Raincoats and Recipes..

Kiaora :) I just got back from my danish lesson, so it's 5.44pm. This was one of the last danish lessons we will be having, and although we dont learn much at them, they always end up being quite fun, cause we get to eat cake, so it makes us happy haha. This lesson we played Presidents and Assholes, and ate flødeboller. Then me and Hilary taught everyone how to play Snap, and our teacher Majbritt got really into it. It was great :)

Afterwards I biked home, and it was raining and windy and cold. It was an epic struggle to bike up the hill towards my house, it took me twice as long as it usually would because i was fighting with the wind, gaaaah. Anyway, then I was biking up to my street, and a car pulled over by me and this lady started babbling on in Danish, asking for directions. After she talked to me for about 5 minutes, I was like, "ahhh, sorry I dont speak Danish". And then she asked me how to get to my next-door neighbours house, and I was trying to explain but I couldnt tell her to drive straight up the street because there is a sort of barrier, so obviously you cant drive up there. Soo I spent like 10 minutes trying to explain how to get to my street, and she ended up just driving away, I guess cause she didnt understand what I was saying haha.

Then, as I was biking up my street, I crashed into the stupid barrier. I have only fallen off my bike twice since i've been here, both in Skagen, and I thought I had the biking downpat, but today I was proven wrong. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was with Hilary's yellow card (which is like a social security card) and not mine that it happened, since she's always the one who falls off her bike. So I have a sore leg, and an almost hole in my stockings now. Not happy.

On a positive note however, my Danish is slowly improving. I learnt a new phrase (and yes, this is extremely useful) "fem flade flødeboller på et flade flødeboller feld". Which translated means "five flat snowballs on a flat snowball field". Definately useful as you can see. But I have also learnt alot of other new things, which I can actually use. So i'm speaking english less and less every day, though not as little as I would like.

On the 22nd of October, I turned 18! I feel so old now. Maybe I shouldn't go out partying anymore, I might break a hip. But it was a good night :) I went to town with some friends, but since it was a Thursday night there weren't many people out, I guess cause it was a school night, but it was fun anyway. I got tons of free drinks at the bars which was cool!

The next day I wasnt really up too going to school, so Anette and I sat in our pyjamas the whole day, and watched tv and drank hot chocolate. Then, later that night Anette, Ulrich, Cecilie and I went to a show in Fensmark (a tiny town on the outskirts of Næstved) called "Annie get your gun". It was all in Danish, but I felt so proud because I actually understand the majority of it! It was a really cool show.

The next weekend a bunch of exchange students came to Næstved for the day on saturday, and we walked around town, and just hung out for the day. It is always nice when we get a group of the exchange students together, cause we always have so much to talk about, and we all have alot in common. Anyway, it was halloween the day that they came, so I stayed in town the whole day until they left, and then went with another exchange student, who's also in Næstved but doing her exchange with Rotary, and we were going to go to a Halloween party at one of the nightclubs in town. We didnt end up going though, because I stupidly left my ID at home, and noone would accept my yellow card, because it has no photo. So we met up with two brazilians and just chilled, then I went to her house and stayed there for the night.

I was having a lovely sleep, and then all of a sudden, I woke up at 4.00am in a sweat because I just realised Sunday was the day my host family and I had agreed to speak only Danish. And I felt so unprepared. Anette came to pick me up and immediately started to speak English to me. I thought maybe I had gotten the day wrong, so I just went along with it, I wasn't about to complain haha. Then we arrived home, and both Ulrich and Cecilie greeted me in English and we had a long conversation in English. I was so confused. So when we sat down at lunch I asked them if today was the 1st of November, and suddenly Cecilie goes, "OMG, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SPEAKING DANISH!!!!!!!!" Hahaha. So we did, but I didnt really say much.

Since then we have been trying to speak more and more danish but we usually switch off after a while cause its hard for them when I dont understand what they're saying, and they have to repeat over and over, and then describe each word. I think its more my fault because I can see that they really are trying to help me, but I guess im just not a very good learner.

Anywho, the next week after halloween, there was a day where the students were supposed to go out and do a sort of work experience, to raise money for charity. But us exchange students were told that we werent expected to do it, so Anette suggested that Hilary and I go to Copenhagen as she was going to be working there for the day. We were both really keen, me especially because I hadnt actually been there since the welcome camp.

So on Wednesday we got up early and went to Copenhagen. First we went to the National Museum, and found some hammocks. So we slept in them for about half an hour. It was nice :)

Then we went and got food, and walked around town, and then went to meet some exchange students who live there. It was a pretty fun day, except for when Hilary lost her phone and we spent about 2 hours looking for it. But we found it!! So that was good. And then I lost one of my shoes :( But we also found that!! So I was happy and not half-shoeless :)

The best part about the day was.............it SSSSSSSNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!

Haha, sorry, if you didnt get that it was it snowed. Couldnt contain my excitement.

It was the first time I have ever seen it snow before, and yes it was real snow to those of you who think it was just sleet, Andy.

It actually snowed twice! Once when we were in Copenhagen, which was kind of pathetic, and then again when we got back to Næstved. I was so happy that I got off the bus a few stops before I was meant to, just so i could walk in it haha

Between then and the weekend that has just been, nothing exciting has happened. I had school, and my package arrived from my parents for my birthday, but the stupid tax department made me pay 560kr to pick it up! So angry!

Then on the weekend just passed, I went to Tivoli, which is a huge park thing in Copenhagen, that they decorate with tons of lights and stuff for Christmas. I got invited to go with the AFS chapter in Køge, and there were about 12 exchange students there, including a couple of the ones who came to Næstved on Halloween. Me and Hilary caught the train to Køge and met the others there, and then we all caught the train to Copenhagen. Tivoli looked so amazing, it was really really pretty with all the decorations and lights (not that we could see the lights, since it was 3.00pm). We went to the show, which was actually real funny, an English/Italian/Danish comedy cabaret thing. It was so crazy, but worth it.

When we came out it was dark and everything was lit up. We took a walk around the park and then went to McDonalds. After that we walked around Copenhagen, and met a whole lot of random people. I was so happy, I met a girl from Taranaki!!! She was just chilling with her mates, with a NZ flag over her shoulders, so Joe and I went over to them, and starting chatting to her. So I found out that NZ WON THE RUGBYYY!! Good on the AB's.

Anyway, then we wandered a bit more, and played this crazy game called blllvvvuuumm, or something strange, where you make your face all loose, and then shake your head real fast, and take photos. It ends up so horrible, but its funny stuff.

Then we went to the train station and caught our train, almost missed it cause were on the wrong platform, and we saw it arrive at one on the other side, so it was a mad sprint to get there. Good exercise though (Mum would be proud).

The next day, Sunday, we were supposed to be going to a show called Skattøen, or something like that, Treasure Island in english. I got a ticket for my birthday from my host family. But then it was cancelled :( so that sucked. It did give me a chance to clean my room though, so now it is lovely and tidy :) :)

Not much else has happened. We have had sun though!! Not for long but it was there, which is what counts!

Things coming up to look forward too are; Christmas!!!!!
Yeah, kind of sad that theres nothing exciting between here and the 24th, but something will pop up, I hope. Will keep you posted.

Farvel for nu :)

The first cut is the deepest.

The title of this blog refers to a problem I just had with my host Mum. It was pretty big, I won't ellaborate on here, but it turns out it was caused due to lack of communication, which i've just realised is the key thing to making your exchange work. Before this happened, I really thought I had the communication side of things downpat, but it turns out I hadn't and I was just assuming things about my host family due to things i had experienced with them earlier. This then turned into an issue about miscommunication, and the whole thing blew way out of proportion. I ended up writing a letter to my host mum, and then we talked about what had happened, and now I think we are both better off because I know where I stand with her and vice versa. If I could recommend anything to any other exchange student, even though i've only been here for just over 2 months and I dont know if i'm fit to be giving advice to budding exchange students, it would be to make sure a level of communication is established from day one with your host family. I know that since I have the communication side of things sorted with my family, its going to get alot better from here.

Anyway, on a better note, I spent the first 4 days of this week in Bornholm! It was the most amazing place i've ever been. On the way over we were on the ferry and I was actually boat sick! I've never ever been sick on a boat before, so it really sucked. Anyway, we got to Bornholm, and we drove to this incredible place called Lilleborg. I dont really know what it actually was, but we climbed up a hill, and then went down a hill, and then up another hill with an old rock wall which had decayed over time, and at the top you could look out over a lake which was so pretty. It's just gone into Fall, so the colours in the trees were really quite spectaculiar, and it made everything look so nice.
Then we drove to a town called Svaneke where we were staying for the 4 days. It was a really nice port town in Bornholm, and the hotel where we stayed was directly in the centre of the town, and right across the street from a little Ice-cream shop :) haha
On the first day we had a small look around the town, but everything was shut since it was Sunday, so we couldnt do much. We had dinner at a really nice seafood restaurant looking over the water and then went back to the hotel and slept. The next day we drove west along the coast of Bornholm, and visited little towns. My host family has a rule when we are driving on holiday, if someone spots something they want to see, the driver (who is always Ulrich) has to stop immediately. This doesnt go too well when Anette wants to see everything, so we stopped many many times. It was great fun though.
So after we had been driving for awhile we stopped in a little town called Gudhjem, which was my favourite town on all of Bornholm. I have decided that I am going to live there when I am old. In a lighthouse haha. It was such an awesome town, and since it is October there were haybales and Pumpkins with litte carved faces outside of almost every shop. It was so cute!
The weather was really shoddy though, and we couldnt stay outside for too ong since it was so cold and windy, so we just had to do a café hop.
We spent a couple of hours in Gudhjem, and then travelled further to some more towns, and visited lots of Glass galleries (Bornholm is famous for things like Vases and stuff made of glass), and also Ceramic stores, and lots of other cute art stores. Then we headed to a place called Hammershus, but it was too far away for us too walk, and we were all tired and lazy (more lazy than tired haha) so we decided to get some dinner and go back to the hotel.

The next day we drove in the opposite direction as we had the day before, and we visited some more towns. The weather wasnt so bad this day, so we got to do alot more walking around and seeing different things. We went for a really cool walk down by some cliff faces, and found a cave and stuff, haha that was fun. It took us a LONG time too get down the stairs to the cave because my host family has two Schapendoes, Ditze and Miska, and they are wimps, so we had to try and get them down about 300 stairs haha.
Later that day we decided that we would man up and actually walk the track to Hammershus, and im so glad that we did decide too in the end.
Hammershus is an old castle, which has eroded over the years, and so now it is the ruins of the castle, but quite alot is still left. We climbed up lots of stairs, and I decided to jump up on an old crumbled wall. I had just got to the top when Anette tells me that its actually illegal to do that, and I could get fined 50,000kr. Probably makes sense because it was a long drop down to the ocean on the other side. So yeah, now I can say I have commited my first illegal act in Denmark haha.
We explored the old castle, and then realised the sun was going down so we sat and watched the sunset on the top of Hammershus. Its probably the most amazing and beautiful thing I have seen in my life, and it was something that I will never forget.

The next day, which was our last in Bornholm, we spent looking around the town we were staying in, Svaneke, since everything was open. We went to a shop where they were making Bolcher (which is like hard boiled candy), and we were lucky because they had only just started so we got too see the whole process. It was so cool, and they made it look so easy! And the shop smelt nice :)
Then we took a drive and went to Aakirkeminde to see some old round churched which was real neat! We also went to a art exhibition, and there was some far out art there, like little cups with fingers and toes haha. It was pretty cool though :)

Then we caught the ferry, and lucky for me our little Katamarine that we were supposed to take back was cancelled, since the water was so rough, and we had to take the ferry we took on the way over. In the choppiest water Ive ever seen. With really strong winds. Great. I wasnt going to get really sick or anything. No big deal.
But I did make it back alive, so I was grateful for that.

Then, on thursday we went to Farmors birthday, and I finally got too meet Ulrichs side of the family. His brother Mads has 3 kids, Malta who is 9, and twins, KarlEmil and Karolina who are just about to turn 5. The twins were so funny, and they taught me some Danish haha. Learning Danish from 5 year olds. Nice. But it was really easy to understand them because little kids are so expressive when they speak, so i could try and communicate with them. It was fun.
Im also going to their 5th birthday next Sunday, so that will also be fun :)

Oh, and its my birthday in 5 days! I'm gonna be 18, finally! :) :)
Haha, yeah so thats all I have to say for now.
Vi ses
Kelsi :)

The good, the bad, and the ugly..

Whoah, okay, so it's now been a month since I left anything here. I really am sticking to my word about being unorganised. But anywho, i'll tell what i've been doing, since I realise I actually forgot to do that in the first post haha. I suck at this man.

Since I arrived here in Denmark, 2 months ago, i've been doing a bit of travelling with my host family, in weekends and stuff. Three days after I arrived at my new home, we took a train to the top of Denmark, to a town called Skagen (just to warn you, im going to add the pronounciation next to all the words, because knowing my Mum, she's probably going to read this and tell a billion people, and pronounce all the words wrong, so yeah, Skagen = Skay-en).

It was such an amazing town, really old and rich in history, with cobbled streets and lots of tiny cafés. On the first day we arrived we checked into a B&B, rented some bikes and rode around the town. This was kinda funny, because my history with bicycles is not so flash, so i fell off a few times haha. I think my host family was ready to give me training wheels.

Anyhow, the next day we rode to the Northern most point in Denmark, and stood in the water where the two seas meet, which was really trippy. The rest of the trip was spent biking more, eating tons of is (icecream), and napping lots.

A few days after we came back from Skagen, my host mum Anette, host sister Cecilie and I travelled to the island of Fyn (prn = Fern) to spend two days with my Mormor (host mum's mum) at her summer house. It was right on the beach, and it was really beautiful. We basically did nothing, just ate lots, and went for walks through the woods and along the beach. It was really nice just to relax before I had to start school.

When we got back, it was a busy few days. We arrived back on Monday morning, and we had to go to the Næstved (prn = Nest-ville) Gymnasium for a meeting with the lady who looks after the exchange students. When I arrived in Denmark I was enrolled at a business school, but it is located about 20 kms from my house, so Anette rang the Gymnasium to see if it was possible that I go there. So that was what our meeting was for, and it turned out that they thought it was fine that I go there. On Tuesday we had to go back to the Gymnasium for a tour around the school with the other exchange students, and on Wednesday was my first official day at school. I thought I would have been a lot more nervous and scared than I was, but it just seemed really casual, and when I first met my class it was pretty nice since they were all so friendly.

Three weeks after I started school, we took a trip to the island of Jylland (prn = You-land), to go and see Legoland!

We decided to go and queue up for this boat ride, where we had to sit two people to a boat and you went round the water and looked at all the different things made of lego, like the Taj Mahal and stuff. I went in a boat with Anette, and just as a joke she asked me if i wanted to "steer" the boat, since thats what all the little kids did, not knowing that we really did have to steer the boat.

We got in and our boat went completely mental, crashing into the walls, and rocking really violently from side to side. Neither of us knew what was wrong with it, and when we looked around everyone had their hands on the wheel, really concentrating on steering their boat. We just looked at each other and burst out laughing. And after that we still didnt steer properly haha

The rest of the day we saw some pretty spectaculiar things made of lego. I swear everything that is well known around the world was there, it was so incredible to see. They had the Disney castle, Mount Rushmore, Hollywood Blvd., the temples of Eqypt, Stonehenge, and lots of other things.

Then we travelled to Vejle to stay with Anette's sister Susanne, and celebrate her son's 16th birthday. On the way we stopped at this crazy as farmhouse where somebody had dug up a grave of a teenage girl, which was hundreds and hundreds of years old. The weird thing was some of her hair, and her clothes, and teeth and things were completely fine, they hadnt withered away with time or whatever you call it. She had also been found with a dead baby next to her, but nobody knew why she was buried with it. Weird stuff man.

A few weekends later some exchange students came to Næstved from other parts of Denmark, and we hung out for the day and went to the beach in Karrebæksminde (prn = Kar-beks-min). We bought some bread and beers before we caught the bus, and we ate them on the beach. The weather was really nice, and it was a really good day.

The weekend just been, we had a camp in Køge (prn = Koo), with about 40 of the exchange students from this area of Denmark. It was so good to see them all again, and we got up to some funny things, such as breaking in to the kitchen at 2am to get some food, eating tons of apples!!, having a fireless campfire at 4.30am, trying to overcome our tiredness and see the sun rise but only making it til 6am, then being woken up at 8am! and having communal showers again.

It was alot of fun, and the weekend was mostly designed to help us talk about problems we have been having in our families, and how we think we can overcome them in order to build better relationships with our families.

When I arrived back in Næstved on Sunday, I went with Anette to Cecilies riding school, to watch her ride in some competitions. It was actually quite surprising for me because I have never liked horses, or anything to do with them, but it was cool to see her riding, and her horse scared me a little, since it was so huge! After she had competed we went to the stable and I got to feed some of the horses! haha it was pretty cool though.

This past week I have been sick, so I took the week off school, but there has been a strike so most of the students have been protesting and things. Something about the government taking money from the students or something, I dont really know. That's where it gets frustrating when I dont understand the language, because it would be interesting to know what they are protesting for. But I just have to hang in there and keep trying my best. Language class doesnt help much, since we only have it once a week for one and a half hours, and its mostly just a time too see the other exchange students and eat lots of crappy food haha. We actually had too write what we thought we should do, and what we wanted to learn in class, and I wrote that we should have a cake, so now we are going to get cake every lesson hahaha :)

I also went to some other danish lessons last week, but it was far too hard for me, so the teacher told me too go home and she would find another class for me. She rang and said there was another one, and I went to meet with the lady who runs it, so im starting those classes in two weeks time. Its all so confusing man. But I hope it helps me, because Anette and Ulrik have told me that we wont be speaking english at home after the 1st November!!

So anyway, there has been a lot of other things that have happened in between all of this, but I will write that later on. Right now I have to go and pack because we are going to go to Bornholm, Sweden and Germany tomorrow!! So exciting :) I will try and write about it when I get back, but yeah, as you see i'm not too good at this. Might be another month haha

Vi ses

Kelsi :)

First month

Right, so I finally decided to have a crack at writing a blog, but you really shouldn't be surprised if it becomes slack after awhile, those of you who know me would know that I am highly unorganised.
Anyway, it has been a month so far, here in Danmark, and so far I have loved every single moment of it. From the flights over (yes, even the 13 hour one on crappy Lufthansa, with no television), the airport antics (travelators :] ), the arrival camp, meeting all of the other exchange students and having a fantastic first 3 days, to the first meeting with my Host family, travelling to different places around Danmark, and the first days of school (as well as all the others that have followed). My host family has been really great, in the way that they have welcomed me into their family, and treated me just as they treat each other. We have alot of laughs together, and they are trying really hard to help me learn Danish, but I understand that it is extremely hard from their side, trying to teach a kiwi one of the hardest languages in the world.
Everything is so new and exciting, and sometimes a bit weird, such as all the cancelled lessons at school. All the girls back at NPGHS would LOVE it, i can guarantee, but too be honest it kind of annoys me, because I actually WANT to be in class, as strange as it may sound.
The language is definately a huge barrier that I hope to overcome within the next few months, and my Danish is ssss...llll....oooo...wwww.....llll.....yyyyy.. coming along. I can understand very small parts of conversations, and I know some phrases, but it is barely enough to have a conversation, which is what I really want too do.
Some things that I have noticed about Danmark so far, which are mostly just really small things, but have stood out to me alot, are;
1. Biking to school is extremely easy, since everything is so flat.
2. When we are in the car, and we stop at the traffic lights, they go GREEN-ORANGE-RED, and then RED-ORANGE-GREEN, which I can never get over, it just seems awfully strange.
3. There is no toast, only spread on bread.
4. MC Hammer pants are very fashionable.
5. Guys wear man-bags
6. It is ridiculously expensive to get your drivers license, and even more so to buy a car
7. If you tell Danes that you have never heard of B&O, and Royal Copenhagen, they will think you dont know anything ;)
8. Four very popular Danish past-times; Drinking, Eating, Sleeping, Drinking
9. Almost everyone speaks English very well, which is a bad thing, because then you're not forced to speak Danish
10. Guys think it's really cool to tuck their jeans, or trackies, or any sort of pants they are wearing into their socks.
11. Danes LOVE to hygge. And it is brilliant
12. Georg Jensen..say no more.
13. Danes love candles, refer to number 11.
14. When Kiwi's speak, we are often mistaken for Americans. Great
15. It's not uncommon to see kids around the age of eleven smoking
16. Danmark is NOT the capitol of Sweden
17. Danmark is also NOT the capitol of IKEA

But basically I have had a fantastic time so far, I love Danmark so much, I might never want to come home (haha kidding Mum and Dad if you read this). Sorry about this being all muddle up and stuuf, with lots of bad english. Haha
Vi ses, Kelsi ♥