Updates

Well, it's once again been a while -- my excuse it that I've been really busy at work (and still am, but I'm nevertheless taking a few minutes for a quick post), and really nice outside, which, combined with my unreliable internet access at home, cuts down on my blogging time.

Anyway, last weekend I went to Oslo, which was really nice. See pic taken from the ship as we came in through the fjord. We got in at 9.30 in the morning, and had to be back on the boat to return to Copenhagen by 4.30, so we didn't have a ton of time, but we did manage to walk across town (it's really not that big) to the famous Vigeland sculpture park, where there are lots and lots of statues in a big beautiful park (some of them are really weird, with naked people fighting or, in the one below, kicking babies. There's also a big obelisk thing made up of naked bodies). Then we walked back into the center of town and went to the national gallery, where we saw (among a lot of other things) Munch's The Scream.
We had really nice weather, which held out all week long in Copenhagen too -- pretty amazing to have a full week of sunshine! So I've been spending a lot of time hanging around in the parks, going on bike rides or runs, etc, when I'm not working (which I'm doing a lot lately -- planning for the new summer programs is proving difficult...)
On Tuesday of this week I also went to two interesting talks sponsored by DIS. The first was a panel discussion about the Muhammed cartoon crisis, in which two journalists, a professor of a class called "Muslims in the west", and a representive from Dansk Islamisk Trossamfund, a Muslim organization, gave their views on the issue. Then right after that I went to another talk by the Danish minister for climate and energy, Connie Hedegaard, about climate change. Copenhagen is hosting the international climate conference in 2009, and it's interesting to hear about some of the initiatives they've taken -- for example, using trash incineration as heating for homes, which gets rid of garbage and saves energy at the same time. She also talked about the option that Danish businesses have to get financial incentives by investing in environmental improvements for a business in the developing world, which can make a bigger difference than putting the same amount of money into upgrades in their own business (if it's already pretty "good", environmentally). Seems like there are lots of good ideas out there -- I wish that other bigger countries (cough cough, UNITED STATES) with a bigger impact in the world would behave in a similar way.
Anyway, must get back to work!

Tillykke, Margrethe!

Today is Queen Margrethe II's 68th birthday. This means that there were Danish flags flying all over the city, even two on the front of every city bus! I took an early lunch to go and see her greet the masses from the balcony of Amalienborg palace at noon -- as you can see below, it was packed, but we still managed to get a good spot right under the balcony. In the picture above you can see (left to right): Prince Henrik, royal consort to Her Majesty; Prince Felix and Prince Nikolai; Queen Margrethe; her son Prince Joachim (Felix and Nikolai's dad); and his fiancé, Marie. On the far left you can also see the royal dog -- I don't know its name :) Unfortunately the crown prince and princess and their two babies weren't there -- I don't know why. Basically, the event begins with the changing of the guard, after which the queen and co come out and wave to the masses. Then they go away and everybody chants "Margrethe, Margrethe, kom nu frem -- ellers går vi aldrig hjem!" (Margrethe, Margrethe, come out now -- otherwise we'll never go home!). This makes everybody come back out a few more times. Everybody waves their Danish flags and there's lots of good cheer and patriotism. It's pretty cute. America should have more traditions like that.

Another thing that's making headlines now is that certain public services employees (nurses, midwives, home care workers, and some day care workers) are on strike, which is a big deal since there is nobody to take care of kids, old people, and sick people. So hopefully it won't go on too long! We'll see. Today was the first day of the strike, and I saw lots of people picketing on my way to work and to the palace. Not on my way home from work though -- guess even striking workers only work a 37-hour workweek here!

Tuesday tidbits

1. This morning I was excited to receive my first package via De Grønne Bud! These bicycle delivery men in green Tuborg apparel will (for a steep fee) deliver anything for you to someone else somewhere in or near the city. The one to the right has apparently fallen down, but normally they don't. Most of them eat lunch in Gammel Torv (the square right by my work), so I see them a lot but this is the first time I was important enough to receive something from one of them (some readings for a summer course that I needed by today).
2. On the theme of cycling, May is Vi Cykler Til Arbejde (we cycle to work) month, and to get people in the spirit, the campaign is handing out packages with rolls, fruit, juice, and reflective ankle bands to cyclists in the morning. See pic. There's also a contest in which I'm participating in which a team of people at a workplace log the number of kilometers they collectively ride to and from work in May. The winning team gets an adventure trip to Canada (maybe I could plan this for around August 2nd and then go to the US from there?? It has to be cheaper than flying from Copenhagen...)

3. This weekend I'm going to Oslo! Rachel, Sarah, and I are taking a cruise leaving on Friday and arriving Saturday morning. We'll have Saturday in Oslo and then come back, arriving on Sunday morning. The weather is looking good for Saturday, so hopefully it'll be a nice trip!

4. The weekend trip was facilitated by the fact that we have Friday off for Store Bededag, or Great Prayer Day. We also get May 1st off for Kristi Himmelfartsdag (Ascension Day) and May 12th for 2. Pinsedag (Pentecost). Danes are totally nonreligious except when it gets them out of work :)

5. Also on the theme of Danes loving to skip work:

"Sick leave has become a far greater problem for society than unemployment. According to a new report by the Ministry of Labour, five per cent of the labour force are claiming sickness benefits at any one time, costing society and companies DKK37bn annually, compared to the two per cent who are unemployed." Haha. Slackers.

Lost in Translation

On Saturday I went to the chick flick 27 Dresses (or 27 Weddings, as it's called in Danish). Not a great movie; if you haven't seen it, don't bother. Like so many others, it involves a girl who reluctantly falls for a guy who is initially using her to further his career or for a bet, but who then falls for her and regrets what he's done. There's a fight, she gets mad, then she forgives him and they live happily ever after. Anyway, I was interested to see that in the fight scene of this movie, the female lead confronts the male lead for publishing a humiliating newspaper article with "1 million photos" of her. Only, in the Danish subtitle, this is translated to "117 fotos". How is 117 Danish for 1,000,000? I don't get it. Perhaps Denmark, being smaller and humbler than America, can't understand such large numbers? Perhaps they don't exaggerate, and someone went through and actually counted the photos in the article? (At least if he did, he would be well-paid for it... since Danish minimum wage is so high). Weird.

You learn other interesting thing by reading subtitles. Such as, that the Danish equivalent to the term "honey bunny" is "sukkergris", which means "sugarpig" (thanks, Pulp Fiction). And that Harry Potter's descriptions of Lord Voldemort as "uhyggelig" just doesn't quite cut it. Danish needs some stronger adjectives.

Attention, A. Fogh!

Rumors are afoot that Anders Fogh Rasmussen may be planning a referendum to revote on the euro: "Leading German newspaper, Die Welt, quoted Mr Rasmussen in a February 8^th interview as saying that ‘a referendum on the joint currency is definitely on the way’, but the PM claimed yesterday that it was ‘old news’ and he was referring to a referendum on all Denmark’s opt-outs."

I have no idea what's actually going through Mr. Fogh's head on this topic, but since I assume that at SOME point Denmark will cave and switch to the euro, and that Fogh most likely reads my blog regularly, I'm offering my ideas as to what should be on the future Danish euro coins. Most countries pick one design for the 1 and 2 euro coins, another for the 50, 20, and 10 cents, and another for the 5, 2, and 1 cent ones -- although a few, who apparently have no imagination, do the same thing on all the coins. But I figure if you have the option, why not make a different design for every coin? Then you can show the world all the cool things your country has to offer.

So: My suggestions!

2 euro: The queen. Because you have to. (Ideally I think it would be cute to do the whole royal family, since everyone loves them, but realistically I don't think it would be possible in such a small format...)

1 euro: Tuborg beer. Because Danes love their beer, and Tuborg is the king of beers.

50 cents: A windmill. Because Denmark is a leading producer of windmills and wind power, and I think it would look good on a coin. I think everyone should use as much wind power as possible.

20 cents: Storbroen (the bridge connecting Sjælland to the rest of Denmark). Because again, it would look good in coin format, and because it shows how Denmark is made up of islands but still connected (and reminds Danes that Sjælland and Jylland really aren't that distinct, and that they shouldn't be so contemptuous of those on the other side of the bridge).

10 cents: Gråvejr. "Grey weather". This would be a coin that was entirely blank on one side. Never been done before, as far as I know, and a huge part of Danish life.

5 cents: Danish food. Smørrebrød with sild (herring) and maybe a Danish (wienerbrød) for good measure. Mmm. Sild would also be representative of Bornholm (famous for herring) and keep them from feeling left out.

2 cents. Tom Cruise. Because he's the face of scientology, and Copenhagen is now the scientology capital of Europe.

and finally, 1 cent: The mermaid. Because you have to include her, but like the real thing, the 1-cent coin is tiny and barely worth mentioning.

So -- those are my suggestions, now let's see if Fogh takes me up on any of them!