“Hej” from Denmark!
I have spent the last six days here with my host family and two other families on Falster island. And what an adventure it has been! Our vacation house is quite spacious and lovely, and less then fifteen minutes from the beach. However, we haven’t been hanging around the house much, with the exception of today; we’ve been too busy enjoying the great outdoors, seeing the local sights, and on Tuesday, taking advantage of our proximity to Denmark’s capital by doing a day-trip to Copenhagen. That was especially neat - we started with a walking tour lead by an entertaining and engaging Australian bloke (the only language options for the tours were Spanish and English, so we opted for English) who punctuated his spiel by poking fun at the various nationalities represented in our tour group and bemoaning his tax rates. That gave us a great starting point to explore the city on our own and re-visit some of the sights recommended by our guide. Copenhagen is not a particularly old city, due to a series of fires that has, over the past centuries, systematically destroyed most of the buildings (often several times over). However, there are some charming buildings lining the port (bright colours sure make a difference in the look of a neighbourhood), the remnants of an ancient fortification system, and a very cool antique-looking amusement park in the middle of the city. Noticeable were the rainbow flags present throughout the city and the very low number of beggars on the streets - tributes to Denmark’s famed tolerance and good social system. Apparently you get paid to get an education here! Although it was quite windy and nippy while we were in Copenhagen, we were lucky with the weather - the sun shone almost the whole day. For the rest of the week, the weather has been very variable. On Sunday, it was beautiful; sunny and warm enough for a barbecue dinner, a barefoot walk on the beach, and the first sunburn of the season. The rest of the time, I have been alternating my winter jacket with my rain jacket - but the chilly temperatures have only given us a good excuse to visit an art gallery and local brewery and make use of our sauna and wood stove. Driving around, we have seen some very tiny towns (it is mostly farmland on our island, rimmed with vacation homes along the beaches), impressive manor houses, and distinctly built churches - one of which was an intense shade of mustard yellow that seems to be common in old buildings here. I’m curious about what else there is to discover! We will enjoy the next few days here in Denmark before heading back to Germany, stopping in Oldendorf to spend Easter with Oma and then continuing on to Heiligenhaus. Wishing you all a sunny April and a very happy Easter, Sylvia
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Hallo Ihr Lieben!
A big hello from Heiligenhaus. Spring has sprung, the Easter break is fast approaching (only 1 week left!), and I have a lot to catch you all up on! For the past few months, I have been busy with school, juggling all my new extracurriculars, and finding more opportunities to fill my spare time with fun. As well as attending several birthday parties, celebrating Karnaval in proper Düsseldorf style, dancing as much as possible, taking a tour of Düsseldorf and going to a really neat “Nature” exhibition with my host family in Duisburg, I just recently did a half-hour presentation for my French class about French Canadian Cultures (Acadian, Metis, and Quebecois). That was really fun - I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to bake Pouding Chômeur (a Quebecois dessert) managing not to set the house on fire, and my classmates were a very appreciative audience. I probably could have spent more time rehearsing out loud though - I find now that when I try to speak French under pressure, I forget whether I’m speaking French or German and that can result in some pretty mixed-up sentences (and a lot of “wait…what language did I just say that in?”) :) Last weekend was also pretty wild - I slept over at a friend’s house, went to an “international cultures” exhibition at the International school, went to a party at a cool farm (about 8km from the border with Holland) where another exchange friend lives, and went out to a movie for the first time in Germany (Beauty and the Beast - in German, of course). Not bad, for two days! On Tuesday, we had a special visit to the school - the local party leaders who are preparing for the upcoming election. They had a panel discussion lead for the first block by the teachers, and then the floor was opened to students to pose their questions. It was a very animated discussion and quite intense at times, as there were pointed questions asked about current issues and topics, and strong opinions shared, inciting small debates. But back to Karneval. For those who have never heard about Karneval, it is a pre-lent celebration, Germany’s version of Mardi Gras in Louisiana or Carnival in Brazil. It’s not just an excuse to dress up and throw a party (although that’s a big part of it); instead, Karneval weekend is an opportunity to freely engage in political satire and general ridicule of authority. Strangely enough (or at least, strange for those of us living in the Commonwealth), Karneval officially begins at 11:11 on November 11th. Quite a contrast to November 11th in Canada! However, I didn’t know about this at the time, because the beginning of Karneval is not hugely celebrated around here. The “5-Tag (day) Partymarathon” that culminates with the Rosenmontag Parade begins with Altweiber (old women’s day), the Thursday before the Karneval weekend. The Altweiber tradition is a gleefully celebrated tradition where women gather in the town square at 11:11 and storm the town hall, taking the key away from the Mayor and cutting the ties of any men in the way. From this point on, politics are forbidden for the remainder of Karneval, and the first of many parties rages in the town hall itself and in pubs across the town. Unfortunately, I was still in school for the Altweiber wild-women tradition, but I heard of many good parties afterwards. The next day was a school holiday, so I was able to enjoy my typical (aka. typical of Hallowe’en) last-minute costume-making without stress. I already had an idea, so in the morning I set off into town to see what I could find. To my delight, Heiligenhaus has about as many well-stocked Thrift stores as Summerland, so I was able to find what I was looking for for quite a good price. Can you hear my satisfaction? That evening, I went to a party at a local pub with friends, and enjoyed pretending to sing along to Karneval songs - loud, catchy, and mostly non-sensical. The next day, I had the morning to recover and pack, and headed off in the afternoon to Düsseldorf for the much-awaited Rotary Karneval weekend. It was lovely to meet all our “newbies” (new arrivals, who have school in summer and break in winter - so mostly Australians and Brazilians) and catch up with everyone else. I won the costume competition and was crowned queen of our group (like the traditional Karneval queen and king pair, who reign over the parades dressed in Medieval finery). The highlight of the weekend was the Rosenmontag parade on Monday, where we all dressed up and went right to the town centre to join the action. The crowds jostled, everyone competing for a spot near the front and shouting “Helau!” so people in the floats would throw candy in their direction. The floats themselves were mostly dedicated to poking fun at politicians and cultures, so Mr. Trump and Mr. Erdogan were definitely the stars of the show. I found this originally kind of shocking (I’ve decided not to include pictures of the floats but you can easily find the most provocative ones on the web) but after a bit of observation concluded that the atmosphere was very positive - the whole city uniting to celebrate their tolerance of freedom of expression and opinion (and ability to accept and embrace criticism) - even if there were some things that we would certainly never say in Canada. The weekend was wonderful, but there was one unfortunate part; we didn’t do a city tour as I had hoped. Therefore, I was very happy a few weeks later when our district Rotary organizer told us that he had arranged a city tour of Düsseldorf for those of us living nearby. When the weekend arrived, it was very rainy but we still had a wonderful and informative tour. Our guide showed us the Düssel, a surprisingly tiny river (about the size of Trout Creek) for which the city is named, the one remaining tower of the Düsseldorf palace, art exhibits throughout the city, favourite pubs and famous churches. I really look forward to taking the time to explore Düsseldorf more intimately, now that I know about all the amazing museums and festivals. Time is ticking though - I have many adventures planned, and the weekends are running out! Before I wrap up today’s post, I want to put this in the record. For any of those still not convinced by my pictures and descriptions so far, Germany is BEAUTIFUL. This really hit me today, driving with my host family back from Maintal (a village near Frankfurt where we spent the weekend visiting a lovely family and attending a 50th birthday party). I have seen so many magical, fairy-tale places (from charming woods where forest-kindergarten children play to narrow half-timbered houses built into crumbling city walls) that are everyday here, not pretentious and artificial (although those exist too, of course). As well, spring is in full glory now, and the countryside is fresh and green, gardens splashed with colour, and trees bedecked with lacy blossoms. I saw many people riding through the fields and forest paths on bicycles because of the warm Sunday weather, and realized that I certainly don’t have time to see nearly enough of Germany. If anyone is considering a trip to this corner of the world… this country is absolutely a must-see. Okay, enough for now. I’m very sorry it took me so long to get to this. The next post will definitely be soon though (and therefore hopefully not so long); in a week, I will have a trip to Denmark to report on! Bis Bald, Sylvia |