Long time no write

Well I have not written in a while and its mainly due to the fact that for some reason I have not been able to upload photos since my last post. I keep trying to post pics of Cambridge and Brighton but to no avail. Finally, it has started working again.

Going back to October in the UK with Carys, it was great. I had started feeling a bit bleh with the busy schedule in Copenhagen. The trip to the UK was a perfect chance to just relax with a dear dear friend. At the end of our week together we travelled down to the coastal city of Brighton with a Rotarian from Cambridge (the club that sponsored Carys for the Peace Fellowship). Carys had been invited to give a speech at the Rotary District Conference there and I was tagging along for the ride. Fortunately, the Rotarians covered the cost of my attendance except for the extra guest fee at the hotel where we stayed. In line with my past experiences the British Rotarians were kind and generous to both of us.

We stayed at the Hilton Hotel right across the street from the beach in Brighton. Best of all we got a room on the 5th floor facing the ocean. Like the weather in Cambridge we had fantastically sunny days in Brighton. Perfect fall days that have enough crispness in the air to keep you awake and feeling alive but not too cold that you are yet cursing Mother Nature ;-) Brighton has a pier with rides and an arcade for kids. The pier goes right out into the ocean. The atmosphere reminded me a bit of Old Orchard Beach (Maine) or even Santa Cruz (Cali).






















We also had a special alarm clock, a sea gull that arrived at our window each morning bright and early to awake us and also visiting our windowsill at sunset. Cute, BUT a bit annoying at six thirty in the morning...

















Carys gave her speech on Saturday and wowed the Rotarians with her poise (she's a fab public speaker), knowledge and particularly her reflections on her experiences both in Japan and regarding her research in Uganda on the rehabilitation of former girl child soldiers who had become mothers as a result of sexual abuse when they were abducted. Saturday night was the big dinner and dance. As about 95% of the room was composed of those with grey hair. We smiled and politely turned down dance offers and then quietly found a time to leave so we could get caught up on the score of the big rugby game that England was playing that night in Paris. Paris was over-run with hooligans, fortunately our hotel was not. England lost :-( Before leaving Brighton we also got to see a few fantastic sunsets, this was one of them....















We headed back to Cambridge on Sunday and enjoyed dinner a last night with Mike's roomates (sans Mike, he was travelling). It was a bit sad to say goodbye with Carys the next day. It reminded me of saying goodbye to her at Musashisakai station in Japan when I finished there in July. At least this time I know she isn't too far away (based in zurich at the moment) and that it is for certain I will see her again in the not too distant future. The value of good friends really can't be quantified can it? But we know we have good friends when we can feel the quality of the connection in our hearts long after getting together and I am thankful for that.

I returned to Copenhagen revitalized and ready to take on my first term exam. As I only had one course during the first term (that met in class or in forest excursions at least 3.5 days per week) I only had one exam. In Denmark they favor oral exams and the grading system is very different. One can get any of the following scores: -2, 0 2, 4, 7, 10, 12. This is a new system for Danes as well as it used to be a 0-13 system I think. Anyway, we knew we would have 2 questions for the exam. One question would be based on any of 3 group work papers written during the term. The other we had to randomly choose from slips of paper with various questions. This means anything from the entire term could be in the question. I was scared to death to get something from the soil science part of the course and have to talk about Carbon-Nitrogen ratios or soil porosity. Fortunately for me I got a question that didn't freak me out and was interesting.

Following the exam we had a week off from classes in preparation for the next term. Rather than travelling I volunteered for 3.5 days at a local conservation NGO here in Copenhagen called the Danish Society for Nature Conservation (DN). I got to meet some nice new people with similar interests to me and write a short paper for them on C02 accounting. I didn't know anything about it at first but through researching for the paper learned a lot of new stuff.

The 2nd Block (semester) here started out FAST. After only 3 hours of the intro to Applied Forest and Natural Resource Economics I was thoroughly confused and very stressed out. What language was this lady talking anyway? Certainly not English. Anything resembling math has a tendency to cause my brain to cramp up and this class was no exception. I still feel very worried about passing at all but somethings are sinking in. The good news is there are other people in the class feeling just as lost and as concerned about the exam as I am. Three Danish friends and I are planning to do some intensive study for the exam after the New Year.

With regard to meeting Danes things are going pretty well. People here are very busy, and in general it seems to me that people are not as spontaneous about daily life as much as people from California or the Indian friends I know. The holiday season is also very busy here. People are running around from Jul Frokost (christmas lunch) to other Jul parties. One big event here at the beginning of November is the release of the Christmas beer. It is slightly darker (and stronger apparently) than the normal brew. Apparently the release day used to be the first Wednesday in November. However, given the drinking age in Denmark is 15 or 16 the Wednesday release caused problems with the schools. High school students were showing up (and many not showing up) hung over so the teacher's union got the beer company to change the release date to the first Friday of November. Problem solved I guess. I couldn't enjoy the party however as my exam during block one was at 10:30 am on the first Saturday in November!

I have been managing to have some fun however. Thanks to the invitation by a kind San Francisco Rotary Club member (who is actually Danish). I had the pleasure of attending the Christmas Reception Party of the American Ambassador to Denmark. I even had the chance to bend his ear about climate change and talk about the current conference in Bali to deal with next steps to the Kyoto Protocol. Turns out this Ambassador met George Bush when Bush was campaigning the first time around. He is a former lawyer from North Carolina. Ambassador's certainly live large, the house was georgeous. Most of the attendees were older Danes who have strong connections to the US. I did meet one American though (the first one since I have been here!). He was nice, his wife is Danish and they have been back living in Denmark for a year, he doesn't seem to be much of a fan of this weather (but then no one is ;-) Here is pic with Mr. and Mrs. Bach and Todd (the above-mentioned American)

















What else have I been up to? One of my courses this term is Conflict Management, and is a BIG reason why I chose to study in Copenhagen this year. Recently, we went on an excursion for the course to an area of Copenhagen called Christiania. Christiania is located in Copenhagen proper but is a very unique social experiment. Until the 1970s the area that is now Christiania was a military training area (build mainly on top of landfill and trash). After the military closed their operations there in 1971 the growing squatter movement moved in and took over the area.

Our excursion was an introduction to the history of Christiania and the alternative society that has developed there. Many of the inhabitants are anarchists of some variety and thus there is no central leader and all decision-making is by consensus. There are 14 local area committees of neighbors and a larger council composed of a representative member from each committee. The area is home to many artists, social activists, and used to be the home of a huge drug market as until 2004 Christiania was exempted from Danish law. They had their own laws. The more conservative government however put and end to that in 2004 and since then there has been a conflict between the government trying to assert and organize Christiania and the residents of Christiania (who have substantial public and political support) trying to preserve their alternative way of life which involves living in a car-free area, limiting substantially building (there are no high rises there, mostly self-built homes), toleration of a hash market, and enjoying a type of natural environment vastly different from the rest of Copenhagen. We got to hear the point of view of several Christiania residents, a representative of the bordering neighborhood of Christianshavn, as well as two representatives from the government and a lawyer that has been advising Christianians in negotiations with the government.

One interesting thing about the Hash (marijuana) issue in Christiania is that in the 1980s there were a lot more drugs and a lot more hard drugs in the area. The residents decided with the government to do something about it and in many ways it worked. Currently in Christiania hash is tolerated and can be bought and consumed openly but anything more serious (heroine, cocaine, etc) are absolutely not tolerated and people can be evicted from the area by dealing or doing these drugs. This is a unique situation because usually drug laws treat all drugs as the same, bad bad bad. I am not for hash dealing per se but it is interesting to see how this may turn out. No one else, no other country has been able to find a solution to the drug problem - but perhaps we can learn from what is happening in Christiania. Who knows? The conflict continues with the government want to exert more control in the area which would also include development of this prime area of real estate in central Copenhagen. All I know is that I will certainly go back to Christiania. They have a fantastic old style theater there that we used for our meetings yesterday. It is fantastic and they show a lot of independently made American films there. One last interesting point about Christiania, when you leave there this is the sign you see upon returning to the mainstream of Copenhagen, I love it!
















The longer I am here I am learning about the diversity and beauty of Copenhagen more and more. I recently went to the Danish Resistance Museum, which was an eye-opening experience about what happened in Denmark during World War II. Although the government quickly conceded to Nazi pressure to avoid a battle, much of the Danish public remained resistant to the wishes of the German generals and the Danish Nazi sympathizers. Although it started off slowly and quietly there was a substantial resistance movement throughout Denmark. The resistance groups printed illegal newspapers/leaflets, bombed trains carrrying supplies to/from Germany, and enabled many Jews to escape Denmark for save haven in Sweden. I left the museum with a greater appreciation for Danes in general and with another view on that complex war.

Additionally, thanks to a friend visiting a few weeks ago (who lived here before I did and is now in London) I was also introduced to a fantastic jazz club in the downtown area that has no entry fee on Sundays. Guess where I will be spending my Sundays from now on? The place is a bit small with dark red walls and a warm atmosphere. Every week is a jam session with different people, and they have all been very talented so far!

Well off to a Jul Frokost (Christmas lunch) and then to an American Expat Happy Hour downtown this evening.