Week 6

This week was absolutely packed with activities and firsts. I barely had time to jot any notes in my draft blog!

(In case you've been wondering about my blog process, I start a new blog post draft every week on Friday evening and I just type the names of the days of the week with a blank space underneath each of them. Every night, I try to remember to open up the draft and jot a few notes about the things that happened, the places we went, funny or interesting things people said, etc. If I have some time, I drop in photos where I think they'll go. Sometime between Thursday evening and Saturday night, I take the time to sit down with a beer and fill in the details!)

Get ready for a ton of pictures...

Friday

[Some of you are going to be confused by this whole next thing about the bananas, so I'll take a minute here to explain. A few years ago, we figured out that being in the vicinity of bananas, especially ripe or rotting bananas, even just banana chips that have been shut in a bag, is enough to give Zac a migraine that lasts for like 36 hours. He's completely out of commission for the first full day and feels totally hungover for most of the next day. He won't let me do studies to further characterize his problem, so we just can't have any bananas in or around our home. Ever.]

As I've mentioned before, we get a free piece of fruit every day at work. The other day, I took a banana but I didn't have time to eat it. I threw it in my bag on my way home, then as I approached the house, I stood on the street and shouted, "Children, come! I've brought you a banana!” Harrison and Kaden ran outside to split it because Khloe was off walking Han, and she was pretty disappointed that she missed out on the street banana.

Amanda and I corrected this on Friday. We both brought our daily banana home, but when we called through the window for the kids, they weren't available. We placed the bananas in the tree so the kids could come out and get them at their leisure, and they were very happy to get this rare treat.

The businesses in central Birkerød struggle sometimes because a lot of people would rather shop or go out to eat in Hørsholm or Lyngby, which are a little bigger and more "happening," so Birkerød hosted a cultural night to get people to come and check out businesses, restaurants, bands, arts, sports clubs, and more.

Amanda and I took the kids to Birkerød bymidte (town center) to see what it was all about. There were concerts, grand openings, clothing sales, craft fairs, food specials, club booths, political candidates, street ball, theater demonstrations, fire trucks, yoga, church activities, and all kinds of things. It was actually pretty packed and I didn't really get to browse casually like I had imagined because I was worried about losing all of my kids! We met up with Vibe and Arthur, so Arthur and Harrison waited their turn to go talk to the Danish firefighter and sit in the truck together. Harrison enjoyed that a lot, and I think Arthur was happy to have someone younger than him to do "kid stuff" with.

I thought Kaden might want to go play some street ball in front of the church because he's been wanting to get involved with a basketball club and the Birkerød basketball club (I think) was hosting. When we walked over, there were a lot of small kids just shooting hoops and it was kind of chaos, so he opted to not join in. I promised to look into the more serious Hørsholm basketball club for him instead.

We walked around the main part of town for a bit, but it was pretty packed, so we got some softice and walked to the park to eat it. The kids played and Amanda and Vibe and I hung out, and then we parted ways. At the last minute, I realized we took no pictures of us all together, but it was dark by that time and the phone hated us, so this is the best we got.

Back at home, Zac and Peter had enjoyed their time hanging out and drinking beer. Peter mentioned he wanted to see a hedgehog while he was here, so Zac and Amanda went out in the garden with a headlamp to search for one. Moments later, from inside, we heard the most horrific, high-pitched screaming.

Admittedly, we didn't really react, other than kind of tilting our heads to see if we were hearing the panic correctly. They came inside and Zac described some kind of monster hornet that had flown right at his face, then over into Amanda's neck and face. As they relayed the story, the beast flew in through the open window (remember, there are NO WINDOW SCREENS in all of Denmark (except at the castles)) and started smashing itself into walls. Have you ever seen such a thing?!

Fortunately, we had two entomologists in the house, and Peter just kind of calmly took a glass and trapped it against the ceiling, then slid an envelope under it. He released it outside, far from the house.

Saturday

Peter and Amanda wanted to go visit the Jægersborg Dyrehavn (deer park), which used to be the king's hunting grounds and is now just a really pleasant place for a long walk. It's an UNESCO world heritage site and there are a couple thousand deer from three different species there.

I was going to go with them and leave Zac at home - our bed frame was being delivered but we didn't have a specific time, so we felt like someone should stay. Just as we started to leave, we got a call that the delivery would be in about an hour, so we all waited so that Zac could come along. Unfortunately, it took way longer than an hour for the delivery to arrive, but it did, and then we went.

The train ride along the coast was nice, but we were all pretty hungry since our lunch had been delayed. We ordered beer and sandwiches from a little cafe just outside the station, and not surprisingly, the food was fantastic and filling.

Still loving all the partitions and fences made from natural materials!

Every one of those little brown specks in the grass between the shade and the trees are deer.

The Hermitage, the royal hunting lodge. It was not open for visitors - that's only June-August.

The Hermitage is a cool building even though we couldn't go inside. It's called the Hermitage because when the king wanted to host a private banquet during a deer hunt, the whole dining room table could be raised up from the kitchen below into the banquet hall. This way, he could dine with his guests without ever interacting with the staff. The name alludes to the solitude of the banquet hall.

See all the deer? I need a real camera...

We had a nice walk, chose some good pathways, saw all three species of deer that can be found in the park, sat in the grass admiring them from a respectful distance, refilled our water at The Hermitage, watched a huge red deer stag almost T-bone a cyclist, and found our way back to the train station. It was a very lovely visit.

At the station, we had 15 minutes to kill before our bus home departed, so Peter bought a 6-pack of Carlsberg and we drank a few while we waited. It was about this time I realized we hadn't taken any pictures of us as a group, even after spending three days together, so we took this lovely selfie at the station.

Peter and Amanda headed to Copenhagen for their last night (...or was it??) in Denmark and Zac put the bottom part of our bed frame together!! He needs a drill for the headboard, and...ya know...we have nothing, so he stopped here. It's still a vast improvement.

Our mattress is off the flooooooor!!!

The kids went for a bike ride together (willingly!), but didn't make it too far before they saw a pile of things on the side of our road marked "Gratis" (free). Khloe scored two huge canvasses and Harrison finally got his own suitcase. Score!

The kids standing proudly with their haul.

Sunday

We (Zac and I) were pretty beat from our big day Saturday, but I had signed us up to attend ALK's Family Day and I didn't want to miss it. Everyone seemed a little reluctant to go, so I let them drag their feet for a while and we lounged in bed longer than I had intended. I didn't know exactly what to expect, though I had heard about a few things that were planned. We still had Thomas's car, so we drove and parked in the lot near my building.

I showed the kids my office window (from the ground) because I didn't know if I was actually allowed to take them upstairs or not (turns out that would've been fine). We visited Gry in the lab first - the "show mites" were out in little tissue flasks under microscopes, so we walked in, said hello, and let the kids see our little 8-legged friends before heading over to the main building.

When we got over there, Harrison ran for the bouncy castles! He worked up quite a sweat and had a great time.

Khloe looked up and said, "Whoa! You have a train at your work?!" It took me a minute to realize she thought this little train was omnipresent at ALK, shuttling us from building to building on campus daily. Haha! I explained it was only for Family Day, but she still liked it. Harrison said, "That's not a train. It doesn't have train wheels."

Kaden and Khloe had to wait in line for a bit, but they stuck it out and got to ride the Segways! I feel bad I didn't get more flattering photos of them, but still, they enjoyed their time and I'm glad they had a good experience.

The "backyard" of the canteen was open and they were grilling hotdogs, but those weren't ready yet when we got over there. They had Carlsberg on tap and a whole bin of beverages for the kids. Thanks, ALK! Skål (cheers)!

In the sandkassen (sandbox - the development lab), my colleagues were serving up treats. They were using liquid nitrogen to make frozen droplets of juice (kind of like Dippin' Dots) and to freeze skumfiduser (marshmallows).

My office-mate, Thomas, playing "mad scientist"

Outside, Khloe wanted to watch the chemistry show and Kaden, Harrison, and I got some softice. We shared popcorn, talked to some of my coworkers and their families, and then we had to head out.

We left a little early because I needed to catch a train into Copenhagen to meet up with Trena. She was in town for work and we had made plans to do a citizen-guided tour of Christiania and have dinner at War Pigs in the meatpacking district.

Just before I left, I found out that some kind of adverse weather in Amsterdam had screwed up flights all over the place, forcing Amanda to stay in Copenhagen an extra day. She asked if Vibe and I wanted to get dinner in the city, and I invited them both to meet up with me and Trena for dinner later.

Christiania is known as "Freetown," and it's basically a self-governing community found in Copenhagen. It's pretty famous, partly for Pusher Street, which is an area in Christiania where people buy and sell pot, and partly because it started out as a military base, and when the base was abandoned, some hippies moved in and the rest is history. It was established in 1973.

Graffiti wall across the street from one entrance to Christiania.

The entrance to Christiania from Prinsessegade.

Trena and I had planned to meet near this gateway for the tour at 15:00. The tour is citizen-guided, so it's done by one of the 700+ residents of the town itself. It costs 60 DKK and they don't accept cards or MobilePay, so you need actual notes or coins.

I hung out for a bit since I arrived before Trena and watched as people came out of Christiania smoking their purchases. They all just casually threw their roaches in the trash bin or on the ground before they stepped onto the street.

The back side of the entrance gate reminds visitors they are re-entering the EU.

Trena and I found each other and waited for our tour guide, and pretty soon, we met Nina, who showed up on her cargo bike and announced in a very soft, Danish accent that she would be our English-speaking tour guide. Nina has lived in Christiania since 1976. She said she came as a tourist, just like us, and then asked a man about how it was to live there. She said he took her by the hand and led her to a group of other residents. He asked them if she could live there, they all agreed she could, and she's been there ever since. She makes ceramics to sell in the store and lives in the basement laboratories of one of the old military buildings.

Nina led us through the streets, talking about the history of Christiania, pointing out interesting shops, and making sure we didn't have cameras out in some of the areas where they are forbidden. (In the central market square area of Christiania, you aren't allowed to take pictures or run.)

She told us about the nine laws of Christiania (and how some of them are basically out of respect for dogs):

1. No weapons.

2. No hard drugs.

3. No violence.

4. No private cars (because they have a lot of dogs in Christiania and they don't want any of them to get hit by cars).

5. No biker colors.

6. No bulletproof clothing.

7. No sale of fireworks (because of the dogs).

8. No thunderflashes (because of the dogs).

9. No stolen goods.

Christiania is filled with oddly-shaped buildings and tons of graffiti. Everything in their homes, they basically make themselves. There's a blacksmith shop run by strong women. The town makes all of their decisions at meetings held by representatives of the different locations around Christiania. Nina is one of them.

There are kids who live with their parents in Christiania, and the town has a separate area for young children to go to during the day, like a preschool and kindergarten, and they have an area for older kids to kind of hang out at, build things, explore, and just exist. Most kids don't stay in Christiania after they grow up because the residents don't actually own their homes or property in Christiania, so kids don't automatically inherit homes when parents pass away, and there are only a limited number of people who can live there, so kids aren't guaranteed a home.

The kids' area in Christiania includes a stable with like 20 horses, and they can learn to ride. There were several kids riding horses in riding gear along the trails that border the water.

When we got to a bridge, Nina stopped us and said (in her soft Danish accent), "We are going to the middle of this bridge and I will tell you everything I know about love."

She showed us the place people put padlocks on the bridge and throw the key in the water, and she said once, a young male resident locked one on for him and his girlfriend, and Nina watched him throw the key in the water. Shortly after that, she saw him again and he was looking very sad. He told her the girl had broken up with him, and he was using a fishing pole and a magnet to try to retrieve the key. When she saw him again some time later, he was putting another lock on the bridge, but this time, with a combination instead of a key. "Always get the combination lock," she said. I guess she doesn't know about me and Zac though. :)

Unfortunately, there is a lot of police activity in Christiania these days. Hard drugs have never been allowed in Christiania, only cannabis, but there apparently used to be specific people to keep things under control on Pusher Street, and then the Danish government removed those people and then the criminal gangs moved in, so now there are posted gang members of different gangs that kind of "guard" Pusher Street, I guess, and it gets pretty rough sometimes. In fact, when we took the Harbor Tour with Rachel and Jon and the kids a couple weeks ago, the tour guide had mentioned a big to-do in Christiania as we passed it on the water. I looked it up and some people had been shot. One of them died and four others were hurt. The shooting was related to the cannabis trade, and now residents of Christiania are discussing the total shut-down of Pusher Street.

Nina refused to take us to Pusher Street and said we could go on our own if we wanted to after the tour, but even as we walked by it, police officers rushed in out of nowhere and surrounded the entrance. The man standing just in front of Trena and I was swarmed by a few of them. It was totally surreal because we were all just kind of wandering past and they were all interspersed with our tour group, which included some kids and their parents from Hungary. Nina just hopped back on her cargo bike and said we should keep moving. I tried to get a quick pic discreetly to capture the moment on our tour, but apparently, I suck at backwards, under-the-armpit photography.

Nina, our citizen tour guide and a beautiful human.

We ended our tour in a shop where citizens of Christiania sell homemade goods to help support the town. In the connected coffee shop, the Christiania constitution is posted, and it's really lovely.

Anyone is free to do what they want as long as it doesn't infringe on the freedom of others to do what they want. The purpose is to create a society that rest in itself and strives in a common effort to ward off psychical and physical pollution.

The corner entrance of Christiania. A little metalwork version of their flag can be seen in the top left-center. The flag is three yellow dots that symbolize the three dots over the "I"s in Christiania on a red background.

The door to their post office.

Trena and I trying to figure out if the shapes were meant to be followed on the wall or the ground.

The recycling center of Christiania on the left - people can drop off whatever they have to recycle (cans, bottles, etc.) and anything they don't need (clothing, books, etc.) so others can come and take what they can use for free. There is a skatepark on the right.

Trena and I wanted to figure out what "science and cocktails" was all about, but we couldn't find a way into the building. We did find the staging area for the police raid though. They were packing up.

A Thomas Dambo recycled troll sculpture. "Green George" was built from scrap wood salvaged from Christiania's trash.

After our educational adventure in Christiania, Trena and I took the metro to the meatpacking district and walked to War Pigs. We got beer and hushpuppies, found a table, and then Vibe and Amanda showed up within minutes of each other. We ordered some really good barbecue, had another beer, and chatted about life and adventures and...work (because how could we not).

It was a really fun day.

Monday

I don't think I mentioned it previously, but when we first moved in here, our neighbor, Maiken, had introduced us to her 14-year-old son, Mads, and shared with us that, among other things, he liked participating in the theater group in Birkerød. We thought Khloe would really like that, and when we went to Maiken and Jesper's home for a neighborhood get-together last month, Maiken gave Khloe a piece of paper with the info about the first theater group meeting of the year. It was going to be on Kaden's birthday.

Last Monday, she reminded me about it, and so I had pulled up the website and read a little more about it. I felt really bad knowing she wanted to participate and that I was leaning toward telling her no. I had good reasons though:

- It was Kaden's birthday.

- I hadn't registered Khloe ahead of time and didn't know if there was still room left in the group.

- Khloe doesn't speak Danish.

- It costs money to participate and I was worried she wouldn't commit.

- Parents are required to all be involved in the production in some way (makeup, sewing, cutting/styling hair, stage decoration, etc.) and I was fairly certain I should not commit to something like that when we still aren't settled.

Khloe reluctantly agreed that I had valid points, but I still felt bad, especially when she told me how disappointed she was later that night. I made it a point to talk to Maiken later that week to see if she could assuage some of my concerns, which she did. Long story short, I spoke to some of the people involved and we all agreed Khloe should come to decide for herself if she would sink or swim.

I registered her, blocked out my calendar, and on Monday, rode with her on the bus to Birkerød. After some trial and error, we found the right building and opened the door to the auditorium.

"Uuuunnnnnhhhh...I have social anxiety..."

"Me too, baby. Let's go in though and find someone to talk to."

I saw a group of older teens and adults standing near a corner of the stage, so we approached them and I introduced us. They seemed to share my concern about Khloe not speaking Danish, but we decided to give it a go anyway. Louise introduced Khloe to a group of older teens who seemed happy to help her translate the rapid-fire directions. I glanced at her nervously as she sat down with them, but since she seemed instantly at ease, I just waved to her and walked out.

I wasn't sure if she was confident enough to stay the entire time, and I also was nervous about whether she would be able to get home on the bus alone at 20:00 since they don't run as frequently, so I found a few errands to run in Birkerød. After an hour, Khloe texted:

"Everything's going ok. I made a friend I think maybe three."

I decided to give her a chance to be independent, and even though she didn't walk to the bus stop I had imagined, she did make it home OK. She loved her experience, I paid the fee, I signed up for some parent activities that don't come around until the performance in January, I downloaded and printed her schedule, and Khloe is a Limenas girl now.

Tuesday

I worked from home since I had no meetings and some presentations to create. Around midday, Zac and I took a break from work and rode our bikes to Birkerød bymidte to get lunch and mail a birthday card to my mom. We ate at a little corner shack that serves burgers and sandwiches, and Vibe said they had the best French fries. I ate a pork sandwich with some pickled red cabbage and sweet pickled cucumbers (I think) and it was delicious. Zac had a burger and agreed the fries and the chili mayo were pretty tasty.

We were across from a bike shop, so Zac looked at getting a bike stand to use when doing bike maintenance, but ended up just dropping off his bike to get it fixed for now (it wouldn't switch into 1st gear even after he thought he had adjusted it a couple of times). We walked back and finished out our work day. It was a very nice little trip.

Speaking of trips, Kaden went on his class team-building trip to Tivoli!

Kaden's photo of his friends walking through the train station.

He had a really fun time, and we gave him money so he could stay afterward with his friends. He got some treats, went on some rides, explored the park, and made his own way home afterward. He didn't take the most direct route, even after we went over it a million times and after I tried to confirm over the phone that he was waiting for the right train on the right platform, but hey, he made it. 

He wrote his own blog post about that: Kaden's Blog (#1)

Here are some of the other pics he took during the day that he didn't include in his post though.

Harrison has a little home learning grid he's supposed to work on at his own pace, so we spent a little time going through that. He chose the two related to mathematics (they call it "maths" here). He says he loves maths and was excited to get double maths on Monday at school.

Harrison explaining the answer he got on his homework. We have to post pics of them working through the problems on a little "padlet" social wall for his class.

This kid loves school. Except when he yells, "I HATE school!!!" in the mornings when we tell him it's time to get off his screens and catch the bus...

Ooh! I also got Zac and I interviews for the 22nd at a place where we can maybe take Danish lessons. It would only be one evening each week in Lyngby (with supplemental work online), which is much more manageable for parents with kids than the other classes that were in Copenhagen two evenings a week. Hope it works out!

Wednesday

It was Khloe's turn for a team builder! Her year went to Til Tops, a forested activity park with ziplines, tree-top challenge courses, and tree-lined trails. She wrote her own post about her day, so I'll let her tell it: Khloe's Post (#2)

She only took a few photos because she was either too busy having fun or too terrified to take out her phone, so I don't have anything additional to share beyond what she posted.

Kaden finally got his birthday card from Grandma Debbie! She smuggled a gift into the country without a customs form. Haha!

A Darth Tater coozie so he doesn't forget Idaho. :)

I also got a rad belated birthday card from Amy!! So cool. Zac keeps telling me I need to thin out our greeting cards, but I refuse. First, they remind us of how many people back home care about us! Second, we have almost zero personal effects, so we need any personal touches we can get around this place right now. :)

Thursday

We've been trying to figure out how to get Kaden involved in a basketball club, and this week, I finally sent an email to someone who could advise. He put me in touch with a coach for the Hørsholm basketball club 14-year-old boys' team. They told me Kaden could come to two practices to try it out and see if he wanted to play, and the first one was Thursday. I left work early so I could go with him - I could tell he was nervous. It was at Hørsholm Skole and it was just a few bus stops and a short walk away. The school campus was actually pretty big and we wandered for a while trying to find an obvious gym entrance or something. Finally, we ended up in some kind of rec room with a kitchen and I asked an adult if they knew where we should go. He pointed us in the right direction, and from there, we kind of followed some other teens and found the gym.

At this point, I was worried Kaden was backing out. He had tried to clean up his basketball shoes, only to soak them and render them unwearable for the next few days, so he was wearing flat-bottom AirForce One shoes with little support. He also didn't think his clothing through and wore basketball shorts with a sweatshirt. No t-shirt underneath. He seemed hesitant to actually walk into the gym and thought the kids seemed too tall and too good to be 14 years old. I saw no sign of an adult, so we just waited in the foyer. Eventually, a minute before practice started, an older teen walked in and said hello, then went into the gym. I caught his eye, confirmed he was running the practice, explained my email with the head coach, and asked if it was OK that Kaden didn't speak Danish.

Otto (maybe) invited Kaden in warmly and said they would figure it out. I snuck one pic before they really got going. I didn't want the other kids to think I was a weirdo or that Kaden was a mama's boy or anything.

I stayed close, because it's scary to do new things and he seemed tentative. I tried to stay just outside the gym where he might be able to see me, and I just alternated between reading a book and doing my New York Times crossword (thanks, Grandma!).

When practice was over, Kaden said he still wasn't sure if he wanted to play long-term, but agreed that everyone was kind and that he thought the team was good. He said he'd probably actually get better at basketball playing with a group like that. We agreed he'd at least try again on Monday. Social anxiety and fear of the unknown will NOT stop this family from integrating!!

* * *

This was a great week. We stepped out of our comfort zones, made progress on our furniture and immigration activities, and had some fun times with friends. Yay!