Gill and Dan's wedding, Dublin, Ireland

And so the big day finally arrived, Saturday 23rd July.

Gill (a school friend) and Dan (a playschool friend) got married! The weather was unbelievable and we had the most wonderful day in Dun Laoghaire. I have rarely had the opportunity to sit outside during an Irish summer wedding - everything was great about the day, it was lovely to catch up with everyone so soon after moving to Denmark and it was lovely to see some faces that I haven't seen in a while. Pity the day had to end! But before we left the hotel at 3am, Esben played a few songs on the hotel piano in the lobby as we waited on a taxi home. My friends were very impressed by Esben's playing and the hotel guy came by and said 'continue playing' (he had gotten the nod from the night manager), which is not something they say to everyone who says they can play the piano!

To Gill and Dan x

 

Grøn Concert

We went to the Grøn Concert in Aarhus, which is a one-day music festival with mostly Danish bands (this year all Danish bands including Dúné, Tim Christensen, Medina and one of my favourites, Kashmir). It's an annual event and all proceeds from the festival go to a Danish support organisation for muscular dystrophy sufferers. Over the last few years I've gotten to know a few Danish bands, so I was really looking forward to seeing Kashmir and Tim Christensen playing live at the festival. But to be honest, all the acts were brilliant and the sun was shining for most of the day (rain during the last hour). The music festival travels around to different cities in Denmark during July with the same bands performing on each occasion. Esben also got to wear his favourite new purple hat (more like a hat to protect from the sun, but girls were coming up to him asking if he would swap his hat for theirs....he wasn't to be convinced!)

Esben's Tuborg for the day ;o)

 

Jesper and Esben

J Mascis, VoxHall

My friend Cynthia strongly recommended that we should go see J Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr fame and Cynthia is probably their biggest fan!) who was playing tonight in VoxHall. It was a real spur of the moment thing, as I didn't see her email about the gig until today at 1pm. So Esben and I decided to go, he bought the tickets online (very reasonable price too!) and we cycled into town after dinner. Neither of us really knew what the gig would be like - we had both had checked out the music on YouTube and thought it sounded good. The gig was excellent! The venue was intimate, they sold Murphy's on tap (Esben's favourite) and the music was brilliant. I don't think I've seen a guy play guitar as well as J Mascis did. And to share our experience with you, here's a video from the gig.  Cyn, enjoy! (Dinosaur Jr. has two new fans :o) )

J Mascis, VoxHall, Aarhus July 11 2011

Denmark is Forever?

Today I called to the Citizen Service Centre in Aarhus to apply for my CPR number (kind of a PPS equivalent). I took a ticket, joined the queue and within two minutes I was called - great, as you usually end up waiting for ages in this type of queuing system (and from hearing stories about applying for the PPS number). I had already applied for my Certificate of Registration and I handed this along with my passport to the lady at the desk. She gave me a form I had to fill out while she went off to photocopy my documents. The form was written in English and Danish, and she said if you have any questions about the form, just ask. So I began filling in my name, address etc and then I stopped at a question. Hmmm...well, I'm not sure about this one. And then she asked, 'oh do you need help?', and I said, 'well, it asks 'what is the estimated duration of your stay in Denmark', and I said, 'well, I have moved here to live and work....so....' and she answered...'forever. You can just write 'forever''. So as I filled in forever in capital letters, it made me think that there is no answer to this question. I guess many people write down 'one year' if they are here to study or take a gap year from home, but for others who move to Denmark, we never know how long we will stay (or maybe you can't actually leave...I should investigate that).

A True Story by Bee for Battens

We have cold water!

Since Esben moved into the apartment at the beginning of May there has been no cold water coming into the kitchen or ensuite shower. But there has been cold water coming into the sink where the toilet is (toilet and shower are separate). In Denmark all cold water that comes into a building is from the mains - they don't have the system like in Ireland where, for example in a house, the cold water comes in from the mains and is then stored in the tank in the attic and this water is used in bathrooms. So we've been getting the cold water from the sink by the toilet (nice, I hear you say!). Usually if you can't get hot water it's quite a nuisance, and showers take 5 seconds :o) but I didn't realise until now how much I miss cold water when you don't have it. So after a little investigating by two handymen/plumbers, we have fixed the problem - it was the shower tap all along! Hurray, ice cold water from the kitchen sink once again. You certainly need lots of it when putting together Ikea furniture in 26 degree heat :o) The fun we get up to in the evenings ;o)

Ikea delivery makes me :o(

Yesterday I waited in all afternoon for the Ikea delivery - finally a proper bed to sleep on! When it arrived and the items were being taken out of the back of the truck by one delivery guy, I figured it would be the two of us carrying the items up the one flight of stairs to the apartment. But as he was piling the stuff up outside against the shop window, I thought I should double check. I was duly informed that it wasn't part of his job. So as he continued to pile up the furniture on the path, all the small items that I could bring up myself were tightly packed in behind the items that I had no chance in hell of lifting anywhere, let alone up a flight of stairs. As I thought there might be a linguistic misunderstanding here (my fault, as I don't speak the lingo yet), I figured that I would ring Esben and he could chat to the guy to explain. But before I could get through, I had signed the delivery slip and he had driven off in the van. The delivery could have arrived at any time between 3 and 9pm. Luckily it arrived just an hour before Esben came home from work. So there was nothing else I could do other than get my Irish Times Simplex crossword booklet and sit outside on the steps with our new furniture until my helper came home. There were a few choice words from both of us when Esben and I got all the stuff inside. But all stories have a happy ending, right?  -  we did all this before the rain came :o)

Tonight we are going to tackle the assembly part.....might be a few more choice words uttered before Friday ;o)

4:18:4 Aarhus 2011

I entered the 4:18:4 triathlon in Aarhus this evening. Unfortunately (due to the constant rain yesterday) the swim part had to be cancelled, so it ended up being 18:4 duathlon. The sea looked so calm and really inviting, but as Esben pointed out, it wasn't the sea level or conditions that were the problem, rather the sea water quality - ah, I get you!

Cycling is always my weakest part of a triathlon. Even though I enjoy cycling as a means of transport, I don't practise it as a sport. So usually everyone, and I mean everyone, passes me out. So I was very happy with my cycling today. And I'd also like to share some information with everyone - Denmark is NOT flat. There are a lot of hills, and I will gladly show you many of them that I was cycling up and down today!

When I got off my bike, I couldn't actually feel my feet and legs properly, but I knew something was moving and I was able to drop off my bike and start the run part. I felt very tired during the run, but in the last 100m, I got that sudden burst of energy when I saw the finish line, and sprinted home. I was very happy with my performance, as I haven't been training recently. The event was also a lovely, fun evening by the sea and everyone was very friendly. Thanks to Esben there is some evidence of how red my face was! Hopefully I'll do another triathlon (all 3 sections) soon.