Sleepless in Denmark...

I took this picture of the sunset (solskin, solskinnet) sitting on the window in the living room while I did some writing. The words in parenthesis are Danish translations so I can share the language with you and also learn myself! Anyway, it was not the Key West sunset I am use to...but beautiful none the less. It is strange to realize that as we are saying goodnight to the sun and watching our day come to a close, somewhere else in the world the sun is welcoming a new day. A new start. Ahhh, and that is the beauty of the rise and fall of the sun! A reminder that each day is new. There will be a point in all of our lives where there will be our very last sunrise and sunset. Perhaps we can find it in us to be more grateful for the days we are given. I wondered what all of you were doing as I was watching the sunset tonight. Distance doesn't unravel the presence you all have in my thoughts. Ok, now on to some Denmark news! lol

SAY CHEESE! or (OST)

Ok, so this isn't the best picture of us but I figured so far there hasn't been any people in my pictures and I had to show we were really here! We went for a pretty long walk today through town. We were on a search to find this little hole in the wall office. Because unless you own your own washing machine or better yet "vaskemaskine" then you need special tokens to wash your clothes. So you go to this office and tell them what street you live on and then they give you special tokens for that street. I personally think it is really silly. So depending on what street you live on, that dictates what tokens you get to operate the washing machine and dryer. So 12 kroners a token later...we were off to find the physical therapist for Brandon's ankle and then get lunch. Ok, ok...I know, enough about food...but lunch was really good! Everything here is just super duper fresh. And you get little sugar cubes when you order coffee, which I think is really cute. Oh yeah, Brandon's ankle is getting better. Which is good because his first game is next Saturday! =-) Brandon is doing really amazing out here. He won a dunk contest out in Copenhagen a few weeks ago. If you go to http://www.gam3.dk/ then click on the main picture on the opening page, then click on gallery, then click on videos...there are like 6 videos of the dunks that he did to win the contest.

COBBLESTONE AND CRUTCHES

This is a picture of one of the roads that leads to the center of town. The buildings on the sides are apartments, restaurants and stores. There are a lot of roads here that are made out of cobblestone. And I can't say that cobblestone roads are very good for Brandon's sprained ankle! I have been looking for the perfect car to take a picture of that would reflect the "typical" car driven in Denmark. You very rarely see SUV's here and people that do decide to drive one have to pay a lot more money because you pay by the weight of the vehicle. So you actually have to pay a lot more to drive an SUV. Also, the amount of taxes you pay here is dependent on how much money you make. The more money you make, the more you get taxed. You can get taxed over 6o% but everyone here is covered and taken care of. You pay nothing for medical expenses, they give you money to help raise your kids until they reach 18, if you lose your job or are unemployed then they help you until you can get on your feet again, etc. I have not seen any homeless people since I have been here and there doesn't seem to be a big divide of the rich and the poor. In the states there are thousands of mansions and then thousands of projects. Here, there is a middle ground that most comfortably live at.

BERRIES OF SUNSHINE

This is a random picture but I loved the colors in it so I thought I'd share. There was a huge bush of them along the side of the sidewalk as we were walking. I have noticed that most people here either have a lot of plants and flowers growing or fill their window sills with potted plants. I think it can make a difference in someones day. Things seem a little more inspiring when you can see beautiful things growing all around you. It makes me think of the journey from seed to bloom, symbolic of life and the common thing we all share. And hopefully, the blossoming we are all in search of.
GOT LOGS?

While we were walking, we went down a more industrial area and saw thousands and thousands of stacked logs. I liked the angle of the shot and the texture of the view. Across the street was a recycling plant. Which reminds me, Denmark is a much more environmentally conscious country. And the land shows the rewards of the people taking care of it. Wake up America!

FISHING BOATS

These are the first boats I have seen since being here!! I can't wait to see the coasts of Denmark. It might be strange to be standing on a beach while feeling like you should be standing on a pile of snow!

It's time for me to sign off now but I will write soon! I love and miss you all!

With love,

Rebecca

Hidden Treasures

"Violin Girl"
There are statues scattered all around Naestved. This is a picture of a statue in front of an apartment building and across the street from a large church. I think it is really beautiful that the city is sprinkled with fountains and statues. I noticed that a lot of different species of trees and plants grown here. It seems like every day I notice a new kind of plant.There are a lot of fruit trees around too. I walked around the neighborhood at sunset tonight and picked an apple off an apple tree and saw a beautiful garden in someones backyard. It had all sorts of flowers and plants. The house behind our apartment has a peach tree with so much fruit that peaches are scattered all over their yard. Yesterday, we tried white raspberries for the first time. They were sweeter than the red ones!

"Hookah And Boots"
This is a picture of the front door of the neighbor that is right across from our apartment. I thought it was an interesting picture and a simple insight to the casual laid back atmosphere of Denmark. A hookah and some shoes rest safely outside the door. The ironic part is that I heard American rap music coming from inside the apartment!






"Bricks of Heaven"
This is a picture of the church across the street from the violin girl statue. She has quite a view! All of the churches that I have seen look very much like this one. They are huge and have incredible brick work. I haven't been inside one yet. Lutheranism is the official religion of Denmark. Even though most Danes subscribe to a voluntary tax that supports the Church, many of the churches remain fairly empty because most Danes don't attend.


"The Sound & View of Town"
I took this picture from the window in our living room. Train tracks separate us from the main part of town. That grey building in the very back of the picture is the grocery store we shop at. The top part is the "biblioteket" which means "library" and the bottom part is the grocery store. The train is passing through right now. It is dark out right now and I can see the lights from town and hear the sounds of the train station. Perfection!

"Peaches and Clotheslines"
I took this picture from the bedroom window. If you look closely you can see the peach tree and dozens of peaches resting on the roof of the shed. I am tempted to walk over there and gather some to eat! I noticed the clothesline in their backyard and thought of the simplicity of how life could be. The people here seem so much easier to satisfy and aren't as materialistic as the people in the states. Their lifestyles seem physically and emotionally healthier. They are all very active, walking and biking everywhere. No one here is fat! You don't see girls wearing a lot of makeup and I have not noticed one single person with any obvious signs of plastic surgery. And they are happy. They don't need to be consuming fast food and the latest trend to be happy. We could learn something from them.



"Vand"
Vand means water in Danish. The tap water here tastes so pure that we mostly drink our water from the tap. Tonight I filled up a water bottle and stuck it outside the window to chill the water. We found this glass in a store in town and we had to take a picture because it was the same glass that Brandon always drinks from back home. This particular store was cool because it had the most random things you could think of...from painting supplies to candy bars to candles. And it wasn't expensive, which is rare here. Figuring out the value of kroners compared to dollars was one thing...but lately I feel like I have been a converting machine! Kilometers to miles...Celsius to Fahrenheit...and converting all the measurements when I am trying to cook. Brandon and I have been cooking at home a lot. We try to keep things a little authentic by cooking a lot of potatoes with Bearnaise sauce and finishing it off with some DELICIOUS danish cookies! ;-) But we haven't exactly moved on to pickled herring and dishes topped with raw egg yolks! Baby steps, baby steps!!

Okay, well it's time for me to say "hi hi" (that means goodbye in Danish!)

With Love,

Becca

You can't judge a book by it's cover...

Welcome to Kornbakken street! Home sweet home. This is Brandon's apartment building in Naestved, Denmark. His window is at the very top right. We call it Dracula's house because of the spooky exterior but the inside of his apartment is adorable. I guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover. It might be a small apartment but I fell in love with it the moment I walked in...it has so much character and charm. This is my second night here and it still hasn't really hit me that I am in Denmark. Yesterday, after I landed, Brandon met me at the airport and we took a train from Copenhagen to Naestved. It was my first time on a train and the whole train ride was filled with windows of beautiful countryside and small towns. It's been pretty cold since I have been here and I can't say that I miss the heat or the humidity yet. Brandon has been a really good host. Yesterday we walked around Naestved on cobblestone streets with bicycles wizzing past us. We went into a small candy store where I bought some real black licorice...(Brandon seemed a little disgusted with my candy choice lol) We picked up a huge pizza for dinner. It was a lot different than the pizza in the states...it had really delicious lamb on it and was topped with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. While I am on the subject of food...going to the grocery store is quite an adventure...for one, it's all in Danish, and if that isn't hard enough, I had to try and figure out how much everything was worth by trying to convert kroners to dollars using my fingers to count! I know my Dad is reading this right now, talking out loud at the screen complaining about his daughter having to use her fingers to perform "simple math." This may be a little off subject...but I have noticed that because the majority of my traveling has been done with my parents, that I have started traveling with their perspective. I was noticing the brick work of a large church today the way my father would and looked at different species of plants and flowers wondering if I could figure out what they were the way my mom would. Even walking around town with Brandon the last two days has shown me how he notices the behaviors of people and the details of their culture. I think it is really refreshing how people can open up little windows into our worlds and offer their perspective on things without even realizing they are doing it. While Brandon was at practice today I went to the local grocery store by myself to buy flowers for the apartment...which turned out to be a little more intimidating than I had anticipated. Simply said, things are just different here. I have to step my game up and learn the grocery store rituals lol...you have to BUY the bags that your groceries go in, which means you have to guess how many bags it will take to get all your groceries...you have to put those little divider things BEFORE and after your groceries. I had different people speaking to me in Danish and even after I responded with the "I'm sorry, I don't speak Danish" they would keep speaking Danish! Lucky for me though, almost everyone under 50 speaks English. Between what Brandon is teaching me and plain old survival skills I have learned at least 10 new words in Danish...I know, that isn't very much but you have to start somewhere. Well, I made it out of the store alive and with flowers in tow...and made my cold yet refreshing walk back home. Brandon is asleep right now, it's about 1 a.m. here. The train runs right past his apartment so along with huge gusts of wind that are whipping past the building, I can hear the train coming through. I feel like I am in the setting of a novel. Well I need to try and go to sleep now because I am still not adjusted to the time change. Tomorrow I will post more pictures and not have such a rambling blog. Until then, take care. I love you all! Email me and let me know what is going on in your neck of the woods...

With love,

Rebecca