Looking back.. part 2

Two years ago today, I checked out of a motel at about 5 am, and went to my now empty apartment to pick up the cats. Squirt, Mr. Pete and Oscar were not a problem; I was able to load each of them into the carriers without an issue. Coal, on the other hand, had to be tricked into going into the bathroom so that I could get him trapped in a relatively small space. I had to then try to grab him and get him into the carrier. Coal was a feral kitten way back when and while he is very sweet, one thing he does not tolerate is being picked up. He is one of those cats who can spread all 4 paws to the limits of the carrier's door making it virtually impossible to get him loaded in without incurring battle wounds. But alas, I did get him in, and he and Oscar were set to travel together.

I then loaded everything into the car and headed for the moving company's warehouse, where they would then load my car into the remaining space in the container that they had taken from my apartment the day before. The car had to be dropped off early to meet the customs schedule, etc., but I now had nearly 6 hours left before my plane would leave. The woman who was coordinating it all was kind enough to then squeeze me, the suitcases and the cat carriers into her little car and drop us off at Seatac.

When we arrived at the airport, she helped me get everything onto 2 of those smartcarts and I then sat and waited. I was apparently a very entertaining site in the airport as I sat there with my carts full of cats. I had tons of visitors stop by inquiring as to where I was headed and why so much stuff! Following are some photos I snapped at the time:

Squirt

Oscar and Coal on top, Mr. Pete on the bottom

A closer shot of Mr. Pete, the 20 lb. wonder cat

Oscar, with Coal hiding out behind him

It was about 2 hours into our wait when Oscar just couldn't hold it anymore and proceeded to pee inside their shared carrier. I couldn't bear to leave them like that so I then proceeded to attempt to wheel two smartcarts from the place we had parked ourselves, all the way across the upper level of the ticketing area, to a restroom. Thankfully there was a HUGE handicapped toilet, big enough to wheel both carts into. And then, without actually removing the cats for fear they would dart off into the airport, I did the best that I could to dry out their cage and make their journey as comfortable as possible. Poor, terrified Coal!

Eventually, after several hours, I made my way to the SAS check-in counter and decided I would just park myself at the front of the line and wait for the first agent to appear. At 3pm, SAS opened check-in and thankfully, upon site of me, the agent didn't have a heart attack or run screaming out of the building. She kindly checked me in, took my payment for all the cats, and was very sweet to not charge me extra for my overweight suitcases. I'm pretty sure she felt sorry for me having to pay so much for each cat, and I think she was entertained as well. After we made all the arrangements, she then asked me if I would like the cats to stay with me until it was closer to flight time - call me a bad mommy but I said.. 'nope, they're yours now!'.

Next stop, cat check security! I had given up my bags but I now had to be escorted over to a special security area where they would check to make sure I wasn't smuggling anything with the cats. The officer put on these big rubber gloves, which I told him was probably a good idea, considering the pee and all that. I had to be present in case they needed me to actually remove the cat from the cage while they checked it out. For Oscar and Coal, and for Squirt, he was able to check the cages without their removal. But, for Mr. Pete, on the other hand, well, my big guy had to come out. When I pulled out Mr. Pete he clung to his bed .. so there I was holding him up while he hung onto the bed that had been lining the bottom of his cage, which lead the officer to thank Mr. Pete for making the job easier!

Now the cats were in the hands of the SAS and I was able to get myself to the gate. As I sat at the gate, several people asked me.. "aren't you the one with all the cats?" - I had been at the airport so long, and so noticeably, that I was suddenly some kind of cat lady celebrity. Ahh, my greatest ambition achieved ;).

As I was boarding, I heard the agent on the radio confirming the cats on board, and we were all officially on our way....

Looking back..

Two years ago today, I sat in my apartment while two movers went about turning this place into what looked like some massive storage warehouse...

(Notice in the picture above what I insisted would be the LAST thing packed?



(That's my brand new couch all wrapped up in packing paper!)

Somehow they then, magically, took all of the stuff you see above and managed to fit it into one end of a container so that eventually, it looked like this:



And once they drove away, I was left with a vacuum cleaner that I wasn't taking, some cleaning supplies, the 3 very full suitcases that I would take on my flight, 3 cat carriers, and the 4 cats who would occupy said carriers.

I will confess, however, that I left the 4 cats in the apartment and spent the night sleeping at a local motel!

Yes We Can

'nuff said :)

The Danish Driving License

This post is here for two purposes. Hopefully you'll be entertained by my frustrations, but more importantly, hopefully for those who come here from a non-EU country and hope to obtain a driver's license, it will serve to provide some information for you on the process.

First and foremost - getting that Danish driver's license is no easy feat! Especially if you believe, as I did, that you can simply read the Driver's Theory Book and that doing so will sufficiently prepare you to take the theory test. Let me warn you now - it won't! This is the 3rd such theory test I have taken in my driving career and by far, the most obscure and most difficult of the three.

Test 1 - In all honesty, I have no recollection of the first written test I took. All that I do know is that I was 17 at the time, and I passed on the first try.

Test 2 - When I moved from New York to Washington, I waited one day too long to convert my license. My NY license had expired the day before I visited the Washington DMV and because of that one day, I had to take both the written and driving tests in Washington state. To take the written test you must show up, take a number, and wait. Everyone had told me, "just read the book while you're waiting and you'll do fine." They were correct. I mean, really, I already knew how to drive, it was just a matter of reading whatever little weird things Washington had in their law books that perhaps NY did not. Read, passed, done. Took the road test and passed that as well.

Test 3 - Ahh, Denmark. When I arrived here in November 2006 we were told that I simply had to convert my US license over to a Danish license. We went to the proper place, filled out the paperwork, gave them some money and waited. I was given a temporary driving permit to be used while awaiting my 'real' license. Sigh; if only it had been that simple.

Approximately two weeks later, we received a letter in the mail letting us know that whoever let us fill out that form had been wrong. It was no longer possible to convert a US License and that I must undergo the full battery of driving tests if I wished to obtain a Danish license. (Subtext - You people from the US cannot drive, your tests are too easy, and we don't want you on our roads until we take half your pay and subject you to all kinds of strangely worded questions in the hopes that you'll fail and never drive here.)

At this point in my Danish life, my knowledge of the danish language amounted to less than 10 words, which meant that there was no possible way to take the test in Danish. After several phone calls, we were told it was possible to purchase the theory book in the English language. So purchase it we did. And then I read the book - twice. My initial impression of the book was that whoever was paid to translate the book into English did a very poor job of doing so. I have since learned that apparently I'm the moron. I guess in the UK a curb actually is a 'kerb' and a tire actually is a 'tyre'; I just thought the person doing the translation couldn't spell!

All that aside, in order to take the test, we had to hire a police-approved interpreter who would read the test to me in English - at our expense, of course. And, because I would be taking the test in English, I had to reserve a test period for myself rather than joining 10 other people in their test taking time slot. To do so, you have to go look the big book of test taking times, find one that no one is in, take the book to the desk and let them know that you'll be taking the test at that time. But, before you can actually do so, you have to coordinate with your interpreter to be sure that the time also works for them. And, since no sane Danish teenager is going to take the 8 AM time slot - that is pretty much the only free spot you can reserve. We were able to get the logistics all worked out and we scheduled the test.

I re-read everything in the book that I was sure they would quiz me on - legal drinking limits, obscure size and shape rules, weird safety rules like how many meters back on the road you are to set your warning triangle if your car becomes disabled, etc. With the help of my hubby, I did several random practice tests online. They were in danish, so he had to read (translate) quickly so that I could pick an answer quickly, etc. We didn't do so well on these practice tests, but part of that had to do with 'how' to translate certain words and the fact that we were racing against time when attempting this. In hindsight, I was a total fool to think I was prepared for this test. But really, how hard could it be?

Really, really, hard. The way the test works is that you'll be shown pictures, 25 of them. For each picture shown there are 2-4 questions. They are all yes/no questions, however, the tricky part is that 1 question wrong out of 4 means you fail that picture. You're allowed to have 5 of the 25 wrong; get 6 wrong and you have failed.

If you want to see a sample (it's in Danish) you can look at this link (http://www.dku.dk/Teori/B/default.asp). The hardest part of the whole thing is figuring out what they 'mean' and what their tricks are. In each picture, the photo is from the perspective of the driver, as if you're in the car. So, for example, you'll be shown a picture looking through the windshield at the road ahead. It will begin by saying something like..

"You're traveling at 60 kph, what should you be particularly aware of here?"
a. The course of the road
b. The direction of the road
c. The use of the road
d. I will reduce my speed

That's not a great example, but it's an example! It's not multiple choice; for each of those you have to say Yes or No. So, you may say 'a' is yes and 'b' is no and 'c' is yes and 'd' is yes, but if you get 3 right and 1 wrong, you failed that picture. The words they use such as "course", "use" and "direction" are seriously where you will pass or fail this thing. It's all a matter of learning what they mean by those words.

So, on my first try, I got 6 pictures wrong and failed. I figured they would show me where I went wrong so I would know what I needed to study. No such luck. They give you back a piece of paper that says you got picture #5 wrong, but not which part of picture 5 was wrong, nor do you have any memory of what exactly was in picture 5 - you don't get to keep a copy of the picture itself. They do tell you that the subject of picture 5 was, for example, intersections, but that's all the help you'll get.

When you're 'converting' they'll give you the first theory test relatively inexpensively. If you have to take it again, you pay more, and each time you take it, the price goes up, and we're not talking 20 Kr. either. And, if you're doing it in English, you have to pay your interpreter each time as well, obviously.

We scheduled another test taking time, and I went home and studied more. I did everything possible to prepare for the silly thing the 2nd time, and I just KNEW I was ready. Or, so I thought. The result of the 2nd try was that I ended up getting more of them wrong than I did on the first try. It was humiliating and frustrating and caused me to have one of my moments.. the cry my eyes out, swear at my new country, tell my husband to 'fix it' moments.

We were finally referred to a local driving instructor who had apparently spent some time in the US and would be able to help me prepare. My new instructor then managed to hook me up with practice tests that were actually in English - eureka! There were 25 practice tests, each with the full 25 pictures, and I think I took every one of those tests at least 3 times. He also helped me figure out what the heck they meant by things like "the road's equipment" and some of the little tricks they use in the test that I should be prepared for. I felt like I finally knew where I had probably gone wrong on the previous attempts and alas, try #3 was scheduled.

Luckily and most happily, I finally passed it! I whooped and hollared and wanted to give the grumpy old policeman a hug, but thought better of it and gave my husband a hug instead! Then it was on to the road test. Which must be taken in an official driver instructor car and since I had taken the theory test with an interpreter, my interpreter also had to be present for the driving test. She had to sit in the back seat while the policeman sat in the passenger seat.

I spent a few sessions in advance driving around Viborg in the instructor's car so that I could get used to everything and remember how to drive a stick shift! (If you cannot drive a stick-shift car, learn that first as it's the only way to take the test). On the day of the actual driving test, we all met at the police station. The officer who would administer the test turned out to be a nice young guy who had no issue at all speaking to me in English; so my interpreter basically went along for the ride! I must say it's a bit of an odd feeling to drive a car with 2 passengers and yet no one is speaking other than to say 'take the next left'.

Short story long, despite my 3-point turn becoming a 4-point turn, I did successfully pass the test and obtain my danish driver's license. WOOOHOOO.

Home Again

Okay so, I'm a bit behind with posting and with life in general so it seems, but alas, I am indeed back in DK, and I seem to overcome the overall feeling of jetlag that has plagued me for the past two weeks. Allow me to share a bit of my adventure from cold, wet, Denmark to hot, dry Las Vegas and back again.

The trip began on a Tuesday morning when I left Billund on plane 1...

I then arrived in Amsterdam, made my way through passport control and boarded plane 2, bound for Minneapolis, MN. This was taken somewhere between the two countries!...

After many long hours, we were finally arriving in Minneapolis...

I made my way through Minneapolis airport and finally boarded plane 3, bound for Las Vegas. Even though I had purchased my tickets approximately 5 months ago, I still ended up sitting in the 'you mean nothing to us' row near the back of the plane. I always choose window seats so I can lean on the wall; getting up normally isn't an issue, as those in the aisle seats tend to wander anyway. But just my luck, on plane 3, with my body already feeling somewhat pretzel-like, I had the pleasure of the 3-seat configuration beside a couple, bound for Vegas, that felt absolutely no need to leave their seats for the entire 3.5 hour flight. Of course, by this time, it was approximately 2:30 AM back in Denmark so I was barely conscious.

However, somewhere between the two cities, the sun set, providing this beautiful view..



Las Vegas at last! I hadn't been here in many years but I do recall that in the past, there was this feeling of giddyness upon arrival - the ding ding ding of the airport slot matchines always did it for me. But this time, not giddy, just incredibly tired and happy to be on solid ground.

I didn't notice the complete lack of humidity until day 2 of the trip. Suddenly, no matter how much moisturizer I applied to my skin, it constantly felt like I needed more. And, no matter how much water I consumed, I wanted more. It was the most bizarre feeling - and I'm sure the combination of jetlag and desert air only made it worse!

Arrival Update

So I did manage to make it to Las Vegas as planned - 3 planes is very tough on the back though! I have pics and things but alas, I have no way to get them from the camera to the laptop as I, of course, didn't bring that one little cord! I'll save them for later.

When I landed at Minneapolis I was supposed to use my fun new danish cell phone to send a text message back home - problem is that the fun new phone wanted a pincode before I could get back into it - and umm, you guessed it, I didn't have said pincode with me. Sigh.

So I figured, okay, when I arrive in Las Vegas, I'll send an Email home and get the pincode that way. Minor problem - the 'wireless' connection that is available in the hotel, doesn't work! I hate being disconnected from everything! I couldn't use the phone and I couldn't use the internet - this is a sure way to cause me a nervous breakdown!!

I had to use the room phone to call home so I'm sure that will be an extremely frightening phone bill, but I got the pin code and was able to check in with my wonderful hubby. :)

After 3 phone calls to Lodgenet and over 2 hours of my time wasted on the phone, I finally decided to use some other wireless network that was appearing in the list and voila, here I am. I have internet again - happy dance!!! The most frustrating part is that this particular network is actually cheaper than what the hotel was offering - go figure.

My google reader is now bursting with unread posts and updates from around the globe - don't know when Ill get to them all but I am very happy to just know that I actually can get to them!

Viva Las Vegas!

Today, in approximately 4 hours, a plane will depart Billund Airport with me on it! As you may have guessed from the post title, I am off to Las Vegas, Nevada! It will take 3 planes and 14 hours of travel time to get there, but hopefully, once I have arrived, I will feel like it's been worth the trip.

See you on the other side of the planet!