Here is a Brazilian one I added there, which many people like: Salmon in tomato and coconut sauce

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After asking around town and talking to our family members that once lived here, we decided on a local private Danish school for our children.  This decision happened not only because my mother in law and her brother’s went there, but because of what we have heard from both the kids that attend the school and parents that we have interviewed with.  I am American and the kids have grown up thus far in America (although they never attended American school as I kept them home with me), but my husband is Danish and has spoken only Danish to them from birth, so this school made perfect sense for us.  It has a great reputation in my area, and is on the strict side of the Danish education system.  They do not allow the children to call their teacher’s whore and disrespect them (as I have heard about in the public schools in Denmark), and the parents are held to those standards as well.  They have made no quams about stating that children will be asked to leave if they cannot follow their rules of conduct.  They have also stated that they follow each child on the individual basis.  They are evaluated by their teachers based on their strengths and weaknesses and special attention is given should a student need help in one particular area.  In Danish private school there are only 2 classes of no more than 21 children per class.  Since belts are tightening due to the state of the economy, people are opting more for public school.  Only 14 kids have signed up for each grade 0, wheras for the past several years there has been a long waiting list.  My husband and I, even though we are not terribly affluent, are choosing to invest our money into our childrens’ education in order to give them the best start in life.  Schools are highly subsidised here so private education doesn’t cost nearly as much as it does in the states.  For my daughter, every month it costs around $160 for school, but keep in mind we are in a small city here in Denmark, Copenhagen, Odense or Århus would be much more costly.  In the States, it would be well over $1000 for that same education, I think the school I went to as a child is $40,000 per year per student now with no discounts for siblings. If we were to sign up for after school care, it would be another $130 for 12 hours a week or you can double that for unlimited care which is very reasonable and that would continue throughout most of the Summer as well, following the school hours at the same cost.  I think they only have July where they are off completely for Summer holidays.

I have heard a lot of people complaining about the education level here, that they do not learn how to read early enough, that there are no grades, that kids play too much in school.  I also believe this depends on where you send your child to school since my daughter regularly has homework.  I really like the school system here because they do not just do academics here, they really focus on the whole child and they learn how to work together in groups.  In return there is less bullying here than there is in America.  They focus on whether the child has a positive self image, whether they see themselves in the center of things, and they address problems when they come up and they are proactive.  We have 2 teachers meeting a year where we discuss what they see in academics as well as in their social understanding of the world.  My daughter is in grade 0 and she is already reading and she speaks 2 languages fluently without accents.  As they get in the older grades, they have 3 different levels in every subject so the children can work at their own level.  It is surprisingly individualized.  I do not believe this happens in every school.  In this school they learn 6 different languages by the time they graduate Danish, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian and French.  In the US when kids learn languages they do not really learn them. Here, I ahve been shocked by how many children can speak English and by how well they speak it.  My mother in law learned it in high school and had no other education in English but she can speak it fluently.  Languages are an amazing gift to give your child.  I know a lady that complains endlessly about the school system here and does a lot of homeschooling to make up for the weaknesses she sees in the system.  What she doesn’t realize is that she is making her daughter a social outcast (her daughter is completely bored in school and it is not that she is more intelligent, it is just because her daughter knows the material before it is taught) and she even sits in her child’s class every morning directing the teacher.  I believe this case is extreme, but parents have to work with the system not against it to make a completely healthy and well balanced child.  What is the rush??  Do children have to learn so much in the first few years of life?  The Americans have proven the drilling system does not work.  Creating a fun learning environment in my opinion is the best way to achieve the best results. 

So all in all I would say just because you pay it doesn’t mean that it is good.  Kids spend their whole childhood together here so if you do not like the goup of kids and parents that your child has ended up with, please move your child to another school that has a better group.  It makes a big difference who the kids spend their childhood with.  Use your intuition and act on it instead of complaining about what you have ended up with.  If you do your research you cannot have any regrets.  We have done the same with the børnehave for our other children and they are very happy there.  It was worth waiting for a space to open up.

At ForeignersinDenmark.dk we have been debating this issue since it began in 2005 and although there is no consensus, there are very interesting point of views!

The latest forum topic about this issue is: Danish cartoonist attacked

Overall I thought the show was good, a little too “cinderella like”, but good – although Oprah did not mention that daycare is not free, it is a subsidized service and most of my friends with children are very happy with the quality of care their children receive, but not with the price, which is about 2300 kr (460 dollars) per month.

We are having a very good discussion on the forum about the show, check it out: Oprah Winfrey’s views on Denmark

Please leave a comment on this blog post about your thoughts of the Danish system, as shown by the women in the show.

Denmark, in my eyes, the land of “ok” customer service and overpaid employees have a lot to learn from how customer service should be handled –  the “Mc Donald’s smiley employees”, which is a reflection of one of the company’s core values (great customer service) does indeed pay off. But Trustpilot ratings can still help us decide what shops don’t deserve our business and which do.

The portal is available for the American, British, Romanian, Danish, Russian and German markets. It has also a resouceful tool, called Trustpilot Guard, which a person can download and then be able to see the “rating” of the shops shown on the search engine results.

Bra fitting

I apologise to the men reading this, and if you are of the kind who can’t even look in a catalogue with bras in without turning a shade of blush, I warn you to click away now.

Have they gone?  Good.

What is it with bras?  I’ve been looking for a white one for a while now, but all I can find is black or pastal shades.  I’ve got one bra which is my correct bra size…one…and it’s black so not really that convenient when I want to wear a white t-shirt.  And what is it with finding a bra that actually fits??  Take today as an example, I went into a well known underwear chain here in Aarhus today, and whilst the service seemed good, the two bras I tried whilst looking relatively ok, actually didn’t fit, yet the woman was determined that they did.  Thankfully, I know when a bra fits me or not, so it was a polite thank you but no thank you.  So it’s really not surprising to know that 8 in 10 women wear the wrong bra size, when you have supposedly trained staff saying they fit fine when they clearly don’t.

I’m not loving going bra shopping at the best of times anyway, I’d much rather do it in the comfort of my own home, however, that only works if you know your bra size and it hasn’t differed since your last purchase.  I recently ordered a mass of bras in various sizes, purely because I knew that my cup size had increased, but I couldn’t be sure by how much.  So, out of 15 bras, I ended up with one!  One bra that fitted, and worse still I am now having to wear E cup.  It wasn’t a good day for me that day.  Most women would kill for a big bust, me, I was more than happy with my C cup of years ago, then I went up a cup to a D.  It was rocky times but I got used to it, as long as I didn’t end up a DD (E), I was happy.  So of course, now I’m a DD (E).  I’m coming to accept the change, that’s all I’ll say on the matter.

But with this change, I’m coming to realise that there seems to be a threshold with bra design; up to D cup, and you get “yes here you go madam, here is the racy, lacy bits of stuff you’d like to try”, however DD (E) and above and you get “here you go madam, here’s the support you need”.  Don’t get me wrong there has been a lot of progression in design for the ‘larger’ breasted woman, and many stores have now cottoned on that us women who happen to be well-endowed, want to feel sexy, not that we’ve got half a ton of scaffolding and half your mum’s sheeting rapped round your chest!   But still, why is it that I try most bras on, and end up having the centre panel reaching to my chin, purely because I need a bigger cup size?  Eh, what’s with that?  Not only do I look like, well, not girly or sexy at all, but it also is a horrible reminder of the style of bras’ my mum wears…and I’m just not ready to go there yet at 28!!

Ladies, are you perhaps 1 of the 8 who wear the wrong bra size?  Check out http://www.bravissimo.com/perfectfit/ as they have a guide on what to look out for when wearing bras and trying them on.

Cultivating tomatoes in its original bag

Right now is the perfect time of the year to teach your children about plants – with the focus of environmental issues in the past few years, children in most countries certainly learn the basics about how important it is to preserve nature and many schools actually have gardens where children learn to plant fruits and vegetables.

So, if the schools are already doing it, why is it important that you do it with them? Well, besides having fresh vegetables and fruits without chemicals, this is an opportunity to teach your children how to nurture life and to set a good example for them. Your children will take pride that what they are learning in school is being put into practice at home and that they are eating the results!

So, if you have a garden, get the little ones away from the computer and enjoy a beautiful summer day, while teaching them precious life lessons!

My pick is tomato because they are easy to grow and cultivate, are very nutritious and are ideal for this time of the year.

If you are new to gardening, I recommend you start with grown plants instead of seeds – imagine the frustration of your child if the seeds never grow or die shortly after! Growing plants from seed is an exciting experience for children (and adults), so you should definitely save this idea for next summer.

Step by step instructions on how to cultivate tomato from grown plants:

1. Buy tomato plants in a bag: for a first timer, buying plants that come in a bag with fertilizer is best because the soil is prepared with what’s ideal for the plant and because it keeps the plants “higher” from the ground and away from parasites. These bags are illustrated on the picture to the right.
2. Keep them in the original bag.
3. Ask the shop if the plant is used to being outside during the night. If they are, you can just put them outside and leave them there. If they are not used to that, they need to gradually get used to the change of temperature. In this case, leave them outside during the day and put them in a shed during the night for a few days. Each day prolonging their “stay”outside. To save all this trouble, try purchasing a plant that is already used to that.


Tomato plant

4. Place a stake on each tomato plant and tie the plant to it (loosely). That will make sure the plant grows straight up.
5. Place the plants in a location where there is plenty of sun. If you have a greenhouse, even better – the plants will grow faster and the tomatoes will be sweeter.
6. Water daily. Tomato plants can die quickly if the soil is dry.
7. If there are too many birds around, place a tulle or a plastic bag around the plant (in this case, make small holes on the plastic. Birds also need their food and are an enchantment on any garden, so leaving a tomato plant uncovered just for them is appreciated and is another way to teach children about responsibility with people and animals around us.
8. Pruning: when you can see yellow flowers and/or a few tomatoes, cut of branches of the plant that doesn’t have any flowers or tomatoes. That will allow the plant to concentrate its energy on the tomatoes that will grow – each flower means one tomato, that’s why you should not cut any out.
9. Enjoy them!

Make sure you do each step with your children, explaining the “whys” of each step.

Even if you don’t have children, the nutritious value of tomatoes should be enough reason to cultivate them. Tomato is the best source of lycopene, an antioxidant that helps to prevent several types of cancers, by protecting the cells from oxygen damage. They are also a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A and fiber.

If space is an issue, you can try to plant strawberry plants in a container. I think this could be an option for an apartment, but I haven’t tried it. One tip with strawberries: don’t over water the plants, because the strawberries will grow too fast, but will lack flavor.

Here is a video I found that shows in details how to plant strawberries in a container

Source: Whfoods.com

Raps field in the country side, Denmark

I love Denmark.  I am thrilled to be in this country and I can’t wait to know more and learn more every day.  I have been here since November 2008.  People tell me to wait, that the shoe will drop eventually, and that I will be just as miserable as most of the foreigners here before too long.  I am happy to say that I have new wonderful experiences to report on the daily basis and I have finally given up expecting that other shoe to drop.

I came here from one of the most beautiful places in the world, Northern California.  I loved it there, but there was always something missing.  I always felt like I couldn’t ever have all that I wanted, and I am not talking about material possessions.  We were, as most Americans, living way beyond our means.  We had no time to be together as a family, working round the clock to support our enormous outgoings.  We were always stressed out and very tense.

Why Denmark?  Well, my husband just happens to be from this wonderful country.  We moved here for our children to have a better, simpler and safer childhood with their family around.  My family unfortunately has shrunk down to just my mom, my dad and my brother and soon my dad will be moving to Thailand.  So, needless to say, we wanted our children to grow up around their cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and extended family.

We came here to get out of the rat race and to have some security in case things should take a downturn.  We anticipated it being difficult to get a job but we had no idea it would take 6 months of using up all of our savings and finally asking for help.  Now, fortunately, things are changing and we are slowly getting back up onto our feet.  The economy tanked right after we made our decision to move, so it has been a rough road to say the least.

This country, no matter what people want to say, is great, and no one can tell me otherwise.  It came through for us when we needed it the most.  Since there is no childcare available in my area, they are paying me to take care of my children so I do not put them in an institution.  I have 3 children ages 1, 3 and 5.  I am not ready to give them up anyway, so now I have another year to figure out what I am going to do and make some contacts meanwhile for when I am ready to get back into singing.  They are also paying for my husband to get another degree so he can have the latest industry knowledge in his field.  He has finally found a good job to earn enough money to get us through this transition so we can start contributing a bit.  There is also free medical care for all of us and free dental care for my kids up until they are 18.  The things I just mentioned are a huge weight off of our shoulders.  In the US we were self employed and paid so much towards doctor’s bills, medical insurance and dental bills.  Here, all we have to worry about is putting food on the table and paying rent.  This means that we can spend that family time together that we were aching for back in the states.

There are good and bad things about any country that you may want to live in, but I have always had a love affair with Europe and always hoped to make it my home someday.   I love learning another language, the changing seasons, the raps fields in the Spring, the birds singing, the emphasis on family, the people here, the simple life and just being able to appreciate all of my blessings.  I didn’t have that luxury back in California.

I just wanted to share my positive story to show another side of the coin. It is not easy to move to another country and everyone is going to have their own experience, but I love it here and am very happy with my new life in Denmark.  Living day to day and appreciating all that I have, finally makes it easy for me to breathe again, and for that I am very grateful!

UPDATE

So, we have been living here almost 2 years now.  Hubby is pretty busy with 2 jobs and I have a few of my own as well.  Life keeps getting better and better.  My Danish is coming along nicely and I still am enjoying the learning process.  I really love that they give you the opportunity to learn the language in school here for 3 years to help you get a good start.  It is fun to be able to carry on conversations with others now although it is frustrating that the process is a slow one.  I have made many wonderful Danish friends.  The kids are looked up to at school because they speak another language.  There are several kids in my daughters class that are bilingual, Hebrew, Polish and English(and it is a private Danish school, not an international one) and it is looked in a positive light by the other children.  My kids are now all over 3 and are being taken care of during the day which frees up time for me to have some time to myself and work on my upcoming projects.  I will be quite busy in the fall with teaching and performing locally and I am really looking forward to having a little bit of myself back.  I have a feeling that having kids here has opened a lot of doors that would have been much harder to open otherwise.  I have met some amazing families and have made some really good friends in such a short time.   Friends that I can call on and would help out without even having to think about it.  Our last step out of limbo involves moving into our first home which we recently purchased this up coming month.  Maybe it is where I am living, my circumstances or my attitude, I am not sure, but I am really enjoying myself here. I know a lot of people in my little town now so it is nice to go shopping and run into people I know.  I have not experienced the coldness that I have heard so much about from others.  Not sure why, but maybe I was just meant to be here in the first place.  We all fit somewhere and this environment really suits me.  So, those of you out there, there is hope to really make your way here in Denmark. Do not let the negativity you hear about guide your decisions.  Just come with an open mind and easy going spirit.

Do all mothers in Denmark do this? NOPE, but plenty do.

Is it socially acceptable to smoke in front of small children (not just in outside areas) in Denmark? Well, THAT I would like to ask Danes. My impression is that it is, since I don’t see people staring at such parents or behaving any different around them.

This behavior does surprise me. In a society that all get a good education and the effects of cigarettes are widely known, how can this still happen so often?

Jelling is a small town north of Vejle, in Jutland, with a population of just 3200. The history goes all the way back to the Viking age, where it was home to some of the first kings of Denmark.

Here is a picture of the church, which is in the center of the city, right in front of the museum and next to the Runesten:

The only museum in Jelling, Kongernes Jelling, where information about the king’s stones are:

Ya, I know it must seem creepy to take pictures of graves, but in Denmark, graves around churches are so well keep and beautiful, that I just can’t resist:

I think these are about the kings? 

A picture of where the king and queen, Gorm and Thyra, were buried. Thyra was buried before her husband, but the date is unknown. Gornm was burried in 958:

Here is me, in front of the Jelling stones. The stones are a tribute to the deceased and were a common tribute paid to kings in the past:

More pictures of the church:

A ladybug that was asking to be photographed  

A beautiful flower bed right in front of the museum and church: