Tag: Culture

Counting down… Bonfire night on Monday!

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I’ve always had mixed feelings about Sankt Hans Aften.  (I’ve written about it before Happy Sankt Hans!).  What is it?  A huge event on the Danish social calendar – the night where you go out and celebrate midsummer!  23 June – which this year is next Monday.

Bonfires are lit up and down the coast.  Or, like here – last year – in our local park. Normally around 9.30pm or 10pm, when it’s still light.

Safety first!  It’s also – selvfølgelig – a busy night for the Danish firefighters, who are always on hand! 🙂

But, hey, let’s backtrack a little!  The evening usually starts with people gathering – perhaps with a picnic – down at the beach or in the forest.  The evening officially starts with a short Sankt Hans Tale or “Bål Tale” (bonfire speech) by a local dignitary or ‘personality’.  And then the singing can start.  Sometimes with live music from an orchestra or band.  And, if you’re very lucky, a songsheet, so you can join in the singalong! 🙂

You’ll be singing Midsommervisen.  A.k.a. Vi elsker vort land.  “We love our country.” Last year we also sang I Danmark er jeg født (“In Denmark I was born”) and Der er et yndigt land (“There is a lovely land”) which you might recognise as the Danish national anthem.

Want to practice? Here’s the Sankt Hans song, Midsommervise.  In a classic version…

…and, here, a modern version by Shubidua.

So why the mixed feelings?  Well, as the fire slowly dies out (here we are in Svendborg in 2012), it’s time to head home in the twilight. And try not to think that, from now on, the long, long, long days of summer will be getting short, short, shorter.  Øv! 😉

Diane 🙂

 

Pumped and ready to ride!

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Are you ready?  Tyres pumped, lights checked, cycle helmet strapped firmly on? Tomorrow, Friday, is Cyklistdag (Cyclist Day) for my DD12 (dear daughter, aged 12) who’s in the 5th grade.  It’s a campaign, organised by the police and schools in our area, to improve road safety.  Many kids bike to school – either accompanied by their parents or alone, from the age of about 10.  Yep, it can be hard to find a bike parking space at school in the morning – come early if you want a good spot… 😉

So what does Cyklistdag involve?  Well, the class will be divided up into small groups of 5/6 kids and they’ll cycle round the commune with volunteer parents.

There are a couple of stops with ‘challenges’ along the way.  This year I’m helping out with the Manøvrebane, where the kids will have to manoeuvre round cones, ride over a ramp and complete a slalom track.  Another ‘challenge’ is to name all the things that, by law, must be on a bike.  Which reminded me that, um, I badly needed to go check our bike lights and change some batteries.  Job done!

My favourite ‘challenge’ is Lastbilens blindevinkel (the truck’s blind spot).  A huge lorry is parked outside our local library and the kids are given a traffic cone which represents their bike.  They’re told to place the cone alongside the lorry, at a spot where they think it is ‘safe’ and where they think the lorry driver will be able to ‘see’ them, if he turns right.  (Even if most Danish lorries now have special cameras fitted, there are still – unfortunately – several fatal accidents each year involving cyclists and right-turning-trucks, so it’s vital information for the kids.)

After they’ve placed their cones, the kids are then invited up, up, up into the drivers seat.  So they can see exactly what the driver can see.

And – ta da – suddenly realise just how important it is to keep their distance…  A real eye opener!

Next year, in 6th grade, the kids will take their cyklistprøve (cycling proficiency test) where they’ll cycle the route on their own.

Will you be out in the traffic tomorrow?  Give us a wave!  Or, at least, give way!

Diane 🙂

 

 

 

It's that time of year again…flying toffees! Karameldag!

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Tomorrow – Wednesday 28 May 2014 – is Karameldag.  Or “Toffee Day”!

It’s the last schoolday of May (schools are closed for Kristi Himmelfart – Ascension – Thursday and Friday) and therefore the very last day of school for the 9th graders. And they’ll be celebrating – selvfølgelig!  Most of them will be attired in fancy dress.  Most will probably return home, soaked to the skin and covered in shaving foam.   The lower grades tend to get roped in to that part, so my son’s teacher has told the 7th graders to bring a change of clothing, so they won’t “sidde som en våd mus” – sit like a drowned mouse – for the last three classes after lunch!  But as we are currently still enjoying a mini heatwave, who wouldn’t mind a nice cool down..? 😛

What else will the 9th graders get up to?  Some make breakfast for their teachers.  There will be singing and dancing.  But – most importantly of all – they will roam around the school, throwing humungous amounts of toffees – to be caught by the kids in the lower grades.

So remember to give your little ‘uns a plastic bag tomorrow morning.  They’re going to need it to hold their booty.  Or, at least, to hold the empty toffee wrappers so they can keep score.  “Hey, I caught 72 toffees this year!”  In Kindergarten class, the toffees are usually put into a collective jar and then divided up equally.  Stops any arguments/tears and provides an impromtu maths exercise! 😉

God Karameldag!

Diane :)

Eurovision is here! #JoinUs?

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Good evening morning, Europe!  As you may remember from Eurovision is coming!#JoinUs? waaaay back in November, Copenhagen is the host of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.  And, yep, it’s finally here and the madness has started!  I have my tickets and a few flags at the ready… 🙂

The centre of Copenhagen has been turned into “Eurovision Village” with street kitchens, live entertainment and plenty of kitsch hits.  The shows will be held on “Eurovision Island” – an old shipyardwhich has been completely transformed.  A controversial choice of venue: lots of money involved, has gone way (way) over budget and 10,000 of us will be trying to get to the (very) isolated island by waterbus, bike and a few taxis.  Chaos ahead? Time will tell! 😛

Even if you aren’t going to any of the shows, you can walk the “Eurovision Fan Mile” from Central Station, via Strøget (the main pedestrian shopping street) along the “Eurovision Fan Mile” down to Nyhavn (the harbour).  Just follow the banners – each bearing the title of a Eurovision winner.

If you have the time, the partner and the inclination – hey – you can even have yourself a “Wonderful Wedding” cruising round the harbour or being serenaded at the Royal Opera by the Maltese Eurovision entry!    And if you’re in a same sex relationship, then what could be more apt than getting hitched on Friday 9 May?  It’s the 25th anniversary of same sex civil partnerships in Denmark and there’ll be weddings, speeches and Eurovision partying by Ved Stranden (the canal).  What’s not to love about Copenhagen?  “Love of freedom. Freedom to love.” 🙂

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But, as usual, I digress!  Right now, I’m painting my nails and looking out my glad rags. Because tonight – Tuesday – I’m off to see the First Semi-Final with a group of friends.  Who’s going to win this year?  My money is on (yet another…) Scandinavian victory.  La Suède?  12 points!  Yep, matey, you might want to change that flag for a blue and yellow one!

May the best song win!

Diane 🙂

You know you're in Denmark when… (Red Man Stop! Green Man Go!)

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Have you ever crossed the road in Denmark where there are traffic lights?  Back home in Scotland, I would check both ways and – if there were no cars coming – I would cross the road.  Even if the ‘Red Man’ was showing.  The same when I worked in Luxembourg.  The same on my regular stints to Belgium, France and Germany.

When I moved to Denmark, I noticed that people stood and waited patiently for the ‘Green Man’.  Even if the coast was completely clear.  Not a car, bus, bike, taxi or truck in sight.  Intriguing!  I asked my friends why.  “What’s the big rush?”, was the answer. Good point!

So I started to wait for the ‘Green Man’ too.  And after 16 years in Denmark, I find myself feeling very awkward if I throw caution to the wind and ignore the (danger, danger, DANGER!) ‘Red Man’.  On the very rare occasion that I decide to dice with death, I even check to make sure there are no witnesses around.  Ha!  How neurotic is that?

As a tourist or newbie in Denmark, you also need to be very aware of the fact that Danish motorists do not expect people to walk out in front of them.  So, if you don’t wait for the ‘Green Man’, you’re literally taking your life in your hands.  Or should that be feet?  Well, you have been warned! 😉

And Danish cyclists don’t expect pedestrians to cross when it’s red either.  (Though – let’s be honest here – cyclists don’t always adhere to the traffic rules themselves…) Just last week I almost fell off my bike turning right at the traffic lights in our little village. An Italian guy – not hearing any cars – marched right across when it was red.  And nearly had me – plus my bike – on top of him.  Welcome to Denmark!

Um, is that a chicken crossing the road in the above photo?  Why, yes, it is!  [Ok, so it’s a rooster.  Play along with me.]  I took the photo in Trelleborg, on the south coast of Sweden, last year.  Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. Boom boom!  Luckily for this one, the car braked just in time.  “Hey, Bird Brain!  Next time wait for the ‘Green Man’!”

Diane 🙂

Lakrids. The Danish Root (of all evil).

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DDH (Dear Danish husband) and I were out on the town on Friday night to see the (excellent) WhoMadeWho at (the best concert venue in the whole world) Vega. WhoMadeWho not ringing any bells?  See WhoMadeWho – Who? Here we go again!

Anyways, DDH and I managed to fit in a quick dinner before the concert at Madsvinet (literally “The Food Hog”) which, appropriately enough, is housed in an old butchers shop in Vesterbro.  Despite the white tiled walls and meat hooks it’s very hyggelig – with long, communal benches and an open kitchen.   You know the type of place – two starters to choose from, two mains, two desserts – at a fair price.  Good, ‘solid’ food, as the Danes say.  Very nicely presented and selvfølgelig with ‘the Nordic touch’.  Oh yes, remember the New Nordic Potato Chip? 😉

I knew as soon as the evening’s menu was presented to us that my arch enemy was present.  Lakrids!  Liquorice!  Yep, liquorice is the new black.  Well, obviously, it’s always been black.  But you get my drift.  Those crazy Danes love the stuff: salty liquorice, sweet liquorice, ‘ammonia’ liquorice.  Yeuch! 😯

But not only do the Danes eat tons of liquorice candy, they – unfortunately for moi – insist on adding that dang root to tea, coffee, biscuits, cakes, flødeboller, sorbet and icecream.  “Hey!  If it doesn’t move, let’s sprinkle it with liberal amounts of liquorice dust!”

So I new what was coming Friday night.  Liquorice was first out of the box as an ingredient in the homemade bread that came along with my starter of sweetbreads. Thankfully the liquorice was drowned out by the malt taste of the bread.  Oh, and see the ‘roof tile’ plate below? Another new black in the Danish restaurant business!

My entrecôte with beetroot, radish and onions was liquorice free.  Phew!  And excruciatingly good! 

Dessert – buttermilk sorbet with rhubarb and meringues – with all its little black flecks, looked scary.  But the black dots turned out to be vanilla.  Not the Dreaded Black Root. So I only had to avoid the “liquorice-toasted-porridge-oats” strewn across the plate…

All in all, I suppose I got off pretty lightly.  You like Danish liquorice?  Keep it!

Diane 🙂

 

Donald Duck, a Swede and a blonde walk into a bar…

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I’ve never quite understood the Danish mania for Anders And – Donald Duck.  But my DDH (dear Danish husband), DS14 (dear son, 14) and DD12 (dear daughter, 12) are real nerds and never tire of reading (and re-reading for the umpteenth time…) the comics.

I’ve lost count of the number of Jumbobøger (“Jumbo” books – comics in paperback format) we’ve acquired over the years.

And our weekly magazine subscription is slowly taking over DD’s bedroom and oozing down into the basement…

I never read the comics myself.  Though I always, always check out the “Helt til Grin” (jokes) section! 😀

The jokes are pretty straightforward.  And often fall into the same categories.  For example, teacher/pupil jokes…

“Læreren til Ole: Hvis jeg havde en hund, og den fik 6 hvalpe, og jeg gav dig to af dem, hvor mange hunde ville du så have?

Ole: Tre

Læreren: Hvad? Hvorfor det?

Ole: Jeg havde en i forvejen…”

“Teacher to Ole: If I had a dog and it had 6 puppies, and I gave you two of them, how many dogs would you then have?

Ole: Three

Teacher: What? Why?

Ole: I already had a dog to begin with…”

The obligatory blonde jokes…

“To blondiner mødes. Den ene har en stor sportstaske med!

– Hvad har du i tasken, spørger den ene!

– Kyllinger!

– Okay, hvis jeg kan gætte, hvor mange du har, må jeg så få en?

– Hvis du gætter det, får du dem begge…

– Okay, så gætter jeg på tre!”

“Two blondes meet. One of them has a large sportsbag!

– What have you got in your back, asks one!

– Chickens!

– Okay, if I can guess how many there are, will you give me one?

– If you guess right, you can have them both…

– Okay, I think there are three!”

And – selvfølgelig – jokes about our lovely neighbours across the water, the Swedes…

“Ved du, hvordan man holder en svensker beskæftiget i timevis?

Man giver ham et stykke papir og skriver “vend” på begge sider!”

“How do you keep a Swede occupied for hours on end?

Give him a piece of paper with “turn over” written on it!”

Not forgetting our fellow Scandinavians, the Norwegians!

“Gud havde egentligt tænkt, at Jesus skulle fødes i Norge. Der var bare et problem, som gjorde, at han måtte flytte det hele til Mellemøsten. Han kunne ikke find tre vise mænd…”

“God had actually planned for Jesus to be born in Norway.  But there was a problem which meant that he had to move the whole thing to the Middle East. He couldn’t find three wise men…”¨

Or my personal favourite from this week’s magazine:

“Hvor mange nordmænd, skal der til for at vaske en bil? Tó! Én til at holde svampen, mens den anden kører bilen frem og tilbage!“

“How many Norwegians does it take to wash a car?  Two! One to hold the sponge while the other one drives the car forwards and backwards!”

Hope you ha-ha-have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Diane 🙂

Gæk, gæk, gæk? Guess your way to an Easter egg!

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My kids will be on Easter break from Friday.  Woo hoo – no more pesky packed lunches for the next week!  (For them, school restarts Tuesday 22 April.)

And that – selvfølgelig – means it’s time for a traditional Danish Easter craft: making a gækkebrev – a secret snowdrop letter!  For which we’ll need a vintergæk (snowdrop).  Though – as we’re well into April – Danish snowdrops have basically gone into hiding again, so we may need to improvise.  Now, did you know that gækkebreve are a purely Danish tradition?  I thought it was a Scandinavian thing.  But no.  It’s a crazy Dane thing.  And right now, as I type, little kids all over Denmark are sitting at home (or nursery, school, the museum or local library) cutting holes in paper and drawing lots of dots.  All in the hope of getting a chocolate Easter egg!  More on the logistics of that later in the post…  First up, let’s get making one! :)

You’ll need:

  • white and coloured paper

  • glue or a gluestick

  • a pair of scissors

  • a snowdrop 

Choose a coloured piece of paper for your paper ‘doily’. Fold it in half, then in half again.  Draw a rough shape and cut out.  If you’ve never done this kind of thing before, keep it simple!  The Danes are world-famous for their intricate papercutting.  Hans Christian Andersen(you know, the one who wrote “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Little Match Girl”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, “Thumbelina” etc, etc, etc…) was also an expert at papercutting.  I’ve only lived here for 16 years, so I’m still learning…

Open up up the paper and you should have something that looks like this.

Stick it on to a plain white piece of paper. I used a gluestick.  And it’s fine if it isn’t perfectly stuck down all over – it just gives it an even better 3d effect ;)

Then you’re ready to write a little poem on it.

Henne bag ved havens hæk, fandt jeg denne vintergæk.

Hej, min hvide lille ven, nu er turen din igen.

Du skal gå til min ven, hviske så kan kan forstå,

han må gætte prikke små, for et påskeæg at få!

 

But if your family and friends aren’t Danish, you’ll probably want one in English, right? Try this one for size:

 

Snowdrop, snowdrop, snowdrop fine,

Omen true of hope divine,

From the heart of winter bring

Thy delightful hope of spring.

Guess my name I humbly beg.

Your reward: An Easter-Egg.

Let these puzzling dots proclaim

Every letter in my name

 

Now listen carefully.  [I shall say this only once…]  At the bottom of the gækkebrev, DON’T sign your name.  You draw a large dot for every letter of your name.  So my name, Diane, would be  . . . . .    If the person who receives the letter guesses who it comes from, you have to give them an Easter egg.  But if they can’t guess, they have to give you an Easter egg.  So disguise your handwriting and be creative!  I usually put in three dots for M.U.M.!  ;)

The final touch is to pick a snowdrop from your garden – just draw one if need be – add it to the letter and send to a friend or loved one.   And keep your fingers crossed that they don’t guess who it’s from…

 

 

God Påske!  Happy ……!

Diane :)

I swear I heart Denmark!

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If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that my blog (hey, make that my general outlook on life) is a “No Whining!” zone.  Positive!  Upbeat!  Optimistic!  Sunny!  As the Flylady says, “Enjoy what you do.  And do what you enjoy!”  Which, in my case, selvfølgelig involves the words “skinny dipping” and “cold water”…🙂

I mean, come on, really…  Who wants to end up as one of those twisted and sad “my-life-revolves-around-leaving-negative-comments-on-social-media” kind of people?  Or, as is very common in the blogging world, the disgruntled expat, whose greatest joy is telling you what they (love to…) hate (about Denmark) and listing all the things that were oh so much better “back home”?  Yikes!

But…  [Ha!  Yes, you knew there was a “but” coming!]  But, okay, if you put a gun to my head and I had to name one – just one – little, itty, bitty thing that I dislike about Denmark, it would have to be the F-word.  Call me old fashioned.  I hate swearing.  Just ask my kids.  “Yes, Mum, we hear you!  Swearing shows a lack of vocabulary!”  In fact, the only time when you will ever (ever) hear me swear is down at the beach on the days when take-my-breath-away sea temperatures gang up with hold-on-to-your-hats storm force winds.  So it’s not really skinny dipping but more like being pummelled with rolling pins and stabbed by a thousand knives…  😉

But I digress!  Yep, the F-word is rife here.  You see and hear it in the Danish media.   All.  The.  Time.  I remember seeing “F**k” in a newspaper headline, lit up in giant neon lights at Rådhuspladsen (the town council square).  You’ll hear it in the playground at børnehave (nursery).  And not just from the kids, but also their parents.  Ouch!   What about that Danish theatre play with the oh-so-catchy title, “Jeg, mig, f**k dig!“?  (I, me, f*ck you!)  Oh, and will you be watching Eurovision, live from Copenhagen, next month?  Don’t worry, you can relax when you hear the Danish entry, Basim, “Cliché Love Song”.   Luckily for us, they’ve changed the original chorus of “a f**cking cliché love song”… 

…to the more demure “another cliché love song”. Phew! 

So with all those F-words flying around, I suppose I really shouldn’t have been toooooo surprised when this advert appeared on TV2 Zulu the other night.  What is it for?  Chocolate milk from Cult.  But not chocolate milk as we know it, Jim.  A high caffeine, energy type one.  With the oh-so-catchy name “Jeg er ik’ bare en f**king kakao“.  (I’m not just a f**cking chocolate milk.)  Um, really?  Who’s behind the advertising campaign – a bunch of 5th graders? 😛

Not enough F-words for you?  Then try their dedicated Facebook page – click here – though don’t say I didn’t warn you!

 

I’d like one bottle of chocolate milk.  And could you put it in a brown paper bag for me, please?

Diane 🙂

 

You know you're in Denmark when… (Sexy Danish Domesticated Dads)

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You know you’re in Denmark when…

…you wonder why there are so many good looking men coming out of a building at 7.45 in the morning.  Then suddenly realise that those men are SDDDs!  Sexy Danish Domesticated Dads…

Yep, while Danish Mums tend to do the afternoon pick-up, it’s often Danish Dads who do the morning run to vuggestue (creche) and børnehave (nursery). And Danish Dads are also a dab hand when it comes to packing lunchboxes (remembering to use the special Danish lunchbox paper!) and cooking dinner.

Yep, the Danish work-life balance is pretty obvious on the home front. [Such a pity my own DDH didn’t get that particular memo! 😉 ]

So – ladies – next time you’re heading off on the school run, you might want to slap on some lipstick..?

Diane 🙂

The New Nordic…Potato Chip!

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Unless you’ve been living underneath a rock for the past year, you can’t have missed the hype.  The New Nordic ‘Thang’.  You know, the New Nordic Kitchen.  The New Nordic Diet.  The New Nordic Cuisine.  The New Nordic Lifestyle.  The New Nordic etc, etc, etc…  Getting back to nature.  Going out to the forest, dales and streams and foraging for food.  Viking roots, slow-food-rub-a-dub-stylee.  It started a few years back and has been building and building…

Three years ago, DDH (Dear Danish Husband) took me for my birthday to Noma (at that time, the Best Restaurant in the the World for the second year running) and we had the full whammy of their New Nordic dishes.  Prawns so fresh that they were still alive and wriggling as we swallowed them.  Deep fried moss.  Eggs we should fry ourself on hot iron plates, on top of smoking hay (washed down with champagne).  Yep, it was hard not to sit and think, “The Emperor’s New Clothes?”  Here we are, paying the best part of kr.5,000 (US $950, UK £560) for lunch for two, eating glorified fried eggs! 😉

But, as usual, I digress!  Anway, the New Nordic ‘Thang’ has been trickling down to the man in the street ever since.  First of all, we have the renaissance of rough-and-ready-rugbrød (ryebread).  Which is back with a hearty, healthy vengeance as a lunchbox staple.  But then again, did it ever really leave?

Then someone had the bright idea of marketing rugbrød (ryebread) as a tapas delicacy.  Slice the ryebread, roast it, add salt (big, manly flakes, selvfølgelig), put it in little bags and sell it at highly inflated prices [said the canny Scot].  Dang!  ‘Cos these rugbrødschips (ryebread chips) are actually very addictive!

But you know when the trend has finally gone mainstream when it hits the lowest supermarket shelves.  Yep, even the humble potato chip has had a New Nordic makeover.  They even came up with the cheesy name of Sbrød.  A combo of sprød (crunchy) and brød (bread)… 

Just add a glass of beer micro-brewery-unfiltered-pilsner or apple juice some freshly-tapped-birch-juice and you’re all set!

Diane 🙂

Oh what, wow, he's the greatest dancer! Marvelous!

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It’s Friday!  Which means I’m in the mood for dancing!  [And ‘romancing’ – anyone else remember the Nolan Sisters?]

And nothing hits the spot like a bit of Marvelous Mosell…  Remember him?  (See Friday Fun – It’s Marvelous! Mosell!)  The Danish rapper who mixes his own ‘fly’ lyrics with classic tunes.  All topped off with crazy videos!   And – for those of you learning Danish – there are usually subtitles. 

Here he is – with a bit of help from Chic and Sister Sledge – with a tale of his exploits as Den Bedste Dancer (the greatest dancer)…

 

 “Der var både bajere og hash,

men jeg sagde: Stik mig bare en

kærnemælk i et snavset glas

med et sugerør i

og gør det i en fart, for jeg er sørme tørstig!”

“There was beer and hash

but I said: Give me some

buttermilk in a dirty glass

with a straw, and do it nifty

‘cos I’m really thirsty” 😉

 

So, anyone for the slosh?

Have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Diane 🙂

Spring, sand, sea and sun!

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What a difference a month makes… Spring officially started here in Denmark on Saturday (1 March) and, though we’ve still got the odd night of frost, the erantis (Week Seven. Sea or sun?) are out in full force and things are definitely beginning to look up!  To give you an example…  Here’s a photo I took of my sweetie-skinny-dipping-buddy V just four weeks ago (6 February).  Freezing fog and ice on the bathing steps.  Yep, you don’t have to be mad to be a winterbather, but we find that it helps… 😉

And here’s me this morning. The sun was out – hooray, hooray – and we had an air temp of 4c (39.2f).  Okay, okay, so the water is still a tad on the chilly side – about 3c (37.4f). But we’re not complaining.  In fact, the sea was so beautiful and clear this morning that we just had to swim twice!

And there’s more good news ‘cos apparently the Danish weather gods are going to give us a beautiful, Danish spring weekend with sun, sun, sun and temperatures up to 13c (55.4f).  Time to head for the beach!

Diane 🙂

 

 

More Danish Drama! Arvingerne…The Legacy!

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Okay, can you handle more drama?  Just when you thought those crazy Danes had saturated the tv market with the (fabulous) Scandi crime series Forbrydelsen (“The Killing”) and Broen (“The Bridge”) – not to mention the highjinks at the Danish Parliament, Borgen (“Borgen”) – along comes DR1 (the Danish public service channel) on the first of January and hits us right between the eyes.  Again!  Kapow! 😛

ARVINGERNE “THE LEGACY”

 

No policitians.  No murders (at least, not yet?!).  Nope, our new ‘let’s-all-unite-around-our-television-sets-on-Sunday-nights-and-discuss-it-Monday-morning’ series is a family drama: Arvingerne (“The Legacy”).

Picture the scene: a famous, eccentric Danish artist – Veronika Grønnegaard – is dying.  Along with her art, she’ll leave behind an eclectic family…  Four children.  Gro, the eldest daughter (who has a wardrobe to die for…), works with her mother.  Gro’s biological father Thomas (a.k.a. Jesper Christensen, a.k.a. Mr White from the recent Bond movies – though, yegads, you’d never recognise him in this new rôle) lives on the property.  Frederik (who has cut off contact with his mother) and Emil (who only contacts his mother when he needs money) are the two middle sons.  Their father committed suicide.  And then we have Signe, the youngest daughter.  Who doesn’t know that she is actually Veronika‘s daughter – she’s been living with adopted parents, blissfully unaware.  But Signe is contacted by Veronika a couple of days before she dies…  Throw into the mix an ‘I’m-minutes-from-dying-and-am-handwriting-a-new-will-and-testament’ and let the fun commence!

Oh.  And the title music – sung by Nina Persson (yes, her, from The Cardigans) – is also fabulous, but not available anywhere yet.  Boo!

The series is apparently already on its way to British, Belgian and Australian viewers.  Two out of three Danes are watching every week…  I’m hooked!  As they say in Danish, Glæd Jer!  “Look forward to it!”

Diane 🙂

 

Find a chair – it's time to jump into the New Year!

DIANE IN DENMARK5 Comments

Christmas has been and gone (I hope you enjoyed my 24-day-long Danish Christmas Advent Calendar?) and I’m getting as much sleep as I can right now.  Because celebrating Nytår (New Year) in Denmark is serious business.  While Christmas is spent with family, New Year’s Eve is normally spent with friends – usually at someone’s house.

Let’s start with the basics.  The celebrations start at 6 o’clock.  Sharp.  So make absolutely sure you are at the party venue about 15 minutes before, so you have time to change out of your ‘outside’ shoes, take off your coat, scarf and gloves, and put down your (humungous) bag of fireworks (not forgetting the all-important safety glasses for every member of your party).  And what’s so important about 6 o’clock?  Well, that’s when the Danish Queen “Daisy”‘ makes her speech, live, on the telly.  And it’s tradition to watch.  And listen.  Whilst standing up and enjoying a cocktail or glass of bubbly…

After that, the kids (and big kids = dads) are officially allowed to go outside and launch a few fireworks.  (But remember to keep the big guns for 12 o’clock!)

 

And it’s also the cue for the others (read “women”!) to go into the kitchen, finish prepping the yummy food, and get the starter on the table.  Then the menfolk/kids come back in, everyone eats, the menfolk/kids go out and launch a few more fireworks, the women clear up and prepare the next course and repeat, repeat, REPEAT!!! 

 

 

Just make sure that – with all the crazy comings and goings, food and wine aplenty – that you don’t lose track of time.  When it’s getting near to 12 o’clock, you need to stop and find a seat.  Or a ladder.  Or a sofa.  Something that is fairly high up off the ground to stand on…

Switch on the telly or radio and turn it up LOUD.  Because the first chimes of the clock from Copenhagen’s rådhus (townhall) are your cue to literally ‘jump’ into the New Year.  So we jump, hug, kiss and open (yet more) champagne.  Then you listen to the traditional songs… Vær Velkommen Herrens År, Det er et Yndigt Land andKong Kristian stod ved højen Mast  Not a dry eye in the house, nor an empty glass! ;P

 

And then it’s time for everyone to muffle up, pile outside (safety glasses on, champagne in hand) for the Grand Finale of fireworks.  Which round our parts usually lasts over 30 minutes.  But you will hear fireworks going off the whole night, into the wee small hours of the morning…  And again the next day! 

 

But back to our party…  After the fireworks, you can come back in and warm up with hot coffee and kransekage (yummy marcipan cake, baked in rings, layered up and decorated with sparklers, feathers and streamers) before finishing off the champers… 

 

And the day after?  Is spent watching German ski jump on the tv, eating lots of junk food and – sigh – clearing up all the fireworks from the road and garden…

All that’s left for me to do is to say Godt Nytår!  Happy New Year!  Thanks for following the blog and look forward to seeing you all again in 2014!

Diane 🙂