Christmas

It's coming. And I'm really glad.

Last night when I rode my bike to the grocery store, it was already dark at 5:00 and cold too. But I somehow didn't mind and it struck me how very christmassy the air (already) feels. It was delicious! Inside the store they had Christmas decorations/cards/wrapping paper for sale everywhere, and blocks of chocolate and marzipan for the traditional Christmas baking.

That night we put on Christmas music while Morten made "burning love" for dinner (mashed potatoes with crispy hunks of bacon). I was bustling around, cleaning and organizing, feeling very Christmassy. Then "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Judy Garland came on, and we started to dance.

I think Christmas is going to be really good this year!

Two stories having to do with husbands and glasses of water

First story:

Last night as I was brushing my teeth, Morten was already in bed. He asked me very sweetly, "Honey, could you get me a glass of water from the toilet?"

This request might sound normal to someone in the UK, where, as in Denmark and throughout the rest of Europe, "toilet" is synonymous with "bathroom." Clearly he wanted a glass of water from the sink in the bathroom, not actually from the toilet.

Knowing this, however, did not keep me from giggling uncontrollably for some time afterwards.

Second story:

A while back, I got thirsty in the middle of the night. There is a "headboard" across the back of the bed where we put our books, lamps, glasses of water, things like that. This night when I got thirsty, it was quite dark (understandably) and all I could see as far as water on the headboard was a bottle, presumably filled with water. So I reached for it. What I hadn't seen was a full glass of water directly in front of the bottle. What I did see, though too late, was that the glass of water was positioned perfectly above Morten's (sleeping) head.

The water spilled all over him, and woke him up. Due to his unfailingly good tempered disposition, he forgave me.

Scrapbooking

It's one of my current obsessions. Those who know me, know that I am never casually interested in something...I become preoccupied with it, and think about it day and night. It seems to be a family trait. Anyway, due to the burning interest in scrapbooking possessed by most of the females in Morten's family, I have recently taken it up again. First I was working on my mission scrapbook, which still wasn't done (it's not finished now either, not even halfway...). Last week though, I got the prints in the mail that I had ordered of the wedding pictures. Saturday was "scrapbooking day" for Anja and I, so we were at it for about 12 hours while the menfolk played wii and tended to the children. It was most glorious and I actually got a lot done. I realized late last night, to what extent my interest has been rekindled, when I woke up with a start because of an idea (that I must have dreamed about?) to use in my wedding album. I couldn't rest until I had gotten up and written it down.

I have a job!

Maersk has offered me a position as an HR Assistant. I will most likely start on December 1st, depending on the work permit situation. However, with a job contract and a danish husband, there shouldn't be a problem. I am very excited/relieved to have the "job thing" taken care of, so I don't have to worry about "what will become of me" or "when can we ever get out of this tiny apartment" or "will I ever have something productive to do again." It's a nice load off my mind and I didn't realize how stressed I had been about it until now when the stress is gone. Unexpectedly having a good job offer is yet another proof to me that, even if I don't know or understand all the reasons, even though it is hard sometimes, we are definitely meant to be here in Denmark right now.

Recently we went to Ikea and got some of our "wedding presents": new pillows and blankets (a blue one and a green one of course!), frames for some pictures we got at the distribution center like 6 months ago, coat hooks (necessary when the closet won't fit them all), 2 much needed lamps (it's getting to be darkish wintertime again), and the most fun of all - some pretty twinkle lights for our "living room" area, and the effect is very cosy and nice.

Maersk and Mamma Mia

I went for my second interview at Maersk yesterday and it seems like a really great opportunity, and I could really use all of your prayers for that! All the people I met were so very nice and it seems like something I would definitely enjoy. I'm supposed to hear back from them next week, so I will keep you posted!

Also last night, my amazingly wonderfully awesome husband gave me a belated birthday present. He ordered it (which is why it was late) to come specially to his workplace and not here so I wouldn't suspect. How clever he is.

It was...



The guitar book for all the songs in Mamma Mia! Now I can annoy him by not only singing Abba songs every day, but playing them too.

My Scathingly Brilliant Idea

A few months ago (or maybe like half a year?) I wrote an entry about a place called "Valbyparken." I was very excited to find such a nice park so close to home. Two days ago I went there again, and found that in my first entry I did not give near enough attention to its interestingness, plus I had no pictures. So I decided to go again with my camera and write a nice juicy blog entry all about what I find there.

Then I thought how cool would it be if I keep doing that for different places or things about Copenhagen that I find, with a different subject every week? That gives me a reason to get out of the house, see some interesting things, and do something I really like: write. It also will give my little brothers and other interested persons back home a closer look at the place where I live.

Something of dire importance that you all need to know

Here is my very important piece of information: since moving to Denmark I have found something out about myself. Two things actually.

1) I actually like meat cooked medium well (a little pink), not well done.


2) I actually like eggs boiled medium (still pretty soft in the middle) and not hard boiled.


I just thought y'all would greatly benefit from that information. You can thank me later.

Just a few tidbits

It has been raining off and on all week. Yesterday I looked out the window, down at the ground where I had shaken off all the rice that I collected off the bed from the wedding reception vandalism. The rice is still out there all over the ground, very swollen now from the rain. I hope there aren't any birds getting sick because of my angry shaking of sheets out the window rampage.

Remember how I said I turned my phone's language into danish? This morning Morten took an unflattering picture of me with my phone, as he often does, and when I smirked at him and casually went to delete it, I couldn't figure it out. Got to learn this language!

Danish is going ok. Except yesterday at the all day birthday festivities with the family, I was extra frustrated with the language barrier. I think that is because I am actually trying now, working a billion hard on it all week, and still don't understand everything, and draw a blank when people speak to me. Of course I wouldn't understand everything after just a week of diligent study, it's just more frustrating that way because I can't just tell myself it's fine because I will understand when I get around to studying. Maybe that's why I waited so long to try harder at it? Well, to quote Anne of Green Gables, iron has entered my soul. There is no turning back. Muahahahaha!!!! I'm gonna learn this ************ language or go crazy in the process.

My birthday was enjoyable. Morten didn't have to work a 14 hour day as he has been doing pretty much the rest of the week (flu shot season started this week, so the poor kid has been working his tail off). I actually got to see him for a little bit on a weekday which made it a very nice birthday. Also we had a family party yesterday and it was fun, and altogether I got some cool scrapbooking stuff and clothes, and West Side Story on dvd.

I'll have to say that I am really appreciating general conference this time around. We only saw the first saturday session yesterday, we meant to stay up for the second one but it was just too late. However, yesterday proved once again that Dieter F. Uchtdorf is THE MAN (among others who are also THE MAN, but he is THE MAN whose talk stood out especially to me yesterday).

I'd better stop writing before I go into babble mode. My husband tells me it's cute but I have an inkling he says that to be nice to me. So I will end here with a TOODLE-LOO! to all.

I'm taking the plunge

Yes, that is what I am doing. It started last night. I had spent the whole day with the sister missionaries, helping them out doing their thing. There are three of them, and I have been here in Denmark at least twice as long as all of them. And they can speak danish. I can't.

That's what made me realize I am a lazy moron for not learning the language by now. I mean...I would have a right to complain if I had actually been studying all this time, but I haven't. Not even a little. I don't try to speak it with my husband and other people unless I have to. My computer, my phone, etc, had all been programmed to english. I watch and read the news in english. I read the scriptures in english. I do my very best to ignore the danish language completely, or otherwise convince myself of my inability to learn it. What the heck??

No more, I decided last night. Whatever disease of the mind that has been keeping me from trying to learn, is now cured! I changed my phone to danish last night. Now when I send text messages, I try to write them in danish. I studied in my book. I listened to my cd. I started a diary ("dagbog") in danish. I read the book of mormon in danish. I prayed in danish (sort of). I'm going to take every opportunity I can to learn this language, for the fun of it if nothing else, because it is fun. I don't know why it took me so long.