Christmas 2008!

Kulturnat (Culture Night)

Last night was Culture Night in Copenhagen. There were tons of people out on the streets of Copenhagen all night long out having all kinds of cultural experiences. All of the museums were open as well all the churches. There were hundreds of different activities to participate in.

My group was also involved, and we got to sing at Hofteateret, or The Court Theater, which is right next to where the Danish Capital Hill is. It's a very cool old theater.




We sang two fifteen minute sets of French nun music. I know it sounds boring, but it's actually very intersting. The words are about different women that were forced into being a nun, or marriage to an older man. They are about how unhappy they are and about their secret boyfriends, etc. It's actually a little naughty!

Anyway, it was fun!

The Danish Royal Guard

I never think I have anything interesting enough to blog about. But today it hit me as I was biking to work. First of all, I work in a really cool part of town, and my bike ride there is also very scenic.

One of the highlights of the trip is biking along one of the Copenhagen lakes. There are a series of lakes that run through the middle of Copenhagen. Here's a pic.



Then further along way, as I get closer to work, I pass the Royal Gardens.



Right as I pass the gardens, almost like clockwork, comes the Danish Royal Guard. They often march around inner Copenhagen. I think they are heading back to where they live - near the Royal Gardens.



Everyday when I pass them, it makes me realize how much I love our lifestyle in Copenhagen. I am a city girl at heart and I love that Copenhagen is a biking town. It's flat and a relatively small city. We live very close to everything. I love being able to just bike anywhere without having to worry about parking or having money for a car. So even though you'll hear me complain about Denmark a lot, this is one area of our life here that I really love.

Sungard

I know, I know... it's been a long time since I wrote an entry. So here's my latest update...

I started my new job (permanent job!) a couple weeks ago. The company is called Sungard, which is American owned. They have offices all over the world.

It didn't start out so well, because I got sick after my first day on the job! I was very embarrassed and stressed out about being sick already. But it was that time of the year when the weather begins to go cold and when many people fall ill. Luckily it only took two days at home for me to get back on the job. It's been great. I work M-F from 1-5. It's so perfect for me. I can go to rehearsals in the morning if I need to, or just do the cleaning and shopping I feel I never have time to do. It's also nice to be able to sleep in in the morning if I want.

The job itself has also been very good. It's a bit challenging. There are many things to remember. I will eventually be setup as the main travel coordinator, so there is a fair amount of responsibility involved. I've been a bit stressed out here in the beginning because my supervisor and coworker is going on vacation for two weeks starting Monday. So I have to be able to do everything myself. That's after only 1 and 1/2 weeks training. She has confidence that I can do it, but I'm not so sure. We'll see what happens. It's ALOT to remember!

I also really like the people there. They are very nice and I seem to have a fair amount in common with them. And Dorte, the girl I work with is very sweet. I think we will end up being good friends in no time.

Oh, and another responsibility I've just been given is planning our Christmas party. I'm nervous about that. I don't think they know that I don't drink yet. Do they really want someone planning their crazy Danish Christmas party by a non-drinker? I need help! But it's exciting to get all of this responsibility.

The other cool thing about the job is the location. It's very close to where the Danish royalty live. It's right on the harbor, and I can see the new Danish opera house right across the water. It's a very cool part of town. And it only takes me 20 minutes to bike there! No bus pass required!

I just hope that I can learn everything soon and be able to relax a bit more. I've been a bit stressed out here since Dorte is leaving for a two week vacation. So wish me luck!

Copenhagen Temple

Last night we finally went to the temple. I don't think I've been for over a month. We've been out travelling a lot, and just busy in general. However that's no excuse. We really should go more. We live literally 5 minutes away on the bike.

The minute we get in the door at the temple, the temple president says he wants to speak to us afterwards. We were thinking that's it's either a calling to go to the temple every week and do endownments (we have some friends that have had that) or it's to be a temple worker. It turned out that they wanted us to be temple workers. We said yes immediately. It's was a wonderful experience. First of all we have the most amazing temple president. He and his wife (a swedish couple) are about the most humble, nice people you will ever meet - and they are converts to the church! He is just so excited about temple work. You can't help but feel happy in his presence. They are amazing people. I felt so humbled to be sitting in his office getting a blessing from him. If there was a church all-star team, they would be on it and leading it. I honestly don't think I've ever met such wonderful people in all my life.

The calling is to serve 12 shifts during the course of the year. We've decided to do one Saturday a month. It's difficult for me to go from work to another activity. I don't think it would be wise to do an evening shift. But the president joked a bit that maybe I would be healed from my narcolepsy. Wouldn't that be awesome. I sure hope he is right. However, I know the chances of that are very low. There's plenty of sick temple workers. Why should I be cured and not them.

The crazy thing about this calling is, that I will have to learn it in English, Danish, and Swedish. I think that's pretty scary. But Andreas says you can always use the cards. You just have to learn to pronounce things. I guess that's not problem for me. I'm used to that.

Anyway, we are feeling very blessed right now and a bit overwhelmed. I couldn't stop crying last night, it was so emotional. We are just so thankful that our Heavenly Father would trust us in such an important call.

Summer Vacation

It's already June 1st and the weather is beautiful. I can't wait to start my summer vacation. I got offered another temp job for about 2-3 weeks, which I started a couple days ago. Then we head off to Iceland! Andreas has a conference there. So that means we only have to pay for my flight. Just about everything else is covered from the conference. We come home June 29th.

The following weekend, we have to go to Stockholm to be a part of Andreas' cousin's wedding. She has asked us to provide music. I have to learn a Swedish song and Andreas will of course play keyboard, or whatever. (the wedding will be held out in a wooded area). Then I hope to get another temp job for 3 weeks or so before we head off to the states.

Yes, the states! We fly in Aug. 1st to Portland and go home Aug. 22nd. We have so much to do during our stay. There are so many people to visit. The Bishop in Columbia River ward has asked us to put on a fireside/concert while were there. So we're going forward with plans to put on our Joseph Smith concert we did here in Denmark about 3 years ago. It will be a big project, but I know we can pull it off. I hope all the rels in the area can come sing! I'll be leading the choir.

We also have to visit Andreas' brother's family who lives in Astoria. Ana and her new husband and baby will be in town. I've never met Brian, her husband, so that is also high on the list of things to do. And of course Jeff's wedding has been recently announced for August 16th (same day as ours was!) in Sacramento. So instead of an excursion to Utah, we will most likely to be heading to Northeren California. Luckily they picked a good place to get married! There's a ton to see there. Andreas will love it.

I of course want to get lots of bonding time with all of the kiddies - especially Gavin. He is too little and doesn't know his auntie. We need to change that!

Anyway, it seems like it's going to be a very fun, but busy vacation! We're looking forward to it!

Thorvaldsen Museum

I've mentioned before how lucky I've been to be able to sing with Musica Ficta. We get to sing at such cool events. I've seen much of Denmark the average Dane has never seen.

The other day, I was part of a quartet that sang in the Thorvaldsen museum for the "museum prize". I think it was an award to the best museum of the year or something. It was a huge event for the elite of the arts scene. We met an hour before the event and rehearsed two songs and then sang for the event. It sounded great and was a lot of fun. I can't help thinking how cool it is to be able to be apart of these "insider" events.

Thorvaldsen is the guy that made the Christ figure the church uses. If you didn't already know, he is Danish. I wonder if he had any idea what an amazing work he did in making that statue. What an amazing contribution! Here's a picture of the original in the Church of our Lady in Copenhagen (ironic title, huh?). There are also full size statues of all the original apostles in the same church. It's quite impressive.

Anyway it was cool. I thought I should write about it!

High Council

We've had some exciting news. Andreas was called to be in the High Council last week. I think he is the youngest member. He has been put in charge of Home Teaching and Primary??? Can't remember exactly.

Anyway, this means that he had to get released as counselor in the bishopric. I have to admit that I'll miss getting to put my two cents into the bishopric- not that he would ever do anything appropriate that way. But I obviously had some influence. Now I can influence the stake! Poor Andreas.

We're really proud of Andreas. The Lord really trusts him to run his church. He is a good guy!

Temp Job

I've had a temp job for the last two weeks for the Danish train company (DSB). It's for the debit department (I think that's what it's called in English). Anyway, it's been really good. I've never tried work like this before, but I've proven to be quite good at it. I've received many compliments. I'm thinking that I'll try to find a part-time job doing the same work. I like that I don't have to talk on the phone or do anything with customers. I just enter a lot of data into the computers and make sure that it agrees with the data they already had. If it's not in agreement, then there are some corrections to be made. It sounds really exciting, I know. But if I can't get a job singing, then I'd prefer to do something like this.

135 year old birthday party

Yes, 135 years! That is, 70 for our friend Irma and 65 for her husband Jørgen. Here is a picture of them.




It is very common for people in Denmark, when they have a "round" birthday (as Danes say), to have a big party. I would say there was about 50 people there. We were served a three course dinner. There were songs written with special texts to them.


I would say that these parties are a bit more formal than the average American party. You get pretty dressed up, and there will be a whole program in place for the evening. And it will generally be a long evening. We were there from 4 o´clock and were home by 10:30. We thought that was quite short. We had counted on a late night. Anyway, I think in general, that Americans are a bit more off the cuff. But it was a nice evening. I think Irma and Jørgen were very happy about it.


Andreas has known them many years. He has taught piano to some of their grandchildren. And Jørgen likes to think that it is because of him, that Andreas and I found each other. Apparently Jørgen told Andreas that he should look for a musican. So, he feels proud of that.


They are both music lovers and had asked us to prepare some classical pieces to perform for everyone. I sang "O mio babbino caro" by Puccini, and Andreas played Chopin.


Here's som pictures.

Roger Whittaker

How many of you know this face? Do you remember those old Time Life commercials advertising his music? I don't remember him being at all popular in the States. I'm coming to realize however, that Roger Whittaker (pronounced Vitaker) is actually very popular in Europe (at least in Denmark and Germany). Andreas' mom has been to many of his concerts and admits to having a bit of a crush on him. She says he is just so handsome. And right this very minute we're watching a really cheasy German variety show in which he is guest. It's so hilarious to see how popular he is! It's not just old people singing along, but young people too! He just got a standing ovation! And it's all in German! He speaks German too. I wonder if he's just moved over to Germany, he is so popular there. David Hasselhof is apparently not the only American to find fame amongst Germans! You go for it Roger!

UPDATE: Just to underline how popular he is here in Denmark, I wanted to mention that Ingegerd (Andreas´mom) has just told us that her sister from Stockholm is coming down to Denmark, so the two of them can go to a Roger Whittaker concert together! They are still devoted fans!

Living room art at a good price

Many of you know that I am a bargain shopper. I love to get that steal of a deal. And for a long time, I had looked for some inexpensive artwork for our living room. But to no avail. Anything I found at the right price was just crap. So, I decided to make something myself. I got inspired from some show on the BBC, where they just use fabric over a canvas. It's real easy to make, and really cheap. In Denmark, you can buy painters canvases in any size for very cheap. Here's some pictures. The first one goes over our couch.

The big picture right below is actually a table cloth. I thought it kind of looked like a painting.
Isn't it cool? If I wanted to invest more money into it, I'd get a frame for it.

My latest addition to living room art is my Christ pictures. I found some really cheap frames and then cut out some pictures from an old Simon Dewey calendar. I think they turned out really nice. I'm proud of them. Not bad for 20 bucks!

Puzzle Madness

Everyone knows how Janet is the master puzzler in the family, but how many of you know how good Andreas is? He loves puzzling, and in turn, I've gotten a bit into it myself. Here's a picture of our latest project. It's 3000 pieces. We have a deal that I always do the edges and then the next easiest part. Needless to say, I'm not as quick as he is. I think for every 10 pieces he lays, I lay down one!

Trip to Aalborg

Last weekend, we left for a trip to Aalborg, Denmark, where Andreas is from. We went up to visit his parents. It's about 4 hours away. It was nice and relaxing! Ingegerd and Johannes live in a small little village outside of Aalborg. It's very quiet and surrounded by farmland. It's nice to go up there sometimes to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.


Marianne (Andreas' sister) had dropped off her kids with Grandma for a romantic trip to Berlin with her husband Søren. So we were there with her three daughters. We had fun with them. We took them to an aquatic center and to McDonalds afterwards one of the days. Here's a picture of Andreas with Karoline and Sofie.



The girls aren't allowed to play too much computer at home, so they had a ball playing all of our different computer games and our Wii. Here's little Matilde knocking Andreas out in boxing. She was really cute and so proud of herself.



One day while we were there, Andreas and I took a trip alone up to the coast. Andreas got permission to take the car, in which he was thrilled. He has a drivers license now, but has no means of using it now! We bike everywhere. But he has the car bug. He can't stop looking at the BMW website.


We drove up to the beach and took some pictures. It was cold, so I didn't really want to walk down the beach. So Andreas ran out on the beach to get his wiggles out (check out his jumping jacks below). But then he talked me into walking down the beach after all.

Check out the old German bunkers behind me left from WWII.

All in all it was a nice trip!

Proclaiming the Gospel

Most of you know that I often dream out loud - the crazy narco that I am. Anyway, Andreas said that I had a very articulate dream last night about missionary work. Apparently I had born testimony for someone and they didn't believe it. I got very upset. And then I said "Why don't you believe what I'm saying? Why don't you believe my testimony? You get down on your knees right now and start praying and then the Holy Spirit will tell it to your mind and in your body that what I'm saying is the truth!!!!" (directly quoted from Andreas)

The theme of the meeting yesterday was missionary work, so I'm guessing it stemmed from that. Pretty funny though, huh?

Musica Ficta

I've been lucky to have become a member of Musica Ficta shortly after I arrived in Denmark. It's one of the few professional vocal ensembles in Denmark. We've done all sorts of concerts together in which I've been able to see many parts of Denmark. Andreas says that I've seen more of Denmark than he has. For example, we were down in a town called Tønder which is near the German border. Noone ever goes there. But we did! I've also been involved in a video which was filmed in the basement of a castle here in Copenhagen. It's pretty cool all the things I've been able to do here through Musica Ficta.

One of the biggest projects we've had throughout the last couple of years is called "Nuns of Notre Dame". It's all music that was written or performed by nuns. We've also made a cd, which is on it's way out to the market now. It took a while to get all the rights to the music.

Wii

The other night, Andreas' parents and Mikael were over for a visit. We ate dinner and then ended up playing Wii together. Johannes really likes tennis and golf. Here's some pictures of us boxing.

Not bad for 72, Johannes!

Oh yeah, lookin' good!

Heart Attack!

Last night after our ward temple night, we came home to a heart attack! The girls upstairs had decorated our door with lots of hearts and candy (most of the candy is gone now...). It's probably no surprise that both girls served missions at Temple Square, (i.e. Utah). Anyway, it was really sweet and fun! It's nice to have good tenants!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Apartment

Per request, I've taken some pictures of our apartment so you all can see where we live! I tried to make a video, but I couldn't figure out how to upload it.


























It's not a big apartment, but It's in a nice part of town, in which we're really happy about. And for those of you that don't know, we have purchased the apartment directly above us, in which we plan to make into one big apartment with the one we live in now. In the meantime, we have rented the one upstairs to two young single adult girls. We're hoping that until we really need the extra space, i.e. children, that we can continue to rent out the upstairs. The problem is, that we have to build a staircase this summer. So we'll have to figure out how to make both floors private. And as a requirement of the county, we will have to build a nice big bathroom where our kitchen and bathroom (toilet) are. Then later, when we have the whole apartment to ourselves, we will open up the kitchen upstairs into an open kitchen and dining room. But in the meantime, after we will have made the bathroom downstairs, we will have to live without a kitchen. We will probably just set up a microwave and hot plate on our dining room table or something. It will be worth it for a year or so to save on rent. Because it's not cheap to own both of these apartments. But it is a huge investment opportunity for us, if we can just manage to figure out how to pay the bills for a couple years. Hopefully Andreas will get a really good job when he's done with his Phd.

Fastelavn

Fastelavn is a tradition in Denmark that is similar to that of Carnival. It means literally the night before the fast. It was people's last chance to really have a good time before the fast started. In Denmark and Holland there was also a tradition where they would take a barrel with a cat inside and hit and kill the cat. The cat apparently represented evil.

Nowadays Fastelavn is a holiday for kids. They dress up in fun costumes and hit the barrell which is filled with candy. Afterwards they eat special Fastelavn donuts. Here's a picture of our junior primary trying to get the candy out. It was freezing cold and the barrell is very hard. I think we stood outside for over a half hour waiting for the kids to get it open.

Here's a picture of my friend Emma. She's from Scotland and is also married to a Dane. She dressed up as the tooth-fairy. She was on the activities committe and had to help with the event. It reminded of how Laura Gable and I were in charge of the party my first year in Denmark, and how we didn't know what the heck we were supposed to do. Fun memories.

Estonian Excursion

Last October, Andreas and I took a last minute trip to Tallinn, Estonia. We got it really cheap, since it was last minute. The hotel we stayed at was called Telegraaf. It was a five star hotel. Boy did we get good service. It was so nice.

When we arrived at the hotel, Andreas arranged to surprise me with flowers and chocolates. There were also rose petals on the bed. It was so romantic. He really outdid himself.

The next morning we headed out into town. The inner part of Tallinn is very quaint. The architecture is medieval. However, outside of that little part of town, it's not so inspiring. It just seemed like a very sad place to be.

We walked around a bit and did some shopping. I did get a cute hat there! Other than that, we preferred to spend our time at the hotel. How sad is that!

By the way, we found out that Tallinn actually means Danish city. Apparently it was conquered by Denmark at one point in time. How appropriate it was for us to visit!