Weekend Update

Looking ahead for my schedule, I decided it was best to post one massive entry about recent goings-on.  After all, I'm going to Jylland (aka Jutland, the western peninsula) this weekend, and I don't want to be behind on my entries when I get back!

Weekends continue to be a haven of various experiences from different aspects of Danish cultures.  My Saturday was the most normal day, per say.  It started with some cleaning (ok, I vacuumed my room, after they literally vacuumed the entire house at about 8 in the morning), and then I went with my family to watch my host brother's (Jonas) handball game.  Handball is a sport that is more commonly played in Denmark than anywhere else, and it's like a cross between football (soccer) and basketball, with physical contact/defense added in.   Afterward, my family was hosting a dinner party.  We had been warned that Danish dinners (even on normal days) can last for several hours, and this was no exception (though it wasn't that different from a dinner party back home).  The length is aided by the long space of talking (or watching tv--like Denmark vs. Portugal world cup qualifying match) between courses:  salad, meal, desert.  The drinks changed with the courses, too!  We went from beer, to wine, and then to coffee and tea with desert (after which the men went back to beer). 

This little party was less of a lesson in traditional Danish meals and more of just an experience of Danish life through the conversations.  This included a much-anticipated (albeit small) discussion about the American health care debate.  All that really happened was a consensus between the four adults and I that a change was needed in American health care to provide it for those who can't afford it.  They noted that wait times can be long for care in Denmark, but they didn't complain.  I also learned that most businesses provide employees with a basic insurance for normal, minor doctor's visits.  They only rely on the government care for the bigger issues, like heart surgery. 

The only shock I had was when one guest--14-year-old Thomas--was offered some food in Danish, and he responded, "Fuck yeah!"  I could only laugh, because while "fuck" is a common word among American youth--we usually don't dare use it at the dinner table.  In the subsequent discussion, I learned that it's common here because it's on the American movies on the television so often (the subtitles are censored; the audio track is not), and because it's an English cuss-word, it's generally considered ok.  What was even more surprising to me was when I went to the "children's" section of the Statens Museum for Kunst (the National Gallery) this afternoon and I saw a painting entitled, "OH MY GOD! That plant is a fucking vacuum!"  It should be noted that said painting was not the only questionable item in the kid's gallery.  I'm getting the sense that anything goes when it comes to art in this country. 

All this being said, the greater part of my weekend took place not at home, but at the Technical University of Copenhagen (DTU) in Lyngby for CO2PENHAGEN--the world's first carbon-neutral music festival.  It was a pretty uneventful Friday night--when I took an 8 pm to 4 am volunteer shift so that I could get a free pass to the festival.  This involved me essentially bouncing for the lounge area for bands, which is normally a student bar.  I met more Danes than I have on any other occasion!  Unfortunately, they were drunk and the conversations usually didn't go very far beyond the set of 5 questions I was consistently asked.  At least they were friendly (no, really--they could be a lot of fun).  It was also unfortunate that I didn't get to spend much time with the other volunteers because my supervisor kept me at my post most of the time.  They were an interesting bunch of people, though--mostly international students (only one was Danish--all but 5 others I met were American).  I think that speaks a lot about the universal appeal this type of event has.

It was more eventful when I went back on Sunday.  I wandered around and saw the tents about the earth.  I signed a giant petition that will be given to the delegates at COP15.  I paid 25 kroner and hopped on a bike until I reached 75 kcal to have a smoothie.  I watched some short films, stopped by the music, and took some Danish buttons about loving the environment from the transportation representatives there.


One thing that was great about the festival was that they didn't buy any carbon offsets, which are kind of a cheap way to reach "carbon neutrality."  However, that doesn't mean that they used completely carbon-free energy supplies.  In fact, while all their sources are renewable, the majority of them are biofuel and do emit CO2.  The organizers argue that since this involves re-planting, this can be considered carbon-neutral.  I'm not sure if I agree, but I admire the festival's purpose just the same.  Either way--it's still a step towards being conscious consumers in all aspects of our lives:  even the exorbitant entertainment sector.

And I mean, really--any place that can get teams to bike to power a DJ and LED lights is cool.  Because of this, I can actually officially say I biked with an Italian cycling team, since "Bella Italia" needed help generating more power than "Denmark + French guy" and I was bored and wanted to get on a bike again--even if I was wearing a dress, leggings and snow boots!  Besides, those stationaries that they had were pretty cool.  This also inspired me to finally get on my host-bike this morning and explore the countryside and the network of pedestrian/bike paths around my municipality, but that's another story entirely, and it's time to sign off from this long post. 

Enjoy and please tell me your thoughts!  If you're interested, more photos of the festival are on Picasa and fb.

Øl and Festuge

Despite the fact that I spent an hour Friday evening on a canal tour and the greater part of Saturday touring Kronburg Castle in Helsingør*, this weekend was my first look into real Danish entertainment culture: food, drink, music, and football.

When I returned to my small town on Saturday evening, I left with my family only a half hour later for Køge--a city of about 55,000 that's one of the oldest towns in the country and 10 km south of where I live. Every year, the town holds the Køge Festuge--several days of free music, expensive beer, and carnival stands in the middle of their town square.  My host family had already been the night before to see a fairly well-known band called Infernal, and tonight we were returning to see the headliner--Aqua (of "Barbie Girl" fame).

For dinner, we went just down the street from the festival on the square and had a small cook-out on the back patio of my host-dad's sister's house.  It was small, but the weather has been cooling--so all of us huddled around the small grill, chatting (mostly in Danish) and drinking some beer (øl) was very hygge (cozy--big Danish word).  There wasn't a wide selection of food, but rather, a large quantity of Danish-style hot dogs--extra long franks just piled on top of the grill, with heated buns, Danish remoulade (so much better than ketchup or mustard!  although those were also available), homemade cucumbers, and roasted onions (they look like bacon bits, but they're extremely popular).

After dinner, I joined a friend from DIS who's staying in Køge to wait for Aqua to start.  We only knew three songs, but that was besides the point.  It was just fun to be a part of this solid mass of people in the middle of a city at nearly 11 at night, excited about listening to some music and getting slightly annoyed at the two men behind us who were ecstatically into the show.  People around who lived on the square just stuck their heads out the window, and the silhouette of the copper statue was always present in the backlighting of the stage.  The one thing we worried about was pushing our way through the crowd to find a spot where we could see decently enough.  This ended up not working out anyway, since there were multiple five-year-old girls sitting on their father's shoulders, right in my line of sight for the stage.  But nevertheless, I was unsure about how us two English-speaking crowd-pushers would be perceived, and I was not yet comfortable enough with the Danish words to say anything at all except my English conversation.  

I had a similar situation this evening at the FCK vs. Brøndby football match I went to for my Danish class.  It would have been an incredible opportunity for me to try to use some of the Danish I've learned (especially when ordering my French hot dog), but I forgot to, and the woman behind the counter knew I spoke English just by the way I said "park dog" when I was ordering.

The game itself, however, was pretty incredible.  It was between the top two teams in Denmark, so, naturally, each side has a very fervent following.  I got there a little later due to transportation confusion, and it was a little disconcerting to see the riot vans lining up outside the stadium as we were going in.  Both teams were obviously very good (it ended up being a tie!), and the fans were so loud at some points that it was almost deafening.  Poor sportsmanship was abound (the players shoved each other when the ball wasn't in play, and Brøndby supporters through things at the FCK goalie, who later had to be taken out on a stretcher from being hit by another player), but I was still impressed by the fan dedication.  And it's nice not to have all the cutesy videos and cheerleaders during time outs:  it was all game!

*(side note:  Kronburg is completely gorgeous and has some fascinating historical background.  It's the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet, and also where Jude Law is currently performing as Hamlet; unfortunately, I didn't see him.  More pictures will be on Picasa and Facebook)