Farvel, København...

[this was written Friday, Dec 14]

So, this is it. It's hard to believe the year in Copenhagen has come to a close. Tonight is my last night in this beautiful city, and I am very sad to be leaving (though of course excited for what lies ahead!). Today was focused on saying goodbye to the place I (sort-of) called home since last November.

I remember arriving in the dark, rainy city, alone, nervous... and though I am leaving in the dark (hopefully not rainy) time of the year, my nervousness went away, and I feel I have learned so much and have been so lucky to have had this experience. My colleagues at work gave me a heartfelt send-off. I received several Danish-design housewares at work, then last night was presented with a sexy new "N" phone that has our chip in it!! Being the gadget freak that I am, and having put many hours into that project, I am so excited! (And according to Jonathan, the sound from the microphone sounds great!). Along with the phone came a warm speech from my boss. Another colleague sent flowers to my apartment, wishing me luck in Canada. It is amazing how kind and generous people are, and what is more touching, is that it comes from people who otherwise don't tend to express their emotions openly. It was all the more meaningful as a result. Today the tears came when saying goodbye to my boss, when riding the S-tog and bus, and when saying goodbye to DL. In fact, my two best friends here (JN and DL) are both leaving Copenhagen as well (for Israel and UK, respectively), so perhaps my departure is even more well-timed. Though leaving is sad, as my boss said, it is better to leave on such a positive note. I will have very fond memories for years to come!

And so, 4 check-in bags and 2 carry-ons representing my life in Denmark will accompany me back to Boston and then to Canada (along with 5 large boxes shipping next week). I will fly through Zurich and if all is well will end up in Jonathan's arms in Boston. What a nice way to start the next chapter in my life!

Farvel, København, og tak for sidst!

Julefrokost

Nearly every company in Denmark has a Julefrokost, which literally translates to Christmas lunch. These events used to be just that, lunches, but over time they have evolved into the more common evening party. The funny thing is that they are notorious for people going crazy. It is important to note that spouses are almost never invited to these parties; it is just co-workers. Consequently, apparently it is the number one cause of divorce in Denmark... because people get very drunk, and do things that they normally should not. In fact, I was reading one of the daily newspapers on the train that had something like 10 tips for your Julefrokost. Some of the items I could understand were things like:
- leave your cell phone at home. This is because you are likely to send SMSs that you might regret when sober, for example, SMSs to ex's or your boss.
- Monday morning do not hesitate to go and apologize for something you may have done to or with a co-worker; it is always better to settle these kinds of things right away rather than have it cause problems later in your working relationship.

Another thing I learned about these parties is that they are highly organized. I was on the 'committee' to organize ours, and it involved far more than just a nice dinner...

Ours was held on Thursday Dec 13. First we started out with Glygg, which is warm, mulled red wine with spices and raisins, served with various cookies (pebern¯dder, brunkager, etc). Then we had hired 2 dance instructors, and we had a 1.5 hour group lesson on jive and cha-cha. People were really into it, and it was great fun! Note that we did invite spouses, otherwise the male-female ratio would have been disastrous. Here are some photos.





From there, we hired a bus to take us into downtown, where we had dinner at one of my favourite cafes, Cafe Katz (another bonus of being on the committee, choosing the venue!). We had the entire downstairs of the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely 4-course meal. Even during the meal we had some organized events; one was a sort-of contest - we had asked everyone to provide photos from their youth, and we would call upon 2 people at a time to compete against each other to guess who was the subject of the photo. This was alot of fun! Finally we attempted a sing-a-long which went somewhat south when we tried to teach a Slovak song... We ended the evening at a local pub around the corner. No one got too crazy so I don't think there will be any negative fallout from the evening. People were jovial, outgoing, and generally seemed to have a great night!

Channuka

OK so I am one day late...
Happy Channuka!
Somehow I managed to celebrate decently, by making latkes, and lighting candles. The latter proved challenging since I did not have my channukia with me in Copenhagen, so I had to improvise - with a potato! Thanks to JN for the inspiration...



Then last Saturday night there was a channuka party at shul for young people, and there was a great turnout (and a great range in age!). I was able to hang out with my Jewish friends, all in one place! Only the 'older ones' had enough chutzpa to dance, but it was fun even though we were few on the dance floor. Here is a photo including the Chabad rabbi, who has been a very positive influence in my life this year...



Belated Chag Sameach!

par-té!

Almost a year ago to the day, I held a going-away party in my apartment in Somerville, and I felt the same was necessary here in Copenhagen. So, last weekend, somewhere between 20-25 friends came to my place. I had prepared some yummy food (pasta salad, apple crisp, cookies, and of course potato latkes in honour of channuka!). Just as the 1st guest arrived, the power went out! Luckily, I had bought a bazillion candles to create the right 'hyggelig' atmosphere, so many people did not even notice that there was no power! (And, luckily, everything cooked was out of the oven by then).

Here's a photo of me which kind of shows the lighting...


I also put some tea-light candles on the stairway, which people thought was to create more atmosphere. The only down-side was lack of music. Once the power came on about 2 hrs later, and I was able to turn on the music, the mood of the party completely changed. It's amazing how music can do that!

It was nice to reflect on how I had met these people - some are work colleagues, some are friends from the Jewish community, and the rest are friends-of-friends. In Denmark people are very clear in distinguishing 'friends' from 'acquaintances' but for the purpose of the party, everyone there was my friend!

Here are some photos - yes I do actually have female friends...


And here are some work colleagues...


The rest of the photos can be seen here.

The last guests left at 3.15, so I guess that is a sign that it was a good party!

Surprise!!

Last week I decided to book a last-minute trip to Paris. Most of my good friends were not going to be in Copenhagen for the weekend, and I did not want to spend my 30th birthday alone. So I booked my flight on Tuesday last week, for a Friday early morning flight. The plan was to stay with EF and his girlfriend in the city.

Friday morning I woke up very early, took a taxi to the airport, and after check-in learned that my flight was delayed by 2 hours. Then on the plane, a nasty Swedish couple was not so friendly about letting me sit in my assigned window seat... not a nice way to start my birthday. But, I did happen to run into a Danish friend of mine (who is living in Paris) so I was happy that I would have someone to assist me with navigating the trains and metros in Paris.

Upon arrival, and leaving the baggage area, as I made a sudden turn to head towards the ATM to get some Euros, I felt a tug on my jacket. I turned around, and who was standing there....

Jonathan!!!!

He had surprised me (and was also the first to wish me happy birthday in person)! He had worked extra hours and booked an even-more-last-minute ticket, and arrived a couple hours before me. I was speechless, and shocked, and was making some kinds of squeaks for about 20 minutes, alternating between laughter and tears, I was so touched. It was the best surprise I could have wished for!

Here is our initial happy reunion at the airport:


When we both came back to Planet Earth, we caught the train into the city and headed to his aunt and uncle's, in the 11ieme arrondissement (near Bastille). We had a delicious lunch with the family, then Jonathan and I headed out for a stroll around the city.



(more photos from the weekend can be found here and here)

We walked through Place des Vosges, around Pompidou, city hall, and stopped at a café. In the evening we celebrated over dinner at Cafe de l'Industrie, enjoying delicious french food (now I am very curious to read Why French Women Don't Get Fat). We ended the evening at a cafe/bar with EF and F.

Saturday we started out at Place du Concorde, then walked through Musee d'Orsay, around St. Michel, through Notre Dame, and met some more relatives before having a lovely family dinner back at the apartment.

Sunday we walked through the weekly market with Jonathan's uncle, then said goodbye to his aunt who was working at the synagogue, then grabbed another quick cafe, then headed to the airport. The 2.5 days together were 'priceless' and most memorable!

Sunday night I made it to the 18ieme arrondissement, where I met up with EF and F, sat at a cafe, then ate delicious racklette at their apartment (with view of the Eiffel tower!). Monday I returned to Copenhagen, filled with joy from a most wonderful weekend! Merci Jonathan, tu me rends la plus heureuse femme au monde!

The even bigger announcement...

Jonathan and I are engaged!

I have taken awhile to write since I have been trying to tell people via phone and e-mail, but in fact I want to announce it to the world :-)

Let's rewind.

Jonathan came to Copenhagen to visit me and arrived Thurs Nov 8. We had a happy reunion at the airport, and a nice dinner at Taormina (though not so nice on Jonathan's tummy). Friday morning we were just relaxing and talking, and he looked like he had something on his mind so I asked what he was thinking about. He told me to close my eyes, and when I opened them, he had placed a pillow on my lap with a white box on top (with my name on the label), and inside was a book.



Inside, he had written out our entire story, from when we were first in touch over the internet, to now. At one point there was a cut-out, where he had put the key to our condo in Montreal. Then, at the end, there was another cut-out, which contained the ring! At that point we were both speechless but the result after some time was that we got engaged.


(text blurred on purpose :-) The bigger cut-out has the key, the smaller one had the ring)

The rest of the day felt somewhat surreal...but we did manage to walk around despite the awful weather (Jonathan's umbrella broke, so now I am not the only one who has no luck with umbrellas in this city!). At night we celebrated over shabbat dinner at JN's parents', with champagne.

Saturday we walked around Østerbro, and enjoyed some time at the lakes.

At night we cooked a delicious dinner. Just beforehand, the doorbell rang, and it was a delivery of flowers and chocolate from my boss!


Sunday we went to probably the ugliest museum on the planet, the technology museum near Helsingør. I thought it would be interesting for both of us but it was a bit of a disappointment. It did not hamper us from taking some fun pictures, though...



see the whole album here.

After braving some hail in Helsingør, we relaxed at a cafe then came back into CPH.

It was a sad farewell on Monday, but not the worst, given that from that point we were going to see each other in about 30 days...and now being engaged, we have a whole life ahead to get excited about!

Nov 2-4 weekend

One of the nice things on Friday night was that I met a very nice French/Belgian couple (courtesy of DL, who met them on the street!) at synagogue. It's amazing how just being Jewish means you are welcome among other Jews, and can easily meet new friends!

Saturday I jogged in the morning, walked around the neighbourhood in the afternoon (errands), and curled up and relaxed with some tea and my book, which I was very happy to finish. Don't bother with The Emperor's Children (even though the author is from Somerville!), I found it rather pretentious and not particularly entertaining. In any case, in the evening I went to Dag H with DL and friends (we were 7) then came back and enjoyed my daily pre-bedtime phone conversation with Jonathan :-)

Today the weather was just magnificent. I awoke to a perfectly clear blue sky. I ran with Sparta (13km) and the temperature, sunshine, and golden leaves made for a perfect run (ok, it would have been slightly more perfect if we weren't so crowded, trying not to step on each others' shoes... but that's a minor price to pay for enjoying a group run). I then biked to the city and had brunch at Cafe Katz (yummmm) with DL and our new friends from Friday night. Afterwards we came back to Østerbro and walked around the lake and the neighbourhood. Here are a couple of pictures from our outing...(the full set is here)