Dear Google...

I know you have big plans to take over the world and I know that slowly but surely, you seem to be achieving that plan. I also know I'm just one small cog in the big internet wheel but you've already touched my life in many ways. Oh how I love your search engine, my free Picasa, my free blog, my google docs, my calendar, my google reader, and of course, the lovely iGoogle to bring it all together so nicely. Seriously, you do make my internet life much easier.

But...
I had something on my Google toolbar before the last upgrade - a tiny little thing called "Translate". I didn't use it often but now and then, depending on my level of laziness on a particular day, I would hit the button and voila, you would translate the page... sort of. Oh sure, there were problems along the way like the day you told me "Æbleskiver bagt på pande = Apple slices baked on the forehead" but I let it slide. I can read Danish after all, and I do try to help you whenever I can with your little "contribute a better translation" link. Mostly I do that when I'm bored, or when your translation has just gone so horribly wrong. Those Danes and their crazy ending the subject with the "the" instead of putting the "the" in front of the subject - I get it, I know it's hard. But overall, the translate button was handy if/when I needed (read: lazy) it.

But now you've gone and updated the Google toolbar. I had no choice but to get the 'new' version when I got the new computer, and... now you've gone too far. No longer is Translate just an innocent little button just waiting to be pressed. Nooooo. Now you ask me each and every time I go to a page that (you decide) isn't in English, if I would like you to translate that page for me. I don't want to say "never do this" because then, when I need you most (surfing for spas in Poland), you won't be there for me. Why is it always all or nothing? I suppose, given time, I will learn to live with your interruptions, but I do have one tiny request...

Please, for all that is sacred, stop telling me that Bejeweled Blitz is in Danish/Ukranian/Bakmel or whatever the language of the day seems to be, and asking me if I want you to translate it. No, I don't want or need the page translated! It's Bejeweled Blitz - it's the universal language of gaming addiction - it requires no translation, so cut it out already, would you?!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some apple slices to bake on my forehead and a game to get back to. Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

pingdk
google user and bejeweled blitz addict (not necessarily in that order)

Magnetic Force Field

When we bought our new rug, I don't seem to recall it being advertised as having any kind of magnetic properties, but apparently it does...

Christmas with family

It has been a busy week here and I thought I'd share a bit of what we've been up to!

My parents arrived in Karup last Wednesday morning to experience their first Danish Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at Ole's sister's house so that they could get a taste of the 'real' experience, complete with roast duck, pork roast, caramelized potatoes, and of course, rice pudding with a whole almond for one lucky recipient. We then did the traditional singing and dancing around the Christmas tree before dancing through the entire house singing 'Nu er det jul igen' (Now it is Christmas again). I did my best to teach the song to my parents as we rode in the car to the festivities and I think they did a pretty good job learning it!

Christmas day we did a more traditional 'American' Christmas here. We exchanged gifts and made a full turkey dinner. I actually made Ole wait until Christmas Day to get his gift, which was quite hard for him! Here are some pictures from our Christmas feast...


Once we were done eating, my father was assigned the duty of getting the remainder of meat from the turkey bones. This task was supervised VERY closely by a couple of four-legged detectives. Their job was to catch anything that accidentally 'slipped' from the counter...


My father is quite the dog lover, and the big brown eyes of these two meant that there were quite a few 'slips' during the process!

On Sunday we had a traditional 'Julefrokost' here with Ole's family. My mother-in-law did the parts that required actual cooking of anything traditional. She does these things much better than I ever could!


What a wonderful Christmas from start to finish. I hope yours was as Merry!

Graduate!

This morning, December 22, 2009, I attended school for the last time - to pick up my official certificate of completion:

"Bevis for Prøve i Dansk 3"

Yes, I know I already told you all this before but humor me! Rumor has it this means that I can speak Danish now - umm, sure. Well actually I can speak Danish, it's the understanding when others speak Danish that seems to still be my greatest issue. Oh well!

Look at the picture. Really look at it. What do you see?, other than some official looking envelope. Chocolate? Yep, that's there too, compliments of the school.

But look again...

I have HAIR!! Sort of a salt and pepper look at the moment, but I'll take it. Still no eyelashes which means that I still can't wear mascara (pout).

I'm pretty sure, when I walked up to shake his hand, that the school director (who I never saw before today) was probably thinking... "what the heck happened to her hair?" Little does he know!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Where, oh where, does the time go?

It was Thanksgiving last I wrote a post and now, suddenly, it's almost Christmas! We spent Thanksgiving weekend relaxing at a spa in Poland and then I spent the last few weeks gearing up for my big final exam in Danish.

The grading system here is a bit odd to me, but the final result was 7, 7, 7... the last 7 counts twice but the three 7's, rather than 4, looks more like winning the jackpot in Vegas, so I'm going with 3. Finishing school is a bit like winning a jackpot!!

Moving along... in just 4 days my parents will arrive from the US for their first Christmas in Denmark! We've been busy get the house ready for their visit and for once, the weather gods have cooperated and sent some snow. Hopefully it will stick around so we can have a white Christmas.

First - the tree. We went to a local guy we'd been to before and he had the perfect tree for us - Ole actually picked it up off the ground and said, "how about this one?", and that first pick was the winner!

We happened to have had the dogs with us at the time, and our car has a split folding rear-seat, so lowered the 1/3 side and pushed the tree through the opening. This meant the dogs had to shove over in the back seat and share the remaining space. They were quite confused by the tree in the car, but surprisingly, they haven't touched the tree in the house!

Our tree now, all decorated...



The guy had a table full of free tree pieces he had cut off of other trees, and since I had planned on trying to make my own wreath, I took a huge pile of trimmings. I spent a few hours this afternoon attempting the wreath. It's not perfect, and now I've learned a bit for the next one, but here is my hand-made wreath!...

What are you thankful for?

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States and, with a year like I have had, on this day, I have much to be thankful for...

I am thankful that I am done with all of my treatments! The only thing left at this point is check-up appointments every 3 months or so. Yeehaw!

I am thankful that my hair is beginning to return; I missed it! It's still so short that I appear bald from a distance, but if you get up close, there actually is hair there - in a few more weeks it may actually look like hair!

I am thankful that my nails will return, even if it's hard to believe at the moment. To answer all of the comments after my last post, yes, they will come back! But, in the meantime, I have a pile of pistachios I can't crack open, and someone else is going to have to peel those clementines!

I am thankful for my rubber-boob-in-a-bra and my stick on boob. Yeah, it's the little things!

I am thankful for the hand-made hats that have covered my head for the last several months.

I am thankful for my dogs. It's impossible to cry when a dog is there to kiss your tears away, act silly, and do everything possible to be as cute as can be.

I am thankful for the Danish health care system. The entire process from start to finish has been made simple for me. Not once did I have to call an insurance company or make sure some treatment was covered. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to go through treatment worrying about what it costs or whether or not it was affordable. From head coverings to nail treatment packages to burn lotions to rubber boobs, everything that I could need to get through this process, has been handed to me. The nurses in this country are so sweet, caring and attentive - they have understood that I couldn't always understand them and they have done everything possible to help me along the way. Priceless.

I am thankful for my family. They are all far away but everyone is healthy and happy and in just a few weeks, my parents will be here in Denmark to celebrate their first Danish Christmas.

I am thankful for my co-workers. Every few weeks over the past year, a new card would arrive from the states with little notes from all of them. They have covered whatever work was mine whenever I wasn't able, and have been supportive and understanding through it all.

I am thankful for the generosity and kindness of friends, both old and new. I have received so many wonderful packages and notes from friends. I am incredibly touched that someone would go out of their way to make me something, or buy me something, and send it to me. Every single package, note and blog comment brightened my day and I am still overwhelmed by the kindness.

I am thankful for my friend Kelli. Yes, she is covered in the paragraph above; however, she also deserves to be singled out, even if it embarrasses her. When I was diagnosed, we had met just one time for a couple of hours and yet, when she learned of my diagnosis, she immediately jumped into action for someone she barely knew. Kelli arrived at the hospital on the day of my surgery with a basket full of American products, and she spent the entire day there with Ole, trying to keep him sane as the day went on and on. She visited me several times while I was in the patient hotel, driving from Herning to Viborg each time, and kept up my blog so that everyone else in my life could know how I was doing. As I went through chemo and radiation, she was always checking in on me - be it a text message, facebook message, Email or a phone call, I always knew that she was right there and that, had I needed anything, she would've made sure that she took care of it. She was there when it all began, she was there every step along the way, and she's still here now, when it is time to celebrate the end of treatment. And, this weekend, we are headed out for some relaxation, with our Danes in tow, to do just that.

Speaking of my Dane, I am thankful that I have the most kind, generous, funny, patient and understanding man with which to share my life. He has been by my side through everything and he is my rock. There are simply not words enough to say how much I love him, and how great he really is! Thank you Ole, for always making me feel loved and making me laugh even on the worst possible days.

And thank you to all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fingertips on a chalkboard

I lost my nails.

It's one of those things they tell you will happen, but you simply cannot comprehend that it actually does happen. Okay, I have one left and I'm protecting it for everything that it's worth. That the one remaining nail happens to be on my middle finger, is just a bonus.

It's not that I had extremely long nails or anything, but this is way different from simply keeping your nails short. There is a bit of nail, but it does not extend at all - so, if you look at your own nails, think of them without any of the white part.

The good news is that losing them didn't actually hurt. I feared it would be excruciatingly painful as it is when you have nails and one breaks too far down, but no, these just sort of snapped off.

Whoever said that 'nothing is impossible' never lost their fingernails. Trust me.

The last 3 weeks have been an endless string of frustrations and the list of things I am unable to 'do' just keeps growing. Allow me to share some of my list of impossibilities:

Scratch an itch
Peel an onion
Pick up a piece of paper
Hold onto anything
Remove a band-aid
Lift up the little wick on the tea light candle so it can be lit
Make screechy sounds on a chalkboard

Not that I actually own a chalkboard - it's the principle of it!