Good morning sunshine...

 

This was the view at 9 AM yesterday (Friday the 13th for those keeping track). I just thought the pink sky was so pretty I couldn't resist snapping a pic!

Snowdogs

SNOW!! Okay, it's not much snow, but it's something! I had to take some quick pictures before it all melted away. The pups are loving it. :)

A spoonful of ..

It appears that, for me at least, it is always the silliest little things that can lead to the most culture shock. It tends not to be the government, the schools or the taxes that make me realize it's a 'foreign' country. But rather, something so simple, and yet so foreign. In this case, silverware, or more specifically, spoons and forks, and their uses.

Growing up in the US, every basic set of silverware sold in a store, regardless of it's actual design, contained the following pieces:


Desert/Salad Fork, Dinner Fork, Knife, Tablespoon, Teaspoon.

For the basic everyday place setting, we used only the dinner fork, knife and teaspoon. The 'tablespoon' was better known to me as a 'soup spoon' and that was pretty much it's only purpose in life. It was the big spoon that sat in the drawer unused unless it was Campbell's soup time. Grab the ritz crackers, smash them all over the top of your soup, and then get that rare implement out of the drawer and dig in!

The desert/salad fork was used primarily for cake. Yummy! If the little fork was on the table it meant something really tasty was on it's way - hopefully chocolate, with chocolate frosting.

But then I moved to Denmark. Now, as this is the only foreign land in which I have lived, I have no idea if their version of silverware use is exclusive to Denmark, or if this is one of those European things. But, here is your basic set of silverware found in all the stores here:


Fork, Knife, Teaspoon, Tablespoon.

Attention here must be given to the teaspoon. Notice the size. Notice that little-itty-bitty speck of a spoon. Reminds me of the spoon that is given only to those learning to use silverware for the first time - the baby spoon.

But no, that is the teaspoon in Denmark, and in general, it's not on the table. They use the monstrous tablespoon as their everyday spoon. Granted, it IS called a tablespoon, so perhaps they're onto something here and if so, it pains me to admit, if we're going solely by names, they're using it correctly and Americans are not. But, but, tis just a 'name' given randomly at some point I am sure! My dear danish hubby eats his morning cereal with this particular spoon. I just can't bring myself to do it; it just seems SO huge.

On the other hand, the little-itty-bitty, can't pick up anything with it, spoon is used for dessert. And this is where logic fails me. For the life of me, I cannot comprehend eating cake with a spoon; it just sends my brain into a tizzy and confuses my taste buds. It may be okay when it comes to ice cream, however, it's so small it will take you several hours to actually eat the bowl of ice cream, and you know what that means for the ice cream - it turns into the wicked witch of the west and screams.. "I'm melting!"

It's always a fun evening at our house when we have Danish relatives for dinner; I like to confuse the hell out of them by using the typical American place setting. After all, our wedding cutlery did come from the states so... tis only natural!

And now for something completely different. When it comes to the Danes, and their love of modern design, you may end up with silverware that looks like this....



I can't begin to explain what these 3 pieces of silverware might be useful for, unless perhaps one is trying to lose weight, so I won't even try.

Ooooo it's electric

Someday, perhaps, I may get used to the electrical outlets here in Denmark. I hope I do, for no other reason than to save my sanity.

Let me explain. I've told you before about the toaster oven - the one I used to successfully charcoal two pieces of bread - well, apparently I'm equally talented when it comes to not crisping the bread at all.

I don't know if it's due to the 220V current running through the walls, or just an energy saving measure, but with every electrical outlet comes a switch. This is endlessly frustrating as the switch never seems to be in the 'on' position, even though you KNOW you left it that way. I believe, however, that I have figured out why it's never 'on'. Here is a picture of one such outlet in our home:

 

The big switch on the top is for the lights, and the big switch immediately below that controls the outlet. Apparently when I'm moving through the house, doing the reach-around to flip lights on, or off, I tend to also accidentally flip the switch directly below it. I didn't grow up in a 2-switch world; I grew up in an old house that had just one innocent little light switch as you entered a room. So, the absent minded swing the hand around the doorway, flick the switch, always worked. If you didn't hit the first time, you just did a little wall grope until you connected with said switch and voila, the lights were on - or off.

But the wall grope here can result in all sorts of other things being switched on or off, so, apparently, I must now learn to look before flicking.

What does any of this have to do with a toaster oven? Well, the oven has one of those little timers that works whether or not the power is actually on. So, in went the frozen rolls, temperature selected, timer set so as not to burn anything, and 13 minutes later upon hearing the wonderful ding indicating that my breakfast rolls were now hot and yummy, into the kitchen I went. Hmm, no hot and yummy here - still frozen. Because yes, while the timer did it's job and the 'ding' happened, the oven had no power and I had no breakfast, and the whole process starts again.

I guess the moral of this story is: When in foreign lands, be careful what you grope!

p.s. If you've dropped in from Strange Shores, welcome! If you haven't, head on over there to hear exciting tales from around the globe.

Bored

Ole: Cologne, Germany - furniture fair
Me: Karup, DK - bored

Yep, he did it again, he went away on business. It doesn't happen that often, but it still stinks. Oh sure, I do it to him too, but it's no fun to be the one left at home.

Strange really. I lived alone for a very, very long time. Enjoyed it too. I'll give you one little tidbit about our relationship. People sometimes ask me how I knew he was 'the one'. It was easy. He was visiting me for a week, when we still just 'friends' and when he left, I missed him. That sealed the deal. My apartment felt empty after he'd gone back home. It was the most bizarre thing ever for me. Why? Well, typically, even if I had a date and really liked the guy, I still wanted him out of my apartment after just a bit of time. It was MY space - I like you, now get out. So yeah, having the place suddenly feel empty after this one got out made me realize that this was different - I didn't want him to get out - I wanted him to stay forever. So it sealed the deal in my mind and there you have it.

Back to now, present tense, deadly quiet, bored. Wish I could be at the furniture fair wandering the convention center looking at all the cool stuff I could maybe, someday, put in my house. Sigh.

Guess I'll go to bed.

Visa Waiver Program

So, the US Department of Homeland Security issued this press release today.

All in all, it sounds like a great idea, especially if it means eliminating the stupid paper forms that have to be handed out to all visitors on the plane to be filled out, with a pen you don't have, on a postage size tray table, prior to landing.

My husband completed the online authorization form back in August, the moment it became available. And, he received the proper authorization. Fast forward to December, when we traveled to the states. He took the printed confirmation from Homeland Security with him, just to see what happened. Dying of curiousity?

Well, we landed at Newark, one of the largest airports for incoming flights from abroad and guess what - the immigration officer we spoke to said the green form was still needed as they didn't know what that electronic system was all about yet. He said he knew it was coming, but had no information on it yet. That was less than one month ago. The program has supposedly been in place on a voluntary basis since August. And yet, it was nearing the end of December and they couldn't accept that clearance?

Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Fish out of water?

I have spent the last several hours thoroughly immersed in expat blog world. It's a strange thing really. Before I moved here, I did try to find some blogs of Americans who had journeyed to Denmark so I could hopefully gain a bit of insight into what I was getting into. Either I was a terrible googler back then, or the blog world has grown by leaps and bounds, or a bit of both.

My google reader is beginning to explode with unread entries for blogs not only in Denmark, but in Germany, Sweden, Norway and around the world. I am addicted. I think the Scandinavian nations are closest to my heart, most likely because I can relate; I think many of the customs of Norway and Sweden are the same that are observed in Denmark, and I love reading them all.

I would list my favorites, but I fear I would leave someone out and then I'd have that overwhelming guilt!

My latest reading marathon began when another expat blogger, LadyFi, posted something about Strange Shores, and I felt myself yearning to participate.

I sent off an Email early this morning without even thinking about the date. Then I checked our host's blog, PaddyK, this evening and voila, there I was - how exciting!! And then, as is usually the case, one referenced post led to another, and another, and before I knew it, hours had gone by!

So, if you dropped by to read about chimney sweeps, hopefully you'll pull up a chair and stay awhile and enjoy all my other adventures.

And the chimney guy? There's a follow-up to be found here.

Feel free to drop by any time, and thanks for visiting!