VOH OHR DUH NAMASTA TOILETTEH!

that's the one phrase bridget and i are trying to master. it means "where is the nearest toilet?" and i have no idea how it came to be the the only phrase we're trying to recite.

we practice this phrase to eachother on the bus, which results in us practically YELLING at eachother as we struggle to pronounce it right.

at the bus stop

we must get the weirdest looks, but we're so caught up in giggles that we don't even notice. then, when we think we've mastered it, we try it out on our danish friends and they just smile a small smile, and say "you need a toilet?" I think because that's the only universal word in our phrase. 

oh well!

so i'd just like to apologise from the outset:

i forgot my camera this week during our various activities, so the pictures will be from the iphone

not overrrrly great quality, but still a snippet into my little, chilly life!

so we started school this week!!

bridget and i were realllly excited and took all the "first day of school" pictures one can take

 ...

and this is on the way to uni on the bus. it's chilly. but all our friends still ride their bikes to class!
i really want a bike soon so i can be danish too.

i think some of the other internationals are struggling with the cold, but i LOVE it! i love how it's so different to everything i've ever known.

ahh!!!

since we don't have the conveniences of a car, nor the quick option of a bike, if it's late at night and you've forgotten something for your dinner, well you just have to make do.

like use mango yoghurt as a dressing to your tuna salad.

 it was actually delicious!!


since it's so cold, i'm drinking soooooooooooooooo much tea, and packet soup. bridget helps me eat big meals, because as you can see, i'd probably just survive off crackers with tuna, or crackers with vegemite without her initiative. she LOVES to cook big, exotic hearty meals, and so i love to learn and help her cook!

each morning on the way to uni, it'd be around -2 to -1C.

 this was taken after uni one day!


and this is a shot of where i'm living at the residential dorms.

 there's actually some really cool woods behind our dorms which provide the perfect setting for running.

thanks dad, for ALL the clothes/shoes that i'm wearing here!! i'm fairly sure they are 2 years worth of birthdays and christmas's!!!

when i first realised how cold it was going to be here, i begrudgingly decided i would join a gym. i really don't like them for a number of reasons, but i like feeling active more. 

HOWEVER. since we are living near some woods, our local supermarket "city vest" is about a 30 minute power walk away, and bridget has EXACTLY the same philosphy about exercise that i do... so we actually keep quite active!!

no need for no gyms :) 

it's quite picturesque around here

it says Bazaar on that shed

  bazaar is our local fresh fruit produce. since denamark's weather is too hostile to grow it's own, it imports it from all over europe. i have been having figs from ephasus and bananas from greece.
its a bit chaotic inside there, but alot of fun. 

so on friday, the social work class meets in the tav for 'social drinks.' bridget and i made our way to campus to make/meet friends, but ended up just hanging out with the internationals.
funny  how that happens. 

 we played pool, hung out and i tried  a danish beer.
$2.60 for this!!

earlier in the week as bridget and i were walking to "city vest", we talked about how we really felt like a movie night, just to settle rising homesickness. we said a little prayer and continued our walk.
that night, we recieved a facebook message from our american friend Katelyn inviting us to her apartment to watch girly movies this friday night.
 :)
we then recieved a few facebook messages from different people from church introducing themselves and asking if we'd like to hang out with them.
 :) )

YES!

so after the 'social' we then went to meet a group downtown at their apartment who were having a housewarming party, of all things.


2 hours of warm conversation, tea and a coupla pringles later, bridget and i made our way back to Katelyn's to watch a romantic film which will remain nameless. ha!

saturday morning, we met up with a girl named helena, who was THE COOLEST.
she took us to "old aarhus city", which is a big block of city which has been preserved and made to look like aarhus during the 20th century.

 

 we then made lollies and candles!!

the old king used once had a really sore throat, and the only thing that would make it better was this really bad tasting medicine. so the kings servant melted heaps of sugar into the medicine and put aniseed flavour into it.

we got to make it ourselves.
quite tasty actually!!

then we got to make candles. we got chatting with the guy who was stationed there with us, teaching us how to do it and i asked him how he liked his job. he said that making candles all day was good and easy,  but it was only a side job as he studied medicine. he then told us the history of how children were made to do it for hours on end, and the different types of candles used to use in the house. without any filter at all, i simply stated "what a boring job, to just sit and make candles all day. those poor children."
the penny dropped.
i couldn't believe i'd just dissed his job.
there was nothing i could say, so laughing, i just said "im so sorry."
he either didn't get it, or didn't think it was overly funny.
whoops.

but anyway!

back to slave labour.

children like these were exploited during the 20th century to work 12 -14 hour days in the freezing cold. this wax child was meant to represent the mood most children woke up in each morning. 

crazy.

 it was so cute!
people inside the barns/houses dressed up as though they were living in the 20th century and gave you a little history talk on what their typical life entailed.

!
we got sweet crackers from this lady, so i asked for a photo with her.
such a tourist.

these posters were truly from years ago!
the "arhus festuge" is advertised for 7-15th september, 1974!

 

we went to the bakery and bought almost one of all the little treats and bustled inside for hot coffee. 

 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

we then went back to helena's house and cooked artichoke soup from scratch! the coolest girl ever. it was SO lovely to cook a home made meal inside a homely apartment.

she learned that i love beets, so she also roasted beets for me too. 

helena is studying also. seeing her cute little apartment, i realised that it is going to be hard for me to move back home in with my parents when i go home!!
!!
but that's a bridge already once crossed, so no doubt will learn to cross it again!

in other news..

bridget and i have been trying really hard to reach out and be friends with the people in our dorm. every time we see somebody, we bounce into their bubble and ask them how they are and what they've been up to.
we realise pretty quickly that people like to talk. and people want to get to know other people!
especially the danes!
life is just more fun when you do it with others. 

so.

to create an opportunity for everybody to come together, bridget and i initated "sunday cultural lunch!"

 just in case people didn't see the note on the kitchen door, we made sure every dorm got a personal invite.

 

 heehee!

so last night bridget and i came back to the dorms to do some prepatory work.

after many suggestions and deliberations, we decided that sausage rolls, wedges and lamingtons were the easiest australian options. 

after some 'pastry drama' (we found out a half hour before lunch started that denmark sells ONE pastry sheet per packet!!) we had our DORM CULTURAL LUNCH!!!

it went REALLY well!!

it ws SO much fun!!

 the spanish guys made this potatoe omlette, the guy from texas made nachoes, the french guy made pork and apple sausages with peas, the german guy made THE BEST soup which he called "cheeseburger soup" and yah!! a danish guy came a bit later but he didn't make anything because he had been sick. that was fine, we were just so glad he came!!



uh, so yeah!
tonight we went to church and met/made new friends.
the whole service was reallllly refreshing actually. solid teaching. awesome music.
everybody can tell we can that we are internationals because we have earpieces in the whole time for the translation!
ha.

bridget and i have been living under this romantic notion that we are having the time of our lives for the past 2 weeks. but this week is the second week of study and we recieve our first assignment tomoro.
so many other amazing things are happening, we often forget we are here to study.
ha!!

but i'm still so excited to be here.

it's a surreal feeling: knowing your exactly where you're supposed to be...

knowing that everybody you meet, you are supposed to meet

everything you experience, you are supposed to experience

following in a carefully laid out plan...

and watching everything come together.

it's actually quite wonderful.

well it's 10.40pm and i need to check my study schedule for this week.

every time i come home, i like to check and reply to emails, see what my sister's up to on facebook.

i can't just come home and start uni.

it's like "maslow's heirachy of needs", i can't just do uni when i don't first feel the love! 

the only problem is, i rarely actually get round to preparing for uni the next day. 

ha! ridiculous. bridget understands.

but that needs to change, - work MUST get done this week!

anywho, i'm over and out.

perhaps to curl up with my ipad.

i'm reading corrie ten boom's biography at the moment.

classic.

oh wait, no! must check student updates.
ah golly, 
stay tuned!!