sunny day explorations.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I hope this entry finds you all doing well. The sun has started to show its face in Copenhagen more and more each day, and I can't even tell you how much everyone's mood changes right along with it. More smiles from people on the street, on the train, and even a fist pump from a guy as he passed the gym window where I was running on the treadmill.  Just a small smile or interchange like that leaves me quite giddy.

And speaking of smiling Danes..

On thursday at my practicum site, we spent most of the day outside. This is Bobby and Anders, cooking the last bit of the meal. First they cooked cut up bits of potatoes, and sausages, and ended with an egg to top it off. It had a Danish name that I asked my host parents about and then promptly forgot again. You can eat it with ketchup, fried onions and slices of beets. The kids all had red rings around their mouths from the beets. It was ten kinds of adorable.

It was so wonderful to be spending all this time outdoors, and I made a new friend named Celia. I try to spread myself around and get to know all the kids equally, but Celia won me over pretty hard. We'd been playing for a while, chasing each other around and counting to ten in each others languages. She went back upstairs to the kindergarden and I was confused about why she left, though she'd tried to tell me something. After asking one of the pedagogs what she'd said, they told me that she was getting a drink. A few seconds later from the balcony, Celia yelled down to the entire playground, "MIN VEN!!!" This means, "my friend!"She threw open her arms and smiled, and then ran back down to me to play. My heart is pretty sufficiently stolen by Cielia.

After a tiring but nonetheless fun day at Saxogarden school, I went back to Copenhagen. I sat on a bench here, looking out on Strøget and enjoyed the sun and peaceful breeze. 

I walked back to the Kobenhavn H station to go home, and passed a church that I see everyday on my way to class. I think it is just beautiful.

Yogurt and Muesli. Nothing more pleasing to the eyes on a sunny Saturday morning. 

With my host family away this weekend, I had the house all to myself.  They are on a trip looking at a puppy they might be getting Easter weekend! I try not to push too hard on the matter, but I would be in HEAVEN if they did get it. I feel like once you see a puppy that could be yours, there's no turning back.

Took this on the trail of Christiana, the little anarchist hippie society within Copenhagen. After a day of trekking around town and showing my favorite parts of Copenhagen to Elliot, Emma, and Sarah, three kids visiting from Germany (the first two are Knoxies), it was so nice to take a load off, enjoy the playful activities of the ducks, and listen to the birds chirping happily.

Emma, Elliot, and Sarah, lookin' good in front of the Christiana sign.

And after we sufficiently froze, as the temperatures dipped once the sun went down, I got to retreat home to my cozy residence in Hedehusene. With the family gone, I made myself a grilled cheese with tomatoes.

The special mustard they've got was the icing on the cake. Had a nice little dinner to myself, and even though I told my family I'd be having a huge raging party while they were gone, I did the next best thing. Fell asleep on the couch and woke up ten hours later.

you don't know what you've got 'til its gone.

To this title. 

Of course it applies to the tempurapedic mattress that awaits me in brookfield, illinois, while I sleep on a futon in the meanwhile. Of course it applies to a cup of coffee that costs less than five dollars. Of course it applies to the phone that somehow disappeared this weekend after a visit to the circus with my host family. Of course it applies to the amazing, loving, supportive family and friends that I love dearly and am so incredibly lucky to have in my life.

But at this moment, it applies first and foremost to this.

a beautiful thing.

I'd never realized how utterly wonderful this magical substance was, until I was in no position to eat it anymore.  Hearing about other people's studying abroad experiences I remember thinking something like, 'yeah.. I don't even really care about that stuff. Four months without it? Whatever, I doubt I'll even notice.'

But after my host dad brought home a small jar of organic "peanut butter" from the store a few weeks ago, I eyed it suspiciously but then took one bite of it. 

This is what it tasted like.

+

+

+

Basically, I've decided that peanut butter might just be alright.  I just ate a half of a peanut butter sandwich and after a long day of various pittering around here and there, this beautiful half sandwich erased my tiredness and replaced it with sparkles. But it leaves some lingering questions. Why have the Danes not adapted? Peanut butter, reeses? Its unfathomable to me, but no one seems to be a fan. 

After talking with my host parents about it the other day, their reasons seem to be unfortunately valid. My host mom said that the taste was alright, but it was just too sticky. I told her that's why you need a cold glass of milk to wash it down with! In the same instant, they both stuck out their tongues and looked just the teensiest bit grossed out. 

I'm sorry this blog entry came with no real continuation of what I promised. 

I'm sorry there was no grand life realization included.

But I hope, the next time you eat this delicious meal, smile. And realize just how lucky you are.

It is nine ten p.m. as I sit upstairs in the library, alone and content. There's something peaceful about being surrounded by bookshelves and magazine racks, and knowing you're the only one around to affirm their existence. You feel like you're in a secret world. But of course, the job I have at the library here in no way compares to the family I've got in the educational studies suite 301 back in Galesburg. Miss you guys! The supervisor here does not take me to zumba. Such a poor thing, right?

London was absolutely wonderful. I felt as if one of my senses had been reopened, and I was no longer blind to a good portion of the world around me. I could understand the train conductor's announcements on the tube, I could read the menus at restaurants, I could understand and talk to the children at the schools without any difficulty. Quick tangent though, I've been loving my time at the practicum site here in Denmark. Today was the first day in two weeks that we went, and every time I'm nervous that it will finally fall through and the kids will get tired of trying to work with someone who doesn't speak their language and seems to be clueless about everything they're saying. But every week they are just as ticklish and love to be chased around the playground just as much as the week before. I'm appreciating the value of 'play' so much more than I ever have before. I feel like even I learn things about the grand scheme of social behavior from simply playing with them, and I see how important it is for the children to have a realm of their lives where they are in complete control. And besides all this, its a chance for me to be a part of something where they can appoint me a role and I can show them that I am indeed a competent person. Check it out, I CAN shovel up that sand pile you're pointing to, and I CAN help you with the creation of this sand cake that I don't completely understand. But hey Kristin, its your decision to dump more sand onto the pine needles you so artfully placed on top. And then you know what else? I CAN run away and have all of you ride after me on bikes, and then I CAN rough house and tickle you guys on the pillow pile when we get inside! Needless to say, Thursdays are good days.

And now back to London. The days were jam-packed with tours around the city. One of the first nights we rode on the London Eye, a huge ferris wheel that looks out on the London skyline. It was so beautiful at night, and gave you the opportunity to see just how HUGE London really is. Since I'm not on my computer I don't have any of my own pictures, but here's a couple shots of the eye.

 

And the next few days were spent going to see schools full of motivated teachers and well funded schools. A lot of what I see here makes me really jealous, since us Americans can only dream of the facilities and supplies that some of these public schools have at their disposal.


Ok, I've got to end this entry abruptly because I need to catch my train home. I will finish it later, vi ses!

Packing for London.

And just wanted to check in and let you all know I am still alive and doing well.  Its about 10:40 in evening right now, and tomorrow morning at 6:30 my host dad will be driving me to the airport where I will be meeting up with my child development class and going on a week long study tour to London! I'm so excited. I've heard from my camp eagle ridge friend Brownie that there is something called a sweet potato falafel wrap that is available around London, and my mind exploded when I heard this. Two of my favorite foods together in one wrap?! Oh yeah, and Big Ben, seeing a performance at some big time theater blah blah. But anyway... SWEET POTATO + FALAFEL = mind blown.

Tonight I made dinner for the family, and I didn't realize how wonderful it would taste to eat something familiar. I made chicken and dumplings, my favorite dish that my mom makes back home. Of course it wasn't as good as hers and the dumplings were a little bit flat, but all the love was there and I think that's what matters. Lennart even said it was good, which left me beaming because Lennart doesn't seem to like most anything. Not cheese, not most sweets, but he loves bagels. I was flattered that he ate it, and even said, "its good!" in English to me. He told me the chicken was really good, but could use a little salt. I'll remember that. After dinner as we sat around drinking some wine that Jan got out, Anne Marie said she was waiting for the casseroles that she sees all the time in America movies when a tragedy happens. "Just something different," she called it. This made me laugh. A casserole? Something different? I guess its all relative.

Things have been going really well here. Last weekend me and Abigail met a genuine pirate man. He had a gold tooth. His friends and even some strangers all knew him as "the captain." When one of his friends tried to remember his real name when I asked, he suddenly remembered and said, "David!" He got a slap from the captain.

This week I went to the botanical gardens in Copenhagen with Rachel, a very sød (sweet) girl from Knox. So while I'm being lazy right now and don't want to go into an extensive entry, I'm going to show you some pictures instead that will hopefully warm up your day. Except for the lucky ones Paraguay not currently suffering from some form of S.A.D.

It was WARM inside the place we went to. And it smelled like a heavenly mixture of fresh soil and light flower fragrances. I wish I could somehow capture these smells and share them with you, because they they were heavenly. I know, the smell of dirt, heavenly? But don't knock it til you try it.

 And just for kicks, I thought I'd share what a commute home looks like.

This is on the upper level of one of my usual trains home. I remember thinking, hm, this one has single seats? Hm, everyone looks really well dressed and is being quiet? And then the lady came to check my ticket and made me leave because I had accidentally sat down in business class. Oops.

my mittens! thanks aunt sue, for giving me the gift of warm hands.

And here is the picture I will leave you with. If I'm contacting you via internet, this is most likely where I'm sitting. WOW right?! You're so glad you're being enlightened by this blog entry. I know I know.

Ok ok last ones for real now. These are other people's pictures from the short study tour we took to Western Denmark a while ago, but I just wanted to show Aunt Sue how much I've been appreciating the warm jacket and mittens she got me before I left.

Its like they magically turn me into a model/ movie star, am I right?!