Sunday, August 30, 2009

I didn't know how much I didn't know...

...until I left my country.  There is SO MUCH I don't know!  Denmark is the western world, right?  And it's a first world country (with an advanced welfare state, so maybe a first-and-a-half world) with a high standard of living.  And yet it is extremely different in almost every way and completely unfamiliar.  From doing my laundry to lighting the oven (yep), I have to learn how to take care of myself all over again-- and having just left home again, I'm not particularly practiced at taking care of myself to begin with.

I tried to make guacamole with EXTREMELY tiny avocados, tiny tomatoes, and salt.  Since I couldn't find cilantro or garlic powder, or corn chips, I substituted (rather brilliantly, I thought) all three with Lays Sour Cream and Onion Crisps (anything in English is in British English).  Not the same at all, but I tried.  That was dinner Saturday and Sunday night.

Also on Sunday, I went to my first-ever professional soccer game.  But everyone in our enclave of American students who knew soccer back home thought European soccer was totally different.  I wouldn't really know, because with the exception of a few games I sat through as a kid (miserably, and with a book), I don't think I've ever watched a full soccer match.  And I don't think this time even counts, as 20 minutes before it ended I'd lost all patience, pulled out my "Learn Danish in Three Months" paperback, and given up on pretending to care about sports once again.

The team here is called FCK, which has something to do with "football," Copenhagen, and Denmark.  It's the city team.  They were playing a suburb called Brondby (I think, but I definitely butchered the spelling).  At one point, there was an ad on the stadium screen for "FCKBalls.DK."  No lie.

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