Week three in the city and still a lot to say

I realize that the last blog was rather long, ok, I admit, very long. This one might be long too, so be forewarned.

Thanks so much to Kate, Abra, Emma, Mum, Tiffany, Marieke, and Ana for your comments. They really mean a lot to me. It is nice to know that I have such a great amount of support and that I am not just swimming without light in this place of football-crazed people.

Where was I...?

Wednesday.

So on Tuesday night came Geir (my cousin from Bergen, 20 years old) and Øystein (Geir's friend, also 20) to have a mini holiday in Hamburg. Some how, in my tiny room, we all managed to fit. I think they spent one very uncomfortable night on the floor before I found to mattresses for them. The next day I left for work early, and then finished work much later then usual. I then met up with the guys in an area near Altona (where the street festival was). We had some surprisingly good Pakistanian food. Since there was some time left before they needed to meet up with a Hamburg artist in his studio, we grabbed a few beers for a drink in the park. It was an odd feeling drinking out in the open. With the police just down the lane, I felt almost compelled to hide the bottle. But then I guess that would be more suspicious then just drinking it out in the open. So I guess that leads to an interesting point...what is in the open does not need to be hidden. I guess this seems like common sense, or just a bunch of nonsense that I am sprouting out. Maybe it is a difference between the mentalities of the US vs. many European countries? I don't know.

I said I would snap a picture of a strawberry carte, so here one is (Øystein and Geir):

Cool and Übercool:

Anyway, back to the story.

After a beer, we headed to the Reeperbahn in St. Pauli. Due to a slight delay, I walked the guys around a little. They were pretty shocked about the prostitution, like I was (and still am) and that the women look so young and normal. Øystein said that in Prague the prostitutes looked completely opposite of the women in Hamburg, I think that is the nicest way I can put it. I kind of persuaded them to have a small walk down the street that is forbidden for women who are not in the sex business. The look on their faces when they came out was hard to describe.

Till, the artist, has the most incredible studio. It is in this huge building, called SKAM, that a lot of artists can inhabit (though without heating it is pretty cold in the winter) basically for free. Just looking at the building you would think it was uninhabited, yet you wonder why there would be an uninhabited building in a prime spot in the city. I think the fact that a massive poster hanging on the building welcoming the world to the world cup is almost too much for the artists to handle. After the never ending "Send en melding til Till..." (send a message to Till in Norwegian) which was a pun that didn't get old, we met the guy. Geir knew him from school, and yes, this guy is a classic artist. Everything in black, even a clack cap. Long ponytail too. Just one cool looking cat. He had to fiddle with some paper work, and in the meantime we chatted. At one point I got lost looking for the restroom and found my way into someone else’s studio. There were dolls all over the walls with needles in their faces, along with some other not so pleasant images. Very bizarre. When it started getting a bit later I decided to head home. I had to be a little responsible for myself; after all, I had work the next day (this was a thought that was lost to me the next night- see Thursday).

Actually, a last short story of the night was when I was waiting for the metro train. I was listening to my diskman when out of the blue I turn around and this guy is really close to me. We then looks at my diskman and goes "is there really a CD in there?" Hmmm. I respond in a fake accent that I can't understand English. He then leaves me be. Perhaps drunk? Perhaps crazy? Or perhaps he was just amazed that people still listen to diskmans. I will probably never know.

Thursday.

Wednesday night I slept so badly because I kept having the weirdest dreams that Geir and Øystein couldn't find their way into the room. Waking up Thursday morning, they still hadn't found their way back. Lo and behold, at 8:30, while drinking my morning coffee, they came lumbering into the kitchen. I feel so bad about this, but catching one look at them, I had to laugh. "Long night?" I said. "We are so angry." Øystein says. Even writing this I am giggling. Again, guys, if you ever read this, sorry. Turns out they had a really fun night out on the town with Till and did plenty of bar hopping. Nice cheap German beer, yum. They proceeded to explain that they would have been back an hour or two earlier if they had not been lost in the neighborhood. Wandering around in the suburbs early on a Thursday morning after a night out is not really any ones idea of a good time. Poor guys.

I got off work early this day and was going to head down to the library downtown, but I just wasn't feeling very well. So, just as the guys woke up, I took a one or two hour nap. I was surprised when I woke up to see the two of them in the kitchen watching the football match. Almost the whole thing. Not a bad way to get over a night out. Later on we decided to meet and go out on the town.

Before hitting the bars, I thought about heading to Planten en Blumen, which I heard had a fountain light show to classical music in the evenings. At 11pm, though, we seemed to be way too late: The place was basically deserted. After a small bite to eat we found a truly amazing sight. I have to say this is the best kids park I have ever been too. German engineering at its best, I think. There are water pumps with gates in the ground to control the floe, odd climbing contraptions, spinning contraptions, really long slides, etc. There was even a cube-like wooden building in which you could maneuver wood pieces around to enclose sections (a device of torture to bullies, I can imagine). Some of the apparatuses, including the climbing ones, were very tall, and actually a bit scary. I realize kids have less fear then adults, but still. I mean, you could really hurt yourself. Then again, it was so freakn' wicked. Øystein later mentioned that there was a guard in a building nearby, but he didn't stop us. Maybe he could see we were having so much fun being stupid?

After the playground we meandered to a cool place with bad music on the shore, followed by a hostel bar, and then another small bar with some pretty sweet music.

I really like how the bars are pretty small here. Also, even though they are small, a lot of them a very different. I tell you, there are very many bar areas around town, and depending on where you are, you can experience very different places. The bars in St. Pauli, the small ones, are not like 6th street in Austin at all.

Here is a picture of the music guys at the hostel bar. The guy on the left had some weird things written all over his body. He's definitely having fun.

Here is a Picture of Geir and I (I like the new Geir hair do. I liked the old one too, but everyone needs a change every now and then, right?):

McDonalds and sex. Not everyday you see this (on Reeperbahn):

At around 6 or 7 am I finally hit the pillow. Not great for the next day of work, but it just turned out that way. After all, I didn't go out the night before.

Friday.

On Friday, with my one hour of sleep, it turned out to be the longest working day so far. Just standing up in the lab doing experiments. I have rarely seen my hand shake so much. This was not very good under normal circumstances, and certainly was not helpful when I can pipeting concentrated sulfuric acid.

While in the afternoon I could have just decided to go home, I thought no. I met up with the guys when they went bargain shopping in Altona. There was a second hand clothes shop that wasn't too shabby. Geir looked pretty sweet in a Zoot suit (I don't know if that is how you spell it). Both the guys got nice jackets. Now they can be all smooth with the ladies.

Men and their suites:

After their shopping we heading to City de Nord Park to meet a former art teacher of Geir and Øystein. André has lived in Norway most of his life, originally from Hamburg, and takes some beautiful photographs. Coming out of the train we meet a Malaysian guy (who I forget his name), Sven (André's nephew), and Matthias (a local artist). Matthias begins his tour of this park that is the home of a biannual art instillation show. Most of the pieces are very conceptual indeed. I tell you, if I was just walking around the place I: one, would have trouble finding some of the pieces, and two, would interpret them very differently. Sometimes I felt like if the informal tour was more like a scavenger hunt.

Here is a picture of the group surrounding a white painted almost-circle in the grass. Apparently it is by a very famous American conceptual artist. Conceptual it was. I just kept thinking to myself how inappropriate it would be to accidentally spurt out a little laughter. Everyone seemed so serious. I could go into details, but lets just say this was not my favorite piece, nor was it any ones.

There was a half-circus tent that was a bit interesting. Not great, but interesting. We met the artist (who a little ironically was a little person), who went on to a way too in depth description of his work.

Matthias makes small signs that try to mean nothing, like "Eat an egg every Friday"? I thought his were funny. I also liked a clothes rack that was standing in the middle of the grass. Oddly enough, apart from the art, the park was not that nice. It is surrounded by 70's designed ugly business buildings. Not the nicest park in town. Oh, I have to mention that there was this puddle, and I thought Matthias was just being sarcastic when we was explaining that it took a lot of work to make a regular looking puddle. Boy was I wrong... Even the artwork that looked simple took so much planning and engineering. Man, these artists could be scientists if they leaned the other way.

After the tour we waited an ungodly amount of time for a wurst. After the wurst we wandered and found a cute food eatery in Stadt Park. It is beautiful. Walking around here close to dusk there were people everywhere. Having picnics, BBQ's, drinking. It was great. A huge body of water surrounded with green lawns, and what looks to be the garden leading up to a non-existent castle or palace.

When I was walking André told me that he had formally trained as a chemical lab technician and that, to him, chemistry and art were inextricably linked in his mind. Working with chemicals and designing experiments, he said, is similar to the thought processes of an artist. Not that I was feeling too out of place, but I was a little before André told me this. What a neat concept, though maybe few would agree (I do, he's a cool guy).

Our next plan was for the three of us to go see the Planten en Blumen fountain show. Turns out the rest of the group wanted to as well. We managed to see the end of the show, which was lovely. Almost hypnotic with the timing of lights, water, and music.

Following a walk to the fan fest area, where all the football matches are screened in front of tens of thousands of people. There were a lot of people still partying. I then headed home. The guys did their thing with the rest of the group until later.

Saturday.

Today the guys headed out surprisingly early to do more shopping. I lazied at home to try to recover a little bit after Thursday night. At around 3pm I headed towards the fan fest area to meet up with the guys. The trains were packed with the colours of black, red, and gold. Not to mention the songs, drunken bellowing, and excitement. I have to add that today was the match between Germany and Sweden. I think it is a little funny the way Germans say Sweden. In Norway it’s Sverige (pronounced sveh-rhi-ae), but in Germany it is Schweden (pronounced schv-ee-den). It sounds ugly in German, and I think its funny. Maybe it’s just me...

Back to the game. We were planning on going to the Fan Fest area that we had seen the night before, with all the people and all, but we changed our minds. The guys had found a nice table outside a cafe that was within very good viewing distance of a T.V. There was this friar beer, perhaps Belgian, which came in .5L glasses. Very good, and large. It was great watching the whole game there. We could even here the massive cries from the Fan Fest when a goal was scored. The game did get a little less exciting after it was obvious that Germany was dominant, but still fun to watch. This retired older German came and sat on the extra place at our table for most of the game. Very pleasant guy, who at one point hurried off, only to come back two minutes later with a can of peanuts. " You just can't watch football without peanuts,“ he said. Good peanuts they were too.

Me:

The guys:

The cafe and TV:

After the game we asked the old man where we could buy some alcohol at this hour (the stores close at 8pm). Off to Wal-Mart we went. It was even a super center. I can't believe I didn't notice it when I walked to the café (which was in another very nice area). Tons of fans were hitting the place with the same idea we had. Does Wal-Mart in the States sell alcohol? Here is a picture of the place:

Schwedes:

The night we spent relaxing and watching another football match at my place. Some packing was done as well. Geir and his Von Raven... It was nice with the guys talking Norwegian and me speaking some Norwegian, but mostly English.

Sunday.

Today all three of us left early in the morning to head to Danmark. I should mention that I used my two holiday days this month to go visit Christina in Danmark. She is studying abroad there for five weeks, which is almost over now. After a small stress with no busses/my stupidity, we finally made it on time to Hauptbahnhof, the central train station. See Geir and Øystein with lots of luggage heading to the Roskilde music festival in Danmark:

Going there, the train got onto a ferry. This was very surprising. The thought had never occurred to me that trains were not restricted to land. But I didn't think about the fact that the fastest way to Copenhagen would be water...

After some initial confusion, in part due to the ambiguity of our meeting place, but mostly due to the fact the train was late and I foolishly thought that by transferring to another train I would be on time, Christina and I met. Kind of surreal, actually. Christina and I went back to her place to drop off my backpack and then headed out for a little bit of exploring. It was a great feeling to be lead around a new town. After about five weeks of living there on exchange, Christina knows, for the most part, what is on the go. First thing was first: food. For this, my buddy oh pal was very creative. We meandered to Cristiania to eat at a well- priced (for Danmark) vegetarian place.

Kristiania is a town for a hippy community. It is located on an island and is connected to the main city by two bridges. Christina said that those bridges are very important symbols for the Christianias. Over there, you are not allowed to take photos in certain areas, and it is certainly very free. Children running around barefoot, dogs roaming, and the lingering smell of pot out of almost every doorstep. I should mention that hemp clothing, natural deodorant, dread locks, etc, were all part of the package. Though it is a very free seeming place, and I should say, a very alternative lifestyle, I did not feel that comfortable.

You are now entering the EU (when leaving Christiania):

After a nice supper, we headed to Nyhavn to enjoy some ice cream, people watching, and chatting. The warm weather, blue sky, and colourful houses, ice cream, and Christina, made it one schnazzy evening. The houses and buildings look a very similar to the houses on Bryggen in Bergen, but somewhat older. Though not much of an observation, Kobenhavn is so much older and smaller then Hamburg.

Two drunken Danes jump into the filthy harbour.

Christina and Ice:

Hippy and Cafe's:

Me and a bridge:

Monday.

Since Christina has class pretty early in the morning, I thought I would join her during rush hour and head to town. Instead of a long and detailed (and to you guys, probably boring) account of the things I saw, I will just give you a quick down-low, or is it low-down (?) and some of my observations for the day.

I spent a while in the morning planning a little walking itinerary around the city. I should have known myself better then that. I tried; I really did try to follow it... I just got very sidetracked. I managed to see two palaces, walk along the sea, see an old fort with a beautiful church:

,the city hall (free and clean washrooms!), the library (hurray for Neils Bohr), and plenty of classic Scandinavian architecture. I did try to see the Mermaid, and apparently I came close, but no bananas. It was just a small walk away from the old fort and church I mentioned earlier, but partly due to this screaming American kid and super loud parents, and the fact that I was walked-out, I walked away from the sculpture.

In the evening Christina and I at long last found a great cafe and shared a good meal.

Some of the things I noticed:

1) Danes are beautiful people, and very homogenous. The women are mostly very blond and very, very stylish (a hundred times more stylish then the women here in Hamburg, that is for sure). Thin, with refined faces, and minimal makeup. The men too, with similar features as the women, but of course more masculine, are gorgeous. Yep, this is one place that doesn't really boost your confidence, but has great people-watching.

2) With all the joking by Geir and Øystein about their language, as well as what I have heard from others (including the show Ut i Hvor Hage), I cannot understand the Danes. I can read most of the text, but wow, not a pretty language. Dare I say it, I almost prefer German. The only full sentence of Danish I understood was the guy selling strawberries "Danish strawberries, 2 for 20 DK!". Sad, I know. Kamalooso...he he he. Sometimes I thought I was going a bit crazy and had half the mind to think that I was loosing my ability to understand people...that is until I heard the Norwegian tourists on the street. Mostly there were two topics of conversation I heard i) how the Norwegians couldn't understand the Danes and ii) how they were lost.

3) Bikes, bikes, and more bikes. There are bicycle lanes all over the place, with special signals for the bikes that are separate from the pedestrian signals. No wonder that even though their food is heavier, they are so fit: the Danes walk and bike everywhere.

4) Danmark is one expensive city.

5) It was incredible...when I wanted to get to a place; I would spend so long trying to find it, end up not finding it, and instead wind up in the same place I started. It is like I favored one side and kept turning in circles. I have to say, I got distracted very easily. The streets are old, thin, and really beautiful.

Picture. I thought the mixture of the bikes; the older buildings with the crossbeams and the newer building contrast made this not a half bad photo.

6) I love this special type of rye bread with seafood. Delicious. This is a great cafe that Christina recommended. Wonderful atmosphere.

7) Flower shops everywhere. The smell and colours were (ok Ana, please don't hold it against me for using this word again), beautiful.

Tuesday.

Today, due to a bit of wine the previous night, I slept in a bit later and headed to town. I just wondered. It was wonderful to relax and not have any itinerary. I went to the Erotica Museum of Danmark (not very cultural, but pretty interesting). The place actually had a good deal of historical artifacts of the past. I also spend a good deal of time sitting at the fountain in a square, Gammel Torv, and watching the people and the day go by.

Here is a picture of me taken by an English gal:

Here is a poster assemblage. I like the poster that says "Krig og Kaerlighed", which means "War and Love" and is an exhibition about reasons of immigration to Danmark. I wish I had seen it.

At around 5pm, Christina and I met at the train station to bid adieu to each other. I am kind of sappy when it comes to these things, and I know that Christina hates goodbyes, so we didn't make such a big deal out of it. After all, I would see her in four days time. I love that gal.

That’s all for now. Enjoy!