My days are now 80% danish speaking, 20% English speaking which is brilliant! It's great to feel that sometimes, my Danish is better than their English, as Danes are very good at speaking English. My thoughts are beginning to be Danish-speaking and I no longer feel I have to explain to people that Danish is my second language.
Earlier this month, I visited a beefarm, owned by a Rotarian, and tasted some hard danish honey, very different from our runny Australian honey. I have also visited a Danish dairy factory with Rotary this month, and tasted a lot of tasty Danish cheese.
I had my first Danish school party, or "Gymfest", involving a bar, a dj and an Olympic Games theme at school. About 1000 people came, all dressed up in various exciting olympic games clothes.
Tina and I at a pre-party:
And the queue to get in:
I wasn't home til about 6am from this party. There is no comparison to an Australian school disco here - this was a real beer fuelled, party-music-driven fest of great proportions. It was great to socialise with Danes outside of the class environment a little more - Danes turn into incredibly different people when they have a couple of drinks. They are usually shy and reserved and a little hard to talk to, but with alcohol they are very much the opposite. It's strange to see normally very shy, untalkative people turn into open-armed, welcoming friends. Just another side to the crazy Danes...
I went to Svendborg, 2 hours away by train, to visit Siri and Sophie, two girls from Australia, and to see a Danish jazz group called "Ibrahim Electric". It was a great show, very tight, clean jazz and a very enthusiastic crowd. Bass, hammond organ and a lead guitar:
A classmate lent me their cd months ago, and when I found out they were playing I had to get down to see them.
And then, LEGOLAND!
My good friend Tina asked if I wanted to go to Legoland with her family last week, and what else could I say! It was a childhood dream come true...It's a bit of a cross between a theme park and a open-air museum, with thousands of models of real life monuments and cities, as well as rides and arcade games. We had a great time wandering the models with me, Tina and her younger brother, Emil.
Emil and I:
Model of Copenhagen's harbour:
A street in Hollywood, Legoland:
Me and a windmill:
3 million lego bricks in this one:
Model of the national Danish handball stadium:
Battling lego vikings:
"Lego" comes from the Danish words "Leg" and "Godt", meaning "Play Well."
Next week I have a Rotary camp on the weekend, which will be brilliant! It will be great to see some of the exchange students again. I'm shifting families when I get back on next Sunday afternoon, but I'll be away from home for the Rotary camp from Friday, meaning I'll be packing up here next Thursday. It's going to be sad to leave the Pejdersens! There's a possible trip to Hamburg with Angus, a good friend from Australia, and Tunisia is just 3 weeks away!
I've hit my 8 month mark in Denmark, and I can't beleive how fast the year is going...
Love, Daniel
