Today is the last day of spring break and it finally looks
like spring is actually just around the corner. Even though the snow melted
a month ago everything is still brown
and dead-looking. There is nothing on the forest floor except dead leaves from
last fall and we have only spotted very few spring flowers elsewhere. But NOW
it seems to happen. The buds on the trees are close to bursting, the grass gets
greener by the day, and the winter coats are not in use anymore.
I går fik vi også yderligere en påmindelse om at der er
sommer på vej med en “tornado warning”. Himlen blev små giftig at se på, regnen
piskede ned, og Luca gik I panik og gemte alle sine nerf guns på det sikreste
sted I huset. Jeg var ude og spise med mine kolleger, der tog det I stiv arm,
da de har prøvet den slags en hel del gange før I Cincinatti, og de ikke syntes
det så særlig slemt ud udenfor. Vi slap dog denne gang, selvom Illinois blev hærget.
Yesterday we also got an additional reminder that summer is
underway as there was a tornado warning. The sky started to look scary, the
rain poured, and Luca panicked and hid all his nerf guns in the safest room in
the apartment. I was out having dinner with my colleagues, who did not seem
bothered at all, as they have tried tornadoes in Cincinatti, and they did not
think it looked severe enough to start to make a fuss about it. We did not get
a tornado this time, but Illinois got struck.
Og så er der sket noget af det allerbedste I dag: Jeg har
fundet en frisør jeg kan holde ud at blive klippet hos. Faktisk er hun næsten
lige så god som min stam-frisør I Danmark. Der ligger en frisør lige rundt om
hjørnet fra hvor vi bor og jeg har egentlig været ganske tilfreds – lige indtil
sidste gang. Jeg blev klippet af en meget ung pige og det var mildest talt en
lorte klipning. Flere gange mente hun selv hun var færdig, og når jeg så bemærkede
at jeg syntes det trængte til blive gjort ordentligt færdigt tilbød hun at
style det, så man ikke kunne se de grimme kanter. Øhm tak, men nej tak! Jeg
valgte at give dem een chance mere I dag og fortalte dem også at jeg ikke havde
været tilfreds sidste gang. At give amerikanere kritik er en svær balance gang –
de ved ofte overhovedet ikke hvordan de skal håndtere det, men I det mindste
gav flere af dem mig ret I, at mit hår ikke så specielt vellykket ud, og at det
var klippet decideret dårligt. Til gengæld fik jeg så glæde af en frisør på min
egen alder, der ikke var bange for at tage fat og fik reddet det hele rigtig
godt. Pyha.
Also something really great happened today. I have found a
hair stylist that actually does a good job. She is almost as good as my favorite
stylist in Denmark (that took years to find). There is a hair salon right
around the corner, from where we live, and it has been OK so far – until last
time where I got a really shitty haircut. It was done by a very young girl and
several times she tried to proclaim she was done, even though I did not agree.
Then she offered to style my hair so the ugly parts could not be seen. Well,
thanks but no thanks! I chose to give them one more chance today and told them
that I had not been happy with my haircut last time. To criticize Americans is
an act of balance – they often do not know how to handle it, but they agreed
that my haircut was indeed shitty. Luckily I got a really good hair stylist my
own age who did an excellent job and saved my hairdo. Phew.
I morgen venter der påskefrokost på dansk maner med varm
leverpostej (som Christine havde med I marts og som har været gemt I fryseren
til en særlig anledning). Vi har også Anton Berg påskeæg og lakridser!
Nammenam. I dag har der derfor været oprydning og indkøb på programmet - med en
ovn, der I skrivende stund er gaæt I selvsving pga en selvrens cyklus :-( Vi har også været I midtvestens
svar på Bilka, der hedder Meijer og har ALT hvad man skal bruge samt en hel
masse man ikke skal bruge. Vi tog vores penny samling med og fik den tømt ud I en
maskine, der spyttede en kvittering ud med 19,44$ på. Planen var at købe noget
vi ellers aldrig ville købe (fx en bungee walker.....se nedenfor), som alle kunne have glæde af. Hmmmm. Det var ikke
helt let, men det blev en gang Haagen Dazs is og en form til at bage
hjemmelavede muslibarer. Sikken vi forstår at frådse! Her ses et lille
stemnings billede fra på vejen ud. Manden I baggrunden er en såkaldt “greeter”
der står og siger “welcome to Meijer” igen og igen og igen og………
Tomorrow we have invited the other Danes over for a Danish
easter lunch with warm “leverpostej” (that Christine brought from Denmark and
which has been stored in the freezer for a special occasion like this). We also
have marzipan easter eggs and licorice . Yum. For this reason we have been
cleaning and shopping today - and the oven is currently striking after a self-clean
cycle :-(
We have been to the super grocery store of the Midwest: Meijer, where you can
get everything you need and quite a few things you don’t. We brought our penny
collection and added them to the coin machine, which gave us back a 19.44$ receipt.
The plan was to buy something we would not normally buy (maybe a bungee walker...... see below) and which everyone
would like. Hmmmmm. That was not very easy, but we decided on some Haagen Dazs
icecream and a mold for home made granola bars. We are such big spenders…….
Below is a picture showing the greeter, who’s job is to stand by the entrance
and say “welcome to Meijer” over and over and over and…..
Ellers går tiden med at tænke på Green Card og hvad vi gør
hvis ikke får det (eller ikke når at få det). Det sluger desværre rigtig meget
af vores overskud stadig ikke at vide om vi kan blive, mens vi spinker og
sparer alt hvad vi kan, for at få vores opsparing til at slå til. Jeg tager jævnligt
mig selv I at blive uhyggeligt jaloux på andre, der ikke skal kæmpe lige så hårdt
som os for at få lov til at blive I USA. Jeg har ærlig talt ikke lyst til at
bloggen bliver en brokkecentral, men uvisheden ligger som en stor sort skygge i
baghovedet hele tiden, og gør det svært ikke at bekymre sig.
Otherwise we spend a lot of ressources worrying about the
Green card and what to do if it is rejected (or we do not get it in time). It
takes up so much of our thoughts not to know if we can stay, while we are
trying to spend as little money as possible to make our savings last. I often
have to stop myself from becoming deadly jealous of others, who do not have to fight
as hard as us to get to live in the US. I don’t want this blog to become a
complaint hub, but the uncertainty blocks our minds like a giant black cloud,
making it hard not to worry.
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