Common Questions: Answered!

Not surprisingly, people have had a lot of questions for us about the move. Zac and I listed the top 10 here (roughly in backwards order, with answers):

10. What's the weather like there? (Also: Does it get very cold there? Does it snow there?)

The weather where we will be living is very similar to what we experience here in north Idaho. There are four seasons, and Spring and Fall are less hot (more temperate) than we usually experience. It does snow. I have visited a couple times when it was very cold, once when it was very hot, and a few times when it was perfectly moderate.

Me and Ann on a boat tour of the harbor, woefully underdressed for February.

All the little Danish kiddos have these great suits to keep them warm in the winter.

9. Are you going to buy cars when you get over there?

We're not. At least not right away. We will live close to public transport options and I think for the time being, they will get us everywhere we need to go. Vibe has offered her vehicle and trailer if we have to pick up furniture or anything to settle in, so the car(s) can wait. I've heard you pay for a car three times when you buy one in Denmark (something about the cost of the vehicle, the taxes, and the registration maybe?), so it's very expensive. Most people have simple commuter vehicles, there are lots of electric cars and hybrids, and it was always fun to see makes and models that we don't have in the U.S. when I visited. 

The Peugeot 208 is one of the top-selling cars in Denmark.

8. How is school going to work for the kids?

Originally, I didn't think we could afford to send them to a private international school, so I was planning on holding Kaden back a grade so he and Khloe could be together and throwing them all right in to Danish public school (which, of course, is taught in Danish). I figured the older two could help each other, many of their new friends would be excited to practice English, and they'd fall behind initially but eventually catch up. I was not worried about Harrison because he's basically a sponge right now and I figured he'd be speaking fluent Danish before the first week of school was over.

After listening to some recommendations, I looked into the price of an international school just north of where we will work. Apparently, private school in Denmark can be pretty affordable. It will cost us just about $1100 a month to send all three kids, which is basically the monthly cost of daycare for one child in a good Cd'A daycare right now. They will get instruction in English and classes to learn Danish. They will all be in the same school and we can all ride the bus together in the mornings.

North Zealand International School play yard

7. Are you taking the animals?

You betcha! Han was a no-brainer, but Zac and I initially disagreed about Marabel.

Zac reasoned that she is quite old for a cat and that the move would stress her out, maybe to the point of death. He also cited some very credible research in which he traveled for approximately two hours with her in her carrier, during which time she "pissed and shit everywhere and all over herself," supporting the idea that maybe she wouldn't do well on a plane and in airports for like 20 hours. Further, she had none of her vaccines and was not chipped (if you note the past tense here, you'll see how this is going...), which are required in order to import a domestic cat.

I reasoned that the two people who indicated they might take her off our hands both have multiple cats. Marabel is a one-cat-household kind of cat, so sending her to live with many other cats and without her family would stress her out indefinitely. She would also need to get caught up on her vaccines if she was going to be around other cats, so the vaccine thing was moot - she'd need them either way. If we are going to stress her out, she may as well have her family at the end of it.

We didn't actually discuss this further or fight about it at all. I took her to the vet to get her chipped and vaccinated just in case. Just prior to that, Zac made a comment about how we'd need to figure out what to do about a litter box ASAP when we arrive, and I assumed he had come over to my line of thinking (or given up). So I guess she's coming, and I have Vibe securing a litter box prior to our arrival!

Marabel handled her trip to the vet like a champ.

6. Do you have a place to live already?

Yeah! You wouldn't believe our luck. I browsed apartments for weeks as I went through the interview process. I also tried to guess our salaries, tax rate, and expenses to the best of my ability (after several days of internet searching, reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, asking a thousand questions of my Danish friends, etc.) to see how high of a rent we could afford. I had saved maybe five apartments and small townhomes that I thought would suit us, but none of them allowed pets openly, and in all cases but one, we'd have the kids sharing rooms. (I fully prepared them for this eventuality weeks prior.)

Just after I was offered the job, my Danish friend, Vibe (pronounced kind of like VEE-beh), told me her friend was moving to the U.S. for two years on an outplacement. Her friend lives in Vibe's old neighborhood (an amazing, secluded, forested area on a lake in northern Birkerød) and was looking to rent her home out for two years - would we be interested? Um, YES. The rent she quoted me was the exact maximum amount I thought we could afford. When the owner found out we could just draw up a simple contract (i.e. no rental company involvement), she lowered the price to something more comfortable. The universe clearly supports our life choices.

Front entrance of our new (temporary) home.

This house is incredible. It's a 5-minute walk to the swimming lake and park/playground and is surrounded by forests with walking trails. It's a private, 4-bedroom home with two bathrooms, a bathtub, a basement, and a lovely garden area. The terrace overlooks the trees and the lake, and we can watch the sunset every night. It's right on the bus line that runs north to work/school and south into central Birkerød, where we can catch a short train into Copenhagen. There's also a dedicated bike road we can use to get to work/school in under 15 minutes when the weather is nice. Han and Marabel are welcome, and there is a basketball hoop for Kaden, a tree platform, slide, and trampoline for Harrison, a soccer goal for Khloe, climbing trees, a pollinator garden, a patio...ugh. I can't get over how insanely lucky we are to get to live here for a while!

 

5. Is Zac coming?

YES! (Why do people keep asking me this?!)

4.  Do most people speak English over there? (Similar: Will you learn to speak Danish? or What language do they speak there?)

In Denmark, people speak Danish. It's difficult to learn because there are three extra vowels and many words are not pronounced the way they are spelled, but a few of us have started Duolingo Danish and are making slow, awkward progress.

According to a quick Google, about 86% of Danes speak English. They start learning it when they are young. Almost all of our colleagues at work know how to speak English well. We will try hard to learn Danish quickly, but it sure helps to know we will be able to communicate in a language we know until we become fluent.

3. Is the company paying to relocate you? (Similar: Are you taking all of your things?)

We do want to bring our special personal items. For example, we want to bring all of our records, the record shelf we had made in the U.K., our books, our photos, our compatible electronics, our clothing, some toiletries and OTC medicines, our new dining table, Kaden's BMX bike, our helmets, snowboards, skates, and some good kitchen items we can't be without. Many of our personal items are irreplaceable, and I've read it's costly and difficult to get books in English over there. They also aren't big on OTC meds, so bringing Advil and stuff like that is recommended.

The company is helping us in some ways. They are reimbursing me for the cost of flying to consulates for biometric scans and for the cost of transporting our family and pets to Denmark. This is a lot of money in transport costs, so I'm incredibly grateful they agreed to this. They also pay for an external relocation company to help answer questions about the move, set us up with our Danish bank accounts and ID numbers, submit our immigration applications, etc. That is also very generous and has been a huge help.

Unfortunately, shipping our personal items is very costly (>$17,000) and they did not agree to help with that, so we're taking a hit there. The good news is, we get a full-service move for that price, so they'll pack all of our things carefully, disassemble our (few) furniture items, load it all into a shipping container, truck the container to a port, unload it in Copenhagen, truck it to our house in Birkerød, unload it, and reassemble our furniture. The insurance is another hit (maybe $2000?) we'll have to take, but it's full-coverage. And there's still a little hope we can get a small stipend from Zac's new department heads, so we'll see. 

2.  How's your mom (Debbie) taking it?

She's gone out of her way to show that she's supportive of this opportunity, but she has also not been shy about letting us know she's going to miss us terribly (mostly the grandkids, I think...). She has been asking around for travel buddies, and we are going to get her passport application submitted before we leave so she'll at least have the tools to make the trip if she chooses.

She has also shed some tears and leaned on other family members for emotional support so as to not burden us (we find out about it anyway), but we have promised her many video chats, a yearly visit during the summer, and of course, written correspondence on the regular. If she does make it over there, I'm sure she'll love her first trip to Europe!

1. Are you guys excited?

I guess it depends on who you ask!

Lindsey: "I think this will be a huge growth opportunity for everyone. Zac and I will expand our professional knowledge in our roles with the company, our whole family will go through this life-changing experience together (which I think will bring us closer together), and it will open a ton of doors for the kids in the future. The culture in Denmark is very aligned with our personal cultural beliefs, and I'm very pleased for the personal and professional growth opportunities."

Zac: "I'm excited to get there. I'm not excited to fly. All the stuff leading up to the move is not very exciting either." He has also expressed that he thinks Denmark will feel more like home, and that he doesn't really have an attachment to the place we live now. He has also expressed his displeasure at the cost of this move (yikes!) and the fact we'll be renters for the foreseeable future.

Kaden: "I'm excited to go to a new country and to meet new people. Also, I get a phone."

Khloe: "I'm excited to go but I'm not excited to go." (She's super upset at the thought of leaving her friends, but she's very excited to go to international school and scope out Copenhagen.)

Harrison: "Kind of. I'm excited to be there, but not to fly there." (He thinks he'll be bored on the plane during the long trip.) Harrison has previously expressed his excitement over going to school in Denmark and visiting with Arthur and Malte (Vibe's children and friends of ours).

I hope this post has been informative and answered your most urgent questions. I'll keep tracking the ones that come up most frequently and maybe there will be a "Part II" later!