I må undskylder mig, hvis I ikke kan dansk. Jeg kunne godt tænke om at skrive på dansk idag, men frygt ikke, i fremtiden skal jeg skrive kun på engelsk her, og på dansk her (www.adaftpaadansk.blogspot.com).
I går var noget helt specielt i Danmark--vi holdt det første folktingetsvalg siden 2007. Selvfølgelig kunne jeg ikke stemme (fordi jeg har boet i Danmark i kun et år) men det var alligevel meget spændende.
Måske ved I ikke, at Danmark havde 9 partier i valget. Selv om de fleste står meget mere til venstre end nogle Amerikansk politiker, siger vi her at der er to bloke, rød og blå.
Rød er dem til venstre:
Socialistdemokratiet
De Radikale Venstre
Socialistisk Folkeparti
Enhedslisten
Blå er dem, der står til højre:
Venstre (er det ikke sjov?)
De Konservative
Danske Folkeparti
Liberal Alliance (det lyder også sjov til os, men faktisk er de ligesom Libertarians)
Kristendemokraterne
Jeg er herreglad at fortale jer, at nu har vi fået et nyt folketing i Danmark! Vi er lige skiftet til rød igen!
Kan I gætte, hvem jeg skulle have stemmt for, hvis jeg kunne stemme? Kig ned for svaren!
Selv om Socialdemokraterne fik ikke så mange stemmer som Venstre, deres blok var stadig de største. Derfor fik vi her i Danmark vores første kvindelige statsminister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Hun arbejder ved Socialdemokratiet, men alle andre røde partier sagde, at de skulle peger for hende som statsministeren.
Jeg interesserede mig for at se, at de fleste engelsk aviserne skrev så meget om "Første Kvindelige Statsminister!" Det er interessant, men det er meget vigtiger, at vi har skiftet blokene, synes jeg. Men måske er det noget amerikaner kan ikke forstå-- da jeg læste New York Times idag, så jeg at de beskrev Dansk Folkeparti som "Danmark's tredje-storste blok." Det passer ikke; der er kun to.
Men da jeg læste overskrifterne, spekulerede jeg om hvad udlændinge tror om vores amerikansk politik. Da vi valgte op Obama i 2008, tænkte andre lander mere om hans hudfarve, eller om hans politik? Jeg tror, det var hans politik, men måske ikke.
Endelig vil jeg også sige, HAHAHAHAHA Pia Kjærsgaard! Hun regnede med at få 25 mandate, men faktisk fik hun kun 22! (Og det er stadigvæk for meget). Selvfølgelig er jeg også super-lykkelig, at Dansk Folkeparti er lidt faldet i magt.
Så der var et småt tip, om hvem jeg ville stemme for... ikke Dansk Folkeparti!
OK, om I har gættet eller ikke, svaren er...
Socialdemokratiet! Hurra!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Just Under the Wire
Today my new Danish teacher said to me,
"You have very good pronunciation for an American!"
I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not.
PS--Don't worry, dearest readers, we'll be back in September (tomorrow!) with fascinating reports of our recent escapades. And if you've missed us, well, just remember that as the Daring Duo, it's our job to go off adventuring!
"You have very good pronunciation for an American!"
I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not.
PS--Don't worry, dearest readers, we'll be back in September (tomorrow!) with fascinating reports of our recent escapades. And if you've missed us, well, just remember that as the Daring Duo, it's our job to go off adventuring!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Til dem i Norge...
I've never been to Norway, but already all the Scandinavian people feel like my countrymen. So I was distressed to hear of the events in Oslo and Utoya. I've been thinking about this all week, not sure whether to write about it on the blog or not.
Today I saw the letter our Danish Queen Margrethe sent to King Harald of Norway, and her words were perfect. She says,
"Vi sender... hele det norske folk vore inderligste tanker og medfølelser."
And we do too, B and me, we send all the Norwegian people our deepest thoughts and sympathies.
Today I saw the letter our Danish Queen Margrethe sent to King Harald of Norway, and her words were perfect. She says,
"Vi sender... hele det norske folk vore inderligste tanker og medfølelser."
And we do too, B and me, we send all the Norwegian people our deepest thoughts and sympathies.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Lovely London
I have really been dropping the ball on my blogging duties lately, I'm sorry to say. But, better late than never!
Last month, E and I took a spur-of-the-moment, quick trip to London! Plane tickets are cheap, and our friend J (who recently moved to London) had offered to host us, so we grabbed the opportunity. Now, when I say that plane tickets are cheap, it's important to realize just how cheap we are talking. I don't remember the final total (do you, E?), but I do remember that the ticket price for the return trip was 5 dkk (that's about $0.95). There are fees and stuff on top of that, of course, but still!
We had a really nice trip. We hadn't seen J in a while, and it was great to catch up with him a bit. Plus, we got some good game-playing and Indian-food-eating in. We also saw some sights! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.
Our first trip out exploring. There are some famous buildings in the background.
Outside the Natural History Museum
The main hall at the Natural History Museum. Pretty cool.
E works on deciphering the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum
From the British Museum - one of the (maybe the?) oldest known board games! Awesome. It looks like an early prototype of Settlers! (not really)
We rode in the London Eye! It was pretty awesome, and a very fun thing to do on our last evening. Picture-wise it didn't turn out so well because it was raining. But, I do kind of like this one.
Last month, E and I took a spur-of-the-moment, quick trip to London! Plane tickets are cheap, and our friend J (who recently moved to London) had offered to host us, so we grabbed the opportunity. Now, when I say that plane tickets are cheap, it's important to realize just how cheap we are talking. I don't remember the final total (do you, E?), but I do remember that the ticket price for the return trip was 5 dkk (that's about $0.95). There are fees and stuff on top of that, of course, but still!
We had a really nice trip. We hadn't seen J in a while, and it was great to catch up with him a bit. Plus, we got some good game-playing and Indian-food-eating in. We also saw some sights! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.
Our first trip out exploring. There are some famous buildings in the background.
Outside the Natural History Museum
The main hall at the Natural History Museum. Pretty cool.
E works on deciphering the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum
From the British Museum - one of the (maybe the?) oldest known board games! Awesome. It looks like an early prototype of Settlers! (not really)
We rode in the London Eye! It was pretty awesome, and a very fun thing to do on our last evening. Picture-wise it didn't turn out so well because it was raining. But, I do kind of like this one.
Friday, July 8, 2011
All Downhill Sledding From Here!
I'm exceedingly late posting this, I know. But it's exciting enough to post even if it's super late.
We're halfway through! B has actually been living and working in Denmark for a full calendar year! Happy one year Dane-iversary, Dr. B!
(I'm not sure what sort of tone you should imagine me saying this in. Sometimes it's awe and admiration at ourselves for doing this huge adventure. Sometimes it's sheer relief at the thought of one day living with people who speak our native tongue, natively. And sometimes it's more of a "no way! I'm not ready to only have one year left!" Maybe the thing to do is to read this post today, tomorrow, and again next week, and just try out all those different interpretations.)
And, possibly just as exciting, we had the longest day of the year. It was June 21st, and we had 19 hours and 50 minutes of daylight. That's a lot of daylight! We celebrated by going down to Sculpture by the Sea again and eating falafel at the beach late at night. I've never had such a long day in my entire life.
That was really fun, but B is a little bit sad since now all the days are getting shorter. I'm reassuring him that we still have lots of daylight--19 hours and 21 minutes today-- but he's right, it's a downward trend. In fact, that's probably the best way to interpret the one-year mark, too. I'm excited we made it this far, but just a little sad. I'm looking at how there's still a lotof time, but every day that time gets a little bit shorter.
We're halfway through! B has actually been living and working in Denmark for a full calendar year! Happy one year Dane-iversary, Dr. B!
(I'm not sure what sort of tone you should imagine me saying this in. Sometimes it's awe and admiration at ourselves for doing this huge adventure. Sometimes it's sheer relief at the thought of one day living with people who speak our native tongue, natively. And sometimes it's more of a "no way! I'm not ready to only have one year left!" Maybe the thing to do is to read this post today, tomorrow, and again next week, and just try out all those different interpretations.)
And, possibly just as exciting, we had the longest day of the year. It was June 21st, and we had 19 hours and 50 minutes of daylight. That's a lot of daylight! We celebrated by going down to Sculpture by the Sea again and eating falafel at the beach late at night. I've never had such a long day in my entire life.
That was really fun, but B is a little bit sad since now all the days are getting shorter. I'm reassuring him that we still have lots of daylight--19 hours and 21 minutes today-- but he's right, it's a downward trend. In fact, that's probably the best way to interpret the one-year mark, too. I'm excited we made it this far, but just a little sad. I'm looking at how there's still a lotof time, but every day that time gets a little bit shorter.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Blog Backlog
It's summer in Denmark! One of the things that means this year is the "Sculpture by the Sea" exhibit, in which the art museum sets up a bunch of sculptures (you guessed it) by the sea. And in the forest, but I guess that doesn't sound as good.
Anyway, it was really cool! We got great weather, there were tons of people out and in a good mood, and we saw some interesting/cool/weird/neat sculpture. Here are some pictures:
We still like inside art too, though. We like it even more, now that Your Rainbow Panorama has opened on the top of our art museum (Aros). We've been watching them build it all year from our back window and we finally got to go up in it! More pictures to come later.
(This is the museum's picture of it)
Anyway, it was really cool! We got great weather, there were tons of people out and in a good mood, and we saw some interesting/cool/weird/neat sculpture. Here are some pictures:
We still like inside art too, though. We like it even more, now that Your Rainbow Panorama has opened on the top of our art museum (Aros). We've been watching them build it all year from our back window and we finally got to go up in it! More pictures to come later.
(This is the museum's picture of it)Friday, June 10, 2011
In-Wanderer Woes
For the most part, Danes are pleasant and cheerful people who love efficiency. But there's a small faction who are unhelpful, grim of nature, and alarmingly indolent. Unluckily for us, 100% of those Danes work for the National Immigration Service.
B and I were originally issued permits to live and work in Denmark for one year, beginning on June 1, 2010--which was when B's contract with the University started. B actually got it in the mail in April 2010. I didn't get mine until October 2010, after multiple tearful visits to the police station, which houses the local immigration office.
Even though my permit didn't arrive until October, it still expired on June 1, 2011. So like dutiful Danes-in-training, B and I filled out all the requisite paperwork, paid the requisite fees, and trooped down to the police station again on May 23rd. There a joyless but well-meaning employee suggested to us that we also apply for Rejsetilbagetilladelser, or re-entry permits, in case we chose to leave the country for travel while waiting for our new permits. This seemed like a great idea, since not only do we plan to travel, but who knew how long we'd be waiting for? She had us fill out some additional forms, then instructed us to come back if we didn't get permits in the mail within two weeks.
Guess what didn't come in the mail?
So I made another trip to the police station. A different and even more joyless worker--although perhaps good-hearted, since she listened very carefully to my fledgling Danish-- explained that the forms had all been sent to Copenhagen, that she had no idea why we didn't have any permits yet, and that all she could do was give me the phone number of the Copenhagen office and have me call myself.
On Tuesday I called eight times. Every single time a recording told me that there were too many callers; all the lines were busy; and I would have to try again later. Then I was promptly disconnected--eight times.
On Wednesday morning, I somehow managed to call in time to be number 12 in the queue. Finally I spoke to a woman who informed me that while she had our residence permit applications, she did not have any record of our re-entry permit applications. She also said that re-entry permits are never mailed; they must be picked up in person, and why would any (inept?) person tell me otherwise? Then she said I hadn't called the right office anyway, and she transferred me to a different one.
At this point I encountered the first nice person at the Danish Immigration Service. This fine gentleman explained that I had been given the wrong case ID number (by an inept employee?) and that, true, there was no record of our re-entry permit applications in Copenhagen. An (possibly inept?) employee had failed to ever send those on. Hearing my desperation--we have to go to London on Monday! And we have no permits!--he devised a solution. If B and I could just get down to the police station with our passports and Danish identity cards, we could give the local employee his personal and direct phone number. He was authorized to give verbal permission over the phone, and with the proper identification, we could get the stamps right in our passports, right then. I thanked him profusely.
This was 11:15 AM. The police station would close at noon. I called B, grabbed the passports, and we sprinted over to the office. There we took a number and waited in the queue. When we were admitted in to speak to joyless woman #1, she listened to our whole story and then said no. No, local employees were not allowed to call the Copenhagen office during business hours. It was not the policy. I pleaded, citing all the effort I had gone to trying to get these permits. To which she replied,
"Well, you were on hold for 45 minutes. Imagine if we called and had to wait on hold for 45 minutes for each person who came here. How would we ever get any work done?"
I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that our local--meaning it serves the second-largest city in Denmark--immigration office is open 4 days a week, from 9 AM until noon.
B glowered. I tried not to cry again. He pleaded with her some more.
In the end, she agreed to try calling this man in Copenhagen after the office closed for the day. Then, if she got through and got permission before 2 PM, she would call us. If one of us could come back to the office, in person, before 2 PM, we could have the permit.
Unlikely as it all sounds, it worked. Somewhere around 1:15 PM, we got the call and I hustled right back down to the police station. I had to ring the bell twice, but I got the permits.
I think it was my worst Danish experience yet, although it's competing with my previous unpleasant visits to the local immigration office.
Maybe I should cut the Danes some slack, though. Before 1983, Denmark had less than 600 immigrants each year. Nobody wanted to go there. So they're not too experienced with the whole situation. In fact, the Danish word for "immigrant" is "indvandrer," or in-wanderer, which I think describes the whole situation very well. In-wanderers--they weren't trying to get here, it just sort of happened, probably by mistake.
B and I were originally issued permits to live and work in Denmark for one year, beginning on June 1, 2010--which was when B's contract with the University started. B actually got it in the mail in April 2010. I didn't get mine until October 2010, after multiple tearful visits to the police station, which houses the local immigration office.
Even though my permit didn't arrive until October, it still expired on June 1, 2011. So like dutiful Danes-in-training, B and I filled out all the requisite paperwork, paid the requisite fees, and trooped down to the police station again on May 23rd. There a joyless but well-meaning employee suggested to us that we also apply for Rejsetilbagetilladelser, or re-entry permits, in case we chose to leave the country for travel while waiting for our new permits. This seemed like a great idea, since not only do we plan to travel, but who knew how long we'd be waiting for? She had us fill out some additional forms, then instructed us to come back if we didn't get permits in the mail within two weeks.
Guess what didn't come in the mail?
So I made another trip to the police station. A different and even more joyless worker--although perhaps good-hearted, since she listened very carefully to my fledgling Danish-- explained that the forms had all been sent to Copenhagen, that she had no idea why we didn't have any permits yet, and that all she could do was give me the phone number of the Copenhagen office and have me call myself.
On Tuesday I called eight times. Every single time a recording told me that there were too many callers; all the lines were busy; and I would have to try again later. Then I was promptly disconnected--eight times.
On Wednesday morning, I somehow managed to call in time to be number 12 in the queue. Finally I spoke to a woman who informed me that while she had our residence permit applications, she did not have any record of our re-entry permit applications. She also said that re-entry permits are never mailed; they must be picked up in person, and why would any (inept?) person tell me otherwise? Then she said I hadn't called the right office anyway, and she transferred me to a different one.
At this point I encountered the first nice person at the Danish Immigration Service. This fine gentleman explained that I had been given the wrong case ID number (by an inept employee?) and that, true, there was no record of our re-entry permit applications in Copenhagen. An (possibly inept?) employee had failed to ever send those on. Hearing my desperation--we have to go to London on Monday! And we have no permits!--he devised a solution. If B and I could just get down to the police station with our passports and Danish identity cards, we could give the local employee his personal and direct phone number. He was authorized to give verbal permission over the phone, and with the proper identification, we could get the stamps right in our passports, right then. I thanked him profusely.
This was 11:15 AM. The police station would close at noon. I called B, grabbed the passports, and we sprinted over to the office. There we took a number and waited in the queue. When we were admitted in to speak to joyless woman #1, she listened to our whole story and then said no. No, local employees were not allowed to call the Copenhagen office during business hours. It was not the policy. I pleaded, citing all the effort I had gone to trying to get these permits. To which she replied,
"Well, you were on hold for 45 minutes. Imagine if we called and had to wait on hold for 45 minutes for each person who came here. How would we ever get any work done?"
I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that our local--meaning it serves the second-largest city in Denmark--immigration office is open 4 days a week, from 9 AM until noon.
B glowered. I tried not to cry again. He pleaded with her some more.
In the end, she agreed to try calling this man in Copenhagen after the office closed for the day. Then, if she got through and got permission before 2 PM, she would call us. If one of us could come back to the office, in person, before 2 PM, we could have the permit.
Unlikely as it all sounds, it worked. Somewhere around 1:15 PM, we got the call and I hustled right back down to the police station. I had to ring the bell twice, but I got the permits.
I think it was my worst Danish experience yet, although it's competing with my previous unpleasant visits to the local immigration office.
Maybe I should cut the Danes some slack, though. Before 1983, Denmark had less than 600 immigrants each year. Nobody wanted to go there. So they're not too experienced with the whole situation. In fact, the Danish word for "immigrant" is "indvandrer," or in-wanderer, which I think describes the whole situation very well. In-wanderers--they weren't trying to get here, it just sort of happened, probably by mistake.
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