Saturday 25 December 2010

Frostbite

Why it's dangerous to walk on the footpaths here in winter
I'm guessing the doctors probably wouldn't classify it as frostbite, but after my experience of riding a bike today (the weather app on my phone said the windchill was -17'C!), frostbite is something I wouldn't wish on anyone! Last night when riding out to my Irish Pub Christmas dinner, I wore my ski gloves, thinking that's the way to keep warm. I was sorely mistaken. So thinking that my ski gloves simply do not stop wind like my other ones, I wore my other gloves today. Boy, big mistake. They were even worse. After a 15 minute ride I could not feel any of my fingers. It was a struggle trying to get my hand into my pocket in order to pull out my phone (with a map on it), not to mention a struggle trying to work the lock on my bike and then trying to grip the zipper on my jacket to take it off when I reached my destination. It took a good 15 minutes of indoor heat before I could feel my fingers again, and 2 hours later I still had pains in the extermities. Wow! Talk about an incentive to find better gloves!

On the bright side, here are some more pretty photos of this icy weather...

Monday 20 December 2010

I've received the all clear!

Almost 5 months since the accident.
Almost 3 months since surgery.
Around 6 weeks since I've started physio.

And the good news is: my scaphoid is healing well and both the physio and doctor have given me the all-clear to go snowboarding this winter! Not something I was expecting, and not something I will be doing immediately, but good to hear the news!

Winter Wonderland

Just a few random photos from the last couple of weeks...

Sunday 19 December 2010

NOW I am integrating

Finally, I have joined the elite echelon of Danish society. I own a bike. But not just any bike, a dorky bike with a brand name that I had never heard of before, relatively simply, yet unnervingly expensive (for what it is). Two weeks after receiving the all-clear from my physio, I managed to select the most snowed in day since I have been here to get myself a bicycle. This also meant I had my first experience of riding on ice, through snow and slush, and having the pleasure (very unlike back home) of cars giving way to me!

For a country where it seems there are more bikes than people, it is crazy to think that bikes cost an obscene amount of money here. If you want a new bike, you will probably not find one under DKR 2,000. And that's for something simple (not a racer, not a mountain bike, and probably only a single gear - though in a country without hills that's not as bad as it sounds). If you want something fancy you'll pay upwards of DKR 4,000, and like any other country, you can really spend as much as you want. But the crazy thing is the cost of second hand bikes - from a shop, you'll unlikely find one for under DKR 600 or DKR 700. Not much less for a private sale. And to think that the sort of bike that I had to give away in Canberra before I left (because there was no chance of anyone paying money for it) would cost probably around DKR 800 here - that's crazy!

Anyway, I went for the cheapo option since my apartment building doesn't have underground bike parking - so a bit of rust, gears that are literally frozen in place and a slightly torn seat will just add to the character.

Sunday 12 December 2010

I am a number

A few weeks ago I finally joined the Danish brigade - I got my CPR number. A CPR number in Denmark is akin to an official identification proving that you exist, if you don't have one, you really struggle doing just about anything in this country, and I mean anything! I guess it is probably similar to a social security number in the US, but I have a feeling it is so much more important here. So I now identify myself with a 10 digit number which tells the world my birth-date and my sex. Most importantly, along with the CPR number comes an ID card which entitles you to free healthcare in Denmark (and throughout Europe), and something which I hope to make use of, free Danish lessons.

On a totally separate note, one thing so many of us expats notice here is that unlike English which is spoken in so many countries, with so many accents and variations, and there are always so many foreigners in English speaking countries speaking broken English, Danish is very strict. If you don't get the pronunciation 100% right, people seem to have no clue what it is you're on about. A perfect example of this was when I went to the bakery yesterday. I wanted to purchase some berliner kage (kage = cake). Berliners are pretty much the same as jelly donuts, but since donuts are foreign here, berliners they are. So I'm in my local bakery and I ask the lady if they have any berliner (I ask all this in English since they speak English so well). She looked at me and asked me what it is that I wanted. I said "berliner, berliner kage". Again, she just looked at me funny and implied she hadn't a clue what I wanted. She got a second person over and she repeated the word, then I repeated the word, and then the second person said, "ahhh, berliner!". Then told the first lady in Danish that I wanted berliner. However, you have to use your imagination a bit here because it's hard to convey in text - I swear that when they finally knew what I was talking about, the word they said sounded EXACTLY the same as not just what I had said, but what they had kept on repeating when they were trying to understand me! This is but one of a million examples of such an experience here...

Monday 6 December 2010

New York, New York!

Ahh, New York. I now understand why they call it the city that never sleeps, though it does definitely have a bit of a lie down on Thanksgiving Day!

I arrived in NYC on Thanksgiving Eve and was totally buggared. So after an early night I woke up before dawn to go the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a friend and her fiance`. Now I hadn't seen this friend for around 12 years when she was an exchange student in Canberra, so talk about catching up with a long lost friend. It was fantastic to catch up and relive old times (and we did so multiple times over the following 10 days) The parade itself was lots of fun - definitely something amazing for kids, but also quite nice for adults. If only from the point of view of seeing so many thousands of people out enjoying themselves (sans alcohol and drugs). We joined the throngs of people on Central Park West and watched the spectacular floats sail by, intermixed with some pretty funky marching bands (which to me really typifies America), lots of baton twirling, and a random sprinkling of celebrities.

Saturday 4 December 2010

Next To Normal

No, this blog entry isn't describing myself, nor is describing my experience of America (though the title really isn't that far off) - it's the name of a pretty awesome Broadway musical I saw last night. After finishing the week at work I wasn't sure what to do, but figured that while I've got so much theatre [in English] around me, I may as well make use of it. So off again I went to Tkts to get a ticket for a shot. At a Thanksgiving Day dinner the previous week someone recommended Next To Normal (which I hasn't heard of before). Since there were tickets available I decided to go for it (though it was a toss up over Cirque du Soleil or Mamma Mia). This show was primarily a musical with bits of dialogue scattered throughout. A relatively small cast (especially compraed to American Idiot) of only 6 plus a great on-stage band. My only gripe with the show, was that every now and then the music drowned out the singing - though thankfully this wasn't too significant and didn't happen much. Overall, I don't think I could have chosen a better show to see - it had everything: great music, excellent singing, fantastic acting, a really hard hitting storyline which although relatively emotional, was filled with some awesome comedicc moments. My overall rating: fantastic!

Thursday 2 December 2010

American Idiot

Last night I went with a couple of colleauges to see the Broadway musical American Idiot. We decided after work to go to the half price ticket booth in Times Square and just see something - I had heard something about American Idiot (can't remember what really) and knew that it was based on the Green Day album and full of Green Day music. So, off we went. I think this is one thing I could get used to in New York actually - popping down to the theatre, once a week perhaps, to catch a musical or a play...

It was a great musical with an on-stage band playing all the music. The singing and the music was fantastic, if not a bit loud and crazy at times (with perhaps the strobes being just a tad too bright!). The acting and dancing was pretty good too, perhaps not choreographed perfectly, but then again, perhaps being a punk rock style musical it's not supposed to be.