Last Saturday, after putting together yet more IKEA dressers (4 in all), we were invited to dinner at the home of Micheal - lawyer for Lacrosse Footwear - who has been working very closely with Craig et al with the company transition. Matt Schneider joined us and the girls and we drove to Michael's house in Taastrup (minutes outside of the city) where he lives with his ladyfriend, Vibeka. We arrived at 3 pm for coffee and dessert, which is very typical on a weekend. We sat, ate and talked. Then, Michael brought out the wine and while the girls watched Olympic coverage with Danish commentary, we drank, Michael smoked his pipe, Vibeka cooked and we watched the barbecue. Michael is an entertaining individual and the time passed quickly. We asked many questions about their culture and life there and they were very gracious. We ate dinner around 7 and finished with more dessert, talk and wine, leaving for the evening about 9:30 pm. (21:30 in Danish time. They use the military system of time) It is true what we read about meals in Danish homes: they can last a long time.
The next day we explored Dyrehaven Park or "Deer Park" which is just a 5 minute drive from our house. It is a huge forest with interconnecting trails, restaurants, and Europe's oldest amusement park, Bakken. We strolled along and viewed Danes enjoying picnics amongs the woods, horse and carriage rides, a jazz band performing an open-air concert, mountain bikers, walkers and horseback riders. This is a quintessential park, similar to Central Park and Golden Gate, that the Danes take pride in and visit often. The ocean is on one perimeter and we paused for a while to view the ships, dip our feet in the water and look out over Sweden's coast. We are beginning to realize what wonderful family adventures lie ahead of us and so close to our home.
We are also being warned about the dark winters...
We got registered for residency today, after taking the children out of school and going to the immigration office andn city hall twice. Still, it will take another 1 - 2 weeks to get our residency cards and numbers.
The girls have playdates scheduled this week for after school. They also get to sign up for after school activities. Listen to some of the choices: music, choir, soccer, basketball, sports and fun, floor hockey, gymnastics, karate, yoga, ballet, dance, running, drama, photography, sailing and painting. Most of these will have a cost, of course. Maya's class has mandatory swimming lessons, once a week during school. All Danish children learn to swim through school.
Pictures coming...
Hej,Hej
Monday, August 25, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
School Begins
The girls' time of uncertainty and mystery came to an end when Maya and Molly started School yesterday. They were excited and content as well as nervous as they entered their classrooms. By the end of the day, they had engaged in new friends, got to know the playground (Molly even went to the school nurses' office with a cut eye from the playground...) and were so relieved to be speaking English with kids their ages. Maya's teacher is from New Jersey and is a petite, very organized young woman named Ms. Christianson. Molly's teacher is new to the school, from New Delhi, India, named Ms. Gupta. The school is bursting at the seams and so all of 3rd grade is in a portable classroom. Maya's room is on the second floor of the main building, mixed in with the middle school, which is very cool for her.
This morning I went to the "Newcomers Coffee" which was about 200 moms and I met several parents of children in the girls classes. I'm setting Maya up with a boy in her class who's a big skateboarder. He just got back from skateboard camp in England. When his mom told the boy that Maya carried her skateboard on the plane because it was that important, he considered Maya instantly o.k. There are several other girls in her class that are sporty and academic as well.
Molly's teacher was impressed with her immediately and told us we "were very blessed to have a child like her". 3 mothers came up to me and said their daughters came home raving about a girl named "Molly".
I was relieved to meet other people that spoke English as well. Some are ahead of my by a few weeks and others by a few years, but everybody has gone through exactly what we have. Our issues are no bigger or smaller than others. There's a common thread of shared annoyances, i.e. slow cable services, resident card issues, transportation, shopping, etc. And all the veterans adore the school and the community that it offers. This morning alone I chatted with parents from The Netherlands, Sweden, England, Scotland, Cyprus, Mexico, India, Hungary, Spain, Italy, China and Denmark, of course. Many families are on their 3rd or 4th international assignment and ask "Where have you been before this?" Portland, Oregon sounds a little country bumpkin compared to the rest.
I continue to shop at IKEA and other stores to supply our house. We have good news - our shipment is on schedule and if it doesn't go through customs, we may have it by August 28th. The girls are looking forward to sleeping in beds. And we want to get on our bikes. Biking is the way to go. While waiting for the bus today we counted the number of cars vs. bikes and it was almost even. Bikers respect the same rules of the road as cars.
Other good news: Craig's work permit and resident status has been approved and now we have to go to the local municipality and get our "CPR" cards - kind of like social security numbers. With this number we get resident services, including cable, television, telephone, utilities, doctors, dentists, schooling, library, etc. etc.
Craig's job is going well, but there is so much to do. He goes to Aarhus (3 hour drive, 4 hour train) every week for 2 - 3 days to the office and distribution center. The company transfered over the inventory and company data onto a different software program last week and it was successful. He will be working out of our home as soon as we get internet and all the office equipment. Until then he uses internet cafes and meets with business associates wherever he can.
We are all making huge adjustments, but because there are so many of them, they seem minimal. Denmark is easy to integrate because the city logistics and way of life are more or less similar to the U.S. We just have to learn the ways and language.
We had a great Danish weekend just last: went to the nearby mall's theater to see Mamma Mia on a Friday night, to Tivoli Garden on Saturday and to the beach on Sunday. There is a beautiful park and beach right in Hellerup, 10 minute drive from our house. Monday and Tuesday we did some school shopping. They mostly needed lunch boxes (here they just bring lunch in tupperware, no ziplock bags or foil) and "indoor shoes" to wear in the classroom.
We splurged and went out and bought a big TV and now the kids can watch 2 movies that we bought: old Simpons episodes and Ghostbusters. That's it for visual entertainment without cable or internet. However the family is getting really good at our laptop standard games, like Hearts, Mah Jong and Spider Solitaire.
I went to the local recycling center. This place was awesome! You drive around to any of the 20 types of materials and dump it for free including; computers, scrap metal, paper, appliances, yard debris, clothing, plastic pvc, and on and on. They have their junk down. It's a 5 minute drive from our house. I've also hooked up with our neighbor who's English and owns a yard service. He and his Danish wife have 4 children. He's going to handle our yard needs until end of September. After that no one touches their yards until April. We'll decide then whether to buy a mower and clippers and do it ourselves or hire out. Hiring out for services is barely heard of here. Everybody does everything themselves.
This is a long entry because I haven't afforded the time to be at the library's computers for this long. I'll try and do a weekly blog even so.
Please comment if you wish or send comments to my email: thecohen4dk@gmail.com
Hi Hi (which means bye bye!)
This morning I went to the "Newcomers Coffee" which was about 200 moms and I met several parents of children in the girls classes. I'm setting Maya up with a boy in her class who's a big skateboarder. He just got back from skateboard camp in England. When his mom told the boy that Maya carried her skateboard on the plane because it was that important, he considered Maya instantly o.k. There are several other girls in her class that are sporty and academic as well.
Molly's teacher was impressed with her immediately and told us we "were very blessed to have a child like her". 3 mothers came up to me and said their daughters came home raving about a girl named "Molly".
I was relieved to meet other people that spoke English as well. Some are ahead of my by a few weeks and others by a few years, but everybody has gone through exactly what we have. Our issues are no bigger or smaller than others. There's a common thread of shared annoyances, i.e. slow cable services, resident card issues, transportation, shopping, etc. And all the veterans adore the school and the community that it offers. This morning alone I chatted with parents from The Netherlands, Sweden, England, Scotland, Cyprus, Mexico, India, Hungary, Spain, Italy, China and Denmark, of course. Many families are on their 3rd or 4th international assignment and ask "Where have you been before this?" Portland, Oregon sounds a little country bumpkin compared to the rest.
I continue to shop at IKEA and other stores to supply our house. We have good news - our shipment is on schedule and if it doesn't go through customs, we may have it by August 28th. The girls are looking forward to sleeping in beds. And we want to get on our bikes. Biking is the way to go. While waiting for the bus today we counted the number of cars vs. bikes and it was almost even. Bikers respect the same rules of the road as cars.
Other good news: Craig's work permit and resident status has been approved and now we have to go to the local municipality and get our "CPR" cards - kind of like social security numbers. With this number we get resident services, including cable, television, telephone, utilities, doctors, dentists, schooling, library, etc. etc.
Craig's job is going well, but there is so much to do. He goes to Aarhus (3 hour drive, 4 hour train) every week for 2 - 3 days to the office and distribution center. The company transfered over the inventory and company data onto a different software program last week and it was successful. He will be working out of our home as soon as we get internet and all the office equipment. Until then he uses internet cafes and meets with business associates wherever he can.
We are all making huge adjustments, but because there are so many of them, they seem minimal. Denmark is easy to integrate because the city logistics and way of life are more or less similar to the U.S. We just have to learn the ways and language.
We had a great Danish weekend just last: went to the nearby mall's theater to see Mamma Mia on a Friday night, to Tivoli Garden on Saturday and to the beach on Sunday. There is a beautiful park and beach right in Hellerup, 10 minute drive from our house. Monday and Tuesday we did some school shopping. They mostly needed lunch boxes (here they just bring lunch in tupperware, no ziplock bags or foil) and "indoor shoes" to wear in the classroom.
We splurged and went out and bought a big TV and now the kids can watch 2 movies that we bought: old Simpons episodes and Ghostbusters. That's it for visual entertainment without cable or internet. However the family is getting really good at our laptop standard games, like Hearts, Mah Jong and Spider Solitaire.
I went to the local recycling center. This place was awesome! You drive around to any of the 20 types of materials and dump it for free including; computers, scrap metal, paper, appliances, yard debris, clothing, plastic pvc, and on and on. They have their junk down. It's a 5 minute drive from our house. I've also hooked up with our neighbor who's English and owns a yard service. He and his Danish wife have 4 children. He's going to handle our yard needs until end of September. After that no one touches their yards until April. We'll decide then whether to buy a mower and clippers and do it ourselves or hire out. Hiring out for services is barely heard of here. Everybody does everything themselves.
This is a long entry because I haven't afforded the time to be at the library's computers for this long. I'll try and do a weekly blog even so.
Please comment if you wish or send comments to my email: thecohen4dk@gmail.com
Hi Hi (which means bye bye!)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Living in Limbo
We made it! The flight was easy and very symbolic of our transfer process from one life to another - "all that we can't leave behind" came with us in-hand, which basically comes down to the four of us in our family. Everything else can be bought, borrowed or left out. Now begins the journey of rebuilding (buying) our cache of life stuff. We started with survival basics. After arriving in Copenhagen and getting into our new house, we had 1 hour to get to IKEA and buy sheets and blankets to sleep on our air mattresses. Had falafel and pizza for our first meal and bought toilet paper and soap on the way home at the only place open on a Saturday night.
The second day was dedicated to figuring out where we live and where we can get what we need. The third day was back to IKEA (twice) to get more essentials- thank goodness it's only 2miles down the road! Yesterday I built furniture and Craig and I slept in our own bed for the first time in 3 weeks. We now have enough kitchen stuff to make limited meals and eat at home. Everything takes a while to figure out: the bus, the dishwasher, the washer and dryer, the oven, groceries, menus, mail, garbage, phones, trains, etc. etc. The learning curve is straight up!
It will be a while before we get our house connected to internet for communication and cable for T.V. I may have a phone next week, but not sure it it's a land line or cell. In the mean time, we are living without communication and the girls are using their imagination! It's amazing what can be done with one doll, hair ties and lots of cardboard boxes! Today we are at the Hellerup library using the internet.
Craig is in Aarhus, Denmark for a couple of days and nights, changing over the systems data for Lacrosse. We're on our own and plan on eating at one of the 6 pizza places within a 1 mile radius of our house.
Tomorrow the girls take a test and get oriented at school and we will meet other families. They start school August 20th. And yes, they have back-to-school sales here, just like in the states.
I want to thank all of you who supported us on our journey to get here, either physically or just energetically. It was your well wishes and excellent thoughts that lifted us up and carried us to our destination. The universe offered no resistance whatsoever in this life-changing transformation. May we continue to be bouyed by your support and love and carry that with us. As I got on the plane I felt nothing but love. My blessings and love back to you all.
The second day was dedicated to figuring out where we live and where we can get what we need. The third day was back to IKEA (twice) to get more essentials- thank goodness it's only 2miles down the road! Yesterday I built furniture and Craig and I slept in our own bed for the first time in 3 weeks. We now have enough kitchen stuff to make limited meals and eat at home. Everything takes a while to figure out: the bus, the dishwasher, the washer and dryer, the oven, groceries, menus, mail, garbage, phones, trains, etc. etc. The learning curve is straight up!
It will be a while before we get our house connected to internet for communication and cable for T.V. I may have a phone next week, but not sure it it's a land line or cell. In the mean time, we are living without communication and the girls are using their imagination! It's amazing what can be done with one doll, hair ties and lots of cardboard boxes! Today we are at the Hellerup library using the internet.
Craig is in Aarhus, Denmark for a couple of days and nights, changing over the systems data for Lacrosse. We're on our own and plan on eating at one of the 6 pizza places within a 1 mile radius of our house.
Tomorrow the girls take a test and get oriented at school and we will meet other families. They start school August 20th. And yes, they have back-to-school sales here, just like in the states.
I want to thank all of you who supported us on our journey to get here, either physically or just energetically. It was your well wishes and excellent thoughts that lifted us up and carried us to our destination. The universe offered no resistance whatsoever in this life-changing transformation. May we continue to be bouyed by your support and love and carry that with us. As I got on the plane I felt nothing but love. My blessings and love back to you all.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Departure Day - 08-08-08
After a whirlwind 6 weeks of preparation for the move, the four of us will get on a plane Friday, to start the adventure of our lives. We will miss our Portland home, friends, family and all the beautiful, sweet life that comes with it, but are comforted by the fact that we will return and that with current technology will be able to stay in contact with everyone. I (Mary Jo) am launching myself into just such technology with this blog. I will try my best. Feel free to check in at any time. A few facts about where we are going:
1. Copenhagen proper has about 1.5 million people (like Portland). We live in Hellerup, just minutes north of downtown Copenhagen.
2. They speak Danish, use the Kroner money system and are considered a Scandinavian country (not European).
3. English is spoken as a second language and taught to children in schools. How fortunate for us! Maya and Molly will attend Copenhagen International School, a K-12 taught in English.
4. The country consists of up to 500 islands, some just little pieces of sand. We live on the most Eastern Island call "Zealand", which is just minutes by bridge to Sweden!
5. The weather is breezy and cooler than Portland, with less rain but more ice and snow.
6. The latitude is equal to Anchorage, AK, therefore summer days are long and winter days are very short. The country is very flat with the highest elevation only 500 feet!
7. It is a socialist country and, after finalizing paperwork, we will be residents - welcome to all the benefits of that country.
8. The people are friendly, crime is non-existent, mass transit and bikes everywhere, situated close to dozens of countries to visit and the city a beautiful mix of old-world charm and modern technology.
1. Copenhagen proper has about 1.5 million people (like Portland). We live in Hellerup, just minutes north of downtown Copenhagen.
2. They speak Danish, use the Kroner money system and are considered a Scandinavian country (not European).
3. English is spoken as a second language and taught to children in schools. How fortunate for us! Maya and Molly will attend Copenhagen International School, a K-12 taught in English.
4. The country consists of up to 500 islands, some just little pieces of sand. We live on the most Eastern Island call "Zealand", which is just minutes by bridge to Sweden!
5. The weather is breezy and cooler than Portland, with less rain but more ice and snow.
6. The latitude is equal to Anchorage, AK, therefore summer days are long and winter days are very short. The country is very flat with the highest elevation only 500 feet!
7. It is a socialist country and, after finalizing paperwork, we will be residents - welcome to all the benefits of that country.
8. The people are friendly, crime is non-existent, mass transit and bikes everywhere, situated close to dozens of countries to visit and the city a beautiful mix of old-world charm and modern technology.
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