Doting Dads, Kylie Minogue & a Taxi

Before I begin my tale of last weekend’s bike trip, I want to share a few reoccurring observations in my life.

Doting Dads: I have never seen so many men pushing their children in strollers at one o’clock in the afternoon! At my practicum site, the headmaster told me that ten years ago when students would draw their families, the father would always be in the background reading a newspaper or working, but now children are drawing fathers as more active members of the family. I definitely notice this when I am walking around Copenhagen. There’s a course in my program called “Gender and Sexuality in Scandinavia.” I wish I could have taken it, but it didn’t fit into my schedule.

Kylie Minogue: I don’t know if I am just not cool or hip, but Kylie Minogue is really popular here. Every time I am in a store I hear her music, but I honestly haven’t listened to her in years. Also while on the subject of music, I was reading the Copenhagen cycle chic blog and wanted to share this song from a Danish singer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEtsrxrw4P8&feature=player_embedded

Now onto Bornholm…

Last weekend, I traveled to Bornholm, a Danish island. We took an overnight ferry, slept on the floor and began our day on Saturday at 6 in the morning. I traveled with 98 other students in my program. Here were our options for the day: We could go at our own pace and see the island on our own or choose between the killer tour that was 62 kilometers or the culture tour that was 43 kilometers. So in a moment of temporary insanity, I decided it would be a good idea to go on the killer tour. (What was I thinking?!) The beginning was great. I don’t think I will ever see landscape as beautiful. Our hostel was right along the water. After biking about 25 kilometers, we stopped at a beach. The sand from this beach is used in hourglasses, so it was incredible and picturesque!

Now I am not an intense biker nor have I trained to bike 62 kilometers, so I was starting to get tired. We stopped for lunch and then wandered into a boutique where there was a wonderful sale on shoes. I decided to seize the day and buy some beautiful zebra print wedges. (I realize how ridiculous it is that I bought shoes on a bike trip, but they were worth it!) We finally got back on the trail, and unfortunately hit a long stretch of vicious wind. It got to the point where even in the first gear we could not push the pedals forward because the wind was so strong. Well it turns out two of the girls we were biking with had just biked across the U.S., so clearly I made a bad choice! My friends Hillary, Eleanor, and I decided to walk when our tour guide rode back to see us. Instead of going ahead and leaving us behind, he persisted for about two hours to motivate us and keep us with the group. I am not going to lie. This man drove me crazy, and there were times when I thought I might cry. Eventually when it got close to 4 (we had been biking since 9), he decided to move on and told Hillary and I that the hostel was only 15 kilometers straight ahead.

That was a lie… We got to a fork in the road and had no idea where to go. At that point, we got off our bikes, slowly moved to the ground since all parts of ours bodies were aching and decided that was the perfect opportunity to finish our pastries from lunch. So there we were sitting on someone’s lawn, eating pastries, lost on a Danish island at six o’clock at night. (Don’t worry this story has a happy ending). After debating what to do for twenty minutes, we eventually knocked on someone’s door, and the gentleman was kind enough to call us a taxi. We arrived just in time for dinner with a great story. Yes, I do feel guilty about taking the taxi, but I have no idea how I would have been able to keep biking.

Pictures to come later…

Pastries and Danish Reality TV

I had a hectic day on Wednesday. I was supposed to wake up early for a field trip and arrive at the train station to meet my class at 8:00. Well, my alarm did not go off for some reason, and I woke up around 7:40. I live about 20 minutes from the city, so I thought I would be able to catch my class. I ran out of bed, threw some clothes on, grabbed my wallet and sprinted to the bus. Unfortunately, I missed them and had to take another bus to the school we were visiting. Fortunately, this kind woman on the bus helped me find where I needed to go. I was only about five minutes late, and it was certainly an adventure! I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring around the city and shopping with a few friends from class. 

We stumbled onto this wonderful bakery. I had the best cinnamon bun I have ever had in my life! Today, I decided to return to the bakery for an end of the week treat. Well, it turns out I was not paying close enough attention to where we were going on Wednesday because I could not find this place. It was particularly difficult since I decided to wear heels. I wandered around for about 45 minutes, stopping in various stores, and then I decided I could not return home without this pastry. I recognized a few landmarks and found the bakery! It turns out that the bakery was a lot closer to my school than I thought. It ended up being only two blocks away, but I guess I started in the wrong direction! I enjoyed every bite of that pastry. Mission accomplished! I have learned how much fun it is to be by myself and explore. It was peaceful and relaxing.

This is where I frequently eat lunch.

Another one of my favorite pastimes besides eating the delicious food that is served here is watching Danish reality tv with my host family. They have been extremely generous and kind. My host mom and dad, Susanne and Asger live in Frederiksberg, a municipality of Copenhagen, with their three kids. My current favorite reality show is called "Til Middag Hos." It is about four Danish celebrities that visit each other's homes and cook for each other. They rate each other's food, and then someone wins. While it is all in Danish, the show is very funny, and we are always watching it!

Here are some photos of the neighborhood:

Where I walk past to get to the bus in the mornings.

Fashion on the Bike Paths

Since biking is hot topic on my blog, I figured I would post this link: http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/. It will give you a good idea of how well-dressed and beautiful Danes are, especially while riding their bikes! (Side note: I will not be looking as chic when I go on my bike trip this weekend.)

A few more updates

So I am a bit behind on the blog and I still have a few more things to add. 

Last Wednesday, I had my first experience biking in Copenhagen. I biked to a friend's house, and I am happy to report that it was a lot of fun, and I am still alive. Next weekend, I will be going on a weekend long bike trip, so I will be getting more practice in this week. 

Yesterday was my host dad's birthday party, and I met one of my new favorite people in Denmark. I spoke with his cousin who is studying to be a pedagogue. In the Danish education system, there are teachers and pedagogues. Teachers focus on more of the academic side while pedagogues work in schools as aids and focus on helping students socially. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Archeology, and she lived in the Middle East for a few years. She is doing student teaching at this school in greater Copenhagen that has farm animals for the students to play with! It was an experience I won't forget, and it also showed me how much you can learn from asking questions and talking with people. I love meeting new, fun, and interesting people.

Today, I did some more exploring with my host family. Here are some photos from our trip:

A view of the water. We bought some pastries and ate along the side of the river.

I felt like I was in heaven!

My host sister wanted to climb to the top of that church, and we did...

A view from the top.

Now I'm off to do some work for tomorrow. It's very difficult to stay motivated when I live in a place like this!

"To travel is to live" - H.C. Andersen

I figured the title was appropriate since I just came back from a small study tour to Funen, also known as "The Land of the Fairytales" in Western Denmark. My abroad program is called "Child Diversity and Development in a Multicultural Context" so my class traveled to schools with programs to help children from other countries adapt to living in a new culture. At one visit we met some students who spoke German, Danish, English, and Arabic. I am truly amazed that children can master so many languages. My favorite part was our trip to the Hans Christian Andersen Museum and Playhouse. Children can visit, listen to fairy tales, paint pictures, and dress up as their favorite characters. We listened to the story of "Clumsy Hans," painted pictures, and dressed up as the characters. It shows that you are never too old to play dress up!

My class also visited a Culture House and saw a group of Ugandan dancers perform a show. It was the first time they had ever performed outside of Uganda. At the Culture House, children can come to make their own music, do arts and crafts or get access to the internet. It is a community outreach program. 

A Ugandan artist painted this image on canvas. I love the image of the girl reaching for an apple and soccer ball.

To end the trip, we went to Gavnø Castle. The castle is located near a beautiful garden and is now privately owned.

This is an image of the sensory garden. Unfortunately, it rained for most of our visit but it was still pretty.

This is my favorite photo from the butterfly garden.

Rose from the rose garden.

Favorite Photos of the Week

Here are some of my favorite photos from last week:

There are 6 kittens at the horse farm.

This is the town of Helsingør where Kronborg Castle is located. The castle is famously known as Elsinore, the setting for Hamlet.

Beautiful garden shot in Helsingør.

The castle.

There are so many bikes here!

A little humor goes a long way

This semester I will be visiting a Danish preschool, Galaxen (Galaxy in English), every Thursday. This past Thursday was my first day, and I had a wonderful time and so much to share. I was a little nervous because I am working with children ages 0-6, so they don’t speak any English. My big question was how to communicate when you do not speak the same language. Galaxen is a very fun place to be. There isn’t any free wall space because the ceilings and walls are covered with student artwork. The children are happy and content with a lot of independence and free areas to explore.

Here are a couple of highlights:

1.    I played barbies with two little girls who spoke to me in Danish for about thirty minutes before realizing that I did not understand. We communicated through laughs and silly hand gestures. Humor is definitely an asset when speaking with the children. Later during story time, one of the girls told her teacher that I spoke “almost Danish.” She wasn’t sure what I spoke. Many of the children can speak more than one language such as Arabic, Polish, and Spanish. Two of the teachers are from Yugoslovia and another from Sweden who travels into Denmark every day.

2.    The children poured their own drinks and used utensils to eat their pasta during lunch. I think they had better table manners than many adults! Keep in mind that they are only 5 years old.

3.    A few years ago, Denmark passed a law that all schools needed to provide lunch for the children. Before that, the parents would make their child’s lunches. It is still a controversial topic here. Galaxen has a cook who prepares the food and snacks for the children. She is a lovely woman, and she spoke to me about giving the kids healthy eating habits early in life. A local newspaper just interviewed her about cooking for children.