A Slideshow From the CES Christmas Party

Here is a slideshow made by one of the CES Senior missionaries of pictures from the Christmas party.

Long Time No Write (My Bad...)

So it has been a long time. An unacceptably long time. I apologize...

First and foremost: I have been receiving complaints from certain persons who have been unable to view my photos from the slideshows (you know who you are), so instead, I provided the links (top left) for my photo albums on facebook. You don't have to have facebook to see them, just click the links, then click the thumbnails to see larger pictures. Once you are looking at a larger picture you can just keep clicking the picture to move through the album that way. There are over a hundred total that I just put up...

SO! Life is going great. Which is why I haven't had the time/inclination to write about it. Sorry about that. But everything has been absotively, posolutely, fantabulous! Especially since I have made new friends...



Ok, so...update! Where to start. Well, the weather has been kinda crazy. It isn't really all that cold as far as the temperature, but there is a lot of moisture in the air and also a lot of wind, so it feels colder than it is. But the main thing that is weird for me is the fact that there is not much sunlight...only from about 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM. Most days it is completely overcast and raining even when the sun has supposedly come out. By law you always have to drive with your lights on here, even during the day. So...there's not a lot of sunlight. It's a weird feeling. At first I nicknamed Copenhagen Emerald City because of all the green rooftops, but now it reminds me more of the Twilight Zone. Constant twilight...that's what it feels like sometimes. I have been a little sickly too because of it all...it seems the climate in South America suited me just fine, but not so much in Denmark.

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful...the original plan was to go to the taco shop for Thanksgiving dinner since mexican food is apparently "sort of american," haha...but I was sick that day so instead Morten brought me pumpkin bread (there is no pumpkin pie to be found around here) and we watched a Harry Potter movie. Not exactly a typical American Thanksgiving, but still a good one.

Christmas in Denmark seems to be an even bigger deal than in the States! It's fun to learn about all the traditions they have here connected with Christmas. For instance, the children get individual little presents for each day of December up until Christmas, which they receive at breakfast time each morning. Advent calendars are very popular (where you open a little door for each day until christmas, with chocolate or a little picture behind it); also advent candles (the days are numbered down the candle and you burn the candle that much each day). People make their own christmas sweets here with big rolls of marzipan, chocolate, and nougat that you can buy at any grocery store. MMMMMM marzipan.....there are also christmas lights and decorations up in the streets pretty much everywhere, making bus rides lots of fun.

So the weather hasn't exactly been conducive to a lot of sightseeing or traveling. Not too much to tell on that subject I'm afraid. But a few weeks ago I did get a chance to have a day of sightseeing around town, with a native Dane for my own personal tour guide! We went to the Round Tower which was built a long time ago for stargazing and offers great views of the city at the top. Also the little mermaid statue, the Queen's palace, and NyHavn which is the picturesque spot you see a million pictures of if you goodle Copenhagen (see the first picture of this post, above).

I miss you guys a lot! I miss the sunlight at home. But life here has been really good! More later...

London/Barcelona

So it has taken me a reeeeally long time to write in here.....I seem to have a lot less spare time floating around these days than I thought I would. There is lots to catch you up on just with normal life in Denmark, but that will have to wait because right now I want to tell you about my trip to London and Barcelona last week!

It was truly divine. I liked them both even more than I thought I would...which was quite a lot to begin with. Ok so I'll start with London.

Leaving Copenhagen early saturday morning, we flew through Malmo in Sweden (cheap tickets) in London! After several hours on the plane and buses, we were let off right accross the street from the London Beatles store on Baker's Street, which immediately caught my eye of course, so we immediately went in and asked for directions to Abbey Road, which we knew was close by. The smirking store clerk gave us directions and following them we found ourselves at the very place! I couldn't stop grinning and I'm sure it was pretty annoying. The mixture of truly being in London for the first time and being on the way to a place of so much importance to my childhood whimsies, was just too much to handle without grinning like an idiot. We took lots of pictures of course, much to the chagrin/amusement of the cars trying to pass by at the time. We didn't feel too bad though because over the space of about 15 minutes we saw 4 or 5 larger groups of tourists also passing by and doing exactly the same thing.

After that we hitched a ride on the tube (being sure to mind the gap) on our way to Notting Hill, also fairly close by. On the way we stumbled upon Portabello Road, a crowded market full of "anything and everything a chap can unload"....yes I was singing the song the whole time. Notting Hill was a beautiful part of town, where I could have sworn that I saw Hugh Grant stepping out of several different doorways.

This is where we kind of went into hyperdrive mode and everything gets a little blurry. So from here I will just list a few more of the high points in no particular order...: Kensington Park/Palace where (apparently) Princess Diana lived; Buckingham Palace (where Jen fell out of favor with some unfortunate birds who happened to be in a tree directly above her head...); King's Cross Station, where we found a special platform marked "9 3/4" with a cart stuck in the wall under it; the Big Ben of course (both by night and by day); also Westminster Abbey where we attended Evensong and got in for free (you have to pay otherwise), we unfortunately couldn't find Chaucer's tomb though I'm told it's in there somewhere. The inside of the Abbey was BEAUTIFUL and the choir was made of men and fidgety little boys who reminded me strikingly of Nathan (my brother). We also attended Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral, consequently seeing that for free as well, and though it was beautiful as well, I liked Westminster Abbey more. We saw Trafalger Square at night where we briefly made friend with two (slightly drunk?) Welshmen who took pictures for us, and also went to Trafalger Square by day and found out why the National Gallery is free (it's incredibly boring). We did find some more interesting museums for free though, especially the Museum of Natural History (they have an awesome lifesized robot T-Rex), and the Albert and Victoria Museum which is full of pretty much anything history and art related under the sun, and if we had been really ambitious museum goers, we would have had an excellent several hours there (hyperdrive mode only allowed for about half an hour). The buildings for these museums were something to behold in and of themselves, and Kensington itself, which is the area of town where we found the museums, is a great spot close to Hyde Park, with a the "Imperial College" close by (I found myself jealous of the students) and also the Albert Hall which I dragged Jen to so that I could take a picture and tell fellow Beatles fans that I had been there. Hyde Park was neat too. I found out after we had walked all through it that it's the spot where President Hinckley preached on a soapbox during his mission. It was also neat to watch the mixture of people there, both the hip hoppers and the roller bladers and a fascinating mix thereof, as well as the hoity toity looking crews with their fancy little tables on the other side of the water.

Ok I'm just stopping to catch my breath for a minute....no, that's not all we saw in London. That's about half. Yes we're crazy and I have no idea how we fit it all in.

SO...continuing. We saw the Tower of London both by day and by night, and I'll have to say I did like it better by night because the lights are GORGEOUS...but after about 10 attempts to get a good picture of it I gave up (something about London at night didn't agree with my camera) so you can't see it, sorry. We had a little confusion about the London Bridge and the Tower bridge, because apparently they aren't the same thing. The actual London bridge is pretty nondescript, and I'm not sure which bridge the song (falling down, falling down, falling down....) actually refers to. The Tower of London itself was also really neat. It's a fascinating structure that started being built in very early medieval times and continued being built upon and changed for hundreds of years. I wanted to go inside but it was horrendously expensive so I didn't.

We also toured Camden market which I liked very much, though it was on a Monday so a lot of the shops were closed, though I still managed to get an amazing deal on some hippie skirts. We also had a fun time exploring Picadilly Circus, Chinatown (which we just happened upon as well), the West End, and lots of other old churches/buildings/etc that I don't remember the names of. Oh and on our last day there we had kind of a wild goose chase experience trying to find Shakespeare's Globe Theater. It seemed odd that nobody we asked even knew where it was, but when we finally found it, we knew why: it was pretty boring. Just the round building trying to look like the original, which burned down. The most interesting part was when Jen ducked under the red tape to go into the courtyard, and very convincingly played dumb when she was told by the bemused guard guy that she wasn't supposed to be back there.

I really enjoyed London. I kind of didn't expect to, after the bad experience in the airports, but I loved it. Like really really loved it. I loved the "melting pot" aspect the most. You hear so many different languages on the street and see so many different looking people, that nobody is really "different" because everyone is. It's really interesting to be in that atmosphere. And also maybe it's just that England is in my heritage and I can't get away from that. Besides the ancestry, so many things that I have grown up with or grown to love are there. Music groups, authors and books, movies....it's like everywhere I turned there was something of importance to me that reminded me of something else.

I was actually pretty sad to get on the bus and leave for the airport. I'll have to go back sometime.

We won't talk about the night in the airport, though.....not much to say about that except...UGH. Moving on.

Barcelona. Beautiful, wonderful, Barcelona. It was definitely all that I hoped for and more. We had a little mishap finding the Hostel when we first got there (no doubt due to extreme lack of sleep), but when we got there the hostel was so nice that we didn't want to leave again! The sweetest, cutest people worked there, and the hostel itself was sooo cute and perfect. If any of you ever go to Barcelona you have to stay there, it's called "Backpackers BCN," and it was around 15 Euro a night but it was pretty much like a hotel. Promise me you'll stay there if you ever go to Barcelona.

That night we wandered around the Parque de la Ciudadela for a bit and watched people (it's really fun to watch people in Barcelona - tons of street performers, hippies, people with dreads and lots of piercings, and really really cute couples). Wednesday was fun - we did a lot of walking around, toured Gaudi's Park Guell Wednesday morning and went to the (beautiful!) beach for several hours with a new friend from the hostel, and that night we got lost in the (pouring) rain in the gothic quarter, trying to go to a flamenco show and missed it, sadly. We also learned that old navy flip flops and Barcelona rain are not a good mix if you want to stay on your feet. Thursday we took a walking tour of the medieval city which was really cool, walked around the shopping streets which are really neat narrow little parts of the medieval city where cars can't go...it's like a huge maze in cobblestone...sooo cool. Then we went to the Familia Sagrada which is that really awesome/weird cathedral Barcelona is famous for, and also some more buildings around there. Gaudi's buildings are pretty much dotted all over the city and they are really amazing. I watched a documentary about him for extra credit in my guitar class umpteen years ago, and have wanted to see them ever since.

Thursday night we went to a cooking class. Yeah that sounds weird, I guess you have to have been there to understand the appeal. It was the same company as the flamenco show and the walking tour, they do some cool stuff for tourists in barcelona, so the "cooking class" was basically dinner, a REEEEALLY good dinner, drinks for those who cared to partake (and Fanta for those who didn't, such as myself), and kinda learning how to make the dinner, and meeting some really fun and cool aussies (you know who you are). After that we explored the city by night a bit and watched some of the wacky street performers...they dress up like statues and stand on the street for money, and it's really funny to watch them. They do that in Copenhagen too but not half as much. In barcelona on La Rambla, the main shopping street, they are pretty much everywhere you look. Pretty neat. Also lots of street musicians, classical guitarists as well as everything else under the sun, like digeridoo, etc...

I was sad to leave the next morning, though tired and ready for my own bed and kitchen again. All in all it was a wonderful trip!

Loft Dwelling

I love Denmark. It's like living at world market, or at a waldorf school. Everything is really high quality like that and the people are all really good natured. And the houses and everything are SO CUTE. They all have those awesome picturesque roofs (including the one I live in). The people are also beautiful. There are tons of trees and flowers and plants EVERYWHERE which is great, and it's cool but not really cold yet. Everybody wears jackets already, but I wasn't really cold today. It just felt nice, and I only put my jacket on once during today.

The house is soooooooo awesome, though very different than what I'm used to. There are 4 stories including the basement (currently getting renovated). My room is awesome! It's the loft. I have about half the floor as my room, and the other half is my bathroom. My room is really cool...it's got a big closet, I have a little table with chairs, a rocking chair, a big TV & dvd player, a HUGE comfy bed, and shelves. And two little windows on the ceiling/wall that I can open. I love it. I'm so tired that I really don't want to put pictures up right now but I will soon.

Oh and the house has a garden...an actual garden like the ones you read about. It's got roses and tons of flowers and fruit trees and cute benches, and my host mom said their gardener decided to "take a holiday" so I suggested that I become the new gardener, and she loved the idea. That will be the coolest thing ever!

I just can't describe how beautiful and NEAT it is here. My family is wonderful too!! They left a basket of goodies waiting for me in my room. They are so sweet and welcoming! And the kids are REALLY cute.

Danish is really cool, but hard. I forgot how it feels to not be able to communicate with anyone except your "companion" who is my host mom in this case. Not as many people speak english as I thought (though I haven't really met anyone yet). I've picked up a few common words so far, but it's definitely going to take some time.

Bed now!

Fank You Veddy Much

DFW Airport, Sept 10, 3:30 PM (Dallas time)

I’ve made it kind of a tradition in the past to write letters home while sitting in airports, so I figured this is the technological continuation of that tradition. Though I don’t know how soon I’ll be able to post this (I’ve connected to the “free public wifi” but it’s pretty useless).

In an hour I’ll get on my flight to Gatwick Airport. I should be more excited right now but maybe it still just hasn’t quite sunk in. It probably won’t until the plane takes off.

There’s a pretty interesting international mix of people all around me already. The man sitting next to me was just on the phone…I’m not sure if it was Spanish or Italian. I can usually understand a lot of Spanish but didn’t really understand much of this, which makes me think it was Italian…yep! He’s on the phone again now. Definitely Italian. I guess there’s probably a lot of different connections from the flight to London.

I guess I’ll find something else to do now.


London Heathrow Airport, Sept 11, 11:20 AM

Here are some important lessons I’ve learned today from traveling with British Airways:

1. “Fank you!” is actually not an insult, but a way of expressing gratitude.
2. Driving on the wrong side of the road is also conducive to walking on the wrong side, sometimes leading to collisions with unaccustomed foreigners.
3. Being called “love” by cranky old ladies who work for British Airways can sometimes have the opposite effect than that of making one feel loved.
4. Kilts and cowboy hats should never be worn at the same time.
5. Just because it’s ridiculously inconvenient to get off a plane, stand in four different lines with your baggage in tow and ride a way expensive bus to a completely different airport on the other side of London, and stand in another line to check your baggage again before you can finally use the bathroom…doesn’t mean that British Airways gives a care for your inconvenience.
6. On the outskirts of London there are lots of trees, sheep, and quaint little fences.
7. Spikey hair is very prominent on british heads (male as well as female). Also pink ties.
8. British accents in person are even cooler than in the movies.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up. I thought it was cool when I first got on the plane and there were tiny british kids running around and yelling with polite little accents, saying things like “Mummy, look! I found a biscuit! Would you like it?”

It was “quite a lark” to have a crazy bus ride on the wrong side of the road and catch a glimpse of a few pride-and-prejudice-esque houses and random sheep, but I don’t think it was worth the hassle of switching airports. Next time I’m picking another airline. However, I am still very excited to come back to London next month and see something besides the airport, which should definitely be a much better experience.

I think there must be a kilt convention going on today because I’ve seen like 40 or 50 of them, no joke. There go some more now. It appears that men in kilts travel in groups.

I guess I’m gonna wander some more now and maybe listen to the Bend It Like Beckham soundtrack, as it is so exceedingly appropriate for today.

Picturing Copenhagen...

And a website: www.copenhagenpictures.dk

Visa Woes

I'm finding that getting a Visa is always going to be difficult in one way or another. It's the nature of the beast.

When I got my Visa for Brazil, the Church Travel department did most of the work, so it should have been easy, right? Wrong. Not only was my face too big in the passport photos I had taken, so I had to get more pictures unprepared and looking like a first rate fright, but after that my papers got lost in the mail twice...not once, but twice...on the way to Austin to get stamped. A coincidence? I think not.

I no longer have any confidence in the US Postal system. In fact, I've had more sucess sending snail mail in Brazil, where the stamps cost less than one American cent.

Now...for Denmark. I sent all my stuff I needed, or what I thought was all the stuff I needed (according to the website and various frazzled phone calls I'd made) to the Danish Embassy in Washington (fedex so it wouldn't get lost). I thought I had all my bases covered. Little did I know that I was actually supposed to send it to New York. So...I got that taken care of, then found out I needed to send another photo and $137. So I did. That got there alright, but then I found out they don't accept personal checks, only money orders. SO........today I get to send that. And pray that I get my passport back in time for my flight on Sept 10.

(I'm not really very upset about it, it's just fun to pretend I am)

The Joyful Song of Carless Bliss

Oh, hateful Clifford, the big red van!
Your presence tortured me as no mortal can!
Now that you're gone, my steps feel so light.
Your absence frees me from an unenviable plight.

My words hold no sarcasm, you will see...
for there's a bicycle in Copenhagen, waiting for me!

One month and fourteen days...

That's a lotta time, but I might as well get starting on this thing now so I'll be good at it by the time people actually start reading it. Plus it gives me a way to avoid homework while waiting to graduate and get started on my adventures.

Denmark! It's a random country, I know. The most I ever thought about it before now was only two hours' worth of semi-conscious thought, watching "Hans Christian Anderson" as a kid. Since then there has been, in my cleverest of moments, the occasional "something rotten in Denmark" comment. But that's about all the attention I'd ever given the country, until now.

Why the sudden interest? Over several months/years I have had an increasingly unquenchable desire to travel. Coupled with a very low/nonexistent budget, this was a bit frustrating to me until I found an interesting idea...Au Pair-ism. It's way to experience another culture first hand: living with a family, making friends with them, and working for them (babysitting and help around the house), doing some traveling on weekends.

I originally thought I wanted to go to one of three countries: Italy, Spain or France. I was interested in these countries mostly because those languages would be easiest after Portuguese. But nothing seemed to be working out for those countries. I discovered after a phone interview with a Roman family that Italian laws prohibit American au pairs. Though many just ignore that law, I couldn't bring myself to do that (something about being honest in your dealings with your fellow men...) so that pretty much ruled out Italy.

Then I got a great offer in Copenhagen with a family that was nicer (by far) any other family I had been in contact with. After my initial "where's Denmark?" reaction, I did some research, and discovered that not only is it a great place, but the laws are much more in favor of au pairs, including American au pairs, than any other European country I had researched.

So, long story short, I am now so excited about it that I'm starting a travel blog one month and fourteen days before I leave. But it's really not that much time....