So lesson learned: naming my last post Homesick sent a flood of emails from family members asking how I'm doing. Yes, I am fine. Yes, I did seem a little down in my last post, but honestly, everything is okay. I still love being here, though it is the little things that make it difficult some times. But when I walked into the kitchen yesterday, I did see a jar of tomato sauce that Christina bought :-), and the fridge had more greens and veggies :-)... so maybe the little food differences will go away :-)
Today, I don't have class and this afternoon I am going to my host siblings' school to meet with a teacher by the name of Ken. Ken is originally from Chicago, but I don't remember his reasons for moving here (probably for a Danish girl, as it seems almost every American that ends up in Denmark moved here for a Dane). Needless to say, when Ken found out that August and Kathrine had an American host student staying with them for four months he was eager to have me come to his class and talk to his students about America. Ken also does an afterschool program in which the kids get 2 extra hours of English lessons and then in the spring or early summertime they take a trip to NYC for 10 days. So of course I have to come and talk to them about NYC! So I'm very excited.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Homesick?
So I think I've gotten over the I'm-studying-abroad high and am a little homesick. Which is fine. Greg is surprised I lasted this long, and my mom says its okay to feel sad. I've noticed that the little differences that at first where cute and cool ("oh that's funny, that's different here") are now quite annoying. Here are some examples:
1. My family doesn't believe in sauce. Nor do they know what it is. A couple of weeks ago we where having having frikadeller (Danish meatballs) with pasta, and there was no tomato sauce or meat sauce for the pasta. So I asked Michael if they had sauce. He looked at my like I had four heads. "Sauce? What's that?" me: "You know, what you put on pasta... vodka sauce, alfredo sauce...?" (they had to know what I was talking about because they make bolagnese(?) sauce, and they've made brown sauce too) Michael had no clue what I was talking about. So again, last night there was no sauce. The condiment options were the following: ketchup, roumelade, creme freiche (which the Danes put on EVERYTHING, the bottle says you can use it as dressing, a dip, and sauce, but thats a complete lie, it's kinda of like a sour cream), mango chutney salsa thing, and sweet chili sauce. Needless to say I had to eat my plasta plain. I wanted to scream. I should've gotten up and gotten some olive oil.
2. Bread. bread bread bread bread bread! I think that's all they eat here. I FINALLY had eggs this morning for breakfast and it felt soo goood to eat a non-carbohydrate.
3. They don't really snack here. Maybe my family doesn't keep snacks in the house because the kids will eat them in one setting. But still, it makes it difficult to find something to munch on when you're just a little hungry.
4. My family doesn't eat salad. Like, at all. I never thought I'd miss greens :(
5. Darkbread: take wheat bread, make it heavier and darker (kind of like pumpernickel), and you get darkbread, in abundance. It's everywhere, it's what they put their sandwhiches on for lunch, and after a while you get kind of sick of it.
1. My family doesn't believe in sauce. Nor do they know what it is. A couple of weeks ago we where having having frikadeller (Danish meatballs) with pasta, and there was no tomato sauce or meat sauce for the pasta. So I asked Michael if they had sauce. He looked at my like I had four heads. "Sauce? What's that?" me: "You know, what you put on pasta... vodka sauce, alfredo sauce...?" (they had to know what I was talking about because they make bolagnese(?) sauce, and they've made brown sauce too) Michael had no clue what I was talking about. So again, last night there was no sauce. The condiment options were the following: ketchup, roumelade, creme freiche (which the Danes put on EVERYTHING, the bottle says you can use it as dressing, a dip, and sauce, but thats a complete lie, it's kinda of like a sour cream), mango chutney salsa thing, and sweet chili sauce. Needless to say I had to eat my plasta plain. I wanted to scream. I should've gotten up and gotten some olive oil.
2. Bread. bread bread bread bread bread! I think that's all they eat here. I FINALLY had eggs this morning for breakfast and it felt soo goood to eat a non-carbohydrate.
3. They don't really snack here. Maybe my family doesn't keep snacks in the house because the kids will eat them in one setting. But still, it makes it difficult to find something to munch on when you're just a little hungry.
4. My family doesn't eat salad. Like, at all. I never thought I'd miss greens :(
5. Darkbread: take wheat bread, make it heavier and darker (kind of like pumpernickel), and you get darkbread, in abundance. It's everywhere, it's what they put their sandwhiches on for lunch, and after a while you get kind of sick of it.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Study Tour
Okay, so it's been a while since I last updated this blog, and it's been a really long time since we went on our short study tour to Western Denmark. That mini-vacation was from Feb. 5-7th and it was a lot of fun. DIS does short and long study tours that combine learning outside of the classroom and touristy/fun things to do. Since I'm in the PCD program, the "studying" for us consists of visits to schools, social work services, and children's museums or other sites related to kids. For students in the medical practice and policy program, they might visit hospitals and community clinics. So it's tailored to the program you are in at DIS. Our short study tour was to Western Denmark, so we explored Odense (the small island between Copenhagen, which is on Zealand, and Jutland, the largest island of Denmark), and Jutland, specifically Arhus, Kolding, and Skanderborg. The point of the short study tour was not only to get hands-on experiences of what we were learning in the classroom, but to get to know each other, because we are all in the same core course, Children in a Multicultural Context. And it worked; by the time we got back I really felt like I had bonded with some of the people in my class, and when we had class the following Monday, it felt good to know every one's faces and names instead of just two people. It really helped me to gain a good group of friends.
We had to get to the bus at 6:45 am on Thursday, which was a pain in the ass, because it meant that I had to wake up at 5 and leave my house by 5:45 the latest if I wanted to get there on time. Luckily, I took a shower the night before, which saved time, and Michael drove me to the train station (I was ready at 5:30, because Michael is a ridiculously slow driver, he likes to have wonderful conversations while driving, so a 5-minute ride to the train station, never takes just 5 minutes with him). So I show up at 6:45 like I'm supposed to, but of course our bus was a good hour late. Luckily, our tour directors (Helle, our CMC teacher, who my friends and I love and would secretly go gay for because she's gorgeous in that natural pretty way and is super nice, and Jen, a part-time intern who we also love) bought us Danish pastries! We got them from Saint Peter's Bakery, one of the oldest in CPH, and cheapest and most delicious pastries ever (they have a 12 kroner special everyday). Since we got to the bakery 5 minutes after it opened, we got warm delicious pastries, which definitely made up for having to wake up at 5am. Finally on the bus, we made our way to Odense, where we split up into two groups to go on our academic visits. I went to Bogelund Preschool in Verdenshuset ("the ghetto" because it's where refugees live, more on that later). It was a wonderful experience. Besides the children being absolutely adorable (it's a preschool so the kids are between the ages of 3 and 6, the 3 year olds were so small and soo cute I almost cried!), the pedagogue who talked to us was extremely insightful and informative. She talked to us about the issues the teachers face: 99% of the children are immigrants, many are of refugee status, from low-SES backgrounds, so the two major challenges that face them are language (they do not know Danish before coming to school), and social problems (the children come from challenging backgrounds, many of the kids fathers are torture survivors from Iraq and Iran, several are Palestinians affected by the war, and the children watch the violent images of their home country on T.V.). Because of the stereotypes of the children and of the neighborhood, no one from outside the area sends their children to that school. Due to the strict language requirements of the Danish government (their motto is: you're in Denmark now, learn Danish) the teachers have very strict language requirements they have to follow. Thus, all projects and school activities incorporate language in some way, including through meals. The school also has language pedagogues that come twice a week to provide extra support and services for the children, and they also have an Arabic interpreter. Thus the most difficult challenge for these teachers is the cultural issue: many of the parents do not work (either because they cannot due to resident status, or the mother is pregnant, or the women do not work because that is their cultural norm), so at home the children speak their native tongue. This means that they are not practicing and using the Danish language at home, which can make it difficult for them to learn Danish if they only use it is at school. So the school also relies heavily on parent-teacher conferences and they make sure that the parents are involved in their child's education. An example is that they teach the parents how to pack a lunch for their child. The teachers have action plans on every child that tracks their social, motor, language, and cognitive developments. Thus, the teachers work extremely hard because the children need a lot of support. Yet the Danish government cut the funding for bilingual resources.
The refugee visit was extremely helpful in understanding the multicultural issue in Denmark. It's interesting that the Danes call immigrants "bilingual" because in the U.S. that just means that you speak more than one language, it has nothing to do with your race. I really liked how the school implements egalitarianism and inclusivity (a prominent theme in Danish education) by using an inclusive pedagogue practice to make sure that everyone is included and everyone is seen and heard. I also liked how they incorporate language into every activity that they do, so that they are teaching in many different ways, since one method may not work for every child.
While that was our only academic visit for the day, the rest of the day was fun. We had lunch on our own and then met to go to the H.C. Anderson museum. We saw the house that he was born in, and we went to this children's theater, called The Tinderbox, which is part of the museum. The kids get to play dress-up, put on all kinds of costumes, get their faces painted, and then act out Anderson's fairy tales, in this magnificent room, that looks like a storybook that came alive. So much imaginative and creative play! Then we went to the other part of the museum that included Anderson's original works, including a copy of his fairy tales that were given to Russian children during the Siege of Leningrad, when there wasn't enough food to go around (people were eating wood shavings!). The Russian government thought it would be nice to give the children fairy tales to take their mind off of the nightmare of what was occurring, and many kids stuffed the books in their shoes to keep them warm, or ate them.
We stayed at a hostel in Kolding, which was pretty nice, and then the next day we split up into two groups again for our academic visits. I got stuck going to the Dept. of Social Work at the University of Arhus, which was a complete waste of time. We should have gone to the actual dept. of social work, or a community center, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Also, the woman that was supposed to talk to us about children and family services in Denmark, had the flu, so her colleague was there to talk to us. Except that this woman was the director of the International Social Work program, and knew nothing about children and family services in Denmark, so she proceeded to talk to us for an hour about the structure of the social work program at the University. This was of course no help to us since we are already in college in the U.S. and were not transferring to the Univ. of Arhus. Luckily, Helle realized our extreme boredom and ended the lecture early, took us to the cafeteria, and bought us coffee! We love Helle.
We then had lunch on our own in Arhus, and then went to the ARoS museum, a gallery of contemporary art. We only had an hour there, which was definitely not enough! The inside of the museum looked like the Guggenheim in NYC. Danielle and I ran around trying to see everything we could. We saw an original pop art of Marilyn Monroe done by Andy Warhol, needless to say I almost cried from excitement, it was a 2 x 8 of her! We walked quickly through some strange contemporary art, including jars of horse body parts (grossssssss!) There was an interesting piece called Fucked, which was of a couple who had barely escaped every type of disaster you could think of: "despite all the problems and accidents that the couple have had to go through--of which the latest is the notion of the impossible: to have a piano dropped on one's head--one place is still unscathed, namely their hands, which come together as a picture of a love that can never be killed. Matelli's work can also be seen as a modern version of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise" (brochure). We also saw a light installation(9 different rooms of installations of light and sound) and a very large piece, called The Boy by Ron Muek (?) which is incredibly life-like. It looks like a giant person. Amazing.
Later we went bowling, and then went to our hostel in Skanderborg. Our hostel was gorgeous! It was on the lake and we got upgraded to the cottages! Little wooden cottages that had a full kitchen, and a loft, and a little living room with a suede couch and flatscreen tv! And it smelled like fresh wood, like they had just build the cottages, which reminded me of this dollhouse I had as a kid that our family friend Alva made for me. It was absolutely wonderful, and all of us wanted to come back for a weekend! Across the street from our hostel was the Museum of Occupation, which, according to Danielle's blog, "the town was used at the German Air Force base camp, and where we ate at our hostel used to be the Officer’s Mess Hall. The museum itself had barracks with artifacts inside" like uniforms of the Danish soldiers from WWII.
The next day we went to Den Gamle By, literally the Danish version of colonial Williamsburg, so it was really cute, and the buildings were super old! We had a fabulous free lunch at Prince Ferdinand Cafe, very fancy, and the headed home for CPH!
It was a wonderful study tour!
We had to get to the bus at 6:45 am on Thursday, which was a pain in the ass, because it meant that I had to wake up at 5 and leave my house by 5:45 the latest if I wanted to get there on time. Luckily, I took a shower the night before, which saved time, and Michael drove me to the train station (I was ready at 5:30, because Michael is a ridiculously slow driver, he likes to have wonderful conversations while driving, so a 5-minute ride to the train station, never takes just 5 minutes with him). So I show up at 6:45 like I'm supposed to, but of course our bus was a good hour late. Luckily, our tour directors (Helle, our CMC teacher, who my friends and I love and would secretly go gay for because she's gorgeous in that natural pretty way and is super nice, and Jen, a part-time intern who we also love) bought us Danish pastries! We got them from Saint Peter's Bakery, one of the oldest in CPH, and cheapest and most delicious pastries ever (they have a 12 kroner special everyday). Since we got to the bakery 5 minutes after it opened, we got warm delicious pastries, which definitely made up for having to wake up at 5am. Finally on the bus, we made our way to Odense, where we split up into two groups to go on our academic visits. I went to Bogelund Preschool in Verdenshuset ("the ghetto" because it's where refugees live, more on that later). It was a wonderful experience. Besides the children being absolutely adorable (it's a preschool so the kids are between the ages of 3 and 6, the 3 year olds were so small and soo cute I almost cried!), the pedagogue who talked to us was extremely insightful and informative. She talked to us about the issues the teachers face: 99% of the children are immigrants, many are of refugee status, from low-SES backgrounds, so the two major challenges that face them are language (they do not know Danish before coming to school), and social problems (the children come from challenging backgrounds, many of the kids fathers are torture survivors from Iraq and Iran, several are Palestinians affected by the war, and the children watch the violent images of their home country on T.V.). Because of the stereotypes of the children and of the neighborhood, no one from outside the area sends their children to that school. Due to the strict language requirements of the Danish government (their motto is: you're in Denmark now, learn Danish) the teachers have very strict language requirements they have to follow. Thus, all projects and school activities incorporate language in some way, including through meals. The school also has language pedagogues that come twice a week to provide extra support and services for the children, and they also have an Arabic interpreter. Thus the most difficult challenge for these teachers is the cultural issue: many of the parents do not work (either because they cannot due to resident status, or the mother is pregnant, or the women do not work because that is their cultural norm), so at home the children speak their native tongue. This means that they are not practicing and using the Danish language at home, which can make it difficult for them to learn Danish if they only use it is at school. So the school also relies heavily on parent-teacher conferences and they make sure that the parents are involved in their child's education. An example is that they teach the parents how to pack a lunch for their child. The teachers have action plans on every child that tracks their social, motor, language, and cognitive developments. Thus, the teachers work extremely hard because the children need a lot of support. Yet the Danish government cut the funding for bilingual resources.
The refugee visit was extremely helpful in understanding the multicultural issue in Denmark. It's interesting that the Danes call immigrants "bilingual" because in the U.S. that just means that you speak more than one language, it has nothing to do with your race. I really liked how the school implements egalitarianism and inclusivity (a prominent theme in Danish education) by using an inclusive pedagogue practice to make sure that everyone is included and everyone is seen and heard. I also liked how they incorporate language into every activity that they do, so that they are teaching in many different ways, since one method may not work for every child.
While that was our only academic visit for the day, the rest of the day was fun. We had lunch on our own and then met to go to the H.C. Anderson museum. We saw the house that he was born in, and we went to this children's theater, called The Tinderbox, which is part of the museum. The kids get to play dress-up, put on all kinds of costumes, get their faces painted, and then act out Anderson's fairy tales, in this magnificent room, that looks like a storybook that came alive. So much imaginative and creative play! Then we went to the other part of the museum that included Anderson's original works, including a copy of his fairy tales that were given to Russian children during the Siege of Leningrad, when there wasn't enough food to go around (people were eating wood shavings!). The Russian government thought it would be nice to give the children fairy tales to take their mind off of the nightmare of what was occurring, and many kids stuffed the books in their shoes to keep them warm, or ate them.
We stayed at a hostel in Kolding, which was pretty nice, and then the next day we split up into two groups again for our academic visits. I got stuck going to the Dept. of Social Work at the University of Arhus, which was a complete waste of time. We should have gone to the actual dept. of social work, or a community center, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Also, the woman that was supposed to talk to us about children and family services in Denmark, had the flu, so her colleague was there to talk to us. Except that this woman was the director of the International Social Work program, and knew nothing about children and family services in Denmark, so she proceeded to talk to us for an hour about the structure of the social work program at the University. This was of course no help to us since we are already in college in the U.S. and were not transferring to the Univ. of Arhus. Luckily, Helle realized our extreme boredom and ended the lecture early, took us to the cafeteria, and bought us coffee! We love Helle.
We then had lunch on our own in Arhus, and then went to the ARoS museum, a gallery of contemporary art. We only had an hour there, which was definitely not enough! The inside of the museum looked like the Guggenheim in NYC. Danielle and I ran around trying to see everything we could. We saw an original pop art of Marilyn Monroe done by Andy Warhol, needless to say I almost cried from excitement, it was a 2 x 8 of her! We walked quickly through some strange contemporary art, including jars of horse body parts (grossssssss!) There was an interesting piece called Fucked, which was of a couple who had barely escaped every type of disaster you could think of: "despite all the problems and accidents that the couple have had to go through--of which the latest is the notion of the impossible: to have a piano dropped on one's head--one place is still unscathed, namely their hands, which come together as a picture of a love that can never be killed. Matelli's work can also be seen as a modern version of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise" (brochure). We also saw a light installation(9 different rooms of installations of light and sound) and a very large piece, called The Boy by Ron Muek (?) which is incredibly life-like. It looks like a giant person. Amazing.
Later we went bowling, and then went to our hostel in Skanderborg. Our hostel was gorgeous! It was on the lake and we got upgraded to the cottages! Little wooden cottages that had a full kitchen, and a loft, and a little living room with a suede couch and flatscreen tv! And it smelled like fresh wood, like they had just build the cottages, which reminded me of this dollhouse I had as a kid that our family friend Alva made for me. It was absolutely wonderful, and all of us wanted to come back for a weekend! Across the street from our hostel was the Museum of Occupation, which, according to Danielle's blog, "the town was used at the German Air Force base camp, and where we ate at our hostel used to be the Officer’s Mess Hall. The museum itself had barracks with artifacts inside" like uniforms of the Danish soldiers from WWII.
The next day we went to Den Gamle By, literally the Danish version of colonial Williamsburg, so it was really cute, and the buildings were super old! We had a fabulous free lunch at Prince Ferdinand Cafe, very fancy, and the headed home for CPH!
It was a wonderful study tour!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I Wanna Live in Amer-ika
So I went to Christina's school yesterday to get another view of Danish schools (the program I'm enrolled at DIS is psychology and child development). Christina works as a preschool teacher, while my practicum site is a kindergarten (American version of day care), so it was nice to observe a basic school (American version of elementary school). While there, I had two meetings, one with a parent and one with a 9th grade English teacher (oh yeah, Christina is also my assistant/manager :-D). The parent I met with is actually also an English teacher. Her and her family had lived in Singapore (or Indonesia I don't remember) for 5 years (her husband is in the shipping industry), and they moved there when her son was 2, so he pretty much grew up there. While in Singapore, the child attended an International school (taught all in English, so that was pretty much his native language). In Denmark, they start learning English in 4th grade, so the child is way ahead of his peers, and his mom wants him to continue the language so that he will remain fluent in it. Thus my role: getting paid to speak English with her child through mini lesson plans!
Next meeting: with a 9th grade English teacher who has been teaching her class about New York City and the U.S. So she wants me to come in and talk to her class about America! We met and we talked about a lot of things: prom (two of the teachers at her school went to Minnesota and studied American high school students and then wrote a book about it for Danish students, and one of the topics discussed in-depth was prom), Obama, Muslims, New York City, cars/driving/getting your license, etc. So I'm excited about the interactions I'll be having with Danes, comparing and contrasting cultures. It's a strange feeling being asked to come in and talk to others about America, because I'm just a normal college student, it's not like I'm a professor in Sociology or something, who would have factual information. It's also interesting because many people here are fascinated with American culture, they know so much about us, but what do we, know about Denmark? Absolutely nothing. Almost everyone I spoke to before I left didn't even know where the hell Copenhagen was on a map. "Oh, is that in Holland?" Or even worse, "is that in Amsterdam?" Not only did people not know that Copenhagen is in Denmark, they also didn't know where Denmark was. When I told people that the Danes are rated the happiest people in the world, many individuals thought it was because of the weed. No, weed is not legal here. That's only Holland. So I think it's kind of sad that every country in the world knows something about America, but the same can't be said for the reverse. Americans can't even name or locate all 50 states on a map, so forget our world geography.
We need to be more worldly, why are we so ethnocentric?
Next meeting: with a 9th grade English teacher who has been teaching her class about New York City and the U.S. So she wants me to come in and talk to her class about America! We met and we talked about a lot of things: prom (two of the teachers at her school went to Minnesota and studied American high school students and then wrote a book about it for Danish students, and one of the topics discussed in-depth was prom), Obama, Muslims, New York City, cars/driving/getting your license, etc. So I'm excited about the interactions I'll be having with Danes, comparing and contrasting cultures. It's a strange feeling being asked to come in and talk to others about America, because I'm just a normal college student, it's not like I'm a professor in Sociology or something, who would have factual information. It's also interesting because many people here are fascinated with American culture, they know so much about us, but what do we, know about Denmark? Absolutely nothing. Almost everyone I spoke to before I left didn't even know where the hell Copenhagen was on a map. "Oh, is that in Holland?" Or even worse, "is that in Amsterdam?" Not only did people not know that Copenhagen is in Denmark, they also didn't know where Denmark was. When I told people that the Danes are rated the happiest people in the world, many individuals thought it was because of the weed. No, weed is not legal here. That's only Holland. So I think it's kind of sad that every country in the world knows something about America, but the same can't be said for the reverse. Americans can't even name or locate all 50 states on a map, so forget our world geography.
We need to be more worldly, why are we so ethnocentric?
Some more differences
1. Napkins. The Danes don't use napkins. My second day here I asked Michael about this and he replied: "why do we need napkins when we use a knife and a fork? There's no mess". So sometimes I feel like a savage.
2. The Danes say "it's okay" when you say thank you, but its in the tone that you would use when someone is apologizing to you. I haven't yet told my host family that you're supposed to say "your welcome" or "it's no big deal".
3. Danes open their windows for 5 minutes each day to let in the fresh air. Apparently this has to do with letting out "the toxins" from all the candles they burn in the house.
4. It takes a whole day to do your laundry. And the machines are smaller.
5. EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Everything.
6. Their transportation system (except for the metro in the city) is not like New York in that there is a train every 5 minutes. So if you miss your train you might be screwed. Rejseplanen is my new best friend. You can enter where you are leaving from and where you are going and the departure or arrival time that you need, and it tells you exactly how to get there. And the times at which the train/orbus leaves to get you there. It's amazing.
7. Some of their buses only run twice an hour. What the hell?!
8. They can get flustered easily when they screw up a word in English or don't know what the translation is, yet they all speak English really well. Many are fluent. They seriously doubt their ability.
9. My host brother told me that if you can only speak 2 languages, it's looked down on as a negative thing. Most people speak at least 3. My host brother learns English and French in school. Then there is Norwegian and Swedish which is slightly different than Danish, and all three countries understand each other's languages. So if you count that, then that's at least 5.
10. They call minorities or ethnic individuals "bilingual" which is the politically correct term.
11. Their bacon is ridiculously salty.
12. The people I have met have only talked about America in positive words. Whenever I offer a criticism or point out a flaw, many are quick to offer the opposite stance and point out something good about the U.S. They love us.
2. The Danes say "it's okay" when you say thank you, but its in the tone that you would use when someone is apologizing to you. I haven't yet told my host family that you're supposed to say "your welcome" or "it's no big deal".
3. Danes open their windows for 5 minutes each day to let in the fresh air. Apparently this has to do with letting out "the toxins" from all the candles they burn in the house.
4. It takes a whole day to do your laundry. And the machines are smaller.
5. EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Everything.
6. Their transportation system (except for the metro in the city) is not like New York in that there is a train every 5 minutes. So if you miss your train you might be screwed. Rejseplanen is my new best friend. You can enter where you are leaving from and where you are going and the departure or arrival time that you need, and it tells you exactly how to get there. And the times at which the train/orbus leaves to get you there. It's amazing.
7. Some of their buses only run twice an hour. What the hell?!
8. They can get flustered easily when they screw up a word in English or don't know what the translation is, yet they all speak English really well. Many are fluent. They seriously doubt their ability.
9. My host brother told me that if you can only speak 2 languages, it's looked down on as a negative thing. Most people speak at least 3. My host brother learns English and French in school. Then there is Norwegian and Swedish which is slightly different than Danish, and all three countries understand each other's languages. So if you count that, then that's at least 5.
10. They call minorities or ethnic individuals "bilingual" which is the politically correct term.
11. Their bacon is ridiculously salty.
12. The people I have met have only talked about America in positive words. Whenever I offer a criticism or point out a flaw, many are quick to offer the opposite stance and point out something good about the U.S. They love us.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Culture Clash
Some differences I've noticed between the Danes and Americans (note: some of these things may apply to my host family):
1. Danes don't believe in curtains. This is probably explains why it is so cold in their houses during the winter. When I tried to explain to Michael that curtains keep the cold out and the heat in, his response was, "but then we wouldn't be able to look out the window". Okay, but do you need to look out the window during the day when you're not even home? No. Of course I didn't say that to him, but it's what I was thinking. For a country that seems to be so environmentally friendly, they are wasting a lot of heat and energy by not using curtains. Thus, it can get very cold in my house. Thankfully, my room has curtains, which I keep shut almost all the time so that my room is nice and warm and cozy!
2. They're a pretty green country. Random factoid: 20% of Denmark's energy comes from windmills. They also have two buttons on their toilet so that when you go "#1" you press the button for less water and when you go "#2" you press the button for more water. They try to take 5 minute showers because water is so expensive here. When they asked me how long of a shower I take at home and I replied by saying anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes long, their mouths dropped. Though they were warned during their host family orientation that young Americans take long showers. So I've been trying to take 5 minute showers here but its stressful rather than relaxing (I have to worry about washing my hair (shampoo and conditioner!), my body, and shaving all in 5 minutes?! It's a little difficult). So when they're home I take 5 minute showers and when they're gone I take a little longer... okay, not that much longer just 10 minutes!
3.Being green is more apart of their everyday lives than it is in America. For example, all toilets (public ones and ones in private homes) have the two button flush. Public restrooms might have signs remind you to be conscious of how much toilet paper you use. Their washers and dryers are smaller than ours so they use less energy.
4.Everyone in Copenhagen and the surrounding suburbs bikes. Everywhere. There is a separate bike lane on the road and when crossing the street you have to look out for bikes too. You're probably more likely to get run over by a bike than a car. This probably explains why everyone here is so damn skinny. So their not fat and they're pretty green. Not only do the Danes bike everywhere, but they look so prim and proper while doing so. They sit up nice and tall on their bikes, and woman bike in all sorts of outfits: mink coats, stilettos, boots, dresses, you name it. Many Danes also don't wear helmets when they're biking. I've seen this a lot in the city, which is surprising, because with so many cars you think you would want to be safe. They also don't seem to sweat while riding their bikes. Then there's me, the American, who hasn't biked in 10 years, sweating and heaving by the time I get to the train station, while a young Danish woman casually gets off her bike without a glimpse of sweat on her face or a crinkle in her outfit.
5. They have a socialized welfare system. This means that going to the hospital and the doctor is free, child care/day care is free, after school programs and leisure activities (clubs) are free, assistance for the elderly and those with special needs are free.
6. However, to pay for all the wonderful free services, Danes pay anywhere from 50-70% in income tax. That's 50-70% of their income being given over to the government!
7. They believe in egalitarianism: equal opportunities and equal services for all no matter what background you have. Yet this seems to be more in terms of economic or social background, they need to work on equality for all regardless of ethnic background (will talk about this more later). This is especially seen in their education system where education is free (including day care!) and childcare starts at the age of 1. This occurs so that all families have the ability to send their child to school no matter their financial situation. In addition, families receive child support, 10,000 DKK (about $2,000) a year from the government for each child! If you have a child with special needs, the municipality (the local government of the region you live in) may give you additional help. For example, our teacher's nephew has special needs, so the parents received a car for transportation from the municipality, and diapers.
8. Danes don't jaywalk. Though I don't know how hard and fast this rule is because I've definitely seen some people do it! It's a little strang, actually its more just annoying and inpatient, waiting on the corner at a red light when there are absolutely no cars in sight. Usually I'll cross if there aren't other people around.
9. The fashion is pretty much the same, though they do more of the leggings and tights as pants or tights with a t-shirt dress. In the dead of winter. While riding a bike.
10. They're obviously the creator of the pastry, which means that bakeries sell about a dozen different types of pastries called wiennerbrod, and they're all delicious. It doesn't help that it's one of the cheapest things you can find to eat in Copenhagen.
11. Copenhagen is ridiculously expensive. Now, I come from NYC which is one of the most expensive cities in the world (yeah yeah yeah) but honestly, I think that mainly has to do with the cost of living. While its expensive to live in NYC, you can find cheap places to eat and shop. In Copenhagen, a coffee and a bagel is $ 6 USD and a coffee in a shop is about $4-6 USD. Now for some that may be normal because they buy Starbucks everyday, but even in the 7-11 (yes, they have 7-11's here and they're EVERYWHERE) a coffee is 4 bucks.
1. Danes don't believe in curtains. This is probably explains why it is so cold in their houses during the winter. When I tried to explain to Michael that curtains keep the cold out and the heat in, his response was, "but then we wouldn't be able to look out the window". Okay, but do you need to look out the window during the day when you're not even home? No. Of course I didn't say that to him, but it's what I was thinking. For a country that seems to be so environmentally friendly, they are wasting a lot of heat and energy by not using curtains. Thus, it can get very cold in my house. Thankfully, my room has curtains, which I keep shut almost all the time so that my room is nice and warm and cozy!
2. They're a pretty green country. Random factoid: 20% of Denmark's energy comes from windmills. They also have two buttons on their toilet so that when you go "#1" you press the button for less water and when you go "#2" you press the button for more water. They try to take 5 minute showers because water is so expensive here. When they asked me how long of a shower I take at home and I replied by saying anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes long, their mouths dropped. Though they were warned during their host family orientation that young Americans take long showers. So I've been trying to take 5 minute showers here but its stressful rather than relaxing (I have to worry about washing my hair (shampoo and conditioner!), my body, and shaving all in 5 minutes?! It's a little difficult). So when they're home I take 5 minute showers and when they're gone I take a little longer... okay, not that much longer just 10 minutes!
3.Being green is more apart of their everyday lives than it is in America. For example, all toilets (public ones and ones in private homes) have the two button flush. Public restrooms might have signs remind you to be conscious of how much toilet paper you use. Their washers and dryers are smaller than ours so they use less energy.
4.Everyone in Copenhagen and the surrounding suburbs bikes. Everywhere. There is a separate bike lane on the road and when crossing the street you have to look out for bikes too. You're probably more likely to get run over by a bike than a car. This probably explains why everyone here is so damn skinny. So their not fat and they're pretty green. Not only do the Danes bike everywhere, but they look so prim and proper while doing so. They sit up nice and tall on their bikes, and woman bike in all sorts of outfits: mink coats, stilettos, boots, dresses, you name it. Many Danes also don't wear helmets when they're biking. I've seen this a lot in the city, which is surprising, because with so many cars you think you would want to be safe. They also don't seem to sweat while riding their bikes. Then there's me, the American, who hasn't biked in 10 years, sweating and heaving by the time I get to the train station, while a young Danish woman casually gets off her bike without a glimpse of sweat on her face or a crinkle in her outfit.
5. They have a socialized welfare system. This means that going to the hospital and the doctor is free, child care/day care is free, after school programs and leisure activities (clubs) are free, assistance for the elderly and those with special needs are free.
6. However, to pay for all the wonderful free services, Danes pay anywhere from 50-70% in income tax. That's 50-70% of their income being given over to the government!
7. They believe in egalitarianism: equal opportunities and equal services for all no matter what background you have. Yet this seems to be more in terms of economic or social background, they need to work on equality for all regardless of ethnic background (will talk about this more later). This is especially seen in their education system where education is free (including day care!) and childcare starts at the age of 1. This occurs so that all families have the ability to send their child to school no matter their financial situation. In addition, families receive child support, 10,000 DKK (about $2,000) a year from the government for each child! If you have a child with special needs, the municipality (the local government of the region you live in) may give you additional help. For example, our teacher's nephew has special needs, so the parents received a car for transportation from the municipality, and diapers.
8. Danes don't jaywalk. Though I don't know how hard and fast this rule is because I've definitely seen some people do it! It's a little strang, actually its more just annoying and inpatient, waiting on the corner at a red light when there are absolutely no cars in sight. Usually I'll cross if there aren't other people around.
9. The fashion is pretty much the same, though they do more of the leggings and tights as pants or tights with a t-shirt dress. In the dead of winter. While riding a bike.
10. They're obviously the creator of the pastry, which means that bakeries sell about a dozen different types of pastries called wiennerbrod, and they're all delicious. It doesn't help that it's one of the cheapest things you can find to eat in Copenhagen.
11. Copenhagen is ridiculously expensive. Now, I come from NYC which is one of the most expensive cities in the world (yeah yeah yeah) but honestly, I think that mainly has to do with the cost of living. While its expensive to live in NYC, you can find cheap places to eat and shop. In Copenhagen, a coffee and a bagel is $ 6 USD and a coffee in a shop is about $4-6 USD. Now for some that may be normal because they buy Starbucks everyday, but even in the 7-11 (yes, they have 7-11's here and they're EVERYWHERE) a coffee is 4 bucks.
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