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.