When I'm far too tired to fall asleep
So after going to bed at 8 the first night, I awoke at 4 in the morning, (after 8 hours of sleep) and failed to get to sleep again until 6, after which I slept in until 10. At which point I had breakfast with Uve, which turned out to be surprisingly normal.
Tuesday had been designated a rest day, but the urge to go out and explore hit with full affect. However, when I opened the door I realised that that was not yet possible as it was 3 degrees outside.
Undeterred, I rugged up and ventured outside .
The farm hosts many ducks that the family sell for Christmas dinner, as well as a few hobby cows and 4 horses. Recent prolonged rain means that thick mud covered the ground and left large puddles.
After a brief video chat with my family back home, I was already feeling exhausted, but in the hopes of sleeping through the night, sleep was not an option. I read instead, until Mathilde came home and deemed it time to begin Christmas decorating, which they had apparently held off on until I arrived. From real pine branches we created and decorated mini Christmas trees, and added decorations all over the house, With Christmas carols playing in the background all the while.
Next we had dinner, which consisted of pork, crackling, glazed potatoes (suprisingly delicious) and red cabbage with vinegar, dubbed by the families last exchange venturer as "purple stuff", which is very common for Christmas in Denmark.
Next we had to go to a scout meeting where they were setting up for a big fundraiser this weekend. To start off the night, they sang the 'start up song', which begs the question, Why don't we have a song?!
I helped to set up a massive carnival tent that was 8 meters in diameter, and got the chance to use my knot tying skills to set up some activities. Everything in scouts here is bigger and better.
After singing the closing song, (again, where is our song?) we left for the night and headed home. I fell into bed around 10 o'clock, ready to sleep indefinitely. My body however, had other plans for me and I once again awoke at four in the morning. This time however, my body would not let me go back to sleep and I spent the next 2 and a half hours laying in the dark trying in vain to sleep.
Rolling out of bed at quarter to seven while still shrouded in darkness, we got ready and had breakfast, while outside
a truck went by putting salt on the road to prevent them becoming icy. We drove to Fredrick's school through the thick flog caused by the solitary degree of heat outside.
Frederick's goes to Hansenberg, a large school that is structured more like a posh university, which has also fallen victim to Christmas fever with several massive real Christmas trees throughout. Throughout the day we did philosophy (which to be honest is hard enough in English), and then Danish, which consisted of analysing renaissance paintings, which luckily my Visual Art training prepared me for.
We were dropped home by Fredrick's friend, who we annoyed by singing Disney songs the entire way.
Next Fredrick made pancakes and then had to work on a synopsis of an massive assignment that they actually give them a week of school to work on.
When Nina arrived home from work, we saddled up two of their Norwegian Fjord horses that used to be work horses. I rode Anton, who was rather naughty and started walking off half way through. Once that situation was dealt with, we managed to have a decent ride, despite it being one degrees. The thick mud made it quite slippy, but Nina reassured me that once it gets below freezing the ground would harden up.
After a dinner of rissoles made from their own rooster (apparently they had too many boys) and potatoes and grated carrots, Fredrick and I drove to go see Mathilde, who was working a night shift at the Aldi-esk supermarket that she and Fredrick work at. We browsed the store for a while and I managed to buy a *massive* bag of Haribo lollies (And they're all mine ), then we made our way to another store to pick up some packages. All that browsing slowed us down, however, and the second shop was closed, but after Fredrick saw how excited I was by the lights in the trees, he took me to see the Lutheran church close by.
The entire thing was lit up, with a massive Christmas tree in the centre of the square. I won't lie, I was a bit delirious with Christmas cheer, as everything was making me excited, from the cobblestone streets to the brightly lit windows. We walked around the darkened city, and he showed me the Castle of Kolding, which had been burned down several times and now has sections rebuilt in dark wood.
We then headed back to pick up Mathilde, and while there I discovered that nutella comes in glass cups over here, which seemed like the biggest revelation of the night. They look like this-
With that bombshell, we headed home.
This morning I woke up briefly at three (It's getting worse), but I managed to get back to sleep eventually and got up at quarter to seven.
Fredrick rode on ahead on a tiny mopped, while Mathilde and I were driven by Uve. It was -3 degrees this morning, and the fog was pretty intense (Fredrick insists that it was "raining ice shards" and his eyelashes froze together while he was riding) I'm still getting used to getting to school in the dark. First class of the day was Bio-Tech, and while I wasn't particularly helpful in the group work, the lovely teacher offered me one of his university text books that was in English so I could learn about the nervous system like the rest, albeit to a higher standard. While reading I managed to rediscover my intense love for biology and had me questioning why I do chemistry instead at school.
Now we are doing high level maths, which I am successfully ignoring, as it is hard enough when the teacher is lecturing me in English, let along in a language which you only understand a couple dozen words.
Later I will be leaving early to grab a bus and meet up with Mathilde, as there is a massive sale that starts at 4. Apparently a wearhouse that sells to the big chains sells off the rest of its stock at crazy cheap prices, so I have my pointy elbows ready for a mad rush.
I'll keep you updated if I survive it.