Lots of Rain

I get the impression there will be many more days like this one...where the rain lets up just enough so you don't get soaked walking from one place to another. We found Svea a pair of rain pants today, so that will help while she's sitting in the stroller as we walk around town.

The boys had their extra language class during school today -they really are doing well with what they are learning. The other night at dinner, Jeff asked Anders a math problem in Danish, and Anders was able to answer -so he not only understood the numbers themselves, but also what the problem was. That was exciting to see and hear.

On our walk the other day, Torben saw this store and asked if it was the Tooth Fairy Store...

It's a dentist... but since he's got a loose front tooth that not only wiggles front to back but also wiggles side to side, the tooth fairy is at the forefront of his mind. I don't know how that little tooth is still hanging on! He eats raw carrots, apples, and yesterday ate three or four pieces of corn on the cob. And still that tooth sits.

We were outside the grocery store and saw this very strange-looking tree...

All the leaves and branches face downward! It's not like a weeping willow, but does sort of look like the branches just got tired of standing upright and decided to take a rest. It's a perfect cone-shape. I may need to get a closer picture of the branches themselves to see just how odd this was. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is -it's got some prickly nuts on it as well as the downward leaves.

Pretty much it rained all day long -sometimes just a light mist, and other times pouring. In the evening, we noticed there was a steady stream of water coming down the inside of the wall. We moved the painting, got some towels, and Jens assured us this has happened before -usually when there is a lot of rain after it's been quite warm- and he would call his roof guy to come look at it, and please try to save the wallpaper from damage. So far so good. One of the challenges of living in a house that is nearly 100 years old!

It's interesting to me how being in a foreign country where they are speaking another language ignites the part of the brain that deals with foreign languages, even if they are the wrong ones. I've found myself many times thinking in French -whereas at home I struggle to remember words and phrases that would be used in conversation, here I find it's almost automatic. Reminds me of when Mom sometimes talks to the children from Africa in Spanish, because that is her default when someone doesn't speak English -and how this makes all the ELL kids laugh. The other day Svea was brushing her teeth (one of her favourite things to do) and I told her it was enough and it was time to go to bed. Her response was "NEJ!" in the basic tone of "nooooooooooooo" -that was cute also. She has picked up a few Danish words here and there in addition to the English ones she is learning. Her favourite number to say is "two" -not sure why, but she'll be well-prepared to say how old she is when her birthday comes along!

The big kids from the Friskole are on a camping trip this week, which means the younger kids get to play in all the playgrounds! Generally they are only allowed to play on the "big kids" section if they ask first -to make sure someone knows where they are. When we picked up the boys from school, they wanted to show us all around the big kids playground where there are two trails for riding bikes, and they go around the large tube slide and have ramps and bridges and whatnot. There are several bikes and other riding toys that they get out during play time. They seem to be very serious about play. There are swings and forts and slides and a huge tire swing that fits four kids, and a field, and trails, and a sandbox. A kids' wonderland. And they get to play year-round, rain or shine.

We got our phone connected this week so we now have a local Danish phone number. Jeff got his first call on it yesterday -from the people in charge of television/news taxes. There is a monthly tax for public television for each residence -the one that has the Disney Sjov on it. So we will check to see how to pay them for this year while we're here.

It's kind of fun to see the dining room so full this week while the 80 extra people are here for their week-long course. For lunch, we had meatballs made of fish -Svea loved these! They didn't taste too different from the ones we make out of pork -though obviously they were slightly different. They are eaten with a yellow sauce something like mayonnaise, pickles, and curry -which is typically eaten with fish or eggs. I quite like it. Dinner was dill potatoes, beef roast with gravy, and corn on the cob. We don't eat a lot of beef at home, so the kids weren't real excited about it, but they all tried some. And then filled their plates with corn and potatoes. And then more corn and potatoes.