HALLOWEEN PARTY

Our home in Risskov saw a TERRIFIC Halloween bash today, with many ghosts, witches and monsters on hand, plus an Indian and princess or two. I will try to post some photos - this blog is a little cranky with photos, so bear with me. I may have to split it up.
Cheers -- and HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEN!
Chris

Halloween Update

As we approach Halloween, the Varrone Family has settled in to life in Aarhus. Emilia has started singing in the local choir and dancing ballet (again). Espen is playing Team Handball (not the sidewalk variety, this is more like playing water polo without getting wet, and has started Jump-gymnastics. Both of them are attending nearby Risskov School, which in addition to tradional subjects also features Religion (both the Danish State Church and comparative religion), Handicrafts, Home Economics and Woodshop.

Elise goes to nursery school where she has many friends. We all speak Danish every day, but she is the only one who has really picked up the local patois, Aarhusiansk. It is more charming than anything else: lengthened vowel sounds in a 4 year old -- think Scarlett O'Hara as a toddler.

I was elected to the Board of Director of her nursery school (oh joy, more meetings), and so have gotten to know the staff and other parents pretty weel. Also very good for my Danish. I come up for the Study-exam in November/December: this is the exam required to enter University here. I took a similar one 20 years ago in Norwegian, but I must say Danish is tougher. The pronunciation makes the oral portions VERY challenging indeed. Other Scandinavians say the Danes talk as if they have a potato stuck in their throats. Very gutteral, everything is swallowed. There was even a study that Danish children have a tougher time learning Danish than children of neighboring nations have in learning thier own native languages -- there was a 2 year gap between Swedes and Danes.

Kirsten has had several job interviews and is still shopping for the right position. We are also still looking for the 'right' house -- we have this rented house till March 1.

The holiday of Halloween is getting to be more popular here, and quite a few houses have jack o'lanterns on the front steps. The pumpkin farmers are overjoyed. I am not sure how common trick-or-treating is. I also think I've figured out why this Holiday has gotten so popular here: DISNEY CHANNEL. There is very little on TV -- just 2 or 3 Danish stations, plus whatever we can tap into from Germany and Sweden (maybe 3 or 4 more). But DISNEY has managed to get big here, and every Disney show has a Halloween episode. I'm sure the Harry Potter series helps too. Thus spreadeth the culture during the Pax Americana.

My book is also coming along. Here is a brief description:

A couple (yes, he is American, she Danish) move to Copenhagen and purchase a large old house. Immediately, strange things start to happen. Each chapter is narrated by a different character (6 in all), as if they passed around the microphone. Each character has a different world-view -- religious, psychiatric/scientific/atheist, New Age/Buddhist/feng shui, and so on. Thus each one interprets events fundamentally differently. Over the course of the book, more and more odd things happen, including various coincidences. What's real and what's imagined? If you want to find out,... you'll have to read the book!

Cheers --
Chris