Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (May 21-23)

After going out with Line around Aalborg, we relaxed in their beautiful backyard and got to finally meet the kiddies! Line and Søren have 2 children. Laura (pronounced la-wa) is 3 with white hair. She can speak Danish and wants to do everything herself. She was very very shy with me and Will since she couldnt speak to us and she didnt know us. They also have a 1 year old boy Viktor. He is so alert, with big eyes that are always looking around.
Will and I also walked to the park that is around the corner from Line and Soren. It has a nice little lake and trees and plants. there are lots of paths, and there is a field where kids picnic and drink and hang out. There is a university in Aalborg so apparently there is a large youth population there. It was quite beautiful and definitely worth the walk. Will met some kids who had a rope or something tied between 2 trees that you cant try to walk on. He was pretty good actually.
That night was an early night and Line, Soren, Will and I watched a little tv and then went to bed.
Friday Line and Soren took Will and me out for a drive. We went to the Aalborg Tower, the tallest point in Aalborg where you can see the whole city. You can see the zoo and the river and all the houses.
Then we went to a hill that also had a nice look out point where kids were sunning since it was so unusually hot.
After we drove for about half an hour to the place where Line and Soren got married. It was a castle that Sorens friend owns now and its like a catering hall. I was very beautiful, especially the rooms where Line and Soren got married. I dont know the name of the castle, but it is not what you expect a castle to look like. Its big, but not enormous and it is white stucco it is wide but not tall and there isnt any kind of fortification or towers like english castles and such.
There is also a beautiful cemetery where there are trees and plants, which is funny for a cemetery. There was a funeral in the church, so we went to lunch and came back.
We had pizza for lunch in the town where Soren grew up... We even saw the house he grew up in! The pizza was crazy. There was a pizza with kebab and fries on it, one with spaghetti and meats, a vegetable type one, and a chili one that was spicey. We were so full, and it was surprisingly very good, considering it wasnt ny pizza!
The church was amazaing. Apparently when they were refurbishing it they uncovered these paintings from the 1400s under the paint. They were beautiful and reminded me of what the danse macabre paintings i had studied looked like. The church was the similar style to the one in the city and was very cool.
On the drive back we passed these "tumuli" or hills that were used as far back as 900bc for burials. they are just randomly placed around the countryside among the farm land! crazy!
Then Line dropped us off in the city center to walk around while her and Soren went home to get the kids and do stuff around the house. When we were in the mall there were was a drumline and these girls dressed in sparkly exotic dancing outfits with these feather things on their backs dancing through the mall. It was really awesome, and Im glad we stopped in for a minute.
After we walked home and tanned and napped for a little bit. Then a babysitter came for the kids and the 4 adults went out for dinner. Will had a steak thing and I had some sort of danish meat thing that was kind of like a hamburger without the bun. The restaurant was beautiful with these cool floating vases. The restaurant was located on a street full of bars and restaurants that they said is full on friday and saturday nights with students. However, in the summer the sun doesnt set here until about 930pm. It is still not totally dark at 11pm, so after dinner we had a few drinks at different bars but it was pretty empty, especially since there was a concert going on that was apparently very popular... The bars were funny too. We went to the one where Line and Soren met. There was also one called Kvisten (close enough). And others called Hollywood Blvd, Manhattan, LA, and American Spirit. You think they like the US a little?
Sat. we woke up and went on Sorens parents boat. They have a beautiful boat that they got after they got rid of their sailboat. Its wayyyy bigger than the Endless Summer, and so nice. apparently it is made of iron and only a few were made like that. They will be taking it to Germany for a month this summer cruising up the Reine. Thats the life!
AFterwards we went and got sandwiches and went to see a viking burial ground. It was soooo cool! There were tons of graves (i think like 400) and it used to be the site of a village as well. There were sheep too, and when we were eating our sandwiches they tried to take them right from us. They were definitely not afraid of people.
Then we went back home and watched a big handball game that was on tv, but Aalborg lost :( Next, will and I went for another walk to that near by park. After, we started playing this really awesome game called the viking game. Its pretty simple, you throw sticks at the other peoples blocks that are sticking up in the ground. I was pretty aweful and they finally had to give me a handicap for the last game hahaha!
then we hung out the 4 of us, and later will and i went to the bars around midnight. It was definitely a lot more active. People were dressed up like it was Carnivale or something, apparently because there is a huge parade next week (for those of you who go to Binghamton, think parade day!). It was really weird, since I didnt even know how to ask "do you speak english" in danish. I wasnt really too fond of that, it was very uncomfortable and I felt rude not knowing more Danish...
Speaking of Danish, the few words weve picked up:
Tak (pronounced tock, like tick tock)= thank you
Hej (pronounced hi)= hi, hey
Flodeboller= a wonderful chocolate everyone should get

Thats pretty much it haha However, everyone here really does speak English. I mean everyone. TV shows are in English with Danish subtitles, the songs are American, and children start learning english in 3rd grade.

Sunday we slept in and Annita picked us up. She lives in Astrup, a small suburb-like town only 20 minutes from Lines. We kind of just cat napped during the day, looked at old photos from when we were kids, and chatted about old times.
Annita has a wonderful daughter called Ninna. She is 7 and very cute. She loves to chat and draw. Shes actually quite good at drawing! (just like annita!)
One of the interesting things about reminiscing was when Annita found the list of rules my mom and dad gave her when she first arrived in ny. Curfew was 2am... onthe weekends! and 11pm on the weekdays! She was supposed to brush my hair 5 times a day and potty train will for 45 min per day! hahah!
We also drove out to the beach for ice cream. Apparently the Blue House is the best place for ice cream. The ice creams were huge, and there was a line, though they said the line gets massive during hot summer days and nights. There was a great view from a near by hill and the beach was very windy and chilly, but very beautiful.

Ok so this is very long already, so Ill stop here, since Monday was packed, but Im almost caught up... No news on Wills bag. It should be in Aalborg, but the different people weve been speaking to have not been very helpful. Hopefully will have it tomorrow. Thanks to all the support of Line, Soren, Annita, and Johnny (Annitas husband) as we harass the hell out of British Airways, Aalborg Airport, and Copenhagen Airport. Gah!!

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