Denmark and Anti-Semitism

I realize I might be making a mountain out of a molehill, however this is an image that needs to be seen. While I have not ever felt directly threatened for believing as I chose to believe in Copenhagen, nor do I think that Denmark is a country with a lot of anti-Semitic individuals or sentiment. However, as I was waiting for a train earlier today, I saw the drawing on a sign. I know it was done sometime yesterday as I took a train from the same stop yesterday and the drawing was not there when I left. I don't know who did it or why. For all I know it could be a really bad practical joke. If it is, it is not funny.

Something I learned early in life is that there is always a reason for a person to hate you. It can be anything: your biological sex, your gender performance, your sexual orientation, your creed, your ethnicity, your nationality, literally anything. Individuals who are/were universally loved are few and far between. I have come to accept that there are those who are going to hate me if I give them reason to, and those who are going to hate me with no reason. While I accept that being hated is part of life, I do what I can to minimize the reasons for personal hatred. Some might call this cowardice. I call it appropriate precautions.

The point I am trying to make is that while being hated or disliked makes me feel uncomfortable, I have grown used to a certain level of discomfort. The image which I have posted makes me feel more uncomfortable then I have felt in a long time.

Copenhagen in April

This city is a different animal in the early spring. It's mood is erratic and the whether never settled. This past weekend there was sunshine and pleasant breezes. Today, rain shower are predicted (as they are for tomorrow). If the forecasts are to be believed, the rains will end on Thursday, and I think I will spend that day in the Tivoli gardens. This comming weekend is some sort of holiday, however it is far too late to find travel at reasonable prices. Besides, with all the activity in Iceland, I don't want to be standed on ground somewhere if it starts all over again. Besides, there is more to Denmarke than Copenhagen.

On Friday, the holiday, I think I will take a day of rest. By that point, I should have most of my work done (save for studying for the one in class final that I have). If it is open, I might spend the day in the National Library (somewhere that has become one of my favorite places to visit). Otherwise, I think I will just sit back, relax, and enjoy the day to the best of my ability. On Saturday, I will most likely head over to Odense to visit the Hans Christian Anderson house. There are just some things that one has to do while one is in Denmark.

I will be going to Tivoli, I just do not know when that will be. All I know is I should go, after all seeing the park that inspired Disneyland is always worth a visit.

That's all for this week. I'll be back with reviews of Tivoli and H.C.A's house.

Best

Birthdays, Viking Ships, and Papers! Oh My!

It was something of a rather busy weekend here in Denmark. Last Friday (April 16) was the Queen's birthday. As this may be my only time in a country that has a monarchy for that monarch's birthday, I decided to go. As it was the 70th birthday of Her Royal Highness, the crowd was something massive. Personally, it felt as if all the city had gone to see the monarch, but that is most likely an over-estimate of the number of persons involved. However, I did manage to get a good position in her "parade" route and saw her and her husband in their carriage as they went from the palace to city hall. The pagentry (mounted guards and band, horsedrawn carriage with monarch, people waving small Danish flags, etc) was all very fun. One of the things that struck me was just how quiet the crowd was, however that shouldn't be really all that shocked. A sort of quiet dignity (with the exception of football [American name soccer] matches) seems to be something of a defining characteristic of many of the Danes I have come to know.

Saturday 17 April was my college's housing lottery, but I didn't have time to worry about that. Rather, I was too busy being shipped all over the island of Zealand for my course in Nordic Mythology. We went to a museum dedicated to Viking Ships, saw the site of a ship burial (set in stone), visited the likely hall of King Hrothgar, and went to a military barracks that was likely key in the conversion to Christianity. Before any of these sites could be visited though, we had to wait for just under an hour and a half after our scheduled departure time for our bus to show up (some sort of communication error). All in all, it was a long day, and I was glad to get back to the apartment in the evening and get about the making of dinner. While all of the sites were individually rather interesting and historic, there was no single event that made my jaw drop. True, it was the first time that I was able to sample mead (in a reconstruction of a Viking age house), and that was a rather enjoyable experience. Even with that though, there was no single moment that made me say "wow."

Yesterday (Sunday 18 April) was spent in a flurry of writing. Since coming back from my travels, I haven't been as on top of my game when it comes to my classes as I like to be. There are a number of possible factors leading to this slump, I won't bother to go through all of them. With the end of the semester so close in sight now, it is hard to keep as focused as I like to be. However, I know that I have been able to buckle down before, so there is no reason that I should not be able to do so again. Besides, I doubt that I am the only student at this time of year (the full bloom of spring) that has trouble focusing. I am willing to go as far as to say I think that come May, there will be many (for one reason or other) that will have trouble being as productive as they were in the winter months, but that is pure personal conjecture.

P.S. Copenhagen has not seen a rain of ashes from the volcano in Iceland. I do not know to what extent travel by air into and out of Denmark has been effected. It is not that I am not interested, it is just that most news about the volcanic activity and how that is effecting travel seems to be focused more on the United Kingdom and other parts of the European continent. As soon as something specific to the volcano and Denmark emerges, I will be more than happy to post a link on this blog.

One Month to Go

It has been a very long time since my last post. In that time, I have been to Paris to visit with a friend, spent Easter Sunday wrapped in blankets battling a head cold, been to the north of England where EPIC times were had, lost a transport pass, returned to Copenhagen, and have had to deal with the onslaught of papers and projects as my semester abroad comes down to its final month (as of today 31 days until home!) I'm rather busy, but in the best way possible. I like having all of these things to do, it gives me a feeling of purpose. More than that, it helps me stay focued. In addition to the major events that I touched on in the list above, there have been several daily victories and defeats, but I have taken them in stride and adapted as the situation presents itself.

So it is down to the wire now and all the time I thought I had is flying out of the window. While there is a certain amount of insanity that I have to deal with (and part of it self induced) I have to say I do enjoy the insanity. The challenge of dealing with all of these things is something that can (at times) be exciting. It is far from my favorite feeling in the world, but when everything is finally pulled together, there is a certain feeling of satisfaction that comes with it. In the aftermath of finishing something, I generally feel a small amount of satisfaction.

With only one month in Copenhagen, you might ask if my opinion on this city has changed some or if I will be sad to leave. Now that I can actually see the sky and the sun no longer sets before my last classes, I am seeing a very different city than the one that I first arrived to. Still, Copenhagen to me is not China. The challenges of China were more different (and perhaps in some senses more difficult) than those I have faced here in Denmark. Because of the different nature of the challenges, I grew in different ways as a person. The me I am in Copenhagen is only possible because of what I went through while I was in China. Had I come here without the lens that China has given me, I am not sure what I would think.

Over all though, with only a month left here, I will not deny that I am once again craving to see the California cost line, be with my family, and be in an environment where I am familiar with the small cultural indicators. There are some things I have certainly grown to appreciate about Denmark, and while I have enjoyed some of the moments here, I would be lying if I wrote that I am already planning a trip back here. On the otherhand, there is no lie when I write that there is a very good chance that fourteen months from now, I will be on a plane to China to teach English (hopefully for a year or two).

Two Very Different Museums

Well today I did make the decision. After eating breakfast, I made the trek to the Anne Frank House. I got there maybe 15-20 minutes before opening and got in the queue that was already wrapped around a curb. In the biting winds I waited and meditated, listening as other people (be they couples or groups) chatted around me. Once inside, with as many people as there were, I could not help but feel slightly claustrophobic. However I moved through the museum, looking at where the Frank family hid for many years, and during that time I only spoke twice. Both of those times, it was to utter a prayer.

Being in that space, even for an hour, was something of an overpowering experience. I could only imagine what it would have been like to live in that space for years. After an hour, part of me was already yearning to be free, to get out. That might have more to do with my mild claustrophobia than anything else though. Listening to the voices of the Franks (there was a recording of Otto Frank) as well as those who knew them could lead one to cry. It led me to great silence and reflection. What I reflected on, I'm still grappling with. There will be a post later dealing with those reflections.

Following that visit, I decided to make the trek to Our Lord in The Attic. It is a museum that (as I found out) is open during its renovations. It was an underground Catholic Church during the time when Catholicism was outlawed in the Netherlands. Even during the renovations, there were many parts of the museum that were open and much that one could see. It was rather more filled than the Frank house (which is to be expected) and it was certainly a radical step away from what I saw in the Frank house (in terms of its content).

I went to two radically different museums. By the time I emerged from the second, I decided that I did not want to pay for a taxi nor make the trek to a third (that third would have been the Van Gogh museum). I shall have to return to Amsterdam one day just to see that space. However I think I have made good use of my time here so far.