Texas Tour - Dallas Take 1

We have a pretty good little schedule set up for us here in Dallas. We wake up between 5:30 and 6:00 and drive over to the TI gym. When we are done there we come back to the hotel, Michael takes a shower, we eat breakfast and I take him to work. Then my days start. I have been incredibly busy (until today) during the days. I've been shopping to stock up on stuff like cheap shaving cream, medicines, shampoo and other odds and ends. Mary took 2 days off this week so we could hang out and have some good 'ol fashioned best friend time. Michael finishes up work between 5:00-6:00 and everynight since we got here, we have had something going on and people to see! It's been a whole lot of fun!

Monday night (AKA. Snow Night) we saw Kelly and James. Kelly and Michael have known each other since they were little and graduated high school together. I've known Kelly since our freshman year at Tech. While we were living in Dallas we found her on "Myspace" and discovered she was living in Plano not to far from where we were living. Her and James were married shortly after we got back in touch. They are such a sweet and fun couple and we all get along great. We meet them for some drinks and lots of laughter.

Kelly and James

Mini Cooper Pirate Reunion
complete with hook, eye patch and parrot

Cold Outside

Tuesday Mary and I met at the Galleria for lunch and shopping, though the only thing either of us bought was makeup that was desperately needed. So maybe it was more for lunch and "window shopping" . We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe . I had been craving a greek salad and got one that completely satisfied that craving. It was delicious. For dessert Mary got a huge strawberry shortcake! We went into the little Art Gallery at the Galleria and saw some work by a guy named, "Robert Deyber". His stuff was amazing and hilarious at the same time. All of his work was paintings of play on words.

Mary and her strawberry shortcake

Another Cock and Bull Story

My Ass is on the Line

Screw Up

Mister Klaus is Dallas too and Tuesday we went to eat dinner with him. Klaus always seems to be in the same places as us. When we are in Lubbock, so is he, when we are in Dallas, so is he, when we are in Denmark, so is he. You get the idea! We went to a really cool place called, "Love and War in Texas" If you are going to be in Dallas, this is a place to check out. It was so sterotypical Texas and really made us happy to be there. The waiter was completely Texan and the atmosphere perfect. I had brisket, Michael had a steak and Klaus had roasted wild boar. I forgot how kick ass Texas food is. YUM! We got some Shiner Black's as well and were VERY surprised when they brought us out 3 glasses of Euro sized beers. Euro sized meaning the huge glasses you see people holding when they go to Germany. Thats right, we had liter beers for only 6 bucks!!

Texas flag with a dried yellow rose

Everything really is bigger in Texas!

Klaus showed his Texas colors by being the ONLY one of us to clear our plates!
Good Job Klaus!

Michael showed his European Colors by being the only one to finish his beer!

The weater is OK. I can walk around in short sleeves comfortably one minute, and the next it is FRRREEEEZING! I'm so not use to this. I don't think I miss Texas weather. I'll be surprised if I make it to the end of the trip without getting sick!!

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??