The first reports findings of the Statens Serum Institute, which found that pregnant women who drank "fizzy drinks" had a 78% higher chance of giving birth prematurely. This news really shocked me, because I LOVE fizzy drinks! I could not live without my sparkling water. I love sparkling water so much that I really want to buy the fizzy drink maker machine. I love the bubbles dancing on my tongue. They make it a bit more exciting to drink water, without it being plain boring, flat water.
Here, sparkling water is called danskvand, lit. "Danish water". It comes in single serving, 1.5 liter or 2 liter plastic (yeesh!) bottles. I have yet to see something like the short green Pelligrino or Perrier bottles at the stores (maybe they are at the very high end grocery stores? Or maybe it would be impossible to call Italian or French sparkling water "Danish water", and so they'd have to come up with a new word for danskvand?). The flavor range includes lemon, cranberry, and blueberry.
Well the news was so upsetting to me (pregnant women are already supposed to give up so many things, but now this too?!), that I tracked down the source. This is what SSI reported (translated into English by Google):
16 July 2010 - Artificial sweeteners give a risk of premature birth
Researchers at the Statens Serum Institute have found a link between artificial sweetener and premature birth. These findings suggest that the likelihood of premature birth is 78% greater for pregnant women who drink a liter of diet drinks or more everyday. The study is based on data from 60,000 pregnant women in Denmark participating in Better health for mother and baby.
OK, what?! We all know that pregnant women should avoid artificial sweeteners (actually, ALL of us should!), but how did the newspaper get "fizzy drinks" from "diet drinks"? A bit more research led me to discover that British English calls soda "fizzy drinks". OK, that makes more sense. Still, I do believe the article in the Post is a bit misleading. The SSI research applies to diet sodas specifically.
The other article of interest is about the Danish government setting up a "dating site" for expats and Danes. I'm not sure what creeps me out more about this scenario: Big Brother wants to Hook You Up, or Big Brother Pimps Out His Natives to 'Ferners. Maybe it's Allow Big Brother to Track Your Dating! yeeeeeks!
In any case, the article says that the Integration Ministry reports that 4 of 10 expat specialists are surprised at how asocial the Danes are, and that 6 of 10 say it's difficult to make Danish friends. This Ministry's goal is to make foreign workers and students stay in the country for longer periods of time.
I visited the site, letsmeetin.dk, and discovered that it is for expat singles, couples and families who want to get to know their Danish neighbors better (another misleading take, Post!). The site is part of expatindenmark.dk, of which I am already a "member". This is what they want you to answer for your profile:
- first name
- country of origin
- if you're looking for a Dane or an Expat (or both)
- geographical location (Bornholm; Fyn; Mid-Jutland; Northern Jutland, Southern Jutland; Greater Copenhagen; Southern Zealand and Lolland; Western Zealand)
- married or single
- number of children, if any
- preferred language (Danish; English; Other)
- Interests and hobbies (Adventure Sports; Art; Astronomy; Card Games; Chess; Classical Music; Collecting; Computer Games; Conversation; Cooking; Crafts; Dancing; Eating Out; Family; Fishing; Horse Riding; IT; Jazz; Language; Live Concerts; Movies; Painting; Photography; Poetry; Pop/Rock Music; Running/Jogging; Science; Sports; Travel; TV Shows; Walking/Trekking)
- one may also add her Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter/MySpace (who still uses MySpace??)/Web links.
A great flaw exists in the Interests and Hobbies section: no Drinking category! Also, another great Interest and Hobby of expats in Denmark is Bitching About Denmark, Danes, and Danish Weather, but it is understandable that this would not be an option. What about Film, though?
Well, props to the Integration Ministry for giving this a go.
I never imagined how hard it would be to make friends here. In fact, the professed lack of small talk and chit chat in Denmark greatly appealed to me! Nothing was more awful first thing in the morning at work (in the US) than having to listen to (and actually pretend to be Very Very Interested In) procreating co-workers' lengthy stories about how Johnny did in his T-ball game (everyone gets a trophy!), or what a chore it was to care for sick Susie (complete with gory details) the previous evening before we finally got down to business. I hated the types of clocks in the rooms where we held meetings, because I could look at the second hand and count the number of unreturnable seconds of my life disappearing into the abyss.
Fast-forward to my classes at the University of Southern Denmark, where everyone had already made their friends and were seemingly interested in not making any more. It was as if no one cared about anything but themselves. The amount of trash, from used tissues to empty beer cans, all over the place reinforced this idea to me. No one even cared about the person who would have to clean up their dirty, filthy mess.
If it weren't for my professor in Marketing Organizations, I am not sure if I would have made any Danish friends. On the first day of class, he made us team up with others because we would have to do group presentations later in the semester. So I approached a classmate afterward, and she agreed to be my partner. Later I discovered that she was not a "100% ethnic Dane", but had lived here since adolescence, when her family moved from another country. Ha, no wonder she was so nice to me! (Love you, F.!)
After numerous failed attempts at extending the olive branch to a "100% ethnic" Dane for friendship, I have pretty much given up on ever having a "100% ethnic" Danish friend. Their loss! So I really like where the Integration Ministry is headed with this concept. Hopefully their efforts will help make expats not feel so lonely (which can give them a huge reason to get the hell outta this Fairy Tale Gone Wrong). After all, Denmark is supposedly the happiest country on earth, and all of our friends and family back home wonder how it is possible that we also aren't always so happy while living here.
I would like to mention that my husband's family and friends ~and their spouses~ have been nothing but nice to me. I really appreciate their kindness. But it's just like a married woman and money: sure, it's nice that she can use her husband's money, but having her own, hard-earned money brings an irreplaceable feeling of independence and security. I am glad that we had to take Danish language courses, because I have made some great friendships with those classmates. The best thing is, we all have one Interest and Hobby in common that ties us together.
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