Ugg.

Michael brought back some bug with him from the states. Itchy throat, runny nose. He was sick Wednesday and Thursday and seems to be completely better today. Yesterday at about 4 I swallowed and it hurt and I thought, oh no, not me too. As much as I tried to convince myself I wasn't sick my body had a different idea and as the day moved on, I felt worse. I crashed early last night. My body feels fine, it's just my throat is killing me and I have a bit of a stuffy nose! Drinking OJ this morning felt like I was swallowing nails. At least I am not achy or feverish. It's quite rare that Michael and I are both sick with completely different tings. Hopefully he will not catch this and I won't also catch whatever he had. I will say one of the only really bad things about living abroad is being sick. That is because we can't get the same kinds of medicines here and when we can, we just aren't familiar with them. We stocked up on things like Thera Flu, Clariton, Nitequil, Vicks, etc. but there is always something we could use and don't have. A bottle of chloraseptic would have been nice to be able to run out and get, but we just can't. We generally don't get sick that often. The first time we lived here though we both got what I think was the flu twice along with several other little colds here and there. This time, Michael has already been sick twice and this is my first. I think it has something to do with being exposed to a bunch of "Euro-germs" that are bodies aren't immune to yet.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that we are back to 100% by Monday when Mary and Jason get here!!! That's only a few days away and we are SOOOO excited to have our first visitors.

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??

Dallas Smallas

So...apparently I don't really like Dallas as previously thought.
I suppose I just enjoyed a few things here. The gym and Tai Chi and the few acquaintances we had, just made it bearable. Since I have been here I have felt my energy (I know, that sounds all hippy and wierd) just sink south and it feels familiar. Simply sitting in the car my energy seems to become tainted. It's the same feeling I had been having here in Dallas around the time we moved and I was becoming happy about Dallas and sad to be moving. It has made me wonder how horrible I must have been feeling before I got to that "good"place if the "good" place now seems bad. It made me realize how being gone for the past 5 months my spirits have lifted incredibly and that life became life again and I am not just dealing with the cards dealt. So, needless to say, I'm glad we moved and I LOVE LOVE LOVE living in Denmark.

While I was in El Paso Michael had told me he really was missing home and he was really anxious to get back to his small office, morning rolls,walking to work, and spending weekends enjoying the sun on our balcony. El Paso was a blast for me. I loved being with and catching up with family and friends. but now that I'm in Dallas, I'm about ready to head back across the pond too. Dallas is humid, my hair isn't a fan and makeup just melts off my face. The traffic is ridiculous and the city is soooooo huge! Finally we found how important friends are. In Dallas, with the exception of Mary and Jason, and Chris and Fayne, we just had lots of acquaintances. In Denmark we actually have a really great handful of friends who actually enjoy the same stuff we do and who, for the most part, really "get us". It's settling to have the confirmation that yes, we were, without a doubt, meant to be in Copenhagen at this time in our lives and the things we had to give up, were worth it to have the Danish experience again. We have only been there about 5 months, but already it's so much more then our first time and we still have months and months and months to go. How did we ever get so lucky?

Whew, busy busybusy.

What a busy busy week I have had back here in Texas!! El Paso was fun, but short. Saw lots of family, saw lots of friends. It was hard to cram everyone in because during the days everyone was busy and in the evenings I had to get to as many people as I could. Thank goodness that my older brother Mark was able to skip away for lunch on Tuesday and that on Wednesday and Thursday my good friend Robert was able to babysit me. Without them I would have been bored out of my mind during the days. Friday I spent the morning and afternoon packing and cleaning and going to the airport. The week went by fast but I got to see a decent amount of my brother Joe, and My sis and her fam, and even got to spend a little time with my nephew who will be 21 in a couple months! YIKES. Of course I got to see tons of my mom and Sharon too :) I kept my dinners open to spend with them and we had lots of yummy food.

I got back Friday night and Michael and I pretty much crashed after dinner. We both had a busy week. World Tai Chi and Qigong day was on Saturday and I had a really good time there. Despite the fact that it made me really miss the Tai Chi Community here. This morning I had a lesson with Master Chen Bing who was visiting from China. He is absolutely gorgeous while doing his form work, and it was amazing to be able to train with him. He was genuinely nice as well. As you all should know, Tai Chi is really slow movements, but while training with him I was dripping with sweat. It was intense, but I certainly got a lot of great stuff from the lesson.

Michaels mom and step dad came to see us on Saturday and we spend the afternoon and evening with them as well as Sunday afternoon. It was great to see them and we were so glad that they made the drive to see us. We even got to see our old Blazer which was fun :)

Back in Texas

Hey, remember me? I use to blog here.
So where have I (we) been lately? Outside enjoying the Danish weather. The springtime is such a lovely time in Denmark. The beautiful colorful tulips and lilies all started and the trees are starting to turn green. For a while the highs were in the lower to mid 60's and we were able to walk around in shorts/skirts and short sleeve shirts. As long as the sun didn't disappear behind a cloud the weather had been perfect. The last few days we were there it started to turn cold again, but it forced us to not waste away days sitting outside drinking beer. For some reason if there is sun, there is beer flowing everywhere you look, so now, when we have a perfect sunny day, we both start to crave a nice cold Danish brew.

We left Denmark on Sunday. Woke up at the horribly early hour of 4am. I hopped in a cab and headed to the airport. My flights were both good. I landed at DFW at 6:30pm where Mary and Jason were waiting for me. They babysat me while we waited for Michael to land 4 hours later. I finally got to see Mary's new starbucks store. When we got there Mary told one of her employees behind the counter that I just came in from Denmark and to speak slowly to be because I didn't speak much English. The girl took her seriously, but the three of us started laughing before she could talk to me. Then we headed to the Olive Garden for dinner and Subway to pick something up for Michael when he got in and back to the airport to wait for Mr. Pate. Sorry did I say Mr. I meant Dr. (don't tell him I messed up) They did a great job keeping me awake though I was fading at several points. After Michael landed we drove in circles to find the front of the rental car place and finally got to the hotel at about midnight. We got up at 6 Monday morning and Michael put me in a Limousine Service to get me to the airport and Michael headed to a meeting at TI. I got to El Paso about 11:30AM and was exhausted. I was fine in the morning, but the plane ride sucked all the energy and life out of me for the entire day. My good pal Jeremy picked me up and took me to see my bro, to the store and then home where I was going to take a nap, but thinking about Michael at work with the exact amount of sleep as me in the past few days made me feel a bit guilty so I managed to stay awake all day and finally put my very tired head on my pillow at 9pm. Thank goodness I got a good night sleep last night.

So, to make that long story short, we both made it safe, sound and sleep deprived. It is a strange feeling being back in the states and knowing we don't have our home here. My ears had to get adjusted to hearing English everywhere. The first day of travelling I was surprised when people would automatically start speaking English to me. A few people I actually had to say, "I'm sorry can you repeat that" because it caught me so off guard. Isn't that ridiculous? I think I am better now though.

Queen Margrethe Turns 67

Yesterday I got to cross something off my list of Stuff to do in Denmark before we leave :)
I saw the Royal Family :o) (I know, I'm a dork)

The Queen and her family make a balcony appearance wherever they happen to be that year. This year, they were in Copenhagen, so I took my happy little self to the city to check out the hoopla. At noon there was the changing of the gaurd, which I had seen before, but the Queen wasn't in residence so I didn't get to see the band play. Obviously she was there this time, and the band did play. Then the royal family came and waved and the crowds sang to her.

It was pretty cool. Tons of people and lots of Danish flags. The police were all in good moods too and making lots of jokes. One told a girl (that started to ride though the square on her bike) that if she rode her bicycle inside the palace courtyard he would have to arrest her and take her jail. Then told her the menu in jail this week was only bread so it wouldn't be a good time to go to jail.

I Heart Google

Ok Ready Follow my instructions:

Go here: www.maps.google.com

Click on "Get Directions"

Get Directions from Dallas, Texas to Copenhagen, Denmark.

Read Line 26.

:o)

99 More Days

We pre-ordered our Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book last week. We can pick it up at midnight on July 21st. Don't know if we will or just wait till the morning, but since the book store, is literally almost right across the street from our place, as might as well throw on some shoes and go get it! :) We have always just gotten one book. I usually read it in the morning, then Michael reads it in the evenings and we both manage to get through the books in about 4 days this way. Michaels always been doing something big for school when the other HP books have come out, but this time,he will have nothing, So, we may order a second book and we will both have one. I added a countdown to the side of my page so you loyal readers could share our excitement of nearing of the final Harry Potter Book!!

Eggstra Special (First Post)

Hi all, this is Michael. Those of you who read this blog have probably heard of me, I'm Nichole's husband (the blog recluse). I actually do exist and have a vague understanding of how computers and blogs work :) I am just a little lazy about writing posts. But this weekend something so amazingly fantastic happened that I decided to forgo my usual evening sloth and spend a few minutes writing down the details of our 'egg'strodinary encounter.

It all started on Friday, Nichole and I had just come back from the gym and were going to have a quick lunch of scrambled eggs (a favorite in the Pate household). I was just about to hop in the shower when Nichole yelled from the kitchen "Michael, come here quick!" I hurried from the bathroom (fully clothed, FYI) to the kitchen to see what was happening. She had found that the egg she cracked had a double yolk (Wikipedia's thoughts on double yolked eggs). I thought this was pretty cool, I had never seen a double yolked egg before. She then continued making lunch, cracked the second egg and to our surprise it too had two yolks. This continued until Nichole had cracked five eggs, half of the package, all five had two yolks apiece!


I couldn't believe that we had found five double yolked eggs in a row. We had purchased a package of ten eggs and the first five were all double yolked! I was pretty convinced at this point that we should put the remaining five eggs on e-bay and let some one buy the eggs on the off chance they were buying five double yolked eggs (you know someone would have paid some money for them).

Saturday we went to the gym early again and then came home and decided to hard-boil the remaining five eggs to see if we could get some cool hardboiled two yolk eggs. Sure enough as we cracked the shells and cut the eggs in half, all but one were two yolk eggs.


So to recap, we bought a package of ten eggs, nine of which were double-yolked. The odds of this seem to be pretty astronomical, but there it is. I was so inspired (or high on yolkey-goodness) that I decided to write my first blog entry here! Maybe now that I have started I'll write more often, but probably not :)