I can't really believe that I've been here for a month. All of a sudden I'm getting the feeling that I'll be really surprised when July comes and I have to leave, or when my visa expires and they force me out of the country. Whichever comes first.
I feel like I've gotten pretty comfortable with daily life here. I know which grocery stores I like (Irma for fancy things like pineapples, Netto for everything else and good cheap mozzarella), I am comfortable taking the train, the bus, and the Metro. If I get plopped down somewhere in the middle of the city I can usually figure out where I am after I walk a couple blocks. I'm the only one who plops myslef places though, and it's usually because I got off the wrong bus stop or something.
I'm even getting used to the pace at school, which is much slower than I'm used to. I'm only taking one class right now, a ceramics "projekt". It meets 5 days a week, but those days get chopped up by so many coffee breaks and long lunches that I hardly feel like I'm working. At first it really bothered me because it felt unproductive, but now I am starting to better understand the culture that has produced this logic. Meals are almost forcably relaxing and ritual, not rushed and punctuated with work talk like they are in the states. I think these breaks and meals result in more thoughful design.
I would still like to learn more Danish. These are the words I can remember off the top of my head:
lille--small
store--large
og--and
havn--harbor
navn--name
ost--cheese
skinke--ham
fiske--fish
hej--hello
hej hej--bye
tak--thank you
gips--plaster
maelk--milk
mandag--monday
onsdag--wednesday
yej comma fra USA--I come from the USA
godt--good
peber--pepper
precise--exactly
kaffe--coffee
brod--bread
tog--train
yej hille Barrett--my name is Barrett
til--to
fra--from
svenske--swedish
kort--card
en--one
tre--three
biblitek--library
nej--no
Obviously there's room for improvement. Unless I need three small pepper hams at the library on wednesday, thank you I come from the USA.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
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