a singing performance by some kind of choir. It looked like it ranged in ages from 15 to 60, or so. The first song was in Danish but the second two were actually in English...odd choices though: one was about a girl who was sweet on a guy who didn't return the affection, but she learned from it, I can't remember the other one but it also involved a crush...they had very 60s/"Bye Bye Birdie" feels to them. After the concert we were free to walk around booths describing what the city offers to residents. Again, everything was in Danish, but they did have a crepe booth which was delicious with Grand Marnier and sugar. They also had snacks available which consisted of chicken drumsticks, carrot sticks and dip, cheese sticks and croissants. On our way out we ran into a friend (Danish, luckily) who informed us of tours that were going on of the building so we embarked on that and saw where the city officials meet and make decisions and where marriages are carried out. The "Wedding chapel" had murals around all the walls depicting what Collin thought must have been the circle of life...trees, naked people, a baby being breast fed , more people and more trees. It was explained to us, but -- say it with me -- it was in Danish.
Wednesday was World Hemophilia Day. As the organizer of the event for my site, I was responsible for ensuring the buildings were decorated, educational material was up, a quiz with prize was administered, lottery tickets were sold on behalf of the Danish Haemophilia Society, and the main attraction, a patient with hemophilia was welcomed. The patient came to give a presentation on what it is like to live with hemophilia and I think he did a fantastic job. The auditorium was packed and we sold out of lottery tickets in minutes. It turns out this is the first time my site has ever done anything to recognize hemophilia. The day was a big success.
Friday Collin and I had our last real Danish lessons courtesy of Berlitz. Novo paid for us to take 45 lessons when we got here. We have now completed 42 of them (we do 3 lessons per class session). In two weeks we have our final three lessons which consist of review, an exam, and then review of the exam. At this point we can read and write simple sentences with some ease. Collin can pronounce words much better than I can, and I think neither of us can really hear any thing other than picking out words here and there. We did sign up to take more Danish lesson through our kommune. These are also free and available to new residents for the first three years they live here. There are 5-6 modules, with most of them each taking about 3 months (2x a week for 3 hours at a time) in the advanced track. Somehow we were both placed in the advanced track. Module 1 is technically supposed to start this month..actually a few weeks ago, but Danish teachers are currently in "lockout" (kind of like a reverse strike) and that includes our foreign language teachers. No one knows when it will end. everyone says 8-10 days but they have been saying that since it started the first week in April. I'm happy that at least means our Berlitz classes can end before we start the kommune classes.
Today I fly out to Zurich Switzerland for a two-day training camp in hemophilia. I was hoping a colleague was going to go with me but I am actually on my own now. I'm excited to see Zurich but not really prepared for being in yet another foreign country with a new language and their own currency. Luckily it is only a few days!
Thursday Collin and I decided to host a house-warming/Welcome-to-Denmark party in our apartment. Friday is a holiday (Prayer Day). We invited way too many people -- i think about 50. Right now our acceptances look to be around 30 with about 10 we haven't heard from yet. Hopefully we have enough food and drinks! (and people don't mind standing...we only have seating for about 15). We're looking forward to it, it should be a fun time, with a nice long weekend to recover.
Sorry for the lack of pictures/links...I wanted to get a post out but still need to finish prepping for my trip so I didn't have time to make it super interesting. We hope you are all safe and happy. Our hearts have been with Boston all week. We felt very unconnected being all the way over here but were able to follow every minute thanks to the power of the internet (and the 6 hour time difference).
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