of spring and birthdays

Siden sidst har jeg haft fødselsdag, og det blev faktisk en rigtig god een af slagsen. Især fordi Moster var her og kunne være med. Jeg fik både rigtig gode gaver og et fint kort fra Luca:

Since last time I wrote in here my birthday came along, and it was a good one indeed. Especially because my sister was here to join. I got very nice presents and even a card from Luca:

Og når nu vi var I besiddelse af en masse slik OG special importerede jordbær snører skulle det da bare mangle at de fik lov til at smage en rigtig dansk kagekone på arbejde. Den fik  ikke helt den modtagelse jeg havde regnet med. De var nærmest stumme af beundring (eller var det skræk….) og virkede til at være meget overraskede over, at den smagte godt. Hrmpf! Da jeg så fortalte at man nogle steder I Danmark skærer halsen over som det første, mens gæsterne skriger, blev jeg beskyldt for selv at opfinde danske traditioner. Dobbelt hrmpf! Men det må have gjort et stort indtryk, for vores “top ten” white board på kontoret blev ændret til”top ten Danish traditions that belong in the US”: 

And since we had a ton of candy AND specially imported strawberry “snører” I thought it was an excellent opportunity to bring a real Danish birthday cake to work with me. They were not as impressed as I wanted them to be! They almost went numb with admiration (or was it fear….) and even seemed surprised that it actually tasted nice. Hrmpf! When I then told them that in certain areas of Denmark you will cut the throat as the first thing while all the guests are screaming, they accused me of making up my own Danish traditions. Double hrmpf! But it seemed to make a lasting impression as our “top ten” white board in the office was changed to “top ten Danish traditions that belong in the US”:

 

Der var høj sol hele dagen og vi tog derfor I “the arboretum” for at nyde det gode vejr.

All day was a clear blue sky and we went to the arboretum in the afternoon to enjoy the nice weather.

 

Og da een af mine søde kolleger havde lagt en fødseldagsgave på mit bord I form af gavekort til Red Robin kom vi også ud at spise burgere komplet med sweet potatoe fries og et helt tårn af løgringe (de der løgringe er absurd velsmagende altså).

Christine og Kristian fik også taget en tur I Bronners. Intet mindre end verdens største julebutik. På ægte amerikansk vis har de endda bygget en tro kopi af et østrigsk kapel til ære for Silent Night, hvor sangen spilles på mere end 100 sprog nonstop. Så bliver det vist ikke mere amerikansk.

Jeg var jo ikke med, men min søster har skrevet om det her.

And since one of my extraordinary colleagues left a birthday gift on my desk – a gift card for Red Robin we also went out for burgers with sweet potatø fries and the famous onion ring tower (which is so unhealthy yet so super delicious that it is hard to resist).

The next day Christine and Kristian made it to Bronners – the worlds largest Christmas store. They have an exact copy of an Austrian chapel in to honor Silent Night, with the song being continuously played in more than 100 languages nonstop. It is hard to imagine anything more Americanized than this. 

I could not go due to work but my sister wrote about it and posted pictures here.

Ellers nyder vi foråret alt hvad vi kan. Der er ikke sprunget hverken træer eller blomster ud endnu, men de tørre tilfældige grene, jeg satte I vand for over en måned siden har alle blomster nu, hvilket gør mine forårsforventninger tårnhøje. Jeg forventer INTET mindre end en eksplosion af farver og blomster!

Otherwise we fully enjoy spring. There is nothing blooming quite yet, but those dry branches I took in a month ago and put into water inside all have flowers now. This makes my expectations for spring sky high. I expect NOTHING short of an explosion of colors and flowers!