The month began with District camp - all the exchange students from my district (about 30 of us) met at a scout camp for a weekend of fun. I met a bunch of new exchange students who arrived in July and taught them some of the deep, dark exchange student secrets that we must pass on to the younger generation. There wasn't so many planned activities, it was much more of a meet-and-have-fun weekend.
I've changed fami
lies again, for the last time! It was VERY sad to leave the Pejtersens, I had a brilliant time with them. I'm missing many things about my time there, but I can't complain at all. My new family is great fun as well. I went to visit the Pejtersens a week or so after I left and was told Rebekka cried when I left - I miss spending afternoons hopping on the trampoline with her. But they only live around the corner so I can always go to visit.I realised how much stuff I have accumulated here when I packed up to leave - at least 4 times what I came with. I'll be looking into sending some stuff home by ship...
My new family is very easy going and friendly. I have an 18 year old sister who was an exchange student in Brazil, and 2 older siblings who have left home. My host mum has tea waiting when I come home late from school which is very hyggeligt.
I aced my first maths test of the year with a 10 - the equivilant of an A. They have a very funny scoring system here - with the best mark being 12 (a+), then 10, 7, 4, 2, 0 and -2. 0 is the equivilant of 50%. I still really don't know why they use such a strange system, but apparently it's common across Europe.
I've started jamming with people again, after the previous jam group i was with stopped before the summer. I'm staying in Silkeborg on Tuesday afternoons to play keyboard with 4-5 other like-minded musicians, which is a lot of fun.
And then there was Tunisia!
Arrived in Monastir Airport late Friday night, to discover I needed a visa as I came from Australia...Luckily, it was sorted out within 30 minutes and we were able to drive to Hammamet, where our hotel was. One night there, before we drove to Kairouan to see temples and the city. First impressions were that it was a hell of a lot warmer than Denmark (25 degrees) and very different architecturally. I was also surprised to see Eucalyptus trees on the side of the road - apparently grows well in the dry climate. There's almost no road rules and things very MUCH cheaper than Denmark. The univseral second language is French, as it was a French colony, and they are very fond of curries and sweets. On the first day I bought a carpet and some spices (Saffron is very cheap in Tunisia) and ate a very spicy curry for lunch.
After Kairoaun, we drove a long way to Gafsa. A walk through the city, and then found our 5 star hotel for dinner. "Jugartha Palace" was on the edge of the desert, and had a massive pool, fountains, cocktails waiting upon arrival, jewels on the ceilings and very comfortable beds! We had an incredible night here
The next day we drove out to the desert and took a 10 kilometre walk in the beautiful weather, arriving at a great canyon we walked through.
That evening, we began our camel tour into the Sahara, departing from Gafsa, a city on the edge of the desert. We had a herd of camels, with one person on each camel, led by an arabic man on foot.
Jose and I prepared for the desert:
My camel:
And the activities of the night in the desert:
our campsite under the Saharan Stars:
and sunrise over the Sahara:
We came back the next day to drive to Douz, a town with a great marketplace where I bought several arabic carpets, spices, jewellery and a woodflute.
Our next hotel was set in caves in a desert town, and I managed to go for a wander and take some great pictures.
We went to visit a family that lived inside a cave in the desert:
The day after, we visited the biggest remaining Roman Colloseum outside of Rome in El Jem.
We spent the final two days in Mahatma, visiting markets, relaxing in the warm medditeranean waters in the warm weather and laughing along with all the danes. I ate hundreds of DELICIOUS olives and had my first good coffee in 9 months! I bargained a little teapot down from 95 dinar to 15 dinar (one dinar is approximately $1) and spent hours sitting in cafes by the sea with the Danes.
Jose from Argentina, me and Tobias from Denmark in our lovely little cafe:
I got home late yesterday evening to Denmark and was incredibly shocked to return to the delightfully cold 5 degree weather. Apparently it will be sunny tomorrow - but when the Danish forcasters say there will be sun, it generally means a total of 10 minutes of sun will fall somewhere over Denmark at somepoint in the day. Alright, maybe 15 minutes. Winter is not too far away...Hopefully my jacket will withstand Denmark in December and early January. It feels very early to be talking about Christmas, but there's hardly a day when Danes don't mention it at this time of the year. Danes give presents on Christmas Eve, and sing songs and dance around the trees after their "Julefrokost", which sounds like a massive day-long feasting celebration! I'm also free from school in early December due to a big individual project my class is doing - so we'll see what I'm able to plan.
Next weekend is the final Rotary student get together with all the students from Denmark meeting in Holbaek, 3 hours away. On the Sunday night after that, I will stay at my penfriend Marie's house, before I go to a concert with The Streets in Copenhagen on the Monday night.
My birthday is also just two days away, and we will be having a hyggeligt family dinner with Danish cakes and lots of tasty flødeboller. I'll make some Anzac biscuits to eat at school with the class during the day too.
Flødeboller: (cream filled chocolate balls with a biscuit base - delicious to eat, not so delicious to pronounce.)
And I've been here 9 months now - whoa!
Love Daniel
ps. now you can click the photos to see them in a bigger version.
pps: NEW ADDRESS and family:
Sam og Mona Eyde
Ahornvej 30
Ry 8680
DANMARK
(+45) 8689 2751
