10/26/2010 Update

Greetings from Copenhagen, Denmark.  It's good to be back in the motherland!  I've spent the last 2 days in Kolding, Denmark visiting the Bjerg's who are family friends.  It's been 4 years since I have seen them and it was nice seeing them and catching up on the last 4 years of life.

Kolding is probably the smallest town I have been to so far (aside from Iceland) on my trip.  It's actually really nice to go somewhere and not be surrounded by hundreds of things to do.  After the Bjerg's picked me up at the train station, they fed me and we went to see a Beatles exhibit at Koldinghus, the local castle.  The exhibit was really well done and they had tons of pictures and memorabilia that I never knew existed. Afterwards, we went back to their house (the Bjerg's not the Beatles) and Hanna made dinner.  I haven't had some good home-cooking (like an OU football game in Norman) in weeks, and it was delicious.  After dinner, I left with Jacob, the youngest son, to go watch a movie with some of his friends.  They chose The New Daughter which would've been a decent movie had it not been for a completely bizarre and therefore terrible ending.  Word of advice movie producers, if you are going to give a guy a shotgun and 3 cartridges of ammo, make sure he empties every one of those shells into something evil!

Overlooking Kolding

My second day in Kolding was filled with complete laziness.  I literally did not go outside all day.  It was great.  I got to use the computer to check email and read up on the news.  Hanna helped me with a load of laundry which desperately needed to be done.  It was nice to relax.  Thomas, the oldest son, came to dinner after work and it was nice being able to see the whole family (except for his girlfriend, Marlene, who was sick that day) while I was there.  After dinner we sat around and talked for several hours about everything from the oil and gas business to politics (Danish and American).  I normally dislike talking about American politics while abroad; however, it was actually nice talking to the Bjerg's about it, because they are extremely well informed on the issues and have actually lived in the US so they have a good understanding of American capitalism and the American political system.  By the end of the night I'm pretty sure we solved the plight of 6+ billion people.

My trip to Kolding was great.  It was nice to take a break for a few days to sit and relax.  I look forward to returning some time in the future.

Sköål!