Aftermaths #1: In the aftermaths of the big environmental event last weekend, I ran into someone from Amherst, MA (my hometown). I'd had a class or two with her; we weren't friends, per se, but we were friendly. Turns out she's studying in Sweden with a friend, and they were hanging out for a long weekend in Copenhagen, seeing the sights. She was staying a few blocks away from Rådhuspladsen and happened to notice me hanging out at the event. It was later on when only a handful of people were left, and I had already changed out of my green suit, which probably helped her find me. We chatted for a bit, and made plans to hang out the next day.
The next day was the end of Daylight Savings time, so we both showed up at the meeting point an hour early, but missed each other because she realized she was an hour early right away and left, while I was a few minutes late for our wrong meeting time. An hour later, we met (again), and had a good laugh about it. Then we toured Christiansborg (One of the main government buildings) and the nearby National Museum (it's free!) for the day. I'd seen neither of those things yet, but my guests wanted to do the touristy stuff, and I was happy to show them. I realized that in my effort to not be a tourist, I'd missed out on some cool stuff. I mean, the national museum is free, but I hadn't been there at all. Now that it's colder and walking around outside isn't so much fun, I may go another couple times.
(Jen, Christine and I at Christiansborg. It is mandatory to wear plastic bags over your shoes so as not to scuff the floor)
The other fun thing about it was that we reminisced about Amherst in a way I hadn't for a long time. My close friends from Amherst (Hi, Moss!) make jokes about things from high school occasionally, but it's often the same seven or eight people/things we're making fun of. Joking with someone else brought up a few things I'd completely forgotten about. Plus, she goes to school with someone I haven't spoken to in years who I wouldn't mind getting in touch with again. So, all around, a pretty good sunday.
Aftermaths #2: In the aftermaths of my hard drive breaking at the beginning of last week, I bought a new one online and had it shipped to my dad, who promptly shipped it to me. The cheapest thing I could find in Denmark was about 800kr ($160) and I found one online for $55 through an American company. Even with shipping, buying it online was much cheaper, and it should be arriving any day now. I sometimes wonder about the price inflation here, though. The Danes say it's because of taxes, but sales tax is 25% here, and that's a 200% markup.
I realized after I bought it that I signed an agreement last Spring saying that I wouldn't buy any new electronics until they started being produced without exploiting the Congolese. So, yay for me. I believe in human rights when it's convenient, like the white, middle-class American that I am.
The thing is, I realize now that I didn't even need a new hard drive. It's been, at worst, mildly inconvenient to use the DIS computer lab. And when I get back home, Goucher has several great labs, which I ended up using for homework despite having my own laptop for a chunk of last year. I'm not really sure what my point is, other than that I feel guilty, but I'm trying to stop feeling guilty and start doing something practical about it. Like letting my friends know about coltan mining in the Congo, for starters.
Aftermaths #3: In the aftermaths of the big olympic hubub, a video became extremely popular in Denmark. See, Oprah came to Denmark to push for the 2016 Chicago olympic bid, and while she was here, she shot some footage for her show. The focus of the piece? Visiting a "typical Danish household," and seeing how it's different from a "typical American household. The video is here. Now, you even those of you who haven't lived in Denmark for two months... you can probably guess that this isn't a typical Danish household at all. There's not enough space in Copenhagen for 1.5 million residents to live in a house like this. This is the home of a couple, both of whom are architects. That's important. Also, according to one of my friends, this was a 6,000,000kr home ($1.2m). So, this may indeed be somewhat typical for rich Danish architects, but that's about it. To be fair, the home displays modern Scandinavian design in its architecture, (the straight lines and big windows the woman is talking about) but that's different than saying it's a typical Danish house. Only people with 6,000,000kr homes have the resources to care about fashionable architecture.
So, this video has become very popular in Denmark. A lot of Danes have seen it, and many Danes have suggested bringing Oprah back and showing them an ACTUAL typical Danish home, so Oprah's audience doesn't get the wrong impression. One of my friends suggested we make a spoof in the Kollegium, showing how the typical Danish student lives. I'd be "the American" (i.e. Oprah), and he'd show me his room and the shared kitchen. When we got to his fridge, I'd be shocked at how small the fridge was, and he'd explain that he actually only has the bottom two shelves.
He also suggested I paint my face black to look like Oprah, and I had to explain to him why that would be offensive. He saw it the same way as a guy as stuffing balloons into his shirt to portay a female character. I gave him a 30-second history of Black Face, and he got it. Danes are known for having a sense of humor where offensiveness is directly correlated to laughs, and the guy in question does enjoy shock humor, but he understood why that would be "over the line."
We may end up shooting the spoof when I get back from my travel break, with me just tying my hair back and portraying "A Typical American" (which is also funny to me). I might tape a sign that says "Oprah" to my shirt; it remains to be seen. Should be funny, although he's not the only Dane to come up with the idea, I'm sure.
So, that's all the maths I have to talk about today. I'm Eli Cohen, reminding you that Danish children do not typically live in "caves."
hi!
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