more text. fewer visuals.

I am feeling more and more comfortable being Danish every day, despite of course being able to speak Danish.
Nonetheless, I think I have crossed the first hurdle: bonding with my bike. I have even ridden it in a skirt and in heels, something I previously thought to be impossible (not at the same time however--maybe tomorrow). Today was quite tricky though, as it was incredibly windy and biting cold. I felt like a man in the YMCA weightroom, as if I had to grunt to get up the hill without being blown over.

So now for a recap of some of the last week:
I went on a walking tour with a handful of people of the lives of Hans Christian Anderson (wrote the Little Mermaid) and Soren Kirkegaard (philosopher. btw, it's pronounced KirkeGo--mom, better tell Bob). Both of these guys grew up in Copenhagen. Our guide felt the need to lead us around the ciy with a hoarse whisper...here she is in the middle of enlightening us.
Afterwards, we went to a hygge cafe that Anderson frequented. The cocoa and cakes were incredibly rich--it was hard to finish one glass of cocoa. Note the giant glass of straight cream!



Everything is on sale now, which is nice for us Americans not use to paying so much for things. It's funny to see Obama tshirts in the stores.

What should I do for my first full Sunday in Denmark? A 2 hour biking tour of the neighborhood followed by 3 hours of ice skating, of course!
Here my host mom near the ocean view part of our ride. Gotta love the bright orange coat.

There's a LOT of Arne Jacobsen architecture right in their area. Here's the gas station he designed. If you squint you can see the red clock on the side.

This is a club house. The water was freezing that day (literally), but I still saw a couple people get out of the water that had just been skinnydipping. brr.
I don't have any pictures of ice skating. But just imagine Danish children flying from all directions. The little ones don't know how to skate yet, but they are fearless! I actually ran into a girl...but I'm still convinced it was her fault. There isn't a word in Danish for 'sorry,' so there isn't much to be said. They have these funny contraptions that look like walkers (except their for the kids, not the old people). They take them on the ice to help them skate.

Ally and I finally got a 'hot dog with everything.' I didn't think it was too bad...I think there was something like 4 sauces on it though.

There were several birthdays this week for family members of my host family. It was entertaining to sit in a room with 15 Danes (ranging from 5 to 95) eating food and listening to them talk. I decided Danish sounds like smooth, but assertive yodeling. I understood about 1 word per minute--it's pretty humbling when everyone in the room (including the little kids) can all understand this language and I can't.

On Saturday night we went to get take out from a Chinese restaurant after seeing Revolutionary Road. Seeing a Chinese menu in Danish was pretty funny, but the food was surprisingly good. My host family really like Oriental food; my host dad made sushi for his birthday celebration earlier this week.

This Sunday we went to play indoor tennis with giant nerf balls, and then came home for pancakes. These were nothing like any pancakes I have ever had though.
First, you place a very large, thin pancake (almost like a crepe) on your plate.
Second, sprinkle with sugar.
Third, mound ice cream on top.
Fourth, add fruit/jam if desired.
Fifth, roll up like a tortilla and eat with fork and knife.
I felt so sick afterwards...to find out that we were having pizza two hours later (after watching Asterisk and Obelisk. lol.) How are people here so thin??

I went to a meeting about joining an ultimate frizbee team tonight, and the train stop was so empty! ...prob cause I missed the train by 1 minute. ugh.

When I got home I had a pile of mashed potatoes with bacon bits on top for dinner. This dish is called 'Brændende Kærlighed' or 'burning love' in Danish. hahaha.