Are they coming or going?

Thanks to Hans for these photos taken Saturday morning as the team said their goodbyes at the airport.

Things I’ll Always Associate with Denmark

As I wait for my daughter, Andee, to join me in Denmark, I’ve had some time to reflect on my GSE time here. There were so many moments to remember and I’m happy I spent time journaling so I can recall them. But these things seemed to stand out for me. I’m not the blogger the others are – not sure why the photos behave like they do…

1. Bicycles. During our first few days in Copenhagen I was blown away by how many bicycles were being used for transportation, not recreation. They were everywhere. There are special lanes for them that include their own traffic lights and even railroad crossing arms. It’s overwhelming in Copenhagen, but it’s common everywhere. And I loved the days our team got to ride bikes. 

At the train station in Solroed

A side street in Copenhagen

 

Our bikes at the island of Omoe.

The bike lanes have their own traffic light.

2. Blonds. There are so many absolutely gorgeous people here, but I’ve never seen so many blonds in one place. Beautiful tow headed children and equally blond parents. Steve has commented about how noticeable blonds are in the US; since they are in the minority they stand out. Maybe I’m more noticeable here!  

   

3. Windmills. Actually all alternative energy, but the windmills are most visible. I’ve seen a biogas factory (scheet factory), Chinese solar panels, windmill blades being manufactured, homes powered by Hydrogen stored from excess energy from windmills, and other leading edge energy research in western Lolland. But I found the windmills dotting the landscape every few miles or so really pretty.

Windmills here and there

 

Windmills in the sea

Windmills dot the sky

Windmills up close.

Scheet tank.

Scheet truck.

Hydrogen heats homes.

4. Beautiful, very old farms. Of course the perspective on “old” is immediate when visiting Europe, but the way the old farms have been maintained and often put back into use for something else impressed me. I was fortunate to stay in a few – even had one to myself for a few nights! The old buildings are neat, painted and usually very big. Many have been remodeled and have that Danish design feel inside, so the contrast with the very old building and the modern feel inside is cool. But even better is the way young families who are inheriting these farms are finding a way to put them back to work. Sometimes as a farm, but often with a twist, such as the organic dairy we visited. Or the microbrewery. Or even Borreby Castle that is restoring a building to use for theater productions.

Borreby owner Joaquim

 

Borreby Castle

 

Patrick at his Krenkerup microbrewery

Just a small one to go

Brewery on the farm

Susanne at the Knuthenlund dairy

Knuthenlund Kid

You can watch them milk the sheep and goats

5. Gardens. Or maybe it’s the fresh food. But the flowers, too. Many times, the food on my dinner plate was in the ground or on the bush or tree just hours or even minutes before I ate it. Now that’s fresh food! But there were flowers blooming everywhere outside and several bouquets of fresh cut flowers inside. 

6. Danish. No, not the pastry, the language; actually the three extra vowels. I was OK with the æ (ae), and even the å (aa) most of the time. But the ø (oe) remains a mystery. (My friend, Joe, thinks it was Garrison Keeler who said the ø was the international symbol indicating no native English speaker can pronounce it correctly.) Maybe I just don’t hear well enough any more to get the sound, but as I tried to pronounce it differently until I got it, I was always a bit surprised when the response was “that’s it!” I really couldn’t tell I’d said anything different from the other half dozen attempts. I love listening to it, though, and won’t give up. 

3 extra keys just right of P and L

7. Candles. It seemed there were always candles burning. And plants in the windows. And fresh flowers in my bedroom and around the house. I remember when my friend, Trish, told me fresh flowers were not a luxury, they were a necessity. Maybe she’s part Danish. The real impact, though, is the contribution it all makes to that special feeling and atmosphere described by the Danish word, hyggelig. The best English translation we were given was “cozy”, but that really doesn’t fully describe it – it’s much more than just the things, it’s glad for being together, too. I can’t really put it into words, but I will never forget it. And I know our entire GSE team will also remember it forever.

Candles and flowers

Candles

Who needs electricity?

Time to say farewell!

Last night was our final presentation with the Gorlev Rotary Club.  While I can’t speak for everyone on the team, I can say that it was by far my worst presentation.  There were many tears shed, which makes it very difficult to give a presentation.  I would like to suggest to future teams that you save the sappy, sad stuff until the end.  It was a very emotional night for all involved since our time here in Denmark has come to an end.  We must say farewell to our Danish Family.

Over the last 4 weeks I’ve learned many valuable lessons:

1. Herring is not so good!

2. It’s impossible to come to Denmark and not drink beer or Snaps!

No seriously, this has been the trip of a lifetime; I have met many wonderful people!  To all my host families, thank you so much for all that you did for me.  Every family is very special to me and I will keep in touch with all of you.  To all the GSE coordinators, thank you for putting together a fabulous trip.  I know that you put many long hours into our visits.  I’ve enjoyed every experience; including herring.  Had I stayed in Kansas, I would never know that I really didn’t like herring; now I’m a better person for know that I really don’t like herring.  To my GSE team members, thank you so much for sharing this experience with me.  I love each and every one of you. I couldn’t imagine spending the last 4 weeks with anyone else (other than family)

As a recap, I have picked out some of my favorite pictures of the trip; I hope all our viewers enjoy.  Thank you for all the love and support that you’ve given us over the last 4 weeks.

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Last Blog

I told some people that I wasnt going to blog anymore but I will do one more.  Tonight is our last night and we leave in about 8 hours to head to the airport.  It is going to be a very long day for some of us.  If everything goes right 4 of us will be on the move for 23 hours.  Thats not counting the delays and unexpected flight changes that I hope wont happen but probably will.  This last month has been so great.  For anyone watching that hasnt had the chance to do a study like this, you need to try it.  It is by no means a vacation.  From the day we landed till now we have been on the move.  There has been something new to learn and see and do every day for the last 28 days.  To think that 28 days ago I knew nothing about Denmark other than Danish pastries, and now I feel like a little part of the country.  There is so much that I am bringing back and hoping I can use in my work and everyday life.  Plus there have been so many people that I have met and contacts I have gained.  I have a stack of business cards almost as large as the cards I took over.  I will never forget the people I have had the chance to meet.  Maybe one day someone from here will come wisit, yes wisit, us and we can show them a little piece of America.  The typical Danish person goes to the coasts but I think we have shown that the middle of the country is worth seeing.  For now I am off.  Thank you to everyone in Denmark and in Kansas for supporting us on this journey that we will never forget.  There were six of us on this trip but hundreds that helped us through.

28 Things I Didn’t Know 28 Days Ago

1.  I didn’t know how to say anything in Danish other than “Tak!” which means thanks.

2.  I didn’t know eating with both fork and knife was required and that you were considered rude if you put your knife down.

3.  I didn’t know I could stand to drink hot tea if I added milk and 6 sugar cubes.

4.  I didn’t know how to upload a video to Youtube.

5.  I didn’t know some of my all-time favorite English words were: wideo, yacket, wisit, Yan, wikings, and of course… scheet.

6.  I didn’t know eel was edible.

7.  I didn’t know I could ride a bike for 5 straight hours.

8.  I didn’t know I could take the legs, heads, and eggs off a shrimp, eat it, and not throw up.

9.  I didn’t know line dancing was popular in Denmark.

10.  I didn’t know that Hansen meant Danish and Hanson meant Swedish.

11.  I didn’t know that it was possible to have the sea near you at every single turn!

12.  I didn’t know I could survive so long on one pair of jeans.

13.  I didn’t know how clever Danish furniture could be.

14.  I didn’t know that 5 weeks of vacation could be required.

15.  I didn’t know what pickled herring was.  (could have lived without knowing)

16.  I didn’t know rain could start and stop so many times in one day.

17.  I didn’t know that you could show male genitalia on network television on a Sunday afternoon, and say the “F” word on the radio.

18.  I didn’t know how global Rotary International was… yes, I know the name kind of indicates that – but it really is!

19.  I didn’t know I could live so long without seeing my family.

20.  I didn’t know that the people of Denmark were so kind and generous.

21.  I didn’t know that there were places in the world where it’s normal to speak three languages or more.

22.  I didn’t know how comfortable cowgirl boots could be.

23.  I didn’t know how gigantic wild rabbits could be.

24.  I didn’t know there were civalized countries in the world who didn’t use air conditioning.

25.  I didn’t know that meals could last for 5 hours.

26.  I didn’t know that Burger King could taste so good after you’ve been away from it for a while.

27.  I didn’t know I could love my host families as quickly as I did.

28.  I didn’t know that the people I met on May 6th at DeAnn’s house would become my family just a few months later.

Happy Birthday Steve Strickler

From those of us here in GSE Land, we’d like to wish Steve, our favorite dairy farmer, a very happy 29th birthday.

Three Questions with a GSE… Bailey Stiggins

Well, it’s time for part 6/6 of our Three Questions interview.  It was only appropriate that I conduct and partcipate in the interview.  : )  Sorry, it’s so long, but I like to talk.

Bailey and Jan heste fart.

We are in the last leg of our journey by arriving in Gorlev today. The wind was too strong for our sailing trip. The swells were up to 2 meters with huge white caps. So, we took a short walk to some local art studios then went home with our hosts. Bailey and I however got a special treat. Bailey’s host, Soren, called some friends who have Icelandic Horses to see if we could come ride (heste fart/travel by horse). She agreed and we left enthusiastically. Well, at least I was enthusiastic. Bailey was not so sure as she recounted the last time she rode and was bucked off a horse. She did just fine however and even mastered the turret (spelling?) which is what the Danes call the fast gait that these great little horses can smoothly cover ground. I was in Dansk heaven and could have stayed out there all day, but our 30 minute trek will have to do for now. I will be ready to ride my horses with my friend Chris when I get home! (Thanks for giving Bandit a kiss for me, Chris, and thank you honey-Stan- for taking care of the other two.)

A big thank you to Henriette Roved of Roved Horsemanship and Turredning for taking us out on their wonderful Icelandic Horses!

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Three Questions with a GSE – Jan Jones

Viewers, due to the fact that we chose to ignore the sign that said you must be 12 years old or younger to ride the fake horse at the Medieval Center, Jan’s video had to be stopped halfway through.  Please click through both videos to hear the full story.

Also, with all the chaos, Jan (or Yan) was worried she had been cheated into only 2 questions.  Thus, the end of this wideo is a little different than normal.  We were both flustered by the situation, and a Rotarian was telling us to hurry up because we were about to miss the performance.  It really wasn’t the best time to squeeze in an interview… but we tried.  : )

Three Questions with a GSE – DeAnn Sullivan

Hello faithful followers!  We only have a few days left here in the DK, and don’t worry – we will get everyone’s Three Questions interview posted before we leave.  Cross my heart.

For now, I will post DeAnn’s.  Now, just a little background info on DeAnn before you watch this – she is in love with all things that have to do with dairy farms, including their farmers.  DeAnn has been dating the man she refers to during introductions as “her favorite dairy farmer” for quite some time.  Needless to say, Steve comes up a lot in conversation.  We couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to interview DeAnn than to trap her with some ice cream, or “is” for our Danish viewers.

*Quick side note, I mispronounced “is” in the wideo… yes, wideo.

*Additionally, I forgot to say that DeAnn will first “love on her family” but she does intend to do that first and foremost upon her arrival into Wichita.