Cultures Day at CIS

Copenhagen International School put on an all-day event last Monday to celebrate all the varied cultures that make up our school family. Classes visited the performing arts center where displays from almost 40 countries were set up and operated by parents. There were presentations from Latvia, Japan, Israel, Guatemala, Russia, India, Australia, Pakistan, to name a few, as well as the standard european, scandinavia and UK countries. They also had an assembly with entertainment from an African drummer, latino folk group, tango dancers, a tai chi class and Indian dancers.

Parents brought in ethnic dishes for lunch in each classroom. I baked apple pies for 3rd and 5th grade. Maya's class learned some international dances and Molly learned how to spell her name in Hebrew. The whole day was devoted to this learning experience and a great many parents were involved as well. I had helped to create the USA table during the weeks prior and my main job was collecting over 100 images of America that was looped on a digital display. However, the day of the event I ended up manning the Spanish table for a wayward parent. I showed kids how to play the castenuelas and taught everybody how to say "por favor" and "gracias". (My Spanish degree really came in handy for that one!) Working parents got to eat the overwhelming amount of leftovers from the classrooms, sampling from dozens of different foods. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. I was so proud to partake of such an event, that really can only happen at an international school like this one.

This is a big week for Maya. She has 2 basketball practices and 1 game after school plus working on a "war diary" project for school. She is researching and writing 6 different journal entries from a black slaves perspective between 1619 and 1875, at significant times - like the Underground Railroad, Emancipation and the invention of the cotton gin. It's good stuff, but a lot of work in a short amount of time. Next week she has practice games on Monday and Tuesday after school, in preparation for the teams' trip to Holland for a tournament. They leave at 6:30 am on Thursday morning. Molly, Craig and I will fly to Amsterdam Thursday evening and stay in a hotel close to the sports hall but 30 minutes from the city for sightseeing when her games aren't going on. Should be fun.

We're doing our best to get out and see museums and Danish culture on the weekends. 2 weekends ago Craig took the girls to the Viking Museum to learn about the history of Vikings, sit in actual ships and try on Viking garb. Last weekend we returned to the Louisiana Museum to check out the Max Ernst Exhibit. He's a German dada artist who's famous for his surreal paintings and sculptures. Every museum here has such great kids areas. At the Louisiana they could sculpt, do rubbings, design with legos, paint and play out of doors. Just about every museum here is free for children under 16. The Danes love art appreciation and take it seriously.

My book club is now reading a collection of stories by Karen Blixen. She wrote Out of Africa and is one of Denmark's most celebrated authors. Of course, there is a museum dedicated to her as well. It's not too far from here and I plan on going after I finish the book.

On the weather front, the days are getting much lighter, earlier. It' fully light by 7 am. The last of the snow is melting and crocuses are popping up in our backyard. The temperatures this week are around 5 - 7 degrees C. (about 40 F or so) which is much warmer. We are back to gray skies, some rain and typical Denmark weather. It's a relief to know that the worst is over and it' will continue to slowly get warmer and lighter each day. The girls and I are back to riding bikes to school when they don't have after school activities, much to Maya's disappointment. We have just barely 5 weeks until our visit to Portland in April and exactly 4 months left until we move for good.

Farvel
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Rare Snow Storm Comes to Denmark

It started snowing on February 10th and has been snowing off and on now through today (Feburary 19th) and they expect at least a few more days. It's fine snow and hasn't really accumulated more than a few inches. but that hasn't stopped Copenhagen from it's regular routine. Bicyclists still continue, traffic is bad, schools stay open and dogs still poop on the sidewalks.

We came back from Germany last Friday night and I have ben sick with a nasty sore throat and chest cold eveyr since. it's the kind of cold where the cough will linger for a long time. Oh well, at least I have the luxury of resting and not working, major responsibilities or commitments.

I did manage to get out for a walk with another American mom from Maine who moved here when I did. I brought along my camera for fun. I couldn't resist the pic of the lady in the fur coat, walking her dog. These last few weeks have given all the Danish women a chance to bring out the fur - and they wear it for every reason. But what's amazing in this photo is the fact that she scooped her poop! (notice the bag in her hand).

We expect a few more days of snow and cold and then probably back to our normal gray and gray.

Craig is in Oslo, Norway for the day and night. A business made a huge order of LaCrosee boots and he's there to greet go over details. Tomorrow is the Danish holiday of Fastlavn. The children will dress in costumes and bash barrels. I'll find out more at the school assembly. Monday is Cultures Day at school and I'll be working the American Table (go figure!) and baking apple pies for the girls' classrooms. More details to come.

Met with the moving company today. Move out will be simple. They will pack most everything for us, except clothes and books and personals. They will pack us the day before school ends (June 23rd) and load the container on the 24th. We will sleep in our house on the 23rd, but in a hotel on the 24th. No air mattresses this time. Pack the container and we're out the door.

Love and Light,
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Moving Back to Portland Summer '09

Wouldn't life be boring if everything always went to plan?

So that's how we're looking at our recent change to our assignment here in Denmark. Turns out, we're not insulated from the economic woes of the U.S. simply by living in Denmark. Things are bad everywhere. We will begin planning our July 1st departure - about 5 months from now. This is 6-12 months less than what we expected to spend over here.

Craig and I knew about all this 3 weeks ago but have had to stay quiet until all parties involved heard it from LaCrosse directly. It was news worth announcing but had to wait. It was difficult not to call and email immediatlely, but then on the other hand it gave us time to think things through, lets the girls ponder it for a while, assess our own reactions and concerns.

We can't help but be grateful and appreciative of the time here. The exposure to another country and culture plus the ability to travel to foreign countries and gain new perspectives on others and ourselves. We've met so many other families and learned about their lives and experiences. We challenged ourselves by uprooting our known existence in Portland and moving it halfway around the world. And now, we're going to go through it all again, on the reverse. Not only will we overcome the physical challenges but mental and emotional ones as well: fears, anxieties, missing friends, stress of all kinds. We've gained a sense of independence and strength of character that will carry through our family bond forever and hopefully be instilled in our children's futures. This was a chance of a lifetime and even though short, it was well worth the hard work, sweat and tears.

So, why are we comning back? Simply put, it's very expensive for LaCrosse to keep this ex-pat family here. Between school, rent, and all the extra expenditures it's been a big debit in the new European company's records. By June, Craig will have all the major components in place that are needed for the company to function without him. He will train his new Danish controller as interim director until another Danish director can be hired. Matt Schneider, the other ex-pat from LaCrosse will stay on for another year and head up all sales and marketing.

As soon as school is over, we're loading a container and moving out. Our plan is to take one last trip to Croatia with my sister, Susan and her family who have pre-planned a visit, before all this happened. We should be back in the first week of July. Details have yet to be defined and where we'll live when we move back is yet to be determined. Our renters have leased our house until mid August and if they want us to honor that, we'll just stay in executive housing until the end of the summer. Besides, our belongings will take most of July and August to travel to Portland.

Maya and Molly are just fine with moving home. They took it much better than when we announced our move to Copenhagen! But, of course. They are moving to the familiar and know exactly what to look forward to. Maya will be able to start Middle School with her friends and Molly would be back at Rieke with her buddies. Summers in Copenhagen are long and can be quite boring if you don't travel. Most ex-pat families leave for the entire summer. We would have had only 3 or 4 weeks out of 8 with definite plans. The other 4 would have been brutal. It's a strange society here, among the ex-pat community. News of families' arrivals and departures is a constant buzz. Where do people come from? Where are they going? And more ex-pats are leaving this year than normal, for the same reasons we are.

We had dinner with Geeta and Adam Fry last weekend (at a restaurant that blends French, Italian, Danish and Turkish Food and we could bring our own bottles of wine).
Geeta started crying when we told her we were leaving. She said, "That's just not fair! You just start to get to really know some one and then they leave." It's the same for our kids too. They are just starting to have favorite friends and more confidence about playdates (well, Molly always was...) It's wrenching to watch them see classmates come and go. The trade-off of being a transient society is the exchange of fabulous stories and interactions. We have a lot to do in the next 5 months!

How do I feel about it all? On one hand I had a lot of plans to see so much more. I was beginning to settle in to ex-pat mom life: weekly tennis, museum-going, volunteer duty on committees at school, joining a gym, etc. But on the other hand I've felt like I'm just biding my time until we go home. There's only so much purpose for me here. Granted, I bind the family together. I make things happen keep the household together. Craig's job has been the lead in our lives and the rest of us are along for the ride. While he gets the stress, we get the spoils. However, he gets the purpose while I get the abyss. There's not enough time to get involved nor is working here a possibility. I look forward to returning to teach yoga again and reassign myself into my community.

Even though I've gotten out for biking and enjoyed the out-of-doors here in Denmark, let's face it: this country is flat and boring. I can't wait to get back to interesting hiking trails, skiing just an hour away, views of hills out my living room window, desert and rock climbing, mountain biking. Oregon is such a great recreational state. I miss that a lot. And the change of seasons. Here it's just cold, colder, cold and warm. And let's be honest: Danes are not the friendliest people to live among. I haven't tried to be buds with anyone, but I never felt the urge to. I guess to sum it up, I've enjoyed living here but I've never fallen in love with Copenhagen. I will not have a hard time moving away.

On a separate note, the girls just had a week off from school and since Craig had to work, we went to northern Germany to a family sports resort. We went with another mom and fifth grade friend of Maya's. I drove, and the journey took 8 hours going (bad traffic)and 7 coming back. This place was located on the NW coast and houses about 2000 people in all sorts of arrangements, mostly small, cheap cottages with bare bones amenities. They offer an indoor water park, tennis, badminton, bowling, arcade, pool, air hockey, ping pong and assorted restaurants. In the summer there's much much more to do, but since it snowed 3 out of the 4 days we were there, we stuck to the indoor sports.

We got a taste of German resort accomodations (everybody either checks in on Mondays OR Fridays and that's it). German food (what's not deep fried is swimming in sauces and pretty poor salads). German nudity in the locker rooms and saunas (much to poor Molly's chagrine). German water - you can't buy regular flat water if you tried- everything is carbonated. German friendliness- they are nice and very welcoming. German bodies - much plumper and less toned than Danish bodies. Hmmm could be that jovial lifestyle of eating and drinking...

We had a great break away from our house and school and shared good times with Deb and Maddy. Now we're back, I have a weird cold I'm trying to stave off and girls have friends over. It's Valentines Day on an uncharacteristically sunny day, with frozen snow on the ground.

Will write more again.
Love, Peace and Joy

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The Dog Days of Winter

I hesitate to write, since I have no big headline, trip or tale to speak of. We're getting through the gray, cold days here, one at a time. Craig has barely had a day off since our return from Switzerland on January 3rd. The girls and I process school days, home life and weekend activities. When the weather is cold there is a limit to just how much time we spend outside. Picking up the kids from school is now by car, whenever we can use it. Dressing in coats, hats, gloves and boots is getting old. Unfortunately, it will not warm up until March or later, so we've heard.

The cold isn't as bad as the constant gray skies. Every once and a while we get a little glimpse of the sun, but maybe once every 2 weeks. That's a mental drain. There's just no variety in the weather. The only saving grace is the fact that it barely rains, at least by Portland standards.

I forced myself to go out for a bike ride, even though I didn't want to go. I stalled for 2 hours doing anything I could to prevent the inevitable. But once I got going, I warmed up and actually took off a layer. I rode to the Dyrehaven Park for the first time in 2 months. I rode all the way up to the castle in the middle of the park, in record time. I was rewarded with close-up views of
hundred of deer, mostly males with ginormous antlers. Often, they would just stand on the trail and almost dare me to pass. There were times I was literally 10 feet away from bucks with very big points. I would creep by, admiring and honoring these magnificent creatures. but at the same time I was nervous, like in the final scene from The Birds, where they drove by thousands of birds in their convertible, waiting any second for an attack. The park, like the rest of Denmark, is deep into winter. Muted browns and grays. Trees without leaves. No green or any color for that matter.

Maya just went on a road trip with her basketball team to Hamburg, Germany to another International School. Both the U12 and U14 boys and girls teams went, together on one bus. They drove on a Friday, played one game Friday and one game Saturday then drove back. It was a pretty big deal for Maya, but she handled it like it was nothing. She hasn't even had a sleepover away from out house since moving here, but she goes off to another country no problem! She stayed with a host family from that school who happened to be Swedish. She had 2 different currencies, a passport, a phone and her gear. What a big shot. Their teams got creamed but she had a good time. They only play games during one more tournament, in The Hague, Holland. They will go from Thursday - Monday, early March. Craig and I will take Molly out of school and fly there for the weekend to watch and see Amsterdam.

Other than sports, Maya does o.k. in school. No major challenges. They just finished a unit on Energy and are starting their next Unit of Inquiry called "Where we are in place and time" that deals with peace on earth, including war.

Molly just finished her unit called "finding your voice" which ended with a talent-like show from the 2 third grades. Molly performed a dramatic skit and recited a poem. Others made music, danced and such. Molly is enjoying every part of school and her after-school activities: dance, yoga dn gymnastics. She is learning a forward handspring. Still the same old Molly who needs something to do every given moment. She just went to a birthday sleepover party and stayed up til 11 pm. Most of the others stayed up til 12:30 or 1 am. That's my girl!
There are so many little things about living here I wish I could remember as they happen. I'll try to recount a few:

• Music stations are really into American pop music. Everywhere you go, American pop culture is evident. Stores everywhere play American music.
• Music stations are also fond of Bryan Adams. Go figure.
• Women don't wear hats for warmth (especially those that have spent a fortune on their hair)
• Women's hair cuts start at $75 for a cheap cut and can run upwards of $200. To add color is a few hundred more. You can tell who can afford it and who doesn't. Denmark is a good country to go gray.
• Women wear fur everywhere for function and warmth. Women wear fur to walk their dogs, shop at 7-11, stroll through the park, and everything else you can think of. It's real fur folks.
• 7-11 is very popular here. It's more than just U.S. style. I think it's because corner kiosks are standard, on every corner. 7-11 is like a modern version of the classic kiosk.
• Almost every home, store and place of business is made of stone.
• People shop daily for their food needs, often getting on or off the bus or train, which is why there are grocery stores everywhere you look. Sometimes there are 3 or 4 right next to each other. It's not uncommon to pass 10 stores in less than a mile.
• When I shop with a car, I fill 2/3 of my shopping cart, getting essentials for 4 or 5 days. I take a longer time at the check-out and feel all eyes upon me.
• In Danish schools, students call their teachers by their first names. At C.I.S., it's half and half. Maya and Molly call their teachers "Ms."
• Mail is delivered by bicycle.
• Public swimming pools mandate a cleansing shower prior to swimming, with a poster showing the 9 body parts that must be washed with soap. If you don't do it, there's sure to be some one yelling at you to do so.
• Fortunately, there are saunas by the showers, which feels lovely. It's the only time I feel really warm in this country.
• Copenhagen has a circular pool - you never have to make a "lapturn". You can just keep on going. Pretty cool. Most pools have warm water pools as well. They are as warm as bath water and families hang out and play for a long time in them.
• Many museums have child-friendly areas, introducing kids to art and culture at an early age. As well, many museums are free to children, with adults.
• People walk their dogs and let them poop anywhere. There is no law or regulation saying owners must scoop the poop. It's gross. Poop lays on sidewalks like land mines.

I started playing tennis with "the ladies" on Wednesdays. 2 in my group are out with injuries so I get to play singles. Felt surfaces. Nice.
I'm going to the American Embassy tomorrow with a friend to help her sell her jewelry at a Vendor fair for the employees. Should be interesting.
Yoga with the kiddies is getting a little better - not so intense. I'm calming them down...

I'll think of more later.
Love to all,
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