WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28th

Last day of February. Running this morning was horrible. There was nasty mushy cold gross slush all over the sidewalks. GRRRR! I went running out by Fredericksberg Have and down Roskildevej. At least I got green lights at the intersections and it was not that cold out. I felt bad a guy was trying to ask me something I think to help move boards over the walkway but I jsut kept running and ignored him.
I went into DIS. We had a guest lecturer for PCD. She talked about inclusion of children with special needs. There is a greater focus on keeping children with needs in the classrooms. Children with physical disabilities are being better integrated than those with social and behavioral problems. She talked about the importance of really getting to know each child and teaching differently based on their needs. Also looking at skills and what the child can do is important instead of looking at deficits.
After that I had lunch with Elizabeth at DIS.
I went to Hirschsprung Samling to look at pictures. They were impressionist and Golden Age time period pics. I really liked them. There were lots of gorgeous landscapes. One neat pic was of the beach with a sulky girl all dressed in warm nice clothes watching boys playing naked in the ocean. In front you can see the sand is all disturbed from a fish market that morning. There were pics by a woman who had no training. They were of sick and blind people becuase they were easier to get to model. I liked these pictures much better than the other ones I've seen. The museum is a private collection of the guy its named after who made money from a tobacco company. After the museam we walked by "Potato Houses." Row houses that immigrants used to live in. Tons can be fit into the area. It is a long row of houses that all ahve to look basically the same. There are restrictions for what colors they can paint etc. They have huge block parties when its nice out. The neighborhood is right near the lake so there is a beautiful view and they get sun either in the morning or afternoon given the side they face.
We had take out pizza for dinner. Much like Sorrento'sish. Sausage, artichokes on one and eggplant and red pepper on the other. Karen and I talked about drinking and partying and how it is different becuase of the laws and social acceptance.
Ida went off to Norway for a conference today. Jens drove her to the airport.

Tuesday february 27th

Woke up. Had breakfast. Went off for a run down Roskildevej and Vestervolgade thenback down HC Andersons Boulevard. It was OK but lots of traffic and intersections to cross.
Went into class. In 20th century history we learned about the peace treaties after WWI and how the map of Europe was redrawn.
We learned about Justinians plague and the population decline occuring around the fall of the Roman empire in Enviro. History.
I had lunch of rice and tomato soup with Elizabeth. I got a really fun package from Lucy and McCurdy. It made me happy!
In both history classes we get assignments for mid term papers on Friday. I like Peter Christensen a lot. He speaks english very well (an quickly). He has a great sense of humor is comfortable in front of us and is able to make jokes.
In Danish we talked about Danish values of egalitarianism, equality, not being flashy about wealth or intelligence, introversion, not showing emotion as extensively. We also did some review. We learned the numbers 30-100. Nina's (my danish professor) niece was in a bar and the prince came up to her and asked her to dance and she was tongue tied. I guess the royals are just like everyday people here. Maybe its better to have the one actually doing the governing not a part of the society.
After Danish I hung out with Ashley and Emily a bit. I read the news online and Sea Glass by Anita Shreve.
I had a class rep meeting where we talked about how classes and teachers were in the European Culture and History department. They had chips and gummy bear type candy for us.
I went to Chorus and we worked on the song more. We had to touch our toes and sing bended over.
I watched a show about World of Warcraft on TV. I didn't realize how much interaction you have with people all over the world on it and how much social skills and communication are involved. It looked really fun. Seems to be the new computer game/TV. People get really obsessed with the game and spend hours on it. It seems a bit violent.

Monday February 26th

Woke up had toast with jam for breakfast.
Went into Frue Plads to catch a bus with PCD people. We went into a school for blind children 1.5 hours away in NW Zealand. There were two other groups that went different places.
Ginny, Laura, Elizabeth and I talked a bit on the way there. Cool windmills by the side of the road. I felt a bit motion sick because I was sitting backwards on the bus.
We got to the school. A woman from the residential life staff talked with us. She spoke great english. The students must have a certain level of poor eye sight to be admitted. Many also have social or physical problems as well. She explained about the school and what life is like for the students who live at he school. All the students help with cooking. There are things to touch all over the walls so the students know where they are. On the sidewalks at intersections there are bumpy rocks so the students know that there is a choice to make about where to go. Very few of the students seemed to use canes. Most were able to move around on their own. There was a really cool room with disco lights and a warm massage bean bag type bed that students can lie in. The idea is to stimulate senses and help the students relax. After being in teh room they are better able to talk and feel more comfortable. Many are in braces so it is nice for them to get out of those and lie free. The light stimulates their sight. Once a month they do a special cookign day where they get to go around and taste many different foods. There is an OT and PT right on the campus. Students come from all over Denmark. One of the things that I thought was most controversial was that the children live there and are somewhat isolated from thier families. Their peers and the people working at the school become like a family. Some of the students are only 7 months. The oldest is 24 years but that is jsut because they cannot find a good place to have him go.
There are statues of people in in the yard and apparently there was a kid who went up and held the statues hand.
They have lots of computers and technology. One machine makes braille writing. There is a machine to enlarge pictures. There are special keyboards that the students use (although none with braille on the keys.
One class had bunny rabbits to take care of. It helps to have something to care for and to love.
We had a nice lunch of various open faced sandwiches on rye bread. I had one with ham and a creamy sauce and asparagus.
We took the bus back to DIS. Ashley Elizabeth and I played cards. When we got back the three of us went to a bakery and I got a pastry with chocolate and vanilla icing on top.
We went to the theory PCD class. Jan the professor was wearing black leather pants, a pink shirt and red suspenders. We learned about the autistic spectrum. Basically there are three traits of children that entail a diagnosis. Trouble with social integration, impaired communication, trouble reading body language, poverty of expression, and importance of routine are characteristics. Children can be aloof, passive or exhibit strange behavior when they have autism. We watched a clip of a Norwegian movie about a child with autism. The child had a one on one aide to help him rephrase things correctly adn interact with others. The mother "bought" friends by having yummy foods and video games for them to play when they came to play with her son.
At the end we were given general feedback about our last paper. People were getting so worked up and being very rude and disrespectful. Jan was not being very clear about his expectations either, but still. My goodness people get dumb when grades are involved.
Took the bus home. It was very crowded. There is quite a bit of diversity on the bus that I noticed. People of African descent and people who look of middle eastern descent. Not many asians that I have seen though. It took forever I guess because it was rush hour. Jens was meeting with a collegue who is changing jobs so he was home a bit late. I watched the news with Ida. The Oscars were on it. Chimney sweepers are striking. There was a story abotu a woman with some fatal disease and they wanted to talk with her to have the record.
We had rice, beef, and veggies for dinner. Karen was tired from her first day back at school in a while after being sick.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25th

Went for a run with Ally and Jessie. We ran around the 5 lakes and then around Tivoli. It was nice to have company to run with. The footing was a bit questionable.
Went back home and showered. Did some reading for class. Worked on an observation paper for my education class.
Went into DIS to watch a movie called Arven (The Inheritance). It was OK. Again a kind of dark movie. It's about a guy who is happily married but then his father dies and must take charge of a steel factory. He becomes obsessed with work and his marraige deteriorates. He fires people who had been loyal to the company and is under a lot of pressure from his family.
We had beef in a tomato and veggie sauce and rice for dinner. Ida was sick so she ate upstairs by herself. We had an apple pie for dessert. Yummy!
I watched a CSI type show with Karen. I didn't follow too much again. A girl spits in a teachers face because everyone in the class is making fun of her. There was a meeting of selectmen in the show also.
It was rainy all day so much of the snow melted or turned to mush.
Jens' friend came to visit. They were planning their trip to Norway next week.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 24th

Hej. Yesterday was a pretty low key day. I read a lot of A Thousand Acres and did some homework. I went in to met Jessie to run but DIS wasn't open to put our stuff so we gave up. I went running on my own. I ran around Fredericksberg Have. There were a TON of children sledding. Very cute.
I had lunch of rye bread with liverpostej (pate) and red cabbage and a grated carrot and apple salad.
Karen and I made chocolate chunk cookies (they don't seem to have chocolate chips here). I talked with Karen about music and childrens TV shows, and favorite foods and living in a different culture. We had dinner that Karen and I made. Steaks we fried in butter and oil and zucchini, carrots, parsnips, brocolli all but up and sauteed. We had bread also.
Jens, Karen, and I watched Matador. It's a show about 1941-1942 Denmark. I didn't follow a ton. The Germans had started to occupy Copenhagen. There was a guy hiding out in a hospital. There was a woman who wacked a soldier with her cane from in a wheelchair. A doggie died. There was another cute puppy that was given to the man whose dog dies.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 23rd

I went for a run down Rolighedsvej/Rosnarns Alle and up Allegade. The sidewalks were a bit snowy and slippery but not too bad.
Going into DIS at the bus stop there were two women talking in English. One was Danish and one was from West Virginia. I started talking to them just because I'm nosy and it was so nice to hear english. The woman from the states is married to an Nigerian man and she was saying that he (and other Africans) are very afraid of the ocean. I don't quite remember why that came up. We were also talking about the huge amount of snow.
I went into DIS to do Danish HW on the computer. 20th century European History was interesting. We learned more about WWI (use of submarines, old fashioned ground fighting, huge loss of life, major battles that serve as national icons, no famous commanders etc. etc.)
In Environmental History we learned about the fall of the Roman Empire in terms of resource scarcity and deforestation due to the large population.
In Danish we sang the birthday song. It is quite long and very fun. A line Hurra hurra hurra keeps repeating as does a line about chocolate and cake. After that we talked about vocab for family members and occupations. We also played a fun review game where we worked as a group to complete a worksheet asking us to complete different translations of english sentences. My group won.
After Danish Ashley, Emily, Elizabeth and I went to get food at a market. We all went back to Elizabeth's host family's house. Only one of her host sisters was around. We had a salad with lettuce, tomato, chicken, bacon, pineapple, pine nuts, and feta cheese. With the salad we had bread. For dessert we had brownies with icecream and strawberry sauce. The icecream here is much lighter or something. It has a much different texture. Almost more like thick yogurt or something. I was being a goof and getting all worried about the trains running in the snow but it was perfectly fine.
The five of us including Kira (Elizabeth's host sister) played cards. It was really fun.
Things I miss:
friends, family, Mocha, familiar faces.
the "v"and "d" sound
being able to eavesdrop on people's conversations
a shower that doesn't make the bathroom floor all wet
clothes dryer
being able to turn on the TV and understand any of the shows
reading the newspaper and not having to guess from the pics and guessing from some words what the story is about (although I can read it online)

Thursday February 22nd

Had breakfast and then headed off to Stenurten. The buses were not running on time because of all the snow we got (plus the city doesn't really have plows or ways to handle the snow). I walked all the way to the practicum site which is less than a mile.
We were supposed to go to the forest today but that was cancelled again because of the snow and bad roads.
Lots of children weren't there today. I was watching these 5 boys do a role play involving Star Wars with a Darth Vader costume, toy red light up light sabers, and stools as steering wheels for space ships. I did puzzles with some of the children. I am a bad puzzle helped I learned. I get really frustrated that they aren't doing it faster and am too helpful and put in too many pieces myself. The puzzles have 4 layers to them and they are numbered on the back accordingly. One boy was smart enough to figure this out and sort the pieces out first. There was a an activity where the children were drawing on a piece of paper put on what I think was spinning disc on a record player. Other children were painting suns with red, orange and yellow paint. There was carrot soup and tomato bread for lunch. We played outside. They're allowed to throw snow in fact the pedagogues were the ones who started the snowfights. The snow is powdery and not good for making anything with. They have these (really funny looking but amazing idea) blue plastic booties to put on your feet when its wet out to keep the floors clean. Children and parents must put on the booties or take off outside shoes immediately upon entering the building. The floors stay so much nicer. It really is impressive. Such an incredible invention. Maybe not so practical in more a truly school setting. This school feels almost more like a home. Lots of modern artwork or else children's art on the walls and stuff is not at child level. Much of it especially books (which are limited and beat up looking) is out of children's easy reach.
I came home watched Beverly Hills 90210 with Karen.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 21st

Hi. I read more of A Thousand Acres this morning. The Politiken newspaper never showed up but that isn't too much of a bummer because I mainly look at pics and make guesses about the news anyway.
I went into DIS to the Glyptotek this morning. It is a cool place. Carl Jacobson (the founder of Carlsberg Brewery) gave money to set up the museum. His name is everywhere in gold writing just in case you happen to forget. The your guide was fine. She was sick as is half of Copenhagen so she didn't have much of a voice. We looked at depictions of the body throughout history. There are mainly statues at this museum. Lots of greek, roman, and egyptian stuff. Many statues with fairly similar in style faces and idealized athletic bodies. Pretty impressively large collection. There were a bunch of school groups around touring and sketching. There was one group of 3-6 year olds and then a middle school group.
I went back home for lunch and had leftover frikadeller.
I did some reading for homework. I went for a run down Jagtvej. It is a fairly busy road and you have to keep stopping at intersections. Not such a great plan. Oh well it was a new place to go. The run was made exciting by the WICKED strong winds and the snow. We are having a blizzard/snowstorm here today. It is really pretty but not much fun to be out in. Crazy wind and not much accumulation of snow.
I watched the end of Rear Window on TV.
Ida took Karen to the doctor because she is still really sick. Poor thing. I (along with lots of DIS people) have a milder version of it coughing dry throat generally tired feeling. Fluish type bug. No fun.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 20th

Went for a run around the lakes. There was a duck hanging out sitting on a bike that had fallen into the lakes. There is quite a lot of garbage and ditched bikes (I've seen a ton of bikes in the water). The water is kind of gross and very shallow.
I was struck again about how many people are out running. Also about how many dogs there are.
I went into DIS to print out a paper about Sweden impressions for my education class.
I had 20th Century history. We talked about WWI and the cause of the war. A lot of it sounded really familiar. I must have learned it at some point at CMS or CCHS but I didn't remember learning about it. It's intersting how the alliances and silly war plans made the whole situation escalate so quickly. I really like the prof. He has a great sense of humor and can tell stories well.
Environmental History was good. We talked about fertility and mortality and population fluctuations. We had already done this in 20th century history but its all good.
Hung out with people and read some of A Thousand Acres (I borrowed it from Elizabeth).
There was a Danish Class representative (which I am) meeting at 5PM to discuss how the classes are going. It was fine. People are generally pretty happy other than that the pace is a bit fast and there has been a little too much culture part of the class as compared to language learning.
I had choir practice. We worked more on the same song. A few people were missing and we are all a little sick so we didn't want to do too much. One of the alto women mentioned getting put next to McCurdy and struggling with her part because McCurdy was such a strong singer! We had fun sharing short study tour stories.
Cecil (Ida's friend) was here last night. She gave be suggestions of places to go in Paris when Elizabeth and I are there. Ida showed Cecil and I pics she had children take about the food they eat. Many of them eat alone or in front of the TV and many eat a ton of sweets and soda. I thought that was an American thing but its not. There was lots of chocolate in the pictures. One of the boys took a pic. of his dog eating. Ida got told some stories from the children that the parents didn't know. One girl would eat a tiny bit of stuff she didn't like and go to the bathroom and spit it out so she didn't have to eat it. Another child took pics of all the sweets he ate and his mother was appalled. In many cases the parents were the ones pushing the sweets and unhealthy stuff in an attempt to be nice and good parents and make their children like them.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 19th

Had breakfast and went for a run. Went by the "pacifier tree" in Fredericksberg Have again. Ran over the garden in a different way and then did lots of loops.
Went into DIS and did Danish HW on the computer. Had lunch with Elizabeth (leftover salmon and lentils).
Had Practicum class. We did lots of discussion in small groups (0h so painful to break into! he he he) about Sweden. People had some very good points about what they did and didn't like about the trip. A big negative point was not getting more basic info about the academic institutes and schools we went and not seeing students and teachers in action. Basically Sweden and Denmark have pretty similar edc. systems. The multicultural school I went to was wonderful but the Swedes are somewhat racist and won't go there. There was no deliberate dialogue or celebration of different cultures at the Swedish school.
In Theory class we learned about how teachers write referrals to get assistance working with children with special needs. The teacher must talk with the parent and the principal and then the institute comes in to evaluate and assess the situation. We talked about how important it is to consider the child in various different contexts and get a wide spectrum of different people's opinions and observations. We also talked about how it's important to notice what the child can do well and include positive observations as well.
I went home after theory class.
We had tomato soup and bread for dinner. Karen has still been up in her room sick. I mentioned the pacifier tree and Ida said she doesn't like it and thinks they are ugly. I guess it gets left up all year and it is a symbolic coming of age ritual that many children take place in.
Jens and I watched a very interesting show about a Danes travels in China. I couldn't understand most of it but seeing the footage was interesting. Asian culture seems to be of big interest to the Danes.

SUNDDAY FEBRUARY 18th

Woke up. Had breakfast on my own. Went off for a run over to the lakes and the back way to Fredericksberg Have. It was pretty nice out and not very cold at all. Had lunch with Ida and Jens. Did homework (reading for classes and a two page response about the Sweden trip.
Went into DIS to watch a movie called The Bench. It was OK. It's about a man who is very depressed and get drunk a lot. He happens to run into his long lost daughter who he cut himself off from when his wife died when his daughter was younger. The daughter has a husband who abuses her and the older man helps to take care of her son and get his daughter away from her husband. He somewhat turns his life around. Danish movies seem to deal with such depressing family lives.
Jakob, Jens son from a previous marriage came for diner. We had frikadeller, red cabbage, potatoes and veggies. For dessert there was an apple raisin crisp.
Jakob is nice. He has just finished his thesis for engineering so now he will have a party in a few weeks to celebrate. We talked about party plans. Jakob showed us his MP3 player and pics from a trip he took to London.
It is so great to see my host family speak in danish. They are much more expressive in thier faces, funnier, and presumably more articulate. They speak great english but you can definitely tell they are much more comfortable speaking in danish. Especially Ida is wonderful about filling me in. I can actually pick up on a surprising amount of the gist of the conversation.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15-SATURDAY FEBRUARY 17

In SWEDEN for the super exciting sounding short study tour.
On Thursday we drove by bus up to Lund. Most people slept on the bus. There is a really long (10km) bridge from Denmark to Sweden that we went over. In Lund we had a tour of a cathedral from the 1100s. There was a really neat astronomically correct clock that told the time, the phases of the moon, and the zodiac sign. It had been made a really long time ago so the technology and accuracy was very impressive. There were a bunch of seats by the front altar. The priests and people who would sit in the chairs could sit on a special part on the bottom of the flip up seat to make it easier to stand and hold onto these supports on either side of the chair. Early evidence of accomadating special needs. Many bookmarks, dice and stuff had been dropped below the chairs. Finding dice is bad because gambling was not allowed in the church.
Underneath the main part of the cathedral there was a crypt. No bodies are still there though. There were two statues of guardians. There was also a story about St. Lawrence and a giant. The giant and St. Lawrence made a deal that the giant would build the cathedral in a certain amount of time if St. Lawrence could guess the giants name. If St. Lawrence couldn't guess the name then he had his eyes pulled out. The towns people all helped but no one could come up with the name until St. Lawrence was depressed and got a secret message in his dreams from a Mother Earth type character of the Giants name. St. Lawrence says the name but it was almost too late. The andromedia meteor shower is the tears from St. Lawrence.
We at lunch at a cute little cafe type place and then explored Lund. Swedes are a little more openly friendly than Danes it seems.
After lunch we went to the Swedish Institute for Special Needs. The director gave a talk which was OK. Pretty general overview of the swedish edc. system and the role of the institute. Basically it is a resource teachers can call. People from the institute go into schools to help with assessment when needed. Teachers can go there to find books and games and resources to help work with children. We had yummy chocolate covered marshmellow pastry type things.
We had interesting talks in small groups about the education system. My group got onto the topic of prenatal testing and getting parents to talk about what they will do if their child has a disability. We also talked about the differences in labelling children and also in formal testing of children.
We went this hostel in a stationary train. It was a bit claustrophobic and crowded and small but definitely an experience. Three bunk beds on top of each others and a tiny area to stand in each room.
We had a really nice dinner of chicken and veggies in a creamy sauce with bread and potatoes on the side. For dessert there was a flan like thing with lemon ice, strawberries, and a powdery chocolate ball. It was nice to talk with the other PCD students.
On Friday we had breakfast at the hostel train. Really yummy bread and jam, cheese, and a strange type of melon. We left early and went up to Karlskrona to visit schools. I went to a school with 360 students ages 5-16 from 45 countries. Many refugees. Swedes don't send their children there much because of racist attitudes which is unfortunate. They have a very hands on approach there and seem to really feel that there are many different ways to measure intelligence. The school was newly renovated and very beautiful and full of light. Students work with guidance to write and produce plays in all the different capacities. There is the option of a Montessori School or an English school. To go to the english school you must be good enough in swedish. We were given an explanation by the administrators and teachers and then students gave us a tour. My tour guides were from Bosnia and Croatia. We had lunch at the school of mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and hamburgers. They also gave us tea and mini sandwiches when we first arrived. Everyone was very open, welcoming, friendly and enthusiastic.
In the afternoon we went on a walking tour of Karlskrona in two groups. They showed us the clock stable, a historic church, and the harbor. It was pretty cold out. Brrrrr. After the walking tour we went to a cafe and got to try pastries and tea or coffee (there was one that was like Monkey Bread, one with almond paste in the middle, and cookies).
After that we checked into a very nice hostel/hotel.
Elizabeth, Ashely and I played cards and hung out for a bit and then went to an italian place for dinner. The pizza was delicious thin crust with lots of toppings and just a bit of cheese. A bit like Bertuccis.
On Saturday we had breakfast of yummy breads, cheeses, yogurts, orange or the same strange melon from the day before.
We went to a glass blowing place. We got to try blowing glass. Super cool! You blow into the end of this long tube and it bubbles out. We then had the process explained the glass comes in little bits that must be melted down at 1000 degrees and then brought down to 500 degrees to be shaped and cooled. They go down this conveyer belt thing to cool off slowly and then must be sanded and polished. The end products were amazing. It is a family business and has been for years. People ogled the stuff in the gift store for a while. I thought about buying stuff but was afraid about it breaking.
We had a traditional swedish lunch that workers would be given in return for doing a few hours of labor at the glass place in the past. Lunch was dark bread, potatoes with herring, bacon, and sweet sausage. It was not what I would normally like to choose to eat but it was absolutely amazing! So delicious. For dessert there was a bread budding/cheesecake consistence cake with whipped cream and strawberry sauce.
We had along bus ride back where we had to fill out evaluations. We watched The Usual Suspects and You've Got Mail.
Sweden is beautiful but not very developped. Many more trees and open space than Copenhagen. Much of it seems like any highway through the USA. The streets in the towns were cobblestone in many cases.
We had a long bus ride

VALENTINE'S DAY

Hi. Happy Valentine's Day! Big news in the paper today was about a nursing home that made the people go up to their rooms in the middle of a TV show they were watching. Disruption of freedom.
Went for a run around the lakes. Passed people (he he he). It was misty and kind of wet but not really raining today. Around freezing. This is from before but I didn't write about it. In Fredericksberg Have there is a cool tree that has been decorated with thousands of baby pacifiers. I think it may be a school coming of age project perhaps.
Went to ISO (a market where they have basically everything we have in the US it's HUGE). I bought strawberries for Ida and Jens for Valentine's Day and made a card. I thought it would be fun and nice. At the supermarkets here you are not given a bag. You bag your own groceries and you must bring your own or else you must purchase a bag.
Had lasagna for lunch then headed into DIS. Exhanged Danish kroner for some Swedish kroner in preparation for the trip tomorrow-Sat. Went on a trip with DIS people led by Catherine Miller-Little to Rosenborg Castle. There were guards out front marching back and forth. It was a summer castle so not as fancy and huge but much cozier (or shall I say hyggeligt). I really really want to go back during the spring to see the gorgeous gardens all around the castle. Inside they had some intricate metal work (weapons, elaborate storage containers etc) as well as the royal jewels. Very fancy crowns, necklaces, a scepter and other such things. It was beatiful, interesting and very intricate and ornate. Not overly fascinating to me though. There were some neat tapestries in part of the castle. Also the historical castle bathroom had all sorts of blue and white hand painted tiles on the wall.
Did some reading for classes and packed for Sweden.
Dinner was shrimp and brussel sprouts in a cream sauce over linguine. The pasta comes all balled up. 8 balls to a box. Ida has written a cookbook about healthy sauces. We had the strawberries for dessert. They were yummy and very much appreciated.
I watched Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind online tonight. It was a pretty good movie but a bit odd. Sort of dark. You can watch DR1 and DR2 (two danish TV stations) online.

February 13th

Had breakfast on my own. Big news was some woman who was just released from jail.
Went for a run up around neighborhoods near my host house to the right up Rolighedsvej. There are some very cute houses. It was nice to be off main roads. It was drizzling and wet and not too much fun. It doesn't actually rain that much here it just mists and drizzles and is overcast a ton of the time.
I went into DIS for classes. In 20th century history we talked about the political relations and alliances leading up to World War I. It's nice to have an overview and comprehensive chronological history of what happened. I loved CMS/CCHS history classes but they were more discussion based and random fun stories. I never got a good sense of the sequences of events. Also part of that is the classes I chose to take in high school I suppose.
Had lunch with Elizabeth in the student lounge. DIS gets packed around lunch time. There aren't enough places for all the hoards of people to sit to eat lunch.
Environmental history was fine. We learned about agriculture in temperate zones versus mediterranean zones. Main difference being the temp and wetness of the seasons and that in temperate zones the animals and the crops are together whereas in mediterranean zones animals and crops are separated. Temperate zone farming is more sustainable and stable because the animals fertilize the fields. On a side note during the break it came up that most people in Denmark have summer houses. The environmental impact of this versus the right of everyone to have a summer house is a controversial issue. My host family has a summer house. The issue of putting a toll to bring a car into the city is also being debated. Right now there is not one but it would help to cut down on cars. Already there is social pressure to walk or take public transportation to get around.
In Danish we talked about cultural stuff (the greater amount of horn beeping, the lack of squirrels, quietness on public transportation, greater alcohol consumption and apparent physical tolerance, no stop signs, lack of real pedestrian etiquette, etc. etc. were some of the things that came up). The Danish seem to really like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. They've been in the news favorably here. We listened to some Danish music. Finally we talked about how to talk about the future using "skal." Nouns have wacko prepositions to go with them. There are no real rules for when you use on, in, with etc.
I went back home and did laundry.
I had dinner early on my own and then went back into DIS for choir practice. I'm so glad I'm going chorus. We worked more on the same song we did last time. We sound pretty good. It's really pretty. We still haven't used words yet. Two of the full years were throwing bottle caps at each other.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 12th

Woke up and had breakfast with Ida and Jens. Big news about some polititian who was funneling money to some org. that he wasn't supposed to.
Went for a run. Found a cute park and a trail that runs along the S-train line.
Went to the Central Station to meet Elizabeth and make reservations on the trains for break.
Went into DIS for a meeting about the short study tour to Sweden on Thurs.-Sat. I can't wait. We go to a glass blowing place, observe in a school, and get presentations at a Special Needs think tank administration type place.
Had lunch then had my practicum class.
We meditated with music in the background for a new minutes. Then we broke into small groups (and if you've ever broken into small groups you know just how painful that can be---Mr. Atlas). We talked about out practicum sites and had to make presentations about them to the whole class. Basically we were all impressed/shocked by the independence and self governance of the children. They are not guided nor reprimanded. As a result they are much more self sufficient. People cry but they work it out themselves. The children dress and eat with real utensils. There are great circle times where they share about their days. The children are pretty rambunctious and violent to each other but not the point of actually hurting each other. They regulate themselves and socially interact well. The idea of communication came up. We came to the conclusion that it makes it fun. You can get the point across by mimicking what you want the child to do. Jamie, a woman in the class, told a story about how she hid something up her sleeve and made it look like it came out of a child's ear. The child picked something up and stuck it up her sleeve and tried to do it too. Jamie wasn't fooling anyone.
The pedagogues are very laid back but it works out. The children are motivated to some extent I suppose and certainly prepared for life just as well as in the US.
In theory class we talked about observation and all the different aspects of things to be watching for in children's development and interactions. We watched some of Forrest Gump. We also had a mini lesson the changing theories of child mental illness and institutionalization versus normalization into the main culture. Remembering that children with special needs have amazing talents and capacities that just need to be expressed and tapped into in different ways is important. Other students in the theory class were being so incredibly disrespectful. Laughing and chit chatting in the middle of when Jan (the professor) was trying to talk. It was interesting stuff too. I hope he doesn't take it personally and think they're laughing at him. It is a big class 60 people and we all come from very different backgrounds (psych and edc and others) so its hard to tailor the class correctly and keep everyone's attention.
Came home. Talked with Ida and watched the news. Story about the trains being delayed and about a beached whale. Ida got a Steinberg poster from an exhibit he had at Louisiana (an art museum of modern art in Denmark) for Jens. Guess he's a famous artist. I don't know.
We had left over lasagna for dinner.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 11th

Went running with the people training for the marathon. Catherine Miller-Little was there, so I talked with her. She ran with a slower group though. It was FREEZING! The run was gorgeous though. I was running with 30 or so people and we were only 1 of 12 groups! We ran 20K at 5:30km/min pace (about 12.5 miles at a little under 9 min. mile pace). It's so much fun to have company to run with. It's a bit nerve wrecking to be running along with all these elbows right at my nose level. Danes are generally very tall. There was some guy who I think was famousish for his run in the London marathon who was running with us. I don't know. We all clapped for him but I don't know Danish.
Went home and then had lunch and did homework.
Went into DIS to print out a paper and watch a movie. It was a bit strange. Der Gronne Slagterers. It was about these two men who open up a meat store. They both have some psychological issues. One of the men always sweats, his parents died when he was young, and was bullied in school. He has trouble keeping relationships. One of the men hates animals because a deer swerved in front of a car and resulted in a crash killing his parents and new wife. His twin bro goes into a coma but comes out of it in the movie and they reconcile. They sell human flesh at the shop as chicky-wickies (chicken nuggets) somewhat unintentially because they are creepy and desperate. They kill people by locking them in the freezer room. They become famous because of it although and it ends up being the marinade that is so great not the meat itself. It sounds really gross from this but it is actually kind of a sweet movie. There are some very nice moments between the two brothers and the two friends. It was good but bizarre.
Jens' two sisters and two nephews came for dinner. It was nice but they talked all in Danish. I was able to generally follow though. The two boys were 12 and got fidgetly quickly. They were playing with the pepper and goofing with their cell phones. They left to watch Kill Bill 2 so I went to join them. It not a very good movie.
It was the day of strange movies I guess.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 10th

Woke up. Breakfast by myself. Did homework. Went for a run with Jessie (the runner from Wheaton) at 10AM. It was SO cold and really windy. Brrrr. We had a nice chat while we were running about funny team stories. Going one way around the lakes it was warm and in the sun but the other side was freezing!
I went back home and had lunch and showered then went back in to meet Elizabeth. There was some sort of festivity going on at Radhusplasen. People were all dressed in costumes and there was music and speechifying. I think it may have been Festelaven related. Not sure. We went to a public library, walked around aimlessly exploring. The library had english books but older ones and an interesting mish mash for the selection. At the end we got hot chocolate at baresso. It is cool because they give you a stick with chocolate on the end and you swirl it and make it yourself. There was a yummy chocolate store nearby with a cool chocolate fountain.
Went back home and watched the end of some romantic movie on TV in English and then did homework and relaxed.

FRIDAY FREBRUARY 10th

Yesterday was busy. I woke up and had breakfast then went for a run. Nothing huge in the news here. It's fashion week in Copenhagen. The princess is getting married again after divorcing the prince (who is really part of the royal family) a few years ago. I was running through a more residential area and it was very pretty. I'm starting to know my way around better.
Went to classes.
In Environmental history we learned about the shift from hunting gathering to agriculture and the societal changes resulting from that and when different areas developped agriculture. It all started in Mesopotamia/Iran,Iraq, Turkey now and spread from there slowly after adapting to different climates. Deforestation had huge effects as did domestication of animals.
In 20th century euro. history we learned about imperialism and the development of empires to get material resources and to increase national pride.
In Danish we talked about the cartoon controversy. I don't think I ever really heard that it started from someone trying to promote multiculturalism by writing a children's book about Islam. He need pics so they asked the Danish Artist group of 40 people to draw pics. Only 12 did. Many were abstract but there were the 2 controversial ones of Muhammed with a time bomb in the turban and Muhammed with a black strip over his eyes and two women in burkas only showing thier eyes. In some ways I think its good that the caroons did come out because it got people talking. It is true freedom of speech instead of the political correctness that seems to occur more in the US. It doesn't help that Denmark is so homogenous so picking on one group makes it seem more like an attack than in the US where there are so many different groups. What made it really interesting was that my Danish teacher is Jewish and on a Nazi group in Denmark's list of hated people. She thought the cartoons were funny for what they were and that it was good to allow people to express themselves. We were talking about Danish culture also and saying that Danes get an idea in their heads and must follow through and come to a resolution. We also were wondering if the younger generation/Danes in general feel responsible for integrating all the diverse groups into the culture, why the divorce rate is so high when friendships last forever, and why small talk in the US turns into long drawn out conversations here. Danes seem to have close groups of friends but the peripheral huge networks that Americans tend to have.
After that I went to a market with Elizabeth. She got stuff to make chocolate chip cookies for her host family. I went to her host family. We/She made cookies and we talked. It was very nice to meet them. The area Elizabeth is in isn't that far from the city but it feels MUCH more rural and is so much more quiet and quaint than where I am. All the houses in this area are white and they have more of a yard and typical American feel than where I am. Elizabeth's house has 3 floors. The houses are not boxy and have character. They are very cozy. The roofs have this funny corregated cardboard like stuff as shingles. Elizabeth has 3 host sisters. I met them all but only briefly.
Her host family has travelled a great deal especially in south east Asia. Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore etc. etc. Pretty cool.
We had leftover chicken pot pie, a fish casserole and a salad of tomatoes and peppers for dinner. After dinner we made reservations for hostels and planned the trains to take for the two weeks vacation. We are going to Vienna, Florence, Geneva and Paris in that order for a few days in each. I'll email you a definite iterary eventually. Hostels are pretty cheap only 30(ish) dollars a night typically. I cannot wait to do that trip. It will be amazing!
I finally have taken the S-train. My first time. It is very easy and clean. Everyone is very quiet on the train also.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 8th

Hi. Woke up and had breakfast. Looked at the paper.
Went into Stenerton my practicum site. Ida biked by me on my way.
I love being there. Today there was this one girl who kept trying to pick me up and also kept stealing my hat and mittens and running off with them. I read an eye spy/early reader book with a boy in the class. One group is putting on a show of Hansel and Gretyl. The pedagogues had one group of children painting cardboard copper to be a jail and cutting out red orange and yellow paper to be a stove. The kids had already done a candy house and the woods. The teachers did not have the materials ready ahead of time but the kids were very patient and waited for the teachers to set up. Very different from the US where everything tends to be overly pre-planned and set up. The kids were very involved and using fine motor skills in a real like context. There was a ton of interaction between the children and it was definitely a group project as compared to US art classes where everyone is working on his or her own product.
We had lunch. It was bean soup and rye bread which had been made in a kitchen at the school. Interesting lack of milk being provided. Pretty healthy otherwise though! After lunch We were outside for 2 hours! It got a bit cold. The children loved it. They were digging and make believe activities. The girls I was with wouldn't let me leave them. We went hunting for horse chestnuts (castagne) and then counted how many we had. Many of the children kept asking me what my mothers name was. I guess (after talking to my host family) that is a common small talk question here.
After being outside they come back inside and play for little while and then have a snack that they bring from home. This is usually fruit or sandwiches. Today one group had baked rolls so those were given out with butter.
I went to DIS to do Danish listening HW on the computer. After that I had a DIS choir group. There are about 10 of us many full year students. We are singing two songs in Danish "kvinde min" my woman and "ud under aben himmel" under the open skies. It was really fun and we made quite a bit of progress. We only learned the tune not the danish words at all.
I had soup and bread for dinner. Jens is out with his son Jakob who did amazingly well on his thesis defense today apparently. Karen is sick with a bad cold. Too bad especially because she is going on a ski trip. She missed classes today. Karen asked if I had a ghetto blaster to listen to music on. I didn't laugh but it was funny to hear a pop culture slang word used in that context.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 7th

Guess Ida and Jens alarm clock has been misbehaving and got set wrong. They were all up and about at 5AM and then went back to bed for a bit.
Karen explained the news to me. Article about Fogh and Bush not getting along. Also article about how Denmark is going to stop giving Iraqi people asylum. Kosovo metally ill people are going to be allowed to stay in Denmark for a while. Here everyone has their mothers and fathers last names apparently. No dumb taking the father's name.
Went for a run in a new part of Copenhagen. Didn't see anything especially unusual. The roads do not always go straight. Many are old fashioned medieval crooked ones. Got very frustrated waiting for the green street light to go at the billion road crossings I have to make.
Took the bus to the lakes and walked around the lakes in a roundabout way to DIS. Funny all black hunchback birds with white bills that keep diving down under the water.
Made my way over to DIS eventually and ate lunch with Elizabeth Ashley and Emily.
Went to The Nationalmuseet. It was awesome. Catherine Miller Little led the trip. She did a 10k race on Saturday that I ended up not deciding to do. We chatted about Smith coaches we both knew.
Looked at some religious artifacts and artwork.
Went on a tour of the museum (20th Century Demark focus). The museum guide started out talking about Georges Brandes and Johannes Jenson (former was a women's right activist and activist for the working class and the latter was a social darwinism (the fittest races naturally go to the top). She talked about the Women's society in Denmark. Women go the vote here in 1915. There were some pretty terrible living conditions in Denmark and stratification in society. Denmark really didn't do much in WWI or WWII. The goulash nobility provided canned food to the soldiers. They didn't lose many people to violence. Denmark was occupied by Germany but helped a ton of Jews escape to Sweden. Denmark had industry in its agriculture and exports lots of dairy products and pigs. She talked about Christiania, the hippish place where they pay no rent are not really subject to laws and are very liberal and loose. She talked about the red stocking womens movement where there were lots of protests and women wanted equal pay and rights to men. America has had a huge influence recently on Denmark. In the 70s/80s Denmark had a large anti-nukes protest. Denmark has also had anti-communist posters and protests mainly because of US influence. Denmark is liberal in terms of homosexuality. They were one of the first ones to legalize same sex partnerships as I noticed on the sign when I went to my CPR number at the Kommune.
After all of that I went and kept Jennifer Powers (she goes to a women's college and is in my enviro. history class) company while she had lunch. Then we both went to look at Egyptian and Roman artifacts. I love the hieroglyphics. There was a mummified alligator! It is so neat to see things that are so old. We only touched on a tiny, itsy, bitsy, miniscule, microscopic, part of the museum. I really want to go back and see old European/viking artifacts and all the other amazing stuff they have. For a small country the Danes sure are proud of (and know!) their history. I guess it's hard not to when you are surrounded by it.
Just a little side note. I enjoy living with a family because of the greater insight into the culture. The kollegiums may be easier to meet other Danes our age but not necessarily. I'll meet people just by going through life and if I don't "meet the Danes" other than my host family and potentially runners at the marathon training then that is OK with me. Sometimes it gets a bit lonely not being in a dorm and having people to interact with all the time but I think that is because classes are not as difficult here so far and I don't have organized sports to fill the time. It is more relaxing and quiet than at Smith even though it may not seem like it from all I've been writing about in my blog. I've been pretty busy and met quite a range of people given the uncentralized nature. I guess everyone is taken away from their networks of friends and must adapt. My host family is very busy with work and school so we haven't done many activities together but we have long talks at breakfast and dinner. I feel very lucky to have ended up where I did and very settled in.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 6th

Woke up. Had breakfast. Just Jens was up. Looked at the Danish paper. Big news is about squatters in a house in Christiania (an area where lots of drugs are done and laws are very lax). Yesterday was Crown Princess Mary's birthday so the buses had danish flags on them.
Went for a run in Fredericksberg Have. Found a hill and did 5 fast repeats including the hill. Pretty incredible to be running up a hill towards a gorgeous castle and have an amazing view of Copenhagen and a sunrise in front of me. There are no stop signs here but there are separate traffic lights for pedestrian. Both lights for the cars and the people flash red and orange before going green.
Talked to Karen for a while about the people in Christiania and a protest she was at a while ago against cutting of funding and stopping the welfare state.
Went into DIS. In Euro. History We learned about the working class and social conditions in europe leading to the development of socialism and communism. I never really understood them or the working class motivation behind the movements before but it makes sense now.
Had lunch with Elizabeth. The prof uses an overhead to show maps and pics. I haven't seen those in a while. Most use power point now.
Talked briefly with my professor for both history classes as I was going into Enviro. History. He knew my name which was nice. He was cheating by looking at a roster that has pics and I am in both classes but oh well. I've made a point of participating in both classes with him.
Learned about early humans spread around the world and the overhunting of animals and climate change leading to mass extinctions of the large land animals. He showed us pics from the Lascaux caves and the Dordogne caves that I remembered from an Art History class I took at Smith.
In Danish we reviewed the stuff we've learned so far. All classes need to have class reps as a liason between the profs and students. I offered to do that for Danish. There was lots of speaking in Danish today but she is willing to help you and work until you get it. She really knows how to explain the face positioning to make sounds well. We've learned quite a lot for only a few weeks. There is no conjugation of verbs which is AMAZING! I still have no sense of pronunciation because different letters are given emphasis or ignored that in the romance languages. At the end we talked some about the culture.
Hung out with Ashley and Emily (two girls from Hobart and William Smith). Emily is a big birder and worked on an island in Maine with puffins last summer.
Went back home. Watched Beverly Hills with Karen my host sister. She knew it was an old show but its still fun to watch. After that Friends was on. We talked about foods and restaurants and what we like to eat.
We had pasta and salmon sauteed in a pan with leeks, carrots, and red pepper for dinner. Yummy. Jens' son Jakob defends his thesis Thurs. so we talked about what he should get for a present. Karen was planning stuff for her ski trip as well. She has tons of friends.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 5th

Woke up. Had breakfast. Ida's aunt is sick. She is going to see her tonight. The front page of the paper was all about handball. Denmark won the bronze medal in handball by beating France.
Went for a run. I looked on a map I have and saw a green area with lots of paths so I thought it was a garden. There was a super cool sunrise. I ran over there but it turns out to be a graveyard. Bikes are cutting through and there is a large path through the middle so I figure it's OK. I'm running along and I see a sign for Soren Kirkegaard's grave and HC Anderson's grave. I followed the signs in a sort of scavenger hunt and eventually find the gravesite. I also saw Neils Bohr's grave. His was the coolest because it has an owl statue on it. It made the run pretty exciting. Where else can you go by so many famous graves. Well...actually right in Concord on Author's Ridge where the Alcott's, Thoreau, and Emerson are buried but that's not the point.
Went back took a shower and headed into DIS.
In the practicum class the prof had us do a cool brainstorm to neat music about where we were, where we are, and where we want to be in terms of our life outlook and feelings.
We then had an open discussion about our practicum sites and questions we had. One interesting thing that came up was that mother's get paid for time off to take care of their children for a few months but then they go back to work. Kids are sent off to institutions to be cared for pretty much their whole childhoods. No "just housewifes" in Denmark or shall we say home anchor person's.
Elizabeth and I walked around during the break. She had left her scarf at RizRaz so we went to get it.
The theory class was OK but he tends to belabor his points. We started off talking about Sputnik and how that changed the way education was thought of. We then got into three stages (the Fuller Model) that teachers go through. A self stage, a task phase and an impact phase. Basically in self stage you're worried about what the kids and other teachers think of you. In the task phase you stick rigidly to rules and rely on the same responses and curriculum. In the impact phase you are worried most about the overall impact that you have on students, understanding students, and motivation of the students. Moral of the story is that you want to get to the impact stage. We took a survey to see which stage we were in. I was mainly in the impact stage (probably due to Smith's classes) and then medium in the self stage and only a tiny bit in the task phase.
After that class I went to an International Club meeting. They brought back DIS alums to talk about Danish culture. Basically what came out is that Danes will not go out of their way to talk with you nor to help you. If you ask for help or make the initial approach then Danes are extremely nice and friendly. We determined that going to bars was NOT the way to meet Danes because when they go out they go with a set group of friends who they want to visit with. One woman told a story about a blind man who another man tried to help by telling him what train was coming in. The blind man got snippy and replied that he was only going one stop and could take any train. Guess helping handicapped people (along with able bodied people) here is considered an insult unless they directly want it. Joining clubs is the best way to meet Danes apparently.
Came home and had frikadiller (danish meatballs with pork instead of beef) pasta and vegetables.
Karen got a new cell phone. She has 200 people on it. Quite the network.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 4th

Woke up around 6:30. Had breakfast. Worked an assignment we have for education about the differences between american and danish education systems. Basically the difference is the amount to which early elementary ed and maternity leave are funded (in Denmark they have a welfare state which means they pay really high taxes and therefore services get covered to a much greater extent). Also interesting there is paid maternity leave here and I think in the US people tend to take unpaid time off.
Went for a run. I went at 9AM and the city was still dead quiet. It was sunny and nice but a bit cold. I went a different way over to the lakes in the center of the city and then around them. There's a cool statue that says "you can't find art in the dictionary."
Headed into DIS for a tour of Frederiksborg Castle. It was so neat. We took the scenic way along the coast to get there. Big fancy millionaire mansions. A few had thatched roofs which was so cool to see. We drove by Karen Blixen's house (writer of Out of Africa aka Isaac Dinneson. Our tour guide was great. It was fun to see more farmland and natural undeveloped Denmark. We saw lots of fields and ponies to the side of the road. We saw a really neat windmill. Hillerod the town where the castle is is very pretty.
The guide took us around the castle. It was really beautiful but cold inside! Furnaces and radiators are wonderful inventions. It was fun to hear stories about the castle and be in a place that has such history. Lots of portraits of royalty on the walls that weren't so exciting. Seeing the shields that had been awarded for different honorable deeds was neat. There was one given to Eisenhower and one given to Churchill for their assistance to Denmark. You can get the Code of the Elephant or the Code of the Dannebrog (danish flag). All the shields are specially designed with symbolic meanings.
When we got back I went to DIS to see a showing of Drommen (We Shall Overcome). The movie is danish but there were english subtitles. A film about a boy who wants justice for having his ear practically ripped off by the overbearing idiot threatening headmaster of his school. The mother loses her job as a nurse in a another school because of her choice to have the school board investigate. The father has depression and is in and out of a mental hospital. Martin Luther King Jr., hippies, civil rights, and peaceful protest all play a part. The boy memorizes King's I have a dream speech and the class sings "we shall overcome." Interesting inclusion of US stuff. The movie was great, well acted, and full of much less music and dramatic effects that Hollywood movies. There is a great character of a music teacher who comes to the school wanted to change the strict, follow the curriculum, danish pride, corporal punishment nature of the school.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 3rd

Woke up around around 7. Had a swirl pastry with chocolate on top that Karen had brought home from the bakery for breakfast. Did some reading for my education classes. Went running with Jessie (a woman from Wheaton who knows Polly Sturges and runs about the same pace in races as me). She is staying at a kollegium and enjoys it. We met at DIS and ran around all 5 lakes. We went to a cafe afterward and talked. Went back home. Did some more homework.
Went for a walk into Copenhagen. Met Elizabeth, Ashley, and Emily at Norreport train station. We went to a really good vegetarian restaurant called RizRaz for dinner. They had a buffet with all sorts of cool salads and stuff. One was grated carrots in a creamy sauce. One was almost coleslaw like. There were greenbeans, a ratatouille-like one, pita bread with sauces. It was very good and a comfortable place to eat.
After dinner Elizabeth went off to see a ballet for her class.
Emily, Ashley and I walked around in Copenhagen for a while. It was fun to see more of the city and to see it at night. It was fun to get to know our way around a little better. There are lots of modern stores with very fashionable clothing. There is a really cool street that has been paved all with tiles. I was reminded how much I am not really a night person. I headed home a little before 9 and it seemed like most people were just starting to come out.
Karen was off all day working at the bakery and with friends. Ida went to a swim club and to a birthday party at night. Jens was reading the paper and doing house stuff.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 2nd

Hi. Woke up a little before 7. Ate breakfast with my host family of croissant and tea. Karen explained some of the news stories. Denmark lost the semi final handball game last night to Poland so they play in the bronze medal game against France who lost to Germany. Interesting about the finding that humans are causing climate change and that the Bush adminstration is keeping global warming quiet. Finally understand that how Anders Fogh Rasmussen is called liberal but is actually what in the US would be conservative. Did homework.
Went into DIS. Had 20th century Euro history. We talked about industrialization (urbanization, use of fossil fuels, transportation and use of machines, production to make a profit, and population growth). Had lunch of a peanut butter sandwich on yummy bread from Karen's bakery and an orange. Ate with Elizabeth and another girl who transfered from Smith to Wellesley.
Went to Enviro history. Talked about ecosystems and how humans don't really follow the rules of ecology. Then we got into Lucy (first human-like person) and prehistoric neanderthals and the Ice Age.
Went to Danish. Learned about the different genders for nouns. Also learned to say Jeg kan godt lidt (I like...). Did some dialogues in partners about ordering things in restaurants. It was Nina's (the professor's) sons 11th birthday and her two other children were sick so she let us go a little bit early.
No run today. It was warm 6 C and rainy.
Amendment to the radar on TV. They do have it it's just not Doppler. The weather man stands on a ship in the ocean and there is a split screen with a map and symbols.
I showed an album my Mom made for me a while ago to Ida and Jens. They commented how dark many of my family members are and seemed interested to see.
We had bread, soup from a bottle not a can but not processed really, bread from Karen's bakery, lots of different yummy cheeses, and pear. Ida and Jens had wine.
We talked for a long time. Finances came up. They seem to be very frank about expenses here but not in a miserly way. Upper edc. is free (for a ton of money in taxes) here. We talked about boats some also. Ida's uncle works at a Viking ship reenactment program. Sounds cool. Jens had been to see his mother who is doing well. Jakob (Jens' son from a previous marraige) has his thesis defense next Thursday. I hope it goes well.
I watched The Good Girl (with Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhal) in english on TV. It was interesting to read the danish subtitles beneath.

THURSDAY JANUARY 25th

Woke up a little before 7. In case you wanted to know the kWh was up to 78775 we seem to use somewhere between 10-15 kwh a day.Had muesli and yogurt for breakfast. There was an article about what Rasmussen the Prime Minister knew about some prisoners in Iraq and what he should have done about it. Talked with Karen and Ida. Karen's school recently had a problem with people using cocaine. Guess there isn't nearly as much drug/alcohol/smoking education here.
Went to Studenten (my practicum site). Both Elizabeth and I got there early because we weren't quite sure where it was. It is so odd that we got put in the same place. We're the only 2 DIS students there.
Sarah, our contact person, met us and explained the general schedule and policy of the school. There are 3 groups of 3-6 year olds. A group consists of 20 children, 2 main teachers (pedagogues) and 1 assistant pedagogue. Mainly the groups all interact together. One group each week goes to the forest for the entire day everyday for the whole week. Sounds pretty cool. There is a big environmental focus at this daycare. They get organic food and they recycle and compost. TWR a woman (who reminded me vaguely of Rosetta for some reason) cooks lunch for them. Students can get there as early as 7AM and they get food. The children basically come in all morning though and then leave slowly all afternoon. At 5PM the school officially closes.
The school has a very homey feel. By the entrance there is a sheet with what is planned for the day and then they write in what actually happened that day once the day is done. This seems like a great way to communicate a lot of info easily to the parents. There are many rooms and lots of huge windows. One room that I thought was especially cool was one lined with pillows and filled with soft stuff where the children can go to wrestle and rough house.
There were legos, drawing materials, cars, a room with make believe house and cooking type toys in various rooms. Basically the children have complete free rein to do whatever they want. The pedagogues are vaguely around but really not trying to organize any activities. They just sort of go about their own business. The children got along really really well together. The few times when someone did get hurt or upset the other child immediately said Undskilde (I'm sorry/excuse me) and gave them a big hug. This happened quite a lot with three rambunctious boys who obviously were really good friends but got to throwing things at each other and were a bit wild. The teachers didn't stop them but were there to ask what happened and comfort when one of them got hurt.
I pointed on a map to a bunch of the children Jeg kommer far der (I come from there). and pointed to Boston. They didn't quite seem to understand that I didn't know what they were saying.
One girl in particular really liked me. I read a book with her.
There was a meeting time where they read a journal that a child had dictated about what they did with a stuffed animal at home that week. Sounds extremely familiar. They also sang a couple of songs. One had to do with Bob the Builder (oh American influence!) and having one hammer (pound on floor with 1 fist) having 2 hammers (pound with 2 fists) and having 3 hammers (head and 2 fists). Another had to do with a sleeping bear and waking up and growling. The songs were picked based on association with songs associated with objects chosen from a basket.
At lunch they eat out of real bowls, cups, metal silverware etc. etc. There is a pitcher of water that they pour from. I was impressed at how civilized it was. Before eating they said a sort of blessing over the food but it was secular I believe. They had pasta with tomato sauce. I had brought my own lunch. There was one girl who was spacing out a bit and not really eating. I wonder if she might have some sort of learning disability. We'll see.
I helped the children get on all their stuff to go out. They ALL wear full snowsuits (as do all the children around Copenhagen). They really get bundled up even when it is not really that cold. When we went outside after lunch I had four or five children holding onto me for balance while I stood in the middle of a sandbox and they walked around the narrow outside rim. They were having so much fun! They kept saying holder min han (or something like that which obviously meant hold my hand). We were outside for about 1.5 hours. Pretty amazing and they do it no matter what the weather. Elizabeth and I left around 1 so they were still outside when we left.
Overall it was a pretty awesome experience. I cannot wait to go back.
I went back to the house and did some homework. I went for a run around the bottom two of the five lakes. I hadn't quite realized how bad the air is here. It's very very humid and there is quite a bit of car exhaust. Not so bad for a city though.
Did homework for the rest of the afternoon.
Watched the exciting end to the Germany France semi final handball game with Jens and Simon. It went into double overtime but I guess that isn't that uncommon in handball.
We had dinner of tomato soup and bread. Karen brought home a bunch of yummy bread and pastries from the bakery that she works at! We shared some chocolate croissant like pastries and mini muffins for dessert.
Ida had swim practice today and had to do the butterfly. Karen was busy at the bakery covering for someone who wasn't there. I was talkign Karen and she says that people commonly take 6 mths or a year off after high school before going to university. This isnt' that different from the US though because they end HS at 16 or some at 17. You must go to public school from 7-16 but the vast majority go from 6-17.