June in Denmark

This past month has gone incredibly fast.  Probably because our daily routine has been so different.  June is the month of exams and that means that Søren has had"studying-vacation" for most of the month.  He had 2 exams where he had to write an assignment and then go to the exam and tell about it.  He did very well, recieving the 2nd highest grade you can get in both exams! (10 in the Danish grading scale!)  Exam month meant for me that I was a guest examinator at different schools around Denmark. Every day was different and it was fun to see how all the different schools run.

Otherwise we have had some very fun weekends here in June.  The first weekend we went to visit Søren's Dad on the Danish Fathers Day.  We had decided to play golf at the course where they are members.  It was an absolutely beautiful and HILLY course.  It was physically difficult to walk the 18 holes as the sun was blaring down on us...in fact it took 4½ hours! But it was very enjoyable and we had a lot of fun!

The next weekend I had to work a 37 hour shift! It was long but luckily the students were very happy and fun to be around.  The best part of the weekend was playing a kickball tournament. Although the Danes don't know the game of kickball, I was able to teach them the basic rules so we could all have fun.  That weekend Søren was kind of a bachelor.  He hung out with the neighbor boys next door playing golf and grilling with them.

The 3rd weekend in June we had the annual Madsen Family Weekend.  This year they had rented an old farm house on the island of Fyn.  It was restored but you could still tell that part of the house used to be the stalls for the cows etc. It was pretty neat!  The weekend was filled with various activities.  A walk out to a small island, Soccer-golf, watching the World Cup (Denmark won!) and lots of food!

Then finally just this past weekend we finally began our summer break.  There was a farewell party with the students and their parents on Friday, and after cleaning up we headed out of town with our friends Thorkild and Janni.  Our good friends Rasmus and Maja were getting married on the other side of Denmark, so we rented a cabin in the area and stayed for the weekend.  We didn't get to the cabin until midnight but then we could just relax and chat because we didn't have to drive so far in the morning!  The next day was the wedding day! It was a fantastic day! Great weather, great food and a beautiful couple!  At the party we entertained the guests with a small skit and quiz and said some sweet words to them at the end.  We didn't get back to the cabin from the wedding until almost 4 in the morning so we crashed pretty quickly and didn't wake up until 11.30 the next morning!!  Before packing up and leaving we made a fabulous American brunch that kept us full for the ride home!

Us at the wedding!

So yeah, now we are just doing the final preperations for our trip to the USA on Wednesday!!!!  It is great to be on vacation and we are looking forward to seeing family and friends and being able to relax!

Other notable updates:

1) The house that we were very interested in is now SOLD---and No, not to us!  We recieved a call, just 2 days after we looked at the house for the second time, telling us that the house was sold! The realator had not even informed us that there were others looking at the house...hmmm. at little fishy, but I guess that wasn't the right house.  We are still keeping our eyes open for other houses on the market, but for now we are happy with where we live!

2)...well I guess there was only one!!!

Galla evening at school

Søren thought it was strange and had to take a picture of the trail-mix I made!

Maj - May

Well once again a month has gone by and all our readers have not had an update in awhile...so here is what's been happening since last time!

Good weather has finally come and Søren and I have been out on the golf course more and more.  We are both improving and it is a pleasure to see.  I am now finished with the golf lessons and theory classes and have gotten my Danish Golf certificate so that I can play on all the golf courses in Denmark.  Additionally I have also played in my first official golf match and I WON!!! I won 2 bottles of wine for shooting 10 under on 9 holes (with my handicap!)  This success has been a big help in keeping me motivated and my handicap just keeps getting lower and lower! Søren is also playing much better and the balls are flying a lot straighter!  I guess practice does make you better!  And maybe it is because I got a new golf set, it is just a cheap beginner set but I like it a lot!! Just yesterday we played 18 holes with Søren's dad and girlfriend at their home course.  It is an absolutely beautiful course, with lots of hills and a beautiful view of a large lake from nearly every hole.  It was a long and grueling round but we played pretty well and had a lot of fun! It was great to get out on a different golf course for a change! 

In the beginning of May we held our annualy SPRING CONCERT/PARTY at school.  During the day former students gather for a small reunion at the school and we get the chance to say hi to students we haven't seen for awhile.  Then in the evening there is a big concert where the students get a chance to show off all the things they have made and learned during the school year.  Art projects, furniture, prom dresses and motorcycles are displayed from the more creative students, and there is also a lot of music.  Our bands played, the choirs sang and Sørens drum students had a big STOMP number.  It was a lot of work but was also a huge success....we were very proud teachers!Link to pictures from the Concert

The day after the Spring Party I played in an orchestra concert with my "old" orchestra.  I had been asked to help out to make a more full horn section.  As it turns out I was given 2 solos as well... (cause the permanent members didn't want them)  They were quite difficult but it went well and it was fantastic to challenge myself again.

Another very exciting and crazy thing going on for us right now is that we have begun looking into buying a house!  It was already been a long process of trying to figure out exactly where we want to live, how big the house should be, what kind of things we are important with a house, how much we can afford, etc. We have made Pro and Con lists and spoken with some friends and family about the issue and we are coming further in the process.  Right now we have our eyes on a nice smaller house from 1980 in a very small town between our work and our church.  It has a decent sized back yard and it feels nice and open while still having the cozy feel of a neighborhood.  We have gone to look at the house 2 times already and we are still pretty excited about it.  So now our next step is to see if there are any major things wrong with it.  I guess we will see what happens when we get some questions answered form the report.

We have had a lot of time to think about the whole house issue because there are so many holidays in Denmark in the Spring.  We get multiple days off for Easter, for Pentecost...etc. During the Pentecostal break we had our annual family outing with Søren's sister, husband and kids as well as his Mom. This year we decided to go to DanFoss.  DanFoss is a Danish Laboratory/Science company but they have made a science musuem type place for families to come and try out experiements and see the world of science in a hands on way.  We had a great time being together and enjoying the nice weather.  One of the activities was riding on Segways.  The wait was very long but also a fun experience.

As the school year is coming to an end things are getting pretty quiet.  Last weekend we had our last big project of the year....making a Memory-CD.  Every year the music students get to pick which concert songs they would like to have on the CD and then we record them.  The rest of the students are also involved in requesting songs, making the CD cover and singing the School Song of the Year which they have sung many times throughout the year. The project was a little more exciting this year than normal becaue Søren and I had decided to record the CD ourselves.  The other years we have had a semi-professional recording tech come and do the recording and mixing, but this year we thought we would take on the project ourselves and save the school and students quite a bit of money!  There were a few glitches in the start but once we got going it went really well and it is now sent off to be copied! We are looking forward to seeing the final product in a week or so!!

Otherwise school things are pretty slow.  We had our last regular day of classes last tuesday and now it is just time for oral exams!  I don't have any of my own students I have to hold exams for, I just have to go out and be a co-examiner for some other teachers so it is pretty laid back for me right now. Søren is also in the middle of exams having to write some papers and then go to an exam and explain his ideas more thouroughly.  (That's the best way I can explain it because the exam system is nothing like it is in the States :) )

We have a count-down to USA going..only 24 days now!! We will be in the US for almost 5 weeks and we can't wait!!


Here are some pictures of our little garden again this year.  We have added some herb plants and look forwards to using them!