Yuletide and Julegave

This year was my 2nd Christmas in Denmark and it truly is a magical time. Hearts and stars fill the streets, stores, and homes all over the country during Christmas-time. This makes sense after learning the Danish saying: "Jul er hjerternes fest" or that "Christmas is the festival of hearts."

The Christmas season officially begins in Denmark on the first Friday of November when Tuborg releases the Christmas brew. All stores are decorated on that day and the bodegas are filled with people wanting to get the first Juleøl that night. Since Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, there is no debate or conflict about when to decorate or celebrate Christmas, which is often the case in the US. For two entire months Danes are excited about and anticipate the holiday to come, with various traditions leading up to the 24th. The evening Christmas is officially celebrated in Denmark.

The first tradition of the season (although not a true holiday) is Morten's aften. Saint Martin's day is the 11th of November but often celebrated the evening before with a feast of goose in the old days, or duck during present day. The date marks the day Saint Martin became Bishop of Tours, which he apparently was trying to delay by hiding in a goose-house. Because the geese gave him away, the day is marked by feasting on them. Martin Luther was also baptized on this day, and Lutheranism is the official religion of the country.

Another tradition is gløgg og æbleskiver. Gløgg is warm wine spiced with raisins and almonds and æbleskiver are small round donuts eaten with powdered sugar and jam. These are often served at work events to celebrate the holiday or when guests stop by to visit during the season. They can also be served on the 23rd, but that day's dinner is most notable for risengrød which is a warm rice pudding with a slab of butter in the middle and a sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

The Christmas Eve meal itself is duck, three types of potatoes, and red current. The dessert is ris a la mande which is cold rice pudding with chopped up almonds served with warm cherry sauce on top. A whole almond is placed in one dish and whoever gets the whole almond gets a gift. The meal is followed by the lighting of the candles on the Christmas tree where we dance around it and sing before opening gifts. Then the "julegave" or gift opening begins which is a special treat for me. My family is so big in the US that we stopped exchanging gifts among the adults, as we would rather spend time catching up with each other instead of unwrapping. However, the Danish tradition of making a list and checking it twice is taken very seriously, and I have come to enjoy being pleasantly surprised at receiving gifts again.

Christmas day lunch on the 25th or Julefrokost (which is also celebrated throughout the season with friends) consists of the typical Danish smørrebrød which are open faced sandwiches with all kinds of yummy toppings. My favorite is fiskefilet, which is a breaded white fish with lemon and capers, frikadeller (Danish meatballs) and tarteletter, which is a lovely mixture of chicken and asparagus in a crispy pastry shell. Absolutely divine. No Julefrokost is complete however, without Juleøl and schnapps, and lots of Skåls!

Free at Last!

After a pretty intense last semester at Business School, I have reached the point that I nearly thought impossible at the beginning. I am done forever with class exams. My final oral exam was this morning, and right after that I handed in my last written paper, technically due tomorrow.

The only way I was able to stay sane, and meet all the deadlines was by working ahead the entire time. The first paper was finished approximately two weeks ahead of schedule, same with the second. Then I went back to the States for a week for Thanksgiving and lost a little time, but still managed to hand in paper number three four days ahead of schedule. Paper number four was done five days ahead of schedule, so I had time to study for two oral exams before it was due. Whew!

I went through all the phases of grief when I first realized my schedule. First I was numb, then came denial. There was no way all of this was possible. Then came anger and depression. I hated how demanding school was and questioned why I was doing this to myself many times over. I missed my evenings at home relaxing with my husband. Then came bargaining. I had to stop going to Danish lessons in order to save my academic career. Something had to give. Once that was over, I went straight to acceptance. I knew what I needed to do in order to survive the semester.

I had to celebrate the tiny successes. After the first paper was handed in, my husband and I went out to dinner. After the first oral exam was over, I treated myself to cupcakes. After the second paper, a trip back to the US was a pretty cool reward. After the third, there was the Maroon 5 concert. Immediately after the fourth I had a glass of wine and now that the 2nd and 3rd oral exams are over, I am treating myself to a facial tomorrow. Right after I meet the girls out for some drinks tonight.

The stress is slowly leaving my shoulders....balanced life can begin again.

From Dry Heat to Damp Cold

True winter is now upon us but I can't tell whether that happened before or after our trip to the US. What I can tell you though is that I have lived in Denmark for a while when I physically begin to notice the vast differences in temperature and weather on my body, when I visit friends and family in the US during winter.

While in the US in November, I couldn't drink enough water to make up for the dryness in the air, both inside and out. My friend had humidifiers everywhere in her home which helped. Not to mention, bottles of water because now I also taste the chlorine in the water when it comes out of the tap in the city, which is sort of an out of the body experience. I used to smile inside when the Danes were on their business trips in Chicago and would order bottled water when we went out to eat. Now I'm that annoying visitor from Europe that says no to ice in my water glass.

Inside electric or central heating blows from various places in the wall or floor in the US compared to water radiators here in Denmark, typically situated in one place per room. The former may dry you out, but there's lotion and water for that. It's better than wrapping up in a million blankets, lighting candles, and drinking buckets of warm drinks to stay a normal temperature, the way I have to in Denmark. The damp cold is bone chilling without a fireplace, whereas in dry cold places you can add moisture to the air by simply boiling some water.

However, both my husband and I could feel the wetness in the weather the minute we stepped off the train in Denmark and it was nice to take a deep breath in and not worry about getting a nose bleed.