Sunday, October 25, 2009

Home...

Home is where we feel comfortable and safe. We can love, and that love is returned. The dreams we dream are safe from prejudice and by no means, unattainable. We can be who we want to be. You are never a stranger at home. Home is where we can think and reminisce. Home finds you, it is not a choice, but instead an obligation. You heart only knows when it is home. There is an energy we feel there, when we are surrounded by old or new friends, people we have made the memories we will carry with us forever. It is the feeling we recieve, being there, that lets us know we are home. Home is only a word.

Do I miss home? No. I miss the people, the places, the things, that have all made me at home and gave me a feeling of comfort. Home can change. I will always have a place of 3,618 people to call home. But I am creating a new home, Denmark. I feel at home here. I feel happy and wanted. It isn't a mistake that I am here. It is where I am not a stranger and can think and love and be who I want to be. I believe that I am no longer living at a "home away from home", but that I am home. I have a second home where I have new friends and new memories. Although this home is new, it is permanently bound to me. It has found me and my heart has spoken.


Enough seriousness. I have now been with my temporary family for a week and everything has fallen into place. It may sound extremely cliché at the moment, but I feel "home". Hjalte is 15 and Aske is 12, so I am the "storbror" (big brother). Hjalte was kind of shy at first, but now has warmed up to me. We watch a TV show together and are working on an impossible puzzle. Aske is the typical little brother. He is a total "mama's boy" and likes hugs. He can be a little much sometimes, but I can handle it. They are both swimmers and they swim every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from August to June!!! That is A LOT of swimming! Kjeld, the dad, is an engineer abroad and is currently in Bangladesh and comes home every 3 months or more. I briefly met him. He was reserved, but nice. Gerda, the mom, is the self-described "boss of the house" and is always right. She is really energetic and comical. She was an exchange student in Virginia and so her English is far better than my previous family. It is so nice to be able to joke around with her and not always be serious. She is a teacher and teaches all different subjects. Every night, someone has to cook the meal. My night is Wednesday, so if anyone has any delicious recipes, please send them to me. I think I will be making Mac and Cheese for my first meal. I will let you know how it goes.

Although I am feeling at "home" here, they are only a temporary family. After I had been here for less than 18 hours, Gerda told me that I could stay longer. The "ad in the newspaper" has taken longer than expected to actually get in the newspaper. This way, it is easier for Judith, the chairperson for my AFS region, to find me a good host family without being stressed. So, I will stay here, hopefully, until Christmas. The only thing that kind of stinks though is that I now have a 45 minute train ride to school and back and I have to wake up at 5:55 a.m.!!! I guess somethings are bittersweet. ;)

I haven't really done anything remarkable this past week, just settled in. Today, Gerda and I went on a bike tour of Haslev. On our way, we meet one of her colleague's husbands. He invited us for tea later and so we continued our ride and ended at their house. I cannot remember their names, so I will call them colleague and colleague's husband. At first, Gerda and her colleague talked in the kitchen, so I talked to the colleague's husband. It was really intimidating, because he was really tall and spoke Jutland Danish. Jutland is the peninsula that is connected to Germany and yes, there IS a difference between normal Danish and "Jutland Danish"! We talked about a bunch of weird things...all in Danish. If I was stuck on a word or pronouced it wrong, I would just say it in English and colleague's husband would tell me in Danish. He was really patient and that is something I have realized about most Danes, they are very patient with people attempting to learn Danish. They realize how hard it is. After colleague's husband and I had talked for 10 minutes or so, we moved to the table and had tea. And yes, I drink tea now. We also had muffins and almond cookies that were very good. I had 5. The whole conversation was in Danish and I could follow it quite easily. Colleague and colleague's husband told me that my Danish was very good for being here for 3 months, but I still think it stinks. It was nice to hear though and they would smile and laugh everytime I stumbled on a word, which made me realize that they really do appreciate my attempts to learn this crazy langauge.

The weather the past 2 days has been rainy and cold. Also, it is now dark at 6:00 p.m. My train ride in the morning is almost completely in the dark too, so winter is certainly on its way. During winter, there are only 8 hours of daylight, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. That will be really strange. I am sure I will probably gain 10 pounds after Christmas is over! Oh well, AFS does stand for "Another Fat Student".

Andy E

4 comments:

  1. Its good that you can at least joke around more now - and have someone to communicate more freely with. I can say from personal experience that foreigners love it when an American takes a stab at and masters their language. It sounds like you have Danish under your belt and it is progressing where you want it to go. Dont worry about the 10 pounds during Christmas, if anything you will drop 10 pounds, I know that when you are walking into the city/school and not riding alot in a car you drop weight like nothing. Trust me, in Germany I dropped somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds. Keep having fun and trying new things - thats what will make this the experience of a lifetime!

    Wade
    BRF Grad 09

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  2. Oh Andy, I just love to read your blog and was happy to "stumble" upon a new entry! It sounds like already a feeling of belonging is happening with the Nielsens. I know you will not be staying with them real long but every one of these positive aspects of your stay there will only help you along the way. I love that you are confident even in your mistakes! Keep trying to meet people and experience all that you can. Love you so much. Mom

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  3. Andy,
    I loved reading what you wrote about home, because I'm starting to feel exactly the same way. I know what you mean about feeling "cheesy" too, but I think something about this experience is making us a little bit more cheesy... that's a good thing, though right? Just think how profound and intelligent we're going to be at the end of the year!

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  4. I was happy to read that you have a new family and am having some great new experiences! I still can't believe you're there--wasn't it just last year you stopped in and said you were thinking about it, but that it would take a long time to get it all arranged? Now, there you are, meeting new people, learning new things and finding new places to call home.

    I'm subscribing to your RSS feed, so I'll be back as soon as you post again!

    Mrs. Tiedens

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