I’m back with another post! I can’t believe it’s October already. I’m starting to settle into more of a regular rhythm here, although I try to discover something new each day. I’ve taken a lot of walks down the long streets, trying to figure out how everything connects.

This past Friday I went with some friends to a “karma night” at a disco club, it was a lot of fun. A different type of place than we were expecting but still an enjoyable experience. There were a lot of yoga-type people there, and positive quotes were posted on the walls (in Danish). Plus it was a nice release to just let go and dance. :)

This weekend I didn’t do much, just went on several walks and cleaned the kitchen and my room. I thought it went pretty well. I’m considering buying a plant or something to bring some more life into this room. :)

This afternoon I decided to check out the Swim Centre at DGI-Byen, and it was really nice. Very stylish. The Danes are very open when it comes to nakedness in the locker rooms…you are not allowed to have clothes on when you take a shower. Everyone in the women’s locker room was naked — kids, grown women and small boys (who are too young to go alone into the men’s locker rooms). There are 5 pools. I swam in Pool 4, which is elliptical. You swim in circles around this smaller children’s play pool in the center. Very interesting. I’d never seen anything like it. It’s 100 meters (~ 328 ft) in circumference, and 1.8 meters (~5.9 ft) deep. I didn’t visit the other 4 pools today, but when I go back I will take a look at them!

My absentee ballot came in the mail the other day. So I will be casting my vote for president and sending it back ASAP!

So I’ve been in Copenhagen for a month already! Yesterday I went to a lecture at Copenhagen University; the class is a course in Danish culture. Yesterday’s lecture was about mythology and legends. It was pretty interesting! I am not enrolled in the class so it felt kind of funny to sit there, but it was a large lecture class and so people probably thought I was enrolled. The lecture hall was very stylish, by the way. If I go again I’ll try to take some pictures. It’s true that the Danish people seem to love well-designed and stylish buildings. At least,  it seems true from what I’ve seen so far in Copenhagen!

Well, on to the purpose of this entry. Here are some Danish words I’ve picked up from my first month of living in Copenhagen. It is far easier for me to read them than to pronounce them, though. I can get by with speaking English, but it is fun to try to understand the local language.

First, a little about Danish:

• The Danish alphabet – the Danish alphabet uses the same 26 letters that the English language does, plus 3 vowels that do not occur in English. These vowels are represented by Æ (with lowercase æ); Ø (with lowercase ø); and Å (lowercase å). They come at the end of the alphabet, after “Z”, in the order I’ve presented them.
• So, “æ” is pronounced close to “e” in English word “best”
• “ø” is pronounced close to the “i” sound in the English word “bird”
• “å” is prounounced like “o” in “coke” or “often.”

Some Danish words I picked up this past month (note – many of these words look similar to English but are pronounced totally different):

• Days of the week (in order): mandag, tirsdag, onsdag, torsdag, fredag, lørdag & søndag.
  • I’ve noticed that days of the week are not capitalized when used within a sentence.
• dag = day
• i dag = today
• og = and
• med = with
  • I’ve even seen “m/grøntsager” meaning “with vegetables”, the same way we would write “w/vegetables” in English!
• mod = against
• tryk = push (I’ve seen it on doors)
• udgang = exit
• adgang = entrance
• grøntsager = vegetables
• kort = card
• næste = next
• til = to (as in “going to some location”) or can also mean “until”
• klokken = “at …. o’clock”; for example, the time for my kitchen’s weekly dinner is written on the board as Kl.19:00, meaning 7:00 p.m.
• åben = open
• på = on; at; in
• parkering = parking
• øl = beer
• løg = onion
• have = garden
• hvidløg = garlic
• vask = washing
• vaskeri = laundry
• varm = hot or warm
• lufthavn = airport
• luft = air or sky
• frugt = fruit

This is just a short entry. I am happy because I managed to cook rice the other night, it wasn’t perfect but it came out well enough to eat. I bought some vegetables and there are many small ethnic markets that sell stir-fry sauces and oil, so I have made stir-fry 2 times so far. It’s not that bad and it’ll save a LOT of money.

Also I did my laundry for the second time a few nights ago, this time my clothes weren’t sopping wet and were mostly dry after coming out of the dryer. I glanced at the dryer settings when someone else’s clothes were in there; I decided to put my clothes on that setting when it was my turn. It was the opposite setting from what I had last time. Whatever it was, it worked, so I didn’t need to hang anything this time around.

Now I am going to a lecture on Danish culture at the nearby Copenhagen University. More later…