Thanksgiving in Denmark

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I definitely missed the usual food, places, and most of all the people. I think this thanksgiving more than others I am more thankful for my family, although I did have a really fun thanksgiving over here though which helped me take my mind off not being home for the holiday.

It is interesting how what is probably the 2^nd biggest holiday and such a big deal in the states is completely absent over here. Granted it is an “American” holiday, but it has not made the inroads that Halloween/Valentines Day have (probably because it is a bit harder to commercialize and is actually really tied to the history of the US). Anyway, the day passed normally: classes as usual and I heard no whisper of Thanksgiving at all.

I had invited over a group of friends, mostly from my Danish courses at the University to come over around 9:30 for dinner. It was late because I had class until 7, and most gatherings here start late anyway. I told them to bring something to eat/drink and that they could prepare it here if they wanted. I, myself, still wasn’t sure what I was going to make.

I was thinking pumpkin pie and something like mashed potatoes, but after talking with Denise earlier in the day she convinced me to make a turkey: “they have no comparison anyway” was her reply to my argument that I had never made turkey and didn’t want to introduce them with a sub-par one. And she was right—might as well keep with the tradition. So the plan was turkey and pumpkin pie…

Thankfully my first class of the day was cancelled due to two politicians that were going to debate having to cancel (good because I had heard enough politics recently anyway). Therefore I had plenty of time to shop. I went to the supermarket closest to my house and they had a frozen turkey: job 1 complete. Unfortunately they had no pumpkin puree. They did have pumpkin chunks in some kind of sauce, but it looked quite questionable.

After coming back to my apartment and searching on the internet for all permutations of “pumpkin puree in Denmark” in Danish and English I was a bit annoyed. There were recipes in Danish that included pumpkin puree, but not where to buy it. One sight claimed “if you don’t live in Copenhagen…” and went on to say that you could use the chunks of pumpkin that I saw in the store earlier. It was quite annoying knowing it was available somewhere in the city, if not in the normal supermarkets, but having no idea where it actually was.

At the advice of a friend I tried a different market but in the end had to settle for the chunks, and unable to find a pre-made pie crust and a disposable pie pan to cook it in, I knew it would be quite the experiment (Denise later told me I should have been able to find these but I did ask at the store…)

Although I wasn’t fully satisfied with my food the night itself was awesome. People started showing up with all kinds of food! Our kitchen is not big but it was accommodating about 6 people making food all at once and 6 more coming in and out watching them!

After everyone was done I pulled the turkey out and we started eating. The dinner ended up consisting of: My turkey (well… it wasn’t that great and I forgot gravy, but it wasn’t horribly dry and wasn’t too bad for just having salt, pepper, and lemon. I got a few complements), curry bread (made by Orsi, a Hungarian girl in my class), cornbread (I was really excited about this and it was very good—made by Janna (German) and Marjaana (Finnish)), Couscous (made by Lisa, German girl in my class), Bruschetta (Made by the Italians Giuseppe and Ruggero), then came the deliciously fattening Lithuanian food made by Ugne, Anna, and Ieva which consisted of fried bread that you dipped in a mayonnaise/garlic/cheese or garlic cheese/egg sauce, or fried bread with red pepper and sauce on top. Needless to say it was all very good and I thought it was awesome that people put a lot of effort into it whether cooking or just bringing pre-made food/drinks to share as others did.

Just after dinner I started on the pumpkin pie. It turned out the liquid the pumpkin chunks were sitting in was already sweetened with a vanilla taste and some artificial sweetener. After initially trying not to add sugar because it already had enough, Denise suggested we add more to try to take away the weird taste (definitely did not taste like pumpkin). In the end I was getting quite annoyed with it—no crust, no real pumpkin filling, no pie pan to make it look like a pie—that when Denise started suggesting things to make it better I just went along with it. In the end it tasted good, but was no where near pumpkin pie.

As for traditions I attempted to explain the story of thanksgiving but found myself lacking in some of the key details…After I was asked the 2^nd or 3^rd time I found myself describing it as, “When the pilgrims/immigrants from Europe came to the USA and had a joint meal with the Indians; back when we were friends before we killed all of them”—that was about all I could muster in Danish. I also explained the going around the table and saying what you are thankful for tradition, and people wanted to do it but we never got around to it. And finally I could not find the wishbone in the turkey (maybe I accidentally cut it?)…

Yes, so a good thanksgiving. Everyone left quite late and I got the chance to talk with mom and dad in the evening Seattle-time which I think was a first.

Not too much has gone on in the past few days. Lived off leftovers for the first time since I have been over here. I have also been studying more as exams approach—I will have one “oral exam with preparation” which means I get the questions/topics then about 20 minutes to prepare before having the exam if I understand it correctly. I will then have a topic to write on for the Danish Culture Course (in English), and will have my translation exam which is just 1 page and 6 hours if I need it of translating English to Danish.

Besides that I am looking into getting one final trip in. It is going to be somewhere fairly close (London, Stockholm, Berlin, Amsterdam) but I haven’t figured it out yet.

Hope to hear from you!

Jeff

More Morocco

Hey everyone,

The time is sure flying by over here... I registered for winter quarter classes back home and went to a Christmas Cabaret show--signs that my time here is running out.

It is now officially freakishly cold here. Last night I just glanced out my window and noticed the snow coming down. There were still patches left around throughout the day today as it really didn't get above freezing. Not the best weather when you're riding a bike, but I will make do, as it appears to not stop anyone else.

The main problem when riding your bike in extremely cold conditions is this: 90% of the time you will either be sweating or far too cold. Even when taking into careful calculations beforehand of how far you need to go, how cold it is, how fast/hard you will be biking, etc. and choose your clothes and bike speed accordingly, one has to be quite lucky to not suffer from one of the above problems...

Now for a bit more of Morocco:

After my first night in Fes I spent the next morning exploring the Medina for my first time. Because it was still a holiday, it was not that packed, so while missing out on some things I'm sure, it was definitely still a lot for me to take in. Thankfully with my guide book it was navigable and after an hour or so of just exploring a small area of it I felt moderately confident in that tiny area (once again it is HUGE--I heard 500 mosques just inside the Medina).

In the afternoon I headed to the train station (by way of taxi most of the way, slowly getting used to the no-seatbelt thing) to travel to Rabat, the capital city of Morocco located on the coast. This was my first train ride through Morocco and an interesting one.

The train itself was quite full, thankfully when I got on there was still space in one of the compartments where I could sit down and have my own spot. The trains in Morocco were the exact same and in similar condition to those I road with Donnie and Dad on our trip in Europe, so no problems there.

Riding through the Moroccan countryside I could really tell for the first time that I was in a fairly poor, African country. Lots of things to notice: Very little water at all, garbage all along the sides of the train and just a general countryside in including fields which looked like they were previously used for crops just filled with empty plastic bags and more garbage.

There were often goats, and sometimes cows being lead by a shepherd--half surviving on whatever "grass" there was to eat and I think the rest must have been the trash... We also passed by many shanty-towns where the houses looked like they were made out of cardboard or plywood, around 6 feet high or so, and used stones so their roofs would not blow off in the wind...

But beyond these aspects there were also just normal towns we passed through, beautiful fields of crops, cactuses, waving kids, and rolling desert hills.

As we went on (I think around a 3 to 4 hour ride), the train started getting fuller and fuller. Soon there were people standing in the aisles for the long trip and it started getting very very hot.

After I calculated that we were getting close or so I asked at a bigger station if this was "Rabat". The people in the cabin shook their heads. After 15 more minutes or so we stopped at a big station. No one said anything, so I asked again and they said "yes"! I was a bit surprised that they didn't say anything to me earlier knowing that I wanted Rabat, and by the time I got out into the hall people were already boarding the train. The aisles were extremely cramped because of all the people already on and I could not move as soon as I got outside my compartment.

Now I'm generally not one to push--but there was absolutely no other way to get through. To be honest I have never pushed harder in my life to get off of that train. It made it nearly impossible with my huge backpack on to get by the people, and the flow was going in the opposite direction since I started so late. Once I got close to the door it was a complete standstill. With people coming on there was really nothing I could do except wait... but, when I heard the whistle from outside signifying the train would be taking off very soon I basically just pushed as hard as I could through.

Surprisingly, no one seemed to think it was odd that I was using all my force to get by them. They didn't really move out of my way, but they didn't appear upset or yell at me when I was forcing myself by. Thankfully this "trapped on the train" situation did not come up again. I was literally exhausted from going about 20 ft when I got off the train, and I definitely got very up close and personal with many Moroccans...

Once again I stayed in the Medina, arriving at night to smoky air filled with meat being cooked up. I grabbed a pita filled with some kind of it as well as roasted chickpeas and some other kind of delicious bean. Rabat was quite nice in that it was much more low-key. Vendors did not yell out to me as I passed by. When I went into the narrow touristy shop stalls they did not stand in the doorway blocking me in, etc.

The Medina was also more oriented towards families with shoes, clothes, watches, radios, detergent, rags, bootlegged DVDs, really anything imaginable being sold in the stalls or spread out on the ground for sale while everyone was out and about shopping and eating.

I saw a vendor selling some kind of fruit I had never tried before which I now realize was a prickly-pear or something of that variety which I had to try. Tasted kind of like strawberries to me, quite good...

Back at my hostel I found my bathroom to be a hole in the ground without a shower available.

Oh cheap travel, how I love thee :)

Hope everyone is doing well

Jeff

Politics!

Hey-O,

The last week hasn’t really been too eventful, been kind of bored actually… but there have been some interesting things going on. Most notably a general election was called around a week and a half ago.

The election really has been a big deal, similar in some ways to an election in the states but also drastically different. First of all, the states minister (highest position in Denmark) actually chooses when to hold an election. He must hold an election at least once every 4 years, but I get the impression that it is generally called some time in the final year, or maybe 3^rd year when the sitting states minister thinks he has the best chance to win.

So because the election can happen so suddenly the campaign really kicks into gear. Immediately after the election was called leaders from all the parties were on TV taking part in interviews constantly. If they had other engagements these were quickly dropped for the election. The night after the election was called I went to my badminton game and everyone was talking about it already. The next day signs began showing up all over the city, everywhere. (I went into the city one afternoon and when I returned there was a huge sign along the fence where my bike was previously parked).

So why all the fervor from the politicians as well as the public? Because once the election is called, the vote is only 3 weeks away!!! That’s right, there are only 3 weeks of campaigning, 3 weeks of ads and debates. After getting over the initial shock I realized how much I really liked the idea. For one, it creates an excitement in the population that until now (election 9 days away), has not died out (I think it is hard to stay excited for 2 years or however long a campaign is nowadays in the US…).

And although the 3 weeks are obviously intense, I do not feel like it does the damage to the candidates’ current jobs like it does in the states. They are not touring the country (admittedly a very small one) for months on end, unable to fulfill their roll as a senator, house member, etc. while they are campaigning.

Another thing I very much like about the Danish political system is the plethora of parties! Like in the states, there are two main parties, but there are other viable options as well. For example, the 2 main parties in Denmark each have around 27% of the voters, but that obviously only makes up little over half. There are other parties with 13%, another with 10%, one with 8, 5, 4, 2, 1. I think this is quite an unbelievable diversity, at least in comparison with the states. Although I hear from the Danes that more and more they are all gravitating towards the center, there are other options here than just two parties, options with different points of view that are established.

And what’s more, once the states minister is chosen (obviously there is no “consensus” with these numbers, so the smaller parties will choose to support one state minister candidate from one of the larger parties), he is obligated to include members from different parties in his cabinet based on their percentage numbers. This means that in the inner-circle of the government it is not all one party as it has become in the states, but even the smaller parties, beyond having seats in parliament, also have some say in the executive branch (at least in theory), which takes away the “my vote won’t really count if I vote for a small party” idea in the states.

Beyond the election, another special celebration occurred in Denmark last Friday: “J-day”. J-day signifies the day which all of the breweries in Copenhagen release their Christmas beer brew for the season. This “special” brew did not taste that special to me. I went out with a group of badminton players and they admitted that it really wasn’t anything that great, just a sign of the season and an excuse to go out and have fun.

Yesterday was quite sunny and after having a lazy weekend I decided to get out. Denise suggested I go to “Dyrehaven” which translates to “animal park” or “animal garden”. I think the closest thing we have to it in the states would be something like Northwest Trek, but it is still quite different. I was able to bike there in about an hour and a half down the coast.

Dyrehaven is an absolutely huge area of nature. Beyond one restaurant near the entrance, paths for biking and walking, and trash cans, nothing else is man-made. The area is filled with tons of trees (which looked quite nice as the leaves were coming down), fields, streams, and ponds. The park has a few entrances and is otherwise fenced all the way around.

What is nice about it is they do not have any small cages housing animals, and the animals need to be native to the environment they are in. They only have bigger animals like deer/bucks/elk that would be living in this type of environment anyway. They are free to roam throughout the huge park. In fact I was wondering where all the animals were the first 30 minutes I was there until I saw a large pack of deer in some grass to the distance.

They have a sign at the beginning discouraging one from approaching the animals and beyond that its just personal responsibility. I could also tell that people weren’t feeding them as they definitely did not want to come near me looking for a handout. I thought the park was really nice. It was free, very clean, and the incorporation of wild animals made it more exciting and “countryside” feeling despite being nearby the city.

The only problem is it is really getting too cold for me to spend the whole day outside. Even wearing 2 pairs of socks and a pair of gloves my hands and feet were freezing in the park no matter what I did...

That’s it for now. Looking forward to a Cabaret show in Tivoli and a Ghost Tour through Copenhagen which I signed up for through the international office. Also an International Documentary Film Festival is coming to Copenhagen so I am looking forward to checking out some of those movies.

Uploaded some new pictures as well of Morocco:

Casablanca

Marrakesh

Jeff