Once upon a time ... in Copenhagen

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Happy Birthday - TO ME!

Well, I'm officially at the end of my 30s. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! It was (finally) a gorgeous day and per my request, Lily let me sleep in. She was of course snuggled right beside me after Chris left for a day of travel. We enjoyed a lazy morning in the apartment and made our way to our FIRST play date and meetup with a big nice sized group of expat moms and kids gathered to watch a marionette show at the gardens around Rosenborg Castle. What a fantastic time - meeting new women and wonderful children from all over. It's funny that our common bond is this newness of being surrounded by unknowns.

Lily was one of the oldest children, but she quickly gravitated to a couple of the girls closest to her age. They had a ball running through the gardens, climbing on play structures, blowing bubbles and just being little people. Thankfully they all speak English - so there was no barrier to climb for the kids or moms!

After the puppet show and part time, we walked with new friends to Nyhavn (the colorful area by the harbor) to make our way to the water taxi. We ended up on the wrong side of the pier so we back tracked a bit and much to Lily's delight picked up our first sampling of Danish ice cream. As usual, she chose vanilla but said on her first bit, "Mom, they do ice cream better here. It's colorful (yellow, rather than white) and it tastes like cake batter." Clearly this will not be our last ice cream stop.

Ice Cream in Nyhavn. Can't figure out how to rotate the photo. Sorry.

The water taxi ride was quick, easy and very scenic. We opted to stay in and have left overs rather than going out for sushi as Lily had originally voted for. Chris got home about 730PM, so we had a nice quiet evening as a family. Really, it doesn't get much better than that in this girl's humble opinion.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Copenhagen International School (CIS)

This morning we made our first REAL visit to Copenhagen International School (CIS) where Lily will likely enter the FIRST GRADE this fall. We were warmly welcomed by the admissions coordinator and director and given a wonderful eyes on/hands on tour of the school. WOW. What a wonderful place for learning - full of light and color, and happy, smiling faces.

This fall CIS will move the older students (grades 8-12 I believe) to their city campus (close to Chris' office.) This move allows the primary and middle school classes to expand in a big way. There will likely be four first grade classes in the fall, with a maximum of 20 students per class.

Some of the high lights of the visit included: The classrooms, learning center, library, playground, cafeteria, gym, and early education auditorium (where Lily will have drama class once a week - OH MY!)

One of the most welcomed pieces of information we received was that parents are welcome at the school at any time! We can be as hands on as time allows, use the library (and free wi-fi,) meet up with friends and make it a very family-centered educational experience!

Stay tuned for lots of updates on our experience with CIS.

Set and Ready to check out CIS

One of the First Grade Rooms

Look at all that art and fun stuff

Checking out the learning center with Daddy

Yep - Star Fall - just like HOME!

Early Childhood Assembly Hall - Where the DRAMA happens

Ohh ... Library Time. I wanna volunteer!

Ahhh ...that's what I should have done w/ the old CDs

Primary School Playground

Cafeteria - Though most First Graders pack and eat in their room apparently.

A baby grand in the cafeteria. Hmmm ...

That's it - I'm making Neely and Mickie move so we can have cool lunch ladies here too.

The Gym

Big Kids Library

2nd grade hall

Tour's over - Let's ride the train

Family Portrait

Cheese

Yep - we're crazy like that!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Beginnings

So, I've always promised myself I'd blog. Today seems a good day to start. Greetings from Copenhagen Denmark. A long way from home for a small town girl from Ohio - and not the easiest or most fun path to get here - but we're settling in all the same. Back story is boring, and makes me a bit sad, so I'll skip it and just start from today and move forward.

DH (Chris,) DD (Lily) and I are here for a bit of an indeterminate time - though it looks more and more like 3 years is a good bet. We're excited, nervous and looking forward to this new twist of faith. DH has be here since February. DD and I visited in the Spring for 10 days and we arrived again for REAL May 31st. Our 9th wedding anniversary. We had a fun anniversary lunch of sushi and Sticks and Sushi. Yum. Fun for the whole family!

We went out for a special anniversary dinner at Bistro Huks Fluks on our first Saturday here. What a cool place - amazing food and pork legs hanging from the ceiling. ;)

We're living in temporary housing. A 1000 sq ft concrete rectangle just south of the city. It's an odd space, compared to what we know and have called home, but in comparison to so many ... it's big, simple and doable! It's just going to take some getting used to.

front view

living room

Kitchen / Dining room

Bedroom

Lily's Room / Laundry

Bathroom

Back view

HOPEFULLY we will officially call Copenhagen HOME by the end of the summer, but for now I'd rather not focus on those dull details. Instead, I'd like to highlight the FUN stuff.

Last weekend we visited our FIRST Castle - Rosenborg Castle, in the Copenhagen. What a beautiful place. We had our first official picinic on the grounds, DD chased pigeons, DH and I shared a bottle of wine w/ hummus and bread and I think I fell in love with CPH right then and there. Sunday we went to mass at our new Parish (St. Anne's), went to the grocery (Irma) and started into our lazy routine.

Walking into Rosenborg Castle

Mommy's little cuddle bug

Lily's first try at portraiture

During the weekdays we've alternated between 530AM and 1040AM wake ups (clearly I'm a bigger fan of the later.) We've been out exploring (the bus routes and the mall,) enjoyed some amazing meals (Huks Fluks, Sticks and Sushi, Cave (Indian), Toscano Pizza) working out (our apartment has a fantastic gym,) taking bike rides (oh my aching hiney) and spending lots of QT as a family.

DD has been to two Happy Hour gatherings (don't worry, we're still good parents, she's just adept at entertaining herself in a majority of adults,) two castles, lots of good meals (sushi, Indian, pizza, donuts from 7/11) and countless trip on public transportation.

We're getting accustomed to Danish TV (thank G-D for language settings!) rediculous amounts of daylight (430AM to 11PM) and truly enjoying our time as a family of three. That said, we are grateful for modern technology (where would we be without Skype, Facebook and the Internet in general?!) Talking AND seeing our parents, best friends, and updates on everyone else in our lives keeps us connected and in touch. Who would have thought?? So much to see and do and grateful for every once of it!