Visitors With a Camera...

Having visitors is always stimulating (as long as they don't stay too long :-). Last week we had visitors, coming both from Chigago and from Limerick (Irland). 

And they did not only bring along a good sense of humour and spirit, they also brought along their cameras. If I may add, cameras that cost somewhat more than our small compact cameras. 

Molly, who currently lives in Ireland, has already blogged her photograpy frenzy.  Why don't you take a peek at her nice pictures, I'm sure she won't mind. 

And Kelly has also blogged a picture or two, she is also an ardent Flickr-user and she also blogs pictures here.  I'm guessing she will blog more pictures later ... 

Enjoy.

No matter what ...

112608-JJA
Originally uploaded by JDJA

What? It is Advent again. It means basically shopping for presents, too much food, Christmas parties and stress. Soon we will see the darkest day of the year. And the words of Scripture that:

"The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined" (Isa 9)

somehow seems far away. That belongs to the Summer. But Jan is overjoyed over his Advent calendar. This simple little thing (filled with chocolate) is actually an important reminder. It made me thing again about Jul. And it is a reminder to us all.

It does not matter if it is 1 December. If there are tons of things to do. Plans to be made for the holidays. The despair I often feel at the brink of Jul, of the holiday season, does not really matter. What I do does not matter at all.

Why? The answer to to that is: Because Christmas is coming. Not Coca Cola. Not by my helping.

He is going to come. That is the only present I need. A real presence.

PS! A bit unrealistic though: I also think we should change the name in the Scandinavian languages from Jul to Kristmesse (Christmas. It such a better ring to it. Reminds of not only that it is a holiday season with the family, but why we take time with our families.

Out of America

Last autumn we travelled to the US for our vacation. By a stroke of luck it was to be our plans for this year as well. Last year we travelled to see the famous foliage of New England and to meet Kelly. This year we went to attend Emily and Kim's wedding. Kim and his Texan belle were hosting a November wedding in Austin, TX. Perfect for leaving cold, dark and rainy Scandinavia.

We booked tickets early in the spring and planned to stay from Saturday 1 till Sunday 9 November. That also meant that we planned being there for the General Elections on 4 November. In sum: Wedding, vacation and election. What more could we ask for?

Pictures from Texas

Wedding
Emily and Kim decided to tie a life-long bond about a year ago. They had been an item for about a year, since Kim did his compulsory period as a visiting scholar for his PhD at University of Texas, Austin. Who could imagine the spin off that research on wind mills (or something like that) could lead to.

Jan and I met Emily for the first time last Christmas, when she visited her future in-laws in Denmark. It was obvious that the betrothed couple were smitten by each other. They actually married each other legally back in August, but celebrated it together with friends and family the Friday evening in November.

The wedding was very American to Scandinavian eyes, although many elements were the same. Jan was to be one of the groomsmen, together with his other two brothers and Emily's younger brother. During the wedding the groomsmen stand at the side of the groom, while the bridesmaids stand at the side of the bride. So there was a lot of people in action during the ceremony. Emily's father presided at the wedding, her mother read a poem and Kim's mother and father read the Praise to Love from St. Paul's letter to the Corinthian Church. And her brother performed a song.

The wedding party was actually a full thanksgiving dinner, outside under the stars (or to be precise: dinner by candlelight). Dessert was the traditional wedding cake, shared by the newlyweds. And there was dancing, and both Jan and I had to give it a try.

The wedding was not only limited to the day itself, but there was also a program before and after the wedding day. The family convened on Tuesday for a Texan barbecue. I got to taste smoked brisket (meat cut from the breast of the animal) and a Texan bear called Shiner.
Before the wedding there was a wedding rehearsal, with a wedding rehearsal lunch at a Mexican restaurant (I got a cheese overdose!). And in the evening there was a Happy Hour at a local bar. The day after the wedding the guests came together for a brunch at a Mexican fast food restaurant, it was a nice end to a great wedding.

Vacation
Before the wedding we had planned (loosely) to drive to Dallas and to San Antonio for some sightseeing. When we arrived at the airport in Austin late Saturday evening, Emily and Kim was there to greet us. They were kind enough to drive us to our motel. The day after we picked up our rental car, and drove to a church which had a service at 11 AM. In the afternoon we headed for Dallas, but stopped along the way in Waco (a city famous for cults, Baylor University and Dr. Pepper). We visited the Dr. Pepper Museum, where we tasted the original Dr. Pepper from a soda fountain.
We arrived in Dallas before dark, and our hotel was in West End Historic District, not far from where President Kennedy was assassinated. The following day, Monday, we started by visiting the Nasher Sculpture Center in the Arts District. At the Dallas Museum of Art we saw an exhibition on King Tut. After this massive dose of art and ancient history we headed back to the West End District and the Sixth Museum. The museum features the story about John F. Kennedy and the assassination in Dallas. It was really interesting, and since we visited the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston it was a nice way of getting the whole story on Kennedy's life. In the evening we went by Trolley Car to Uptown, a really nice district north of Downtown.
On Tuesday we drove down to College Station to see the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. It was not on our original itinerary, but the chance was not likely to come again in any nearby future, so we improvised. It was really interesting to see the years between 1988 and 1992 from the angle of his presidency.
On Wednesday we drove down to San Antonio. We saw the Alamo, the famous mission that was turned into a fortress during the Texan rebellion (while a part of Mexico). The city has even today a kind of Mexican feel to it. We recapitulated the story of the rebellion for an hour or two and then went for a walk around the city. The famous river walk was nice, but we also got to see a traditional Mexican marked. We finished off the visit to San Antonio with a trip to a shopping center (buying some shoes for the wedding).
We also went sightseeing in Austin. We concentrated on the Texas State Capitol and Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum.

I won't write about the election, we all know who won and who Texas voted for. It is history.

Night of Culture

Every year in October, Copenhagen celebrates its "Night of Culture" the Friday where the fall vacation of the schools begins. Churches, museums, theatres, organizations and institutions of all sorts open their doors for a variety of events and scores of people are on the streets. Of course, we wanted to take part in the fun so we went out with a couple of good friends to explore Copenhagen's Night of Culture.

First, we went to the Danish Parliament where we were lucky enough to visit the Liberal Party at the same time as Denmark's PM, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
After that, we went to experience the spooky old sepulchral chapels at the German St. Petri Church. We also visited the daily "Politiken" as well as the Copenhagen City Hall. On our way there we met a group of line dancers performing in the street.




Then we went on to Axelborg, the Headquarters of the agricultural organizations. Here they presented us with all sorts of tasty samples of cheese and other agricultural products. They boasted a bar where they served caffe latte with more than 80 different types of milk. As an added bonus, Axelborg has a magnificent hall with 7 or 8 storeys, ending in a tower, which we of course had to photograph both from the bottom and from the top.



Our night of culture ended with a beer in a microbrewery before catching a bus back home. We are already looking forward to next year.

Job from October!

After living in Copenhagen for a year now (3 October) and being unemployed for the past 5 months, I finally managed to get a job.

I am going to work as a Higher Executive Officer (AC-fuldmægtig) at the IT University of Copenhagen. It is Denmark's smallest university (in Norway universities of this size is classified as specialised universities), only a little bit bigger than my previous employer, the MF Norwegian School of Theology.

The university is also the youngest in Denmark, it was founded in 1999 (then as an independent part of Copenhagen Business School). Most of the people that work there are young and it is an innovative milieu. Actually my colleagues will all by in their thirties and forties.

The university used to be situated not far from where we live (in North-west), but moved in 2004 to Ørestad (just south of the centre of Copenhagen). Not far away is the Faculty of Arts, University of Copenhagen. It moved into a building that is really cool. Here are some pictures of it:

The entrance area - Inside the atrium - One of the seminar rooms.

The photo to the right is by La Petite Claudine from Wikipedia Commons and the one in the middle is by IT-universitetet.

I'm looking forward to begin, and the building is awesome. For more pictures, check out: Pictures of the ITU-building.

Oslo in the Spotlight

Today one of the major newspapers in Copenhagen, Berlingske Tidende, ran a story about the new opera house in Oslo (we went there in May). Copenhagen got a new opera house back in 2005, in the harbour area (just across the Amalienborg Castle). Earlier this year Oslo also got a new opera house, also situated by the waters. I guess we might call it the "Sidney effect".

Anyway, apart from the great pictures and a summary on the history of opera in Norway, the article also writes about the renewal of Oslo. Of which the city is in dire need of. Compared to Copenhagen and Stockholm there has been a lack of milieu in Oslo.

One of the things the article mentions is that the Munch Museum is going to be moved and situated not far from the Opera. What it doesn't mention is that the area surrounding the Opera House is quite appalling (big motorway, container docks etc.). All this is about to change, and the museum is just a minor part in the plans. The entire area is to be renewed, and the road is to be turned into a new turnpike tunnel (comparable to the turnpike in Boston, I guess). A grand scheme that will add more milieu to Oslo.
Also, just mentioning, one of the landmarks of Oslo is also about to be refurbished, namely the Holmenkollen ski jump that towers above the city is to get at new ski jumping tower. A change of appearance and an attempt to put Oslo back on the map when it comes to winter sports.

Most of the time I don't miss Oslo at all, but sometimes - when reading stuff like this - I wish that I was in the middle of what is happening.

Succinct September

September is one of those months that just goes by really fast. It's one of those waiting months, and it does not waste time on us. Sometimes it just rains away, at least in Copenhagen. This September the winds have come from the east, bringing rain and cold weather from the Baltic Sea. In conclusion: Summer is over and arrived have what the Danes call "afteryear", i.o.w. autumn. Although succinct, things do happen. I will fail to mention everything, but two things might be shared. One on a national level and one on a more personal level.

Currently there is a rather funny debate in Denmark, one about a mermaid. One of H.C. Anderson's most famous fairy tales is one about a Little Mermaid, and a statue of her in the harbour of Copenhagen is the main brand of the city. Here is a picture of the the famous landmark (cc: hoangnt):


This year China hosted the Summer Olympics (boring couple of weeks, if I may add) and in 2010 the will host the EXPO in Shanghai. The Danish pavilion will include the Little Mermaid. She will be dismantled and transported (together with thousands of litres of seawater from the Copenhagen harbour) to Shanghai. Obviously she is a strong brand to bring along, but a lot of people including the Danish People's Party (the Danish nationalist party) oppose the plans. Being neutral as a Norwegian, I must nevertheless say at least the Danish plans seem to strengthen Denmark as a tourist destination. The Norwegian contribution sounds rather dull and uninspiring compared to the Danish (being politically correct as always). Where will she go? Wait and see..


Theft is also on the September menu. I'm more and more aware that some people do not heed the commandment given through the Natural Law, and confirmed in Scripture, that "Thou shalt not steal" (AV, Ex. 20). A couple of weeks ago I found that my somewhat expensive, but run down bicycle, was stolen outside our building. A bit disturbed, not asking the question "Why me Lord?", I decided that all that I could do was to find a little more inexpensive bicycle (with a better lock). So after a lot of investigation I settled for a good MTB, solid tires and a good gearing system. Perfect bliss, and happy I was.

But as evil seldom denies itself, Sunday was to give the evildoers a new opportunity. We had been at at Baptism that day, and when going home we discovered that my new bicycle was gone. This time the question was put: "Why me?" At least the insurance would cover this bike (new better lock, you see).

And it is comforting to know that Christ died for the evil-doers (Rom 5:6).