Snow!!!

I really am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to snow!  I keep getting distracted and staring out the window at the beautiful white flakes falling from the heavens... Makes me giddy!  Driving is a bit exciting when we are sliding about, but Nate is a pro so I know he has everything under control.

View I woke up to Monday morning!!!  Made being home so much more wonderful!

Vestas dusted with snow  ;-)



Nate - turning into a snowman on his walk into the office  ;-p



My hypnotizing view all day from my desk... snow has been falling everyday since also.

Hamburg, Germany

Last weekend we decided on a whim to go down to Hamburg for the weekend with Steve, Anju, and the kids (Corina, ~1yr, Everett, ~4yrs).  Got up at like 6am on Saturday so we could get an early start (drive is about 3 1/2 hours).  Somehow getting up early in the morning is a little easier when it is getting up for a fun adventure, instead of getting up for work.  :-)
Off we went... We made it unscathed, even though as soon as we hit Germany and the insanely fast drivers we felt a little out of place... I mean Nate doesn't exactly drive slow, but there we seemed to be crawling along.  Little baby car was pushed to the limit!  She did quite well though!  We just made sure to stay out of the way of the drivers that were driving crazy speeds!

We got to Germany about 11am and parked near the church of St. Nikolai for our first adventure.  Was quite a place to start I think.  The church was victim to bombing during WWII, only the steeple was left standing.  Today the ruined church is maintained as a memorial to remind of the horrors of war.  Very impactful to see the pictures of buildings destroyed during the war.  You can just feel all the death and chaos that ensued.  In the basement crypt there is maintained a gallery of pictures, some of which show pictures from around town before the war, during/after the destruction of WWII, and then what the rebuilt/restored buildings look like today.  Sad and moving to see the progression.  I really don't know if I will ever understand all the hate in the world, and how people can be so horrible to one another.  I really wish that love could just make the whole world go round, and everyone could just live their own lives to the fullest without worrying about what other people are doing in their own lives that are not in line with ones own ideals.  I mean to help someone when they are down, I get that, but who pushes someone down and holds them there?  I hope one day to live in a world that is free from hate (yea a pipe dream I know... but I still choose to dream).

We took the family up to the top of the steeple and looked out over the city.  This is the tallest point in Hamburg so we got a pretty good view :-).

Statue out front of monument

View looking up the steeple from the ground

View from the top

Statue built inside the ruins of the church. Vivid picture to really bring home the point of the monument left the way it has been.  As an empty shell of a church which used to be.

The rest of the day we spent just wandering around the city.  Looking at the festive decorations that were going up everywhere in preparation.

Christmas markets are starting to go up everywhere (in Denmark too), this one was just getting the final touches put into it so it could open up on Monday morning.  So we didn't see it open, but still was fun to walk through and see the festivities  :-D



 

 

We (Nate and I) spent the evening wandering around the red light district of hamburg.  That is a quite interesting part of town for sure.  As the evening went on there were actual prostitutes which were lining the side streets... where I am sure you could just walk down the street checking them all out and then pick which one you would like to pay for... Must be a rough line of work to be in.. don't think I will try that out  ;-p

We decided to escape the cold for a bit and popped into a local pub to watch a football (i.e. soccer for you Americans  ;-p) match.  There was some big rivalry match against two German teams (no, I have no idea now what teams we watched), we ordered a beer and sat back to watch.  It took about 45 minutes before we noticed that we were not in a straight bar (well or so we assume).  I was one of three "girls" in the whole place, and I am pretty sure one of the girls was really a man.  So that was quite entertaining. We stayed for a bit but eventually had to leave to go get some delicious dinner.  Another culture notch in the belt (for Nate too, not sure if he ever would have on purpose gone into a gay bar), had a good time though. :-)
I tried to convince him to come with me to a drag show after that, but there is a line which he is apparently not ready to cross... So girls.. one day we will have to go to one. I feel like I am missing out :-D

The next day we got up, packed up our stuff, ate breakfast, checked out, and headed back to the car to move it somewhere for the day... but oh low and behold... we are stupid Americans... we parked in a parking garage, because it was open on Saturday when we drove in there to park... and didn't bother to try to figure out what the little signs said.... I'll let you guess from the picture..

Oh that's right... the idiots that we are parked in a garage that is closed on the weekends.  So how it was open full of cars on Saturday is a mystery to everyone.... and Germany is just like Denmark... you can't get a hold of anyone on the weekends... sooooo we checked back into the hotel, dropped our stuff off and tried to lift our spirits and just accept that we had another full day in Germany (instead of the anticipated half day) and would just have to get up at 5am to get the car at 6 (when the garage opened), drive home and just be late to work Monday morning.  So we walked all round town, taking in all the sites we hadn't managed on Saturday.  By the end of the morning our feet were killing us though!  Walking that much on cobblestone is brutal on feet I guess!  We ate lunch at a delicious little authentic German restaurant.  We had only half an idea what we were eating, but it was amazing!  Think I was still full 24 hours later though, German food is so heavy! 

We went back to the hotel and asked them one more time to try calling the parking garage people, and someone answered!!!  He said he lived above the garage and would let us out... we ran back over to the garage to meet him.. where he looked at us like we were morons (which I don't blame him, we were freaking idiots for not trying to read/translate the sign), and off we went back home!!!  We made it home just after Nate's Vikings kickoff, however I think maybe he would have preferred to miss this one in the end though, they look like a train wreck this year :-(

Always good to make it home, even though the adventure is awesome!!!

oh... and it snowed again today and was sticking a bit in the fields... burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

off to Hamburg, Germany tomorrow.. hopefully it is a tad bit warmer at least  ;-)

I forgot to mention badminton!!!  Every Thursday now we are playing badminton with some other people from work!!!  We have our own rackets and everything!!  :-D  I think each week we will get a little better.  I have lucked out so far with having good partners (because we play doubles) and both weeks have walked away with more wins under my belt.  Nate is not the biggest fan of that..  ;-p  So I got a couple badminton balls (oh yes, for some reason they call the birdies balls.. because they are totally shaped like a ball.. haha) and we are going to practice in the park if we have any free time (and it is not freezzzzzzzzzing cold and raining outside)  ;-p
Glad to have a fun extracurricular exercise thing to do each week!  We are starting to do P90x again too, but that is just us jumping around like freaks in the house, while neighbors look in at us like we are lunatic ks. haha
Going to get into shape even in the cold winter!  Might have to cave at one point and join a gym, but they are so expensive!!!  Want to make absolutely certain that is going to be necessary!

We went and saw the Social Network on Wednesday... interesting film. Thought it was a bit slow, but is always curious to me the brains that some people get, and what they do with that.  The insane computer brainiacks always seem to have some socially awkward quirks (Bill Gates for example...) and seem to have a hard time with "friendships".  Really amazes me what they did with facebook though, it is everywhere now!

Denmark Culture

Nate made it back from China safe and sound... and with a bit more stuff... Guess the markets are quite an experience over there.  He had an interesting time in the culture over there.  Guess in Beijing (where he was), there is so much pollution that the whole city has a permanent fog like haze, and he said it smells like "cow manure and sweat" (doesn't sound all that appealing to me)... And pedestrians get hit by cars every day, and people get out of the cars and yell at the pedestrians for being in the way!  That is quite different.  They said that you watch the Chinese and when they make a break for it across the street they followed suit assuming that was the safest time to risk it  ;-)
I really want to go back to walk on the Great Wall, but can't say that spending more time then maybe one day in the city is really on my list of things to do in life.

I decided to continue our culture adventure over the weekend too. Just in Aarhus :-D
We lucked out with an absolutely beautiful day Saturday!!!  (I think it has been raining or snow/raining every day since)  We started out by walking over to the Church of Our Lady (the Church of Saint Nicolai), we were the only ones in there, it was really quite surreal.  This is the kind of spirituality I can get behind.  Just being in the old churches is so mesmerizing. 

 Down into the crypt under the church...

They say it is the oldest stone church in Scandinavia, and it is still used for mass once a week.  Can see that being a fun service to attend (even if I will not understand a word that they say...).

Of course our tour would not be complete without a visit to the popular Aarhus Cathedral which is located at the eastern end of the walking streets and is a popular destination for tourists.  Was fun to see how much bigger and more elaborate this church was from the first.  I am never sure just how old things are but it still is fun to look at.  Over the years the cathedral has been built up and out, and now is the tallest church in Denmark.

 I would love to hear that organ played!!!!

I think this is where the sermons would be held from?  All the pews were facing this spot...

No idea what this is, but it was in the grownd and it drew my attention for a few minutes... I think that is the darkness in me calling  ;-)

 The statue at the bottom is actually quite large in person, amazing how a photo next to the building can make it seem so small  :-)

Don't think we finished there!  After that we went to Aros, which is the big museum in Aarhus.  The building its self was pretty cool.  I was mesmerized by the winding staircase...

 And the view of the city was lovely too!  Especially on such a nice day!

We wandered around the museum for a couple hours looking at all the exhibits.  There is some pretty strange artwork out there and not good strange like Dad's art... this was just bizarre.  Or kind of sick and twisted... was interesting for sure though.  Was a good day  :-)

Still had the night though!  So off to the international film festival we went (no not the international contemporary dance thing I went to earlier, I was over that already..).  We went to a independent film called "The Miscreants of Taliwood" by George Gittoes (Australian)
Was an interesting/disturbing film.  A documentary about this Australian who went to Pakistan to shoot a low budget (it takes only about 4000 to make the whole film there) action film. Films simply for entertainment purposes are for sure in conflict in Pakistan so there is are kind of issues with the Taliban along the way.  As this is a documentary there is some pretty disturbing stuff that you see/learn along the way about things that are going on (some things that deep down you may know but that we choose to not really know/think about as it hurts to even imagine horrible things like that happening).  So can't say I ended our day on a high note, but "cultured" us for sure....

Sunday it was miserable and rainy and we pretty much did nothing... which was also lovely... ahhhhh my bath..  seriously is my haven, and my escape... reading in a wonderful bubble bath is a little slice of heaven.......

Traveling is like a drug...

It is soooo addicting!!!!  I don't know why perspectives change so drastically depending on where I am.  At home I really don't like the rain very much.  But somehow while standing on the curb in the rain in Malmo, Sweden waiting for our taxi to come (who is running like 15 minutes late), I have an uplifted spirit and a big smile on my face.  Just being somewhere else makes my spirit soar.  I walk the streets with the biggest smile on my face just taking in the new world I am surrounded by.  My coworker I think really is wondering if I actually am on drugs as he is Danish and so doesn't share my excitement for the beauty around me.  For him the old buildings, and little cobblestone streets are just normal.  I wish I got to stay longer then one night, but it just makes me know that I will be back and next time it will be for longer. I was made to travel I think, maybe I was a gypsy in a past life or something...  Not sure how something so simple can make me sooooo happy, but I am glad it does  :-D

Now I am back "home", and now that this has become home the rain here is not as lovely as the rain in Sweden  ;-p

My little hotel room was so cute!!! 

 

Beautiful graffiti on a city wall, I am always in amazement at peoples artistic abilities, so many intricate details. No idea how someone manages that with spray paint...

My view this morning from my hotel room.  I watched lots of bikers ride by  :-)



My view at breakfast... I mean honestly who wouldn't smile when looking out at this? 

All the white lights hanging over the street were so pretty with the sun coming up! 

Cool statue in the bar/lobby area, fish were swimming in the pool too!

 

 

Ahhhhh, can't wait till next time when there can be some exploring!

Drama...

So tonight I thought it would be fun to get out of the house and go experience something a bit different for me.  I always think that I need to get out there and do more alternative artsy things.  Get a bit of interesting culture... This week there is an International Festival for Contemporary Performing Arts (Junge Hunde) in town.  So I thought tonight I would go to a couple of them

And I seriously have no idea what happened while I was in there.  It was interesting that is for sure.  There was a lot of pauses where the dancers (who seemed to me to be convulsing on the ground) and the strange music/noise would stop, and a recorded voice would come on and in code (artsy?) talk about past/present/future.. I honestly just didn't get it.  I tried...

The name of the act: Lebenswelt. The description I read before I went:  "We understand the world in our own way, according to our perceptions.  Two dancers without a common ground of which or whose reality is the one in question, confront a communication blind. Fear, faith and need, forces their bodies in extreme physical states considering the things they would do, the things they would not do..."

In reality there were three dancers - one man and two women, and sometimes a man singing in high falsetto was added in there in the intermittent video incorporated into the scene.  (and sometimes the dancers were naked on the screen too - not everything showed but full topless for sure)  I think that I just felt like the whole dance was about addiction, where they were withering on the ground going through withdrawals of one another when they were apart?  I don't know.  I guess that is what makes it art.  You watch and come away thinking what the frick... but still gives you something to think about.  Maybe it would be more fun if I brought Nate with me so we could at least talk about it after (even though I can't see him even entertaining the idea of going to something so avant-garde).. Hmm... well didn't make it to the second one, thought probably one hour of that was enough for me tonight.  It's still going this weekend so who knows....

Off to Sweden at 5:50am tomorrow so better hit the sack so I don't crash the moment I sit down in the train and can actually take in some of the sights on my way there  :-D

Winter

Oh dear.  Well last night I was pretty sure the house was going to blow away... building is very old and stable I am sure... but I found the downside of my amazing flat... since it is facing the bay when the wind blows there is no barrier and it hits the side of the townhouses like a ton of bricks!!!  The whole place was rattling I am pretty sure.  Which was awesome when I was taking a nice warm bubble bath and reading my book. But when trying to sleep it was not quite as peaceful!!  Not that I am a big sissy or anything, but really I am. And can't help wonder if anything is going to happen.  Downside of Nate being in China (up-side for him as he didn't have to listen to me)  :-)

And there was snow hitting my windshield when I drove to work today.. So it is official, it is now verging on winter here.  Wool coat/socks/scarfs/gloves all pulled to front of my line of sight  :-p

It really is so incredibly beautiful here though. It is so flat compared to Oregon which is different but fun to see the flat horizon so far off sometimes.  And of course there are wind turbines everywhere in the middle of fields.  Sometimes they are standing all alone, and sometimes they have a couple friends.  Very different then the US where we seem to decide they all need to be clustered together.  Everything is bigger in the states  :-D   So back to original point. Driving to work yesterday I was looking out over the rolling fields and all of the glistening plants/grass covered with frost.  There often is a lot of fog too which rolls out over the fields, and slowly burns off when the sun rises.  Pictures just can't capture those kinds of moments unfortunately.  Funny how getting out of my climate makes me really get back in touch with the things in the world that are so lovely.

Office

I am still not the most excited at work as I haven't really gotten into any of what I will actually be doing for my job over here.. but at least I have a great view from my desk to keep me happy  ;-)

Today was a nice day, it rained only a little, and not too cold!!  And there was a rainbow... and sun... I am pretty lucky these days  :-D
Think I can get used to this.  And for sure get used to the work schedule!!!  Working from 8 to 4??  Unheard of!!!  I love it!!!  It has taken a little while for us to be ok with leaving that early though, just doesn't seem natural.  But the office is a ghost town come 4, so today we were good and left at 4 with the rest of them  :-D

Aarhus

I can't believe I haven't shown any pictures of Aarhus yet!  This city (and Randers the town where our office is) is so cute.  So much personality, and the cobblestone streets are so much fun!

The cute deserted streets of Randers. This city is straight out of a fairytale.  So quaint and adorable buildings everywhere.  Would never have survived living in such a sleepy little town, but is fun to visit.

 Aarhus is much more lively!  These are some of the streets in downtown Aarhus.  Many of which are pedestrian streets so cars aren't even allowed to drive on them  :-)

 Nate and I on one of the little bridges over the canal that runs through the city center.

Steve and Anju and their baby girl (the couple that is also over here with us doing this rotation, they hired Anju on a local contract to convince Steve to come  :-)

 There are little restaurants that line the canal, it is a very popular location for people to hang out (which makes it a bit more spendy, but fun sometimes)

My favorite statue in Aarhus, I love this guy  :-D

Everyone rides their bikes over here too, nice to see that!  Not quite as extreme as it was in Holland when I was in Amsterdam but there are still a ton!!!  Even bikes you can "borrow" by putting money in (which I am pretty sure you get back when you drop it back off at one of the bike borrow/drop spots around town)