Head on over to my new website/blog, about writing, motherhood, shoes and the blessing of cupcakes (perhaps in that order):
Monday, October 25, 2010
Repatriation and Sundry Thoughts about Being Home
So, we're home.
A year later, it's still strange to be here... and at the same time it feels like we never left. I catch myself bagging my own groceries at the store, and then, instead of walking, driving my car fifty meters across the parking lot to go to the next store. I'm not the same person that left three years ago, but it's somehow easy to fall back into those same old patterns of living, some of which I hoped I would've left behind. I wrote an essay last year abour repatriation, and I think this paragraph sums up how I feel:
I’m not that person who leftNorth Carolina Baltic Sea as shopping at Target and eating Chik-Fil-A is as much epiphany as expatriate epilogue.
Ah, how true and how naive. Just because I now realize that eating at Chik-Fil-A isn't a necessity in my life doesn't mean I don't enjoy it, or driving an SUV, or buying an expensive phone, or any of the other trappings of life in the U.S. Just because I know I can live without things doesn't mean I want to (nor does that make me a bad person, which is a hard idea to come to terms with). And missing the things I loved about Copenhagen doesn't mean I want to move back there, either. What I do know now is that I would be disappointed if we never had the opportunity to live outside of the U.S. again, and even more importantly, if my children never had the opportunity to (at least) travel in other cultures, and hopefully even live in one. So, to sum up, I think I will make a couple of lists: one for the things I miss about Denmark, and one for all the things that make me happy to be back, as superficial or silly as they may seem.
Five Things I Miss About Denmark
(5) Easy access to European and eastern travel. We visited over 17 countries while in Denmark; from the U.S., the same plane tickets would cost four times what we paid, and that's not even considering the jet lag.
(4) Danish ice cream. Danish cheese. Danish bakeries. The Danish fishmonger. Danish dairy products, in general. Overall, while the Danes don't have giant stainless refrigerators and freezers in their garages, the Danish way of life lends itself to better, fresher food (although that also means, unfortunately, more trips to the grocery store), and walking or biking to all of those places boosts fitness levels and overall health. Have I said Danish enough times? You get me, yo.
(3) Eighteen hours of sunlight in the summer, and how the Danes actually use those hours to enjoy life. Ever seen a Copenhagen park in July? Fabulous.
(2) The Danish focus on the family. People actually leave work in Denmark at five. Service may suck, but wouldn't you trade surly waiters for getting to spend an extra two hours a day with your kids? I would.
(1) Understanding that people are not only happy living in their own culture, but couldn't imagine living anywhere else, and that makes me wanting to come home just as okay as me wanting to live somewhere else for a while.
Five Reasons I Couldn't be Happier to Come Home
(5) I no longer am required to eat a sandwich or hamburger with a fork.
(4) Diversity. I fit in in Denmark (good German/northern European genes do that for a person), but it's nice to be in a place where people all look, talk and act different.
(3) The (current) American health care system. I will be delivering my child in a private birthing suite nicer than most hotels we visited in Europe, with a medical staff who speak English as a first language and have immediate access to state-of-the-art neonatal care. Health care in Denmark is good, and even more importantly, accessible to the entire population, but this is one of those areas in which I am very happy to be a selfish American with excellent health care provided by my husband's company. It may not make me pretty, but I'll do whaterver it takes to have a healthy baby, and I'm not the slightest bit ashamed of it.
(2) Living in Denmark, as great as it was, took effort. Every day, walking into a store, making friends, trying to navigate the etiquette, the language, the right thing to say, it was all a great experience in terms of living and learning about myself and another culture, but it didn't necessarily make for an easy life. Here, while it may not be as culturally enriching, it's nice to just be able to live without thinking about each word before it exits my mouth. Or wondering if the shopgirls are talking about the clueless American trying on the wrong size shoes. Or getting the annoyed look when someone approached me in Danish and I have to switch to English. Plus, we have Quizno's... no forks required.
(1) There's no substitute for being close to our families, especially when we're starting our own. So, of course, my people are the best reason to be home. Ever.
So those are my thoughts about repatriating and living happily ever after here in the states. Smooches - S
A year later, it's still strange to be here... and at the same time it feels like we never left. I catch myself bagging my own groceries at the store, and then, instead of walking, driving my car fifty meters across the parking lot to go to the next store. I'm not the same person that left three years ago, but it's somehow easy to fall back into those same old patterns of living, some of which I hoped I would've left behind. I wrote an essay last year abour repatriation, and I think this paragraph sums up how I feel:
I’m not that person who left
Ah, how true and how naive. Just because I now realize that eating at Chik-Fil-A isn't a necessity in my life doesn't mean I don't enjoy it, or driving an SUV, or buying an expensive phone, or any of the other trappings of life in the U.S. Just because I know I can live without things doesn't mean I want to (nor does that make me a bad person, which is a hard idea to come to terms with). And missing the things I loved about Copenhagen doesn't mean I want to move back there, either. What I do know now is that I would be disappointed if we never had the opportunity to live outside of the U.S. again, and even more importantly, if my children never had the opportunity to (at least) travel in other cultures, and hopefully even live in one. So, to sum up, I think I will make a couple of lists: one for the things I miss about Denmark, and one for all the things that make me happy to be back, as superficial or silly as they may seem.
Five Things I Miss About Denmark
(5) Easy access to European and eastern travel. We visited over 17 countries while in Denmark; from the U.S., the same plane tickets would cost four times what we paid, and that's not even considering the jet lag.
(4) Danish ice cream. Danish cheese. Danish bakeries. The Danish fishmonger. Danish dairy products, in general. Overall, while the Danes don't have giant stainless refrigerators and freezers in their garages, the Danish way of life lends itself to better, fresher food (although that also means, unfortunately, more trips to the grocery store), and walking or biking to all of those places boosts fitness levels and overall health. Have I said Danish enough times? You get me, yo.
(3) Eighteen hours of sunlight in the summer, and how the Danes actually use those hours to enjoy life. Ever seen a Copenhagen park in July? Fabulous.
(2) The Danish focus on the family. People actually leave work in Denmark at five. Service may suck, but wouldn't you trade surly waiters for getting to spend an extra two hours a day with your kids? I would.
(1) Understanding that people are not only happy living in their own culture, but couldn't imagine living anywhere else, and that makes me wanting to come home just as okay as me wanting to live somewhere else for a while.
Five Reasons I Couldn't be Happier to Come Home
(5) I no longer am required to eat a sandwich or hamburger with a fork.
(4) Diversity. I fit in in Denmark (good German/northern European genes do that for a person), but it's nice to be in a place where people all look, talk and act different.
(3) The (current) American health care system. I will be delivering my child in a private birthing suite nicer than most hotels we visited in Europe, with a medical staff who speak English as a first language and have immediate access to state-of-the-art neonatal care. Health care in Denmark is good, and even more importantly, accessible to the entire population, but this is one of those areas in which I am very happy to be a selfish American with excellent health care provided by my husband's company. It may not make me pretty, but I'll do whaterver it takes to have a healthy baby, and I'm not the slightest bit ashamed of it.
(2) Living in Denmark, as great as it was, took effort. Every day, walking into a store, making friends, trying to navigate the etiquette, the language, the right thing to say, it was all a great experience in terms of living and learning about myself and another culture, but it didn't necessarily make for an easy life. Here, while it may not be as culturally enriching, it's nice to just be able to live without thinking about each word before it exits my mouth. Or wondering if the shopgirls are talking about the clueless American trying on the wrong size shoes. Or getting the annoyed look when someone approached me in Danish and I have to switch to English. Plus, we have Quizno's... no forks required.
(1) There's no substitute for being close to our families, especially when we're starting our own. So, of course, my people are the best reason to be home. Ever.
So those are my thoughts about repatriating and living happily ever after here in the states. Smooches - S
Sunday, October 24, 2010
2009, The Recap: Part II (Complete with many, many pictures)
Howdy! Here I am again, ONE DAY LATER. Didn't believe me, that I would be back so soon? Oh yes, yes I am. You see, the possibility of delivering a baby in the next, you know, 48 hours has lit a fire under... ahem, me. Also, in the category of "I'm awesome and didn't even realize it," I already wrote up parts of what I wanted to say about the fall of 2009. So picking up where we left off - home from our faboooooo Med vacation last July - here's the first part of my post, written last year around this time:
August/September 2009: Sundry Comings and Goings
In the "why being an expat isn't the fabulous life it's sometimes cracked up to be" category, I submit exhibit (A): my August. I'm not super proud of the fact that I moped around all of August, but in fact, that's pretty much what I did. Homesick, bummed from no longer being on vacation, still waiting to find out when we're coming home in the new year, unable to write a four word sentence and getting ignored and rejected on all sides in the writing world... what's a girl to do? That would be: rid the local 7-11 of all Ben & Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie pints (i dare anyone to find a better ice cream than B&J CFB. really, i dare you. bring it.), the local Super Best of hummus, and my husband of his sanity. And there, in a paragraph, is the summation of my August. Betcha never thought I could be that succinct, huh?
Me either.
September was markedly better. First, Jon's parents showed up - Yay! No, really, yay! I dig my in-laws! - and we spent a week toodling around Copenhagen and the greater Zealand area. We even went down to Dragor, the super fun fishing village south of Copenhagen, in the rain. In the process we met quite a few fun Danes (no, Weeza, I am not high. we actually met fun, talkative, non-reserved Danes), one of which showed us happily around Frederiksborg Palace, and the other who showed us a fishing boat in which Danish Jews were ferried to Sweden during WWII. I love this story: the German commander wasn't so much in line with actually being in the German army, and so he enabled the Danes to sneak the Jews into the fishing boat by sending his patrols on wild goose chases at just the optimal moment. I'm not saying he was blameless; don't get me wrong. But I did just read Corelli's Mandolin and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, so I'm on this train of thought.
In other news, the crown jewels are still shiny, the tide's up in Copenhagen (we had to duck superlow on the canal tour), there are over 500 steps up the side of the chalk cliffs in Mon (much easier down than up), and I heart enchiladas, corn tortillas, Madklubben's creamy wheat with mussels (go eat that. NOW.) and my in-laws.
Shortly after the IL's left, we took a week's cruise up the Norwegian coast on the Hurtigruten coastal steamer Nordkapp. It was possibly the most relaxing/comatose trip I've ever taken, and I mean that in a very heavenly, largely buffet-driven way. Notable highlights: a bus tour through the UNESCO heritage Geiranger fjord and a trip to the North Cape, the northernmost point of Europe. The boat was nice, if slightly primitive (it's not the boat's fault, poor thing started life as a mail steamer), the service sucked, and the scenery was to die for. Since I've already made a considerably long post about Norway (last year... what, you're not keeping up? shame on you.), I'll just let the pictures do the talking.
And then we went to Salzburg and Munich, but frankly, that's a story for another day.
And that's where we'll start today.
So if I remember correctly, we didn't know we were repatriating until either late October or early November (on a semi-related topic, it's true that pregnancy sucks every brain cell from your body), but in true Walker-Overcash fashion, we decided to take a quick weekend at Oktoberfest while we had the chance... just in case it was our last year in Europe (which, in retrospect, turned out to be wise). On the way, we stopped in Salzburg, Austria for a day and then took the train to Berchtesgaden, on the border of Germany and Austria, near where Hitler's Eagle's Nest is located. It was... pretty amazing. While we didn't have time to see much of Salzburg, we spent the day at Eagle's Nest and the associated museum (the Dokumentation Obersalzberg), where the scenery is very Sound of Music and the bunker system itself is extensive and, to say the least, super creepy. The Germans, to their credit, have done their usual excellent job of making it educational and yet somehow sterile, so as not to create a cult of personality around the Nazi's. Impressive. We actually hiked across the mountain to get to the facility, and then tooled around the museum before taking the crazy brass elevator up to the top where the chalet was. The elevator was (a) claustrophobic, (b) chilling to think of all the evil people who also once took that elevator, despite the massive crush of tourists in there with us and (c) very Band of Brothers.
Oh, and we saw a cow parade in Berchtesgaden proper. Not bad.
Munich and Oktoberfest were... tasty. I did manage to see the Bavarian Wittelsbach crown jewels at the Munich Residenz before the fest. Fabulously shiny.
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October/November 2009: Ireland and Budapest
No, not at the same time.
As we were still undecided about repatriation through at least part of October, J and I decided to take one last "big" trip while we had the chance, so we left on Halloween for a week's worth of touring around Ireland. Beyond a terrible experience I had with a travel agent in the planning stages of the trip, Ireland was pretty awesome: green, with lots of beer and friendly people, and terrible, terrible driving. Pretty much what you would expect, I guess. We visited the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and two distilleries (Jameson/Old Midleton in Co. Cork and the Old Bushmills Distillery in Northern Ireland), drove the Dingle Peninsula and climbed around 4,000 year old stone huts and a 1,500 year old church, saw what may quite possibly be the prettiest place on earth (Killarney National Park), drank a LOT of Irish beer, saw the "peace lines" in Belfast with a Northern Ireland ex-cop (and visited the site where the Titanic was built), ate a ton of seafood and in general tried not to wreck our rental car by running it into a herd of marauding, random animals. We were busy. There's more to tell, but I'm on a picture kick right now, so instead I'm going with the "show" option:
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Apparently, we took a lot of pictures.
And then, I somehow spent the next two weeks in Houston (and yes, at this point, i knew we were repatriating. i'm not pretending my life makes any sense.) and took no pictures at all. I did see a lot of this fabulous new person...
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...and stuffed myself with early Thanksgiving treats. That's because on Thanksgiving, Jon and I decided to check out Budapest, Hungary, land of a very tasty Belgian beer cafe, very, very bad opera (albeit in a very beautiful opera house) and the best Christmas market I visited in Europe. And that's saying something. We were only in Budapest for two days, so there's not too much to tell; the most fascinating part of the city (to me) was the sense of history/self there as compared to, for example, St. Petersburg or Tallinn, or even Prague. All of the other previously Communist/Iron Curtain cities we toured still had the distinct taste of Communism after all these year, whereas Budapest felt much more laid back. It also had the first McDonald's behind the Iron Curtain, which may or may not be a positive indicator. Don't get me wrong; I still wouldn't want to insult a Hungarian in a dark alley. But after Berlin (and is it really fair to compare anyone to the Germans?), Budapest seems to have come the farthest from it's days affiliated with the U.S.S.R.
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December, 2009: Berlin and Brussels
Speaking of Berlin, we went back. Well, J had to go back for a conference, and I'm never one to miss the opportunity to visit four German Christmas markets in two days, so off we went. J worked; I shopped. Not bad. Technically, I also went to an art museum and the Lego store, but mainly, I shopped.We hopped a flight from Berlin to Brussels immediately post-conference, and while I'm certain we did something other than eat mussels, sample chocolates and drink belgian beer (i know at least once we got lost, and then stuck in the Belgian metro station), for the most part that's (a) all I remember doing and (b) apparently all I took pictures of. We did visit Brussels' answer to the Atlantic City boardwalk, their giant Christmas market, that was at least three parts U.S.-style state fair to one part quaint European village market, but pretty much, we stuck with the mussels, beer and chocolate. Can you blame us?
August/September 2009: Sundry Comings and Goings
In the "why being an expat isn't the fabulous life it's sometimes cracked up to be" category, I submit exhibit (A): my August. I'm not super proud of the fact that I moped around all of August, but in fact, that's pretty much what I did. Homesick, bummed from no longer being on vacation, still waiting to find out when we're coming home in the new year, unable to write a four word sentence and getting ignored and rejected on all sides in the writing world... what's a girl to do? That would be: rid the local 7-11 of all Ben & Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie pints (i dare anyone to find a better ice cream than B&J CFB. really, i dare you. bring it.), the local Super Best of hummus, and my husband of his sanity. And there, in a paragraph, is the summation of my August. Betcha never thought I could be that succinct, huh?
Me either.
September was markedly better. First, Jon's parents showed up - Yay! No, really, yay! I dig my in-laws! - and we spent a week toodling around Copenhagen and the greater Zealand area. We even went down to Dragor, the super fun fishing village south of Copenhagen, in the rain. In the process we met quite a few fun Danes (no, Weeza, I am not high. we actually met fun, talkative, non-reserved Danes), one of which showed us happily around Frederiksborg Palace, and the other who showed us a fishing boat in which Danish Jews were ferried to Sweden during WWII. I love this story: the German commander wasn't so much in line with actually being in the German army, and so he enabled the Danes to sneak the Jews into the fishing boat by sending his patrols on wild goose chases at just the optimal moment. I'm not saying he was blameless; don't get me wrong. But I did just read Corelli's Mandolin and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, so I'm on this train of thought.
In other news, the crown jewels are still shiny, the tide's up in Copenhagen (we had to duck superlow on the canal tour), there are over 500 steps up the side of the chalk cliffs in Mon (much easier down than up), and I heart enchiladas, corn tortillas, Madklubben's creamy wheat with mussels (go eat that. NOW.) and my in-laws.
Shortly after the IL's left, we took a week's cruise up the Norwegian coast on the Hurtigruten coastal steamer Nordkapp. It was possibly the most relaxing/comatose trip I've ever taken, and I mean that in a very heavenly, largely buffet-driven way. Notable highlights: a bus tour through the UNESCO heritage Geiranger fjord and a trip to the North Cape, the northernmost point of Europe. The boat was nice, if slightly primitive (it's not the boat's fault, poor thing started life as a mail steamer), the service sucked, and the scenery was to die for. Since I've already made a considerably long post about Norway (last year... what, you're not keeping up? shame on you.), I'll just let the pictures do the talking.
BBQ'ed sheep brains at a food festival in Bergen. Say it with me: Eeeewwwww.
Fabulous Geiranger.
Beautiful scenery near Tromso.
The North Cape, the northernmost point of Europe.
And then we went to Salzburg and Munich, but frankly, that's a story for another day.
And that's where we'll start today.
So if I remember correctly, we didn't know we were repatriating until either late October or early November (on a semi-related topic, it's true that pregnancy sucks every brain cell from your body), but in true Walker-Overcash fashion, we decided to take a quick weekend at Oktoberfest while we had the chance... just in case it was our last year in Europe (which, in retrospect, turned out to be wise). On the way, we stopped in Salzburg, Austria for a day and then took the train to Berchtesgaden, on the border of Germany and Austria, near where Hitler's Eagle's Nest is located. It was... pretty amazing. While we didn't have time to see much of Salzburg, we spent the day at Eagle's Nest and the associated museum (the Dokumentation Obersalzberg), where the scenery is very Sound of Music and the bunker system itself is extensive and, to say the least, super creepy. The Germans, to their credit, have done their usual excellent job of making it educational and yet somehow sterile, so as not to create a cult of personality around the Nazi's. Impressive. We actually hiked across the mountain to get to the facility, and then tooled around the museum before taking the crazy brass elevator up to the top where the chalet was. The elevator was (a) claustrophobic, (b) chilling to think of all the evil people who also once took that elevator, despite the massive crush of tourists in there with us and (c) very Band of Brothers.
Creepy bunkers in the mountain.
Creepy brass elevator to get to the top.
The view, however, was worth the creepiness.
After all that creepiness, we decided to go to Augustiner Brau in Salzburg for dinner. Nothing better than monk-made beer.
Oh, and we saw a cow parade in Berchtesgaden proper. Not bad.
Better than pink elephants, anyway.
Munich and Oktoberfest were... tasty. I did manage to see the Bavarian Wittelsbach crown jewels at the Munich Residenz before the fest. Fabulously shiny.
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There's more but... isn't there always?
October/November 2009: Ireland and Budapest
No, not at the same time.
As we were still undecided about repatriation through at least part of October, J and I decided to take one last "big" trip while we had the chance, so we left on Halloween for a week's worth of touring around Ireland. Beyond a terrible experience I had with a travel agent in the planning stages of the trip, Ireland was pretty awesome: green, with lots of beer and friendly people, and terrible, terrible driving. Pretty much what you would expect, I guess. We visited the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and two distilleries (Jameson/Old Midleton in Co. Cork and the Old Bushmills Distillery in Northern Ireland), drove the Dingle Peninsula and climbed around 4,000 year old stone huts and a 1,500 year old church, saw what may quite possibly be the prettiest place on earth (Killarney National Park), drank a LOT of Irish beer, saw the "peace lines" in Belfast with a Northern Ireland ex-cop (and visited the site where the Titanic was built), ate a ton of seafood and in general tried not to wreck our rental car by running it into a herd of marauding, random animals. We were busy. There's more to tell, but I'm on a picture kick right now, so instead I'm going with the "show" option:
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The Rock of Cashel... part fort, part church, now ruined, still crazy beautiful.
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The 4,000-year-old beehive huts of Dingle... not much in the way of insulation.
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The Blasket Islands from Dingle Peninsula... next stop, U.S.A.
Killarney National Park. It's way more green than this picture shows.
The water wheel at the Old Midleton Distillery.
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What I really did on my Irish vacation...
A litle out of order, but this is the view from the ruined monastery at Glendalough, in the Wicklow Mountains.
Kilkenny Castle...kind of not as impressive as it looks.
The Belfast "Peace Lines." Right.
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J and I at the Giant's Causeway, in North Antrim.
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And, of course, Guinness... for strength.
Apparently, we took a lot of pictures.
And then, I somehow spent the next two weeks in Houston (and yes, at this point, i knew we were repatriating. i'm not pretending my life makes any sense.) and took no pictures at all. I did see a lot of this fabulous new person...
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I mean. There's nothing better than that.
...and stuffed myself with early Thanksgiving treats. That's because on Thanksgiving, Jon and I decided to check out Budapest, Hungary, land of a very tasty Belgian beer cafe, very, very bad opera (albeit in a very beautiful opera house) and the best Christmas market I visited in Europe. And that's saying something. We were only in Budapest for two days, so there's not too much to tell; the most fascinating part of the city (to me) was the sense of history/self there as compared to, for example, St. Petersburg or Tallinn, or even Prague. All of the other previously Communist/Iron Curtain cities we toured still had the distinct taste of Communism after all these year, whereas Budapest felt much more laid back. It also had the first McDonald's behind the Iron Curtain, which may or may not be a positive indicator. Don't get me wrong; I still wouldn't want to insult a Hungarian in a dark alley. But after Berlin (and is it really fair to compare anyone to the Germans?), Budapest seems to have come the farthest from it's days affiliated with the U.S.S.R.
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The Buda Castle ramparts overlooking the Danube.
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Pork knee at the Budapest Christmas market.
December, 2009: Berlin and Brussels
Speaking of Berlin, we went back. Well, J had to go back for a conference, and I'm never one to miss the opportunity to visit four German Christmas markets in two days, so off we went. J worked; I shopped. Not bad. Technically, I also went to an art museum and the Lego store, but mainly, I shopped.We hopped a flight from Berlin to Brussels immediately post-conference, and while I'm certain we did something other than eat mussels, sample chocolates and drink belgian beer (i know at least once we got lost, and then stuck in the Belgian metro station), for the most part that's (a) all I remember doing and (b) apparently all I took pictures of. We did visit Brussels' answer to the Atlantic City boardwalk, their giant Christmas market, that was at least three parts U.S.-style state fair to one part quaint European village market, but pretty much, we stuck with the mussels, beer and chocolate. Can you blame us?
The wood shop at Berlin's Alexanderplatz Christmas Market.
Sampling Lambic at Cantillon Brewery in (a very bad neighborhood) in Brussels.
One of my many chocolate samples... we actually used a guidebook tour to make sure I got them all. :)
Brussels' Christmas market, complete with... wait for it... Jager shots. Classy.
And then we come to this:
19-Dec-09: And it's snowing, too.
So, here we are. Back in the states, and happy and nostalgic and about to undertake the next big adventure. I have one more post about repatriating and what it's like to be back, but really, we couldn't have had a better time in Copenhagen and travelling around Europe, and we can't wait to go back (at some future point, after our children are born in nice, familiar American hospitals), either. Smooches -S
Saturday, October 23, 2010
2009: The Recap, Part I
Yes, it's been beyond ages. But much has happened. And I haven't completely forgotten that I have a blog. It's just... well, so much has happened. So I'll start with this: a blog post I started way back in 2009 (actually, about a year ago), and then never posted. Check, check it out:
Did you miss me?
Oh, come on. Don't hate. It's not like I haven't been thinking of you. Two weeks ago in Brussels I violently and profusely cursed the Accor/IBIS hotel chain for their overpriced internet package. You see, I was going to post... really, I was. Really. Plus, I have fantastic/depressing news. Are you ready? Really? Really, really?
We're coming home.
YAY! I know, fabulous, right? Chik fil'A. IPhones. Gas-guzzling SUV's. Burgers that don't cost $25. Shoes that don't cost $300. Decided improvement in daily latitudinal sunlight allowances. A decided lack of leggings and herring and... well, you get the picture.
So this brings me to several points (yes, I know. stay with me). (A) Much to say on the issue of repatriation. (B) Much to say on issues of things I will and will not miss about living here. (C) Much to say about the trips that we have been on that I haven't written about - Brussels! Istanbul! Our fabulous Med vacation last summer! So my goal this week - just after cleaning my refrigerator, stove and shower and watching reruns of CSI: Miami on Danish television (oh, c'mon. you can't resist Horatio Caine either. "This tie is... blue. That's what I call... ironic." I mean, really) - is to post as much as possible about points A-C. So stay tuned. It's coming. No, really, I mean it this time.
And, indeed, we did. Repatriate, that is. We moved back to North Carolina last December (that would be 2009), and since then, several important things have happened:
(1) I went shopping. And bought a gas-guzzling SUV. And bought an I-Phone 3GS. And ate a LOT of Chik Fil'A. And went shopping again. (2) We found out I was pregnant. (3) We bought a house. (4) We then terminated that contract and bought a different house. (5) We moved into the house, settled down, watched the series finale of Lost and almost two whole seasons of Project Runway on real t.v. instead of over the slingbox/internet, and went through forty weeks of pregnancy (as of this coming Monday).
That pretty much catches you up.
So now, my plan is to do a little bit of talking about the last few trips (or, really, many trips) we took over the last six months we spent in Denmark, a few thoughts on repatriation, and what it's like to be back in the states after living in the cold, dark north for so long. So, to begin:
May, 2009: Istanbul, A Swedish Ferry Boat and Mom and Dad Show Up
Not bad for a month's work.
In May, we went to Istanbul for Jon's 25th birthday (ha!), and it was one of my favorite experiences of all of our travelling. I heart Istanbul - I'm not even ashamed to say it. In fact, if I were eight, I would write "I heart Istanbul" all over my Trapper-Keeper in magic marker, right next to my declarations of love for Michael Jackson and various Houston radio stations. What happened to Trapper-Keepers, anyway? I miss those. And yet, I digress.
Anyway, Istanbul was everything that we wanted Cairo to be: exotic, cosmopolitan, delicious (the food, I mean). We did a ton of sight-seeing, but mostly we just enjoyed being there together, which is really the best way to travel. The coolest parts of the sightseeing? Other than the super tasty food? The Basilica Cistern, a Roman cistern that was one part spooky, one part crazy stonework (including an upside down Medusa head) and one part unbelievable and fascinating feat of engineering, and the Hagia Sophia, which was also beyond belief in terms of size, engineering and history, despite the scaffolding and the crowds. The ceiling of the Hagia Sophia was once gold and Christian mosaic, but when Istanbul (then Constantinople) was taken by the Muslims, the ceiling was painted over (sigh). And now it's being restored... hence the scaffolding. Anyway, let's do pictures, shall we?
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During our day in Finland, we visited the Uspenski Cathedral, the largest Russian Orthodox church in western Europe, and were privileged to see a memorial ceremony (memorial services are held 40 days after a death), in which the priest and the three participants all sang a capella. It was beautiful; the church is all gold leaf and green marble and the singing echoed off the ceiling and around the walls. Shiny. And fabulous.
The 'rents visit was also fabulous, in part because it was so great to see them and in part because it's incredibly satisfying to get to show your not-very-ordinary life to the people that you care about. In retrospect, even with all the travelling J and I were able to do, the times we had visitors - J's parents, his sister, my parents, our friends - were some of my favorite moments from living in Denmark. It doesn't matter how many times I described our apartment, or the weather, or the Danes, or anything else about our lives, to an American. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many a visit is worth.
Oh, and then at the end of the month, J and I saw hippos. The Copenhagen zoo is pretty awesome. I wouldn't say the hippos made my month... but they were definitely the cherry on top.
July/August, 2009: One Long Vacation
Here's one of the major perks of living in Europe: it's not only possible, but sort of required to take the month of July off. So, not wanting to offend anyone, that's what we did. Hey, when in Denmark... We started out with a cruise through the Baltic over the fourth of July weekend (ironically, we were in Russia on the fourth of July. Bruce Springsteen would be insulted.). Anyway, we embarked in Stockholm, and then cruised to Tallinn, Estonia, which the Danes used to own (along with a large portion of northern Europe) and which is where the legend of the Dannebrog was formed. We ended up in St. Petersburg, where we saw possibly the shiniest palace I have ever been in: the Winter Palace, which is attached to the Hermitage. The Hermitage, without question, was the best museum we saw in all of our travels, which is saying something. The Russians were master... ahem, appropriate-ers. Check it out, yo.
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From there, we came home for all of 48 hours (-ish), and then left for my favorite country (that I am not a citizen of): Spain. We spent eight - EIGHT! - fabulous days travelling from Malaga (the birthplace of Picasso, FYI), through Andalusia all the way up through Pamplona to Barcelona. Let me sum up what I love about Spain: the sunny, sunny weather. That the Spaniards have made bar food a national (gourmet) pasttime. The beach. That you can take a day trip to Tangier, Morocco from Tarifa, one of my favorite beach towns of all time. That running around with giant, violent, horned animals is cause for a festival... and then they're barbecued in Bevo fashion. Anyway, let's take a pictorial tour, shall we?
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And then, as if that wasn't enough (do you think I'm bragging? okay, well, maybe I am. a little.), we took a ten day cruise through the Mediterranean to Italy, Greece and Turkey. In Sicily, we visited Savoca, the village in which Michael Corleone married Appollonia, and walked up and down the pathway to Chiesa di Santa Lucia with my husband humming The Godfather theme song. We saw two of the seven wonders of the ancient world (or where they once were, anyway): the Colossus of Rhodes in, yes, Rhodes (where we decided to retire, depending on the economic climate of Spain), and the location of the Temple of Artemis near Kusadasi, Turkey, where we also saw the ancient city of Ephesus, where Paul preached, the gospel of St. John was written and the Virgin Mary (possibly) spent her last days. We hung out on a very beautiful blue beach in Mykonos, ate an incredible seafood lunch on a catamaran in the Santorini caldera and stood at the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis in Athens. It was... yeah. Like this:
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Well, I was hoping to finish up with this post, but it's going to have to Part I and Part II, because this guy:
is currently requesting that I go to bed... possibly after eating some tasty ice cream. So tomorrow (hopefully), I'll cover the fall, repatriation and a few other subjects, and then move you on over to my new blog, on writing, motherhood and, yes, fabulous deals on shoes. What else would you expect of me?
Oh, come on. Don't hate. It's not like I haven't been thinking of you. Two weeks ago in Brussels I violently and profusely cursed the Accor/IBIS hotel chain for their overpriced internet package. You see, I was going to post... really, I was. Really. Plus, I have fantastic/depressing news. Are you ready? Really? Really, really?
We're coming home.
YAY! I know, fabulous, right? Chik fil'A. IPhones. Gas-guzzling SUV's. Burgers that don't cost $25. Shoes that don't cost $300. Decided improvement in daily latitudinal sunlight allowances. A decided lack of leggings and herring and... well, you get the picture.
So this brings me to several points (yes, I know. stay with me). (A) Much to say on the issue of repatriation. (B) Much to say on issues of things I will and will not miss about living here. (C) Much to say about the trips that we have been on that I haven't written about - Brussels! Istanbul! Our fabulous Med vacation last summer! So my goal this week - just after cleaning my refrigerator, stove and shower and watching reruns of CSI: Miami on Danish television (oh, c'mon. you can't resist Horatio Caine either. "This tie is... blue. That's what I call... ironic." I mean, really) - is to post as much as possible about points A-C. So stay tuned. It's coming. No, really, I mean it this time.
And, indeed, we did. Repatriate, that is. We moved back to North Carolina last December (that would be 2009), and since then, several important things have happened:
(1) I went shopping. And bought a gas-guzzling SUV. And bought an I-Phone 3GS. And ate a LOT of Chik Fil'A. And went shopping again. (2) We found out I was pregnant. (3) We bought a house. (4) We then terminated that contract and bought a different house. (5) We moved into the house, settled down, watched the series finale of Lost and almost two whole seasons of Project Runway on real t.v. instead of over the slingbox/internet, and went through forty weeks of pregnancy (as of this coming Monday).
That pretty much catches you up.
So now, my plan is to do a little bit of talking about the last few trips (or, really, many trips) we took over the last six months we spent in Denmark, a few thoughts on repatriation, and what it's like to be back in the states after living in the cold, dark north for so long. So, to begin:
May, 2009: Istanbul, A Swedish Ferry Boat and Mom and Dad Show Up
Not bad for a month's work.
In May, we went to Istanbul for Jon's 25th birthday (ha!), and it was one of my favorite experiences of all of our travelling. I heart Istanbul - I'm not even ashamed to say it. In fact, if I were eight, I would write "I heart Istanbul" all over my Trapper-Keeper in magic marker, right next to my declarations of love for Michael Jackson and various Houston radio stations. What happened to Trapper-Keepers, anyway? I miss those. And yet, I digress.
Anyway, Istanbul was everything that we wanted Cairo to be: exotic, cosmopolitan, delicious (the food, I mean). We did a ton of sight-seeing, but mostly we just enjoyed being there together, which is really the best way to travel. The coolest parts of the sightseeing? Other than the super tasty food? The Basilica Cistern, a Roman cistern that was one part spooky, one part crazy stonework (including an upside down Medusa head) and one part unbelievable and fascinating feat of engineering, and the Hagia Sophia, which was also beyond belief in terms of size, engineering and history, despite the scaffolding and the crowds. The ceiling of the Hagia Sophia was once gold and Christian mosaic, but when Istanbul (then Constantinople) was taken by the Muslims, the ceiling was painted over (sigh). And now it's being restored... hence the scaffolding. Anyway, let's do pictures, shall we?
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The Basilica Cistern... creepy and somehow shiny all the same.
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Dinner in Istanbul.
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Me and Sophia from the Sultan's Pub.
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And the Hagia Sophia... really. Really, really.
And then... back to Copenhagen and we had two sets of visitors: J's sister, and my parents. Fabulous! Having visitors was such an important part of the expat experience for me. Despite the fact that I spent a lot of time in the U.S., what really made a difference was when my people came to visit us. One of the highlights of Jon's sister's visit was the two-night ferry we took from Stockholm to Helsinki. Apparently, for the Scandinavians, these boats are party boats, but we were mostly just bums. We did eat a super-tasty buffet with such gourmet scandinavian treats as ball-game-quality tacos and nachos and Swedish meatballs. We also spent a pretty awesome day in Helsinki where (a) it's very cold, even in May, (b) it's very Russian and (c) it really is a city built on a rock. The base rock actually sticks out of the ground in places.
During our day in Finland, we visited the Uspenski Cathedral, the largest Russian Orthodox church in western Europe, and were privileged to see a memorial ceremony (memorial services are held 40 days after a death), in which the priest and the three participants all sang a capella. It was beautiful; the church is all gold leaf and green marble and the singing echoed off the ceiling and around the walls. Shiny. And fabulous.
The Temppeliaukio Kirkko, a church built (literally) of rock.
The Sibelius Monument, a sculpture (literally) built on rock
The Uspenski Cathedral. Note the rock.
The 'rents visit was also fabulous, in part because it was so great to see them and in part because it's incredibly satisfying to get to show your not-very-ordinary life to the people that you care about. In retrospect, even with all the travelling J and I were able to do, the times we had visitors - J's parents, his sister, my parents, our friends - were some of my favorite moments from living in Denmark. It doesn't matter how many times I described our apartment, or the weather, or the Danes, or anything else about our lives, to an American. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many a visit is worth.
Oh, and then at the end of the month, J and I saw hippos. The Copenhagen zoo is pretty awesome. I wouldn't say the hippos made my month... but they were definitely the cherry on top.
Can you pick out the hippo? Be nice, yo.
July/August, 2009: One Long Vacation
Here's one of the major perks of living in Europe: it's not only possible, but sort of required to take the month of July off. So, not wanting to offend anyone, that's what we did. Hey, when in Denmark... We started out with a cruise through the Baltic over the fourth of July weekend (ironically, we were in Russia on the fourth of July. Bruce Springsteen would be insulted.). Anyway, we embarked in Stockholm, and then cruised to Tallinn, Estonia, which the Danes used to own (along with a large portion of northern Europe) and which is where the legend of the Dannebrog was formed. We ended up in St. Petersburg, where we saw possibly the shiniest palace I have ever been in: the Winter Palace, which is attached to the Hermitage. The Hermitage, without question, was the best museum we saw in all of our travels, which is saying something. The Russians were master... ahem, appropriate-ers. Check it out, yo.
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J at Gammel Strand (Old Town), in Stockholm. I promise, he does NOT have a beer just below the frame. Really.
The Patkuli Overlook on Toompea (Dome Hill), overlooking ex-Danish, ex-Russian Tallinn.
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The Golden Drawing Room: A room LITERALLY MADE OF GOLD at the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia.
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The Crouching Boy, by Michelangelo, "acquired" by Catherine the Great.
From there, we came home for all of 48 hours (-ish), and then left for my favorite country (that I am not a citizen of): Spain. We spent eight - EIGHT! - fabulous days travelling from Malaga (the birthplace of Picasso, FYI), through Andalusia all the way up through Pamplona to Barcelona. Let me sum up what I love about Spain: the sunny, sunny weather. That the Spaniards have made bar food a national (gourmet) pasttime. The beach. That you can take a day trip to Tangier, Morocco from Tarifa, one of my favorite beach towns of all time. That running around with giant, violent, horned animals is cause for a festival... and then they're barbecued in Bevo fashion. Anyway, let's take a pictorial tour, shall we?
Malaga, from J's college friend's apartment.
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J and I on the roof of the Alcazaba at the Alhambra, with the Sierra Nevada moutains behind us. Fabulous.
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Whale watching in Tarifa in the Strait of Gibralter... sort of.
The Caves of Hercules near Tangier, Morocco... also known as Tangier's biggest tourist trap.
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J and I in Pamplona, after he ran with the bulls... No bull.
Fabulous Playa de la Concho in San Sebastian. You can't see it, but there's a giant statue of Jesus overlooking all the topless sunbathers. Hmmmm.
La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
And not to be left out, the best food in the world:
Yummy.
Wisdom from the men's bathroom of the Celebrity Solstice. Don't ask.
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The Parthenon atop the Acropolis, in Athens.
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Psarou Beach, in Mykonos. It's really that blue. Maybe more so.
The Celsus Library at Ephesus. Cleopatra was here once. Crazy.
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Me, at the House of the Virgin Mary outside of Ephesus.
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The harbor of Rhodes, where the Colossus of Rhodes once (probably) stood.
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J and I enjoying a day of tasty food and drink with Captain Ted and Santorini Sailing.
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The forum at Pompeii, outside of Naples, Italy.
Well, I was hoping to finish up with this post, but it's going to have to Part I and Part II, because this guy:
is currently requesting that I go to bed... possibly after eating some tasty ice cream. So tomorrow (hopefully), I'll cover the fall, repatriation and a few other subjects, and then move you on over to my new blog, on writing, motherhood and, yes, fabulous deals on shoes. What else would you expect of me?
Smooches -S
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