Viking bread!
Off we all went again down the hill to school but this time we had to go to a different place in the morning for our language class. It didn't take but a couple of minutes longer. I was a silly girl and forgot to write down the exact address but one of our tribe said that he had seen it before. So once we found the street the school was on, we just kept walking until he said that he saw it.
Upon arriving at the school we knew we were in the right place because there was a gaggle of other students standing in front of the building. They said that the door was unlocked but they didn't know where to go inside and there were no signs. I took it upon myself to venture in and look for a human being that could tell us what us up. I saw a woman in a room talking on the phone and another group of people in a different room who looked busy so I went back to the lady on the phone and stood at her door waiting until she was done to ask. She looked like she was having a great conversation but she didn't seem interested in finding out why I was standing at her door. I continued to wait. At last, another gentleman came around the corner and he asked if we were the students from the school. I grabbed the others and we headed up to a third floor classroom.
It took a bit to get us all settled in because there were more people than chairs and space. They tried to open the folding wall to the next room but it would only go part way but we brought more chairs in to get all seated. Then they took us out two at a time to see what our Danish levels were in order to place us in our classes. I am sure that you might be able to guess that I was in the first beginner class. I didn't even have to do a test. Yeah!
There are a total of 6 level to being considered proficient. We have to be able to pass level 5 by next year in order to be able to be instructed in Danish next year. It is a real challenge but it is doable. We have two full days of Danish classes and two half days of Danish.
After our instructor got us settled in she soon switched to Danish. Egads! She would ask a question in Danish and then try to get an answer. It was quite hilarious but we have a great class and there was a lot of participation. Anyone who has been a teacher knows how hard it is to teach when you have a class that isn't willing to join in the fun and games.
I believe this is a fire extinguisher.
After that class we walked back to the university for our pedagogy class. I am amazed by the technology in use here. We had what they called a "smart board" in both the language class and in this one. In the language class, the teacher was writing on the board with a magic pen and erasing with a magic erasor. She would flip the page with the forward arrow. Apparently, you can keep the pages and then students can go onto the website and look at the pages that were on the blackboard.
School hallway.
We were shown how to hook up to "Blackboard" which is a way to have all of your classes, assignments, school info etc. personalized at at your fingertips on the internet. I was able to look up my book list on there and see notes from our teachers. It is a remarkable system. I can totally visualize being able to use my computer as an interactive device with the "smartboard" being able to show a picture or article regarding something that I am talking about in class. I don't know how many of the classrooms are set up with this is the children's schools but I hope it is most of them!
Our first assignment in class involved a bag of six pieces of Lego. Well we are in Denmark. We had to make a duck out of these 6 pieces in 30 or 60 seconds. We were asked to look around and see if the ducks were all the same and of course they weren't. Well there were two that were almost alike. Then the teachers asked us to explain what this meant. What was the lesson in the exercise? Next we were given a bigger box of Legos each and we had to pick out our 15 favorite pieces and then close the box. We were now told that we need to make a creature out of them. I looked down at my pile and was stumped. I had picked all of these little pieces of accessories and a couple of skeleton men. I had not chosen any building blocks. I managed in the allotted time to at least get them all stuck together as long as I left it laying down. Now we were asked to name it and tell its story to each other. It was quite funny really.
New game. Build a picture of yourself as a teacher out of the blocks.
That's me! After describing our creations to each other we had to, in our groups, build a perfect teacher together and explain all the pieces. A couple of groups made some truly incredible ones that included a whole little world along with the teacher.
Later that night, a bunch of us who live in the same place, out in the middle of nowhere, found a way to entertain ourselves. I don't even remember what started it but one guy and I ended up being the entertainment committee for the others and basically put on a show. We were improving stories and just being totally silly. We were all laughing so hard that our faces and tummies hurt by the end.
Saturday, I got a Facebook message from another student who was going out to celebrate her birthday so I gathered up the crowd here to come along. There was live music playing on Torvet square at 9 o'clock and that was where we were headed. I got a chance to meet and talk with one of the quieter students who lives here on the walk down the hill. She is just the sweetest girl but very quiet and shy. I was glad that we could get her to join in.
Students from town and country together.
All the tables and chairs were already filled up at the square so we stood there for a bit chatting and watching.
An assortment of footwear. :)
The band.
Twilight in the square.
We got a little antsy and walked around to the other side and then to a bar. They were selling 10 beers for 150kr. That is $25US and that was a good deal! We sat at the tables and just hung out getting to know each other better for awhile.
Cafe Franz Kafka
Beer taps.
My first Danish beer. Tasted like regular American beer.
We took off back to the square and I noticed that a couple of people had beers in their hands. Hey wait a minute! This is so wrong. You are going to get arrested. Nope! You can walk around on the street with alcohol. No brown bag necessary. I got a group together to go back and buy another 10 beers as that was a good way to go. We then went back to the band.
I am now starting to see some really drunk people weaving down the street. One guy stops to talk to me. There must be a sign on my face somewhere because this always happens. He was able to speak English and turned out to be entertaining to talk to so no problem. One of the other students came over to me and one point to make sure that I was all right. That was sweet of her.
He had some coupon for something and wanted us to all come over to that bar with him so off we went. It was a very down to earth bar with only Danes in it. He bought us a local beer called Black Bird. The brewery is right here in town and opened in 1865.
We had the one with the black label and it was definitely better that the Carlsberg. I think that a trip to the brewery might be in the making. Maybe they have tours.
At midnight when it was officially the birthday, the folks in the bar put on birthdays songs for us and she opened a present. She received a Lego lunchbox! How cool is that.
The guy is one of the patrons and he put the flag on her lunchbox.
We then watched a very interesting game on the pool table that was completely unknown to me. In the center of the pool table there stood 5 pins. There were two white balls and one red ball. I just looked on Wikipedia and found this.
We had a blast last night!
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