We went on our first big adventure after moving to Denmark. The girls had a week off from school (as did all of Denmark's schools) and my mother, Carole, arrived for a visit. We all took off on the following Monday and flew into Malaga, Spain, in the southern region of Andalucia. Craig has always wanted to go to Spain and it was a treat for me to return to the country of my college year abroad 26 years ago. We chose this area to try and get the last of the year's sun and we managed more warmer than colder days.
The first 3 nights were spent between Nerja and Frigiliana , about 2 miles off the coast in the Costa de Sol, in an agricultural valley with avocado, orange and olive trees. We stayed in a recently built villa with a private pool, 3 bedrooms, a lovely view, a stuffed stag over the mantle, and boasting roosters that began every morning at 4 am. From there we visited local sites, the fantastic caves nearby, ate classic chocolate and churros for breakfast, tapas in a little bodega for dinner viewed the ocean and a drive to Granada where we visited the Alhambra, the last Moorish stronghold.
From there we drove to Sevilla and stayed right in the barrio Santa Cruz, right next to the walls of the Real Alcazar, the castle of both Moorish and Christian kings. It's from this building that King Ferdinand sent Christopher Columbus to discover America! We took a bus top tour, ate more tapas, mom and I visited the Cathedral and Tower while Craig took the girls to Mcdonalds.
From there we jetted south of Cadiz, to the Costa de Luz and landed in a town called Zahara de los Atunes. Little did we know we were one of the only vacationers in a small town of 600 people, who's population grows to 120,000 Spaniards on holiday in the summer. We caught the last of the beautiful warm fall days and the girls actually jumped the waves with Craig. It was a ghost town and our resort owner took kindly to us and opened his dining room, ordered fresh fish from a friend, put on his chef whites and made us the best meal we had the whole trip. The girls had fresh hamburgers from steer that live just down the road and the adults has sea bass. Juan joined us later for dinner and wine, and then met us the next morning with hot croissants as we drove away to catch the ferry to Morocco.
So, our last full day of the trip was spent in Tanger, Morocco. We had 7 very full hours there, guided by Jamol, who works for the tourist ministry (and his commissioned retail friends...) to the financial district, kings' mansions, parks, camel rides, the ancient Casbah, dined on touristy bland Moroccan food entertained by old, toothless musicians who desperately needed a bath but couldn't be happier, walked through the food and clothing markets and, visited the city ovens where a man will bake your own bread for the citizens, the dirty, smelly streets, hovels for homes and very poor children running through a maze of 850 web-like, narrow streets they call home, some playing with soccer balls that had lost all their leather and barely held air.
I've never felt more like royalty, and more exposed than walking the streets of the Casbah, where locals physically hung on us to sell us their wares, many of whom will never leave Morocco and only dream of America from what they see on t.v. We are so privileged in our lives. It was a great eye-opener for the girls as well.
We flew out of Malaga and returned to Copenhagen the next day. All very glad to get back to fresh air, less cigarette smoke, foods we could buy and cook to our liking and times.
Carole stayed on an extra week and used it to recuperate from the busy trip, see the sights of Copenhagen, nap, eat, play games with the granddaughters, walk and shop. One night I took her to a CIS 5th grade parent potluck at the home of the Ambassador to Cypress (don't mind if I name drop, please). She enjoyed meeting the variety of people that make up the social network at school. The home wasn't bad either.
Next month the PTA is throwing a Dinner Dance/auction with a country western theme (oh boy) at the home of the US Ambassador, who will be leaving after January... I'm sure Craig just can't wait to dress up for that. There will also be a couple of evening galas next year.
I am helping at one of the craft table for this year's holiday festival, on Dec. 6th. Each table will have a different ethnic theme. We'll be making menorahs (surprise!) There will also be food, games, santa, bake sale, crafts for sale, etc.
No plans yet for xmas, but we have over 2 weeks off. I'm hoping to go on at least a 4 or 5 day trip by train somewhere. I'm starting to work on that now.
Tried my luck and got a haircut by a Danish stylist. It turned out to be a great cut and I am very happy. This was a below average price at $95 and it was just a shampoo, cut and blow dry.
Welcome to Denmark.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
WE ARE CONNECTED!!
Yes, folks, it took the better part of 3 months to get internet/phone/cable for t.v. It's been a real circus but we are now live and connected to the world of knowledge and information, friends and family, commercials, bad t.v. programming, telephone ringing, and more. Aren't we lucky to finally get what most Americans can order and receive in days! Granted, much of our problem is that the phone line (which is how they connect all communication to the dwelling) was cut and disabled during the remodel of the house 2 years ago. this was not brought ot our attention until 6 weeks into living here. the rest was just a matter of them figuring out what to do and waiting for their schedule. Regardless, we've managed just fine and realize that you don't really need so much connection to the outer world to survive. Life goes on whether you know things or not.
I'm up at 5 am to catch some early time on the net, since the girls and I compete for the laptop. We'll get wi-fi set up this weekend and then we'll have 2 laptops between the 3 of us. Craig has his own. We're hoping to start skyping and all that cool stuff. the weather is about 41 degrees, or 4 degrees C. Halloween night will be clear and cold, about 38 degrees with a mild wind, thankfully. The nights are beginning to dip down into the 20's. When you add the rain, it makes for a miserable bike ride.
Halloween is not celebrated like in the states. It's a very new holiday so many people don't observe. However, the retailers have caught on and promote it. In Denmark, actually they celebrate halloween more during the month of October, rather than on just the 31st. There will be halloween parties and festivities throughout different communities. For example, on October 9th our local village of Gentofte had a street fair where children in costumes with parents could stroll up and down 3 blocks and stores would hand out treats (not candy) or you could stop for cider or popcorn or buy a sausage. It was a nice evening and there was still daylight so we could really see each other's costumes, so it made a lot of sense to have it earlier in october. Maya and Molly did not dress up, of course, but they will tonight.
Copenhagen International School (CIS) has arranged homes on a particular street to participate in an American Trick-or-Treat night. We had to buy tickets, and then we go to school, get the map, and knock on these 12 certain doors (in a very nice neighborhood, where the american ambassador lives) and at the end the kids get a treat bag. We'll probably carve our pumpkins after school, work on our costumes and head to the shin dig at 7. Maya is a "tired woman" wearing curlers, a bathrobe, coffee cup and wearing a sign that says "I am not a morning person". Molly is a classic witch and we've been making her costume.
This morning for the weekly assembly at school Molly's class is celebrating Diwali with the school. Diwali is an Indian celebration of Lord Ram and his successful conquering of the bad guys and his popular reign as king. Diwali is taking place this week. Molly has a speaking part and will be performing a dance with her girl classmates.
Craig has been in Portland for the last week and will arrive home tomorrow. He was not able to visit with many people since he had to work so much. We will be returning to Portland as a family the week prior to Easter. We will arrive on Friday the 3rd of April and depart on Easter Sunday or Monday. We plan to visit with friends and family, have doctor and dentist appointments and such.
Molly and I experienced the Danish hospital system recently when I thought she was having an appendicitis attack. My mother was here and so I took Molly to the hospital at 1:30 in the morning by taxi since Craig had the car. They were unsure if Molly really had it and instructed us to another hospital where they was an "expert". Well, by the time we got to the next hospital and saw 3 more doctors, they let us leave, but only after I pleaded. By this time it was 10:30 am. Molly missed a whole day of school. The Danish medical system is very strange and their method of operation is to wait and see what happens rather than test and get a diagnosis. And the hospital was a little creepy too, and nurses and doctors very unavailable. We'll stay healthy thank you very much.
I'll write about our trip to Spain in another posting.
I'm up at 5 am to catch some early time on the net, since the girls and I compete for the laptop. We'll get wi-fi set up this weekend and then we'll have 2 laptops between the 3 of us. Craig has his own. We're hoping to start skyping and all that cool stuff. the weather is about 41 degrees, or 4 degrees C. Halloween night will be clear and cold, about 38 degrees with a mild wind, thankfully. The nights are beginning to dip down into the 20's. When you add the rain, it makes for a miserable bike ride.
Halloween is not celebrated like in the states. It's a very new holiday so many people don't observe. However, the retailers have caught on and promote it. In Denmark, actually they celebrate halloween more during the month of October, rather than on just the 31st. There will be halloween parties and festivities throughout different communities. For example, on October 9th our local village of Gentofte had a street fair where children in costumes with parents could stroll up and down 3 blocks and stores would hand out treats (not candy) or you could stop for cider or popcorn or buy a sausage. It was a nice evening and there was still daylight so we could really see each other's costumes, so it made a lot of sense to have it earlier in october. Maya and Molly did not dress up, of course, but they will tonight.
Copenhagen International School (CIS) has arranged homes on a particular street to participate in an American Trick-or-Treat night. We had to buy tickets, and then we go to school, get the map, and knock on these 12 certain doors (in a very nice neighborhood, where the american ambassador lives) and at the end the kids get a treat bag. We'll probably carve our pumpkins after school, work on our costumes and head to the shin dig at 7. Maya is a "tired woman" wearing curlers, a bathrobe, coffee cup and wearing a sign that says "I am not a morning person". Molly is a classic witch and we've been making her costume.
This morning for the weekly assembly at school Molly's class is celebrating Diwali with the school. Diwali is an Indian celebration of Lord Ram and his successful conquering of the bad guys and his popular reign as king. Diwali is taking place this week. Molly has a speaking part and will be performing a dance with her girl classmates.
Craig has been in Portland for the last week and will arrive home tomorrow. He was not able to visit with many people since he had to work so much. We will be returning to Portland as a family the week prior to Easter. We will arrive on Friday the 3rd of April and depart on Easter Sunday or Monday. We plan to visit with friends and family, have doctor and dentist appointments and such.
Molly and I experienced the Danish hospital system recently when I thought she was having an appendicitis attack. My mother was here and so I took Molly to the hospital at 1:30 in the morning by taxi since Craig had the car. They were unsure if Molly really had it and instructed us to another hospital where they was an "expert". Well, by the time we got to the next hospital and saw 3 more doctors, they let us leave, but only after I pleaded. By this time it was 10:30 am. Molly missed a whole day of school. The Danish medical system is very strange and their method of operation is to wait and see what happens rather than test and get a diagnosis. And the hospital was a little creepy too, and nurses and doctors very unavailable. We'll stay healthy thank you very much.
I'll write about our trip to Spain in another posting.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Mating Season in Dyrrehavn "The Deer Park"
Fall is in bloom here. The colors of the leaves changing are beautiful. Mornings can be stormy with high winds and heavy rains and then change completely over to sunny afternoons. Mornings are cold enough to wear winter coats, gloves and hats biking to school but give way to warmer temperatures in the afternoon.
I rode through Dyrrehavn (The Deer Park) last week and witnessed hundreds of deer and many stags with many points on their antlers. They are bellowing like crazy. Many schools are taking field trips there as well as locals going for walks to see the beauty of all kinds of nature. Maya and Molly will join dozens of other school this Friday in the park on a national recreation day. They let all children out for organized exercise to promote health and well-being.
We are cruising along with daily life. Still buying things to organize the house, girls getting more in to school and Craig into work. He is renting a temporary office downtown for a while. We have the girls parent-teacher conferences today. We had a wonderful outing last weekend with another family (British) and visited an outdoor museum of 18th and 19th century Danish farm houses that have been collected and brought together near Copenhagen. Later we had them over for dinner and find that entertaining is a wonderful grounding experience.
I sat one afternoon with a dutch mom while Maya hung out with her friend. She's been all over the world and is the most down-to-earth, gracious lady. Her daughter is a tom-boy, like Maya, and they watched Disney channel and did Web-Kinz together. Maya was in heaven.
Our internet-cable situation continues. The phone company must dig a new line from the street to the house and hook us up. You'd think some one would have figured that out before we moved in, but instead we had to fumble in communication darkness for months to get it done. Our landlord is handling it now.
While we wait, my mother, Carole will arrive this Friday, October 10th for a visit. she will join us the following week as we take our first big trip to Andalucia, Spain. We will be staying both coastal and inland, in Sevilla. I have been putting together a lodging itinerary on what short internet time I can get. The girls have mid-term break from school. Grandma will then stay another full week in Copenhagen so she can play tourist. We are very excited!
We wish you all well and drop us a line at thecohen4dk@gmail.com any time
I rode through Dyrrehavn (The Deer Park) last week and witnessed hundreds of deer and many stags with many points on their antlers. They are bellowing like crazy. Many schools are taking field trips there as well as locals going for walks to see the beauty of all kinds of nature. Maya and Molly will join dozens of other school this Friday in the park on a national recreation day. They let all children out for organized exercise to promote health and well-being.
We are cruising along with daily life. Still buying things to organize the house, girls getting more in to school and Craig into work. He is renting a temporary office downtown for a while. We have the girls parent-teacher conferences today. We had a wonderful outing last weekend with another family (British) and visited an outdoor museum of 18th and 19th century Danish farm houses that have been collected and brought together near Copenhagen. Later we had them over for dinner and find that entertaining is a wonderful grounding experience.
I sat one afternoon with a dutch mom while Maya hung out with her friend. She's been all over the world and is the most down-to-earth, gracious lady. Her daughter is a tom-boy, like Maya, and they watched Disney channel and did Web-Kinz together. Maya was in heaven.
Our internet-cable situation continues. The phone company must dig a new line from the street to the house and hook us up. You'd think some one would have figured that out before we moved in, but instead we had to fumble in communication darkness for months to get it done. Our landlord is handling it now.
While we wait, my mother, Carole will arrive this Friday, October 10th for a visit. she will join us the following week as we take our first big trip to Andalucia, Spain. We will be staying both coastal and inland, in Sevilla. I have been putting together a lodging itinerary on what short internet time I can get. The girls have mid-term break from school. Grandma will then stay another full week in Copenhagen so she can play tourist. We are very excited!
We wish you all well and drop us a line at thecohen4dk@gmail.com any time
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