Blog Spring Cleaning: Dansk Progress, Monkey is Two, Fashion Fails, Irondad Prevails

TV/Midt-Vest visit

In January, my classmates and I passed the test to move to Module 3. Now in addition to our regular classes, we have a group project element in which we make presentations on a central theme. This is a combined effort with Module 4, and we have just begun our second project--Media in Holstebro. My team chose TV, so I arranged for us to visit TV/Midt-Vest, the regional TV station, last week. We were all pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable and interesting it was. We got a personal tour by the redaktionschef through the news rooms and studios, and she graciously sat with us for a short interview. We will give our presentations in a couple of weeks. 

In February, I took the first Dansk Prøve, a test which is required for those on 'Family Reunification' visas. There is only one testing location for the entire country, so it was a very convenient 3 1/2 hour drive for us. I'm still waiting for the results, but the test was easy. 

Monkey Baby turned two in March, so she's not really a baby anymore. But she's definitely still a monkey. She's funny and frustrating and totally charming. Her English and Danish are both developing quickly which is completely fascinating to me as one raised mono-lingually. Currently trending is 'ikke' (not) with everything: 

'Daddy henne?' (Where's Daddy?)

'Daddy's in the living room opening the curtains.'

'Nej, mama, ikke curtains.'

'Well, he is opening the curtains.'

'Ikke curtains!'

'Take it up with Daddy.'

'Time to get ready for bed, Monkey.' 

'Nej, ikke bed.' 

'Yes, and then we'll read some books.' 

'Nej, mama, ikke read books!' 

'But you love books!' 

(pause) 'Yaaaay books!'

So that's fun.

Påske is everywhere right now. Easter. There are familiar themes of eggs and chocolate bunnies, and the ad magazines are full of offers on legs of lamb and pickled herring. 

Easter dresses, c. 1987

This morning my choir sang for the Palm Sunday service out at Mejrup Kirke. Even though I've been to church here before--and to this church in particular--I still decided to wear high heels, dress slacks, and a dry-clean-only top. It must be something ingrained. Growing up, we always dressed up for church. But today, I felt a little out of place in a sea of sensible shoes and no-nonsense attire. 

This is not the first time I've felt inappropriately dressed at an event in Denmark, so I'm considering generating a chart which details occasions and clothing options that can be cross-referenced with times of day.

• Evening birthday in a garden tent: casual with sweater
• Afternoon birthday: nice casual, take along practical shoes for a forest/beach walk
• Confirmation with a nursing infant: squeeze into that one black dress and hope for the best
• Confirmation at a golf resort: GO SHOPPING
• Church: freely choose any of the frumpy clothes in your closet

It's a work in progress.

To finish my spring cleaning, I need to mention my dad. He pops up in my writing now and then, often in conjunction with athletic achievements, and his latest accomplishment is the Melbourne Ironman. 

As with his first Coeur d'Alene Ironman, there was a bit of drama. There was a trip to the ER to deal with recurring gut blockage caused by the radiation several years ago. There was morphine and an IV drip. There was a mad dash to the airport directly from the VA hospital. There was a recurrence of bronchitis. There was dehydration. Ultimately, there was an Ironman, and his name is Dwight Schuh. 

He finished sixth out of seven in the 70-74 age group, sticking it out to the end with fellow American Richard Weinbrandt who came in seventh with 1 1/2 lungs following a lung infection and surgery in December 2014. To quote my sister, 'Sounds like the old guy division isn't for wimps.' You can say that again.

Sorry you didn't get your Kona qualifier, dad. We still think you're alright.

I Can't Escape Black Friday, and the Gloom Settles In

My winter coziness

A week or so ago I went out to Bilka to do some shopping and was horrified to see large posters advertising Black Friday sales. Black Friday. In Denmark. It wasn't just contained to Bilka either. It was everywhere. It has actually become an event here. The black cloud of American retail greed and consumer excess has invaded the peaceful gloom of Scandinavian winter. They could at least have the decency to import Thanksgiving Thursday as well, don't you think?

Speaking of gloom, the sun is currently rising after 8am and setting before 4pm. If it's cloudy, the daylight hours are even shorter. The Danish way of coping is to light lots of candles and create coziness in a variety of ways. I am attempting to do this by decorating for Christmas, playing Christmas music, and baking.

And so life chugs along. Happy Holidays to all.

Christmas, Singapore style

As I mentioned in my previous post, Singapore recognizes holidays from several major religions, Christian being no exception.  Shortly after the Deepavali lights in Little India came down, the 'Christmas in the Tropics Festival' lights and decorations went up.  The 27th annual Orchard Road Christmas Light-Up, a major showpiece of the festival, stretched for several kilometers from Tanglin Mall down Orchard Road, and this year's theme of 'Starlit Christmas' was dazzling.  Past themes have included 'A Fairytale Christmas' and 'The Enchanted Garden'.  Eleven buildings this year competed in the 'Best Dressed Building Contest'.

The theme of 'Starlit Christmas' was represented by three sections of lights in pink, blue, and purple to signify peace, joy, and love.  The Singapore Tourism Board website expounded on the color theme:

 "Tiffany & Co. is thrilled to be part of Singapore’s annual Christmas Light-Up which is the highlight of the country’s efforts to celebrate the Holiday season of joy and giving. The blue theme and the blue-accented Tiffany Christmas trees along Orchard Road will serve to enhance our central message of Joy and how Tiffany has sought to enrich the lives of its customers with enduring gifts of extraordinary beauty. All our stores throughout the city will also glow in blue with the thematic window displays, echoing that blue is the color of dreams,” said Ms Hew Yee Min, Managing Director of Tiffany & Co.

The blue section along Orchard Road will see Tiffany & Co.’s three 8 metre-high Christmas trees decked in the iconic Tiffany blue boxes and white bows to mark the magical moments this Christmas.

One night in mid-December, MH and I took our cameras down to bask in the neon glow.  As this was an occasion for both photography and shopping, the Singaporeans were out in force.  After a dinner of delicious dumplings at Din Tai Fung, we strolled along shoulder to shoulder with the locals and enjoyed Christmas, Singapore style.

Melaka, Malaysia, Sept. 10-12

-Melaka Trip Album Link

This was a holiday weekend, so we should have known better, but still we waited way too long to book our trip. An island beach getaway was out of the question, the travel agents all but laughing at my enquiries. We finally settled on the UNESCO World Heritage City of Melaka. With no roundtrip coach tickets, no roundtrip train tickets, and almost no hotel rooms available, it didn't look hopeful. I waded through countless schedules and timetables and booking sites. I even stuck a toe into the unfamiliar waters of telephoning companies without websites only to have 'ticket finish', 'no more, lah', and 'fully book,' ring in my ears. I finally found two remaining seats on a coach to Melaka (the most expensive company), a room in a nice looking guesthouse (so, what's the catch--cockroaches? filthy sheets?), and train tickets back to Singapore, 2nd class only (train station located an hour out of Melaka).

The coach ride was efficient and uneventful. Our guesthouse turned out to be clean and comfortable and ideally located. And Melaka itself was very enjoyable. We stuck mainly to the historic sites and the night/weekend market. A note if you decide to walk to the Portuguese Settlement: it's roughly 7km from downtown (farther if you at first go to St. John's Fort, jig through a small neighborhood on the way back to the main road, and then miss the large sign saying 'Portuguese Settlement'), and it's not all that interesting. We concluded that at far as traditional villages go, Kampung Morten just north of downtown is where it's at. Needless to say, we took pictures of every single sign that said 'Morten'.

The train home was more eventful than the coach. Firstly, it's an hour by taxi to the train station (RM 50, maybe less if you're a good negotiator). Secondly, it doesn't really matter how far the train station is if you're told when you arrive that even though you have a booking code, you don't have a reservation. After some wild gesturing, loud excited verbal exchanges, several phone calls (I'd like to think that I wasn't rude, but I'm not sure that the KTM agent on the other end of the line would see it that way), and one big refusal by me to accept that I didn't have tickets on the fully booked train, I stood happily with two first class tickets to Singapore. It turns out that where my original booking agent had told me to pick up the tickets two hours before departure, she should have told me to pick them up twenty-four hours before departure. Since we had not done so, and since there is no pre-pay system, they had simply let the reservation go. I don't know how they got us seats on a full train, but they did, and I can only compliment KTM customer service, if not their booking system. The train was old and dingy, even in first class, and the air-conditioner was set on 'deep-freeze', but we got home, and that was certainly better than not getting home.

Highly recommended for a weekend trip.

Xian, Chinese New Year 2010, Shaanxi Province, China

This was our last trip before leaving China. We really wanted to see the terra cotta warriors, and it turned out to be a really good choice. In additions to the warriors, we saw a tomb, a hotsprings, Wild Goose Pagoda, and a little bit of the city. Of course being in China for Chinese New Year meant alot of fireworks and celebrating. I especially enjoyed watching people send flame-powered paper lanterns soaring into the night sky as wishes for good luck. I wonder how the men are faring whose lantern flew into a tree and caught fire.

-Xian Album Link

Chinese New Year 2009 - Idaho and San Francisco

Christmas 2008, Beijing

Christmas this year was quiet yet lovely. We both worked on Christmas Eve, and I worked on Christmas Day. Even so, we still found time for crispy skin pork roast and everything to go with it, presents, card games, Schuh family chili, and just some good time together. We missed our families, but we are looking forward to visiting the Schuhs here in the coming Chinese New Year holiday.

Everland, February 6th, Lunar New Year

As Morten would probably rather watch paint dry than go to an amusement park, I knew my only chance of going to Everland during the Lunar holiday was a 'pretty please' and batting eyes. I think it was the angelic smile I finished with that swayed him. So anyway, on a sunny, freezing cold February day, we drove out to Korea's idea (rip-off?) of Disneyland for some childish fun. I had a grand old time, and Morten had a grand old time watching me act like a five year old on a sugar high.

Christmas in Idaho, December 2007

Morten and I went our separate ways for Christmas this last year. While he headed off to Denmark, I boarded a plane for Idaho. It was a very short ten days, but it was great to see the fam. I did some whirlwind shopping, Emily and John helped me clean out 'the dreaded storage unit', mom slipped on the ice and broke her wrist, and overall it was just a good old Schuh family Christmas.

Thanksgiving in Seoul, November 2007

This was my first year cooking Thanksgiving dinner completely by myself, and it was also Morten's first year eating Thanksgiving dinner. It was pretty simple, but here in Korea, simple American food is often complicated and expensive. We decided, however, that the $50 turkey and full day of cooking were worth it.

New Year's Eve, Seoul

I kicked off the New Year and a week of vacation with Aniva and some of her friends in Seoul. After dinner we went to a tropically themed place which boasted heated sand floors and basket chairs hanging from the ceiling. When our feet started getting a little too toasty, we tried another club, but it was very crowded and had 'no vibe'. As it was nearing midnight and we didn't want to be wandering the streets for the countdown, we gave up on trying to find a place that wasn't bursting at the seams and shoved our way into a very happening little club just off the Itaewon strip. I survived the champagne hose-down at the count of midnight, the loud pulsating music, and the shoulder to shoulder crush of people, but I did not leave the club without a severe case of sensory-overload. Morten and I said our goodbyes within the midnight hour to spend the first moments of 2007 in a slightly less chaotic--though far from peaceful--environment. A very strange mix of Koreans, American military personnel, English teachers, businessmen and other various foreigners filled the streets to send 2006 to the history books. Before we called it a night, Morten bought me some flowers from the roving flower lady. I think it's the strangest New Year's Eve I've ever had.

Christmas Weekend, Seoul, December 23rd-25th

Though I spent my Christmas without family and decorations, it did not pass without friends and holiday cheer.

Saturday:

Morten and I headed out early in the afternoon to do some shopping. Our first stop was Hanam Supermarket, a small grocery good for foreign foods. Next stop was the tool market to get a present for a friend of Morten's. E-Mart was next, and I'm pretty sure at least a third of Seoul was there with us. In typical Margie style, I hadn't decided on my Christmas Eve menu yet, requiring me to finalize it while we were shopping, and while I did get everything I needed, I also got a nice headache to go with my groceries. I nearly had a meltdown after we had already paid when I remembered I had wanted to find a game of UNO. Morten took one look at me and sent me to the car with the bags while he ran up a level to look for the game (he came back with LOBO 77). With the dirty work under our belts, we made for Itaewon to check on a suit Morten's having tailored, and I got measured for some shirts of my own at the same time. By that time we were ready for some refreshment, and what could be better when out with a Dane than Danish hotdogs at Steff Houlberg. I couldn't resist a picture of my Danish hotdog, and I took a picture of my food too! After a little more browsing around Itaewon (hooray for cheap street socks!), we headed home to finish the evening with presents for each other. Morten got me decorative glass candle holders with white tapers, and I gave him a couple of framed prints from digital pictures he'd taken of fall foliage.

Sunday:















During the lazy afternoon, I decided to try making sugar cookies with no recipe and a tempermental oven. They weren't that great, but they weren't horrible either--Morten kept snagging them as he was getting ready for his Christmas Eve dinner. He left around 3:30, and I started preparing my own dinner. I had chips, salsa, sour cream, Danish cheese (of course), dill pickles, and olives for snacks, all things not readily available in Gangneung. I made salad with feta cheese, mashed potatoes, and salmon for the main course. Liz called around 5:30 saying she didn't know where she was. Well, I said, how did you get there? 'I don't know.' Where were you before? 'I don't know.' Are you near the subway? 'I don't know.' Can you find something you recognize? 'I don't know.' Um, well, good luck... Finally I got enough information to help her and continued with dinner prep. She showed up at 6:30 in a very bad way, chiding me for not warning her about the hills. I apologized and got her some water, but in my defense, my directions said the phrase 'up the hill' at least three times. After her pulse went down, we had a nice time eating snacks and watching Mythbusters while we waited for Aniva to arrive. We first met Aniva, who lives near Seoul, through our now departed Australian friend Judy (not dead, just not in Korea), and we've hung out with her several times (see October, Chuseok). She's exuberant, extremely blunt, and tells a great story. She showed up just before eight and joined in the snacking. Around 9:30, I threw the salmon in a pan, the girls set out tableware and the sidedishes, and we sat down for Christmas Eve dinner. The fish was delicious. After dinner, we broke out a pack of cards and played several games. We even played several rounds of LOBO 77 with the help of English instructions printed from the internet. The girls said goodnight in the early hours of Christmas morning.

Monday:

I just happen to be talking to Morten as I'm writing this, and I have asked him to dictate to me some thoughts about Monday. Here is what he says: "Long walk. Crowded Seoul. Actually, real crowded Seoul." Ah, the simplicity of the male mind... Now here's my version. It was a beautiful and cloudless though slightly hazy day. We bundled up in the afternoon for a Christmas Day walk and found extremely mild weather. I had to doff my scarf and gloves as we walked up some trails on Namsan mountain. We walked all the way to Seoul Tower, found alot of other people on the same Christmas Day date, then took our time on the long staircase down the other side of the mountain, sharing a bag of popcorn on the way, and eventually wound up in Myeongdong, which I think is considered part of downtown. I couldn't believe the number of people out shopping, packing the streets shoulder to shoulder. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced on Christmas. We jostled and shoved our way around for awhile then popped into Lotte World to take a look at something we'd seen in the Armani store the previous weekend. After going around and around on six different levels several times each, we gave up trying to find it, thinking that either the store had been moved, we were crazy for thinking it was there in the first place, or we had been sucked into some sort of Lotte World black hole shopping vortex. It was dark by the time we exited, and the whole place was lit with thousands of lights and beautiful decorations. Traffic was at a standstill so the subway looked pretty inviting, and fifteen minutes later, we were back in Itaewon, trudging on weary feet up, up, up the hill. We whipped together some great leftovers for dinner, and then I was back on the subway and then on the bus and on my way back to Gangneung, having had a lovely first Christmas in Korea.

Trails at Namsan

Lookout with Seoul Tower in the background
Downtown Seoul
Crowded streets of MyeongdongLotte World SupermarketOutside Lotte WorldHana Bank, covered entirely with green fringeEuropean Christmas TownThe amazingly clean Seoul subwayStill smiling after a long day

Santa Event, December 22nd

We asked Mark, another Mark, to come to our school Friday morning to play Santa for us (a Korean Santa was apparently not believable). Our kids sang for him, then he gave them each a present that had been sneaked in the previous day by the parents. Even I got a present from Santa, so it was fun for all, except when I had to clean up all the wrapping paper.