3 Texans and a Brazilian in Denmark for Christmas

Our Christmas was so nice and relaxing. We woke up in the morning and opened all our presents our families had sent to us and our gifts to each other. We have been talking about getting new knives because ours are getting really dull. Michael surprised me with new AWESOME knives and I got him some coffee cups he really liked.

For dinner we had invited Daniel and Fran over. Daniel is one of the Texas Tech Students here studying at Denmark Technical University. Fran is also a student at DTU and is from Brazil.
Fran made us "Greek Rice" from Brazil. It is a traditional Brazillian Christmas Food. It was cool to hear about her Christmas and New Years in Brazil. It is summer down there right now and she thought it was quite strange to be celebrating Christmas in the winter. She also told us about how they hang out on the beach on New Years. Ah, that sounded nice.

Of course we would have preferred to have been in Lubbock or El Paso for Christmas, but we had a really great Christmas despite that fact.

Fran and Daniel

US!

Dinner

Frans DELICIOUS Brazilian "Greek Rice"
It contains rice, carrots, pecans, raisins, and sliced ham

Æbleskivers for dessert

It was cold and windy on Christmas Day.
This is Fran and Daniel cold before they even stepped outside

Trains and Farms

Michael made it home safe and sound and recovered very quickly from his trip. It appeared he wasn't gone long enough to get use to Japan time.

I had a fun journey to the airport to get him. There are a few commuter rails here. The Regional trains, the S-tog and the metro. The metro opened up while we were living here the first time, so it is still new. Friday, a few new stations on one of the Metro lines were opening with the final destination being the airport. I thought I would take it for a change from taking the Regional Train. I got off at Nørreport station where I needed to run to a store for something and change from the S-tog to the metro line. When I got down into the track area I got a free ticket to ride half of the lines all day long and a cup of coffee given to me by people dressed in airport clothes, advertising the new line to the airport. I got as far as the end of the line before the new stations opened. So, I got off, and then had to wait a bit (about 40 minutes)for the metro train to come. I did not realize it at first, but I quickly figured out I was going to be on the very first public passenger car on this line to the airport ever! I just figured the line opened in the morning, I didn't realize it wasn't going to open till, right then! So, I was lucky enough to get on on of the cars and it was a lot of fun. While the train was above ground the streets were lined with people taking pictures of the metro passing, there were cameras flashing and people waving. I could see in many buildings lots of people were looking out their windows waving as well. Needless to say, the car I was in was jammed packed crowded! When we reached the airport, there was a band playing and lots of food and champagne. The crown prince had opened the line just moments earlier. If I hadn't have already seen him, I would have been bummed that I missed him, but since I already crossed off "see the royal family" from my list, it was no big deal! Oh, and I got a free key chain too!

A couple and their dog watching the new Metro pass by.
They took some pictures and waved as we drove off. It was the only picture I had enough wiggle room to actually take in the Metro car.

Waffle and Pancake breakfast was fun, and after Daniel and Jason left we went for a big long walk. The weather was lovely. It was overcast, but not rainy. It was cool, but not cold and the air was fresh. We wondered through the local Lyngby flea market that happens every Sunday and headed into the forest. We stopped for a bit in Brede Park.

Michael walking in the forest

We sat and rested here for a bit

An old factory

We then wondered back and hopped into Frilandsmuseet (Open air Museum). It is a pretty interesting museum. It sits on 86 acres and contains a bunch of old houses from around Denmark, Southern Sweden, and even Northern Germany from as early as 1650. Most of the houses are farms, cottages, and mills. I had been back in 2002, but Michael had not. It is not very far from us and I had been telling Michael we needed to go. When we walked though the entrance and back outside and his eyes saw some sheep grazing, I saw a smile pop on his face. The farmer in him will for the rest of his life, light up when something reminds him of his farming life. It's cute.

Sheep

Then, when we saw a bunch of old farm houses, he got a little more interested, but when we stumbled upon the blacksmith area, and walked away after spending a little time there, he said, ok, that made this whole thing worth it...and even suggested coming back sometime and spending more time there. He insists the things I see that I know he will love are crazy, but he really does always enjoy then. Silly man. ;)

This is an old farm house from Germany. All of the buildings you can go into. This was one of the few we actually went inside.

This was the basement. It was so tiny, and made Michael look like a giant!Cute truck

Michael watching wood get cut in half

If you look you can see Michael sitting on a bench

Michael

Oh and we saw pigs too!

Holy cow, that was long. I probably should have made that two separate posts. Oh well, too late now! if you made it to the end...CONGRATS! and thanks :)

Nichole the Sloth

Michael is just a few short hours form landing back in Denmark. I think he is going to be quite the sleepy bear when he stumbles out from getting his luggage. This is the first time I will actually go to the airport to "pick him up". It sounds sweet, but I have a hidden agenda. STARBUCKS! The only Starbucks in Denmark is located in the airport right in the entrance hall and just opened right before our trip to Istanbul. We haven't taken advantage of it yet, because we would rather just go through security and get our free drinks in the lounge. Can you blame us? But today, I'm going to go get my steamy cup of coffee and sit and wait for "Hubsters" to come on out. He had asked me to get him something too so when he gets to me, he will have some coffee to waken his sleepy eyes.

The 3 days he was gone went fast. I honestly didn't do much, but it was great. I hit the gym in the morning rather then the evenings which was a nice change, then spent the rest of the days doing a little important stuff, but for the most part turned into a sloth.

Wednesday my friend Sarah came over for dinner. We ate, chatted, drank tea and had a nice time.

Yesterday, I marched myself over to IKEA to get some "Halloween Supplies". We are hosting a Halloween party for some TI'ers and their families, but I needed a few more things. Now, unfortunately, I have to wait a month-ish till its Halloween time. *sigh*

I think our weekend will consist of Michael recuperating from his whirlwind trip to Japan. Then Sunday we are having the two new students (Daniel and Jason) over for a pancake/waffle breakfast. I don't I have had a pancake OR waffle in over a year, so I think my waffle iron will be happy to get to cook again.