Segway Adventures

After weeks of speculation as to what our team building event would be...We came to find out only the day before that we were being taken out on a segway tour of Copenhagen.
A-MAZ-ING!

However...Segways are not meant for people like me. A segway requires confidence & good control over your body. I am neither graceful nor coordinated enough to manage to use that thing properly. After several "Holy Shittttttt....How do you stop this thingggggggg????????????" , the instructor politely asked that I not continue on the tour. This is not quite the impression I wanted to make with my new team. Right as I accepted defeat, the guide offered to tow me for the rest of the tour. And so, Shamus the Shameless, aka Best Tour Guide Ever, towed me on my segway as we sped along through the streets of Copenhagen. We saw the always beautiful city & toured some of the nicest areas as well as some of the more "gritty" areas, all while on the comfort of a segway. No walking...I loved it so much. Maybe next time, I can actually drive my own segway but I have to admit, getting towed isn't 1/2 bad. After all, I didn't have to be afraid, I didn't have to actually drive the thing, & I was able to look around & take in all the sites without a care in the world.

I'm a lucky lucky girl.

Some days it's still very hard to be away from everyone & to be so completely out of my element but it's days like this that I am reminded of how grateful I should be to have this opportunity in my life.

And that's all she wrote...

What I Miss / What I Enjoy

Before I left, I created a Top 10 List of things I will miss & things I look forward to (see previous posts).  Now that I have been here for a month, I will update both lists (but keep it to Top 5).

What I miss:

1. Dopey, Family, & Friends: You are my rock. No part of the world is ever as great as the one where you are surrounded by the ones you love.

2. My car. Technology is a good thing & we have made so many advances in transportation since the days of the horse & cart...People in Copenhagen should get up to speed with it. The problem is that cars are taxed at up to 200% of their value. Yes, 200%. Complain about your taxes in the US now! Go ahead. I dare you. 

3. Understanding. I wish I understood street signs & menus. I wish I knew how to prounounce the words I am reading. I'm not so arrogant as to demand that it all be in English (though that really would be ideal) but I'd at least like to understand it. It should make some sense. That isn't asking too much is it? 

4. My stuff. My container is still not on a vessel. It's somewhere in the US & I have no idea where it is or when it's actually coming. But I want my cooking spices, my CLOTHES, & all the little things I bought for this move. I didn't pack enough thinking that my items would be arriving next weekend. Instead, I am being told that I may not get my things until the end of May.

5. My job. I miss my old job. My former coworkers were amazing & we all had a great rapport. Nothing against anyone I work with now...But I miss the work I did before & the people that I did that work with.



What I Enjoy:

1. I'm still hoping to travel! Looking to see if I can book something soon.

2. Meeting new people. I've met some cool people so far from all parts of the world. I'm learning about different cultures & customs. And no matter where we are from, we all think we came from the best part of the globe. ;-)

3. Exploring the City. I am trying to sightsee as much as I can & it's great to live in a city w/ so many sights to offer.

4. My apartment. It's nice! It's not as small as I thought it would be & decorated very nicely. It's in a great neighborhood. I used to live in a 350 sq ft efficiency w/ my dog & had to go to the laundromat & I had no car at the time. I haven't forgotten where I came from so as I sit in my fully furnished & fully paid for apartment in Copenhagen, Denmark, I can't help to be grateful for all of God's blessings in my life.

5. Learning about myself. If nothing else, I am in a period of self discovery. I am learning what I am capable of & discovering things about myself that maybe I didn't recognize or realize until now that I am in a situation so far out of the boundaries of my comfort zone.

I wonder what the next list will contain...That's me. Already thinking ahead....

Reflections of a Month Gone By

It's been exactly 1 month since I stepped on a plane to begin my year long stay in one of Europe's most interesting capital cities. Looking back, this has been a very interesting month & surely a sign of things to come. I don't regret the decision to move here but I would be lying if I didn't admit to having more than 1 "What the hell have I done?" moment. Thankfully, I am quickly surrounding myself with good people who snap me right out of that whenever it happens.

This is a beautiful city & it's full of interesting people. Everyone is a walking contradiction. Polite but not friendly. Fashionable but not mainstream. Welcoming but yet exclusive. Hardworking but so not hardworking at the same time. Healthy but obsessed w/ smoking & pastries. Who can understand this??? The people are just like the language...What you see is not what you get.

On a personal level, I've made some progress. Some. I now have a mobile phone, an apartment, a bus pass, a CPR #, a Danish bank account, & starting to make friends.

I'm missing the understanding of online banking, groceries (I heart Publix more than ever now), my registration for the Danish lessons, travel opportunities, & a better understanding of the job & the reason I was brought here.

Maybe I can include those things in the Month 2 recap.

The Putin-meister

Yesterday, a buddy of mine forwards an email to me about a scheduled shut down of the main building & writes "Vladimir Putin will be here in case you didn't know". Vlad must've forgotten to call me b/c I had no idea. You know...me being the buddy buddy of Russian Prime Ministers. In reading the email, I was glad that I do not work in the main building...Or I may have been stuck there for hours & hours waiting for him to show up.

I didn't think much of the email until lunch time when Secret Service, KGB, or whatever they call themselves nowadays began to enter the building (I have lunch in the main building) & stood around the entrance talking into their sleeve. Hello Hollywood? Yea, apparently you got that one spot on. As I walked back to the "safety" of my building, approx 4-5 policemen walked up behind me & one decided to cock his sniper. I guess the trio I was with looked suspicious & we needed a warning? The snipers were waiting for the elevator (lazy bums! Even I use the stairs now!) when one of them dropped something. I thought it was the gun & I swear I must've jumped 30 feet in the air. The policeman was amused. Me? Not so much.

As I was leaving for the day, the Putin-ator hadn't arrived yet but tourists, camera crews, police, & the rest of his entourage were all at the entrance to the office. I left as the helicopter approached.



But this is not the end of the story...Apparently, Vladster was disappointed that we didn't run into each other, because later in the evening, his motorcade & helicopter escort wizzed past me as they headed to parts unknown (at least to me).

I guess the Vlady & I will just have to catch up next time.


PS - I did not take this video but thought you might appreciate a little glimpse of "my world".

The Snipers

The Camera Crews

The Motorcade

Creepy Churchbells & A Cannon

Every morning, I walk to work through a military fortress, the Kastellet. At 8 am every morning, the church bells start ringing to signify the start of a new day. For some reason, I find these church bells a little eery. It's spooky when the bells break the silence of the 400 year old fort as I am crossing through.

But as if a church bell isn't creepy enough, only seconds after the bells start, a cannon goes off. And every morning, I jump & duck for cover as if a war was on the verge of breaking out. One single cannon blast into the morning air. And I know it's coming...I even expect it...And yet, it never fails to give me a little jolt to which I usually follow up with "Whyyy" Why is it necessary in this day & age...in the year 2011 to set off a cannon?

I've asked around & most people don't know the reason. The only theory I have been supplied with is that Denmark wants to remind Sweden to stay away. Really Denmark?? Because let me tell you, if I was Sweden, I would say, "Oh yea?? Well let me show you what my satellite controlled missile, released from my remote controlled plane can do to your little measly cannon." Yep. That's exactly how I would handle that situation. In fact, I often find myself fantasizing of the day that someone puts that cannon out of its misery. The cannon is not my friend.

The Things We Do To Get a Taste of Home

Now everybody got the game figured out all wrong
I guess you never know what you got till it's gone
I guess this is why I'm here and I can't come back home
And guess when I heard that when I was back home


(I'm comin' home again)
Do you think about me now and then?
Do you think about me now and then?
'Cause I'm comin' home again, comin' home again

"Homecoming" Kanye West

I've never been a huge Kanye West fan. As much as I love music, I don't really enjoy big ticket concerts. The live music never sounds as good, it's crowded, & runs late. Exceptions to this rule can always be made for New Kids on the Block. Just sayin'.

But yesterday I went to Tivoli & did the strangest, oddest thing. I spent 515 DKK ($97) on a ticket to a Kanye West concert in August, here in Copenhagen. In my defense, I still don't quite do the math properly & exchange rates confuse me. Had I known I would be paying more than my floor seats to the NKOTB concert 3 years ago, I may have thought twice. But I was lured by the prospect of seeing a famous d-bag American Rapper & bouncing along to songs I knew in a city where I know nothing.

I don't understand the language, the people, the customs of this place...But I do know the words to Gold Digger & in that moment, that seemed enough for me.

So on August 11, I will head back to Tivoli to find out if Kanye was worth my money.

Don't Be A Jaded American

It's so easy to travel or live abroad & quickly start thinking about how the U.S. is better at ....well everything. Suddenly, you find yourself saying that food is the best in the U.S. or that the clothes is the best in the US & nothing can compare to what our great country has.


But there's no way that I can be happy here if I keep holding on to that. So the other day, I was telling someone (a fellow American) that I wanted to go to Tivoli.


Source: Wikipedia
Tivoli Gardens (or simply Tivoli) is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on August 15, 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg.
Tivoli is currently the most visited theme park in Scandinavia and the 3rd most visited in Europe.


You had me at Amusement Park. I wanted to go on all the rides & scream like a little girl on roller coasters. But, the person I was speaking with said, "Don't bother. There are no rides like what you're used to back home. You're American. This stuff will be boring to you."


Undeterred, I made plans with another expat from South Africa & we headed off to Tivoli. At first, I saw this & thought "It's going to be a LONG day":

After all...What was that? So so strange.


A few steps later, I came across this & was ever so slightly disturbed:

Then, I went on my first ride. And I didn't understand why the Danish engineers that created these rides couldn't have been recruited by Disney imagineers who are visionaries in animatronics. You know I am getting old when I am on an amusement ride & those big words are what I am thinking about.


I was having quite a bit of fun despite being a jaded American who was going from one lame ride to another.


But then it happened. I went on a ride so intense, that no Universal Studios, Disney World, or Busch Gardens experience could ever replicate. And what was this ride you ask? It was just a little "propeller plane" that is swung in a circular motion, while the plane also moves in its own circular motion. I don't think I can properly explain the sheer terror I felt in being hurdled up & down while I went upside down, right side up, & back upside down. The city views come & go & you don't know what is up or down or if this is what is meant to be happening. This little plane gave new meaning to the word thrill ride...and just for a tiny second, I wondered if it was all too much. Suddenly, I am right side up & itching to get off the ride...But it's not over yet. Time for Round 2. Round & Round I go. Where I stop you'll never know. This time, the plane stopped at the very top, with us upside down. And that's how we stayed until the ride reached the bottom & the plane turned around just to let us out. Is it even good for our brain cells to be upside down that long?

And all I can say is...This little plane ride kicks the Incredible Hulk's (Islands of Adventure) ass!!

All in all....a great day indeed....And a newfound appreciation for what really constitutes a "Thrill Ride".

PS - Here's just a couple more shots from the day....