Tis the season for gl�gg! Those back home can buy the mix at Ikea and add a bottle of red wine, some raisins and slivered almonds and warm it up on the stove. It is a great holiday drink, which was being sold at little stands along Str�get and in cafes, too. My danish teacher at the U used to leave us some of this (w/ wine) while we filled in our evaluation reports on the last day of class....maybe it influenced our ratings a bit..?!

Looking up K�bmagergade. Notice the Museum Erotica directly on the right and then the brand FCUK just beyond...I think that is kind of funny.

We went back into Copenhagen on Saturday morning. I love how the center has so many flower stands. This is from the little shop right outside of Illums.

This tree looked amazing! It had strands of lights wrapped around its trunk and then a layer of fabric over the lights. It gives off an awesome effect!

The lights in Tivoli

The day after Thanksgiving, I took the train down to Aarhus and met up with some of Martin's friends who drove the rest of the way to Copenhagen. We spent Friday evening in Tivoli, which is decorated for the holiday season and then later went out for a delicious Greek dinner on Vesterbrogade. Here I am holding up some aebleskiver which we ate along with some pretty bad glogg. Next to me is Annette, Anne, J�rgen and Daniel.

And I made the pumpkin pie, too! This was the first time I've ever made pumpkin pie. I am not a big fan of making the crust, so I usually avoid making any kinds of pie. But this one tasted great! It wasn't a fan of my Danish guests, but pumpkin is a flavor you have to learn to like sometimes.

Happy Thanksgiving! I felt like Superwoman after I made a whole Thanksgiving meal all by myself. I made everything homemade! Cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, grean bean casserole, turkey gravy, homemade rolls, glazed carrots, and baked turkey breast (I couldn't find a whole turkey anywhere! Only ducks!)

These Spanish girls were very nice! I was the only non-Spanish speaker and they did well speaking English most of the evening!

Last Tuesday (Nov. 22) I was invited over to Rocio's kollegium for a Spanish meal. She made a specialty dish from her part of the country that was actually quite good. It reminded me of hummus, but it was with tomatoes and lots of garlic. We ate it together with a egg and potato omelette and some slices of bread. It was delicious. I am sitting next to Rocio and the two Spanish girls on the other side are Violeta and Maria Jose.

Oh my gosh! I was watching the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks, and in the beginning when he calls his wife and the camera scans over the desk as he speaks in the answering machine they show a tin of Burt's Beeswax lip balm on the desk! Very cool.

The Husky Band on the field. This will be, unfortunately, their last half time show of the year. There will be no bowl games after this season.

A view of the stadium looking west from Mom and Dad's seats in the south side upper level seats. It's half time and you can see the Cougar band below getting ready for the half time show.

My dad is at the Apple Cup right now in Husky Stadium (Washington versus Washington State) and sent me this picture from their seats in the south side upper deck. Isn't that a great view we have from our stadium?! That is Lake Washington out there. If you were in the north side seats, you could see more of the lake and on a clear day, Mt. Rainier. Husky Stadium has been voted one of the most scenic stadiums in the NCAA.

Tully's in a Starbucks mug & Janteloven

Is it legal to drink Tully's coffee out of a Starbuck's mug?

Nah, I don't care! I have been waiting to finish up my Starbuck's beans so that I could enjoy the Tully's Husky blend coffee that I got from Heather for my birthday! (Thanks, Heather! It tastes great!) I was enjoying my first cup today in one of my favorite mugs ( the big city mugs from Starbucks. I have one from Basel, Switzerland and another from Munich, Germany.) when Martin called my mobile and the ring is the Husky Band playing Vic'try for Washington (Ha! That's a good one...). It was perfect timing! Husky Blend with Husky Band! ;)

Anyway. . . . .

Today, November 11th, is Mortensdag in Denmark, derives from St. Martin....whoever he was, and there is a tradition to eat roast duck for the occassion. Well, Danes have a really great habit of celebrating things the day BEFORE the actual day of a holiday. So, last night was when you should have roast duck...on MortensAFTEN....the night before. So, I kind of made a fool of myself to my neighbor by saying "No, no, no! It's Friday that is Mortens aften/dag - whatever". But I was wrong, it was Thursday night that duck should be served....but that is not written in the Danish calendar!?!! I know it's a stupid thing to discuss, but it's irritating when you look on the calendar and it doesn't say anything about Mortensaften. It's the same with Skt Hans aften on June 23rd, but's it's Skt. Hans dag that is in the calendar on June 24th, although it is Skt Hans aften when you celebrate with burning the witch and singing around the bonfire. And the same thing with Christmas! The Danes do their big celebrating on Christmas Eve, juleaften, but pretty much nothing happens on Christmas day! Funny, those Danes!

To make a long story short, we are having roast duck tonight on Mortensdag. We will eat it with a Waldorfs salad, boiled potatoes, and red cabbage. Maybe I will take a picture! :)

It's funny how after living in this culture for so long, you begin to notice particularities of the Danish people...things that are ingrained in their culture, which derive from a law about how you should behave as a Danish person...called Janteloven. This law was written by a famous Danish author, Aksel Sandemose (1899-1965) which states simply:

The Law of Jante
You shall not think that you are special

You shall not think that you are of the same standing as us

You shall not think that you are wiser than us

Don't fancy yourself as being better than us

You shall not think that you know more than us

You shall not think that you are more (important) than us

You shall not think that you are good at anything

You shall not laugh at us

You shall not think that anyone cares about you

You shall not think that you can teach us anything

It is most noticeable in the older generations today, but deap down....the Danes got it good. For example, if you are having a job interview with a senior associate, be sure to not give yourself too much credit for what you can do. You must be very modest and say you will try your best.

There was also an occasion that I was at a birthday party for a friend of Martin's. Some of the group got into a heated discussion about Muslims in Denmark and how they should integrate into the culture. Yes, I agree to some extent, but I had to put my 2 cents in and say that it would do some good if the Danes started getting out of their own culture and opening up more to what each person likes individually. That birthday party represented a very typical Danish event as in that it was a very typical way to celebrate: inviting guests to a dinner, serving (typically) 3 courses, wine, and then ending by talking around the coffee table with wine, beer, coffee and music in the background...and of course candles. It's not a bad thing, but it's the way most every Dane has a dinner party. And to make it worse, the interior of the house is going to have a very particular way of being decorated. Similar lamps, similar chair and tables, similar Danish design, similar pictures, similar paint job. Of course, this was in Jylland. Things can have a bit more variety in the Copenhagen.

It's hard to explain everything in a blog entry. A whole disertation could be (and likely has been) written about how Danish people are. I don't think it's totally bad, of course. I can't say that, because I'm half Danish and I have a lot of Danish friends and family. It's just the way Danish people are, and that is difficult for someone who has grown up the American way: Be proud of yourself. You can do it. You are special.

My sister sent me this picture of everyone at the Husky game this past Saturday. It was homecoming and the Dawgs lost....again. But I wish I could've been there, too! My cousin Astrid was in town to help her sister Britta move into her new house. She happened to be free on Saturday and took my Dad's ticket (who is in San Francisco...where Astrid lives!) and brought little Lyvia to her very first Husky game! My mom said she had a good time and they taught her how to say "Go Dawgs!" and Lyvia was able to use her "outside voice"! (L-R: future brother in law Chad, sister Carley, aunt Maren, cousin Astrid, s'cousin Lyvia, and my mom)

Gammeltorv in the city center is full of activity in honor of the royal visit of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway

Aalborg police hang-out across the street from the city hall, and right next to where the Husky Band performed this summer

Prince Haakon and the mayor (I am assuming) of Aalborg before going into the old Aalborg city hall for lunch

Crown Prince Haakon. He is currently in Denmark in celebration of the 100th anniversary since a prince of Denmark went to Norway to become king. It was definately an honor for Aalborg to host the Prince today in celebration of the opening of Boulevarden, which, they mentioned, includes granite stones that came from Norway! Prince Haakon attended a Pac-10 school on exchange...UC Berkeley and was attending at the time I was at the school for a Husky football game...which we won! :)

The Crown Prince Haakon, although protected by body guards and police, people were able to get relatively close and he came up to people, too, and said hello...he even waved and made eye contact with me! Nice guy, eh?!

The camera man and woman there stopped to interview me before the Prince arrived!! So, hopefully at kl.19.30 tonight I will make a debut on TVNord (www.tv2nord.dk)...well, maybe not a debut, because they did meet the Husky Band this summer! :)

Prince Haakon stops to enjoy the music of this small old timers band.

Prince Haakon being led down Boulevarden by the mayor of Aalborg and other important people.

Crown Prince Haakon smiles for the camera's (like the one directly in front of me) while he prepares to cut the ribbon.

Aalborg Garden performing on Boulevarden

The "Aalborg Garden" band was present to entertain the awaiting on-lookers and lead the important people down the new Boulevard.

The arrival of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway to the red carpet at the J.F. Kennedy Square in Aalborg, where the opening of the newly renovated Boulevarden will be official with the clip of the scissors on the red ribbon by the Prince.

The Norweigan Flag flying in Aalborg in honor of the Crown Prince of Norway's visit.

It is a Kromann tradition to enjoy homemade pizza on Halloween night, so I invited the Oktoberfest group over to enjoy pizza with me! Here are Mia, Garrett and Rocio before we slice into pizza number 1. (Notice that under the pizza is a beautiful Halloween runner made by my mom in purple colors...which was perfect, because I only have purple table clothes! :)

There were only two pumpkins left at the store on the afternoon of Halloween, so I grabbed me this nice pumpkin and carved it up between making pizza dough and a pumpkin cake.