But I don't wanna NOT go to the Gym!

Michael fired me from the gym yesterday for a week. :o( We usually take 1 week off every 3 months to let our bodies rest but I haven't taken my week off in probably more like 6 months. oops. Michael had a week off when he went to Japan in September but I just pushed through. The past 6 work outs I've only completely finished 2 of them without having to break in the middle or I start to not feel so great. That's generally the sign to take a break. :) The great thing is that usually after our week breaks we really kick butt in the gym when we start back. YEA! So here is the start to my lazy week!! (Though I'll still do my Tai Chi...I can't be COMPLETELY lazy)

Here are couple pictures from the pretty Danish trees this past Sunday. Already just a few days after these pictures were taken almost all the leaves have fallen off all the trees around here. I guess that means its about winter time! The weather forecast says it is suppose to snow on Sunday, but if it does, I don't think it will be anything more then some flurries. I'm thinking regardless if it does snow or not, it seems like it will be cold enough for a big pot of stew and mulled wine... YUM!

How 'Bout Them Cowboys

Nothing says, "You obviously don't belong here" like standing in the middle of the gym with your eyes glued to the last 5 minutes of an INCREDIBLY INTENSE (American) football game and no one else around even seems to care. Last night (Tuesday) Danish TV aired Monday nights Dallas Cowboys-Buffalo Bills game. We knew ahead of time that the cowboys won, but when we kept seeing how little time was left we were in disbelief that they could pull it off, and though we knew they would win... we couldn't help but stare and watch as the game got more and more intense until the last seconds. And WOW, what a game!!!!!!!!!! If you saw it, you know what I'm talking about.

Funny thing is, we aren't THAT big of NFL fans... college football though, we love. But, there is something comforting about being so far away and seeing something that reminds you of home, regardless of what it is.

Check out the last 2 seconds! The Previous 2 minutes were just as exciting!

Enjoying Copenhagen and Lyngby

I love rain. I love fall. Most years I could do without summer. But what "they" say, seems true, when all you get is rain, you get tired of it, when all you get is cloudy days, you long for the sun. I don't know who "they" are, but "they" knew what they were talking about.

This weekend was nothing short of gorgeous days of sun, sun and more sun with a slight cool breeze that made the weekend simply perfect! The air feels like fall though, but one of those beautiful warm, fall days. So we took advantage of the weekend and played tourists in our own home!

First thing we did was head to Copenhagen climb the "Rundetaarn" (Round Tower) for a view of Copenhagen. We figured, we've seen Oslo,Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Istanbul and even a couple small German villages from way up high on towers and mountain/hilltop, it was probably about time we saw Copenhagen as well. The entrance was pretty cheap (for Copenhagen standards) at 25DKK a person (about $4.50) so we thought, why not!

"Rundetaarn"
Apparently the tower part of the Trinitatis complex, and included an astronomical observatory, a student church and a university library. It was built between 1588-1648We saw the church and the library which were a decent size and quite nice. It is also the oldest observatory in Europe and is still used! At night in the winter (which is practically all day long haha) people can go up and use the telescope to see the sky.

Climbing the tower was pretty simple. The entire climb looked like this until the very end where there were about 15 steps. Not too bad. Easiest tower climb we have ever done (worst one was in Freiburg Germany where we climbed just short of 1,000 stairs in the narrowest little stairwell, in a Cathedral to get to the top of a bell tower) I was actually a little surprised to see many people huffing and puffing on their way up.

Once at the top we had an amazing 360 degree view. Knowing so many of the buildings and streets made looking at wonderful Copenhagen that much better. We could see pretty far and could even see some really tall buildings in the distance which we immediately recognized as "Høj Gladsax" , which is basically where we lived last time we lived here.


After the tower we wondered around Copenhagen. Stopped at Nyhavn grabbed some soft ice, then hopped on a boat (one that is tied up and doesn't go anywhere) for a micro-brew style beer. The city was so very full of tourists, not many Americans though. Seemed like the streets were filled with Swedes and Brits. We both have an " Årskort" (year card) for Tivoli, so as long as we were in the city we hopped in there for another beer and sat right next to the little lake in there and had a really good time. After all this, we were starving so came home and ate and rested our feet. (We actually do tire ourselves out from walking, but no one has been brave enough to stick it out long enough to see that actually happen!)

Copenhagen Street

Tivoli

Tivoli

Sunday was just as lovely if not more so then Saturday. We hit the gym in the AM which was pretty much like an old abandon town. We were the only ones in there for about 45 minutes until 4 people came and hopped on treadmills. Then there were 6 of us. Danes love the sun, I'm sure they didn't want to waste any of the weather on being indoors. I can't blame them. We were doing abs and I told Michael that at that moment, I envied their freedom of not being so ridiculously dedicated. We got out of there as fast as we could and headed for a little walk. We stopped at a bakery on the way to grab some bread (and it was the first time Michael had ever witnessed me doing everything in Danish). We headed towards something called, "Lyngby Fort" I had seen it on a map and was just a little curious what it was, so we went. To be quite honest, I'm still not exactly sure what it is, but I know it was built in 1887 -1892. It was, "interesting" to say the least. Kinda hidden behind houses, and very overgrown with growth. We climbed up to the top and ate up there.

It once read, "LYNGBYFORTET" but now, there are letters missing

Along the side

Stairs to top
View From the Top

Top of the Fort

Walking back to our place we stumbled upon a hidden treasure. A "Møntvask"!!! It is a Laundromat!! For those of you who remember months and months ago I had to start doing our laundry by hand....again.... well. I am STILL doing it that way. Long story short...our landlord sucks and we do not want to spend the money to buy a washer that we can't take back with us because they are quite pricey. ANYWAYS, so we have searched every corner of Lyngby (or so we thought) looking for one and never could find one. On our way home, somehow we ended up on a hidden curve of a street, not too far from our place, and staring me in the face was the word, "Møntvask". I grabbed Michaels arm and pulled him across the street as he was laughing knowing my pleasure in seeing this word. I haven't minded doing our laundry by hand but the sheets and towels are quite the chore, because they are so big. I think that was the highlight of the day! Today, I'll be heading down there with towels and sheets to get those all washed and I am very excited about it, as I am sure my mom and a few of my close friends are very excited for me as well!! haha.

We got back to our place about 3:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening on our balcony. Reading, drinking some wine, doing Danish homework, eating dinner....etc.

Today looks just as wonderful as the past couple days. Perhaps August will turn out to be ok after all. I'm not holding my breath just yet, but I'm closing my eyes and wishing really really hard that it keeps this nice.

Back in DK!

The rest of our time in Dallas was busy and quick. We got to see Kelly and James again at a housewarming party that they had at their place. I and we, spent a little more time with Chris and Fayne, and I got my ego blown up while we were working out at the gym one day. One of the big beefy trainers came up to me after I did a set of dips and offered me a job on the spot as a trainer at Bally's Total Fitness and he assumed I already was a trainer. I told them if they flew me in on a private jet everyday, I was in. So I must be doing something right (or at least look like I am) if I am being approached with assumptions that I could be a personal trainer! Needless to say, that made my evening.

We saw "Wicked" on Saturday and it was FANTASTIC!!! I'd go as far to say one of the best musicals out there. The story and the music were amazing and funny. The writer (of the book) and the musical did a really great job on the story. It was basically "The Wizard of Oz" from the Wicked Witches perspective. It takes place from before the wizard of oz, during the story of the wizard of oz and after the wizard of oz. If you find it near you, I highly recommend it. Worth our year wait from the time we bought the tickets and well worth heading back to Dallas to see it.

So we had a very long, very quick 2 weeks, but we are happy to be back. I must say, it's an odd feeling to walk out of an airport in another country and head "home". I walked through Lyngby with my suitcase and backpack at about 8am to our place from the train station. The city is still pretty empty at this time with just a few people walking to work. It was quite and big dark clouds started pouring water on top of me, umbrella-less I quickly found myself drenched. My backpack was super heavy and the suitcase was making loud clunky noises as I pulled it across the cobblestone street, despite all that I couldn't help but smile as I looked around our charming town and thinking, "wow, we actually live here." How amazing.

Innards, Peace and Storms

We have had a busy few days here. Tuesday Mary and I finally got a chance to hang out for a little bit. We ate lunch at the cheesecake factory and then headed to the Body Worlds Exhibit at the Science Place museum. It was really really cool. I have heard about it for a couple years now, and it has been in Dallas for a few months, and I'm really glad I got a chance to see it. All the exhibits are real preserved bodies and body parts. It was INCREDIBLE. Its not every day you see the human body sliced up long ways in 6 pieces and can examine it from both sides. They had every body part you can think of. Normal Lungs, Smokers Lungs, Brains, Hemorrhaged Brains, Livers, Livers with Cirrhosis... and so on and so forth. Being fascinated with muscles in the human body (big surprise huh?) I found it amazing to see actual muscles placed in different positions and enjoyed seeing healthy muscle, and strong muscle, old muscle, and worn muscle. If you find yourself near this exhibit ever, I highly suggest going.

Since my first Tai Chi lesson with Chen Bing from China, I've had another few lessons/classes with Chris. Now I have a ton of new material and things to work on that should keep me busy for a while after we return to Denmark. It is exciting to me, because I am finally able to start trying to break through to the next level of Tai Chi above simply the physical and more to a level of inner peace within the form. yadda yadda yadda....

We also got to go visit Kelly and James (Kelly graduated from High School with Michael) at their new house in Murphy. We had a really fun time. If we hadn't moved from Allen, we would have been practically down the street from them. That would have been really really fun.

Finally, we almost died in the gym last night. Ok, not really, but we got across the street to Bally's and a big 'ol storm started to pass through. Lights were flickering and we were all moved to the center of the room away from all the windows. The electricity went off a few times, but it passed and we got our workout in. We told each other, if we had to die, what better place to go then the gym right??

Danish Classes

This weekend, we bought a desk! Michael and Klaus will pick it up tomorrow about lunch time and bring it home. I am so excited because it means our pile of stuff, will finally have a home and we are that much closer to getting everything we need to finally live here! It seems like the entire month of January has been spent looking for things we need for this place. Moving... is NOT cheap. We have had some snow on and off but it is all melted now cuz we got some rain. Tomorrow is a big day for us, we start Danish classes. We are excited to start but the classes couldn't be more inconvenient. They are Tuesday and Thursdays from 6:50 pm - 9:15. Who on earth starts class at 6:50..... !!! 5:45 ok, cool... 7:00 cool, 7:15 cool. but 6:50? stupid. The classes are in a town called Hellerup. We looked at a flat there on our house hunting trip. It will take us about 20 minutes to get there between the walk from our place to the station, the train ride to the town and then the bus ride to the place. We probably wont be getting home till about 10:00pm I am guessing. Ok, so really the classes aren't THAT bad, but when your top priority in life is getting to the gym, things like these become HUGE inconveniences. So Starting tomorrow we have to get up a little earlier, hit the gym before Michael goes to work. Its going to be a LOOONG day. I know, most would say we are crazy and we don't really need to go lift weights that much, but its become almost an addiction for us. (I can think of many many worse addictions then the gym though) and while I know it irks most of our friends that we are always there, it makes us feel good and have a sense of dedication to something. Ok, wow, didn't mean to go off on that...

here are some pictures from Sunday:

Me on our Balcony.

Michael on the church grounds in Lyngby. The yellow building is the Mill. Thats right, we live in a town that has a mill. You can even go there and buy fresh stuff like Muesli!!

Me in the Church Grounds

Michael ready for dinner

Is That One of Those Euro Texas Shirts?

The day we got our furniture, our second order of business after buying lamps, was finding a gym. I'm sure that doesn't surprise anyone, and if it does, clearly you don't know enough about us and need to read this blog more often!!!!!

We had two gyms in mind, but decided on one called, "First Fitness". It is owned and run by a couple British guys who might I add are actually very very nice and incredibly friendly. When we first went to talk to them about their plans and look at the place, one of the owners said flat out, with a very confident face "This is the best gym in all of Denmark" we couldn't help but immediately be drawn to his British accent, confidence and humor as well, he made us laugh several times. The gym itself seems to be great. The equipment is in excellent condition, and it is always very clean. The locker rooms are some of the nicest I have seen in a gym. The downfall is that they don't have the quantity of equipment we are used to and the weights don't go as high as Michael usually uses. We decided that was ok though. It will be a good reason to be a little easier on Michaels joints for a year or so depending if when the year is over, we decide to renew at the same gym.

Anyways, Tuesday night, I was talking to the owner to give him our address for his records and he introduced us to a guy who was also at the desk. He said, here is a fellow American. We had seen him previously in the gym and were pretty sure he was American when we heard him speak. I started chatting with him as I waited for Michael to finish changing. Naturally he asked where we were from, I said, Texas. He was from Oklahoma City. (small world huh Amanda?) He mentioned that he had seen Michael wearing a shirt with the state of Texas on it the other day and wasn't sure if we were FROM Texas or if it was just one of those "Euro Texas" shirts. It made us laugh and laugh because we knew exactly what he was talking about. When we where here last time TONS of shops sold stuff with American flags on them. I suppose the flag was trendy here then? I'm not sure, but we use to call them "Euro American" shirts. He is working for a company here and has been here about 3 months. He seems to be probably about..24-25ish. Apparently he came to Denmark with his company mostly for the opportunity to live abroad and told us he wasn't able to go abroad during college because he had a girlfriend the whole time. later Michael told me he really wanted to say, "I don't know what thats like" because of the tiny fact that he would have been in some DEEP TROUBLE had he not gone abroad and taken me with him. He seems like a really nice guy and someone can get along with. So perhaps we already have a gym friend.

One final thing, my comment section on my previous post is actually more entertaining then the post itself! My loyal readers are now making me laugh.. thanks guys :o)