American Thanksgiving, With Europeans.

So I decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner for some friends, they were so excited to take part in the American tradition.  The girls have always seen it on television, so they were tickled pink that they could experience it.  There were two girls from Slovakia, two from Poland, and one from India :)  
This was my first time cooking Thanksgiving by myself, and it was a huge success!  We had roasted chicken with cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with honey, cornbread, my mama's cornbread dressing, rolls, and steamed broccoli.  I was shocked that the girls had never had sweet potatoes, cornbread, or cranberry sauce!  Here are some pictures:

Having a heart attack while having to prepare the chicken.

Lenka making cranberry sauce :)

Yuuuumy.

Proud moment.  Dinner complete.

Team effort.

Good friends, good food, great times.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

Friends & Family,
  I will be MIA until December 6, when I complete my last exam.  I will do a post regarding me birthday though, which is November 29 :)


My life will consist (for the next few weeks )of school, studying, and reading until my eyes go cross-eyed... well, hopefully not.  


In other news, my sister Neenah will be visiting me December 17-29!  She and I are taking a trip to Amsterdam from the 19-23 of December.  We will then take a train to Northern Denmark where we will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my Danish friend Sanne's family.  I am very excited to experience a traditional Danish Christmas!  


I will have off school from December 6-February 1.  TALK ABOUT A WINTER BREAK.  So, my goal is to stay busy with my language courses and travel as much as my budget will allow.  My Polish friend Karolina has invited me to spend some time in Poland with her and her family in January.  So January 5-12 I will be in Krakow, Poland.  We are going to go to southern Poland to snowboard one day.  She will also be taking me up north to see a concentration camp.  Some call it 'dark tourism' but I look at it as a humbling and moving experience we will venture on.  


Lastly, my wonderful brother Russell will come visit me in Denmark in the middle of January for a while.  Our goal is to make it down to Italy :)


My planned adventures are the only thing getting me through these next few weeks of finals!  Ugh.


Sending my love.

Bryndzové Halušky

Each week a group of us girls get together to do a themed dinner.  Friday night's dinner was made by two girls from Slovakia, Kristina and Lenka.  They made a dish called "Bryndzové Halušky."  Halušky is boiled lumps of potato dough-- it's made by shredding potatoes and mixing it with eggs & flour.  Bryndza, which is a soft goat cheese, is then softened and mixed with milk.  Sprinkled on top is either bits of cooked bacon or ham, we used ham.  

The hostess of the dinner, Karolina, made a native Polish beverage.  During the winter months, Pole's make "Grzaniec" which is hot beer or hot wine.  Believe me, I was skeptical at first-- but it was delicious.  To make it warm pilsner beer, honey and ginger in a pot.  Then, transfer the hot liquid into a glass with pieces of orange's & top it off with a sprinkle of cinnamon.  

Here are a few photos :)

Lenka, Kristina, and Karolina cooking.

Bryndzové Halušky!  They scooped me my portion before adding the meat, I don't eat red meat :)

Karolina making the Grzaniec.

Final Product!

So, I had a little bit of a difficult week.  My medications I take were obtained at customs, so my body was thrown for a little bit of a loop without them.  Went to the doctor here though.. their healthcare system is so efficient (and free to me!)  The Dane's call their program "Welfare For Everyone," gosh I love this socialist country.  

Sending my love to everyone!

J-Dag.

  Last Friday, November 4th, was J-Dag.  J-Dag means julebryg day, Christmas beer day.  The local brewery launches a special Christmas brew for the holiday season, which is released at 9:00 on the first Friday of November.  The entire town decorates for Christmas and has J-Dag parties.  Denmark obviously doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, so Christmas gets a jump start very early.  Some friends and I went down to the local Irish bar to celebrate J-Dag.  As soon as the clock hit 9:00, Christmas music came blasting from the speakers & we all got a free beer.  Here are a few photos :)

The bartenders all dressed up.

My friend Bigit from Norway and I.  She had to shrink for the picture, she's actually 6'2" :)

Thank goodness for Vitamin D.

So, the weather has seemed to take a permanent turn for the worse.  It now begins to get dark at 3:30/4:00 in the afternoon, and completely dark by 5:00.  Haven't seen a ray of sunshine in weeks.  I ordered a "vitamin D" lightbulb that mimics sunshine & Vitamin D pills.. not letting this weather give me the winter blues :)


Here's a preview of Denmark today:

And by the way, over by the bikes is our "bike garage."  Considering no one has cars, each person in the building has a bike hook in the locked garage.


Not too much new here in Denmark, my world has been taken over by reading for classes.  I am afraid my brain may explode, it's holding too much information.  I am currently doing two language exchanges, learning Danish and Italian.  Each week I meet with my language partner.  My Danish partner is an older woman, who is so happy to share the secrets of Denmark and their culture.  This Saturday she is taking me to the farmers market to teach me the names of different foods.  We will then go back home and make traditional Danish meal.  She sincerely needs help improving her English, so I am very glad I met her & so happy to help.  


Sending my love from DK :)
P.S. I changed the format of the comment box, so anyone can comment under 'anonymous' and no longer needs a google account.