New School for Emilia, Espen & Elise

Emilia and Espen have both started school here in Risskov, at Risskov Skole. All their classes are in Danish. Their teachers are really nice, and they are both adapting well. They have both been able to make friends quickly and have been able to go over other kids' houses and have friends here, especially because the weather has been nearly perfect all the time - 70s to low 80s F. and sunny. In photo above on the first day of school, you see Ida (first grade, with flowers for the teacher, a tradition here), Elise, Emilia (6th), Espen (4th), and Marius (3rd)

The school is an ancient, large, stately building that has just recently been renovated - the scaffolding came off right before the start of the school year. It looks great, but also suspiciously like Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (See photo above, right).

ELISE has also been able to start school, that is "børnehave." We were very happy for this because at first we were told that this might take 3 months to arrange. She already knew some of the kids through our friends Pia and Torsten, whose son Alfred is in the same room, and she jumped right in the first day and played with EVERYbody.

We are really enjoying the house on Rosenvej 11. The trampoline gets good use, as does the wonderful yard for gardening (i.e., Kirsten) and badminton (i.e., the rest of us). The house belonged for many years to a well-known Danish philosopher and theologian, Johannes Sløk, and it is well-oriented to deep thinking: quiet, protected, roomy and highly functional.

Kirsten has applied to nearly a dozen nursing positions in the area. So we're keeping fingers crossed.

Personally, I have been able to find some time to work on the novel. I finished the mandatory NaNoWriMo 50,000 words in July, and have since been able to edit the first 10 narrations. I got good feedback from one American editor-friend on the first 5 narrations, and so was encouraged to go the next step and finish a first draft that is complete and self-edited once through. Next week I take the train to Frankfurt and on to Warsaw for the Camp Rising Sun World Reunion. This will give me MANY hours (about 36) to read, write and edit on the train.

Chris