Efterårsferie - Fall Vacation.

The schools in Danmark has a weeks vacation in the fall, and we do too.

The weather can still be great, and the colours in the nature are beautiful. The leaves are changing and lots and lots of mushrooms show up in the fields and in the woods. The weather is cooling down, but you can be lucky - like we were this year - that it is still nice and sunny.

We started the vacation going to a 50 years anniversary, what we call "Guldbryllup" - "Gold Wedding". The celebration was celebrated the traditional way in a community house in a little village in vest-jylland, near Steffens birthtown and the summerhouse.

We were 80 people for a three course dinner at nicely set long tables decorated with flowers and candles. A musician with an accordion played during dinner. We started with a song, and in between the courses, we sang some more from a little songbook, the inviting couple had made for the purpose. The son and daughter of the couple had made a power point presentation with pictures from the past 50 years of the couple. Very much fun for everybody to watch. We all recognised the charactaristics of the different time periods, in terms of dayly life, fashion in clothing and glasses and cars, aso.

After dinner the tables were moved away, and the dancing started.

The first couple on the dance floor were of course the "Golden wedding couple" dancing the traditional "Brides Waltz". Everybody gather around them, and as they dance evrybody moves closer and closer, so at last the couple cant dance anymore so they have to kiss. Like we do at weddings too.

After that everybody go on the dance floor.

Good old Danish popular melodies, and some traditional Danish folk dance. So much fun.

When the dancing finished, we all gathered in a circle holding hands and singing the traditional farewell song : "Skuld gammel venskaw rein forgå" in vest-jysk dialect. (Same melody and text as "Should all aquaintance be forgot" that you might know). A very emotional tradition.

After the celebration we spend the rest of the vacation in the summer house, by the fjord. Walking the dogs for hours everyday in the woods, by the fjord and at the sea. (Atlantic Ocean).  Picking mushrooms, having a typical Danish lunch at my mother in law, and fishing at the fjord were some of the things we did.

"Rød fluesvamp" - don´t eat.

Afternoon fall light in the beech wood.

Karl Johan, very nice to eat.

A good variaty of eatable mushrooms.

A good catch!

Goodies for the dogs.

Skål !

Ryebread and typical Danish toppings, smoked and fried fish, meatballs, liver paté, crab meat, pickled beets, sauer kraut, pickles, and a little vegetables, beer and snaps.

- and a good conversation !

Row, row, row your boat....

Picking up the nets, are we lucky today ?

Untangling and sorting out the nets.

Cleaning the mushrooms is "hyggeligt!"

Sunny Monday !

Wonderful weather change this late in the autumn. The temperatures are in the sixties!
Taking a bicycle ride to "Eventyrhaven" ("Fairytale Garden") after work. Its 5 minutes away, right in the middle of town. There is a beautiful Dahlia garden with a little fountain and benches.

If you look closely you will see the ugly ducklings turned into swans!

Gry´s Blok - now in English !

That´s right, now in English. I hope you´ll all enjoy a little news from Danmark once in a while, when I get around to write and take pictures.

I hope to keep in touch with many friends this way, like I did with friends here when we were i Fayetteville.
Maybe it will even inspire some of you to visit the little kingdom in Scandinavia?

Adjusting back to life here in DK is difficult in a way we never thought it would be. Perhaps I can describe it this way : We feel we belong in two countries now. Leaving Fayetteville was like ripping out some part of our hearts.

We will never forget the warmth and friendlyness, curiosity and openmindedness that we met. Thank you, all of you. Welcome here, if you get the chance.

When you go abroad for 10 months, you look at your country, your culture and your life and yourself in a different way. You get a wider horizon so to speek. You find out that there are so many other ways of living, so many other understandings, - and also you find out how much we are all alike in the end anyway.

Something that is striking when you return from the US is the coolness in the Danish culture. Of course the weather is cooler, but also the people are cooler. Not your friends or family, but people in general. When you pass people on the street, you just walk by, not a word, not a greeting. Unless you know people. I have tried to take home the friendlyness and openness, have tried to greet people with a "Hej". Just to try to make a little difference in my own approach. A few people greet me back, but mostly they just look down, or act surprised.

Of course this is an unfair generalisation about Danes as a whole. But we live in Odense, a city of about 190.000 citizens, and this is how it looks here. Its different in smaller towns and in the countryside.

In the trafic I find people are very rude. Cars driving faster, not taking care of the many bicyclists and pedestrians. Honking their horn for nothing, if someone is driving a little slow or something like that.

When  buying grosseries, the cashier speeks just the least possible words, like "Hi", "Would you like your receipt", "Have a nice day", sometimes without even looking at you, like something they were told to say. If I try to start a conversation, with someone next to me in the queue, they either answer with one word, or maybe just look shy at me, like "are you crazy?"

Why is it like that, I wonder ?

Is it the cold and dark climate, that makes people depressive?
Is it the fact, that we dont have so much personal space here?? (5.5 million people on an area 1/3 of Arkansas), so everybody protects their territory?
Is it because the majority dont go to church and get a moral and ethical inspiration there? That we are a spiritually poor country?
Is it because the pace of everyday life here is stressfull and too fast for many people, so they get more unsocial?
Is it the "Law of Jante"?

I dont know the answer.

On the other hand, if we are together with people we know, with friends and family, then we are just as friendly and nice as people from Arkansas...

Here are a few pictures from september days in Danmark. Its cool, and changes between windy, rainy and grey to sunny and pleasant. Temperatures around 55 these days.

Ready to go for a bicycle ride.

The wine is almost ripe.

By Odense Å - in Munkemose. (Odense river - in Monks bog)

At the lake in Munkemose.

Ugly ducklings enjoying the late afternoon sun.

The old man and the Fjord.

Rosehip Rose.

Rosehip harvesting by the fjord.

Flowers and bees.

By Kerteminde beach.

 Vikings after the swim - water 54 F air 55 F

Sidste indlæg fra Fayetteville....langt om længe.

Kære kære læsere.
Tak for jeres trofasthed de sidste 10 måneder. Det har været dejligt med alle de positive tilbagemeldinger, og dejligt at dele alle vores eventyrlige oplevelser. Vi er nu for længst hjemme (godt tre uger har vi nu været i DK), men jeg skylder en afslutning, så den kommer her.

De sidste uger i Fayetteville stod i afskedens og opbruddets tegn. Afsked med steder og mennesker som vi har fået et nært og varmt forhold til. Afsked med den særlige amerikanske ånd, som vi er kommet til at holde så meget af. Den positive og imødekommende omgangsform, den nysgerrige og hjertelige væremåde, vi er blevet mødt med overalt, hvor vi har færdedes. Hold op, hvor det har været svært at sige farvel.

N. Washington Ave

Farvel "Pride of the Ozarks", ved deltagelse i gudstjeneste den sidste søndag.

Lykkelig forsker.

Gode gamle Fullbright, som gjorde det hele muligt!

I den sidste uge var vi inviteret til forskellige venner på skift, var rundt og sige farvel på universitetet og biblioteket mm., og vi holdt selv en afskeds-pot-luck for alle venner og naboer. Her lavede vi vores Danmarksforedrag med en power-point fremvisning om Danmark.

Danske landskaber.....

De lytter tålmodigt, skønt lammekøllen dufter fra grillen...

 

Og så er der kongehuset.....

Professer Tipsmark, Rebecca, Asha og Professer Steffen.

Vi mander os op til et smil for fotografen lige på falderebet. 

Hold da op, der er ufattelig langt hjem!

Farvel og tak for denne gang!

Week-end med vand.

Der er så mange steder vi lige skal nå at besøge en sidste gang, eller næst-sidste.... Så mange fine steder vi har lært at kende de sidste 10 måneder her. I week-end´en tog vi ud til en af favoritterne : Kings River Falls sammen med Christian og Kai.

Det har regnet kraftigt her på det sidste, så der var virkelig høj vandstand, noget vi ikke har oplevet tidligere. Men som I ved, er der også slanger i Paradis. Vi var så heldige at møde nogle af dem på 1. hånd. Lidt spændende at gå rundt, når man har mødt den første, da nogle af de arter der findes her er ret giftige. Men bare man kigger sig godt for og ikke kommer til at træde dem over tæerne, er de flinke nok.

På stien derud fandt vi kantareller og andre svampe. Tænk at vi også skulle opleve det her!

Copperhead, lå i en klippesprække, ved nedgangen til vandet, giftig.

Flodkrebs.

Badetur med efterfølgende frokost i det grønne, kan det blive bedre?

Cottonmouth, giftig vandslange. Lå og hyggede sig under et lille træ ved stien.

Sunfish - blev sat ud igen.

I en lille båd der gynger, sidder jeg og synger, synger om de ting, der gir´ livet værdi.....

Søndag kørte vi til Mulberry River, som vi havde opdaget i foråret på én af vores små køreture ud i det blå. Denne gang lejede vi et par små kajakker og tog en bid af floden. Der var meget vand i, hvilket er usædvanligt på denne årstid, og der var utrolig smukt. Turen bød på en vekslen mellem roligt vand og stykker med temmelig kraftig strøm - white water. Det var sjovt, og da vi først havde lært kajakkerne lidt at kende, kunne vi også fint manøvrere med dem. De første steder med strøm og små vandfald følte man sig nok lidt ude af kontrol, men man lærer faktisk hurtigt. Vi mødte også nogle erfarne sejlere, som gav os et par tips. Skøn tur.

Næh, sikke nogen søde hunde, de ville med os ind i bilen, da vi skulle køre fra bådeudlejningen...

Efter sejlturen gik vi en lille tur til "Twin Falls", to vandfald fra to forskellige dale som - næsten - mødes.

Og se hvad vi fandt!