Wrestling time?

Endnu en gang er det lykkedes mig at rode mig ud i at befinde mig et sted, hvor jeg aldrig i min vildeste fantasi havde forestillet mig at jeg ville vaere. Denne gang for enden af en sved duftende high school sports gang, gennem en ridset doer holdt aaben af en 20kg vaegstkive, ned ad en slidt betontrappe til en gigantisk kaempestor kaelder, hvor der i midten af en indendoers loebebane er et rum med madras paa hele gulvet. The wrestling pit!

Once more I have found myself in a place I never imagined I should be. This time it was the far end of a sweaty high school hallway, through a scratched door held open by an 40 lb weight, down a set of worn out concrete stairs and into a giant basement, where the middle of the running track contained a room with a mattress covering the entire floor. The wrestling pit!

Ulrik har vaeret nede og tjekke den lokale wrestling klub ud, og det gik over al forventning. Han er blevet spottet af en tidligere wrestling coach og nu pensioneret professor i kinesiology henne i  kirken, der mente at saadan et taarnhoejt, tyndt og bomstaerkt eksemplar af en teenager ville kunne goere sig fremragende indenfor wrestling. Bum bum..... Det tyggede vi saa lige lidt paa, og i torsdags var det tid til at se klubben an.
Det gik over al forventning. Ja, der var mandehoerm for alle pengene, nedslidt udstyr og grimme spandexbukser, men der var ogsaa super soede traenere, en flok teenagere, der staar sammen i tykt og tyndt, og plads til alle inkl en nysgerrig bebrillet lillebror aka Luca, der ikke skulle have meget opmuntring foer han taeskede rundt og varmede op sammen med de andre, lavede armboejninger og tog brydertag paa dukken i hjoernet. Ulrik brugte lidt mere tid paa lige at se situationen an, men roeg ogsaa ud paa madrassen hvor han fik lov at kaempe mod een af traenerne og lave saa mange armboejninger, at han stadig piver lidt over ondt i armene her 3 dage senere. Men han ku' li' det ku' han og jeg har (tadaaaah) en bunke formularer liggende her ved siden af, der skal udfyldes. Saa maa tiden vise om der kommer billeder af Ulrik ifoert hjelm og lilla stramme bukser om et par maaneder ;-)

Ulrik has been checking out the local wrestling club and it exceeded all expectations. He was spotted by a former wreastling coach and retired professor in kinesiology at our church, who thought that such a tall, skinny, and strong version of a teenager would excel in wrestling. Hm.... We had to think about that for a while, but Thursday we went to check it out.
It went really well. Yes, it was "guy stinky", the equipment was old and worn out and we did see a pair of tight spandex onesies, but there were also some really nice coaches, a bunch of teenagers sticking together like family, and room for everybody including a 9 year old younger brother with glasses - aka Luca - who did not need a lot of persuasion to join the warm up, do push ups and wrestle the dummy in the corner. Ulrik needed a little more time to just watch, but he made it to the mattress where he got to wrestle one of the coaches and do so many pushups, that his arms are still hurting three days later. But he liked it! And now I have some more forms to fill out (sigh) before time will tell of pictures of Ulrik wearing a helmet and purple tight pants will start showing up on the blog... ;-) 

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!

And suddenly spring arrived :-)

Det har uden sammenligning været vores koldestes vinter - EVER! Og til sidst tror man at sommer og varme bare er en hallucination, der ikke findes i virkeligheden. Men i går slog vejret om. Bare så'n. Fra den ene dag til den anden er vi gået fra isnende kulde, skøjtebane glatte fortove og bunker af sne, til høj sol med plusgrader, sne der forsvinder fra time til time og fugle der kvidrer som var de betalt for det. We like - a lot! Især Teresa kan næsten ikke være i sin krop af bar begejstring over sol og varme:

This winter has been our coldest - ever! And towards the end one starts to believe that memories of summer and warmth are just hallucinations, that were never real. But yesterday the weather changed out of the blue. From one day to the next freezing cold, sidewalks as slippery as ice skating arenas and snow everywhere has changed to beaming sunshine, snow that's melting by the hour and birds chirping like little maniacs. We like - a lot! Especially Teresa literally bends over backwards of pure spring joy: 

Men ingen forår uden forårsrengøring! Rengøring hører IKKE til yndlingsbeskæftigelsen i frikke residensen, men da vi ventede gæster var det temmelig tiltrængt. Kristian tog til "gospelfest" hele lørdag i Livonia og ungerne og jeg smøgede ærmerne op og gik i gang. Et særligt mindeværdigt øjeblik var Luca, der skurede lokummer under supervision af sin storebror. For at holde gejsten oppe ventede der en belønning: 

No spring without a spring clean! Cleaning is not among the favorite things to do in the frikke residence, but since we were expecting a guest we had to get going. Kristian went to a "gospel fest" in Livonia all of Saturday so the kids and I got busy. A very memorable moment was Luca scrubbing the toilets under strict Big Brother supervision. To keep us all going, a reward was waiting at the end:

Moster skulle have ankommet lørdag aften, men der var forsinkelse på hendes fly til New York, så hun kunne ikke nå videre til Detroit samme aften. Øv! Til gengæld nåede vi forbi "Cherry Republic" efter kirke og fik købt "boom chooga looga black cherry cream sodas" inden hun kom: 

My sister was supposed to get here Saturday night but her flight to New York was delayed, so she couldn't make it to detroit that same evening :-( But then we had time to go to "cherry republic" after church Sunday and buy "boom chooga looga black cherry cream sodas" before she arrived:

Og da moster kom væltede der slik (og frossen stryhns) ud af kufferten i store mængder: 

And when my sister arrived her suitcase almost bursted from all the candy (and frozen liver pâté - yes you have to be Danish to truly appreciate that):

"Lucky Luca" har fri fra skole i morgen (mandag) og regner med at tilbringe hele dagen sådan her. Det tror vi moster er HELT med på ;-)

"Lucky Luca" has the day off Friday and has planned to spend it like this. We Think my sister will agree ;-)

Get your geek on!

Bum bum. Jeg sad lige og kiggede mine indlæg igennem i går og der er da vist ingen tvivl om at det har været en hård landing herovre, men det er faktisk ikke alt der er is og kulde og weekendarbejde og kedsomhed og venten på Green card osv!

Både blandt venner og kolleger og (gys) blandt medlemmerne i vores egen lille familie er der dømt nørd!

Hm. I was looking through many of my old blogposts yesterday and there is no doubt that coming here has been tough. But believe it or not there is more going on than ice and snow and weekend work and boredom and green card waiting!

Amongst friends and colleagues and even members of our own little family there is a certain amount of geek!

På arbejde har vi haft mulighed for at få broderet logo på vores kitler ("nogen" var kræsen og ville hellere ha' en kittel med trykknapper, så hun fik ikke noget logo, men overvejer heftigt at brodere noget selv - ja):

At work we had the opportunity to get logos embroidered on our lab coats ("someone" was picky and preferred to have another kind of buttons and thus got no logo - but that someone strongly considers embroidering her own!) :

Sidst vi var i CVS kom vi til at købe et blad. Og efter at have læst om at leve "off  the grid", grise i baghaven og sol drevne udendørs ovne må vi desværre erkende at det er både underholdende og inspirerede læsning, så vi kunne måske (altså rent hypotetisk) finde på at købe det igen..... Og jeg er HELT sikker på at æg og ged ville se fremragende ud på mig - eller noget......

Last time we went to CVS we came across a magazine. And after reading about life off the grid, pigs in the backyard and how to build your own solar driven oven, we have to admit that we have been highly entertained (and might - hypothetically - buy this magazine again). And i am convinced that i would look great wearing eggs and goat..... or whatever.

Og så er vi blevet inviteret til "pie potluck pi party" den 14. marts kl 3:14 på en adresse med husnummeret 314. Arj men det er jo intet mindre end genialt! Der vil være konkurrencer om hvem der kan flest decimaler udenad - MED præmie! Men jeg tror nu at værtsparrets 10 årige datter er gået i skarp træning, så jeg tror desværre ikke vi får et ben til jorden.

And we have been invited to a "pie potluck pi party" on March 14'th at 3:14PM in a house having 314 as it's street number. This is nothing short of genius and there will even be a prize for whoever memorizes the most decimals. I do think however that one of the 10 year old hosts is practicing really really hard so I don't think we'll be leaving with a trophy....

I skal heller ikke snydes for "yngste nørd" der på smukkeste vis repræsenterer frikke klanen på Science Fair:

You should also not miss out on the "young nerd" representing the Frikke clan at school science fair:

Countdown

Vi venter!

Jeg sidder lige nu I Palmer Commons inde I byen med frisklavet kaffe og kæmpestore imponerende vægmalerier og venter på at klokken bliver 9, hvor jeg sammen med professoren har et møde med en anden forsker, der skal hjælpe os med at designe et kommende forsøg. Jeg har set malerierne udefra, men har nu for første gang mulighed for at se dem indefra. Og her er endda en lænstole og MEGET stille fordi de studerende har ferie denne uge. Skønt.

We are waiting. 

Right now I am sitting at Palmer Commons waiting for an hour to pass by with freshly brewed coffee and some very impressive wall paintings. At 9AM I have a meeting with the professor and another researcher who will help us design an upcoming study. I have seen these paintings from the outside, but this is the first time I visit them inside. And there are comfy chairs as well and VERY quiet as all the students are currently on spring break. Nice.

Vi tæller også dage og snart timer til vi får besøg af Moster. Hun kommer på lørdag og bliver en uge med det ene formål at besøge os. Vi glæder os råddent alle 5, men jeg tror Luca glæder sig mest. Han har en enkelt fridag fra skole på mandag, hvor han allerede (med stjerner I øjnene) har planlagt at plante sig selv og Moster I sofaen med hhv almindeligt og finger strikketøj, og så skal der ellers hygges. Jeg tror godt jeg kan garantere at min søster kommer til at få snakket ørerne af ;-)

We are also counting the days and soon the hours til my sister comes. She arrives Saturday and will stay for an entire week just visiting us. None of us can wait, but Luca in particular is the one who is looking the most forward to this. Monday he has a day off from school and has already (with great excitement) planned to sit him and “Moster” (means moms sister in Danish) on the couch with yarn. He will fingerknit and I think I can guarantee that Moster will have her ears falling off from Luca talking ;-)

Og så venter vi på forår. Februar har været måneden hvor det mere har været reglen end undtagelsen at temperaturen har ligget under -20 grader. Yikes. Vi har opfundet et nyt ord: “the lung freeze” der ganske glimrende beskriver hvordan det føles at træde udenfor om morgenen og trække vejret….. Michigan er bogstaveligt talt dybfrossen:

And also we are waiting for spring. February has been the month of deep freeze where the temperatures have almost constantly sneaked down below -20 Celsius. Yikes. We have invented a new word; “the lung freeze” that very accurately describes the feeling of stepping outside in the morning….. Michigan is in the deep freeze – literally:

Men der ER tegn på forår – heldigvis. Vejrudsigten er begyndt at rykke op I den positive ende af celcius skalaen, det er lyst om morgenen og solen har stegt ned nogle dage. Fuglene pipper midt I kulden og jeg sender længselsfulde blikke efter min dybfrosne cykel (sjovt nok gør det ikke noget godt for figuren at tage bussen på arbejde og sidde indenfor hver aften…..). Jeg har taget grene ind I en vase I stuen og stirrer nidkært på dem hver dag mens de åh så langsomt åbner sig en halv milimeter ad gangen.

But there ARE signs of spring – luckily. The weather forecast start showing positive celcius temperatures, it is light outside in the morning and the sun has been shining bright some days. The birds are chirping in the cold and I glance longingly at my frozen bike every day (funnily enough it does no good for my shape to bus to work and sit inside in the evenings……). I have cut off some branches and brought them inside and stare at them intensely while they start sprouting leaves ever so slowly.

Sidst men ikke mindst, er der lagt sidste hånd på green card ansøgningen, der nu liggger hos advokaterne til et sidste gennemtjek. Vi kørte ud med hele stakken selv – jeg skulle ikke nyde noget af at risikere at miste dokumenterne I posten. Det er trods alt en ret stor stak af vigtige papirer:

Last but not least I have completed the Green Card application. It now sits with the attorneys for a final check up. We delivered the stack of documents in person as I would rather not risk losing them in the postal mail. It is a rather large bundle of important stuff.

 Om lidt under 5 mdr har vi flybilletter retur til Danmark, der er vores back up til hvis alt fejler. Den gennemsnitlige processeseringstid på min type green card (EB-2 NIW) er 4 mdr, og som den eneste green card under kategori kan vi IKKE betale ekstra for at få den hurtigere igennem. Endnu en gang må vi erkende at vi er meget små mennesker, der bliver nødt til at stole 100% på at Gud HAR styr på det. Det er en læreprocess der for mit vedkommende har stået på I snart 2 år (siden jeg blev arbejdsløs) og jeg er kun blevet marginalt bedre til at give slip. Men jeg følte mig lettet og flov og lidt underholdt da jeg slog op I en engelsk udgave af bibelen I går og læste ord-ret: “God will fulfill your petition” (man bruger også begrebet petition om selve ansøgningen). Så vi knokler på og handler som om vi selvfølgeligt får lov at blive hængende og jeg er derfor I gang med gøre klar til “immigration health check” med alt hvad der kræves a blodprøver, undersogelser og ikke mindst $$$$$, mens jeg prøver ikke at panikke alt for meget undervejs.

In a little less than 5 months we have our “if everything fails” return tickets to Denmark. The average processing time for my type of green card (EB-2 NIW) is 4 months, and it is apparently the ONLY sub category where one canNOT pay to get it expedited faster. Once more we have to realize that we are indeed just very small humans, who have to trust 100% that God knows what he is doing. It is a long process that has been underway for several years for me personally (since I became unemployed tow years ago) and I have only improved marginally in letting go. But I felt relieved and slightly embarrassed (and also giggled a little) when picked up a bible yesterday and the first words that jumped to my eyes were: “God will fulfill your petitions”. So we keep going acting like “of course we get to stay” and I have started preparing for the immigration health check with all the required blood samplings, examinations and $$$$$$, while I try to not panic too much.

Henry Ford museum

I dag tog vi til Henry Ford museet i Dearborn. Det kan varmt anbefales og for en gangs skyld tog jeg rigtig mange billeder.

Today we went to the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, and for once I snapped a lot of photos.

Hvad?  Jeg sidder da ikke og glor paa mine iPhone! Jeg holder den jo slet ikke! (host host)

What? Nope I am not staring into my iPhone! See I am not even holding it! (ahem)

 For foerste gang i amerikansk historie ses her hvordan man spiser pretzel med kniv og gaffel.

For the first time in American history: a pretzel being consumed with silverware.

 Steampunk - for realz.

Vi bygger da lige en togbane med ALT i naturtro skala - og tilfoejer saa en M&Ms draesine til at fraese rundt paa banen (but why ????)

Hey! Lets build a very realistic model and then add two ridiculous M&Ms racing around the track. (but why ????)

 Eet af verdens stoerste damplokomotiver. Serioest!

One of the largest steam trains ever made. Seriously!

Og saa var der dengang boern blev spaendt fast saa'n rigtigt.

Once upon a time kids got strapped in REALLY good.

 "Mor. Maa jeg faa saadan en? Hva hva hva? Hvorfor skal vi allerede gaa videre? Hva?"

"Mom. Can I have one of these. Pleeeeease! Why do we have to go somewhere else? C'mon!"

 The Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile. Big and small versions.

 

Kommende landmaend?
Future farmers?

Cabin fever

Det er vinterferie. Det er koldt og vi lider af cabin fever (for malende beskrivelse læs her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_fever).  Vinteren ser ikke ud til at ville slippe lige foreløbig med ekstreme kuldegrader, der får næse hårene til at fryse til is ved første udendørs indånding. Sparker man til en klump sne lyder det som flamingo, der knitrende rutcher hen ad vejen, og skraldet hober sig op I køkkenet, fordi ingen af os orker at traske ud I kulden med det. Suk. Men der er jo heldigvis masser af sjov som man kan lave indendøre. Spille computer, se Netflix, spille candycrush og playstation (Kristian fandt en brugt PS2 til 5$) fx. Når mor her så får nok af unger der sidder begravet med næsen I hver deres skærm går der “det lille hus på prærien” I det hele. Ungerne tygger sig igennem bøger I stakkevis, Luca og Teresa fingerstrikker, jeg broderer på livet løs, Kristian spiller guitar og når de yngste 60% af familien endeligt er gået I seng sniger de voksne sig til at se “walking dead”…….. På en eller anden mærkværdig måde er det jo den helt perfekte serie at følge pt.

It is winter break. It is cold and we suffer from cabin fever (for an excellent description click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_fever). The winter does not seem to go away quite yet with extreme cold causing the nostrils to freeze at the first breath outside. Kicking a piece of snow sounds like styrofoam squeaking across the icecold asphalt and the trash can grows to incredible size in the kitchen as no one bothers to take it outside. Sigh. But luckily there is plenty do to inside such as computer gaming, Netflix watching, candycrush and playstation (Kristian found a used PS2 for 5$). When I finally get enough of everybody wasting time in front of various screens we almost transform to the “the little house on the prairie” with the kids reading book after book after book, Luca and Teresa fingerknit, I cross stitch like a maniac, Kristian jams on the guitar, and when the youngest 60% of the family finally wanders off to bed the adults watch “walking dead”…… Somehow this just feels like a perfect bingewatch these days.

Derudover er det lykkedes mig at vriste min pensionsopsparing fra min amerikanske Novo ansættelse ud af Charles Schwab. Det er nok een af mine største bedrifter til dato og jeg havde ALDRIG kommet I nærheden af de penge, hvis vi havde befundet os I DK. Det har krævet timevis af telefon opkald, formular udfyldninger og advarsler toppet op med en underskrift, der krævede notar godkendelse I dag (og før nogen hyler op om at det er for dumt at hæve sin pensionsopsparing vil jeg lige tilf øje at det kun er indbetaling for 1 ½ år, og på ingen måde en sum penge, der bliver afgørende for om vi får en lykkelig alderdom I Florida I en pastelfarvet golfvogn).

Besides this I have managed to wrestle my retirement savings from my previous US Novo employment out of Charles Schwab. I see this as one of my greatest accomplishments so far and I would have NEVER gotten even close to those money had we resided in Denmark. It has required hours of phone conversations, form filling and a grand finale today of a notary approving the signatures  (and before anyone starts teaching me about how dumb it is to withdraw retirement savings I would like to add that this was only money for a 1 ½’s worth of savings and that it is NOT an amount of money that would otherwise had given us a peaceful retirement in Florida with a pastel colored golf cart).

I dag ville vi tage ind til byen, men altså – der er jo ikke meget fornøjelse ved at slentre rundt udenfor og efter at hive smidt Teresa af hos (endnu) en brasiliansk veninde tog resten af familien på museum. Og så på døde ugler og krokodille skindstasker! Efter en time havde vi fået nok af udstoppede dyr og glasmontre (arj men hvad sker der lige får den amerikanske måde at lave museer på….) og kørte til Barnes and Nobles, hvor vi fyldte os med Starbucks kalorier og fik slået endnu en time ihjel. Vi kørte også en tur forbi et havecenter her I byen for at score nogle krydderurter, men måtte nøjes med nogle helt utrolig fancy (og dyre)  økologiske basilikum frø, der nu er plantet og stillet I Luca’s vindueskarm. I morgen flotter vi os og kører en tur på Ford museet, der efter sigende skulle give eksperimentariet baghjul – nu får vi se. Godnat herfra.

Today we wanted to go downtown Ann Arbor, but – it is not really a pleasure to stroll though there these days, and after getting rid of Teresa by letting her hang out with (another) Brazilian girl friend, the rest of the family went to the museum of natural history and watched dead owls and crocodile skin bags! An hour later we had enough of stuffed birds and exhibits behind windows (come on, what IS it with the US way of doing these things…..) and went to Barnes and Nobles to gobble up some Starbucks calories and killed another hour. We also went to a local garden center, where we hoped to get some new herbs for the window sill, but ended up buying some very fancy (and quite pricy) organic basil seeds. They have now been planted and live in Luca’s room. Tomorrow we will splurge and visit the Ford museum which should be quite an experience – we’ll see. Goodnight from the cold.