The big thing that I noticed last week was that my gosh Denmark can be a dark place in winter. Not only does it only get light at 7:30am and dark at 4:30pm, but because it is often quite cloudy in Denmark during the day it is also quite dark. I guess for the first time in my experience, I've really missed that aspect of Australia because after a while the lack of sun can really affect your mood. This however, has not affected my enjoyment of the experience, especially in terms of the people that I have met. Just last Tuesday after school, Jakob's friend Louise invited a few of her friends to her house including Jakob and I where we had a nice chat, an afternoon tea with lovely cupcakes and milk, plus an extremely amusing game of Twister in Danish. It was a really lovely time. Apart from this, the week was rather relaxed for me because Jakob had a lot of assignments due towards the end of the week. Thankfully for him, he is basically finished all his assignments for the year which means that there's only one more week of school (full of fun I imagine) before a two week break for Christmas and New Year.
The excitement of last week for me however was the weekend, particularly Saturday. On that day I was able to say that I had been to another country, Germany, even if I was only 10km over the border. The journey down to the border was equally as interesting, as I found out more about how the Danish-German border was located further north for a period of around 50 years until after World War I. The actual border for me was really amazing because it wasn't a big deal crossing it. Apart from a small sign saying that we were in another country and a change in signage on the roads, there was no big thing to indicate the passing from one country to another. I mean, crossing a state border in Australia seems to be a bigger deal than crossing an international border here. Once we were in Germany, we travelled to the city of Flensburg where friends of Jakob's family lived. It was there that we had a lovely lunch of cold meats, smoked salmon and bread, which was really nice. The biggest thing that I couldn't stop noticing while we were having lunch was my lack of language skills in Danish and German. Because all of the communication at the lunch was in German, my head went further into confusion about what was being said. To all those planning to go on SISEP to Denmark, start learning some Danish now while you have the time because this is something that I wish I had done before I came here. After lunch, while Rene and Inger were talking to their German friends, Jakob and I decided to have a walk around the local area and specifically to the local supermarket which to be honest, was quite similar to walking around in Denmark except for a couple of differences like the pedestrian lights. Eventually, it was time to head back to Denmark but before we jumped back over the border, we went into a giant shop known as a border shop where we could get a few things at a really cheap price. After buying up big (especially in terms of cans of drink for Christmas), we made our way back over the unassuming border and back to Norre Aaby. For me, that day was a real experience for me. Below is some photos from the trip to Germany.
The old German border
The new German border, pretty much just the sign and nothing more.
Flensburg
Sunday was also a great day as Inger, Jakob and I went to the historical city of Ribe in Jutland, where Jakob's big brother Mikael lives and works. On the way out to the town, we had the excitement of driving through snow, which looked really pretty. It meant the landscape around us brightened up with white fields, though because it was only light snow it did not stay on the ground for long. Once we got to Ribe and met up with Mikael, we went straight to a large church located in the historic part of Ribe. The most amazing part about Ribe for me is its age, 1,300 years old next year, which astounded me when I thought Australia's oldest city, Sydney, is only just over 200 years old! The church in the town was around 700 years old and after looking through the main part of the church, we climbed the 247 steps (I counted), up the tower to get to the top, where we were treated to a wonderful view. It was here that Mikael's knowledge of history really shone as he was able to point out certain buildings and features that I would not have noticed if he wasn't there. After leaving the church, we went for a stroll along the town's version of a pedestrian shopping mall. This one however was nothing like Rundle Mall in Adelaide; instead it was a mix of local shops and larger firms with a sprinkling of food stores and cafes. The buildings as well were historic in appearance, giving the area a lovely charm. We even saw a local acting group run up the street as a group of poorer people and a couple of rich people from the 18th or 19th century, which was really good. After pottering through the mall, we had lunch at a little takeaway shop before we headed out of the city to visit some attractions in the area. These included a large levy built to reclaim some land for agriculture from the sea and a couple of World War II era bunkers which Mikael, Jakob and I saw after a quick bash through the bushes. The funniest thing while we were touring the area was the lack of wind, because Inger has said that it was the first time she had been on the West Coast of Jutland (where Ribe is located) without having her hair blown all over the place because of the wind. As we dropped off Mikael at his house before we went back to our house, we saw a neighbour of his light some firecrackers which were very exciting to see from the safety of the car! Our trip to Ribe was certainly packed with things to do, which I enjoyed a lot. I hope that these photos below give you a great insight into Ribe.
View from the church tower
Inside the church
Weir on embankment to allow 'river' to flow through
Christmas is in full swing here in Denmark and the preparation for the event is so big that I will dedicate my next blog entry to this. I hope that all is well wherever you are and stay safe.
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