New Digs in Kobenhavn!

I moved back to Copenhagen at the very end of January and found a place to live in a neighborhood called Islands Brygge. Don't ask me how to pronounce that, since everytime I try to people look at me like I am speaking Greek. Its a rather new area of Copenhagen. Most of the apartments were built 5-6 years ago. The nice thing is that I am sandwiched between a waterfront canal area and a large green area.

I am living with a Danish woman, Jeanett. We are about the same age and although we are both quite busy - get along rather well. Living with someone is always an adjustment, and sometimes frustrating, but I like to think that doing so keeps me a bit more flexible than I would be otherwise. Plus it can be great, living with roomates in Japan was the best thing I could have done!

The other great thing about living with someone is that I can get a far nicer and larger place to live for about the same price as a tiny place if I lived on my own. Here is a pic of the fantastic kitchen I get to use!















Here is a pic of my bedroom. Its sort of like when I was in Japan with the mattress on the floor, only this time the mattress is about 10 times thicker :-). This isn't a great picture, but the room is plenty big enough for my limited amount of stuff.















Beyond the apartment, its been nice to be back in Copenhagen and to reconnect with my friends here. Its nice to know how to get where I want to go on my bike. That said, it hasn't all been a smooth process....

You may remember some earlier posts I have made about the 'person number' system in Denmark. Actually this system exists in all the Nordic countries, but they all operate slightly differently. If you are in Denmark on anything other than a tourist visa, you need to get a person number. In Sweden however, you don't get a person number unless you plan to be in sweden for more than a year or request one.

Sooo, when I moved back to Denmark from Sweden it all seemed like it would be ok, just reactivate my old Danish person number right? Wrong, of course. The person registry insisted I must have a Swedish person number, but I knew I did not. When I tried to reach a person at the Swedish tax office to help me, the person I needed to talk to - was on vacation - of course! And NO ONE else in Sweden could assist me! Soooo finally 3 weeks after getting to Denmark the lady in Sweden sent me an email to verify for the person registry in Denmark that indeed I have no person number....ahhh finally!

Surely, we must accept that bureaucracy is part of life - but its so much more frustrating in another country. That said, at least they speak English here (unlike in Japan) - but its still not much fun to figure out. Now I need to get a tax ID number for Denmark to work for a Swedish employer (my uni in Sweden) in Denmark. As a seasoned foreigner in Denmark now - I am quite certain this will also be a big headache to figure out!