Christmas Greeting 2009

Writing Christmas cards is always a hassle. You have to have all the addresses of the people you know, lot's of stamps, write them way early and then post it. We have chosen the quick fix, just write something really fast and put it together in a pdf-file, and then e-mail the letter. This year we've also put it on our blog, making it available for even more people. For you English speaking and "not-reading-any-weird-Scandinavian-languge" people, it is unfortunately only in Danish and some Norwegian. Sorry, but it's suppose to be the quick and dirty solution. Here it is:

Christmas Letter of 2009

Merry Christmas and a blessed new year to all of you!

Uh oh, the plants have died..

Uh oh, someone forgot to take their plants inside. And all of a sudden, winter was here - with actual snow, and temperatures below freezing. Oh well, I guess we will just have to buy some new plants for the balcony next year, and meanwhile enjoy how the snow makes everything a little brighter here in the darkest weeks of the year. Wondering if we will have a white Christmas for the first time since 1995?

Climate Summit and New Friends

Phew. It’s over. The UN Climate Summit here in Copenhagen has finally ended, and we can get back to business as usual. Since December 4, politicians, officials, NGO’s , climate activists and other visitors from virtually every country in the World have put their mark on the city with lots of people in the streets, exhibitions, events etc. – but also lots of police, hooting sirens, and traffic congestions. In the end, the result may have been somewhat disappointing, but at least the parties came together – and maybe the Copenhagen Accord will prove to be a step in the right direction, although insufficient in itself.

Anyway - for us, the most interesting part of the summit was taking part in an experiment called New Life Copenhagen. Since thousands of visitors would come to Copenhagen for the event, there was a need for housing. Obviously, most of the delegates for the official event at the Bella Center would stay with their delegations at different hotels, but many of the NGO’s, climate activists or other visitors had a hard time finding a place to stay. So New Life Copenhagen was organized to connect visitors with Danish hosts who would be willing to let some of the visitors stay at their place. We thought it was a really cool idea, so we signed up as hosts for two people.

I think many of our friends had anticipated us hanging out with a couple of rebellious people with multiple face-piercings and all-black outfits, bound for trouble with the police. However, “our” climate activists happened to be a very friendly and delightful young couple from England. It was an absolute pleasure to host Neal and Nora, and we enjoyed their company a lot. We showed them some of our favorite sights in downtown Copenhagen, and although it was very cold they were good sports and seemed to enjoy their stay. They stayed with us for 3 nights, and when they left they were no longer strangers, but new friends.