Jylland's West Coast

Today, to celebrate some successful flying and our last evening in Jylland, David and I took a little trip to the western coast. Fun fact: supposedly no matter where you are in Denmark, you are always within one hour from the shore.

We stopped in two small bay towns before reaching our final destination, and each of them were hosting local summer street festivals in the evening sunshine. We grabbed dinner in one (a salad pizza, wtf) and ate in the Alfa Romeo on our way to Sondervij.

The beaches were beautiful. We arrived just in the middle of the sunset (it's about 3 hours long) and spent an hour walking by the water and exploring the German bunkers left over from WWII. 

I am continually impressed with this beautiful country. I think I'll have to live here in the future.

Tak for reading along.

Vi ses!

That Time I Flew a Gliderplane

My trip so far has been full of moments of perfect timing. Example: That time I happened to be in Denmark while my host David flew in the National Gliderplane Championships in Arnborg.

After three days in Copenhagen, David and I set out across Kattegat for Aarhus. We stayed one evening with David's brother Morten before making our way to Arnborg, a quaint town in the middle of the Jylland countryside. All the competitors got to stay at Arnborg Svaeveflyvencenter, a small glider air field and camp. Take a gander at our adorable little cabin:

I watched David and his partner Ole take off each morning to complete a task for 3-5 hours before landing and coming home to BBQ with other pilots or eat Danish comfort food at the air field kitchen. While they were out flying, I got to bike around the air field, read, and enjoy the amazing sunny weather.

On Tuesday (June 3), the glider task was cancelled because the thermals that carry the gliders upwards were not up to standard for competition. I happened to be hanging around their plane when the cancellation was announced, so Ole, who is actually the instructor who trained David, invited me to fly!

So of course I did. With zero experience. Honestly, Ole did all the operating and I just sat there, but hooooly moly, what an awesome experience!

I'm in love with every bit of Denmark I've seen so far. This place is a dream.

Mishappiness

To avoid feeling like a total idiot in this foreign country, I like to collect all the menial activities and interactions where I can't function like a capable human being and file them into a mental folder called "Mishappiness." It turns all of my mishaps into funny memories rather than embarrassing asshat moments.

Examples:

1. The Shower 

These shower dials hate me. To the left is the flow control (even thought it says Thermostat). The right is the temperature. Easy enough right? But notice the red button.. that must be pressed to let the shower know you want to set the temperature or get hot water. And every single shower is different. (I've taken several cold showers because of these.)

2. The Doorknob

Door and window knobs here have this excellent function where you can open them by swinging the handle up and then stabilize it by moving the handle in the opposite direction so it will not swing freely. But it also means that to lock a door, you must have the handle in the correct magic position. This took me ages to figure out.

3. The Wall Outlet

What a cute, happy fellow right? Not when you've spent the whole evening "charging" your phone only to realize that you have to flip the switch before power starts to flow. Add in that it produces twice the voltage as the ones at home and you get dead electronics very quickly.

4. Dual Flush Toilet

This one might not be a bad example, as it is pretty clear which is which. On others I have encountered, the two buttons are in the same hole and I can never tell which to press because they both move together anyways. That sounds confusing. It is.

5. Encountering Warning Signs

While riding my bike in the countryside, I came across this sign and used my handy off-line translator to read it. I found the words "Watch out," "dog," and "beware." So I took it to mean "Watch out, there is a viscous dog around here," so I turned around and went back the way I came. David later told me it says "Watch for dog. Drive carefully." As in, "I love my dog, please don't hit him with your car, you non-bike riding heathen." 

These are just a few I collected during my 1.5 days here at the airbase. I'll post others as they arise.

Hope you're having a lovely day. Hej hej!

The Tourist and the Shopping Cart BBQ

Today I was a tourist and my amazing guide was my dear friend and host, David. Let me say before beginning.. Copenhagen is a large city. We had only our feet to get around (I don't currently have a bike) and I am an idiot and forgot to pack socks. Add in a new pair of shoes and you get.. blisters. Big ones. Ouch.

We took the whole afternoon to walk to all of the major tourist attractions in the city today.. The Little Mermaid statue, Amalienborg Palace, Nyhavn, and Frederik's Church (aka Marble Church). 

For lunch, we ate Danish hot dogs from a street stand, sitting on the steps of city hall while they filmed Denmark's Next Top Model a few feet away. Later, we spent a good deal of time in secondhand stores (shoutout Kobenhavn K) looking for a leather jacket so I could fit in with the other twenty-somethings in the city. No success there.

For dinner, my great day became even bettter. David and I rode the bus to a more suburban part of the city for BBQ in our friend Frede's backyard garden. I met lots of his friends and we shared beer, liquor, and food grilled over coals in the bottom of a metal shopping cart. Freaking genius. After dinner, once we worked our way through all the beverages (hi Mom and Dad), we loaded onto bicycles (two or three to a bike) and rode into the city for some hygge time at a bar. The people here are so much more wonderful than I could have imagined.

I can't believe how local I'm feeling and it's all thanks to David and his amazing friends. They don't mind my weird American habits and don't laugh (too hard) when I try to pronounce Danish words. It's absolutely unreal how at home I feel even though I can't figure out how to open subway doors or operate showers or purchase groceries or ride a bike.

Life is good.