Irish Intrigue

So one of the exciting things about living next to a bunch of foreign embassies is that sometimes you get unexplained policemen standing in your yard watching the Irish Embassy across the street for half the day and then the whole street gets cordoned off (is that how you spell that word?). We don't know why all this happened today but we think it may be some kind of bomb threat. My question is, who has it out for the Irish? And why the embassy in Denmark? I don't know of any particularly strong anti-Irish feeling here in Denmark but I have been a little out of touch with the Danes, my so-called finger isn't exactly on the pulse of the community here. To add more unanswered questions to the pot, the blocking-of-the-street was all ended by 5:45 this evening and now no one is around. So, although this makes great food for the imagination (maybe the next Bourne movie will take place in the Irish Embassy in Denmark), it really doesn't make us, as across-the-street neighbors, feel completely safe. Don't worry, I'll let you know if there's any more international intrigue--even if I don't have any idea what's really happening.

Homeschool Anyone?

Alright, let's get this out. I've not been a real supporter of homeschool in the past. There are some things that the home just can't provide for kids. That said, if you ever find yourself in the situation where homeschooling is the only option, this would be the way to go. Buy a program--a "year in a box" type--that provides the entire curriculum and daily lesson plans for each grade level of student that you have. Also, if at all possible, hire someone else to do the actual teaching for you. I will be free after this school year if any of you are interested!

Now for the particulars. On Monday of this week we started our "school." I find that teaching this way has its challenges as well as some bonuses. On the down side--coordinating everyone's activities is rather difficult. Especially with Emma, the Kindergartener. Her activities and instruction needs the teacher almost the entire time. So it's hard for the kids, when they finish one task, to wait for me while I finish up with someone else.

The oldest, McKenna, is totally self-motivated. The 6th grade curriculum can be mostly self-taught and she is willing and ready to teach herself everything. In her case, I'm just there as a facilitator and cheerleader. Well except for math. That one will require more actual instruction especially as we get past the review concepts.

Next is Eli, he's bright (4th grade). He has some holes in his education because of their moving around. He wants to learn and know everything. The hard part is that if I'm not giving 100% attention to him, he tends to slack-off and daydream, instead of actually get his work finished. Of the materials that we received, his math is the only part that hasn't yet arrived. Maybe that's a good thing, because for the last two days of the week I had to sit with him individually while we finished all of his subjects--everyone else got done before him because of his tendancy to daydream and become distracted by what the others were working on.

Saeleigh, the 2nd grader, is a tender-hearted, enthusiastic learner. She is excited to be learning and wants to always do well. This is a great trait, except for when she doesn't do well--then she cries. We're working on that. It may be an ongoing instructional opportunity.

Mostly, I'm having a great time. And as the week went by, I felt myself falling into more of a rhythm--being able to juggle the different levels and contents better. I like the scriptedness of the lessons--especially for the first few weeks, but I have a feeling that as I get more comfortable with the program, I'll improvise and add my own style in more often.

Safari, Star, and Amusement Parks And Other Stuff

Warning: This is a long post! Imagine how long it took me to compose it and post all these pictures.

Safari

We've been to two Safari parks now. The first one was built on this old estate that a family donated for the purpose. Throughout the park there are these really beautiful old buildings. This park was cool because you could drive through the areas where the animals were roaming free. So this means that rhinos, zebras, giraffes and camels came up pretty close to the car. There were no lions or elephants here but there were tigers. I might skip the tigers on another trip to this park as it took FOR-EV-ER (said Sandlotesque) to get through this small portion of the park.

This first one is actually the family house, just outside the entrance to the park--they still live there, c'mon, wouldn't you?



Just one of the cool buildings inside the park.


The second Safari park was more like a big zoo. You had to drive between the different areas and then you got out of your car to go look at the different animal pens. There were elephants and lions here but the lions didn't do anything exciting. They do have the largest rodent here it's called a Capybara and is naturally found in South America. Although this park had more variety in the animals, it was more fun to feel like we were on a real safari at the first park.

We sat and watched the camels for quite a while. They are funny. They kept barking at and biting each other.


Star

There is a pretty neat park in Copenhagen that is shaped like a star. Actually it isn't really called the Star Park, and it didn't originate as a park. Its real name is Kastellet (Citadel), but we call it the Star Park for obvious reasons. It started out as a fortress to defend Copenhagen. Its defenses were first tested by the Swedes when they attacked in 1658 and they failed miserably. Needless to say, they were strengthened and are now used as military offices. The buildings in the center were also used as the Danish headquarters for the Nazis during WWII. Now it has a walking path around the outside, then a moat encircling the star. There is a bridge across the moat to get to the center where the old fort buildings are located.


I really wanted to find this park because I knew there was an old windmill here.


Across the moat from the Star Park is the only real Anglican Church in Denmark. There are only two Anglican congregations in Denmark but the second one rents a building somewhere outside of Copenhagen. One of the cool things about this building is that everything was in English! Of course, they had the information in Danish and German too but it’s great to know that it originated in English. The stained-glass windows in this church were phenomenal.




Just around the corner from the church is this fountain. The woman is the Scandinavian goddess, Gefion. The legend is that the king of Sweden told Gefion that she could have all the land that she could plough in one night. So, she turned her four sons into oxen, harnessed them to a plow, and began to plough. When the morning came, she took the chunk of land that she’d covered and threw it into the ocean. This land then became Zealand (the large island that Copenhagen is on) and left a large lake (Lake Vanern) in Sweden that is roughly the same size and shape as Zealand.



Just down the waterfront, is the famous statue of the Little Mermaid. This is Denmark’s best-known monument. Hans Christian Anderson, the author, is, of course, from Denmark.

These are some young men that were playing beer bottles in the street in Copenhagen. We heard them play “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid and “I’m Walking on Sunshine.” It was totally amazing to watch how coordinated they were with their blowing. Between songs, they changed out which bottles they blew for the next one. What would that life be like?



Amusement

I know you’ve all be waiting for this one—LEGOLAND! A truly Danish commodity that we all know and love! Really, the coolest thing about this amusement park was the decorations. Everything was made out of Legos. Here are some pictures of MiniLand and some of the other creations. Don’t ever let anyone tell you you can’t—anything’s possible with Legos!

I hope that you can see the detail in these!


This is H.C. Anderson (lifesize).
This is a countryside in the Netherlands built of Legos.
This is a replica of the queen's castle in Copenhagen--go and look at my picture a few posts ago--pretty right on.
Compare this to the picture on Arlo's post.



Other

As we were driving between some of the following cites, we came across this funny yard art. Actually in the adjacent field, there were some more cattle. We were wondering if the farmer or his wife got bored or just needed an artistic outlet.


On our trip to LegoLand, we also visited some other cities in Denmark. Jelling had this really cool church that had an amazing cemetery. It really is a shame that our cemeteries aren’t this groomed. Also on either side of the church there is a large mound. Under one, archaeologists found a stone ship. Under the other, there was a burial chamber but no tomb or remains. They did find the remains of Gorm, the Old under the church. He was the first king of Denmark. Originally he was under the mound, but his son, Harald I (Bluetooth) converted to Christianity soon after becoming king and moved his father’s remains as an act of piety. There are also these old runic stones outside the church. The one has the first mention of Denmark in a written record (ancient runes), this one is called Denmark’s baptism certificate. The second has the oldest representation of Christ in Scandinavia (abt. 983 B.C.).








The city of Ribe is the oldest city in Denmark and is super beautiful. It has this amazing medieval feel with half-timbered houses and cool streets—we loved this town—I may be going back.



This next one has an example of the medieval fire codes (notice the ladder and hook--not quite sure what the hook is for, but if I was in a fire I'm sure I could come up with some use for it).



The costal town of Esbjerg is more recent but it has these interesting statues looking out to sea. They were built in 1995 for the city’s centennial and we thought they’re kind- of cool. As you can see this was a pretty windy day (somewhat chilly).



The next post will be about the first week of teaching. Coming soon.