Not Exactly My Most Cheeriest Post

I'm sitting here in my room staring at my Danish laptop's keyboard. The letters Æ, Ø and Å are not exactly clearly written. There's bloody 2 keys with Ø and Æ!! Which is which? I get it wrong everytime. I don't even know why I'm telling you this.

Recently I've been asked so many times if I'm really Danish. That is so strange to hear. All the years I've lived in Australia people have been able to tell I wasn't Aussie. Whether it was because I had a slight accent, or I didn't like vegemite or maybe it was because I loved telling people about Denmark! But they never thought I was Australian. I never cared. I've always been so proud to be Danish :)

But now that I am living in Denmark, people around me aren't seeing me as a fellow Dane. It's so strange! To everyone here, I'm Joseph From Australia, and EVERYONE can hear that I have an accent. I can't believe I have an accent but apparently it is easily detectable that I have not lived in Denmark for a while... It doesn't help that I have a weird Un-Danish name. I guess it's also a dead give-away when I walk around with 5 extra layers of clothes than everyone else!

Of course I don't mind being different to everyone else. It's just funny to think that for all that time in Australia I've considered myself to be Danish but now that I'm in my homeland I'm still considered to be the "Foreigner"!

I'm still loving life in Denmark, but yesterday I got my first little dose of Australian homesickness. Yes- I admit it! I let myself think how freakkin long it is to Australia where my family and friends are. Talking to my family on Skype made my day today, but it hits me badly everytime when they ask me with no consideration "Have you made any friends yet? Have you seen any of your old mates yet?" etc etc. "No." is my honest answer. I really want to make some new friends but you can't simply magically make friends. I'm not 7 years old anymore when I simply could go up to any random person and say "Hey, wanna come home to my place and play with Lego?". I'm fairly sure I'm the youngest person in Denmark that has finished secondary school which makes it impossible to be with your age-group. At work there's no-one my age. And there's no way I'm joining the local sports club! And I've tried reasonably hard to get to see my old Danish friends again but I've almost given up on that because they're obviously too busy with their own lives and I can't force them to hang out with me. I guess that's really the thing that's affecting me most at the moment.



Trying not to think about the fact that I am temporarily friendless, makes me think about the more smaller things in life that are really annoying. Like Kit Kats taste horrible in Europe, and I've only got 5 Tim Tams left! And although it is lovely that Spring has finally started to arrive in Denmark, it has made things so much more difficult with having to move the time one hour forward making me have to wake up one hour earlier in the morning. And biking a marathon in the chilly weather that early in the morning EVERY SINGLE DAY and back again is so exhausting.

But apart from that, I can't complain! I know things are gonna get better!

Imagine you are Danish Aborigines... LH!

Celebrating my birthday on a day which wasn't my birthday.



It was my 19th birthday last Monday. It was the strangest birthday I've ever had- No family, no friends, no sun, a full day at work and left-overs for dinner. I can't complain though! It was actually really nice because it was refreshingly different (and no, I am not becoming a Jehovah's witness haha ;))

It started off as one of those days where nothing goes your way: I had to sprint to reach the bus-stop in time, but the bus was late so I had to stand there in the freezing rainy weather and then there were no seats on the bus so I had to stand up and then I find out I have to be PE teacher for half of the day!! Yes- me a P.E teacher haha! But it wasn't so bad at all! It went really well and I got rewarded by getting my favourite class as my last lesson on my birthday :)

Other things that have happened this week:

• Celebrated my birthday properly with my Danish relatives (but not on my birthday. It's not the same thing)
• Saw a UFO (Bloody strange sight I'll never forget)
• Told my Aunt I died this morning (In Danish if you literally say "I slept in", it means you passed away apparently. Ooops)
• Been PE teacher six times this week!
• Rode a bike 15km without a helmet.
• Saw Australian Border Security on TV with Danish subtitles!
• Went to an all-you-can-eat Fish Restaurant where I ate all things fishy.
• Enjoyed basking in the sun with the temperature being a massive 8 degrees at one point!!

And finally, I just have to share this! One of the teachers let me hire out a textbook about Australia so I can get inspiration for my classes when talking about Australia. There's a page about aboriginals- Look at Pair Work!

Could you live without "real" houses like Australian Aborigines? What entertainment would you have?? ;)

This made me LH (LH = Le Højt = Laugh Out Loud = LOL in Danish).
I know, that was an extremely lame attempt at being funny. Lol.*

*DISCLAIMER
- Any usage of the acronym LOL is purely for demonstration purposes. Joseph despises the usage of the acronym LOL and would instead use the common interjection Haha.
-LH (le højt) should not be confused with the female hormone LH (luteinizing hormone) which stimulates maturation of the ovarian follicle and formation of the corpus luteum. Year 11 Biology FTW
- The acronym LH as the Danish equivalent to lol is absolute rubbish and was just invented by Joseph 23 minutes ago.

Yes, I'm Your Teacher For Today!

This week has been huge for me! On Monday I had my first meeting with Kerteminde Skole which is the same school I used to go to 8½ years ago, and I immediately got the job as being a substitute teacher at the school! Every day this week they have called me and said I'll be required. The school goes from Year 1 to Year 9 (but Year 9's in Denmark are 15-16 years old). So this week I've had Years 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9- so an age range of 8-16! So already I've had about 120 different students, and apparently according to other teachers I am The Talk of the School at the moment! I am so pleased with how great this week has turned out! All the students I've had have enjoyed my lessons and there have only been a few where I've had to raise my voice and punish ;)

In Denmark, my name is unique and memorable. Not many are called Joseph, and if they are, it is ALWAYS pronounced "Yoseph" and spelt with f instead of ph. That's why people here remember me because I make sure they pronounce it correctly!

For those people who don't know, Danish schools are completely different to Australian. They are much more relaxed. For one thing, they don't have uniforms. Students don't call their teachers for Mr or Ms either but instead just use their First Names. There's also no roll-taking at all and students can stay in the class all day without a teacher and can go to the toilet whenever (but not wherever) they please. ;)

Today I had Year 6 and 9, and they were amazing. I spent most of their lessons talking in English about Australia and they listened so attentively and asked good questions in English! I was really impressed and they even said they wished I was their normal teacher everyday. Awwww :)

The weather, well I'm getting more used to it lets say! The school I work at is in Kerteminde, and so I get a bus home to Munkebo, but I still have to walk a couple of kilometers over hills and fields before I make it home. Anyway today when I walked the wind was incredibly strong! And then to make matters worse (or exciting) it started to hail!! Luckily I had my 5 layers of clothing, my gloves and my hood to protect me from the battering!



I just took this photo from outside my window as heavy hail just started to fall again!

 So this week has been a busy week working but I've enjoyed it so much! It's my birthday on Monday but I haven't even thought about it at all. I've been SO busy! My boss also said there's a big chance I'll be called in all of next week, but I'm really happy with that! That's the latest from me in Denmark!

A Quick Trip To Germany

Crossing the border between Denmark and Germany

Here in Munkebo the snow has started to melt. Everyone got excited today because the temperature was above zero*, calling it a "Spring Day"! Despite this warm weather I still wore my 4 layers of shirts, long-johns and gloves! I'll get use to the weather soon I'm sure ;)

*The temperature actually went back to -1 degrees this afternoon.

Anyway, we (me and my new family consisting of my aunt, her husband and their son) drove down to Germany just to buy some cartons of coke, wine, beer, sausages and sweets. From where we live, which is really at the heart of Denmark, it takes just 1½ hours to reach Germany which is great- considering how it takes 4+ hours just to reach Brisbane from Bundaberg which isn't even in a different state, let alone different country! So we bought loads because everything is so much cheaper in Germany than Denmark. A lot of people do that; even Swedes drive all through Denmark just to buy cheaper stuff in Germany!

Even though it is comparatively a small trip to Australians, 1½-hour car trips are seen as long drives and are only done every few months. I sat in the backseat with my Vietnamese cousin which was, I guess, fun. He is so pleased to suddenly have a big brother and he wants to play ALL THE TIME!!!

We're cousins!

He's a really cheeky boy and irritatingly loves to correct me when my Danish grammar is not exactly right. Sometimes I say en instead of et (both mean a as in "a boat or a dog" but depending on the noun it changes which one you use. Pointless and confusing as hell, I know, but it's something you are just supposed to know). Mind you, I don't get it wrong that often, and besides- he has no idea what I'm calling him when I speak English to him ;)

Hope everyone back in Aussieland are well and not sweating too much- I know I'm certainly not! :)