Moesgård and the Bog Man

The past 2 months have been filled with a series of visitors and travels. While I have had plenty to write about, I was just out of the habit of writing and so my blog has been neglected.   Oh well...I am writing today so at least I will have 1 post for the month of July :)

Ed has been off work this week and it has been nice to just stay home and relax together.  I guess the Danish summer has not been what it supposedly can be because the past few weeks of weather can be described in the following way: dark clouds appear, sudden deluge of rain falls, sun returns long enough to dry the sidewalks before next wave of dark clouds appear.  Good thing I don't mind being out in the rain because Scout and I have been caught in at least 5 downpours this month.  The only unfortunate thing is that my rain jacket is getting a bit difficult to zip...


Yesterday, the weather looked slightly more promising than previous days so we went to the Moesgård Museum near Århus.  The main reason that we wanted to go to this museum in particular was because one of our Danish teachers had brought in a book (in danish, to expand our vocab..) about the 'bog people' of Denmark.  Since we live so close to one of the better-preserved bog people, it was on our list of 'places to visit', so we did.  I felt a bit strange about taking a picture, but someone else didn't so I will share their photos of the Grauballe Man.

The incredible thing about this guy is that he didn't die 500 years or even 1000 years ago... he died 300 years before Christ...He was killed (note the large neck wound in the top left picture) and thrown almost immediately in the bog.   He was so well preserved that archaeologists were even able identify and study his final meal (and it was on display at the museum..tasty) as well as determine he didn't do hard labor with his hands because they were smooth and unscarred (also his feet were quite nice :)

When I was laying in bed last night, i was thinking about the bog man... not necessarily just him but more about history.  I've grown up reading and studying the Old Testament, which is essentially Jewish history before and leading up to Christ.  All the while, it never occurred to me (before yesterday) that I am a descendant of someone, somewhere during this time period as well.  I am not Jewish, so who were 'my' people and what were they doing 300 years before Christ?  Were they eating grain porridge and sacrificing people to the bogs? The life expectancy of a woman was 40 years of age for this time period in Northern Europe...So that would make me a modern day 60 year old at the age of 27 during the same time period?!  I have always enjoyed history, but history from so long ago is difficult for me to wrap my brain around.

Aside from that, the rest of museum consists of various buildings scattered through the forest.  The rain held off long enough for us to walk on the trails for a bit before heading home.  It was a beautiful area--while the museum cost 60dkk to enter, the park and forrest were free so I am sure we will definitely return, if not to see the bog man, then to visit these goats :)

I loved you danish snow! Why did you have to leave so soon??

 If I were blogging on a regular basis, you would have known that it snowed here. And for this Texan, it snowed a lot.

The apple tree in our backyard after the first snow...

Several more inches fell in the following days so this snow ended up quite deep, I'd guess 8 or 9 inches??  Just a guess

The greatest part about the snow was that I was able to walk Scout in the woods again.  The trails had been wet and muddy from the rain and cool but with the below-freezing temps and snow, they were usable again! So we headed out to see our favorite sites in the winter.

'Sleepy Hollow' trail in the winter

Scout's favorite ground covering: Snow...

Did I mention Scout loved it?  This picture makes me think of a book my friend bought me about a boy and his beagle.

The frozen lake from one side

and the other

I'm sure you get the gist

Scene of my first ever fall on ice.  Yes, I slipped and actually feel while walking down this hill.  The funniest part was the noise Scout made...I guess me falling scared him and he made the noise scooby doo always makes when he's curious or scared...I have no idea how I'd type that noise but maybe you get what I am saying.

Just to see the difference from fall to winter

fall

winter

Your Rainbow Panorama

I hate to say it, seeing as how I am only 6 months into it, but blogging is tiring.  I don't know how some people consistently write long, interesting, photo-filled posts every day.  It is admirable, but probably will never be me.  Anyway, today, Ed and I headed out on another daytrip to ARoS--the Århus art museum. When living in DC, I visited many museums, art and otherwise was always overwhelmed by the amount of art pieces or reading that was included. There were even a few museums that I had to return to several times. I would say that ARoS is the perfect size and has some of the most fun installations that I have ever seen.  My new favorite artist for today is Olafur Eliasson.  I will not bore you with additional details about him or the museum, but will say that if you're living in Denmark-visit the museum!  You will not regret it.  So without further delay, a million pictures...

Entrance to ARoS

Your Rainbow Panorama

I thought the people inside made all the pictures more interesting

Downtown Århus

"The inverted panorama house" Not sure where the name was derived but it was interesting

Inside of ARoS, looking down

Sign before entering Your atmospheric Colour Atlas

It was a large room filled with dense fog and colored lights.  It was really disorienting, and just weird feeling

Navigation Star, another Olafur Eliasson

Boy

My favorite part, his pink elbows

"Forecast" Denmark is the perfect country to collect wind-ravaged umbrellas

If you don't like the weather in Denmark..

I promised myself that after I left the super-heat of Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and DC, I would never complain about the cold or rain here.  While I have definitely thought, "wow, this really sucks," I have never wished that I could be back in the sickening 101 degree, 85 % humidity weather of one of those places (everyone here says I will change my mind eventually but I beg to differ--I will tell you when and if it happens though) Today, however was pretty unbelievable.  If it were possible for weather to have serious mood swings...I would have found the Danish weather in the midst of one today...well, the past 3 days to be exact.  I had typed up a timeline of what the weather was like in one day but after the 3 days we've had here, I will just give you a brief list of what I have seen:  Rain, Hail, Sleet, Snow, sunshine, lightning/thunder, hurricane-force winds, breezing winds, no wind....What haven't I seen??

Hail on Sunday--I was actually walking Scout when this happened.  Thankfully, they were the size of peas so no harm done.

In Texas, there is this saying "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait 5 minutes". I think the saying applies to Denmark as well--though in Texas you'd probably get a cold front with snow an hour after it was 85 degrees and sunny.  There definitely are no dramatic temp changes here--just mildly cold to pretty cold.

While I was thinking about that Texas saying about weather and waiting 5 minutes, I realized that I had heard the same thing being said when I lived in Oklahoma.  Which state actually 'owns' the saying?  I decided to do a little research.  I used the Google predictor (the drop down list of what you could be looking for when you start typing in the search box) to see what the top guesses were for "if you don't like the weather in"  They were New England, Oklahoma and Texas.  Imagine that.  What I discovered though was that Mark Twain was the 'quoter' of the saying, and New England was the original area with fast-changing weather.  So now you know. 

Speaking of the 'Google predictor', is there anyone else who spends large amounts of time just typing random words, even letters into Google just to see the top guesses are for what you could be searching? If not, try it.  You will laugh--For example, I just typed 'why does' and the top 3 results were "why does it always rain on me", "why doesn't my boyfriend get his period"& "why does god hate denmark".  Are those really the phrases with the most results for 'why does'?? I can't help but to be a bit worried...

Anyway, A picture of a passing snow shower earlier today.  Now the sun is shining.  Go figure. 

If you don't like the weather in Denmark, wait 5 minutes.

Danish mosquitos, the happiest mosquitos on earth?

My first 2 weekends here in DK have been amazing, weather-wise.  Blue skies, few to no clouds and cool, to cold crisp air--but the sun has been out. In the sunshine, I can even feel a bit of warmth :) On these days, we have been leaving a few windows open to let in fresh air and to let out all the paint smells from our weekend painting project.  With all of the open windows, more than a few mosquitos came right on in to take up residence inside the house.   I was initially worried and was chasing them around trying to kill them by clapping my hands together on them (looking like a fool in the process I'm sure).   I didn't want to become easy dinner in the middle of the night.  However, I began to notice that none of these mosquitos were seeking me out, but instead landing on the walls and just sitting there..sitting there for days in fact (though I think this mosquito must have just died). At this point, I didn't care what they were doing as long as it continued to not involve me.

I find mosquitos to be evil looking, and even more so up close 

While in Texas, I was sought out by the local mosquitos and even spotted the infamous Dengue-fever- carrying Asian Tiger mosquito landing on my arm (true story--in the month of August, there were 2 reported cases of Dengue fever in Tarrant county)  Since moving to Denmark, I have not been bitten once.  Not one time!  I seem to be invisible to them.  I can walk past 2 hovering baddies and they don't seem to notice me.  I don't think Ed has been bitten either. (ever check verb conjugations in your own language? i do--apparently 'has been bit' is not correct :)   I just do not understand it...They are still out and about so they are not completely dead yet.  I looked at a dead one to make sure it was actually a mosquito-and it was, stinger and all.  Is it our processed-food filled American blood? haha  I searched google for an answer...and the closest thing to an answer I could find was that 'they hibernate'.  Hibernation doesn't really seem like an option for a bug with a lifespan of a few weeks. It was actually quite 'warm' out on many of the days so I wouldn't consider this optimal 'hibernation' weather....

Anyway, I am definitely not complaining-just curious.  Anyone else have an experience with non-biting Danish mosquitos? 

Hello from Denmark

I don't really have time to be typing now but I thought that I should go ahead and get it out of the way.  YES! I finally made it to Denmark.  The weather during my first 4 days was unseasonably amazing (according to people who are from here--I thought that it was just normal Denmark ;)   The sky was clear and so blue.  The air was crisp and cool....and I was inside unpacking so didn't really get to enjoy it as I suppose I should have.  Now that a cold rain is falling outside, I feel like I am really in Denmark.

The apple tree in my backyard.  I have been picking up, and throwing away the bad apples on the ground and yet I cannot keep up! They fall too fast!

The trip from DFW to Billund, DK was about as smooth as air travel can be, literally and figuratively.  I watched Scout ride the 'magic carpet' into the bottom of the first plane so I knew he wasn't being left behind. Both flights left nearly on-time and Scout survived his 16 hour lock-up.  I was quite worried about him in Germany though.  I asked the flight attendant if my dog had made it to the jet yet and he said "Oh yes, I saw him! He was sleeping!"  Scout? Sleeping when anything exciting is happening? I didn't believe it so I assumed that he had died of stress and just looked asleep.  It was so sad when he finally was brought into the baggage area to be picked up. Ed and I were at the kennel door waiting for a pair of scissors to cut the zip-ties...Scout was just shaking and wasn't aware of much that was going on around him-he didn't even notice Ed.  Poor, poor scout.  He won't be flying again until he makes his return trip to America.
As for me, I didn't sleep a wink on the plane and by the time I fell asleep here for the first time, I had be awake for about 40 hours straight.   With the help of Ambien, I have nearly avoided jet-lag all together..

I love the area that the house we are renting is in.  The forest is nearby.  There are many trails that people walk and ride bikes on so Scout and I have been going on them everyday.  Our neighbors have been very helpful and friendly.  The stereotype of the Danes is that they are 'cold' and reserved and may say "we should get together sometime" but in the end, never follow through.  I don't doubt other people's experiences but our experience has been quite the opposite.  We have attended a birthday party for a stuffed dog, had coffee and even dinner with two other families.

The Great Unpack is still underway.  Since the bedrooms are so small, and there is basically one closet in the entire house, nothing is being stored in same places as before.  The house has a remodeled master closet with about 20 slightly-larger-than-milkcrate cubes...anything that was previously in a dresser drawer is now in a cube.  The dressers will now be used for holding candles, art supplies, dishes...the important things :)

That about covers everything going on here.  I am hoping to be finished unpacking by the end of the week so will be able to leave the house and see more of the town. I will try to take a few pictures of the house also--after I figure out how to recharge my camera battery here!

Royal Danish Ballet

View from Kennedy Center, overlooking Rosslyn and Georgetown

Last night, Ed and I went to our first ballet, not just first together, but ever.  Earlier in the day though, you would have never guessed that..On the metro, Ed and I were arguing over which country's ballet company was the oldest ballet company in the world--like we would know that!  According to a book about the RDB, they are the 3rd oldest, beginning in 1771.  So, I have been searching the internet for the answer and oddly enough(can you believe it?), it has not been easy to find a list of ballets companies, sorted oldest to newest.  But, from what I can see, we are both partially correct.  To self: Do not attempt to debate a subject you know nothing about.  Noted.

I now know why following a story in ballet can be a little confusing.  There are no words! (not that I ever thought there were words, I had just never thought about ballet in general)  Only facial expressions and body gestures are communicating the story!  We were not too far from the stage but I actually wished I had binoculars so I could get a good look at their faces!  Aside from that, I thought it was beautiful.  It is incredible to see how flexible and strong their feet and legs are and how simple movement is so graceful, and expressive.  Ed now, he was a slightly different story...

I think he liked being out at a 'cultural' event but may have been a bit bored.  I heard words like "tadpole kicks, long, three acts? and strange rangers" come out of his mouth several times. But, all in all, we had a great time.

Today we went to the large air and space museum outside of DC with our friend Sara and Peter and Peter's dad.  It was amazing to see so many beautiful planes in one space.  We also watched the IMAX film about red flag and searched for Ed's face in the mass brief, unsuccessfully.  Ed and I did see some friends from eglin, which was funny.  Also, scout seems to have made a full comeback from his illness of whatever he caught on his trip to the dog kennel.  He has been playing with more aggressiveness than I have seen in weeks.  His toys(or my hands) better watch out!

My favorite section of airplanes: old.

Tomorrow, we may be helping a friend rip out some old cat-pee-filled carpets from a house they just purchased.  Sounds like a smelly adventure!  Have yourself a good weekend ;)