Thursday, February 26, 2009
"i'd sacrifice all the tears in my eyes..."
first thing's first: for a while now i've been having a bit of a love affair with Target Women and Sarah Haskins. However, I only ever watched it when it was posted on Feministing. Then, recently, I decided to actually go to the website. holy crap. it's amazing. there are so many of them! make sure that you watch the yogurt one. but i think this one is my favourite right now:
ok. now. back to where i left off:
so on wednesday my group presented
and despite being intimately involved in all aspect of the presentation construction and planning, and actually presenting a part myself, i had absolutely no clue what anybody was talking about.
i essentially just read off my sheet of paper, in my best no-i'm-not-american accent, then stood in the corner half-hiding while my other group members presented and while an intense discussion raged on. i have no idea what was being discussed.
i am officially really bad at Political Anthropology.
but it's over now
and that's what matters
afterwards i went to the place with the cheep coffee on south campus and checked my email about a billion times and fell asleep on a table. also i discovered The Fail Blog... which i think everybody else already knows about... but i was definitely sitting alone, laughing out loud. every time i look at it, i find a new favourite. but right now it's this one:
then i went to danish class with my supergreat buddy EstaBesta (we live together and are in the same danish class and have bonded solidly over a love affair for a certain kind of danish chocolate bar). danish class was pretty hilarious. i had missed the class before because i had a meeting with two of my Poli Anth group members (yes there was instant coffee, biscuits and plenty of candles involved. i'm pretty much danish now.) and i was dead tired so it was generally a pretty hilarious class. i kept getting mixed up and saying "ja" when i was supposed to say "jo". so then when the teacher called on me and i was supposed to read a sentence, i almost said "ja" but then quickly corrected myself and said "jo" but then i couldn't remember the rest of the sentence so as my brain froze my mouth said "YOOOOOOOOO". ok so probably you had to be there. but i essentially yelled out a very prolonged "YO" to my whole class. it was pretty funny.
then i talked to the canadian guy in my class. turns out he went to Queen's and lived across the street from KCVI for the last two years of my high school career. how random is that?
anyways. after class i headed straight to studenterhuseter (the KU student bar that hosts "international student night" every wednesday) and partied hardy with my housemates and my new italian friend and some strange foreign kids. until i basically hit a wall and all the lack of sleep and presentation-fear-stress caught up with me. so then i came home and ate lots of peanut butter. it was pretty awesome.
today i am back to breathing normally and just generally slacking off.
BUT
OK
NOW
this is the important part (this is especially for you, KTG)
so today in my "course on danish culture" class, the subject was Danish Music. so first the lady was talking about oldschool stuff (like how king Christians IV bankrupted the country by throwing a huge 3 week long party) and then we got to more modern stuff. and she talked a lot about an interesting modern Danish band called Outlandish... then she played this song...
........
.....
(these spaces are for dramatic effect)
...
RING ANY BELLS ANYBODY!?!?!?
.......
..........
.......
oh Aicha oh Aicha....
remember this guy!?!
.... apparently nobody else in my class did cause, as far as i could tell, i was the only person looking totally flabergasted and holding back laughter...
... i still don't get it
at all.
but anyways
that totally made my day.
happy number-twoing,
-aa
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Jeg kan ikke tale engelsk.
no.
not even close.
so danish classes started last week
wow.
gong. show.
fortunately, i'm not doing it for credit, which means that i just have to put in enough effort to not completely embarrass myself. unfortunately, the amount of effort that it's gonna take just to get by is more than any of my credit courses combined.
i'm not trying to be judgmental, and i know i should be very PC and anthropology and blah blah blah. and i know that learning english is no piece of cake either...
but seriously.
danish is ridiculous.
written danish and spoken danish DO NOT MATCH EVEN A LITTLE BIT.
for example
the word "selvfølgelig" is pronounce "seføli"; "Jeg er" is pronounced "Yai"; and "hedder" is pronounced "he&$#ea" (weird sound that we don't have in english... it's like trying to pronounced a "d" without letting your tongue leave the bottom of your mouth) (wtf)
our most common in-class and homework activity is to listen to the cd that is saying the sentences that we have written in our book. and we have to go through the written sentences and cross out the letters that don't get pronounced and then circle the letters that are not pronounced 'the way they should be'. needless to say, by the time you get through it, there are so many marks on each sentence that you can't even read it anymore.
anyways
i'm not angry.
not frustrated.
no way.
i'm pretty much fluent.
also, the work book is very lovely and pretty, and i've got a system involving three different pens and a pencil. (taryn, you would be proud)
Fluency. i kid you not.
anyways
remember how i was saying that this all just felt like a "holiday" so far? ya. well. that all pretty much flew out the window sometime last week. all of a sudden i'm in way over my head. between the danish classes and the confusing poli-anthropological banter about networks and contextualization, and all the strange techno clubs, and the huge group presentation that i have to do on wednesday (1 hour, seven people. topic: Ethnicity and Political Anthropology), and the major important job interview that i have tomorrow, i'm just tryin to get by. also i keep making stupid mistakes like scheduling important group meetings at the same time as i'm supposed to have a class and deciding to dissect my outlet adaptor with my swiss army knife, thereby ruining the only way that i have to power my computer. et cetera.
somewhere between our quiet day in sweden last saturday, and waking up to a house full of empty beer cans this morning (eerr... afternoon), everything took a very strange turn.
it's fine though. i'm actually having a blast.
but yeah. everybody who i said i'd phone but then didn't, and to who i owe emails and fb msgs, etc (you know who you are), i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry. i think after wednesday things will stabilize a little. i think. maybe. i'll keep you posted.
pictures? ummm check facebook. it think there might be some unfortunate recent tags on me.
but here's a few more city shots and one of me and my housemate.
((oh one more thing - shouts out to my lil shvester and the KC senior girls' vball team! good luck at bartlett this afternoon! you were born ready.))
the main KU library. hogwarts, anyone??? (there are even those old-school slidey ladders to get up to the high shelves!)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
my coffee cup goes everywhere with me
(ps TARYN - i have NO idea how to pronounce the title of my blog... i found it in my danish phrase book... it means "Keep Refrigerated".... i start Danish language classes tomorrow, so i'll get back to you on that one...)
pygmy marmoset... it wasn't in an enclosure at all, just in a big room with bats where people could wander around. it was strange. also very cool.
dinosaurs on the left, tamarin on the right. at this zooish type place, they housed a lot of animals of different species in the same enclosures (there were also big turtle things in this particular enclosure). it was really cool.
malmo! i like this picture... quaint houses, a cool mural, and the best street sign i've ever seen (i don't know what exactly it's supposed to mean though).
windmills in the channel, as seen from inside the train whilst crossing the bridge. windmills are almost as cool as graffiti and cranes (have i mentioned that i love graffiti and cranes? i might start a blog dedicated entirely to pictures of those two things...)
this is back in copenhagen, walking home from downtown (on friday, when it was also sunny!) ((Mom and Dad and Jen - the hotel where you are staying is in the background of this picture on the left... if you click on it to blow it up, you can see the hotel's sign clearly))
i count murals in the same category as "graffiti".... although i suppose they are somewhat different. perhaps i should go with "Street Art". either way, it's awesome.
this is my house after it snowed last week. the window in the top left hand corner of this picture is my room... and my balcony is right there where the wall ends.
i did laundry last week. it was quite an adventure. there were three slots for different potions in the washing machine. i just guessed and dumped in a bunch of each thing that was on top of the machine. my clothes came out lovely and clean (although everything was tinted green from my towel cause apparently there is no "cold water" option in denmark) and smells very fresh. too fresh. my room still reeks of Danish Tide. sometimes it makes me choke a lot. anyways. these are my socks drying. the black socks have the days of the week in danish written on them. i love those socks. (... i have no idea why i decided to include this picture)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
soon i will buy a bike
the absolutely number one most creepy thing in Denmark. (and i'm sure that it could make top five in the world)
this is a church near a weird castle island that my housemate and i happened upon yesterday. note the beautiful rainy weather. it's ok though. it takes a lot more than bad weather to dampen my spirits. (i think that might have sortof been a pun.)
i live in Frederiksberg and at all of the bus stops there is this add/sign/WTF (and also an add for a danish grey's anatomy show.... picture soon). i have no idea what the deal is with this sign/add/poster. but i like it.
in some random garden that we found - i just really like that duck house. although, probably there is an abundance of smelly duck poo in there.
a statue of one of the Frederick Christians or Christian Fredericks. also, that is the queen's house behind it.
me at Nyhavn (i am thinking of doing a "Spot The Mug" series... like Where's Waldo but sponsored by Starbucks)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
clåsses! big håts! lists!
1. in denmark, there is one bike for every foot. ie. 5 million danish people, 10 million bikes.
2. the military marching band thing that i saw before class on wednesday happens every day, just before noon. they march from somewhere (i can't remember where) to the huge house place where the queen lives.
3. the soldiers' comically huge, totally ridiculous fur hats are made of "canadian bear skin"... i kid you not. when i accidentally gasped loudly, i was told that they only use bears that have "died of natural causes" (.... ummmm... ok?)
4. when the previous king of denmark had three daughters and no sons, they changed the constitutional amendment so that they could have a queen (i like how it was so casual (at least that is how danes talk about it, casually but with pride)... i feel like anywhere else it would be such a huge big deal to amend a constitution (especially in such a way that puts a powerful and traditionally man-dominated position into the hands of a woman)... but here it was like, well whatever, let's have a queen then) (interestingly, it is totally normal to hear danish people say "our king is a queen")
5. on the first and third monday of every month, at 9:45 am, danish people can go to the queen's house and meet her. she receives about 50 visitors each time. the only prerequisite is that you wear "your best clothes outfit"... but no appointment is necessary. apparently it is usually scholars and diplomats and people with important things to say that go to see her. however. enter alie, from the land of the bear-skin hats.... i'd better just pencil that in my agenda right away ("monday, feb 16, 2009: go say hi to the queen, remember to scrape old food off sweater first, wear fanciest running shoes and least hobo-esque pants").
6. by 5 pm it is too dark to really appreciate a bus tour
LIST #2: to be added to the master list of interesting things here:
5. people leave their babies (in the stroller/buggy things) out in the streets a lot when they go in to shops and cafes. ... like, if the place is too small for a buggy to get around, or has stairs at the entrance, and the baby is asleep, they just park it outside then go in. it makes me nervous. i feel like i should stand nearby and discretely guard the baby. but also, i think that's pretty cool.
6. at the supermarket, people always ALWAYS always put the divider stick down at the end of their order on the conveyor belt. always. i've never seen anybody forget. i get so nervous that i'm going to forget. i'm pretty sure that all of copenhagen would stop, turn towards me, point, and make that 'hoh hoh' noise that they make at people who don't obey the pedestrian traffic lights.
7. at the Netto supermarket nearest to my house, they don't sell peanut butter. i'm not sure how a store can claim to be a store, let alone a supermarket, and not sell peanut butter. i'm also not sure what i'm going to eat tomorrow, since i ran out of PB today. what if i starve?
8. i've had two classes so far (i only have three courses this semester and one of them doesn't start until april, when one of the ones that i have now ends... it's confusing but i only have five hours of class each week, and i have a five day weekend, so whatever) and the first one, that was supposed to be three hours, started 45 minutes late, ended 1 hour early, and had two 15-minute breaks. the second class was supposed to be two hours but it started 30 minutes late and had a 20 minute break. i feel like i am missing some vital piece of information ("psst alie, your watch is set to the wrong time zone..."). but actually i like it. it's very relaxed.
9. my extended interactions with danish people (and by extended, i mean over 5 minutes, so more than just ordering food or paying for something or asking directions - but never really very long at all.... mostly i only talk to myself and other international students) have all followed a certain pattern - the dane at first comes across as unfriendly and mildly annoyed with my existence, and then i try to say something in danish (such as my street name, or "hello"), or i respond with "no! i am canadian!" when asked where in the US i am from, and they laugh and become the friendliest person i've ever met. it's very strange. they are all (or at least the four or five that i've spoken with) very very friendly and full of questions, but first their i-think-you're-an-annoying-tourist shell needs to be cracked.
ok sorry, picture time.
this is called "the palace" and it's a movie theatre... also, it's a very offensive shade of bubblegum
whoa! see that little rail thing on the left side of the stairs!?!? that is for bikes! cool! so that when you are walking your bike down the stairs it doesn't smash into each step, instead you just put the tires in the rail and it rolls down smoothly. holy moly clever.
the class that i had today was on this really weird far away campus, south of the city, on the other side of downtown from where i live. it was this strange barren wasteland (not even fields, WASTELAND) everywhere, and then out of nowhere there is this huge, brand new, university complex with all kinds of fancy space-age buildings... so i took pictures of course. that one is the black one.
this one is the one with the crazy bridge... also note the human-made river/canal thing that is running through the middle of this campus... so random...
not sure what these are... maybe construction headquarters.... but i just thought they were super cute and colourful
the hats! they are huge! enormous! ... why aren't these men toppling over!? (ps. moment of silence for all of those black bears that "died of natural causes")
i climbed up "the round tower" a few days ago, and this is taken from the top, looking down at a portion of the main pedestrian street.
these are the stairs right near the top of the tower. mostly i was impressed with the lovely shade of dark blue on the walls.
competition for who can come up with the best caption/meaning for this strange warning sign (it was at the top lookout level of the round tower). i think it means "be impressed with the view"... what do you think?
before the cool blue stairs, there is 200 meters of windey going-up ramp (instead of stairs)... it's pretty cool, i've never seen anything like it.
more cute and colourful buildings... the novelty still hasn't worn off for me yet, so i continue to take many pictures of places like this... sorry.