Yay! I have somewhere to live :-)

After getting stressed and frustrated about not finding a place to live here, I finally caught a break. Actually, on Sunday evening I got offered a place I had looked at the previous week which I quite liked - turns out their first choice fell through. The place was relatively nice, and in quite a nice area (actually in the city of Frederiksberg), but slightly further away from the office (which is just to the north of the CBD). The plan was to part pay the deposit in cash upon my return (since I didn't yet have a local bank account to transfer cash from, and none of my colleagues had their tokens for accessing their Internet banking). However, in the mean time, I got an email about another place which looked very interesting. It was DKK 500/month cheaper and closer to work. (Actually, I also found out about a third option which sounded pretty good - but gave up on it in the end because it was a studio apartment, and I decided I wanted more than a single room).

So my plan was to return from the work retreat Wednesday afternoon, quickly check out this new apartment, and unless I really really liked it, go pay the deposit for the one in Frederiksberg...

Legoland - check

Yup, Legoland was the location for our work retreat. A whole one week into my new job and we head off on a 3 hour bus trip to a mystery location. All we knew is we didn't need our passports. And I guess when you look at a map and see where you can go in a 3 hour drive (considering West is the only option), Legoland made sense.

It was a 3 day retreat aimed at team building, getting to know each other, and a big emphasis seemed to be on getting all the teams to explain to everyone what they're all about and what they do. For me, it was perfect as it provided a fantastic introduction to everyone in the office, all the different teams, what we're all about, where we're heading, and what people actually do. Interestingly, even those who had been in the office for a while said it was very useful. About half of the retreat was dedicated to work stuff, and the other half to team building exercises and having fun. This included things such as a pumpkin carving competition (we one, though naturally I had very little input into that!), the African Choir that I've already written about, as well as learning to sing and drum along with another African band.

South African Surprise in the middle of Denmark

I arrived for my new job in Denmark just in time for a 3 day retreat! The retreat is an annual even in the office for the whole of the branch which I work for (roughly 50 people) and is partly a team building exercise, partly fun, and partly work. The retreat location has been kept secret from us - primarily so the fun part can be a surprise. But more on that (and the fact that I now have permanent accommodation in Copenhagen) in the next post (when I have some more photos too).

In the mean time, during dinner tonight, our treat was a mini-concert by a Danish vocal group called Papaya. The group is basically a collection of people who like African, and in particular South African music and sing a lot of it. They do tours in South Africa (both to sing and to learn) and also do concerts in other countries around Europe. For a group of very pale looking Nords, they were pretty impressive black singers!

Rather than posting my crappy mobile phone footage of them singing the South African National Anthem, I figured a YouTube video would be better...

A really crap or really good hot chocolate?

This afternoon I decided to find a local cafe`, and sit down with a hot chocolate and my book. I ordered a 'mixed' hot chocolate (since that one had dark and light chocolate), sat down, and started drinking the frothy mixture. I was a bit puzzled as to why there were 2 swizzle sticks in the drink, but figured the person behind the counter had just mistakenly put 2 in instead of one. I can't say I was overly impressed with the drink - it was indeed hot, but barely had any flavour to it. It was just like hot milk. I thought this was going to be my first disappointing culinary experience in Copenhagen... However, I was quickly proven wrong. Upon withdrawing one of the swizzle sticks from the drink, I noticed a blob of solid chocolate attached to the end. Ahhh - so that's how it works! Obviously I have had too many crappy hot chocolates made with powder and I'm just not used to the real thing.

After melting and stirring the dark and milk chocolate in (with only 3/4 of the milk left), I had a fantastic, super chocolatey hot drink. Yumm!

An office with a view

After spending the past 2 years working in offices with little to no view, my office here is a refreshing change. For the past 2 years I have either been underground, stuck in windowless rooms, or been in sight of a window which has provided a clear view of nothing more than concrete. I am told that in Denmark there is a law that every working must be within a certain distance of a window (can't remember what that distance is), but it's a great idea. My desk is on the third floor with views over Copenhagen Harbour - I don't think one could ask for any more!

Or so I thought...

Ergonomics is a bit thing in the office, and here things are taken to the extreme. Not only is the height of desks in the office adjustable, but it can go so high that many people switch from sitting to standing at their desk as the day progresses. Additionally, unlike the clunky manual systems, all our desks are plugged into the power grid so adjustments occur at the press of a button!

København - Initial Impressions

No initial photos, just some initial impressions...

I arrived in Copenhagen just over 24 hours ago. Tomorrow is my first day at the office, although I have already met one of my colleagues (who found this apartment for me and also lives downstairs). I'm looking forward to trying something new, and reckon most of my stress at the moment is focused around actually trying to find some more permanent accommodation. Hopefully with a bit of house hunting this week, I'll find something.

Arriving in Autumn here is nice enough. The weather is almost perfect (to classify as perfect I would probably add around 10'C to the temperature). It's cool and brisk outside - definitely long pants and jumper weather (and for anyone who isn't me, probably jacket and possibly beanie as well) - but the sky is clear and it's beautiful in the sun.

So far I am quite impressed with this city although there definitely are a number of areas where it falls behind the modern world...

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

Well it turns out that if you move around a German airport using a German passport, everyone talks to you in German and acts very surprised and confused when you ask them whether they speak English!

One of the great things about being in Europe though, or at least, being out of Australia, is the existence of customer service. After QANTAS giving me the shits at Perth Airport due to having one policy used by the telephone sales people, and a different policy being used by the check-in staff, I ended up with my luggage not being able to be checked all the way through to Copenhagen. And yes, it was all a single ticket purchased from QANTAS. But since I was flying SAS from Frankfurt to Copenhagen, lets just say, my luggage wasn't going to get checked through all the way. So after collecting my luggage in the rabbit warren that is Frankfurt Airport, I made my way over to check in for my SAS flight and found an extremely obliging lady at the check-in counter, who was more than happy for me to bend the rules and take a second piece of luggage as carry-on. I clearly had more than the allowable dimensions and weight - but thanks to good customer service, it wasn't a problem.

You don't mess with the Kevin

As a result of my extreme dislike of being wronged, and naturally my overwhelming desire to be a good corporate citizen, I have decided to provide a public review of my experience with the car dealer. The main aim here, of course, is to ensure no other good (or bad) residents of the ACT experience the same issues as I did. Feel free to click on the Google link in the review stating that you found it helpful.

Yup, I've been screwed

I now at least have some evidence that something useful was done in surgery a couple of weekends ago. The 2 screws in my hand actually look a bit larger than I was expecting, but oh well, as long as they do the job.

The good news is, my orthopaedic surgeon has cleared me to fly to Copenhagen at the end of the week and start work. Thankfully Denmark is a nice western country with all the trappings of a quality medical system, otherwise I would potentially be in Perth for a lot longer. So I leave Perth now on Friday afternoon and get to Copenhagen on Saturday morning, all ready for work on Monday. I have an apartment to stay in for my first 10 days there - a very trusting neighbour of a colleague-to-be is renting their place out to me while they're away for a couple of weeks. Once there, I figure it shouldn't be too hard to find something more permanent.

So after spending, what feels like many many hours, filling out medical forms, spending time on the phone to QANTAS and various other places, I am finally heading off. Although it's a little frustrating that my adventure starts with only one working hand, I can't wait to begin it!

Mini-Herbert Screws

Unfortunately, 2 mini-Herbert screws is not as fun as it may sound....

CT scan of my left hand

These screws are actually pretty neat little pieces of hardware. They have 2 different threads on them - the thread at one end has a larger pitch than at the other end. So when the screw is fully contained within a solid (or two solids in the case of a broken bone), as the screw is tightened, you get a tensile force within the screw and consequently a compressive force longitudinally through whatever the screw is in.

In my case, the substance is my left scaphoid. And in my case, I think I'll end up paying slightly more than what Bunnings may charge for these things!