Immersion

It's been a while since I last updated this blog! Let's see, what's been going on...

Last Thursday I went to Christina's school to meet with Merete's students. Merete is a 9th grade English teacher who has been teaching her students about the U.S. and NYC, so when she heard that Christina was having an American host student (no less a New Yorker) she jumped at the opportunity to invite me to her classroom. I actually met with her about a month ago and we talked for about an hour about New York and America and she had many questions for me. What was extremely funny though, was when we met up before going to her classroom, she asked me if I knew the Pledge of Allegiance and if I could recite it for the class. I stared at her blankly, I couldn't remember the Pledge of Allegiance! After a few moments it came back to me, but Merete was quite surprised that I didn't know it off the top of my head. I had to explain to her that I hadn't recited the Pledge of Allegiance in school since pre-K and I only did it then because I went to a Catholic school. She thought everyone recited the Pledge in school, and that's when I had to explain to her the separation of Church and State and that we don't recite it in Public Schools. She was surprised and said, "well, that goes my stereotype of American students".

I spoke to Merete's students in two groups. The first group was quite shy at first but they quickly opened up and had a bunch of questions for me. The most popular question among teens is what I think about the drinking age of 16 in Denmark. That's when I explain to them about the college drinking scene and how most young Americans start drinking at 18 even though they cannot legally until 21. They also asked me about getting my license, about the biggest difference between Denmark and the U.S., in which I talked about how NY is really the city that never sleeps with diners and stores open 24/7 and our shops and supermarkets are opened past 6pm (for stores, 8pm for supermarkets here) and the fact that our transportation runs 24/7! They also asked me about drugs and sex in the U.S., Prom (they were disappointed when I told them that Prom is overrated, though I made them feel better when I explained that at the time it's a big deal when you're in high school, but looking back on it I couldn't care less), as well as 9/11. All in all, it was quite fun.

This weekend I felt like a real Dane because I got to go to Lalandia with my host family. I arrived on Saturday afternoon with Michael and Christina. My host grandparents had rented out one of the cottages for the weekend, ours was closest to the water and steps from the mini-theme park. So it was the whole family: grandparents, Michael, Christina, August, Katherine, and Michael's sister, husband, and daughter. It was a lot of fun. Lalandia has a mini-waterpark with 4 slides, one brand new one which was relatively big that we went on a thousand times and raced each other down (we all have bruises from bumping and pushing each other!), an outdoor pool and jacuzzi, Turkish bath and sauna, as well as a mini-indoor wavepool, regular pool, and some more slides. August told me that this waterpark was the biggest in Denmark, but it is very small compared to American waterparks. The resort also had minigolf, a trampoline/bungee jump thing which I did with Katherine, bowling, ice skating, an arcade, playgrounds, and restaurants. We mainly hung out in the waterpark for the weekend, though I sat on the sidelines while they went ice skating for an hour on Sunday (I realized last time when we went ice skating in Copenhagen that I absolutely hate it). The most awkward part of the weekend was showering naked in front of my host family and random Danish women. In Denmark, you must shower before entering a pool, and by shower I do mean get completely naked in an open area with other women and shower side-by-side. Except that I completely forgot about that rule, and was quite taken aback when I walked into the shower room with Christina and was greeted by lots of naked Danish women! Yes, I know we all have the same bits and pieces up above and down below, but it was still awkward and slightly uncomfortable, especially seeing the women of my host family naked. Overall though, I had a wonderful time at Lalandia and it was a nice change from Copenhagen.

Other things...

Today we had a guest lecturer for my core class, Children in a Multicultural Context. His name was Subhi, and he is originally from Iraq but has been living in Denmark for 16 years, so he came before the strict immigration laws were passed in 2001. Subhi talked to us about culture and cross-cultural comparisons, which was extremely interesting to apply to a Danish setting and think about how Danes view cross-cultural issues, and it was also good preparation for our study tour to Holland. In Holland we will be visiting a Refugee school in Groningen in which the children are bused to school each day from the refugee camp. I am extremely excited for this visit as well as the comparisons and contrasts we will be able to make between Holland's socialist policies and Denmark's Integration policies. While Denmark's Integration policies on the surface may suggest that they want to integrate minorities into Danish society, what their policies really practice is assimilation. One example can be seen in one of the requirements for immigration into Denmark, in which you must prove that your connections in Denmark (your social networks) are stronger than your connections to your home country. On the contrary, Holland employs a policy of socialization, which focuses on making sure that individuals function in their new environment; they does not focus on integration, they believe integration takes years and is thus not required of immigrants. I am looking forward to learning more about Holland's view on immigration and opportunity to make comparisons and contrasts to Denmark. It is interesting because in Denmark right now, there is a conservative party in power, whose subtle but present racist viewpoints on immigration and integration are very different from the viewpoints of many Danish citizens, specifically from citizens who reside in Zealand (Copenhagen and the surrounding area). Many individuals who I have talked to have said that they are embarrassed by the Danish government's harsh immigration laws. At a dinner party I attended last week, the host of the party talked about how an Arab colleague had emailed him about coming to Denmark to find work. The host of the party said that he had not written him back yet because he felt guilty, embarrassed, and saddened that he would have tell this man that there was no way he would be able to come to Denmark. It's interesting, because I don't think I would feel "embarrassed" about the U.S.'s tough immigration policies, but Denmark is much more of a collectivist society than the U.S. is, so Danes really feel that the government is a repsentative of them as individuals. In another anecdote, Michael works for a computer software company. He was explaining to me how they would like to hire qualified individuals from India or China who possess the skills for the job (Denmark doesn't do much outsourcing), but it is nearly impossible to do so because such individuals would not be able to get into Denmark and gain residency. He also said that he was embarrassed of the government's policies. It has been extremely interesting to learn about Denmark's integration policies, which were passed in 2001 after the U.S. government made it much more difficult to get into America. It has also been interesting to look at how such integration policies reflect Denmark's view on their growing multicultural population, an issue that has only become relevant in the last 40 years or so. This is quite different to our history in America, in which our country's history and diversity are intertwined.

These have just been some of my thoughts from my what I havetaken away from my CMC class. I will try and write once more before I leave for Holland because on Wednesday I am visiting an open prison. Yes, Denmark has an open prison system. Ah, the liberal Danes!

Vi ses!