Around the World in 5 Weeks

We bought tickets about and hour ago to visit HOME!! :o)

Michael will have to be in Dallas for work for about a week and a half and I'm tagging along. From Dallas we will spend some time in Lubbock, El Paso and Austin. We don't have dates for each city yet, but we will be in Texas from February 28th - March 19th. When we get back to Denmark we will spend about a week and Michael will head to Tokyo for a few days for work and I'll stay put.

Now here is the crazy part. We leave tomorrow for a week in Rome, Tuscany and Pescia and come home where we will have an evening and one full day before leaving again. YIKES!

Not sure if I'll be blogging from Italy yet or not, but check in to see :o)

Beware the Slugs!

Yesterday we went "The Irish Rover" in Copenhagen with the Texas clan and Fran (The Brazilian from Christmas) for some Guinness's. While there we started discussing about the "slugs' in Denmark that come out in the spring and summer. I told them we had a video of some of them and that when we got home I'd upload it for them, so I did, and they laughed and I figured, as long as it was uploaded, I would share it here as well.

So I now present to you, disgusting Danish Slugs.

Goodbye Winter Blues!

This has been our 3rd Danish winter, and it has been, by FAR the hardest winter yet. Back in December I started to have all sorts of very uncharacteristic things going on with me. Naturally, I had lost a lot of energy because of the lack of sun and along with that came a bunch of other things. Out of nowhere doing easy tasks like doing my hair or makeup became very difficult and VERY stressful. I would actually have to stop and breathe because I would get so irritated that I just COULDN'T do it. Denmark was becoming my enemy because I was agitated that there was no sun, it was so dark, there were so many low thick clouds, everything cost so damn much, the taxes were ridiculous, Danish seemed impossible, and the people all seemed so rude. (Which they can be, but they don't mean to be! There is no word for "please" in the Danish Language!!). There is a LONG list of stuff that was going on with me ranging from social withdrawal to a strange strong craving for bread and carbs. My symptoms were strongest around Christmas through the very start of January and then they cooled off, a lot, but they were still very much there, just not as extreme.

My number 1 priority in life above all things is my health. For me personally, I couldn't be the wife, daughter, sister or friend that I am without it. There is a huge story behind why we are both this way, but I'll save that for another time. (Please save all comments telling me that health is a stupid 1st priority to yourself. thanks.)

So several weeks ago I went to the doctor to make sure there was nothing physically wrong with me, though I had a suspicion I knew what it was and as it turns out, I was right. (Don't get your hopes up, I'm not pregnant) The doctor was incredible. He was so nice and young too and made me feel very comfortable talking about all of this, which wasn't easy for me to do, because I don't open up easily on such a personal level to people, especially someone I just met. We talked for a little while and after deciding I was most likely suffering from a mild case of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) he wanted to do some blood work on me as he suspected I was low on vitamin D as that is a common symptom of SAD. A week after that first appointment I was feeling even a little better, maybe I just needed to get it off my back to a Doc? I went back for my blood test results find out I was EXTREMELY deficient in vitamin D. They also tested my liver to make sure my body was processing the vitamin D I was getting, properly. Which it was. GOOD. :) And everything else they tested me for was great. YEA! Not surprisingly the deficiency was due to the lack of sun. The doctor told me that he could test anyone on the street and they would be low on vitamin D as this is very common. He gave me two prescriptions. One was for vitamin D pills to take twice a day and the other was for an injection. Yup, I got a prescription for an injection. That was a big difference from the states!! I had to go to the pharmacy and order my injection, then they called a week later to say it was in. I picked it up and made another doctor appointment which was for today. This morning I made my merry way back to the doctor with my injection in hand for him to stick it in my ass and give me a big 'ol dose of vitamin D. Before he did, we talked some more. I told him I have been feeling SO much better in the past two weeks. This is probably because of the newly found sun and my vitamin D pills. He told me that I didn't REALLY NEED the shot if I was feeling better, but HE really felt I needed to have it because I had one of the lowest levels of vitamin D he had seen all season. WOW! I was all for that, plus I paid 360DKK ($70) for it, so I better be getting it!! ;o) He mentioned to me that it was quite rare for someone with light skin to be as deficient as I was. I do have dark skinned blood as half of it is Mexican, but as for my actual skin color, I'm without a doubt as Michael call me, "The Whitest Mexican".

Vitamin D Injections

I go back in a month to get more blood work done and hopefully, those Vitamin D levels will have gone WAY up. If they haven't, I'll get another shot. I was also advised to start taking vitamin D pills next winter around November to hopefully avoid this again. I agreed wholeheartedly.
Like I said this is our 3rd Danish winter, and this is the first time I have ever experienced this and it really caught me off guard. Thankfully, in the past couple weeks I have started to feel really good again and like my old self. I have a month and a half of vitamin D pills left, and that should get me to spring as a happy person and by then, it will be sunny sunny sunny! Denmark and I are starting to patch things up and we are slowly becoming friends again, but we are taking it slow.

Happy 28th Hubby!

By the title I'm sure you can guess that today, is Michaels' birthday.
I welcome his birthday just as much as he does.
I love spoiling him rotten and it is the start of the 7 months a year where he stops making fun of me for being SOOOO old. ;o)

I know I posted this picture last year, but its too cute to not post again.

Michael in 1980

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

I dag er det Michael's fødselsdag

Hurra hurra hurra
Han sikkert sig en gave får
som han har ønsket sig i år
og dejlig chokolade med kager til!

The Most Beautiful Thing in the World

Blue Skies and Sun!
It's about damn time.

Danish Classes

On Tuesday we were informed that we will be starting our 3rd and final set of classes next week. This set of classes is the shortest in our series. This means, we only have 6 weeks of class left. Since it is a private class that consists of Michael, myself and our teacher, we won't miss 2 weeks while we are in Rome, they will simply be pushed back. Our projected end date is April 1st.

Danish is a very difficult language, (My Russian classes in college were about 10 times easier than Danish.) but we are right on track to where we want to be. Our main goal was simply to understand the language through listening and reading. Speaking it was our second priority and finally writing, which was placed at a very low priority.

In the 1 year of classes we have a good grasp with the language and when I need it, I use it and more importantly I'm understood. So here's to a good final 6 weeks of Danish class!

This is one of the rooms we are in every Tuesday morning from 9 - 11. It also happens to be one of the conference rooms in the building that Texas Instruments Lyngby is located.
However, TI never uses these rooms because they have their own!

My Fave Picture

This is my favorite picture that Michael took in Germany but for some reason he decided not to post it on his previous post, so I'll share it here. It reminded me so much of Tallinn, Estonia. I loved the way the roofs of the houses look so teeny tiny next to the church.

See Michael's post below for more! :)

Trip to Germany

Hi all! Some of you may remember me as that guy who posted one time about the crazy double yolked eggs. Thats right, after months of hibernation I am finally making my SECOND POST!! It wasn't really an option, I recently took a trip to Germany for work and was asked to take some pictures while I was there. Nichole and I had been to Germany before, but I was going to Munich which we hadn't seen. I fell for the trap and took pictures like I was supposed to. When Nichole saw all of the pictures that I took she decided that I could write a blog post about my trip. I have protested and procrastinated for a few weeks now (my trip started January 22nd) but eventually she won (was there ever an doubt?).

I didn't actually make it to Munich while I was gone but instead spent my time in Freising, which is just outside Munich. I spent two full days at work and was able to spend a little time wandering around the town to see what all was there. It was a small town with a pretty typical town center and main street.



There were several churches scattered through the town. The biggest seemed to be the one located up on a hill in the middle of the town. I went up the hill to get a closer look.


While on the hill I got a view of the city. It was nice to be up high and to be able to get a nice panoramic overview of the area.


I also took some walks through the town. While walking around I stumbled into some park areas that reminded me a lot of Denmark. Here we have a lot of areas that are very 'foresty' on the outskirts of the towns, in central Copenhagen there are some large parks that are nice to walk through too.


It was a good trip. I got a lot done and I got to see a nice small German town. Originally we had planned for Nichole to come with me but when we found the time for the trip and checked the ticket prices we were amazed by how expensive they were. At the time tickets to Freising were around $800 (4000DKK for our Danish readers). Too much for a short trip!

Seeing Friends a Second Time

Last Monday I got to see Marianne, Viggo and Nis again. Nis had some stuff to do in the city and so I spent the afternoon with Marianne and little Viggo. We walked around RAINY Copenhagen and ate lunch. We ate at the top of Magasin which is a big department store. They had a great little children's area. Viggo had fun :)


Last night we had Kelli and Mads over as Kelli is visiting Denmark right now, and they happened to be in Lyngby for their nephews Christening. We had fun talking about Denmark and the things we have and she has started to get use to that are different here. There is something so comfortable about spending time with other Americans living in Denmark or in Kelli's case, getting ready to move to Denmark.

Just a sunset from the other evening

Danes Love US Politics

Sometimes I think Michael and I are both wearing big signs saying, "We are American, please talk politics with us"! Lately, especially at the gym, people keep talking to us about the latest news with the primaries, caucuses, debates and endorsements. Generally we both keep out of political discussions, but talking about it with Danes, somehow seems less confrontational and less stressful. It has been incredibly fascinating to hear how much the Danes are keeping up with everything and how interested they are in the events and issues. Even yesterday I was at IKEA and helped a lady wrap some of her glassware. She asked where I was from right away and then proceeded to tell me she had been keeping up with the presidential elections and was surprised to hear that we get to vote while living abroad. Apparently Danes are not allowed to vote in their elections if they are not living in Denmark. I believe they can make a trip back and vote early, but they must vote inside of Denmark. I am very excited to be spending the rest of the election season here in Denmark. I'm anxious to hear the insights and opinions from our friends and other Danes about our political race. Not that I am going to take any of their opinions or thought into consideration when it comes time to cast my ballot, but it is really amazing to hear what an outsider thinks is best for the US of A.

It is really great for us being over here right now. We are not slammed with political ads on the tv and papers the way I know we would be if we were in the states. We do however, see stuff in the Danish paper and news (CNN, BBC, and Danish News) Daily about the election. It is great because we can get the information we need and want when we want it. This is the first time either of us have ever started following the race so early on.

Besides the current events going on now, we constantly are hearing stuff about our two most recent presidents. From the time we moved here 5.5 years ago, until now, when Danes or other nationalities besides Americans, Canadians and Mexicans find out we are from Texas, 9 out of 10 times the first thing out of their mouth is... "Oh, Bush!" and it is usually pronounced more like "Boosh". By now, it has gotten pretty old but we still give a little bitty smile and say, "Yes". Not all, but the vast majority of Danes we have spoken with LOVE LOVE LOVE Bill Clinton. He visited Denmark in 1997 and was the first American president to do so. I suppose this is where a lot of their enthusiasm from him comes from. There is a checker at one of the grocery stores I go to. The first time he talked to us and realized we were American he asked us, "Do you know who my idol is?" and we said, "who?" and he said, with the most proud voice and face, "William Jefferson Clinton". Needless to say, Danes are almost always shocked to hear that many Americans do not share their enthusiasm for the man.

We are all registered to vote now from abroad. The process was quite easy and painless. We will receive our ballots in the mail and we will mail them back as absentee ballots. Our votes will be counted in the Texas vote since it was our most recent (and only) state of residence. If anyone else is wondering how to get all registed from abroad you can find all the informtion at this website: www.overseasvotefoundation.org.