Yes. I can relate.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Week 42 - Potato Vacation
I love this.
It's been unusually quiet at the office - most people have taken the week off for the "Potato Holiday." See, in old times the schools would close down in order to have extra help with the potato harvest. Well, they now have machines for the potatoes... but the tradition remains. So kids are out of school and my co-workers have gone on vacation. Maybe it’s more appropriate to call it the "Couch Potato Holiday" =)
Yay for Danish Traditions.
It's been unusually quiet at the office - most people have taken the week off for the "Potato Holiday." See, in old times the schools would close down in order to have extra help with the potato harvest. Well, they now have machines for the potatoes... but the tradition remains. So kids are out of school and my co-workers have gone on vacation. Maybe it’s more appropriate to call it the "Couch Potato Holiday" =)
Yay for Danish Traditions.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Giggle
Original text:
Mandag den 20. oktober 2008 inviteres alle til housewarming på Fabriksvangen 1, hvor der på parkeringspladsen foran bygningen vil være en pølsevogn, betjent af to kønne piger. Pølsevognen vil være åben i kantinens almindelige åbningstid.
Translation: Danish » English
Monday 20 October 2008 invited all the house warming on Fabriksvangen 1, where the parking lot in front of the building will be a Pølsevogn, operated by two pretty girls. Sausage Cart will be open in the canteen normal trading hours
Mandag den 20. oktober 2008 inviteres alle til housewarming på Fabriksvangen 1, hvor der på parkeringspladsen foran bygningen vil være en pølsevogn, betjent af to kønne piger. Pølsevognen vil være åben i kantinens almindelige åbningstid.
Translation: Danish » English
Monday 20 October 2008 invited all the house warming on Fabriksvangen 1, where the parking lot in front of the building will be a Pølsevogn, operated by two pretty girls. Sausage Cart will be open in the canteen normal trading hours
How IS the weather here???
I take it back. The minute I pushed the “Publish Post” button on my last entry, the clouds rolled as if on cue for a theatrical comedy. It suddenly became very cold and gloomy and started to drizzle. Fine, Denmark, bring it on!
A note on the weather here – I cannot find the words to describe its bizarre behavior. It is absolutely unpredictable. I have seen clear sunny skies, to black looming clouds, to pouring down rain and back in the matter of an hour. All of sudden, the wind will pick up and you’ll see the beginning of a big nasty storm and 10 minutes later everything will be calm and serene. One thing is for sure: it’s much different from the weather back in Santa Barbara.
The current problem I deal with is acclimating to the temperature changes when going indoors or outdoors. Inside, I will be quite comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. In order to head outside, I’ll throw on boots, a sweater, a heavy winter jacket, gloves and a scarf. This will either be entirely necessary or way too much clothing and I find out the moment I open the front door get my first douse of the outside air. Of course, then I start walking and my body temp heats up. So pretty soon I’m sweating and trying to strip off all the extra clothing. By the time I get back indoors, for instance into a shopping mall or onto the bus, I have clothing hanging from both arms and I’m back to just my basic t-shirt. To others, I must look quite ridiculous, because everyone else treads around totally bundled in their winter coats and scarves. How do they do it? If I keep my jacket, sweater and scarf on, I’ll faint from overheating! Hopefully my body will adjust and this little dilemma of mine will just disappear. Otherwise, people will start recognizing me as the crazy Indian girl who runs around with no clothing! I guess it’s one way to get noticed…
A note on the weather here – I cannot find the words to describe its bizarre behavior. It is absolutely unpredictable. I have seen clear sunny skies, to black looming clouds, to pouring down rain and back in the matter of an hour. All of sudden, the wind will pick up and you’ll see the beginning of a big nasty storm and 10 minutes later everything will be calm and serene. One thing is for sure: it’s much different from the weather back in Santa Barbara.
The current problem I deal with is acclimating to the temperature changes when going indoors or outdoors. Inside, I will be quite comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. In order to head outside, I’ll throw on boots, a sweater, a heavy winter jacket, gloves and a scarf. This will either be entirely necessary or way too much clothing and I find out the moment I open the front door get my first douse of the outside air. Of course, then I start walking and my body temp heats up. So pretty soon I’m sweating and trying to strip off all the extra clothing. By the time I get back indoors, for instance into a shopping mall or onto the bus, I have clothing hanging from both arms and I’m back to just my basic t-shirt. To others, I must look quite ridiculous, because everyone else treads around totally bundled in their winter coats and scarves. How do they do it? If I keep my jacket, sweater and scarf on, I’ll faint from overheating! Hopefully my body will adjust and this little dilemma of mine will just disappear. Otherwise, people will start recognizing me as the crazy Indian girl who runs around with no clothing! I guess it’s one way to get noticed…
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Stand Still
Ugh. I knew some things were too good to be true.
My Danish CPR card (which basically acts as my Danish ID) was returned to the kommun in the mail. Great.
My stuff from the States has yet to arrive… apparently it finally shipped this Monday. No bicycle, no running shoes, no comforts of home for me... :(
The bank forgot to place an order for an ATM card on my new Danish account. So I’ve got No Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh, sadly.
I get a 7am wake-up call every morning by the construction site across the street. The Danes start damn early!
And the internet in my apartment won’t start up until October 16th. Fantastic.
On the plus side, the weather has been very nice. We’ve had sunny days and warm temperatures (relatively speaking). Yesterday, I attended an all-hands meeting that was conducted entirely in Danish. I lost 1.5 hours of my life - painfully. Yea, I won’t attempt that again until I can actually understand some of the language! Note to self: learn some Danish.
My Danish CPR card (which basically acts as my Danish ID) was returned to the kommun in the mail. Great.
My stuff from the States has yet to arrive… apparently it finally shipped this Monday. No bicycle, no running shoes, no comforts of home for me... :(
The bank forgot to place an order for an ATM card on my new Danish account. So I’ve got No Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh, sadly.
I get a 7am wake-up call every morning by the construction site across the street. The Danes start damn early!
And the internet in my apartment won’t start up until October 16th. Fantastic.
On the plus side, the weather has been very nice. We’ve had sunny days and warm temperatures (relatively speaking). Yesterday, I attended an all-hands meeting that was conducted entirely in Danish. I lost 1.5 hours of my life - painfully. Yea, I won’t attempt that again until I can actually understand some of the language! Note to self: learn some Danish.
Friday, October 3, 2008
I Heart Google
5 words:
Original text:
For helvede da også….
Translation: Danish » English
Goddamn also ....
THANK GOD FOR GOOGLE TRANSLATOR!
Now that I'm on the RAS R&D mailing lists I keep getting all these e-mails in Danish and I have no idea what they mean - oh, but wait a minute, yes I do! I've enjoyed translating the RESONNET internal announcements - those have been fun :)
|
| From Santa Barbarian Chica Meats Denmark |
Original text:
For helvede da også….
Translation: Danish » English
Goddamn also ....
Thursday, October 2, 2008
These boots were made for walking...
My new "Hi Nice to Meet You", "Party Time!" and "Get Out of My Way Or I'll Kick You in the Face" boots. A Danish essential.
Fabulous October 1st
Why October 1st was so great:
- Got my first Danish Paycheck
- Got my first Danish mail (confirmation of my CPR number!)
- Got keys to my new stellar apartment
- Found $30 in a pair of pants I haven't worn in a while
Ahhh. Things are going very well here. I spent the first night in my new apartment. To get an idea of how this felt, first you have to understand that I signed the lease for this apartment before ever having physically seen it. Back in July, twenty-seven pictures were sent to me from HR in Denmark and from those pictures I made my decision. So for the past 2 months I have been studying those photos, dissecting every detail and corner to get a feel for my new living quarters. Yesterday, while I was lying on a mattress pad on the floor tucked under some blankets in this big (and very empty!) apartment I couldn't help but feel like I was stepping into a dream. It was all very surreal - imagine the feeling you would get if you stepped into your own pictures. This new pad of mine is by far the best living arrangement I have ever had. For starters it's huge - a one bedroom apartment with a living/dining area the size of my old studio. It's on the third floor of the building looking over shops and cafes. There are vaulted ceilings with skylights which makes the place very bright (when there's daylight, that is). Everything is brand new - a well equipped kitchen with a dish washing machine and a washer/dryer combo in the bathroom. I found myself thinking, am I really here? What did I do to deserve this? It really is an amazing place (ahem... have I enticed you enough to come visit?)Now all I need is: lights, a bed, furniture, kitchen supplies, groceries, Internet connection, and all my stuff that still hasn't shipped from the States (which includes my bike). Ha! Ok, so it's going to take me a while to feel settled, but I am definetely off to a good start.
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