Isn't it beautiful? =) Good day, I'm off to bed now (9pm!!) hoping that I feel better tomorrow.
Showing posts with label pictures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pictures. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
10 days left!
That's right folks, I will be on a plane on my way home in 10 days! It's kind of a bittersweet thing; I think I will be ready to go home though. =) Here's the update of the last few days and such.
Last Wednesday:
Mom moved her stuff over here from the hotel in the morning, but I was reeeeally not feeling well at all so I was pretty much crashed on the couch until 1pm-ish. I finally dragged myself up and we headed off to lunch. We got to the O'Leary's at about 2pm and both had the Larry Bird club sandwiches (BLTs basically), which were really good. I also got my french fries!! YAY! They also had a ton of Boston sports memorabilia, which was really cool.
Red Sox wall
Celtics wall
Then we headed off to Tivoli across the street! We walked around there for about 4 hours and bought tons of things, so much that we couldn't go on any rides because we had too many bags. =) My mom also took a picture of a couple at a booth dressed in full Viking gear, which lead to us chatting with them for at least an hour as well as buying a bunch of stuff. I now have 3 beautiful (handmade in Sweden) glass bead necklaces! The couple, Jacob and Hanna, told us a ton of cool stuff about the Vikings and a little bit about Sweden. It was really neat!
We finally tired out around 7pm and headed home for dinner.
Thursday/Thanksgiving!
I headed off to school and mom stayed home at the apartment, where she proceeded to vacuum, do the dishes, and wash most of my laundry! (Thanks Mom!!!) =) My day was very long and frustrating, mostly due to some issues I've been having with my teacher there. On top of that I also fell down about 5 stairs at lunch and bruised my leg, shoulder, and arm up from catching myself on the banister. However, things got better from there!
Mom showed up at school around 3pm, spent a few moments chatting with Carolyn and Mairead and then we took off. I'd had an issue with my phone in the morning so we walked to the prepaid phone shop (turned out that I'd just been randomly outside of the service range) and she lovingly put up with my ranting for about 30 minutes. =) We then went on to Bettina & Jan's house around 4pm, where she got to meet the whole family except Victor. They were very sweet and Bettina made several yummy baked things. We stayed there until a little after 6pm to go to the Hard Rock Cafe and Bettina insisted that I come over for dinner sometime this week. Not sure when that'll be, but it'll be nice to have dinner with them again before I leave.
me, mom, Bettina, Amalie
We got to the Hard Rock Cafe at about 6:50ish and went into the back room with a bunch of other Americans. It was way funny to be in there and listen to everybody talking about the difficulties they've had around here and stuff. A few minutes after the food came out, our waiter Lucas came around to the tables and said that he had bad news....there was some sort of problem at Tivoli (which is right next door) and the electricity was going to be shut off in 20 minutes! But our meals were free!! We quickly ate the not-so-great food and cleared out, saving $80.
(Mom's plate, obviously. My food didn't touch on mine!!)
On our way back to the station we walked past Tivoli and noticed people were still going inside, so we asked the security guard. He told us that it was just a problem at the front gate and that we could go in for free "as his guests." That saved us about $38! At that point we figured that we didn't want to press our luck too much, so just went on the rides that were closer to the ground instead of the giant swings ride that I had wanted to go on. We went on the smaller swings and the ferris wheel and had a lot of fun. =)
Friday:
Like I already posted, that was the day mom left to go home & I was left alone here. It was a really bad afternoon/evening emotionally though. I'm actually starting to look forward to being home in a few weeks, just for the comfort of being in my own country again. It's so uncomfortable to be in a foreign country and trying to do everything by myself. Like I told my mom, it's exhausting trying to blend in and pretend to know what I'm doing!! It's also not nearly as much fun to be a tourist on my own. I'm also REALLY sick of the few tv stations that I can watch in English and nothing being open past 7-8pm at night!!!
Weekend:
I perked up some over the weekend though. I just relaxed for almost all of it and it was GREAT! I'm finally just about healthy again and rested up. =) Saturday was beautiful and I ventured out wandering for a little bit, but yesterday was very cold and rainy.
The end of my street
Today:
School was surprisingly better today. Carolyn and I chatted a bit about some things and hopefully things will also get better after the open house on Wednesday afternoon. The kids are rushing to complete their imaginary city brochures by then, which makes things veeerrrry stressful lately.
I was also somewhat efficient today and got a lot of things done, including a bulletin board that I've been trying to get together for a few days. Yay! The kids are also making a lot of progress on their brochures and I'm much more confident that they'll all be done in time. =)
It was really really cold today though. It was snowing like crazy this morning and randomly on and off all day. They don't often get snow here so the kids were really excited about it (and took foreverrrrr getting all of their snow gear on and off)!
Plans for this week:
Last Wednesday:
Mom moved her stuff over here from the hotel in the morning, but I was reeeeally not feeling well at all so I was pretty much crashed on the couch until 1pm-ish. I finally dragged myself up and we headed off to lunch. We got to the O'Leary's at about 2pm and both had the Larry Bird club sandwiches (BLTs basically), which were really good. I also got my french fries!! YAY! They also had a ton of Boston sports memorabilia, which was really cool.
Then we headed off to Tivoli across the street! We walked around there for about 4 hours and bought tons of things, so much that we couldn't go on any rides because we had too many bags. =) My mom also took a picture of a couple at a booth dressed in full Viking gear, which lead to us chatting with them for at least an hour as well as buying a bunch of stuff. I now have 3 beautiful (handmade in Sweden) glass bead necklaces! The couple, Jacob and Hanna, told us a ton of cool stuff about the Vikings and a little bit about Sweden. It was really neat!
We finally tired out around 7pm and headed home for dinner.
Thursday/Thanksgiving!
I headed off to school and mom stayed home at the apartment, where she proceeded to vacuum, do the dishes, and wash most of my laundry! (Thanks Mom!!!) =) My day was very long and frustrating, mostly due to some issues I've been having with my teacher there. On top of that I also fell down about 5 stairs at lunch and bruised my leg, shoulder, and arm up from catching myself on the banister. However, things got better from there!
Mom showed up at school around 3pm, spent a few moments chatting with Carolyn and Mairead and then we took off. I'd had an issue with my phone in the morning so we walked to the prepaid phone shop (turned out that I'd just been randomly outside of the service range) and she lovingly put up with my ranting for about 30 minutes. =) We then went on to Bettina & Jan's house around 4pm, where she got to meet the whole family except Victor. They were very sweet and Bettina made several yummy baked things. We stayed there until a little after 6pm to go to the Hard Rock Cafe and Bettina insisted that I come over for dinner sometime this week. Not sure when that'll be, but it'll be nice to have dinner with them again before I leave.
We got to the Hard Rock Cafe at about 6:50ish and went into the back room with a bunch of other Americans. It was way funny to be in there and listen to everybody talking about the difficulties they've had around here and stuff. A few minutes after the food came out, our waiter Lucas came around to the tables and said that he had bad news....there was some sort of problem at Tivoli (which is right next door) and the electricity was going to be shut off in 20 minutes! But our meals were free!! We quickly ate the not-so-great food and cleared out, saving $80.
On our way back to the station we walked past Tivoli and noticed people were still going inside, so we asked the security guard. He told us that it was just a problem at the front gate and that we could go in for free "as his guests." That saved us about $38! At that point we figured that we didn't want to press our luck too much, so just went on the rides that were closer to the ground instead of the giant swings ride that I had wanted to go on. We went on the smaller swings and the ferris wheel and had a lot of fun. =)
Friday:
Like I already posted, that was the day mom left to go home & I was left alone here. It was a really bad afternoon/evening emotionally though. I'm actually starting to look forward to being home in a few weeks, just for the comfort of being in my own country again. It's so uncomfortable to be in a foreign country and trying to do everything by myself. Like I told my mom, it's exhausting trying to blend in and pretend to know what I'm doing!! It's also not nearly as much fun to be a tourist on my own. I'm also REALLY sick of the few tv stations that I can watch in English and nothing being open past 7-8pm at night!!!
Weekend:
I perked up some over the weekend though. I just relaxed for almost all of it and it was GREAT! I'm finally just about healthy again and rested up. =) Saturday was beautiful and I ventured out wandering for a little bit, but yesterday was very cold and rainy.
Today:
School was surprisingly better today. Carolyn and I chatted a bit about some things and hopefully things will also get better after the open house on Wednesday afternoon. The kids are rushing to complete their imaginary city brochures by then, which makes things veeerrrry stressful lately.
I was also somewhat efficient today and got a lot of things done, including a bulletin board that I've been trying to get together for a few days. Yay! The kids are also making a lot of progress on their brochures and I'm much more confident that they'll all be done in time. =)
It was really really cold today though. It was snowing like crazy this morning and randomly on and off all day. They don't often get snow here so the kids were really excited about it (and took foreverrrrr getting all of their snow gear on and off)!
Plans for this week:
- Hopefully getting things done on my teaching portfolio, I have tons of pictures and other "evidence" but gotta start plugging everything in!
- Getting Carolyn to sign off on my teaching hours that I've done here
- Hanging out with Mairead and Faye next weekend and being tourists and having lots of fun!!! I'm way excited for this and determined to make it happen. =)
- Cleaning/organizing the apartment because Casey & Marie come home next Monday!
- Taking tons of pics at the Open House on Wed. for my portfolio, since I did a lot of full responsibility teaching during this project because I often had my own groups that I worked with every day.
- Probably staying after school very late tomorrow to laminate all the brochures and finish getting the room ready for the Open House (which is actually during the schoolday, 2-3pm).
- ENJOYING MY LAST FULL WEEK IN THE COUNTRY!!!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Things are good
- Casey & Marie are awesome!
- I love their apartment....and their shower has a curtain!!!!
- I now have Skype set up, so I called my mom and grandmother last night to chat. It was nice. =)
- I spent a long time talking with Roselle (my professor) last night at a cafe & then a bar where we went to watch Casey perform.
- He sounds great in person too, Mel. And I asked him about getting cd(s) and he said he'll burn some for me before I leave!! YAY!
- I've figured out how to use the bus nearby to get places ON MY OWN!!!! Sorta kind ish.
- Casey took Roselle and me to Christiania. Go look it up, I'm too lazy to do so right now. But it was really neat and I heard some good music performed there too. And have a ton of cool pictures of different murals/graffiti from there to post at some point.
- Missing the family, but I'm hopefully going to catch up with them tomorrow with Roselle after school. Mostly to introduce Roselle to them and return the house keys that I still have........and also cuz I miss them already! =) Victor asked Bettina if Amalie could move out and I could stay there instead of moving to the apartment, way cute.
That's all for now because I've gotta be up way early in the morning to figure out how to get to school via bus and train! But I have a bunch of new pictures on Flickr from the field trip on Friday, leaving from Bettina & Jan's and adventures from today. Go look and comment! http://www.flickr.com/photos/abby6384/
Goodnight, ya'll.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Almost Friday!
Lonnnng day at school today. It's so frustrating to have to tell the kids a dozen times to do something before they actually listen!!!! Especially when they look at you, then continue to do whatever they want without even pausing. GRRRRRRRRR.
Tomorrow we're going on a big walking field trip to the center of Copenhagen as part of their unit on cities. Leaving at about 9:30am and won't be back until about 2:30!! I'm sure there will be lots of whining about being tired, etc. but I'm looking forward to getting to see more of the buildings and statues and stuff. It'll also introduce me to taking the train at the station closest to the school, yay! And I'll get to take lots of pictures (since Carolyn's camera is being stupid and she's not exactly technology-savvy...), so I'll try and get those up tomorrow afternoon/evening before I move Sat.
Family is still great and the boys are making me laugh all the time. Between yesterday and today, Victor has suddenly started speaking a ton in English! He is actually taking his own initiative to talk in English around me, instead of having his parents suggest it. Malthe has also picked up a lot of new words!
I watched 2 movies with the boys today: the second Pirates of the Carribean (in English, with Danish subtitles) and just watched the new Jungle Book (in Danish, with English subtitles). And then Jan started having sword fights with the big rubber swords they own, and I jumped in and definitely beat both of the boys. Lots of giggling and running around just before bedtime is good, right??? Well, I had fun at least!
Random:
Tomorrow we're going on a big walking field trip to the center of Copenhagen as part of their unit on cities. Leaving at about 9:30am and won't be back until about 2:30!! I'm sure there will be lots of whining about being tired, etc. but I'm looking forward to getting to see more of the buildings and statues and stuff. It'll also introduce me to taking the train at the station closest to the school, yay! And I'll get to take lots of pictures (since Carolyn's camera is being stupid and she's not exactly technology-savvy...), so I'll try and get those up tomorrow afternoon/evening before I move Sat.
Family is still great and the boys are making me laugh all the time. Between yesterday and today, Victor has suddenly started speaking a ton in English! He is actually taking his own initiative to talk in English around me, instead of having his parents suggest it. Malthe has also picked up a lot of new words!
I watched 2 movies with the boys today: the second Pirates of the Carribean (in English, with Danish subtitles) and just watched the new Jungle Book (in Danish, with English subtitles). And then Jan started having sword fights with the big rubber swords they own, and I jumped in and definitely beat both of the boys. Lots of giggling and running around just before bedtime is good, right??? Well, I had fun at least!
Random:
- Malthe looks exactly like Mowgli, facial expressions and all. Not even kidding!
- Carolyn (teacher I work with) sounds exactly like a combination between Maria from the Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, especially when she's annoyed that the kids aren't listening.
- Roselle is arriving in Denmark sometime tomorrow morning (I'm guessing she's leaving very soon, if she's not already in the air).
- I'm exhausted but haven't been able to sleep very well lately. I need a fan!!
- Peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches are faaaantastic! Yes, unhealthy but soooo good.
- Jan has helped build some amazing houses/buildings; I am very impressed.
- I really really REALLY hate loading other people's dishwashers. I don't mind unloading, I just hate trying to follow somebody else's system for loading!
- I had a really long, really good conversation with Carolyn at lunch today. She's worried that I won't meet anybody [at school/in the area] to hang out with while I'm here because she's older (like 40s, I think). So she's thinking about having me help out in a couple other classrooms, just so I can meet people. lol. I like her.
Important-ish:
- About the pictures, I black out the faces on the kids because I don't have parental permission to be posting their faces online. Just confidentiality stuff, ya know? Also, the reason why I won't use any of my kids' names when talking about the class. Just smarter that way. =)
- I'm not sure when I will be online next, but probably will make it on at least once more before I move. I'm assuming I'll be able to get online at Marie & Casey's apartment but I haven't actually verified that yet. I'll probably just wait until I get there because I know they're both super busy right now!
Okay, bedtime. Or at least going upstairs to get things ready for tomorrow and stuff! =)
(PS- Hi, Mikaela! It's nice to hear from you... it's been a long time since I saw you last. How is school and everything?)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Pictures!!
I found more pictures that I took when we went shopping last weekend! They kinda got misplaced on my computer, I guess.
Adam- check these out; there are several scenery/architecture pics!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abby6384/
ANY OTHER REQUESTS, FOLKS?? Help me take pics of things that are important! I can't even think of what I'll wish I took pictures of after I get home, so give me suggestions!!! =)
Adam- check these out; there are several scenery/architecture pics!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abby6384/
ANY OTHER REQUESTS, FOLKS?? Help me take pics of things that are important! I can't even think of what I'll wish I took pictures of after I get home, so give me suggestions!!! =)
Today & answering Susie!
I really haven't learned to speak much more Danish than before I came, I actually think I have used LESS than before. I've tried to use my beginner Danish skills to talk with the boys on a few different occasions but they usually just go, "Hvad ("Vell")? What?" and have no idea what I'm talking about anyways. So, I usually just try to act or point things out or let Bettina/Jan/Amalie translate so they can understand.
However, I have gotten a little better at READING Danish than before I came. I can use context clues and stuff, as well as remembering some things Sona taught me to figure out what some words mean.
Of course that didn't help me be very successful today. I'm 1-for-3 on the things I had to get (only made it to the bank)!! I spent 5 straight hours walking around the city today and couldn't find a place that had prepaid cell phones or a way to buy a 30-day transport pass. I DID manage to find the train station by the school though (after 45 min. of looking around the area to find it), so that was a plus. I found a couple nice shops to buy some presents in before I leave and bought a cute little tote bag thing at H&M, but other than that I only bought some food things (couple apples, Mt. Dew!, a cookie, and one of the famous Danish hotdogs).
Which brings me to the highlight of the day.........Danish hotdogs are amazing. I really thought I wouldn't like it because of several things, but here's what it is anyways (in this order):
1. Bun
2. Long, thin bright red "hotdog" (more like sausage than a regular hotdog & yes, DYED bright red usually)
3. Ketchup
4. Spicy mustard
5. Sweet mustard
6. Remoulade (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/remoulade)
7. Chopped fresh onion
8. Crispy, fried onions (kinda like french-style onions)
9. Thinly sliced pickles
And of these things, I usually don't like sausages, ketchup (unless with french fries... which I'm craving!!), spicy mustard, mayonnaise (the base of remoulade), or onions of any kind!
However, I decided to try it anyways just so I could know for sure and I ended up really liking it. As long as I took a bite of everything together it tasted really good, I just didn't like it when I had one part separated from the others. But yes, super good and relatively cheap as far as food goes here: about $4.50. YAY!
So yeah, that's my day. I was pretty discouraged when I got home (and would give almost anything to walk into a store and be able to understand everyone and everything inside of it!), but I'm better now. I just need to keep in mind that I've only been here for one week!!! It feels like so much longer than that... I'm really really gonna miss the family when I move and when I eventually go home. =( They've helped me out so much and I don't know what I'll do when I don't have anybody to ask all my stupid questions about how to get things here!
OH YEAH, stupid moment of the day.......I couldn't figure out how to get into the bank this morning. I was wiggling it all around and there were people inside but I couldn't get it to open. Until a little old lady came up and showed me that I have to PUSH the door instead of PULL on it. I was soooooo embarrassed, but just had to laugh at myself with it; she did too! (In my admittedly weak defense, it had a pull-type of handle and when was the last time you walked into a store and had to PUSH the door in?! Apparently, the doors all open inwards in Denmark.) However, it gave me another reason to like 7-11...they have automatic doors! Yay for American stupidity!! ;)
And can we just kill the 80s please? Seriously, I'm so ready to have a mass burning of leggings and flourescent colors. I found ONE shirt that I actually liked today, everything else was ridiculously expensive, 80's, or black. [/end rant]
However, I am highly amused that a ton of kids things (and some adult ones) have a pirate theme! There are skull&crossbones on everything from hats to shirts to bags to shoes; I love it!!! I almost bought a cute black totebag that had a pink skull&crossbones all over it, but I figured that I'm too old to use it on a regular basis in America. Sad. But I bought a polka dotted one instead! YAY.
Okay, really going now. Miss you guys!! It's not so much the actual home thing that I miss though, it's more that I miss being able to talk to my friends and such. This 6 hour time difference really kills a lot of possible times to chat since I'm working or sleeping when they're available and vice versa. Oh wellllll, mom comes in like 10 days! =)
Hej hej!
PS- Susie, I have like 80 pictures but a lot of them are of my kids & I'd have to go black out all their faces (and it'd be boring for you guys anyways). I'll try to get more pictures once I'm actually out doing things & can carry my camera with me. And it starts getting dark here at like 4 and I'm at school til 3:30!! But more will be coming, promise! Anything in particular that you want pics of???
I do take picture requests! I just don't know what you guys want to see!
However, I have gotten a little better at READING Danish than before I came. I can use context clues and stuff, as well as remembering some things Sona taught me to figure out what some words mean.
Of course that didn't help me be very successful today. I'm 1-for-3 on the things I had to get (only made it to the bank)!! I spent 5 straight hours walking around the city today and couldn't find a place that had prepaid cell phones or a way to buy a 30-day transport pass. I DID manage to find the train station by the school though (after 45 min. of looking around the area to find it), so that was a plus. I found a couple nice shops to buy some presents in before I leave and bought a cute little tote bag thing at H&M, but other than that I only bought some food things (couple apples, Mt. Dew!, a cookie, and one of the famous Danish hotdogs).
Which brings me to the highlight of the day.........Danish hotdogs are amazing. I really thought I wouldn't like it because of several things, but here's what it is anyways (in this order):
1. Bun
2. Long, thin bright red "hotdog" (more like sausage than a regular hotdog & yes, DYED bright red usually)
3. Ketchup
4. Spicy mustard
5. Sweet mustard
6. Remoulade (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/remoulade)
7. Chopped fresh onion
8. Crispy, fried onions (kinda like french-style onions)
9. Thinly sliced pickles
And of these things, I usually don't like sausages, ketchup (unless with french fries... which I'm craving!!), spicy mustard, mayonnaise (the base of remoulade), or onions of any kind!
However, I decided to try it anyways just so I could know for sure and I ended up really liking it. As long as I took a bite of everything together it tasted really good, I just didn't like it when I had one part separated from the others. But yes, super good and relatively cheap as far as food goes here: about $4.50. YAY!
So yeah, that's my day. I was pretty discouraged when I got home (and would give almost anything to walk into a store and be able to understand everyone and everything inside of it!), but I'm better now. I just need to keep in mind that I've only been here for one week!!! It feels like so much longer than that... I'm really really gonna miss the family when I move and when I eventually go home. =( They've helped me out so much and I don't know what I'll do when I don't have anybody to ask all my stupid questions about how to get things here!
OH YEAH, stupid moment of the day.......I couldn't figure out how to get into the bank this morning. I was wiggling it all around and there were people inside but I couldn't get it to open. Until a little old lady came up and showed me that I have to PUSH the door instead of PULL on it. I was soooooo embarrassed, but just had to laugh at myself with it; she did too! (In my admittedly weak defense, it had a pull-type of handle and when was the last time you walked into a store and had to PUSH the door in?! Apparently, the doors all open inwards in Denmark.) However, it gave me another reason to like 7-11...they have automatic doors! Yay for American stupidity!! ;)
And can we just kill the 80s please? Seriously, I'm so ready to have a mass burning of leggings and flourescent colors. I found ONE shirt that I actually liked today, everything else was ridiculously expensive, 80's, or black. [/end rant]
However, I am highly amused that a ton of kids things (and some adult ones) have a pirate theme! There are skull&crossbones on everything from hats to shirts to bags to shoes; I love it!!! I almost bought a cute black totebag that had a pink skull&crossbones all over it, but I figured that I'm too old to use it on a regular basis in America. Sad. But I bought a polka dotted one instead! YAY.
Okay, really going now. Miss you guys!! It's not so much the actual home thing that I miss though, it's more that I miss being able to talk to my friends and such. This 6 hour time difference really kills a lot of possible times to chat since I'm working or sleeping when they're available and vice versa. Oh wellllll, mom comes in like 10 days! =)
Hej hej!
PS- Susie, I have like 80 pictures but a lot of them are of my kids & I'd have to go black out all their faces (and it'd be boring for you guys anyways). I'll try to get more pictures once I'm actually out doing things & can carry my camera with me. And it starts getting dark here at like 4 and I'm at school til 3:30!! But more will be coming, promise! Anything in particular that you want pics of???
I do take picture requests! I just don't know what you guys want to see!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Beautiful! (3:30 pm)
It is absolutely beautiful outside today!!! It's about 48*F with a bright blue sky and lots of sunshine. I love it!
Today (so far):
I got up a little late this morning (about 9:30am) and went over to a big flea market with Bettina and Jan before they had to get the kids. I finally got to pay for something!! It was just the entrance fees (about $6 each), but it's a start. =)
They walked around for a little while with me, but I finally convinced them that they could go on ahead since I was going so slowly. I had to look at everything and calculate prices and admire!
Bettina had to leave to get the kids at about 11am, but Jan stayed there for another 40 min. or so. He translated a few things for me and helped me find out if a necklace had nickel in it or not (I'm allergic and break out if I wear anything with it). It didn't and so I bought it for about $10! It's really pretty... silver-ish metal with some green stones and a small dragonfly charm attached to the bigger metal design. I'll get a picture up ASAP to show because it's hard to describe.
I didn't have too hard of a time buying things on my own too though. I asked a few questions in English and people were kind enough to overlook that I'm a dumb American and can't speak Danish. =) I still felt really awkward though. It's definitely uncomfortable going to another country and asking people to concede to using my language instead. BLAH.
Anyways, I also bought a pair of really comfortable lambwool slippers too!! The lady asked me my size and I said I didn't know because I'm from America [and we have to go and be special instead of using European sizes]. I looked inside my shoe though and found that I'm wearing a size 41.5, so suggested trying a 42. She said that it couldn't be that big, but then agreed once she held my shoe. She had me try a 41 and then found out that I was right with a 42. hehehe. She tried to make me feel better by saying the slippers ran small, but I told her I already know I have big feet and it's okay. Those cost about $30 and I don't think I'm ever going to take them off again!! Who needs to see the city when I can stay home and wear these warm slippers?!! =)
But then came the highlight of the day.... I bought a true Danish pastry. I think it had chocolate and bananas on top and it was absolutely delicious!!! The poor teenage guy selling them was trying to ask me things in Danish and I just completely froze up and stared at him blankly. He then spoke to me in English, very slowly saying "Sev-en-teen." I smiled my gratitude and handed him a 20dkk coin; he laughed and gave me my change. That was probably the hardest part of my day too though. I hate admitting that I can't speak Danish, so I basically tried very hard not to talk to anybody instead of asking in English. I then had to go back and buy a drink afterwards though, so I just asked for a chocolate milk (15dkk) in English that time.
Of course, I get thrown off by the fact that everything less than 100dkk bill (about $20) is represented in coins. So it wasn't until after I ate everything and was walking back home that I calculated that the drink cost me $3 and the pastry was about $4.50!! Oops, I need to remember that coins are worth a lot too!
Then, I wandered back to the house and loaded the pics onto my computer. =) Poor Malthe came home from Anna's and wasn't feeling well, so he crashed on the couch for a few hours. He felt a lot better when he woke up and got dressed to go to his halloween party with the rest of the family. They're supposed to be back around 5ish and Amalie is coming back from her friend's around 4ish, I think. So I'm home alone with Mocca right now. I might take her for a walk in a little bit to take more pictures and time how long it'll take me to walk to school tomorrow morning. WHEEEE!!
Pictures (edited):
I'm too lazy to figure out how to put the pics individually in here, so I'll just send you to my flickr site to look at them! I'll try to keep that updated too with labels of what I'm doing and such. http://www.flickr.com/photos/abby6384/
Today (so far):
I got up a little late this morning (about 9:30am) and went over to a big flea market with Bettina and Jan before they had to get the kids. I finally got to pay for something!! It was just the entrance fees (about $6 each), but it's a start. =)
They walked around for a little while with me, but I finally convinced them that they could go on ahead since I was going so slowly. I had to look at everything and calculate prices and admire!
Bettina had to leave to get the kids at about 11am, but Jan stayed there for another 40 min. or so. He translated a few things for me and helped me find out if a necklace had nickel in it or not (I'm allergic and break out if I wear anything with it). It didn't and so I bought it for about $10! It's really pretty... silver-ish metal with some green stones and a small dragonfly charm attached to the bigger metal design. I'll get a picture up ASAP to show because it's hard to describe.
I didn't have too hard of a time buying things on my own too though. I asked a few questions in English and people were kind enough to overlook that I'm a dumb American and can't speak Danish. =) I still felt really awkward though. It's definitely uncomfortable going to another country and asking people to concede to using my language instead. BLAH.
Anyways, I also bought a pair of really comfortable lambwool slippers too!! The lady asked me my size and I said I didn't know because I'm from America [and we have to go and be special instead of using European sizes]. I looked inside my shoe though and found that I'm wearing a size 41.5, so suggested trying a 42. She said that it couldn't be that big, but then agreed once she held my shoe. She had me try a 41 and then found out that I was right with a 42. hehehe. She tried to make me feel better by saying the slippers ran small, but I told her I already know I have big feet and it's okay. Those cost about $30 and I don't think I'm ever going to take them off again!! Who needs to see the city when I can stay home and wear these warm slippers?!! =)
But then came the highlight of the day.... I bought a true Danish pastry. I think it had chocolate and bananas on top and it was absolutely delicious!!! The poor teenage guy selling them was trying to ask me things in Danish and I just completely froze up and stared at him blankly. He then spoke to me in English, very slowly saying "Sev-en-teen." I smiled my gratitude and handed him a 20dkk coin; he laughed and gave me my change. That was probably the hardest part of my day too though. I hate admitting that I can't speak Danish, so I basically tried very hard not to talk to anybody instead of asking in English. I then had to go back and buy a drink afterwards though, so I just asked for a chocolate milk (15dkk) in English that time.
Of course, I get thrown off by the fact that everything less than 100dkk bill (about $20) is represented in coins. So it wasn't until after I ate everything and was walking back home that I calculated that the drink cost me $3 and the pastry was about $4.50!! Oops, I need to remember that coins are worth a lot too!
Then, I wandered back to the house and loaded the pics onto my computer. =) Poor Malthe came home from Anna's and wasn't feeling well, so he crashed on the couch for a few hours. He felt a lot better when he woke up and got dressed to go to his halloween party with the rest of the family. They're supposed to be back around 5ish and Amalie is coming back from her friend's around 4ish, I think. So I'm home alone with Mocca right now. I might take her for a walk in a little bit to take more pictures and time how long it'll take me to walk to school tomorrow morning. WHEEEE!!
Pictures (edited):
I'm too lazy to figure out how to put the pics individually in here, so I'll just send you to my flickr site to look at them! I'll try to keep that updated too with labels of what I'm doing and such. http://www.flickr.com/photos/abby6384/
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