New Years and Our Old Apartment

Hello! We've had a busy few weeks. To start, we celebrated the transition from 07 to 08 in a quiet part of Copenhagen with a few friends. We had originally planned on going downtown, to what Danes call the "Times Square of Copenhagen." Luckily, we talked to some people who were in the know and found out how crazy it becomes throughout the city on new years. We heard stories of how protective eye wear is necessary, of people having been hit with firecrackers being set off horizontally down streets, and an assortment of other wild stories, all of which were confirmed as we watched the news coverage and saw news reporters with their own bouncers keeping the public clear from their cameras- and bodies- from all the way across the street. Even being in the quieter part of town we still got quite a fireworks display. We had sparklers to celebrate with, which seemed rather puny in comparison. When Adam and I talked with Danish friends and students later in the week they were surprised that cities in the US don't allow fireworks as grandiose as those and that there aren't as elaborate displays. Truly, it was like the finale of the San Ramon Fourth of July show going on in twelve different places at once. You can view the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btdxlOdVrAQ.

Since New Years, we both have gone back to work and we moved into the city of Copenhagen. Our new apartment is at an amazing location. It is so refreshing to walk downstairs and have about ten eating options within two blocks as opposed to Lyngby where there were only about four restaurants serving dinner and the city is dead if we come home as late as 6pm. We live in a very happening, artsy part of Copenhagen with design shops and parks close by.

Having gone back to teaching after a six month break has been wonderful. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I got back into the classroom. My students are sweet and hardworking and the school has given me experiences in teaching that are completely unique from anything I've done before. In lots of ways I've had to rethink the things that I take for granted in teaching. I feel like I go to the UN every day as I am teaching students all over the world with such unique sets of experiences. When I tell them I have lived my entire life in California they can hardly imagine it because their families are so international. I tried to explain the concept of a 24-hour Safeway and they truly didn't understand what I meant by a store that doesn't ever close.

I also am getting some perspective on world literature. Yesterday I taught Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" for about the twentieth time, but it was the first time I understood the true gift a summer's day can be in a place where truly the sun sometimes cannot be seen for weeks at a time. Before we came, we thought lots about the cold weather, but really, what Adam has come to miss most are the mountains and I have missed the daylight. In Denmark, the highest point is actually the bridge leading to Sweden (it is so flat here!) and in December, it would not be light out until 9am and would be dark again by 4pm. It was crazy to begin teaching in the dark in the morning and finish teaching in the dark in the afternoon. However, we have some exciting news- it is getting lighter by two minutes each day, and last weekend the temperature hit 8 degrees C- the warmest it has been for us yet! So we see glimmers of the spring coming and are so excited for it. In the meantime, we are planning trips to fill our vacation time in February and March and we're enjoying the new experiences that come every day as we are living here.

Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all! We had a wonderful Christmas celebration, but of course missed all of you we would have seen had we been back in the US. We so much appreciated the love we got through cards and emails, letting us know what you all were doing and helping us feel we were still able to keep up with all of your lives! What a blessing it is to celebrate the holiday in a different part of the world with different traditions that still point to the same glorious event!

Adam and I did lots to keep our Christmas traditions going even here in Copenhagen, although some went better than others. Actually, since we are here we got the opportunity to host our first holiday as a married couple! We got a Christmas tree from a local seller and still made and decorated Christmas cookies. Since our Danish kitchen has no measuring cups or spoons, we had to estimate or convert American recipes. The Danes use a scale and weigh all of their ingredients out in grams when they are following a recipe. This worked well for the first round of sugar and spice cut out cookies, and so we got a little careless and the second batch of chewy cookies actually turned out like crumbly little cakes- no doubt because of too much baking powder or soda. Luckily for us, when the Monkowskis came to visit they brought some measuring devices, so we won't have that problem again.

Adam's parents and sister came for Christmas and we had a great time relaxing and traveling around with them. In accordance with the Danish system of work, Adam's school is completely closed for eleven days during the holidays. The heat is turned off and lights are out. However, for Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing day, most of the rest of Denmark is closed as well, so there wasn't much to get to see and do. For Christmas Eve we made the seafood stew that is a Monkowski tradition and for Christmas dinner Adam cooked a duck, as is the Danish custom. We went for a long walk Christmas day into the local park and saw many huge deer. We were hoping for some snow or some sunshine, but got neither. At least there was no rain and so we were able to spend some time outdoors walking around Copenhagen and showing off the city. We took several day trips with the Monkowskis, to a local castle in Hillerod, south Sweden, and a Viking museum. The Viking museum provided costumes to try on and so Annie, Janice, and Mel had a great time dressing like Viking women and taking pictures in a model ship.