Day 12 - shopping and skiing!

Today we got up early to go shopping for the stuff I would like to bring home:-)

Some of the things I bought, besides the wristbands. I got them from Ulla(Hannes mother)who have made them! - They cost 250kr. in stores, and are a small part of the Greenlandic national costume:-) I was very honored!


I got my ears pierced! - Again:-P


This is a whales tale made out of stone. It is a symbol that is in earings, necklaces and so on here:


After we had been shopping we went out to the skilift:-) I have been skiing once before in Norway, but I had forgotten a lot but quickly remembered some of the most important techniques...It wasn't pretty though:-P But fun!

My day card to the lift:


Straight after we came home we went to a "Kaffemik" at Elisa and Aqqalu. It was Elisas 61 birthday. She is working in the church, with counseling and much more. She is the mother of a Greenlandic girl I went to boarding school with, whom I actually meet in the church christmas eve:-)
It was a very cultural experience! - I tasted some very typical Greenlandic fish dishes while Hanne was filming, with her brand new and nice camera:-P...Interesting!

After dinner Hanne, Lene and I went into the church room and played some music:-)

Then Rosa came by and we dressed up to go to "Heath", which is tree clubs/pubs/discos that has been joined. The first of them is a club were the youth(14-25) of Nuuk is hanging, the second a pub,(25-45) and the last place (45 - and up)
Hanne wanted me to meet some more of her friends and the fun of seeing me dressed up. They have a very strict dresscode! - We made it a "trip of prayer". We went down there to pray for the youth. We observed while we prayed sitting, walking around so on...I observed this guy with long hair and black clothes, walking alone looking like he was in the wrong place, and I just felt very strongly that I needed to do something, and he kept walking by no matter were I was! - So I ended up giving him the website for our danish christian metal forum on a trashed sales slip:-P The music was very loud so I could not say much, but he was very open, in his body language:-) I really hope he has kept that note!

Day 11 - Café and more snowcave...

We were supposed to get up early to go to the lift, but it was snowing a lot so the lift was probably closed, so we chose to stay home and sleep a bit longer:-P

When we finally got up we went to a café called "Barista" to join one of Hannes friends called Rosa. A very nice couple of hours:-)


Then we went home to relax but ended up building some more on our snowcave:-)

Afterwards we ate homemade ice-cream:-P

Day 10 - Snowcave and "The Dark Knight"!

Today has been a day of relaxation. We got up a bit late and then Hanne, John and I saw "Batman - The Dark Knight" - One of my christmas presents. I have been looking forward to see it again ever since I saw it in the theatre:-) It is really good!

Then Hanne and I went outside to build a small snowcave:-P Very fun, and Hanne is really good at it! We did not finish so we hope to continue another day:-) We made dinner, very easy since most of it was leftovers from christmas eve. I made caramelled potatoes for the first time in my life:-P

In the evening we played 2 boardgames. The first is called "Sequence and was one of Hannes christmas presents. The other one is called "Alias" - and is a wordgame.

They were both quite fun:-)

Day 9 - Christmas Eve!

We got up early to go to the hospital here in Nuuk(were Hannes mother work) were we ate breakfast at 9 o'clock. It was snowing! - For the first time while I am here:-P All other days it has been clear and beautiful weather...
At 10 Santa Claus arrived at the hospital in a fire truck. Normally he arrives in a helicopter, but it snowed too much for him to land. Then he walked through the hospital with gifts to the patients:-)



When we got home we had to clean the house and church before the christmas service, which was cool! - We sang christmas carols in Greenlandic, which was fun:-)



Afterwards there were "kaffemik" in the house, a tradition were some of the people from church come by to get coffe and talk:-)

After that the preparations for christmas eve started and about 6 o'clock a guy named Ulrik walked through the door singing in Greenlandic, very cool:-) He was invited to celebrate christmas by the Østergaard family. He is from the
church and his family lives far away in another city in Greenland.



After a lot of eating, which I have to say has been a huge part of my vacation with this family:-P(well it is christmas)
we prayed after Lene shared something from her heart, worth remembering:-) Afterwards we sang chriatmas carols while dancing around the tree:-)

Then presents. I got one from the Østergaard family. Very nice of them, and unexpected! - It contained a necklace and earrings. The necklace was made out of raindeer and formed as Greenland. The earrings was made out of whale:-)

When we were finished John, Ulrik, Hanne, Lene and I played a new game called "Olsen bandens 14. kup" - It is a boardgame based on a series of 14 danish movies with 3 guys trying to rob different people, but they always fail and one of them ends up in jail everytime.

One of the tree almond-gifts which i got(Lene had planted it in my portion, very nice of her:-))

Day 7 and 8 - Homework, relaxation! - Sightseeing and more christmas stuff:-P

Day 7 has been a quiet day. I have been doing homework most of the day while watching O.C, which I saw for the first time last night. Hanne has all the episodes:-P

Day 8
Today Hanne and i was sightseeing in Nuuk. Hanne drove me around so I could see the places I had not been before. Now I have seen it all:-) We found out the small ski lift has opened so we hope to get some time to go skiing one of the days:-)Right after we went sledging for a few minutes before going inside:-)

After a delicious dinner the christmas tree was decorated and we saw some homevideos of the family, very fun! - With apple dumplings, and homemade cookies:-)


Afterwards Hanne, Mette, Lene and I saw a movie(The Wedding Date)

Day 6 - Christmas baking, sledging and church!

Today was the 4. sunday in advent, and when I came out into the kitchen a small present awaited me. Hannes mother had bought it for me:-) So nice of her!

We started the day preparing a flee market with some of the stuff we took with us from the apparment we emtied. The money went to the lady we helped:-)

After that we went to church. Three got baptized by Hannes father John, very cool and very moving! - It was so cool to see how happy these three people were! - They shined so much:-) It was very fun to sing in Greenlandic! - I have catched some of the sounds of the language now, with good help from Hanne:-)
They really have a nice church, people are very happy and you can feel God is here even though you dont understand the songs:-)

When we were finished with the meeting Hanne and i went for a walk. This time I saw a new part of Nuuk. The old part, which is very nice!

When we returned we ate very delicious food once again. The evening was spend baking, making candy of different kinds:-)

Hanne with the family bird "Skidtnik":


Me all wrapped up:-P

Day 5 - More cleaning and christmas cards!

We started the day christmas shopping in Nuuk. Afterward we were supposed to use the day making cookies, baking, and just relax with the family. But when you are a missionary things dont always go as planned:-)

We went to clean and empty an appartment here in Nuuk for a lady. Her mother lived in the appartment and had just died. She had travelled from Denmark, with her three children and her husband. Her husband had been out drinking all night, so he was sleeping when we arrived...Let's just say that she has not had the most easy life!!

We cleaned for about 3 hours, and thenwent home to eat the most delicious dinner! - We got musk ox. The first time I have ever tasted that, and wow it was good! - I would gain so much weight if I lived here, their food are so great:-)

It is such a great experience to see how this family serves God! - They live in the church, and set themselves aside everytime anybody needs help, I really admire and respect their work here!

We spend some of the evening writing more christmas cards - not done yet though:-P

Hanne driving:-P


Weird/fun thing of the day:
Hanne was driving, and suddenly they could hear sirens. Mette sitting beside her encouraged Hanne to pull over because they thought it was an ambulance, that needed to pass. But it didnt pass...They found out that it was the police who wanted to pull over their car! - Hanne was driving to slow:-P(she just got her drivers license a month ago, which amused the policeman)

Day 4 - Vacation and christmas cards!

Today Hanne got up very early to finish her assignment, which had to be turned in at 10am. Lene, Hanne and I went to her school to turn it in. Hanne and I stayed to go to the community church with the rest of the school, while Lene went home. So I got the chance to meet some of Hannes classmates.

When we got home Hannes sister Mette had just arrived from Denmark:-) It was nice seeing her again! - Now the whole Østergaard family is gathered:-)

Later we went to buy christmas cards, and then went home to write them:-)




In the evening we all gathered to play "draw and guess"(very directly translated) - "tegn og gæt". It was a very fun and nice time with the family! - They are real fun, and I enjoy being around them:-)

Wierd/funny things of the day:
1. A guy in the church from the school had to sing with the rest of his class, in the end he had to sing alone: "vi kan ikke vente" - translated: we cannot wait(until christmas) and his expression was so funny because he really hated that he had to do it:-P

2. We were walking near the harbour at a place where they sell freshly caught fish and birds and so on. We walked by a table with some birds and i said " oh look its pingvins" - Hanne started laughing..First of all there are no pingvins in Greenland, second of all pingvins are very large and these birds were absolutely not large...

3. Hanne started a christmas card, with the words: "Very Happy Christmas" - "Mange gange tillykke med julen"


4. In the evening when we played "draw and guess" Hannes mother Ulla had to guess what her husband John was drawning. He drew the frence flag, the eiffel tower and the country seen from a map, and the answer was france, but her guess was toaster:-P

Day 3 - Cleaning, studying and snowcats!!!

Today Lene, Hanne and I went cleaning a house here in Nuuk. Hanne normally cleans this house every week. Today she took the S.W.A.T-team with her:-P


In the evening two guys Hanne knows came by on snowcats to take us for a ride. That was an amazing ride! - Wow!
We went through Nuuk and up into the mountains which was the most beautiful part of the ride! On one side there were the most beautiful northern light!!! All around us was the clearest stars! - I have never seen so many stars so clearly as tonight! - wow! - It was truely breathtaking, and an experience I will never forget! - Just to see what our creater has made was incredible! - I could really feel his peace! - It was so overwhelming!
When we were on the edge of the city Hanne and I were asked to drive! - So we did! - That was a whole new experience for me:-P And I do not have a drivers license or anything like that so i have no experience what so ever with anything that moves beside my bike, but it was so much fun!
Thomas one of the guys, works with the kids in the church, he was the owner of the snowcats. He is going to Denmark and parked his snowcats here at the house:-P So we might go for a ride another day:-)
The snowcats can ride 130km/hour so when its -14C it gets really cold when your riding one, but the adrenalin made it warmer:-P I do hope my toes will stop being cold some day:-)

Me on a snowcat in the mountains:


Wierd/fun thing of the day: Hanne drove a van...

Day 2 - Church and sightseeing

Today we got up to do some homework. Hanne has a huge assignment which needs to be turned in on friday.
I am very much behind after our trip to Texas.
At lunch time we went to af café called Prego to eat. The food was good:-)
Afterwards Hanne needed to pick up some stuff so she told me more about Nuuk and showed me the different places she has spend her childhood:-) I really enjoy to see all these places she has been telling about,seeing "her world".

Culture house, formed as Northern Lights:


In the evening they had a prayermeeting in the church. We missed some of it because we had to move some boxes for someone to come pick them up.
The meeting was mainly in Greenlandic, and the songs were in Greenlandic. Fun to try to sing that:-P

Afterwards we did more homework. Hanne has a huge assignment to finish, and i have a lot of smaller assignments to turn in as soon as possible.

Hanne gave me this chokolate advents calender when i arrived:-P


Weird/funny things of the day:
1. A package arrived from our friend Vikki with christmas presents to both of us. Outside she had spelled the city we are in N-U-K-K(its NUUK) and crossed it out:-P

2. I fell twice today! - first outside on the ice, just walking i fell right on both of my knees! - The second time was inside i fell up the stairs to Hannes room...

My first day on Greenland!

Today was my travelling day to Greenland. It started very early were I meet up with Lene(Hannes sister) in Copenhagen
Airport. I was very happy to have her as company, especially because I have not been flying a lot, and never alone:-)
We went to Starbucks in the airport, which is the only place in Denmark we have a Starbucks. And since I am a bit americanized after my trip to Texas I had to go:-P

Just a picture of me and Lene with our Starbucks and breakfeast:


I have to say that Greenland together with Switzerland is the most beautiful country I have ever been to!! - We had to change flight when we reached Greenland, Kangerlussuaq. As soon as i got out I could besides the cold weather(-20C) feel
that the air is so much cleaner than in Denmark! - That was very cool!
The plain we changed to was very small with space for about 45 passengers, and did not have that much altitude. There were very few clouds so the 55 minutes we spend in the plain I spend looking out the window on the beautiful nature they have here! - It was so overwhealming!!
It really struck me that a God who can create that kind of nature can do anything!!

Here are some pictures i tried to take from the plain, but it does not do justice!






We were welcomed in Nuuk by my friend Hanne. She showed me their house/church, and I am looking forward to see the church in action:-)

So today I have seen Nuuk which is actually very small. I have also seen northern light for the first time in my life:-)
One thing I have been looking forward to is to eat raindeer again, and at my first day here I got it, and it was good:-P

I have not yet really understood that I am actually here! - Maybe I will get it tomorrow:-P

Unloading:


The church/their house:


Weird/fun thing of the day: When Hanne parked she could'nt get out again! - Her friends dad had to drive the car out for her...

Greenland!

These last 2 weeks has passed by so fast! - And tomorrow very early in the morning I will be leaving to go to Greenland!

I have been waiting for this trip in almost 3 years, and now its finally here:-)
I have always wanted to go to Greenland. I have some family there, but they moved to Denmark some years ago.
At boarding school I got a good friend who lives in Greenland with her parent who run a church in Nuuk - They are doing some awesome work!
So i am going to Nuuk tomorrow to spend Christmas with her family:-)Hanne has two sisters(Mette og Lene) who lives in Denmark normally, but are coming back for Christmas this year:-)
I am looking very much forward to spend my time with my good Friend Hanne, her family, seeing Greenland, their work with the church, the nature, skiing(maybe), riding a snowcat and so on:-)

I will of course write and post pictures in here:-)


Here are a picture of the little family a lot of years ago, with the church in the background as it was at the time:-P


Newer picture of Hanne:

The Mosh Room!

A week ago we had a metal concert at Kansas City with:

Solace the Day(DK)
Immortal Souls(FIN)
Deuteronomium(FIN)

...which we were 3 people from my church to organize. It was a great evening! - And we are very happy about it:-) It has made a lot debate about Christian Metal here in Odense, which I think is very cool and healthy:-)

That was the short version, sorry:-)

Kansas City at Magasinet!

Friday night was spend at Magasinet in Odense. Kansas City had booked another venue(Magasinet) to do this concert with a popular danish band called Volbeat. At Kansas we can have 300 people, here they can have 800 people and the concert was sold out!

It was cool to try something new! - I was managing the wardrobe together with Vibeke and Jonas. It was the first time Vibeke had a watch and the second time Jonas had one, so i did not know them. It was very nice to get to know them! - Really cool people:-) That is one of the things i enjoy so much about Kansas, to get to know new people!

...And we had A LOT to do:-P
We were not quite prepared for all the jackets we had to have in the wardrobe, so our number system were all messed up...So during the concert we spend all the time trying to re-do the system. Well, it got better with some help from some of the other volunteers:-)

It was a very busy night, were we didnt get to relax, but that is how i like to work:-)

Besides the wardrobe i had some small jobs to do to, one of them was cleaning up back stage, so i got to say hello to the Volbeat guys very quick before they left - Very nice guys:-)

Once again a GREAT night with the Kansas crew! - I am looking very much forward to the next one, which will be very special! - More about that in a few days:-)

Nordic Fest 2008!

Just had an amazing weekend in Oslo, Norway.
I got picked up very early Thursday morning to drive to Frederikshavn(3½ hours) to take the ferry to Oslo, with a bunch of danish friends! - It was a 8 hour trip, so we had time to talk, sleep and have fun:-)

It is the 3rd time I have been to this festival, it has become a tradition, that i would not want to miss. It is a Christian metal festival. Metalheads gather here from different countries to hear music, known and unknown. Too meet new people, old friends and just enjoy the special fellowship, that centers around metal music and God!
I met people from Holland, Finland, Sweden, USA and of course Norway. It was great to get new friends and see old friends!

A festival like this, with the fellowship of other christian metal head gives me something very special. It fills me up with new and fresh energy. I am so thankful that God has given me these festivals and these people to be my church! - With the greatest Pastor, Pastor Bob Beeman, whom i got a great talk with too! - He has a very special heart! - And i can not descibe how much he means to me:-)

Back Home!

Now i am back home in Denmark. I am very tired after the long trip! But the flight went well - I have had a really good time in Texas:-)

I am going back in school on monday. We have a lot to catch up on, but we have a easy week. We have no english lesson:-)

Day 27 - Last day of school and Rock concert!

Today we had our last day of school. In gaming we had to present the game screenshots, and idears of our game, to our teachers, Doug Prince(gaming teacher, and headartist in NC soft), Spencer(U.S. Governement teacher, and gaming teacher), Jennifer(english teacher), Mette(english teacher), Alicia(instructor in an animation program called Poser, and 3D studio max + helping out with different stuff about computers, and artist), K.C(a journalist writing articles to ACCs homepage) and a guy from a gamecompany, whom i can not remeber the name or title of:-s
K. C, has been following this blog, while we have been in Austin. She Interviewed Morten and I, about our stay here. Very cool:-)

I have started to realise that we are going home tomorrow. It is really weird. I have enjoyed this month so much more than i had expected! - God has really blssed me with wonderful experiences that i will always remember - I will come home very thankful! - And tired:-P

At 6:00, we went to a restaurant called "El Sol y La Luna" with the whole class, and most of our teachers to say goodbye. The food was not fantastic, but okay:-)

When we were finished some of us went to a concert. Jennifers sisters boyfriend was playing in this band, called "Flawless Escape". It is Eksperimental Rock. It was okay, not so much my style, but they had some good instrumental pieces once in a while. It was cool to say hello to them, they did a great job!



After their show we went home by cab to pack the last things. I was really tired.
By the way...Last night Morten and I were sitting in front of our computers until 2 at night. Then he left and i started getting ready to go to bed. Suddenly Morten comes in very confused. He had seen a cockroach in his and Mathias bathroom, but it had escaped, and he could not find it. So he was very much panicing! Mainly because something that looked like cockroach poop was on his toothpaste. So we had to remove it and almost sterilise it to make peace in his mind:-P That was so funny! On top of that when he had left, he came back about 15 minutes after because he could not get into his room. Mathias was apperently fallen asleep and Morten had no room key:-P

In the morning Mathias told me he had dreamt about cockroaches. None of them dared to use their bathroom. I had so much fun watching them like that! - To see boys be so afraid of a small animal like that:-P Many boys wont admit that kind of fear, so that was cool they did. They just could not understand how i had been able to kill one some days ago. Well, that was just a small weird stoy for you:-)

Day 26 - Church

Today we once again had classes. We had our last poetry lesson, which we have only had two times.
In our break Morten and I went to Highland Mall and ate at "Potato Club" to try something new.

Later, Michael, Mathias, Morten and I went to 6th street. I had to buy some more packs of "Black":-P Now i think i am set:-P

Afterwards Morten and I went to church in "The Mount Sinai Baptist Church" once again. It was not a normal service, but their pastor showed pictures from a trip to Ghana. We said goodbye to the poeple we had talked to in the church especially a lady by the name of Joy. She told us that we should come back sometime and we could come live at her house:-)

Morten and I went by Fran's to grap a burger to go. Then we as always relaxed with our computers and had some great talks about church and so on:-)
(sorry for the missing pictures, but there have not been much to take pictures of today)

Day 25 - Election day!

Today is an exciting day! - Its election day!
Well i will get back to that:-)

First we had to go to school. Our first class was Texas History with our very cool teacher Larry. He gave us a lesson in music history focusing on Texas music. It was very interesting!
"Open Lab" was short today. We had to go early to go home and get ready to go to "The Driskill Hotel". It is the most expensive hotel in Austin. That was were the official Democratic election party was held. When we arrived we had to eat there. The food was very good! - Especially the dessert which was a REALLY great chocolate cake:-P Afterward the election stuff started. There were big screens sat up so everybody could follow the results. A lot of people showed up, and the atmosphere was awesome! - And the great result helped a lot in that way:-) It was a huge experience to be in the United States during an election where the first Afro-American president is elected - in a city where everyone has voted democratic. When we got outside the hotel which is in the middle of the city, cars were driving by honking their horns and people shouting out the windows:-)



When we got home my head was all messed up:-P There had been so many people at the hotel shouting and clapping:-P
We relaxed while having the TV on to follow the final results for each state.
This is a very excited Jennifer when Obama won:

Day 24 - Debate!

Today was the day of the dabate.
But before tha started which was the last thing of the day in school Morten and i went to Highland Mall to do some shopping to people at home:-P We ate at "Great Wraps"
Well, the debate: I was not as nervous as i had expected to be. I think it is because we I had practised the speech so much. My teachers from Denmark knew how i felt about the whole thing and our teacher Spencer did too. They all saw me make a really lousy speech last week, were i was sure i could not go through with it. But i have really found strenth in God and trying to see it as a challenge even though i thought it was way to big! Well, i made the speech in front of my class and a teacher who organize and control debates on UT(Texas University). I was shaking when i left and found my chair again:-P It went okay, im very satisfied that i went through it! - And the class and the teachers were very supportive and actually a bit surprised too:-P So a very nice experience:-)

Just a picture of the selected:


Now we are all ready to the election tomorrw. It is going to be a very exciting day! - And here are a lot of exciting things planned for us!! - But more about that in my next blog:-)

Right after the debate Thomas, Michael, Morten and I went to "Texas land and cattle steak house" which is one of the more expensive restaurants. It was pretty good, and we got a lot of food!
Michael at the restaurant:


Then a short trip to Target and then back home to the hotel to relax with the computer, like all the other evenings:-)

Day 23 - Churchday!

Today Morten and i got up very early to go to a service in "Mount Sinai Baptist Church" at 7:45.
That was a very cool experience. We were there last wendsday where the service was combined with "Austin Cornerstone Church". This time it was their own service and it was COOL! Morten and i made up 50% of the white people there:-P They had a pretty huge gospel choir, and they were really impressive!! - They were so good! - I have once been in a small gospel choir on my boarding school for a year and that was really fun, so being in a choir like that must be so much fun!
I would upload a video here if it was not for the extremely slow internet we have here at the hotel:-P But here are a picture:


People were again very nice and came to us and talked. Some recognized us from last time. They filmed the whole service and a nice lady made sure Morten and I could get a copy each send home to Denmark when it is ready. And we got it all for free!! - Very cool! - We both started thinking we had giving to little collect, but then agin it just shows what God tells us in the bible: That when we give something to him he will give it back to us many many times(sorry about the missing correct quote).

When we were finished in "The Mount" as they called it, we went directly to "Austin Cornerstone Church". We had been looking forward to this service, because we liked it so much the last time. But we went to get disappointed:-P Well it all ended up in a "Christian Circus" as i would call it. People crying and laying on the floor and so on. It was too much:-)
They had a cool wall painting we did not notice last time though:




Well, afterwards we went to McDonalds and home to check out how to get to the 3th service of the day:-P It was in a church called "Austin Stone Community Chruch", we had never been there before. The only thing we knew was that Chris Tomlin, who is quite a big name in Christian worship, are one of the founders of the church. We got on a bus and hoped it went in the right direction, which it almost did, but we still had to walk across the center of the city and a bit longer, so we got exercise for the day:-) The music was quite good, there were just not enough of it:-P The biggest differens in this church and the others we have been to was the fellowship. In this one they have 4 services in one day, and there are room for about 600-700 people at each. So it is not easy to notice if someone is new:-P It was a very cool and special experience, like all the other churches!
Outside of the church(they have their services on a high school):






We found our way home by bus again after some walking. Before we got all the way we stopped by Panda Express(once again).

When we got home we started preparing for the political debat tomorrow that i am very nervous about. But Spencer who is our teacher in the debate, had left the questions to us the same day. We went through the questions and then prepared my one minute speech which i practised to learn by heart. I feel a bit better about it now, and Morten has helped me a lot. He is really good at politics!