We Went Somewhere Again

Fem År

Today is our fifth anniversary.

I don't have much to say about that here because there's too much to say about it.

This year was one where we planned the celebration together (rather than taking turns like in the other four).  And we've kind of outdone ourselves this time, I think.  It will be hard to top in the future, let's just say.  At this rate, our 25th will have to be a trip to the moon.  

But, that particular part of the celebration actually won't start until next week.  For today, we just woke up together and went for a long walk in the park at 8am.  Maybe we'll rent a movie from the library.  We'll go out to dinner (mostly so I have an excuse to wear those regular-ol' boring black nylons I got at the department store that ended up costing $35.  Come ON, Denmark!).  

We'll just enjoy being together.  It's what we're good at.

A Short Mid-Blog Reintroduction

Today I'm pretty sure that my little intro to Odense, Denmark thingamijgig posted on Janssen's Everyday Reading blog.  So, if that's the case, welcome to you potential visitors who were probably like, "Denmark?  What the heck is in Denmark?"

Bikes.  Bikes are in Denmark.

Also, licorice-flavored chocolate bars.

And blonde people.

And us!  We're in Denmark.  See!

Well, I don't know why this photo would be self-evidently Danish, but you're just going to have to trust me.  I promise.

So, I'm Heidi and my husband is Paul.  We moved to Germany in 2011 and then Denmark in 2013.  We both work at the local university and generally spend our off-hours being super interesting people, what with all our book reading and walk taking and food...cooking.

I'm also super fashionable.  Ever since I was a child...

Workin' it!

So, you know. There's that.

We do this other boring thing though, sometimes.  We travel around Europe.  Whenever we get the chance.  And we try to report about our trips here for our families and passing observers.

In a week and a half, for example, we'll be going to Lisbon ("Down that old South American way...").  To...do something mysterious because I have absolutely no preconceptions about what Portugal is like.

Also, in September, we'll be going to Paris for about a week where one of our goals is to stand in line for forever to get an official "Best Baguette 2013."  

And one of my personal goals is to figure out a way to use the word "fragonard" in a way that sounds legit to some other American tourists--even though it actually doesn't mean anything in French (it's just the name of a Rococo artist that I once studied).  But, I lived twelve years of my life somehow convinced that it meant "duck" so something's gotta go down with it when we're there.

Something like, "Oh, be sure to order the fragonard paté!  It's not on the menu, but they'll make it special."

or, on the subway, "Perhaps we can go to the Luxemborg Gardens to feed the fragonards?"

At any rate, we're here.  We're learning Danish.  We're working up the courage to try curried herring.  And we are the Hunns.

Aaaaaaaand we're back.

The thesis is done.  The week-vacation-from-everything-in-the-world-after-turning-in-thesis has passed.  And life goes on here in Denmark.

And so I thought that this first "Hello World" post since the dark times could highlight something that I remembered while going grocery shopping today: the expat experience of buying basil.

You know how in the U.S., if you want to buy basil it's like, "Here's this tiny packet of sad shriveled leaves for five dollars or a giant, giant two pound bag that maybe people use to feed horses because there is so much of it for fifty cents." And you're like, "Conundrum!"  You know that?  Am I even remembering that right?  I seem to be pulling this vague memory of basil-buying out of the mists of time (aka two years ago).

Well, here, there is only one kind of way to purchase basil: as a potted plant.   Yessir.  Right there in the produce section, a bunch of potted plants of basil.  In Germany, basil was the only potted-option but here there's potted basil and parsley and chives and (if you're lucky) cilantro aaaaaand some other things that I still don't even know what they are because...Danish...and I'm not Julia Child.

So, other than the annoying part of trying to get a potted plant home in tact when you're carrying home all your groceries in a backpack and four hand-held cloth bags (super fun), it's actually quite a smart solution.  Use as you go, you know?

Also, three more weeks to Lisbon!

I don't even know what in the world we'll even do in Lisbon, but I do know it will be hot and people, after living in coastal Oregon then coastal Germany then coastal Scandinavia (latitude = Homer, Alaska)....I'll just let you fill in the rest of this sentence with whatever the heck you want.

Pyros of the World!

It's not a huge secret that I'm pretty much a well-disciplined pyromaniac.  So, I cannot begin to tell you how gleefully excited I was for the annual Sankt Hans "Witch"-Burning four-story-bonfire event that happened here last night (yes, this is what night looks like right now).    

I'll just let the picture speak for itself.

In other news...thesis writing?  So, sorry (Dad) that there haven't been many updates happening here.  But, maybe you can start expecting more stuff at the beginning of August perhaps?  End of July?  Whenever the heck I turn in this looming, dark, evil, bain of my existence?

Until then, here's a list of summer highlights:

* This weekend we're going on a bike trip to the island of Langeland where we have been told we can literally see "flocks of wild horses."  Flocks of them!

* I had a job interview.  It was terrifying.  It also finally gave me a reason to get a haircut.  So, win.

* Paul continues to be awesome.  And he got more pet fish.

* I made Worcestershire Sauce from scratch.  There's seriously weird stuff in that stuff.  You don't want to know.  (But you do.)

* We saw the Queen.

* We both passed our first Danish tests.

* And...I guess we're just a little boring right now.  

* But if, just as a quick note, you want to eat some amazing stuff, make this or this today and it will bring you joy and peace and love and happiness all the rest of your days.