The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent, Was In Denmark.

Firstly, I apologize, I have kept my readers waiting and broke a promise. Secondly, SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNE!

Yes as you can tell the biggest difference from my last blog is the weather. Around mid of December, it snowed, not just a little, but well over half a meter! Although do not think of Denmark as a winter wonderland, in the past it has had many green winters. This is not the typical Denmark, but rather an outlier. It has not snowed this much in 15 years, nor has it been this cold in over 20 years. I have probably lived almost a solid month with temperatures just barely in the negative(Celsius). Surprisingly its not common for a family to have Ice Skates, one would imagine that the residents of a Scandinavian country would all have ice skates, but then again it hasn't been cold enough in almost 20 years. All ponds and small bodies of water are completely frozen over, one can most safely walk, run, and even jump on the ice. Even a bay with might be over 20 square kilometers is almost entirely frozen. I was so excited when the snow came that my host family now says that I was like a baby seeing snow for the first time. I fought valiantly in so many snowball fights, shoveled quite enough snow, and made plenty of snow angels. Although surprisingly, not one snowman. Now, however, the snow is becoming irritating, and I think I have forgotten what it was like to be able to sometimes wear just a T-shirt in winter. Here, one must wear, at the least, a couple of long sleeve shirts, a thick jacket, a scarf, and gloves, along with the normal articles. It is so dry and cold that just staying out for about twenty minutes without gloves caused my hands to become so dry the skin started cracking. My knuckles were so red and scratched up that my family thought I got into a fight. There is one thing about the weather that I will always be thankful for, I was able to have my first White Christmas.

Christmas is celebrated slightly differently in Denmark. First off, the celebrations start in November as many will have Julefrokoste, see back in my previous blog for a discription of these, and some times don't end until mid January. Second, the Danish hold their celebration on the 24th. On the 24th my family got up around 9, ate a small breakfast then went on a run with many others from our street. We ran over 5 kilometers, well I did, some others went for a 10 km run. I was exhausted. We finished our run at the beach, where we quickly stripped to our underwear and jumped in the ocean. Just to give you an idea of how cold that is, the sand was mixed with snow. It was the coldest thing I have ever experienced, it felt like the water was at absolute zero. Although as soon as I got out, I felt warm(except for my feet), and was in no hurry to put on my cloths. After we were dressed we stood around and had a shot of schnapps, which does not taste good, to warm us up. We went back into the house and took a shower and got ready to go to church. After we got back from that we had a great big dinner, with very typical Danish food, like duck, potatoes, pork, and pickled red cabbage. It was delicious, and to top it off we had Risenlamande, a dessert made from risengrød, again explained in my last blog. This was the dish with the almond hidden in it. I was the first to get served and my host grandfather next to me gave me an extra scoop. I wound up finding the almond, but I think I had help. I hid the almond in my mouth and denied my having it for a while, then as they started wondering it was put in, I stuck it out like I would stick out my tongue., winning me the prize. After dinner we held hands and danced around the Christmas tree, singing songs in Danish. Then we gave out gifts, I put on an elf hat and helped deal them out. It was all very hyggeligt(that feeling of a very nice christmas with your family, cozy).

For New Years Eve, the Danish also celebrate it more than we do. First, fireworks, completely legal. I went to a New Years party in Odense, a city a bit less than the size of Santa Rosa, and I was amazed as I spun on the spot and not a single strip of the horizon was without the colorful explosions. The Danish also have their queen give a speech every year, this part was rather boring but a good exercise of my Danish. Right afterward, a little skit comes on the T.V. called Dinner for One. It is about an elderly women who holds a dinner with all her friends, except that all her friends are no longer alive. The only person there is the butler, but she has him act as if her friends were there, giving them wine and other types of spirits. But thats not all, she also makes him play the role of the guest each time they cheer, putting on there voice and drinking their drinks. He serves serveral courses and by the time the dinner is over he can barely even stand. It is hilarious and all in English so just find it on youtube and enjoy. The last really Danish tradition is to have a cake made with a lot of Marzipan.