come take my hand, let's explore aarhus

this is me and bridget.

we are pro at taking pictures of each other, food, buildings, roads and other 'common' things that makes us stick out like sore thumbs.

 

people stare at us alot.

   but we don't mind.

 this. was. amazing.
a gourmet fish pattie with cabbage salad
and a 'fizzy apple' drink.
the bread was tiny and full of seeds.

ok it doesn't sound overly amazing, but it was. 

 
this is my favourite street in aarhus.

cobblestone,  designer shops, gourmet chocolatiers, brunch cafes, people riding bicyles, dogs on leashes....



 there is a realy nice ambience here.

  the air is crisp, the water is always fresh and cold, and people look great as they walk or ride their bikes everywhere.

apparently there is 180% tax on cars, and petrol is $2 per litre. so driving isn't an option for most.

i have a thing for taking pictures of the rivers and bicycles in this town. i just love them!

this lady was HILLARIOUS!

 bridget and i were standing in the middle of the street taking photos of each other,

when this lady started shouting for our attention and posing on the sidewalk. 

she was at least 10 meters away from us.

she wasn't even close to being in the shot.

so i gave her the thumbs up and took a photo of her.

this is mrs x 

 
















while exploring the town and taking pictures of ourselves, we bumped into our friend andreas whom we met while watching eurovision.
 bridget and i get a kick out of pronouncing his name in the danish accent because it rolls off the tongue.
but anyway,
andreas was on his class lunch break and showed us the cobblestone street, and told us about the chocolatier his girlfriend worked at which gave out free tastings!
he then recommended caffe 24 for licorice escargot, and then Kaffe B for friendly service
this was the most amazing chai latte i've ever had. they filled the glass half up with hot water and left a chai teabag and cinnamon stick in to infuse. they then added steamed milk to the hot chai/cinnamon water.
.the drink went on forever, but it didn't make you feel sick because it was only half a cup of milk.
the chai/cinnamon and licorice pastry combination was a dream.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

aarhus

denmark in the winter

we are currently living with simon and christian. add a gargle sound
to those names and you pronounce it danish.

they are SO. lovely. 

on sunday night we attended their church and listened to the service with an earpiece to hear the english translation.

it was about being rejoicing for those who succeed, and dealing with feelings of envy.

we then watched the handball.

denmark "licked the floor" as they like to say.
denmark did so poorly that simon and his friend anders decided to take us home early.
i don't follow sport and i don't care much for it,
but it was fun to see what the danes were getting so worked up about,
and princess mary held up the danish flag during the anthem!

hay mary!

later that night i was feeling a litttttttle homesick,

and decided to ask simon and anders to stop in to the store so i could buy salad and tuna.

that's my typical sunday night meal, while watching 60 minutes and then a creme brulle after if i've been good.

simon and anders didn't really understand this, so proceeded to laugh at my 'girlness'

 i walked away and bought my items all the sooner. 

boys don't understand girls sometimes. 

especially their fridges.

haha!

they ate their meat and potatoes next to my salad and tuna.

but they have been soooo lovely and considerate of us.

bridget and i have literally invaded their man land. 

our clothes are EVERYWHERE

not ideal. 

we look forward to moving into the dorms this friday 

so this is where bridget and i are living. on the top story .

downtown aarhus !

 ah! so this was interesting!
it started snowing pretty heavily so bridget and i headed for the nearest coffee shop to "slummock" into a chair and get a hot chocolate.
to my right, i saw this older couple enjoying a coffee out in the snow!



reminded me that there is always more than one way to doing life.

 a little similarily,

clothes are still left out in the wind, rain and snow for people to browse through!

WEIRDD!!

this is down town aarhus. this river runs through the city

so basically,

i'm having the time of my life.

granted, i can be a bit romantically idealistic about life - it's only been 6 days.

but i am loving everything danish.

the climate, the food, the people, the culture, the language

it's cool to be in part of something that's bigger than everything you've ever known,

kind of like you're at the mercy of something bigger than you.

i was told before i came that danes are 'nice but not friendly.'

they are reserved, but will only warm up when they feel comfortable around you.

this has not been my experience AT ALL!

we connected with the danish church before we came,

and met simon and christian who opened their apartment up to us.

from them, we have met a bunch of people who also have invited us into their homes,

met with us and taken us around the city.

just last night we met in somebody's tinnnnnyyy apartment for a bible study

the whole thing was probably the size of my living room.

kindly, they decided to discuss in english!

we were pondering acts 2.42-27

which talks about how the early believers all lived together, shared all their possessions, devoted themselves to teaching and prayer and all had "glad and sincere" hearts.

i found it interesting to hear that this group of christians we had met are trying to do this themselves.

they acknowledged that danes are typically 'individualistic' and 'reserved' to stay inside their own houses and apartments, not to "do life" with others outside work hours.

 they want to break it this cultural tradition.

they want to open up their homes to eachother, to offer their neighbors (christian or not) a meal, a coffee, good conversation, daycare, a spare mattress to sleep on if needed.

i saw that

the gospel, and the call to love others is universal. it reall does cross cultural barriers and cultural norms.

it caused me to reflect on the type of life i want to lead when i move out once i graduate. 

christian is finishing his psych thesis on "third generation children" and a few of the friends we have met are social workers.

i've had some VERY interesting conversations with my new friends!

with my new mug ;)

employment seems to be a bit of an issue here.

since all education is free, everybody studies at least their bachelors - and then most go onto their masters.

however, denmark now has exceedingly high numbers of graduates looking for a job.

the country is filled with educated young people who can't get a job.

the social workers we met are currently working in child care. 

the area we are living in is very multicultural.

mostly middle eastern, but i forget why.

christian's not here for me to ask!

ooh simon just got home and explained it to me.

denmark has very loose borders, attracting a large percentage of migrants.

denmark also has a really good welfare system which pays unemployed people more money than a low income earner.

since the middle east is in much conglict, people opt to flee to places like denmark and utulise this welfare systen.

 since the migrants are often unskilled and uneducated,

they live in the poorer places of aarhus, such as the suburb near us.

simon would prefer if denmark had more closed borders,

where people are welcomed into the country,

but only if they had something to contribute - not simply take the resources.

high income earners pay two thirds of their income to help support this welfare system.

in other news...

we met marlina today!

marlina is from poland.

she's also studying our social work programme with us, but she's living at a different residential hall.

marlina loves aarhus from her visit a few years ago and was looking for a way to come back to visit.

she too, was really happy when the scholarship came up. 

over fishcakes and pork wraps she told us about the social condition of poland.

since communism was erradicated only 23 years ago, 

alot of people still live with a 'suspicous mindset' of their neighbor.

people have a hard time trusting others and don't really want to open up to other people.

she thinks that it will take 2-3 generations of polish people for people to live with a free mindset again.

marlina likes that everybody smiles on the street to eachother here.

i like marlina and her opinions!

so that's about it! 

i have a bit of a hard time deciding which photos to post to my blog,

so the many that i've not put up i will just create a facebook photo album for

(so don't worry mum!)

after our day today, bridget and i arrived home to find simon inviting us out to anders place for a meal and a movie.

but as an intro, i'm pretty knackered after all this social interaction.

(life is tough, i know!)

so bridget put on her jjj playlist and we are both blogging/emailing at the kitchen table.

me with my new tea mug, life is pretty nice. 

we meet our student mentors tomorrow,

and move into our dorms on friday.

pretty excited to have my own room and my own space so i can decorate.

i have been buying new clothes to no end and i can't wait to buy some quirky danish things to put up.

everything is so modern here!

on that note,

danes dress SO well.

every second person is wearing ray bans with a sharp jacket and chinos. 

ahhhh :))

but the interior, too, to cafes, apartments and restuarants are decked out in modern, cosy, woody things.

the ambience is amazing.

i love it.

i love this. 

i like to thank God constantly.

hehe.