I haven't written in here in a long time, which is partly due to a chain of events this month which have been pretty important to my day to day life, but at the same time I didn't really feel like writing about them. Basically: at work we found out that, due to the financial crisis, my entire department was to be shut down (in effect as of yesterday). That means that almost everyone in my department has been laid off. I was lucky enough to have been trained in something (support for an application) that they will still need me for during the next two months. So I will move to a completely different department/building until the end of March, after which I might or might not have a job somewhere within the Group, depending on what happens (or doesn't happen) in the next two months.
Because of the nice Danish labor laws, I have plenty of time to look for another position, so that isn't the really sad thing - it's mostly that I really enjoyed that particular job and especially the colleagues and the atmosphere of the place. So the change/uncertainty about the whole situation has been difficult. But I am trying to see the opportunities rather than the disadvantages and so far so good. I don't know yet what the future will bring but I'll do my best to make something good out of it.
On a lighter note, two nights ago I saw Phantom of the Opera at Det Ny Teater with Morten! I will probably write more about it later when I upload the pictures (outside the theater), but now I will just say that it was AMAZING! That music/story goes really deep for me for some reason, and seeing it performed was moving beyond words.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Exotic Fruit for New Years
We made a new tradition on New Years.
We had a very lazy, very wonderful day where the only time we even left the apartment was to bike to the store, where we didn't really even know what we wanted. So we bought a Pomelo and avocados.
Out of avocado the I wanted to make a famous brazilian avocado shake, but they weren't ripe enough so we have to wait for that.
Neither of us had ever eaten a Pomelo before, and I don't think I had ever even heard of one. It's like a giant orange with a milder, sweeter taste. You take off the ENORMOUS peel (very furry and fluffly on the inside, lots of fun to peel). Then after peeling it you also peel off the whitish/clearish coating around all of the "slices," revealing all the pretty pinkish fruit on the inside. We peeled the whole thing, piled it on a plate, and devoured it while playing a game of Chess. It was delicious.
So we decided our tradition for New Years Day will be to eat a Pomelo and/or any other adventurous fruit that strikes our fancy.
We had a very lazy, very wonderful day where the only time we even left the apartment was to bike to the store, where we didn't really even know what we wanted. So we bought a Pomelo and avocados.
Out of avocado the I wanted to make a famous brazilian avocado shake, but they weren't ripe enough so we have to wait for that.
Neither of us had ever eaten a Pomelo before, and I don't think I had ever even heard of one. It's like a giant orange with a milder, sweeter taste. You take off the ENORMOUS peel (very furry and fluffly on the inside, lots of fun to peel). Then after peeling it you also peel off the whitish/clearish coating around all of the "slices," revealing all the pretty pinkish fruit on the inside. We peeled the whole thing, piled it on a plate, and devoured it while playing a game of Chess. It was delicious.
So we decided our tradition for New Years Day will be to eat a Pomelo and/or any other adventurous fruit that strikes our fancy.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Pictures
Pri has requested that I put up some Christmas pictures :) I didn't really take as many as I had planned with the food and everything, but here are some of them, starting with a cute decoration of a type that is popular here:
Noah and all the presents
Playing with the niece and nephew
Right as I opened the Phantom of the Opera tickets out of the dvd case
Also we went to Tivoli last Saturday - I got free tickets from work! Did I mention I like my job? So yeah, I took some pictures of the cute doll display and Morten trying on hats.
Noah and all the presents
Playing with the niece and nephew
Right as I opened the Phantom of the Opera tickets out of the dvd case
Also we went to Tivoli last Saturday - I got free tickets from work! Did I mention I like my job? So yeah, I took some pictures of the cute doll display and Morten trying on hats.
Danish Christmas
For the Danes, the 24th is "Christmas" (called "Juleaften") and then the 25th and 26th are "First Christmas Day" and "Second Christmas Day," respectively. So in Denmark, there are technically 3 Christmas days. And actually, the whole month of December is pretty much considered as Christmas. All month long people keep advent calendars and burn advent candles, and the kids get advent presents which means a very small present every day until the 24th (hair ribbons, pens, etc), or a slightly larger present every Sunday. When we get kids we're going to have to figure out if we will do that or stockings or somehow combine the two, so they don't get spoiled rotten out of the two traditions.
On the 24th, the family gathers for a big Christmas dinner with certain foods. We went to Morten's sister's house. The traditional Christmas feast consists of roast duck, pork roast, both regular potatoes and smaller potatoes with a brown sugar coating, brown gravy, and red cabbage. Then comes the ris'a'la'mande (rice pudding) with cherries on top, and somebody has to find the almond in it. Alex found it, and for a prize he got a gift certificate to the movies.
After dinner we dance around the three. I felt pretty foolish, especially because while dancing around the tree, we had to sing a lot of Danish Christmas songs that I don't know. They sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in English in my honor though, which I was grateful for. It is fun to see all the big grown up men do something like dancing around a Christmas tree and singing cute little songs, but they took it quite seriously and didn't seem to think it was strange at all. That's one of the things I appreciate about Danish men, the whole macho attitude is just nonexistent. Anyway...
After dancing around the tree we all got settled for a REALLY long display of present opening. The tradition, at least in Morten's family, is that we open only one present at a time so everyone can see what it is, then the person who opened last picks a new present for someone else. We were 11 people and there were lots of presents for all, so it took about 2 hours to open them all. My favorites were from Morten: he gave me 2 dvds, Mamma Mia and Sense and Sensibility, and then best of all, he took my Phantom of the Opera dvd case and wrapped it with tickets to see the show next month inside. Yay!!! I have never been to the show so I am really excited to go. I also thought it was very nice that in addition to some other stuff, Morten's mom made a skirt for me :) Very personal and cute. Morten was also very happy with his presents.
Usually danish families will have a Christmas lunch on the 25th, with a several course meal of different dishes, all to be eaten with the traditional rye bread (rugbrød). In Morten's family they also do a game with white elephant gifts on that day. We didn't do it yesterday though because tomorrow there will be a really big birthday party for the Grandpa, and they didn't want to overwhelm everyone with too many parties. So on the 25th we just had a quiet day, ate pizza, and went to see Australia.
It was a very good Christmas, though very different. I think it's probably good that Christmas here is different than at home, because it doesn't make me homesick that way, it's just fun to see how they do it and enjoy the "coziness."
On the 24th, the family gathers for a big Christmas dinner with certain foods. We went to Morten's sister's house. The traditional Christmas feast consists of roast duck, pork roast, both regular potatoes and smaller potatoes with a brown sugar coating, brown gravy, and red cabbage. Then comes the ris'a'la'mande (rice pudding) with cherries on top, and somebody has to find the almond in it. Alex found it, and for a prize he got a gift certificate to the movies.
After dinner we dance around the three. I felt pretty foolish, especially because while dancing around the tree, we had to sing a lot of Danish Christmas songs that I don't know. They sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in English in my honor though, which I was grateful for. It is fun to see all the big grown up men do something like dancing around a Christmas tree and singing cute little songs, but they took it quite seriously and didn't seem to think it was strange at all. That's one of the things I appreciate about Danish men, the whole macho attitude is just nonexistent. Anyway...
After dancing around the tree we all got settled for a REALLY long display of present opening. The tradition, at least in Morten's family, is that we open only one present at a time so everyone can see what it is, then the person who opened last picks a new present for someone else. We were 11 people and there were lots of presents for all, so it took about 2 hours to open them all. My favorites were from Morten: he gave me 2 dvds, Mamma Mia and Sense and Sensibility, and then best of all, he took my Phantom of the Opera dvd case and wrapped it with tickets to see the show next month inside. Yay!!! I have never been to the show so I am really excited to go. I also thought it was very nice that in addition to some other stuff, Morten's mom made a skirt for me :) Very personal and cute. Morten was also very happy with his presents.
Usually danish families will have a Christmas lunch on the 25th, with a several course meal of different dishes, all to be eaten with the traditional rye bread (rugbrød). In Morten's family they also do a game with white elephant gifts on that day. We didn't do it yesterday though because tomorrow there will be a really big birthday party for the Grandpa, and they didn't want to overwhelm everyone with too many parties. So on the 25th we just had a quiet day, ate pizza, and went to see Australia.
It was a very good Christmas, though very different. I think it's probably good that Christmas here is different than at home, because it doesn't make me homesick that way, it's just fun to see how they do it and enjoy the "coziness."
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Æbleskiver og Ris á l'amande
Now it is time to tell you about two danish Christmas desserts.
Æbleskiver is a cross between pancakes and doughnuts. So of course it goes without saying, that I like them very much :) They are fried in a special pan that you can see in the picture, with little round dents that you pour dough into. Apparently you flip each one with knitting needles when it's ready, but the one time Morten and I tried, we failed miserably.
To eat the æbleskiver, traditionally you would dip each one in powdered sugar and/or rasberry jam before taking a bite. MMMMMM!!
I should also tell you about ris á l'amande. It's a french name but is actually a traditional Christmas dessert in Scandanavia. It is rice pudding with whipped cream and chopped almonds, and usually you cover it with cherries and sauce.
Almost every family in Denmark will have ris á l'amande on December 24th. There is a special game associated with ris á l'amande. There are chopped almonds throughout it, and some of the pieces can get quite large, but there will be only one whole (peeled) almond somewhere in the bowl of pudding. So on Christmas eve the family will have to finish the entire bowl of ris á l'amande until someone has "found" the whole almond. Some people will conceal the fact that they have found it (i.e. hiding it in their mouth as they continue to eat), just to make everyone get really stuffed, before they reveal that they have found the almond. Then the one who has found the almond gets a special gift.
I'm really looking forward to a "real" Danish Christmas this year, with Morten's family. I know a lot more of the traditions but I will wait to tell about them until I have experienced them first hand.
Æbleskiver is a cross between pancakes and doughnuts. So of course it goes without saying, that I like them very much :) They are fried in a special pan that you can see in the picture, with little round dents that you pour dough into. Apparently you flip each one with knitting needles when it's ready, but the one time Morten and I tried, we failed miserably. To eat the æbleskiver, traditionally you would dip each one in powdered sugar and/or rasberry jam before taking a bite. MMMMMM!!
I should also tell you about ris á l'amande. It's a french name but is actually a traditional Christmas dessert in Scandanavia. It is rice pudding with whipped cream and chopped almonds, and usually you cover it with cherries and sauce. Almost every family in Denmark will have ris á l'amande on December 24th. There is a special game associated with ris á l'amande. There are chopped almonds throughout it, and some of the pieces can get quite large, but there will be only one whole (peeled) almond somewhere in the bowl of pudding. So on Christmas eve the family will have to finish the entire bowl of ris á l'amande until someone has "found" the whole almond. Some people will conceal the fact that they have found it (i.e. hiding it in their mouth as they continue to eat), just to make everyone get really stuffed, before they reveal that they have found the almond. Then the one who has found the almond gets a special gift.
I'm really looking forward to a "real" Danish Christmas this year, with Morten's family. I know a lot more of the traditions but I will wait to tell about them until I have experienced them first hand.
Monday, December 15, 2008
I really like my job!!
I also get to watch funny people on the train in the mornings.
1) The young father with a baby carriage, cooing and smiling at his baby every morning.
2) The little tiny girl reading the chronicles of narnia. She looks about 7 but she must be older.
3) Last but not least the reeeeally tall lady with a huge fur coat, extra large hat with strange gold embroidery and a fur band that covers all her hair, and pointy wide rimmed glasses.
Gotta love public transportation.
I also get to watch funny people on the train in the mornings.
1) The young father with a baby carriage, cooing and smiling at his baby every morning.
2) The little tiny girl reading the chronicles of narnia. She looks about 7 but she must be older.
3) Last but not least the reeeeally tall lady with a huge fur coat, extra large hat with strange gold embroidery and a fur band that covers all her hair, and pointy wide rimmed glasses.
Gotta love public transportation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)