unexpectedly. Mel interviewed and was hired within the following few days and started immediately. Since students here end a term before Christmas break, it has been rather hectic getting up to speed on what they have been learning and preparing them for their finals. However, it will be nice to work just two weeks and then get three weeks off! In January, Mel will start the new term at 60% time. She'll teach two classes, a modified 10th grade and a modified 9th grade class, each being literature and writing-based classes for students who still struggle with English as a non-native language. Additionally, she'll lead an SAT prep class on campus and do some other one-on-one tutoring. At about this same time, Mel got a tutoring job with a family of three boys. The kids are a bit exuberant but are also very sweet and it is fun to spend some time in a Danish household.
Besides starting work, we also found a new apartment. The location is AMAZING. It is right in the city center of Copenhagen, on a busy street in what is known as the sort of trendy ethnic part of town, so we will have a bit of a reprieve from the otherwise very blond Denmark (not that there's anything wrong with being blond ;) as well as access to lots of fun, cheap restaurants and bars. But, the apartment is located quite a bit off the street, behind several other buildings and so it is quiet and private, and it receives lots of light from the east and west and is just all around a cute Danish building. We'll move during the middle of January.This week Adam had his birthday, and we spent it at Tivoli gardens, an amusement park. They
have quite a Christmas display with many strings of lights and a market selling all sorts of Christmas gifts. We ate at a Croatian-Danish buffet, which included lamb roasting on a spit, five different kinds of pickled herring, and miscellaneous other meat and potato type foods.A few weeks ago we went to Oslo, Norway. Oslo is a great city. It is very clean and
organized well for tourism, but also rather dark and expensive. It actually was a great time to make the trip, because now that we are back in Denmark, everything seems incredibly cheap and bright! We saw the Nobel Peace Center, which has several thoughtful exhibits. We were a week too early to see Al Gore in town to receive his award, but he is already featured in the museum as a part of this hall of lights, "illuminating" each winner with his or her accomplishments. There was also a large room on freedom of speech, asking though-provoking questions about when free speech compromises others' rights and to what extent industrialized nations are actually able to provide freedom of speech. One of our favorite parts was the Nobel Peace museum, highlighting past Nobel winners. There was also an incredibly interesting photography exhibit in which the artist asked other Palestinians who had been expelled from their homes, "What would you have me do for you when I go to visit?" The artist then took pictures of herself doing these simple things, like sipping water from a home village or walking the route from a former home to the local market.We also went to see the ski jump in the mountains above Oslo, which provided a beautiful view
and a ski museum about the history of the sport. That same day we went to see the Viking ship museum and Frogner park. The park is extensively decorated with statues by the Norwegian artist Vigelund. He made an agreement with the government that they would provide work space, materials, and a salary for the rest of his life if he would donate all he produced to the people of Norway. Now many of his works are on display in this park. He always
portrays people engaged in the emotional extremes that characterize humans. This is my favorite, portraying jealousy between two small children. We also went walking around the harbor and Carl Johan's Gate, a famous pedestrian street, and sipped mulled wine at a Christmas market.
