Archive for 'Uncategorized'
Living among Danes Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 21, 2011
So, Jennifer, you said you were ’positively surprised’ by Denmark? What’s the best thing about living here? Definitely not the weather! I guess I’d say the best thing – and I think many people agree – is the social wellfare system… Denmark has also a very good educational system and that was one of the…
A Canadian in Denmark Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 19, 2011
Hello Jennifer! You’re from Canada, right? Hi! Yes, that’s right. I’m from Calgary, Alberta. Wow, that is a long way to travel! What brought a Canadian like you to Denmark? Well, I married to a Dane, that’s why. I met him fourteen years ago. Since then we’ve been travelling a lot, but our home…
A Kingdom for a Ball Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 11, 2011
Spirits are high in Danish barer and værtshuse (pubs) tonight, as well as in countless stuer (homely sitting rooms), where hr. og fru Danmark (the typical Danish family, literally ’Mr and Mrs Denmark’) have just left the television set to fetch something to toast with: Denmark just beat Portugal 2–1! Of course we’re talking about football, that…
Woman in charge Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 5, 2011
Yesterday Denmark had its Obama moment. Or perhaps rather Hillary moment, as Helle Thorning-Schmidt, winner of the recent September elections, mounted the talerstol (rostrum) of Folketinget (the Danish Parliament) and delivered her åbningstale (inaugurational speech) as the first female statsminister (prime minister) in the history of Denmark. Although the audience – consisting of VIPs like…
Counting in Danish Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 14, 2011
Trouble falling asleep? Counting får (sheep) in Danish might just do the trick! For one thing, the Danish words for 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 are much less transparent than the fif-ty, six-ty, seven-ty, eigh-ty, nine-ty row of English – and so it goes when comparing them with a lot of other languages too…
Talking about the weather Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 11, 2011
Danes love talking about vejret (the weather). I recently had a chat with a guy who’d been spending some time down under — he was really surprised that the Australians he’d met hardly ever talked about the weather! That made him realize, he told me, just how much people ”up here” discuss things like regn…
Election Frenzy Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 30, 2011
This friday, journalists got a welcome break from the Danish agurketid – literally ’cucumber time’ (from agurk cucumber + tid time) – the ”silly season” in summer where nothing really happens and newspaper employees spend their time making ice-cream tests and interviewing dogs… So, what happened? Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Danish statsminister (Prime Minister), went live to…