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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