Finding fall.

About a month or so ago, David and I were sitting around one weekend feeling a little discontent with how the seasons have been progressing recently.  The mild temperatures and long days of summer had given way to clouds and rain and early sunsets, but we still had a ways to go before Christmas cheer brightened things up, and it kinda felt like we were missing something...something comes between summer and Christmas.  Something that makes the transition to shorter days easier; something that has squash and football and warm spices and apple cider.  Something that is usually one of my favorite parts of the year.

So we got off our butts because clearly we needed some fresh air and went for a walk outside, and we found it!

Fall!

Crunching through the leaves in
Mølleparken, near our house

Yes, that wonderful in-between season...fall.  When it's cool enough that you can turn on the oven again and bake pumpkin cookies.  When the most delicious-sounding dinner is a squash soup.  When you can spend all weekend watching football and football and then more football.  Aaaahhhhh.  What we needed was more fall in our lives.  

Except, well, we couldn't find any apple cider in the grocery store and football games are on at all the wrong times here and...I have to go to work on Thanksgiving?!?!

Ok, ok, I'm being super dramatic.  But all that to say that it seems fall is the time when I've most missed some uniquely American things.  

But fall was still to be found in Denmark.  The Hokkaido pumpkins they sell here at the grocery store make really good pies.  Fantasy football is, fortunately for me, an online game.  And the sun, while not a frequent visitor, does still show up sometimes.

On a miraculous warm Saturday in November, we rode our
bikes to Lundby Bakker, a forest area southeast of Aalborg.

And we manage to enjoy even the gray, depressing Saturdays, but that's not too hard when you spend them at place with all this...

Creepy 5 meter tall boy;
David finds meaning in the room full
of random stuff (aka the art exhibit);
Fun with mirrors!

All this is at ARoS, the contemporary art museum in Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city.  Aarhus is a quick 1.5 hour train ride from Aalborg, we've been there twice so far, and we'll definitely be back.

On our first trip there (back in September), we experienced the Aarhus Festival where, among other things, we watched the so-called King of Smørrebrød make his specialty which we then got to eat (and wash down with free snaps).  

A visit to ARoS was the primary purpose of our second trip, and it did not disappoint.  These people know how to put together an art exhibition.  Some exhibits were thought-provoking while others were just fun.  An entire room filled with smoke lit up in different colors where you can't see more than a foot in front of you...how can you not like modern art??

Walking along "Your Rainbow Panorama"
the 360 degree viewing platform/modern art piece
that sits atop ARoS.

Fun times in the smokey room

Most important fall moment of all...we successfully introduced the wonders of pumpkin pie to many who had previously been unacquainted with its awesomeness.  On Thanksgiving, I brought in a couple pies and some whipped cream to work.  It was all sitting on the table at lunchtime, and as people came into the lunch room, I hear again and again "Hvad er det?".  Fortunately, that's a Danish phrase that I understand so I could excitedly explain the day's importance and the necessity (in my mind) of the pie on the table.  While some co-workers seemed a little suspicious at first, I think my enthusiasm got them to at least try a slice (and they're all just nice anyway).  But it was no surprise to me that they actually liked it...I mean...it's pumpkin pie...who wouldn't?

Not only that, we successfully made all traditional Thanksgiving foods and celebrated my most favorite of American holidays all in another country...with a major shout out to our Team Danish Thanksgiving friends Bailey and Daniel (fellow Americans learning to navigate the land of smørrebrød and snaps).  But I will say that I missed sharing with that pie with those who appreciate it the most.  Like my mom who complains every Thanksgiving that I make too big of a mess in her kitchen and leave it all for her to clean up but who raves every year that my pie is the best.  Shout out to my fam-bam this week...couldn't stop thinking about you all as I made the pies this year.  Missing you lots!

A Scandinavian Summer

Why hello again, friends.  Yes, David and Alana still do exist over here in Denmark, and it's been a lovely summer here in the land of the almost midnight sun.  And (for those of you who don't live here), yes, at the peak of summer, the light really does last almost until midnight.  And while we did get to experience some uniquely Danish aspects of summer this year, summer remained just as full of popsicles and cookouts and yard games and being outside as it was in the US.

Birthday brunch picnic overlooking Aalborg.

The summer season here in Aalborg seemed to unofficially start with the famous/infamous Aalborg Karnival in late May.  Apparently, it's northern Europe's biggest carnival celebration, and the main event consists of 25,000 costumed party people parading through the center of our city.  A common question that kept coming up when we first moved here was "so do you know about karneval?"  The questioner would then usually proceed to tell us about how "one year at karneval...someone urinated on my window/there was puke on my apartment door/I was flashed while minding my own business/I lost my cell phone in a river of beer/I saw something I really did not want to see happening under a bridge...".  So with that reputation preceding it and with our apartment being about one block from the main parade route, David and I were quite curious to see what the day would bring.  And actually, we had a really fun day.  It got a little uncomfortable and some elbows were thrown when we got stuck inside a rather aggressive mass of people all trying to push their way in different directions.  But the weather was great, some of the costumes were really cool, I convinced myself that the puddle I stepped in was beer (and not urine), and spending all day outside in the sunshine sure makes it feel like summer.

Most common Karneval costumes:
Waldo, old NBA players, neon/tie-dyed anything
Most creative Karneval costumes:
Lego people and choreographed people riding a roller coaster

Another mark of the arrival of summer here in Denmark was the prominent displays of koldskål med kammerjunkere that seemed to pop up out of nowhere in every grocery store.  I was, at first, uncertain that cold buttermilk soup with biscuits was really what I was craving on a hot day.  But I have to say that it didn't take long before I was buying it every time I was at the store (sometimes even making special trips just for that).  And it's a very versatile dish...snack, dessert, breakfast, lunch, dinner...all of the above...

My personal Copenhagen tour guide

The last national Danish holiday (read: "free day off") until Christmas fell on exactly the right weekend in early June for us to fly to Copenhagen to celebrate my Danish friend Louise's birthday with an introduction to the Copenhagen swing dancing scene and to introduce traveling American friends Melanie and Sam to Danish culture.  The Little Mermaid was seen, smørrebrød was eaten, and canals were toured.  We even got to assuage our homesickness for Colorado with a little visit to Christiania, the former-military-barracks-turned-hippie-freetown smack in the middle of otherwise very orderly Copenhagen.  There were Buddhist prayer flags; there were dreds.  There was a vegan restaurant, and there were posters of

Canal touring

Bob Marley and Ghandi and Jesus.  And a certain earthy/grassy smell was ubiquitous.  It was basically the opposite of everything I had come to associate with Denmark up to that point, and for a few hours, it really did feel like we were almost back in Colorado (almost...until someone selling homemade food called out to us in Danish).

Walking through
Christiania forest

Making our (temporary) mark on the Copenhagen
art scene at The Happy Wall

We got another little taste of America when, through the powers of Facebook, a collection of Americans living in Aalborg got together for the Fourth of July.  There's quite a few of us here actually, way more than I expected before moving here.  We grilled, we had flag cakes, we played lawn games, we had sparklers.  Any Dane within earshot was treated to a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.  And I realized one problem with the extremely long summer days, fireworks aren't nearly as cool looking when it's not completely dark.

In addition to the long hours of sunlight, July actually brought some hot weather to Denmark.  Summer up to that point had been this random mix of warm-ish sunny days intermingled with rainy days more suited to March than June.  But after about 3 days of the July heat, I was complaining with the rest of them that it had been practically 30°C (about 85°F) for a week!  Even then, it took me a few more days before I realized that everywhere else that I've lived regularly experiences temperatures that hot (or often hotter!) for 3 whole months not simply 3 weeks.  But I'll blame my complaining on the fact that any brief relief supplied by this modern technology called air conditioning was simply nowhere to be found.  Not at my office, not in the library, not at a coffee shop, certainly not in our apartment.  But ok, ok, I'll be honest, air conditioning really isn't needed here; the weather's just too convenient a topic to complain about.

So, when standing in the dairy section at the grocery store was no longer cutting it to provide some relief from the heat, we finally remembered "Hey, Denmark is surrounded by water on three sides! Let's go to the beach!"  I had been told that the beaches here were pretty awesome.  But, let's be real, sandy beaches and ocean waves really aren't what you think of when you think Denmark.  At least, I, as an American who grew up enjoying California's iconic beaches, did not.  Apparently, lots of Germans take Danish beach vacations every summer.  Anyway, the Danish beaches did not disappoint, and one of the nicest beaches is only 45 minutes away and reachable by public transportation.  As someone who has sat in traffic in Orange County, CA going to/coming from the beach, Denmark definitely wins in that area.

Where Denmark does not win is in having any natural places higher than 170 m (560 ft) which, for 2 people who spent the last 6 years in Colorado, took some getting used to.  The mountains and fjords of our neighbor to the north were calling out to us, like whoa, so we bought some ferry tickets, packed our bags with tents, sleeping bags, and cheaper (compared to Norway) Danish food, and spent 3 days in the Lysefjord area of Norway.  And seriously...whoa...jaw-dropping, spectacular beauty in a landscape different than anything I had ever experienced.  For those who want details (and not just me trying to find the words to describe how incredible it was), we took the ferry to Stavanger, a city on the west coast of Norway, then took another ferry into the Lysefjord.  We spent a morning dodging the crowds hiking up to the breathtaking but popular Pulpit Rock and then spent the next day completely alone hiking along the north side of the Lysefjord before hiking down to the water to be picked up by another ferry and taken to the little village of Lysebotn.  After a very experienced bus driver safely navigated one of the curviest roads I've ever been on, we hiked along the south side of the Lysefjord to Kjeragbolten for some pictures of us looking awesome and an unexpected chance to watch some basejumpers in action.  We ended the trip trying to outrace a thunderstorm down a steep, slick rock face only to have the clouds part and the sun come out just as we made it back to the trailhead.

If you happen to be planning a trip to Norway, know that even in already expensive Denmark, Norway is known as being the opposite of cheap.  So camping is definitely a good choice (you can set up your tent anywhere as long as it's 150 m away from any buildings and not on cultivated land), and bringing food from Denmark will definitely keep costs cheaper.  And a word of wisdom for the ferry...earplugs.  Stavanger is far enough away that the ferry traveled through the night.  While you can book a cabin with a bed to sleep in, the significantly cheaper option is to just book a seat in the main area and sleep in your seat like you would on an airplane.  But unlike an airplane, the ferry is actually rather quiet which means that you can hear about a dozen people all around you snoring their faces off and when those people finally roll over and start breathing through their mouths, another dozen pick up the chorus right where the first ones left off.  Let's just say, I slept better on the ground in the tent than I did on the ferry.

Ok, whew, whirlwind recap of the Gerhardts' summer, Scandinavian style, and I didn't even mention the outdoor movie watching, the biking, the grilling, and all the ice cream eating, but you probably did that this summer anyway so you don't need me to tell you how it is.

Feeling comfortable (in London).

Fear not, dear readers, we have not dropped off the face of Denmark.  We have just momentarily dropped out of the blogging world.  Sorry about that.  So many things to do, but so little time to write about them.  (What a horrible problem, I know.)

If you go to London and don't take a picture,
with Big Ben, were you really there?

For instance, the day after we moved into our new apartment, (and this is where I make all you readers in the USA jealous) we took a quick little weekend trip to London.  Mike and Courtney, some friends from Colorado, were visiting London for a week, and we couldn't not meet up with them (it's so close!).

London is a HUGE city.  Normally, I like walking around a city because I think it helps you get to know a place.  But if we had walked everywhere in London, we wouldn't have had time to do anything else.  (And we wouldn't have had the entertaining but slightly unnerving experience of sitting in the front row on the top of a double decker bus where it seriously looks like the bus is about to hit pedestrians/bikers/other cars/anything in its way the entire time.)

Since we were only there for 2 days, of course, we couldn't see everything.  We mostly skipped the royalty-centric part of London in favor of free museums (the National Gallery, the British Museum, and the Tate Modern were the ones we visited) and sunny walks/boat rides along the River Thames.

We were all big fans of the Egyptian exhibit at the British Museum.  There's an actual human body still wrapped inside that box!

 

London's public transit system includes boats that run up and down the river which double as a cheap river cruise.  And the Thames river walk takes you past Shakespeare's Globe, the Tate Modern, the Millenium Bridge, and places to enjoy a Pimm's cup while watching the sun set.

Sunset over the Thames

Tower of London seen from the boat

Millenium Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral

Millenium Bridge

We also saw a funny little play, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, which happens to be the longest running play in London (we realized after that's why the tickets were so cheap...everyone else has already seen it!).

Besides all of the fun London tourist-y things, one highlight of visiting London...everything is in English!  This was something that I didn't think bothered me too much about Denmark.  I mean...it's Denmark...of course everything is in Danish.  Why wouldn't it be?  It takes a little while, but the official-looking things we get in the mail we can usually translate online.  The random billboards, advertisements, and signs around town we can mostly just ignore.  Grocery shopping took a little getting used to, but even there, lots of things are obvious and there are usually pictures on the boxes.  And being surrounded by Danish advertisements and Danish signs and Danish everything has actually helped me learn a lot of words.  When, after staring at it for entirely too long, I finally understand what some bus stop billboard actually says ("Start training today at Fresh Fitness!  Just 149 kroner per month!"), it kinda encourages me that I'm making progress in my language learning.  When I moved here, I expected to be surrounded by Danish and figured that I would just deal with it as best as I could.  But then in London... "New phone only 1 pound with 6 month subscription!" ... "This week only!  All sandals 20% off!" ... "Try our new chicken sandwich!" ...it didn't matter that I didn't want any of those things, I could understand what was being offered and decide what I thought about it in a matter of milliseconds.  Every billboard didn't have to be opportunity to practice my language skills.  Literacy is amazing!  Like I said, I didn't think I was that bothered about being surrounded by Danish especially because English is very widely spoken so I can easily find someone to help me if I need it.  But I'll admit that I do often feel embarrassed, self-conscious, and sometimes just plain dumb when someone talks to me and I have to put a pitiful look on my face and apologize for not speaking Danish.  So I guess that I'm not surprised that after being in London just two days, it somehow felt quite comfortable to me.  And I think a big reason for that was the language.

Well, the language and the fact that we spent our two days there with two really awesome people who we've known for more than three months and who already know us and like us!  It's easy being with old friends.  It's comfortable; it's relaxing.  They already know your story and have already lived some of life with you.  And I look forward to getting to that place with people we've met in Aalborg (some of who read this blog...Hi Friends!).  But in the meantime, I am very thankful that we got to talk about nerdy engineering things over some beers with Mike while Courtney rolled her eyes and drank Diet Coke.  Thanks for a great weekend guys!

I believe this was when David and Mike were discussing
the construction of the Millenium Bridge while Courtney
and I tried to talk them into finding somewhere to eat.

A house of our own.

Ok, I guess I'm being a little lazy with words in the title because it's an apartment not a house and we don't own it, we're renting.  BUT I'm so thankful that we now have a place to call ours here in Aalborg.

Before moving here, I was hoping that we would find an apartment to move into by the beginning of April.  Hah!  That was before I talked to anyone else who has had the non-enviable task of finding an apartment in Aalborg.  It ended up taking about 2 months to find a place, and apparently that amount of searching time is the norm.

Meanwhile, we spent those 2 months living in a temporary place that was completely adequate and functional, and we were very thankful to have a furnished place to live in as soon as we moved here.  But, probably because we knew it was temporary, it never really felt like our space.

Our Building

However, after spending my days refreshing the apartment search website every 5 minutes and contacting non-responsive landlord after non-responsive landlord, I am SO happy to report that we found a place we actually want to live in, successfully translated a Danish lease (ok, some very helpful friends translated the lease for us, I'm not that good at Danish yet), paid a security deposit that we've been told not to expect back, and have established the home of the Gerhardts in Denmark complete with fully functioning dishwasher and a shower that doesn't spray water over the entire bathroom every time you use it.  Yay!

Kitchen

As we walked through the house for the first time on moving day, David remarked, "Wow, you're really happy about moving here."  And I was!  And still am!  But why was it that renting an apartment was such a big deal anyway?  I mean home is where ever I'm with you, right David?  And many times home isn't necessarily the building where you live, often people or a place or a time can be home.  And I certainly didn't expect Denmark to feel like home anytime soon.  But the thing was, even after being here for about two months, it didn't really feel like I was even living in Denmark.  It felt more like I was just staying here for a while.  

Living Room

You see, most things had gradually fallen into place.  We had Danish mobile phone numbers and local bus passes.  We'd made some friends.  We'd even found a church (in English!) to go to.  But without a place of our own, it still felt like I would be hopping on a plane back to Colorado at some point.  Having a place of our own filled with our stuff (which conveniently arrived in a big shipping crate on the same day we moved) went a long way in helping me feel like I actually lived here and I wasn't just on some really long vacation.  (Probably wouldn't seem like a vacation if I had a job...haha.)

Bedroom

The permanence of our move to Denmark is more real now...in a good way...in a way that makes me want to really become friends with the people that I've met here and discover my favorite places in Aalborg and explore this country that I now live in.  I don't want it to feel like I'm going back to the US any day now.  I want to figure out what it means to have a life here.  That's why I moved to Denmark.  I want to learn what it's like to live somewhere different than what I'm used to.

So I'm thankful for our apartment.  I'm thankful that we now have the space to invite people over for dinner, like our friend Karl who, after reading in this very blog that I had been unable to find canned black beans in Aalborg, found canned black beans for me!  (So it was practically required that we invite him over to show him the deliciousness of black bean burritos.)  I'm thankful that I have an oven so that I can bake a dessert to bring over a friend's house.  I'm thankful that, once again, we have instruments to play together.  And I'm thankful for a space that makes it a little easier to do the kinds of things that help me feel like I actually have a life here.

Work

A selective timeline of David's life:

• 8665 days ago: begin schooling
• 124 days ago: finish schooling
• 59 days ago: begin first industry job in Denmark

You could say that I've been preparing for a job for 83.9% of my life. But then you'd be ignoring weekends, evenings, holidays, etc. Let's assume that schooling occurs for 40 hrs/week over 9 months/year; that brings it down to 15% of my life.

I've invested this 15% in things that interest me, and it has been very rewarding. My education has taken me from the coast to the mountains to the Jutland, and has provided experiences I'll never forget. This one time, some friends and I got together and built a satellite!

All that to say, it feels like I don't know a thing. I don't know if it's is a moving-to-another-country thing or a first-real-job thing, but there is so much to learn.

I look around my office, and I see engineers that have been engineering while I have been schooling. They've been building while I've been theorizing. I find myself envying their experience.

It's frustrating - after being in school for so long, I almost thought I knew what I was doing. Yet time and time again I am surprised by the gaps in my knowledge. Oh, and that one time, with the satellite? I'm continually realizing that our team was even more capable than I thought. It's happened a few times at work already: Wait, who did this on CSSWE? Oh, somebody (Ian/Nate/Lauren/Quintin/Chris/etc.) must have done that without telling me. Chalk another one on the "to-learn" column.

So I'm learning. Don't get me wrong - I'm excited to be at a job where I will grow as an engineer. I've just been surprised at how much there is to learn.

At the end of my first week, I was mulling over thoughts like these when my friend Karl tapped me on the shoulder and said, "It's beer friday now". Then I turned around and saw this:

The image shows my coworkers celebrating the end of a work week by grabbing a beer and eating peanuts & chips while talking about anything but work. Most Danish companies do this every week! Once beer friday begins, people will usually stick around long enough to enjoy a beer and some snacks before they head home for the weekend. Americans (like me) could learn a lot about work/life balance from traditions like this.

Enjoying Danish holidays (in Berlin).

What's this?  Another blog post less than a week after the last one?

Well, I'm not sure I can keep up this posting frequency (my days aren't all that exciting, and I can't seem to convince David to write a post of his own yet), but I did say that I would write about the second half of our Easter holiday in Berlin.  And I didn't want to get too far behind because there will be other things to write about soon (like maybe a new apartment...maybe...I hope).

Anyway...

Berlin was really cool!  Now that I've actually been there, I'm surprised that I hadn't visited the city during any earlier trips to Europe.  I was definitely missing out.  Remnants of the Berlin wall overlook an exhibit on the Gestapo that's next door to a building that formerly housed the Prussian parliament, and it's all next to a conveniently located currywurst stand.  There is so much in this city.  Just during my lifetime, some world-changing things have happened here.  I don't really consider myself a big history nerd/buff/enthusiast/whatever, but walking through these sites of major historical significance
was fascinating.

However, even with all it's historical places, it struck me that Berlin didn't look very "old".  The city was basically destroyed during World War 2 so extensive re-building was required, but the Cold War hampered that to some degree with the restoration of many areas being completed only in the past 20 years.  And the building continues with construction cranes appearing in every photo I took overlooking Berlin.

As we explored, it was interesting to see how the city has chosen to mark/remember the different places and events, especially the ones where really horrible things were happening.  For instance, the site of Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide right before the end of the war is now a parking lot with a sign that explains the significance of what happened there 70 years ago.  This seems appropriate.  It doesn't deserve a museum, but it is important to remember.  The remnants of the Berlin wall that remain around the city are interesting too.  I'm sure some people wanted to destroy all traces of the wall in the city, but enough people recognized that it would be important to remember this part of their history.  So an area that was formerly the "death strip" between the two sections of the wall is now a park with a memorial to the people that died trying to cross that death strip to escape to West Berlin, and a huge section of the remaining wall is now the East Side Gallery where artists from all over the world were invited to paint murals on the wall.

Berlin Wall Memorial

East Side Gallery

One of the most thought-provoking and well put together exhibits was on the site of the former Gestapo headquarters.  The building itself has been demolished, but on top of the rubble, there is an exhibit describing the political, economic, and cultural atmosphere in which Hitler and the Nazis came to power, the atrocities that were committed against various people groups by that regime, and the German society in which all this took place.  David and I planned a quick visit to this site before having lunch one day but ended up staying for 3 hours.  (Because we stayed so long, I ended up buying a delicious butter-filled pretzel from the on-site cafe.  Not a bad decision.)

I was also very impressed with the way that the different museums and memorials sought to go beyond just the numbers and statistics and tell the stories of actual people.  The Holocaust Memorial (or its official title "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe") is a 5 acre site honoring the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.  Underneath the memorial, the information center has collected an impressive number of cards, letters, photos, and other items from which they've been able to tell the stories of victims and their families.  We can read about the sheer numbers of people killed during the Holocaust (numbers so big that they're hard to comprehend), but hearing some of their stories gives a much better perspective.


In addition to all the historical places, we spent a lot of
time just walking around some of Berlin's different neighborhoods: Mitte, Prenslauer Berg, Schoneburg, Tiergarten, Potsdamer Platz, etc.  Each neighborhood seemed to have a unique vibe, and in between the history lessons, we relaxed in the neighborhood cafes, gelato shops, and parks.  (You can't beat 1 euro for a scoop of gelato in waffle cone!)


We also found a fun place to go dancing (but unfortunately missed swing dance night).  Clärchens Ballhaus is a 100 year old dance hall, and on the Saturday night that we were there, it featured a live German cover band and was packed with people from 20 to 80 years old (no kidding).  It was here that I realized just how pervasive American pop culture can be.  Almost every song the band played was in English, and the audience was singing right along with them.

On Easter Sunday, we even found a church to go to.  The Berliner Dom is a huge cathedral in central Berlin, and we celebrated the resurrection (in German!) with the amazing choir and organ.  After the Easter service, we climbed the 270 steps to the top of the dome (ya know because we hadn't done enough walking already).




















One of my favorite parts about Berlin was the food.  There were so many different types of food, and compared to Denmark, it was all SO cheap!  (It's really impractical to eat out in Aalborg.)  We had German food, Chinese food, Korean food, burritos, gelato, fries, doner kebabs, and of course, the ubiquitous currywurst.  Basically, anytime we passed a place that looked good, we stopped to get a snack.  (Such a great way to spend a vacation.)

After 4 days in this city, Berlin is a place I would definitely go back to.  There are still more neighborhoods to explore, a couple palaces to visit, a whole island full of museums that we didn't see, and of course, more food to eat.  Throughout this post, I've linked to the places that I'd recommend if you're planning a visit to Berlin anytime soon.  And if you are, let us know!  We'll totally meet you there!

First taste of currywurst

Hanging out with the Ampelmännchen