6/12-14: Commercial... or Christmas?

Selvom Valdosta umiddelbart virker til at være en lille by hvor der aldrig rigtigt sker noget, så finder man ud af at der faktisk er en hel del mennesker her, når byen har et fælles arrangement - som f.eks. juleoptog!

I USA er det meget normalt at man har optog til Thanksgiving, jul, 4th of July, og flere andre helligdage m.m.

Flere timer før optoget skulle starte var enkelte allerede begyndt at slå sig ned langs gaden med klapstole og snacks. 

Optoget bestod af en hel masse gamle biler, store trucks med lange trailere som var ombygget til forskellige jule-vogne, lastbiler med åbent lad, brandbiler, marching bands, spejdere, og andre tilfældige mennesker som havde lyst til at gå med i optoget. 

Fælles for dem alle var at de gerne havde en eller anden form for budskab, hvoraf det mest gennemgående var en reklame for deres firma. 

Optoget varede over en time, og sluttede af med biler med kæmpe jul (og en enkelt monster truck), og motorcykler som larmede frygteligt meget. 

På trods af mange kommercielle indlæg, var det rigtig hyggeligt med julemusik m.m. og det var sjovt at se et lille, lokalt optog fremfor de endnu mere kommercielle optog fra de større byer. 

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Even though Valdosta doesn't seem like a very big town and there's hardly ever anything going on, you realize that there actually live quite a few people here when there is a bigger event going on - like the Christmas parade!

Here in the US it is very common to have parades for Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July and other holidays etc. 

Several hours before the parade was to start, there were already a bunch of people lining up along the street with their fold out chairs and snacks. 

The parade consisted of a whole lot of old cars, big trucks and long trailers which had been transformed into Christmassy decorated wagons. Also firetrucks, motor cycles, boy and girl scouts, marching bands and much more. - I am detailing this cause we really don't have anything like these parades back home!

Common to all participants was that they all had some kind of a message - the most common was an advertisement for some local company.

The parade lasted for over an hour and finished with cars with gigantic wheels (and one monster truck), and some very noisy motor cycles.

In spite of the many commercial elements, the parade was really nice and cute, and it was funny to see one of these smaller, local parades as opposed to the much more commercial big ones from the bigger cities. 

4/12-14: Is this really Christmas??

En lille gåtur omkring campus her i juletiden er rigtige hyggelig! De har virkelig gjort meget for at bringe lidt julestemning ind her i de sidste uger af semesteret, f.eks. har de pyntet alle palmetræer ved skolens hovedindgang! Det ser virkeligt fint ud, men det er som om palmetræer og jul ikke helt hænger sammen for mig. 

Derudover har de også lejet en skøjtebane for en aften som jeg selvfølgelig skulle prøve af!

Jeg glædede mig virkelig til at se hvordan de dog havde lavet en skøjtebane i 15 graders varme, og jeg tænkte det måtte være meget dyrt at holde isen frossen.. 

... Det var selvfølgelig ikke is... 

Skøjtebanen bestod af store plader i en speciel slags oliebehandlet plastik, som gjorde at man med nød og næppe, næsten, kunne skøjte på det.. Det lykkedes mig da næsten af lære en brasilianer at stå på skøjter, så helt forgæves var det ikke.

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A short walk around campus during Christmas is really hyggelig! (nice/cozy).. They have done a whole lot to bring in a bit of Christmas spirit for the last two weeks of the semester like decorating all the palm trees at the main entrance! It looks really nice, but for some reason palm trees and Christmas just don't go together if you ask me.

They also rented an ice skating rink for the evening, which I of course just had to try!

I was really excited to se how they managed to make an ice skating rink in 55 degree weather, and I thought to myself that it must be super expensive to keep the ice frozen.. 

... of course it wasn't ice... 

The "ice" skating rink was made out of big boards of a special kind of oily hard plastic, which almost made it possible to do something similar to skate.. I did however almost manage to teach a Brazilian how to skate, so it wasn't completely without a purpose.

Catching up...

Der har været stille på bloggen i et stykke tid - 21 dage for at være helt præcis. 

Denne december har været min mest afslappede december måned i mange år, eftersom jeg ikke har haft en hel masse gaver at købe, et arbejde, eller en masse julefrokoster at rende til. 

Samtidig har det været en travl måned alligevel fordi der har været så mange ting jeg gerne ville nå her i Valdosta (primært julehygge,) ved siden af at skulle afslutte semesteret med 4 eksaminer, og bruge en uge i Florida.

Jeg beklager stilheden som jeg straks begynder at rette op på i løbet af de næste par dage :-)

I dag er der kommet pakke hjemmefra med det fineste lille juletræ og derudover har jeg pakket julegaver ind, klippet julehjerter og flettet julestjerner, og lavet risengrød så jeg kan lave ris à la mande! 

Nam nam nam - det smager af jul! 

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It's been quiet on the blog for a while - 21 days to be exact.

This December has been my most relaxing December in many years since I haven't had a whole lot of presents to buy, a job, or a lot of Danish Christmas lunch/parties to go to.

At the same time it has been a busy month because there have been so many things that I've really wanted to do around Valdosta (mostly Christmas stuff), at the same time as finishing the semester with 4 exams, and spending a week in Florida. 

I do apologize for the silence which I will immediately fix during the next couple of days :-)  

A package from home arrived today with the cutest little Christmas tree, and besides that I've been wrapping up Christmas presents, cutting and folding Christmas hearts and stars, and cooking Danish rice pudding so I can make a traditional Danish Christmas dessert called ris à la mande!

Nom nom nom - it tastes like Christmas!

Just a heads up...!

Nu når vi nærmer os den søde juletid, er det ko også tid til julekort, så i den forbindelse vil jeg bare lige give alle jer som (naturligvis/forhåbentligt/muligvis/måske) har lyst til at sende mig et kort, en lille heads up:

Skulle du ske at sende kortet senere end på fredag (i overmorgen), så brug endelig min adresse hos min værtsfsmile, da vores campus gerne lukker fuldstændig ned i ferieperioder og min ferie starter næste fredag ;-)

Dette er naturligvis ikke en hentydning........ 

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Now that Christmas is approaching, time for holiday greeting cards is also just around the corner, so I just want to give all of you who (of course/hopefully/possibly/maybe) are thinking about sending me a card a heads up:

If you happen to send the card any later than this Friday, please do use my address with my host family as campus tends to completely shut down during holidays and my holiday starts next Friday ;-)

This is of course not to be considered as a hint to anything.......

Glædelig 1. december!

Danmark! Danmark! Danmark! - Now I can cheer for the Danish handball teams at they compete in European Championships

Jeg har den absolut bedste mor - og værtsmor!

Ikke nok med at jeg i dag endelig kunne hente den pakke som mine forældre har sendt mig helt fra Danmark (fyldt med godter og gode sager!), så har jeg også fået adventsgave samt de første 7 dage af en hjemmelavet chokoladejulekalender af min værtsmor :-)

Jeg har tidligere fortalt om alle de mange (læs: utallige) traditioner vi har omkring julen derhjemme, deriblandt alle vores julekalendre..

Udover skrabejulekalender og chokoladejulekalender, indeholdt min danske jule-pakke også ingredienser til lagkage, brunkage krydderi, julestjerne-strimler, tyrkisk peber, kravlenisser m.m. - alt godt til lidt dansk julehygge + mere!

Og jeg må indrømme at eftersom der i dag har været omkring 20 grader udenfor her på 1. december, så går jeg altså ALL-IN på julepynt og hygge dette år, for at overbevise mig selv om at det altså ER jul - så der skal nok komme nogle julepynts-billeder på bloggen senere :-) 

I går var det 1. søndag i advent, og jeg havde besluttet at købe små adventsgaver til mine værstforældre. Jim fortalte at de i øvrigt havde tændt adventslys i kirken den morgen, så næste søndag prøver jeg at se om jeg kan tage med ham i kirke. 

I går var jeg travlt optaget af at bage danske pandekager til morgemadsbordet med familien - de faldt vist i god jord :-)

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I have the absolutely best mom - and host mom!

Not only did I finally have the opportunity today to get the package my parents sent me all the way from Denmark (filled with good stuff and goodies), but I also got both an advent present and the first 7 days of a chocolate christmas calendar from my host mom :-) 

I have been telling her about all the many (read: endless) traditions we have around Christmas back home, including all our Christmas calendars..

Besides my scratch ticket Christmas calendar and a chocolate one, my Danish Christmas-package also included ingredients for Danish layered birthday cake, Christmas cookies, stuff for decorations, candies etc. - everything for good Danish Christmas-hygge + more!

And I must admit, since today's temperature reached the mid 70s on December 1st, I have decided to go ALL-IN on Christmas stuff to convince myself that it IS actually Christmas - so I'll be posting some pictures of decorations soon :-)

Yesterday was 1st Sunday of Advent, which we usually celebrate back home by lighting candles and sometimes giving/getting small presents, and I had decided to get some for my host parents. Jim told me that they even lighted the Advent candle at church, so maybe next we'll I'll try to join him. 

Yesterday morning I was too busy cooking Danish pancakes for family breakfast - I think they all liked them pretty well :-)