A Multi-Faceted Post

Several items I'd like to share today:

1. Frappé coffee
On one of my summer travels to steaming hot Greece nearly a decade ago, I was served a frappé coffee and became hooked.  Now on the rare hot summer mornings in Denmark (made all the more hot by lack of a/c or even a fan, let alone a hotel pool or the Mediterranean Sea to jump into), a frappé can dial one back from hot and bothered to cool as a cucumber.

In a martini shaker, put ice cubes, instant coffee, some raw sugar, your choice of milk, and a little water.  Shake it baby, shake it, and pour into a tall glass.  Enjoy!


2. Lavender +/or Tea Tree Essential Oils + Boys = Boobies
Oh dear. This cannot be good!  Please if you have boys, keep them away from the lavender and tea tree oils!  Our youth already get too many phytoestrogens from other things in the environment and diet (especially soy, which is in seemingly Everything). This one is a quick, easy fix.  If you do use these oils for cleaning/fragrance/antibacterial purposes (which you should, instead of that manufactured crap from the Bath store or cleaning aisle at the Box store), make the switch to bergamont or lemon.  Much cheaper than dealing with the plastic surgeon and/or therapy down the road! 

3. A Complete Lack of Screens in Danish Windows
I have already established that the climate here in Denmark (especially on Fyn, which is buffered by Jutland on the west, and Zealand on the east) is mild.  People (OK, expats) joke that there are just two seasons, fall and spring.  This year must be the exception to the rule, as winter was most definitely here from December - March, and summer has given us some sizzling, sweltering, sweaty weeks of late.  By that, I mean daily highs of around 85˚F (29.4˚C).  Normally I freeze if the temp falls below 70˚, but there does come a point when it is just Too.Damn.Hot. 


So, windows are opened, and bugs fly in.  These types of windows are not your typical sliding windows.  No, to open these windows, the actual window itself is moved outside of its frame; therefore, ain't no room for a screen.  What in the hell kind of Efficient Danish Design is that?!  HM??

There's a big reason I like the city.  Lack of wildlife in proximity to my house.  But these flies, bees, moths, wasps, butterflies, and god-knows-what-else creep me the frick out.  Ick!

I've always known that these windows are old (conversations heard on the sidewalk below are heard more clearly than if those folks and I were talking via mobile), but last week something confirmed it for me.  I was looking online at new curtains, and the current standard curtain sizes will not properly fit these windows.  That's pretty old!

4. What Expats in Denmark Want to Stay Here Longer
Not sure if the link will work for those who are not members of the ExpatInDenmark group, so here are the results from their unscientific survey from their Web site, "What would make you stay in Denmark longer?"

- Top results were tied, with 23% responding "lower taxes" and 23% "a more inclusive culture". I admit it, I miss my friendly fat Americans.  Arriving at the Pittsburgh airport last month and being greeted with a mini-Statue of Liberty and smiles and offerings of help to make my way around the airport from many volunteers nearly sent me into a state of shock.  (This compares to the Copenhagen airport, where Efficient Danish Design greets us with escalators and a cattle herd-type of structure to form orderly lines to get the passport stamped, after which going through the sliding doors, the nauseating aroma of hot dogs and onions greets the passenger. Also, the signs for bathrooms are VERY easy to miss!)

- Second place goes to (my vote) "finding a job" at 17%.  Do those 23% tax whiners even know how lucky they are to have a job and be taxed highly?!?  Let me switch with you!  Seriously, I have been nearly 9 months unemployed.  My confidence is shattered, and I start to wonder if I have simply dreamed up the last 10 years of my professional and advanced-degree life.  Is not getting hired  because I'm American and come across as too aggressive in my CV?  Is it because I am married without children, and no one wants to pick up the maternity leave tab? (This one I can't believe when I'm applying to temp positions that are filling in for the maternity leave women.)  Is it because my Danish is not like a native's?  Everyone likes to soothe with excuses about the financial crisis.  OK yeah, but companies ARE hiring - that's why I'm applying to those advertised jobs.  My American work ethic does not sit well with this situation.

- Third toes to "more lenient visa and residency rules" at 8%.  (I think of my Belorussian friend, whose old aunt from Russia could not secure a visa to visit my friend here with my friend's mom.  So I guess that people who cannot get visas for their relatives to visit may have voted for this.  In other words, it might not all be about securing residency, just wanting to host old Auntie Olga.)

- 5% voted for "more sunshine and better weather".  All I have to say is there's a darn good reason that the very strong Christmas beers are released in the first week of November, when the sunrise is at 7:15 a.m. and the sunset at 4:15 p.m.  These times are similar to Ohio sunrise and sunset times, but on the shortest day of the year!  On winter solstice this year (21 Dec.), we are looking at a sunrise of 8:37 a.m. and sunset at 3:38 p.m.  Drinking one's self into oblivion is a phrase that comes to mind.  BTW, those terms of "sunrise" and "sunset" should be in quotes, because in reality, this means that at 8:37 a.m., some light shines through the gray cumulus clouds, and at 3:38 p.m.,  the sky is pitch black.  One PRAYS for snow, just so it reflects more light into our world.

Speaking of sunshine, it's out there now. Time to enjoy it!