It is beginning to feel like spring in Denmark! Let’s hope I don’t jinx it by saying so
though! I grew up in a much colder
climate where spring doesn’t come until April or later, so to me it seems
early. That being said, I refuse to
complain about it!
This past weekend my husband and I packed up the little one
and took a 45 minute train ride through Copenhagen to look at a bike trailer
for sale. I found it on the classified
ads online and it was a good deal for what it is. I love classified ads. The website I found here is completely in
Danish but somehow I muddled my way through it and found us a good deal. We wanted a bike trailer so we could enjoy
all of the weather as it gets nicer this summer. We had thought about finding a Christiania
bike or a Nihola bike (we call them “mom” bikes) but they are so
expensive! To buy them brand new starts
at $3,000 and just goes up. Some bikes
can hold as many as 4 kids in them! Many
families have them instead of a car, so I can understand having a decent bike
for the family. We will try the bike
trailer and if we find that we use it a lot, maybe we’ll invest in a “mom” bike. Below is an example of a Nihola bike.
On Sunday we decided to go for a walk. The sun was shining and it looked gorgeous
out, but it turned out to be a bit chilly with the wind. Still a great day for a walk, so we walked
through the main street of town. We saw
that the ice cream shop had just opened for the season so we got waffle cones
and walked along the oceanfront. I’d say
we walked between 2-3 miles, so I felt that I was totally justified in getting
2 scoops of ice cream J Hopefully I walked it off by the time I got
home! It was probably 45°F out and there
were people EVERYWHERE! There were
people sitting on the piers, on the beaches, etc. in their coats and hats. It seems that when the weather is nice,
everyone goes outside. I understand
completely as I had a huge desire to be outside yesterday too. As we walked, we saw many flower bulbs
starting to grow and some were even blooming.
They were different than the ones we have at home (maybe they’re the
same, but I’m not an expert). These are teensy tiny flowers....they make a crocus look big.
We walked past the sailing club and got to see people in
their sailboats. I think they were
taking lessons and learning how to sail.
I would love to do that….I don’t know why but it just looks fun. It looks like a lot of work too! Pretty sure I’d knock myself into the water
at least once. Perhaps I shouldn’t take
lessons as I am quite a clutz, lol! We have
seen people out kayaking and sailing all winter, even when it is below
freezing.
I cannot wait for the weather to warm up just a bit
more. My husband and I are going to try
to find a grill and a patio set soon. It’s
almost warm enough already to go out and sit on the patio. I’m going to have one heckuva tan J But if you know me, I have two colors: white
and lobster red J Perhaps I’ll just soak in the sun covered in
some serious suntan lotion. I also have
2 great patios for growing things so I may try my hand at growing a tomato plant
or something.
So I met this Dutch gal at the mom group 2 weeks ago. We got to talking and I told her that I’m
also of Dutch origins. So that followed with
a conversation where I asked her about
different Dutch words I grew up with and if she knew what the heck they
meant. My grandma used to use the word “veis”
and “bachy” (pretty sure I spelled those wrong), both meaning dirty and she
said they were actually words. “Honyakker”
(also spelled wrong, I’m sure) isn’t one she’s heard of but it might have
German origins too. She thought it was
pretty funny when I was asking her about the words. She gave me a few suggestions of places to
visit in the Netherlands My mom
and her boyfriend are coming to visit us in a few weeks and we really wanted to
go visit during tulip season.
I can’t wait….I will try to post pictures if and when we go.
Thank goodness for playgroup. I think it’s one of the things that’s going
to keep me sane here. I was going to try
another one this week but the little one isn’t feeling well so we stayed home
today. It's nice to be around other moms and kids that are in the same boat as we are. I think I would've found one back home, too. It's good for the babies to play with each other and find some new toys to play with :)
Hope you all are well!
Let me know of any other Dutch words you’re curious about. Ta-ta for now!
