John's Visit

Ok, it's been a long while since Jon was here visitng...this post is LONG overdue. But, you know how it goes. It takes time to post pictures, time that I often spend elsewhere. Maybe I'll multi-task...just picture me stretching AND cleaning the kitchen while the pictures upload:P

When John visited, way back in...when was it?....June I think...we took him on a classic tour of Copenhagen. Carlsberg, Nyhavn, the boat cruise. We also went to Christiania, took the train up to Krongborg Castle, the ferry across to Sweden. We had fun:) If you click on the title: John's Visit you'll get the link to the photos.

God fornøjelse! (Have fun)

Heather:)

The Mermaids...

Yep, there are three here in Copenhagen. They seem to culminate in groups. I'm sure there are some in Canada too, you just gotta find them. Apparently there's one in Vancouver and there's even one in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Not a lot of Danes know that there are two others in Copenhagen. The only one that most are familiar with is this pretty little thing:

She sits just off the shore of Langelinie and 'bids welcome' to all those traveling into Copenhagen by boat. I suppose that's a silly thing to say, though, cause she's actually looking in towards the land at another sculpture of a young man, coincidentally.


Why is the mermaid so often mentioned in relation to Denmark? Because "The Little Mermaid" was not written by Disney, but by Hans Christian Andersen. H.C. Andersen wrote, among other things, many children stories. Many of them are actually quite melancholy (like The Little Matchbox Girl, for example). Walk into any tourist shop, or any housewares store for that matter, and you'll find small hanging decorations from the stories of Andersen. Christmas trees are often decorated with images from his stories too. I think it's sweet that Danes are famous for their story telling. What a lost art!

Neways, this particular little mermaid has had quite the life. She's been painted pink:

and she's been beheaded several times. Apparently her neck is filled with concrete now so that it won't happen again.

Of course, other sculptures have been made of the mermaid. Here is one located just down the shore at a small cafe:

Now, how is it that SHE'S not hanging on everyone's christmas trees and in their windows with a little tealight candle behind her during the cold, dark months of the winter? (btw, I borrowed the picture from someplace else).

And then we have, sitting in a little harbour on the flip side of Langelinie, my alltime favourite of the mermaids:

Doesn't she seem sad and forlorn? Melting might have something to do with it. This is what happens when you gain legs. You melt. And THAT is the moral of the story...

what?

Jonathan's Visit to Denmark

Mom and Jonathan were in Denmark at the same time for about 4 days. During that time we went to Tivoli, to the Viking Museum in Roskilde, and we celebrated Jonathan's birthday. I made a wicked chocolate cake with chocolate sauce (which was supposed to be the icing but it didn't really thicken enough) so we got major sugar highs that evening. After Mom left, we took Jonathan to many of the tourist sites of Copenhagen: the Canal tour, all three mermaids (does no one else know that there are three in Copenhagen?), the National Museum, and more. Jonathan and I rented bikes and got lost OUTSIDE of the allowed area to bike (oops), but we didn't get caught. And of course, we came down to Morfar's house to relax and do some things out in the countryside.

Once again, if you click on the Title: Jonathan's Visit to Denmark, another website will come up with my photos from Jonathan's trip.

Next blog, John's visit and then afterwards I'll start putting up some pictures of things that we're doing now.

Mom's Visit to Denmark

My mom came to Europe for the first time in March. I was so proud of her because she came on her own. Trying to find one's gate in Schipol Airport (Amsterdam) can take a while cause it's such a big place. But she made it to her connecting flight without much trouble (just a lot of running). The funny thing was that the plane that she boarded ended up having a gas leak on it's arrival at Kastrup Airport here in Denmark. The plane sat on the tarmak until they decided that it was safe enough to pull up to the gate. So, they had a scare but walked through the exit into Denmark safe and sound. :)

Dave and I were SOOO excited to have Mom in Denmark. We took her everywhere that we could in the few weeks that we had. We walked throughout the city. Our tours included the three mermaids, Christiania, Strøget, Frederiksberg Have, Søndermarken, Vestre Kirkegården, Helsingør, etc. But the highlights for me were taking her down to Morfars house and going to the church service in Helligånds Kirke. Both experiences were so relaxing and hyggelige. The MOST exciting thing, however, was that I got to have coffee or tea with my Mom every day for over 2 weeks.

Instead of putting individual pictures into this blog, I've added a link. If you click on the title ABOVE (not to the left) ("Mom's Visit to Denmark"), another window will open with my pictures of Mom's trip.

We miss you Mom!
Knus og kram (xoxoxoxoxo)

Heather:)

In between the darkness and the light

After Morfar passed away, things got a little bit hairy here. David and I had traveled to Turkey to visit some friends and had been there only one day when we received the news that Morfar died. We had to find a way back to Denmark to be with Kirsten, who was flying from Canada to start the dreaded paper work and decision making. Our original tickets had been bought really cheap with no insurance. David tried everything he could to talk with KLM and get the tickets changed. The guy that David talked with was really nice and booked us seats on a plane for the wednesday (we had arrived 1am monday). But we needed to send proof to KLM (ie. a death certificate) in order to guarantee we could keep those seats. There was no death certificate because the doctors were talking about doing an autopsy. In the end, David was able to talk with Police on Lolland. They forwarded a message to us and to KLM which stated that Morfar had died and that David was related. So KLM booked our flight. We would only need to pay the difference in ticket price.

We had Tuesday to relax, unwind, see some sites, and then prepare to go back home. Here is a little of what we saw.

This is David with Suresh and Cheryl, our beloved friends in Turkey. They have two kids who are SO wonderful, but we didn't get any pictures of them in our short stay. They were in school most of the time.

This is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who established a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic in 1923, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire after WWI. It is unlawful to utter criticism of him. In fact, political parties have been shut down due to their criticisms. I heard that is possible to be arrested for speaking negatively about him in public.

The following pictures were taken in Aya Sophia. It was constructed about 1500 years ago by the Byzantines and was the largest church in Christendom for about 900 years when the Turks took Constantinople. It was the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church during that time. The building was converted to a mosque and then in the 1920's Ataturk decided that with its history it should be converted to a museum. It was interesting to see because behind a lot of the Islamic design, one can still see the Christian design. Some is really obvious, like the images of Jesus, but others had been covered over and as restorations began, they were uncovered...

This is a beautiful view from Aya Sophia, looking out towards the Blue Mosque, which is just across the street.

We've decided that, Lord willing, we will return to Turkey to spend more time with Suresh and his family. I'd like to see Aya Sophia again, and then, of course, the rest of Turkey.

When we arrived at the airport on Wednesday, the management were expecting us. They personally met us at the ticket counter to give their condolences and to say that we did not need to pay the difference. "Just go home and be with your family," they said. We thanked God for their kindness and for this small blessing which gave us such warmth in such a cold time. Never underestimate your kindness when working with customers. It can make a difference.

When we arrived back in Denmark we immediately traveled down to Morfars house where Kirsten had set up camp to get things done. I stayed with her for a week to help while David, after several days, went back to the city to work. All of us were tired and sad, but we did our best to keep our heads up and stay jovial, because that's the kind of guy that Morfar was.

When Kirsten and I went back to Copenhagen, we brought Nelson, Morfars cat. David and I had decided to keep Nelson. But that night, Nelson got out and ran away. It was his first night in the city, and he was afraid, and it was dark. We totally freaked out and all of our "keeping our heads high" fell apart. Kirsten flew back to Canada and we began our long and arduous search for our new little child. We plastered the neighbourhood with posters and talked with everyone. After 18 days, we got a call from a woman named Alice who had not only seen, but caught our cat. Thanks to our dear friend Grethe, who works for Kattens Værn (a cat organization here in Denmark) he was picked up and safely returned to us. We've fattened him up and loved him sooooo much over the past 4 months. He's been to the vet and he's healthy and essentially happy. You've seen him before, and here he is again:)

Over the next few months, Dave and I were busy with various things. We were making our way through Danish classes. I tried to apply to receive a new work visa but it didn't work because my education at York didn't match the type of job that I was applying for. We realized that the only way for me to be able to be in Denmark for a longer period of time would be to apply for Family Reunification.

My working permit ended mid-March. I had plenty of time to prepare for my Mom and brother, who were coming to visit. After months of struggle and drastic change, I was finally going to be able to see my family again....in person:)

Memorial to Morfar

I regret that I didn't take more pictures of Morfar. The pictures that you'll see are of him, his house, his pets. I wanted to try to capture all of those things that were directly connected to Morfar in my experience, and thereby capture a sense of him in this blog.

This is a memorial to Jørgen Christian Jensen. He died, in his sleep, on Sunday night/Monday morning the 22nd/23rd of February, 2009. He was Far, Morfar, and Farfar. He was a friend and a caring neighbour to everyone in Kragenæs. He was also a friend to all of the pets and animals in and around Kragenæs (except, of course, for the eels, which he smoked and ate...which we ALL ate *yum*)

Morfar went for walks every day with Else,

his closest friend and neighbour,



and of course Balu, her dog.

Morfar's house was located on the edge of Kragenæs, located somewhere between the fields, the skies, the forests and the water.

Here are a few pictures taken in macro of things around Morfars house...
things that have always been there.

As I mentioned earlier, we all ate Morfar's smoked eel. It was not only the best in town, but the best around! We met strangers because of Morfar's eel. This is his smoke oven. This is where the magic happened. The smell of smoked foods will always remind me of Morfar.

Morfar was also a "handyman". Here's a picture from his workshop. Notice how cautious he was, with the safety goggles and a dust mask...did he USE that?!!

Okay, so by "handyman" I mean that his answer
to most troubles
was his trusty pocket knife.

And there were the cats. Morfar put out food every day
(fish guts, pork, bones) for the wild cats.



He also had three house cats. Nelson was his favourite! You can see why...they looked similar;) (Whenever I did something not quite right...like putting the wrong topping on my sandwich...Morfar would growl at me and look at me in good-natured disapproval with his "good" eye....kind of like a pirate!)

I can't express how special the last 6months have been to David. Our Danish improved immensely and he was able to talk with Morfar about all sorts of things. He was able to get to know Morfar on more than a laughing/grunting/growling/chuckling level (only family would know what I mean by that).




We love you and we'll miss you Morfar!

Love Heather

Beautiful Wintery Denmark:)

Well, I know it's been a long while since I've posted anything. But I just haven't been taking pix of many things. Over the past little while, though, we've had snow, and I wanted to show the subtleties of colour (notice the greens, blues, purples, browns) that come out when the snow covers things here. I'm doing this because I want to show that Denmark IS, in fact, beautiful in the winter!

Dave and I will be traveling to Turkey next week to visit some friends who live in Istanbul. We will take lot's of pictures, I promise....of us and them and what we see:)

Neways, without further ado, TREES...and other things.





























Loving it,

Heather:)