I arrived this morning at 6:45 am local time- which is 10:45 pm the night before in Colorado! Needless to say, I am tired having missed a night of sleep entirely. How has my dad been doing this kind of sleep pattern for the last 40 years? JEEZ! I am a wreck today. I guess it doesn't help that the morning before I left, I woke up with a terrible cold! But, despite that, easy travel that was all on time. Denver-Vancouver and then Vancouver-Düsseldorf.
It just felt really surreal seeing it written considering how long I've
have been anticipating this move! (Since January!!) What you can't see is that there
are people swilling Molsen and playing hockey under this sign while Maple syrup pours of
the drinking fountains...that's just how it is in Canada.
I was met at the airport by the admissions counselor from the school, Maire, who is Irish but has lived here for 14 years...international already! She could easily spot me given my overabundance of luggage! I had three large checked bags, a carry-on size suitcase, and a fully stuff backpack! Hey...I am moving...not just visiting and I had to pack my bag full of green chilis because I cannot go without Mexican food like last time! :)
Maire drove me to my apartment and then we lugged all of my suitcases in the elevator. I am on the seventh floor by German counting and the sixth floor by American...either way, it is at the top of the building and I have a pretty good view! Really relieved the elevator is fully functional (there was question about whether it would be under construction) because my three, 50 pound bags would have broken me if I'd had to do the stairs! The school also had put together a welcome tub for me that included toilet paper, paper towels, a little food, coffee, tea, and cleaning supplies...Maire even brought more cleaning supplies later as the fridge is mother-effing disgusting and I am going to need some gloves and a mask to tackle that- which she brought over later!
Part of the view from my patio!
I felt really crappy upon arrival due to the stuffiness of my head and the fact that it was nighttime to my body, so as soon as she left, I slept for a few hours. My one job today was to wake up for the phone/internet guy, which I did. Let me tell you how much empathy I have for immigrants to the US who don't speak English! Fortunately, the housing coordinator at the school set up all the appointments because when he got here we were like a comical mix of sign language and pointing! I would never have had internet if the school hadn't set it up! For those of you out there working with non-English speakers, think about the daily life things that we don't even think about...bank, grocery shopping, etc. I still don't know what my phone number is but my internet works so that's fine!
I don't have any hangers so it will take me a few days to fully unpack. But, what a relief to have my own house again! I am selfish and don't like sharing my space and am really glad to be able to live my life in more than one room!
I worked on the bathroom with all of my cute, collapsable Target
containers. I've spent an obscene amount of money at Target (Tar-jay) lately! Ugh.
My boxes arrived from England and I trying to decide where to put the paintings my
parents brought over!
So that's it for now. I haven't gone anywhere since I arrived because I feel yucky and am really tired. I have been intermittently unpacking and sleeping and rocking out to my new Glee CDs. The answer is, yes, I am a huge dork. Tomorrow night I will be going out to dinner with my new friends Barbara and Todd Bryden (whom I haven't met yet but I know we'll be friends!)! They are friends of one of my CSU friends, Rachel, and she connected us back in March since they just moved here this summer too! I'm really excited for some new friends already! Tomorrow I will venture out to the grocery store which I am sure will be filled with confusing hilarity! Stay tuned!
This summer has absolutely flown by! I have spent many a days just driving back and forth from Denver to Fort Collins to Boulder (in one of my parents' cars like I am in high school, but unlike my car in high school, these can actually go on the highway...phew!). It has been a busy summer and unlike most summers, I haven't gotten to even have ONE DAY just laying around doing nothing!
The summer began with a visit from my Danish cousin, Terese, and a weekend-long
slumber party with my dear friend, Megan!
Between visiting friends, going to a family wedding reception in Seattle, a training and a family visit in Atlanta, a trip to the Western Slope of Colorado, a Camp Chief Ouray reunion, a visit from fire-escaping New Mexican friends, many trips to Fort Collins to hang out with The Dudleys, and a million breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and coffees with long lost friends, it has been a great trip home. In fact, it has felt like I never actually left.
To be honest, after my horrible experience last year, I am just mentally setting the reset button and starting over with my international teaching experience! The best part about coming home, and Colorado will always be home, is that you always feel at home! (Can I use 'home' again in that sentence?). When I was at my training this summer, it didn't even feel like I had worked in England. All of my teacher thinking came straight from CBMS as if I had never left!
So, here are some pictures from my summer. You'll notice that I spent a lot of time with babies and toddlers. Its what I do! :)
My first summer visit was with The Wolff-Barrys...my favorite twins!
Clark & Fawn have not gotten any less hilarious while I was gone...more so, actually!
Four is funny!
Now these aren't toddlers!
My nanny, Lori, has the most amazing kids ever...Karolina & Kai!
We zooed it up and I can't wait to spend Christmas with them this year!
After a few initial visits, I headed to Seattle for my cousin Annie's one year anniversary party! Seattle is the coolest place and I was really relieved to be back in cool, Northern European-ish weather after the shocking 90's of Colorado!
My cousin, Annie, took me out for delicious dim-sum while in Seattle!
We also spent some time with her backyard throwing knives, seriously fun!
Mount Ranier out the window of the plane!
The best part of the summer: I got an iPad and was able to catch up on movies
I missed while on all of my flights! This was worth putting down the movie!
My friend Dawn from CSU was able to come to Seattle from Oregon while I was there!
Great to catch up with an old friend and to realize that we haven't changed
much since we met when we were 20!
Family dinner in Seattle. My dad's sister and her family live there and hosted me!
We had a great time with plenty of delicious food and wine! Big surprise, huh?
There was a photo booth with props at the party!
My aunts, JoAnn & Marilyn, are always willing to be silly with me!
I had one of the quickest travel turn-arounds I've ever had (enough time for laundry and a little nap) before heading to Atlanta for an International Baccalaureate training at the Atlanta International School. My school in Düsseldorf sent me to the training and the coolest part about it was that the AIS is where the movie "The Blind Side" was filmed! The training was a synthesis of many other professional development experiences that I'd had before, however, IB has a set of vocabulary and principles that were new to me. Most importantly, IB is focused on thinking and application of learning instead of memorization like in my last science department.
I was able to make some good professional connections with several science teachers from around the US who think like me instructionally and we exchanged information and already sent lots of teacher/student documents back and forth through email. I also met a science teacher from California who will be in Germany this summer so we are planning to get together in Düsseldorf. HOW FUN!
The other part of my trip to Atlanta was that I was able to spend time with my cousin Brian (we have twin feet but his are giant...or "superior" he would say!) and his girlfriend Ayla, who is awesome! And, I also got to see my cousin Ryan and his wife, Angie. Ryan and Angie have the most hilarious little girl, Abbie.
Abigail Susan (Abbie, or if you are going to get fully Southern....Abbie Sue)
is an extremely funny kid. I think that there is no doubt that she
is just like her Aunt Cara used to be when she was little!
(Sorry if you are not a family member and you are reading this but my family
will know what I am talking about!)
While I was in Georgia, some enormous fires began burning in New Mexico, the largest in the state's history. The smoke in Taos, where my friends The Murphrees (otherwise known as Shira, J-rod, and Mona) live. The smoke got so bad that they ended up having to flee to Colorado. I had had plans to go to Taos to see them anyway, but instead got to spend a week with them in Colorado. Mona is nine months old and she learned to scream really loudly and hilariously while here.
Mona & J-rod were playing "lion tamer" with Daddy as the lion.
This induced a lot of really funny baby screaming!
During part of The Murphree visit, we stayed with The Cloughs (Kirsten, Matt, & Annika). Nothing beats old friends, wine, cheese, and backyard grilling!
Annika was wearing my empty backpack while we walked
around REI and then saw this bike basket. She
immediately put it on her head! Very logical, of course!
As I mentioned before, I spent a lot of time driving between Denver, Fort Collins, and Boulder. One of the trips to Boulder involved visiting my friend Carolyn and her new baby, Ellie.
Carolyn & Baby Ellie!
Carolyn, Ellie, and I went through a few outfits on this day!
One of the highlights of my summer was seeing Carmen at the Central City Opera with my mom and dad. We decided that operas have to be extra-super dramatic because how boring would an opera be if it was just about clerical work or something? This was the best rendition of a song from Carmen that I could find!
My other sojourn this summer was to the Western Slope with my mom to visit one of her oldest friends, Joanie! We visited Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, tasted some Western Slope wine, and fought off the worst mosquitoes of my life while camper-camping on the Grand Mesa. We also got to see some of the best, most amazing wildflowers at around 9,000 feet elevation. I was suddenly shocked when random Latin names would escape my brain and burst forth....Thermopsis divaricarpa, Antennaria parvifolia...AAAAHHH!!! (Thank you, Pingree Park, CSU's mountain campus where I spent the most intense four weeks in 1999...so intense that I still randomly bust out scientific names!)
Joanie, My Mama, and Me at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park!
AMAZING views!
WHAT? Look at these Columbines! Aquilegia caerulea
We had a fun trip although I almost lost my mind from the mosquitoes! Ever since my India trip I have a hard time with bug spray since I pretty much burned my skin off with 100% Deet! And, who knew that Colorado had such amazing wine!
Everybody knows that I have been a "camp girl" my whole life...having been a camp counselor translated perfectly into being a middle school teacher. So, at the beginning of the summer, Megan and I concocted an idea to have a Camp Chief Ouray 1997 reunion...the last summer we were all there together. Kir and Matt offered to host and it was so fun to catch up with everyone. Although, it was funny to be like, "so, since college, what have you been doing?" since we've all gotten quite old!
The Campers!
From left to right in the back: Megan, Me, Kir, Matt, Beth, Kevin
In the front: Gina & Justin
We were all counselors at Camp Chief Ouray in 1997 (and most people in other years too!)
I have also been hearing about my mom's painting all year and finally got to try some for myself. We went to a place called "Canvas and Cocktails" and through some careful painting instruction, I was able to create my first painting! Having been told by pretty much every art teacher and every seventh grader that I've ever taught, that I am a horrible artist, it was really exciting to create something that might actually be worthy of hanging on the wall (hopefully at Megan's since she said she wanted it!)!!
The creating begins!
The final products! Turned out pretty well!
I almost threw mine at the very end because I totally screwed up one part....
...but the teacher rescued me, like a good teacher, and the worst part turned into my favorite part!
And lastly, when I wasn't doing all of this other stuff, I spent lots of time with The Dudleys, Natalie, Todd, and Harper! Harper's new thing is to put objects on people's heads and call them a hat and then laugh really hard because they aren't actually hats! She is such a doll and so super smart!
Harper hammed it up for me! I also taught her how to take
pictures with my camera which she thought was really fun!
I leave in a week from Wednesday and have every second planned between now and then. My friend Courtney is flying out from Omaha and I will be staying with my friend Kir while she gets her tonsils out...OUCH!
And, as I have been doing all year...I pack. I will be hauling a major load of green chilis over to Germany because I have learned that I CANNOT live without them and they are impossible to find in Europe.
So, it is likely that the next time I blog, it will be from my new apartment in Germany! WOO HOO! Bittersweet to leave (especially all these sweet babies that I hang out with!) but I am looking forward to having my own place, a new job, and a new challenge!
I have obviously not blogged in a long time. I didn't have a reliable internet connection for the last few months that I was in England and was traveling a lot so I haven't been able to blog until now. I had a lot of visitors my last few weeks in the country and it was SUPER fun but I am really glad to be home.
I am beginning to start thinking about the upcoming school year and my new teaching opportunity at the International School of Düsseldorf in Germany. And, as I reflect upon my nightmare of an experience at my English school and look forward to my new position, the dreams have started. I have always been the type of person who has dreams about things that I am thinking about or am anxious about. I always knew that it was time to go to camp at the end of every school year when my camp dreams began! And now, I have started to have crazy dreams about school.
Dream #1:
It was the first day of school in a new school. Not sure what school or what country. But, I was trying to teach the kids my quiet signal (oh, by the way, I was also not wearing pants and was trying to make my long shirt look like a dress!) and there were like 6 adults in my room. Since I was at a new school, I didn't know if the adults were paraprofessionals or what in the heck they were. But, as I was trying to teach my quiet signal they (the adults) were being really loud. So, I went over to their table and they had all the kids singing Jimmy Buffet songs so that I coudln't teach my signal. Then, all the kids busted out in Jimmy Buffet singing and I lost control of the class.
Since I have already had my worst teaching nightmares from back in teacher school come true- losing complete control of a class- I know what that feels like in real life. I just don't think that will be a worry anymore at my new school. Plus, I don't have to teach snotty high school kids anymore, just sweet middle school kids who are generally quite pliable!
Dream #2:
In my dream I had to share a classroom with another teacher, who I think might have been a French teacher. On one end of the classroom there was a white board, a projector, and an overhead. At the back of the classroom was an old school blackboard with French writing all over it. I came in to teach in that classroom one day and all the desks were turned toward the back of the room. I was trying to write on the old school blackboard but wasn't allowed to erase anything so I had to just write really really small with colored chalk. I was really stressed that I was going to lose control of the classroom because the kids couldn't read what I was writing on the board!
OI VAY! Think I am having some anxiety??? At least I am being sent to a training in Atlanta next week and then have 9 days of staff training before school starts. That will definitely alleviate some anxiety. I REALLY enjoy over-preparation!
Nicole was my first visitor. We toured the Scottish Highlands and London.
Gordon was my second visitor and we toured Wales and then London.
Natalie was my third and final visitor and we went to London and Paris and then flew home together.
As I type this, my parents are headed to the airport- without the GPS- so let's hope they find it! They left the GPS "Emily" with me because I have another trip coming up in a few weeks to Wales that will require it! We have had a really fun trip and I am sad to see them go- but I will be there in just over a month so I think I will make it!
Lunch at The Royal Standard of England.
It has been an alcohol-serving establishment of some kind
for over 900 years. They have GREAT food!
I am an excellent trip planner, if I do say so myself! We had 9.5 days and I tried to fill it with a lot, (but not too many because who likes that?) things to do! We started the trip just hanging around the area of England where I've been living since August (minus that three month stint in France!) and of course, had to start with a lunch in a country pub. When I posted this picture to Facebook, everyone was freaking out about how large the beers were, but I will just remind you that they are only a pint, but they are in Pilsner glasses so they appear bigger.
One of the things I have loved about living in England are the country pubs. Most of them have excellent food, lots of good beer, and a relaxed, enjoyable atmosphere. At this particular pub we were actually seated in a bay window and so we had our own little nook! The Sunday Roast consists of either beef, lamb, or pork with many, many side dishes. The big puffs of bread are called Yorkshire Puddings. They are delish!! I'd rather go out for a roast as it just seems like WAY too much work to make all of the side dishes on the same day and have them ready at the same time.
There are cute little towns and villages about every three feet in England and so we were able to tour around to see many of the ones in my area. This was also the first full day of driving on the other side of the road. As it turned out, my dad did all of the driving because
Old church in the town of Beaconsfield.
The English pronounce it "Beckensfield." I
I could live here my whole life and never pronounce
things correctly on a consistent basis!
it was extra-expensive to have two drivers. I am extremely grateful for this as I think it seems pretty stressful to just train your brain suddenly to the other side of the road- but my dad did a GREAT job!
My parents stayed at a bed and breakfast near my house, which really, turned out to be just an extra room in someone's house that they now rent out. Chesham is not really a metropolis for tourists and so the options are rather limited for guests. If they had stayed with me, we would have all had to sleep in the same bed, and so I think the bed and breakfast, though completely no frills, was the better option! :)
We spent a lot of the first day just driving around looking at the areas around my town. Since I haven't had a car while living here, I basically don't know where anything is and if we hadn't had Emily the GPS (she is called Emily because the British female voice is named Emily), we never would have even made it home from the airport.
When being a tourist in England, I believe it is
required by law that one must pose in or around
a red phone box!
I believe the law also states that you must take
pictures with all combinations of tourists present.
Our next three days we spent touring a part of England called The Cotswolds. The Cotswolds were the center of the wool industry in Britain before the colonies began growing cotton. Because of the wool industry, many people were able to get very rich and so there are many grand houses in the area. I had been to the Cotswolds once before because my Uncle Abdul's (married to my dad's sister, JoAnn) brother and family live there. After going to visit them in November, I knew that I had to return because it is such a beautiful area. My biggest problem is that I began to run out of synonyms for cute and adorable because everything was so cute and adorable!
Blenheim Palace.
Our first stop in the Cotswolds.
Our first stop in the Cotswolds was Blenheim Palace (pronouced Blennem Palace, of course) which was given to a war hero in the 1600s-ish by Queen Anne. Later in that same family's history, they also produced Winston Churchill. So, this palace is now known for being the birthplace of Winston Churchill- his uncle was the Duke of Marlborough who owned the house. There was an excellent exhibit on Winston Churchill and they even had his curly locks that were cut off around age 5. He was a very interesting person and after seeing the exhibit, it makes me want to know more about him!
After our stop at Bleheim Palace we continued to a village called Woodstock which is only about a mile away to have "High Tea!" As usual (is this true for everyone or just my fat-ass self?) a vacation revolves around food so we had to have High Tea just once. I found a 700 year old hotel in Woodstock and we had scones with clotted cream and strawberries, cucumber sandwiches, and a few pots of delicious English tea.
I made sure to practice the proper etiquette and put out my pinky!
High Tea comes on tiered plates and was super-delish!
The next few days we toured around the adorably cute (see...need synonyms!) villages in the Cotswolds while staying in a village called Kingham, about 1/2 mile from where our relatives live. I stayed at the same B & B back in November and was even in the same room again! We visited several country houses that were more than 500 years old, gardens, and drove on roads that were basically only slightly wider than the car itself with hedges on each side! Again, glad my dad was driving!
Onc of the adorably cute villages in The Cotswolds.
All of the buildings were made of limestone which annoyingly
reminded me of when I had to teach that stupid unit
"Products from Rocks."
One of the country houses we visited- Great Chalfied Manor.
It was completed in the 1480s and had amazing gardens.
But, even on a sunny day, it was FREEZING inside!
BAAAAAAAA!!!!!
The Cotswolds are still a big sheep-raising area despite the fact that wool isn't the world's #1 fabric anymore. Everywhere around there were cute little lambs standing by their mamas out in the fields. Yet another thing I like about England is the BBC. There is such delightful nerd TV on and the other day I saw a show called "Lambing Live" where they just go to a farm and show lots of lambs being born. A little bit gross but after they are all cleaned off they are SO adorable. For as hot as it has been in the last week (low 80s) I think these sheep are ready to have their coats off! I know I wouldn't want to be wearing a wool coat in 80 degree weather!
I think the best purchase we've ever made was to buy this GPS. If we hadn't had this thing, there is NO WAY we would have made it through this trip.
"Please turn right on ROAD."
Thanks for being so specific, Emily the GPS.
Without it, we would have all been yelling at each other and stressed out from trying to get around on the tiny tiny tiny roads that were only one-car wide. Sometimes the roads were so remote that Emily wouldn't even know their names and she would just tell us to turn on "Road." The funny thing to us was when we'd make a wrong turn (usually we'd get off the wrong exit on a roundabout!) and she'd freak out and start yelling about RECALCULATING but in a polite English accent. We started the trip with the American voice but Jill was a disaster at pronouncing the English names (I can relate!) and so we had to switch over to Emily.
After our lovely three days in the Cotswolds- where I would gladly live if I could just be rich and never have to work- (as opposed to now where I don't work but I am poor!) we headed back toward Chesham but HAD to stop at Stonehenge on the way home.
STONEHENGE!!!
Unlike when the Griswolds visited Stonehenge, you cannot actually walk up to it anymore! This is probably a good thing as apparently people were chipping off pieces of it! Fortunately, also unlike the Griswolds, we didn't have the opportunity to back the car into it- the parking lot is actually pretty far! Not to be blassé, but Stonehenge was actually smaller than I thought it was going to be and while there, I wasn't completely overwhelmed and freaking out like I thought I might be. I am aware that very few things ever live up to their hype (except the Taj Mahal which TOTALLY did!) but it was still pretty cool nonetheless. Because I am a complete dork, I had downloaded a National Geographic special on it that we watched the night before so that we would be completely prepared. The current thinking is that this was a monument to the ancestors and they've discovered a large road to "Woodhenge" which was the same shape but was likely the monument to the living. My dad listened to the audio commentary and shared out what it was saying as my mom and I were too lazy and couldn't be bothered!
Ever since I had the picture taken were I was holding up the Taj Mahal,
my dad and I are obsessed with trying to do this again.
Apparently a piece Stonehenge was trying to float away,
good thing he is holding it down!
Since my parents have been to London lots of times before having only lived about 45 minutes from it for three years, we only spent one day there. But, we still managed to see a lot! Everything is totally decked out for the Royal Wedding and the entire long street in front of Buckingham Palace is closed while they finish constructing all of the media tents to film the procession and the "wave" from the balcony! This time, we took a boat tour to Greenwich and then walked around finally ending up at Harrods, the giant store. I personally enjoyed the crystal chandelier section of the store- you don't see a section like that at very many department stores!
Senior picture in London.
My parents are always more than obliging of my senior
picture antics and in fact, they sometimes seek the locations
for me and even for their own! In Maryland, we didn't do the cheesy
outdoor senior pictures so I think that I've more than made up for that
in the last 15 years.
We share the same name and we are not amused!
The souvenirs for the Royal Wedding are out in full force and I just couldn't resist (this was my mom and dad's idea- I swear) taking this picture! I heard that the Queen waves as she does so as not to have her upper arms (her batwings as I call them!) jiggle. Good idea. I'm totally going to start waving like that and I will speak of myself in the "Royal We" from now on.
I am sure the souvenir situation will only escalate after the wedding so if there is anything people want, you've got a month to tell me! My pending visitors may be lucky enough to receive some Kate and Will playing cards! In the newspaper yesterday, there was an article with odds for betting on which tiara Kate Middleton would wear. Hilarious. I know that it is cheesy but it is really fun being here during this festive time as the whole country is decked out in Union Jack flags. The street party after the wedding in my town is called "C.R.O.W.D." which stands for the Chesham Royal Wedding Do. I love it! We are going to have a garden party in the backyard with Coronation Chicken, cucumber sandwiches, and the most English of summer drinks- Pimms & Lemonade. Pimms is like a brandy or something similar and it is delicious when mixed with lemonade (which is really Sprite to Americans).
I had such a fun time with my parents and I was really sad to see them go! I cried, big shock. But, I will see them on June 3rd when I arrive back in the US. And, they are already planning to come visit me in October in Germany where we are looking into taking a several day cruise on the Rhine River. FUN TIMES!
The next two weeks until my friend Nicole arrives I am going to be working on packing up all of my stuff and sending it to Germany! And then, Nicole and I are going to the Scottish Highlands for a few days before we full-on power tourist it up in London! She has all sorts of fun things planned that she wants to do including seeing Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and taking a ghost walk of London.
I just had to show a picture of the most complicated roundabout of all time!
Each small circle is a roundabout within a giant roundabout.
Our American brains just about exploded and Emily the GPS yelled
at us a few times because we made some wrong turns!
And, to end this, I must say thank you to my parents for such an amazing trip! You guys are awesome and I love you!!!
And finally, what would a blog post be without a picture of Felix.
Felix was naughty. He got drunk. It was hot and the beer was just so
delicious and cold! BAD FELIX! I wonder if he'll like the whiskey in
Scottish Highlands? Can't wait to find out!
Ida Marie Hansen & Lauritz Svendsen (changed to Swanson
at Ellis Island). This is where the story begins!
I just spent the weekend in Denmark visiting my cousins there but in order to really tell this story, I have to start at the beginning because I find it pretty remarkable!
In 1892, Ida Marie Hansen left the island of Langeland in Denmark and set out for the US leaving behind a portion of her large family- including sisters and brothers. Ida Marie Hansen was my great-grandmother on my dad's side and upon arrival in Omaha, she met my great-grandfather, also from Denmark. Ida Marie and Laurence (his first name was change at Ellis Island too) had many children, including my grandfather, Merrill. That is a common story, really- Scandinavian immigrants settle in the Midwest and buy a farm- they ended up in Western Iowa- and have many children. To me, the remarkable part is that someone in the family managed to continue communicating with the family left in Denmark- now for almost 120 years! I think this is where my deep love for Garrison Keillor and "A Prairie Home Companion" comes from- he is Norwegian, from Minnesota, and Lutheran- while my family is Danish, from Iowa, and Presbyterian...hilariously parallel!
We're not totally sure who did all this letter writing but we are sure glad they did! Fast forward to the 1970s and that's when the visiting really began- 80 years after the original immigration and long after both of my great-grandparents were dead. My parents took my grandparents to visit Denmark in 1977 and that's where we saw the extent of the connections- there are a lot of relatives on both sides! The Danish side came over to visit the farm in Iowa and now with the ease of international travel, Facebook, and email, we are all able to see each other with relative frequency.
Frode is holding the cutting board made by my grandpa,
Merril in the 1970s. Everyone in the family has one!
So, our current connections get really confusing because our common relative was pretty far back- but if you look at this picture- Frode (on the left) and his brother are actually just my dad's second cousins- their grandmothers were sisters. So, I guess it is not TOO far away.
So, now the connections continue down the generations and Frode & Ida's (far right in the picture) children and grandchildren have been to visit us many times and we have been to visit them a few times too- this is who I stayed with on my last two visits. I know this all sounds very confusing, but I just wanted to provide a little context to this. Basically, I just think it is really cool and not very common that families with immigration more than 100 years ago still manage to keep in touch- although now, with modern communication methods, it sure is a lot easier to stay in touch!
Bent, Lisbeth, Me, Nina Camilla, and Selma, the lab.
We visited Kronborg Palace- which is where Hamlet is set.
So, now the rest of the family that I actually know and see in Denmark (there are tons and tons that I met only once in 1999 and probably more that I don't know!) are Lisbeth, her husband Bent, and their kids Nina Camilla (19) and Terese (16). However, Terese is studying in the US right now outside of Boston so I didn't get to see her this trip. However, she is coming to visit Colorado so I'll see her before her parents do!
We had a great visit with lots of laughs and plenty of Carlsberg beer since Lisbeth works there and gets two large crates free every month! I was really lucky that for most of the trip there was sun- I actually even got sunburned while I was there! This was my first trip to Denmark outside of the summer and so I was nervous what the weather would entail- although after living in rainy, rainy England for 9 months, I shouldn't have been that worried. I am not sure I will ever get over Colorado sun in my whole life- no matter where I live, the weather will always suck compared to Colorado!
Now for some pictures from the trip! Everyone had to work on the weekdays I was there but we packed a lot into the weekend.
View of the fjord from my cousins' house in Roskilde- about 25
minutes by train from Copenhagen.
For two days, I toured Copenhagen and then on the weekend we went to visit some castles, saw Sweden from across the water, and visited Lisbeth's parents, Frode and Ida. I love Denmark. I must say that I got a little sad that I wasn't moving there instead of Düsseldorf- a large part of that is because I have family there- and I LOVE that there are bike lanes EVERYWHERE and it is realistic part of life that you can ride a bike everywhere and not get run over by a car because drivers actually look for bikes. Although, I believe the bike situation is the same in Germany so that's nice.
Took a tour of the Carlsberg Brewery, where Lisbeth works.
They still deliver beer around Copenhagen with horse-drawn carriages.
Some of the horses at Carlsberg.
They were standing in a medicinal foot treatment and were enormous.
Carlsberg also owns Tuborg and this really reminded me of India so
I had to sit in it. When we rode in a bike rickshaw in India, the driver groaned
from the weight of my friend Lisa and me- that was great for the old self-esteem!
One of the coolest parts about visiting Roskilde, where my cousins live, is that in the fjord there were many Viking ships found sunken in the water. So, they were brought up and reconstructed and Roskilde has a huge Viking Ship Museum and an outdoor center where they build modern versions based on the old designs. It is pretty amazing to think that the Vikings sailed to Canada in a wooden boat! CRAZY!
This large ship was reconstructed and actually sailed to Ireland by a group of
international volunteers!
This is the large ship from above actually on its way to Ireland.
Now imagine sailing in this all the way to NewFoundland. No thank you.
Viking boats of all sizes have been reconstructed to sail around the fjord.
This was such a beautiful day that I think half the population of the town was outside eating ice cream!
Lisbeth, me, and Nina Camilla at Frederiksborg Castle outside of Copenhagen.
A huge portion was restored with money from Carlsberg so we got free entry- why do beer companies give so many better perks than schools? No fair!!
The castle is from the mid-1500s. So beautiful!
Felix went too. He REALLY likes castles.
Taking my turn as the Queen of Denmark. Not likely I am going to find out that I am related to Danish royalty as pretty much everyone in my family was a farmer for hundreds and hundreds of years!
An elevator for the king! So cool! It was a trap door in the floor!
The main hall inside the castle. Gorgeous!
I walked around a lot of Copenhagen for two days and think it is such a beautiful city. But, one of my favorite parts of visiting Denmark is that they are the home of Legos! My dad and I went to Legoland in 1999 and it was super cool! This was just a lego store- but they had this really cool thing where you could design your own Lego-guy/girl on a computer and then they had all the parts and you could build it!
This Lego sculpture was taller than me and SUPER cool!
Here are a few more pictures from around Copenhagen.
Nyhavn (New Harbor) is one of the famous sights of Copenhagen.
Apparently it used to be a swarthy sailor area in the past!
The Queen's house in Copenhagen.
You can walk right up to it, unlike at Buckingham Palace.
I'll post the rest of the pictures of Facebook since blogger has decided that I am done posting pictures! Now, I wait three more days and my parents come! I am so excited to see them! We've got a great trip planned and I think we'll have a great time- and a little stress as I will be driving the rental car on the wrong side of the road!!
