Week 1 in Poland!

Today is my 7^th day in Poland . After arriving and talking with the internship program, it looks like my internship has now just be postponed. It will be starting in about a week. A few of the other interns had problems with their visas so they couldn’t come sooner. In the mean time, I have gotten to speak at a few schools and see Poland . I will know in a week what is actually happening. In the mean time, I have been staying with the girl in charge of the program, Maria, and her family. They have been really nice. I have also gotten to hang out with Maria and some of her friends. We went dancing in Gdansk on Saturday night. Imagine walking through streets that are 1000s of years old at night time! Enchanting! I can’t wait to see more of the city because it is so historic. So maybe it will work out afterall… Keep praying!

Bethany Is Well!!!

Hello everyone!

as you can tell by the change in tone this is not Bethany. Im her brother.

Bethany is doin well right now. She is in Poland living in a flat with the girl whom she has been communicating with all summer about this internship. They have been really nice to her and love having her there. She will probably be staying there another week, or at least until the final housing for the interns is ready. Tomorrow she will probably be talking to school kids about cowboys. To make things even more fun, (i cant think of anything better than talking about cowboys), shes not sure if she will have a translator. Not as many people speak english in Poland as in Copenhagen. So please pray that these presentations go well.

Bethany has enjoyed her time in Poland so far. Living with a family she has gotten to experience authentic Polish food. She really likes her hosts. She has also gotten to see some of the city as well, which sounds gorgeous.

The reason I am writing this post is because she has been using her hosts computer and doesnt want to take too long. I know, I love reading her blog too, and have been anxious to hear the latest. Thank you to everyone who has left her messages asking how she is! It means a lot to her that people care and are prayin. It means a lot to me too. Once she gets to her final housing situation she will take the reigns back and you will willn't have to listen to me :)

David

Bethany Is Well!!!

About My Internship...

So not everything has gone to plan with my internship. Yesterday, I got an email saying that due to some visa problems with another one of the interns, the program was going to be postponed until a much later date. So, yeah. Not good news. It’s not looking like there is going to be an internship for me after all. However, they are still going to let me come to Poland and will provide me with free housing for a week or two. They are also going to show me around the city and local area.

At first I was really upset but then I realized that they were actually being generous by allowing me to still come and providing housing for me. It wasn’t their plan for the internship to be cancelled either. Now I need to figure out what to do after my time in Poland. I’m trying to find another internship or volunteer program that I can work with for a while. There is a slight possibility that I may get to work in an orphanage for a while. We shall see what happens. Thankfully, I serve a good God who loves me and always has my best interest in mind. In him I trust…

I ate lunch at a little coffee shop that is located on the second story of a bookstore. I ordered a chicken sandwich and a latte. The latte foam was shaped in the shape of a heart. The chicken sandwich was really, really good. The best sandwich I’ve had on this trip (although they all have been good). It had really tender slices of turkey with tomato, lettuce, and red onion. The bread was a brown wheat bun with lots of seeds and was very soft. I sat by the window and people watched as I ate my lunch. I had a great view.

I walked through a beautiful park. There was a sunflower patch. The sunflowers must have been at least 10 or 12 feet high. I took lots of pictures of them. The park led to the old castle. I walked around the outside of it but didn’t go inside. You have to pay to see the castle and I got there right at closing time. Oh well. It was still fun to see what I could see.

In Sweden there is no such thing as a free restroom. No matter where you go, you must pay 5 Kroner. It’s less than a dollar but it’s funny they make you pay. I wonder why…

My Birthday Adventure!

To celebrate my birthday today, I decided to really celebrate! I went to Malmo, Sweden! I was in two countries on my 23rd birthday! It was so much fun! Malmo is amazing!!! I explored the shopping area that is close to the train station and saw the outside of an old castle. I was brave today. I had to take the train to go to Malmo. Thankfully, I was able to purchase a roundtrip ticket this time. That made it a lot easier. I had perfect timing at the train station. I literally bought my ticket and had five minutes to make the next train. There is a train to Malmo every 20 minutes. It is a one minute walk to the tracks from the ticket office. It was really fun to see Copenhagen from the train. So much pretty country side. I also got to see the Baltic while we were on the bridge that connects to Sweden.

Tivoli Gardens

I visited Tivoli Gardens today. I decided to buy a pass to go into the park so that I can go whenever I want while I am here both now and at Christmas. It was a little bit more than the cost of going two times. Right now, the park is decorated for fall and in December it will be decorated for Christmas. It will be fun to see it in two different seasons. There is so much to see at the park. It has lots of rides, shows, shops, and restaurants. It is really inexpensive to buy pass for a ride. They had the largest pumpkins in Denmark on display today. I guess they do a national pumpkin competition. It was really fun to see everything there. I saw part of a play and listened to a small brass band. The band had to wear pumpkins on the top of their heads. They wiggled as they walked around. It was really funny to see. I felt a little sorry for them. They have a beautiful castle, too. I can see why it influenced Walt Disney to build Disneyland.

Mokka!

Today has been another great day. I started the day out by going to this really cute coffee shop that I’ve walked past a couple of times. It was delicious! I ordered a mokka. It came served in a clear glass cup with a small piece of chocolate. It was the best mocha I have ever had! I think Uptown Esresso in SLO has been beat in the competition of being the best coffee shop in the world! Each table had an orchid plant on it and a little cup that was filled with coffee beans with a candle in it. I sat at a high table by the window and enjoyed the view of a busy intersection. It was fun to see all of the people who walked, biked, and drove by. The whole coffee bar had a very calm feel to it. It was very upscale, but simple. I really liked it.

Day 5!

Today was my 5th day in Copenhagen. I decided my main mission would be to see the famous Little Mermaid Statue. It is located at the north end of town and is on the coast. I decided that I would walk by the waterways that are near my hotel to get there. It made for a very scenic walk. It is definitely fall here. No question about it. The trees are a million shades of yellows, reds, oranges, and greens. There were many swans out swimming today. They are such peaceful creatures.
Before I arrived at the statue, I stopped by Copenhagen’s old fortress. It is similar to our Fort McHenry. It is in a star shape and all of the buildings are hundreds of years old. I felt like I went back in time. The facilities are still maintained and in use by the military. I’m not really sure what they do with it but they do maintain it well. I saw my first windmill here. It was on top of a hill in the center of the fortress.
Just outside of the fortress was a beautiful old church. It was made out of stones and had a very tall steeple. It looked like something you would see in a fairytale. I then walked along the coast to the Little Mermaid Statue. It looked just like the pictures. There were a lot of people taking pictures there. Needless to say, it is very famous.

The Hotdog Cart

I got lunch from a hot dog cart today. A lot of the tour guides I’ve been reading recommend trying out the hot dog stands. There are about 20 different types of hotdogs they can make for. There are different types of buns and different types of condiments that you can have them put on it. I tried a “Fransk Hotdog.” It was a hotdog put inside a hollowed out French roll. They put whatever condiments you want in the bread because it is like a bowl. Then they put the hotdog in. It was really good. It is not the same type of hotdog that we have in the US. It was lean and tasty. The bread made it really good. Their catsup was different than ours. It tasted more like tangy pizza sauce. Next time I think I will get it without the catsup. It definitely rivals the dodger dog. I think it’s on a whole other level!

Legos!!!!

When I was at city hall square today, there was a huge lego building contest going on. There were table set up everywhere with white legos. Throughout the day, people had been building famous buildings in the city with the legos. It was quite a site. Each time that I have been at the city hall square, something different has been going on. One day there were Native Americans playing music and dancing. Another day they were passing out free toilet paper and talking about recycling. I guess you never know what will be happening there!

Statues Everywhere!

Everywhere you go there are statues! A lot of them are over 100 years old. I would say that about every three blocks you run into a statue. Since the captions are in Danish, i'm not sure who they are and what they mean. But i do know that they seem to be very important, so i take pictures of almost all of them. I'm probably going to come home with a million pictures of statues that i have no idea who they are and where it was. Oh well, they do make for great picture ops. I'm starting to get good at taking my own picture because it is usually hard to find someone to take my picture.

The Movies

I went to the movies tonight. That was an experience. It was a two story theater. It had a very classy feel to it and was decorated with marble and large columns. So apparently, when you buy a movie ticket they assign you your seat. Yes, that was a surprise. I had no idea since I couldn’t read the ticket that there was an assigned seat. So of course, I sat in someone else’s seat and when they arrived they had to explain it to me. Oh well, trial and error. The rest of the movie experience went fine.

Rosenberg Castle

Today I went to Rosenberg Castle. It was built in the early 1600s. In the 1800s, it became used as a storage house for the excess items of the royal family. Soon, it was turned into a museum. It was the first castle museum to organize the rooms chronologically. At the time, other museums were arranged by item. All the paintings in one room, the statues in another, tapestries in another… The castle was beautiful! There was so much to see. Beautiful, ornate rooms. Huge paintings and sculptures. Each ceiling had a different carving or painting on it. There was a throne room. The views from the castle were breathtaking. The castle overlooks Rosenberg Garden. It was easy to feel like you were back in time.

I also got the chance to see part of the royal treasury. There were all sorts of things carved out of ivory, dishes painted with gold, swords, old barrels, old wine from the 1600s. There were also jewels! They had three crowns on display. It would be impossible to count the number of jewels on each one. They were so intricate. There were huge diamonds and emeralds. So many types of expensive rocks and it was just a small display! Imagine what isn’t on display?

I ate lunch at Rosenberg Café. It is right next to the castle and is decorated in castle décor. I ordered salmon with a lemon/lime glaze. It was delicious. It also wasn’t cooked. It looked like smoked salmon so that is what I am really hoping it was. It came with a salad and some sort of pickled yellow vegetable. The vegetable wasn’t good but I probably haven’t learned how to enjoy it. I wish I could have taken a picture of my meal but my camera died. I forgot to recharge it more. I’d like to say this was my first $100 meal but really it was 100 Kroner which made it about $20. Definitely worth it for the experience and location.

Fisketrovet & the Local Bakery!

I took the train to the Fisketrov Shopping Center. I had to wait in a long line to buy the ticket because I couldn’t figure out how to use the kiosk. There are two types of train tickets. The kind from the kiosk that must be clipped in a machine and the kind you buy at the counter that are not clipped but are shown to the train attendant if they ask for it. It would have been nice if the person who sold me my ticket had explained that to me. I had to ask a worker at a food booth by the tracks how it worked. Once on the train, it went smoothly. Coming back, I had to buy a return ticket from the a machine that was not in English. That did not work. I couldn’t figure it out. I tried a lot of times. There was no one to ask so I had to walk back. It really wasn’t that far but it was frustrating. Oh well, the things you learn. Eventually I’ll get it figured out.

Fisketrov was a huge shopping mall. There were so many cute stores. They also had a huge grocery store in the mall. It sold everything! In a way it was like a miniature Wal-Mart combined with grocery store but much nicer. I got dinner at a pizza stand in the mall. I also enjoyed a piece of free cake because the mall was celebrating its birthday.

I finally discovered a bakery near my hotel. It is really good. I plan to go back tomorrow. I don’t know the name of what I got but it was similar to a glorified pop tart. It had a raspberry filling and frosting with sprinkles along the edges.

Dansk Design Center

I went to the Dansk Design Center today. It was really cool. Definitely worth paying to go to. David (my brother) would have loved it. Everything reminded me of him. I took pictures of almost every display and the captions so that David can “go” there when he sees the pictures. It wasn’t a huge center but it was very nice.

They had these really cool clear giant bubbles hanging from the ceiling that you could step inside of. Each one had a different scent. They were scents that reminded the artist of the city. She depicted Helsinki (smelled sweet and natural), Budapest (smelled like a musty, rainy day), and Paris (smelled like perfume).

They had a display on organic/local grown food, housing interior ideas to promote nature, and interesting/multipurpose clothing. They had created a mailbag that had solar panels on it so that backpackers in the great outdoors could use to hold their things and charge their cell phones at the same time. I want to know where you can go hiking in the great outdoors and have a cell phone that gets reception

Copenhagen!!!

I love Copenhagen! It is so beautiful!!! The sky is a pretty blue, the air feels crisp and clean, the people are nice, there are little lakes and waterways everywhere, there are so many unique shops, and lots of great food to try. Everything seems to be within walking distance. Lots of people ride bikes! It is like bike night in slo (minus the craziness) everyday. Everyone wears coats because it is so cold. A lot of people go running with their dogs by the waterways. Everyone dresses really, really nice. There must be a law against baggy jeans.

There is so much to do here. There are a million stores, museums, and statues to visit. So far I have been to the Black Diamond Library/Royal Library, the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Museum, and the Post Office Museum. I’ve gone to a lot of stores! Illium is a major department store here. It is like Nordstrom plus lots more and decorated in the Danish design style. It is five stories and has some form of a café on every floor. It has a whole floor devoted to lamps and cooking ware. In other words, when I arrived on that floor I felt like I was in heaven. It also has a bookstore. They serve delicious triple chocolate cake. Definitely worth trying!

I am really enjoying everything about this city.

The Flight

The flight to Copenhagen went really smoothly. I’m not sure exactly how long it was but it took about 23 hours to get there due to the time changes. Whoever said the airlines were cutting back on the services they offer has never flown on KLM. Every hour they served a drink or snack or meal. There were two meals included on the flight: dinner and breakfast. Both were really good. They served ice-cream and cake, too! They showed three movies and passed out free headsets. I saw part of Hancock and Kung Fu Panda. Both movies remind me of Kim because she recommended them both to me after seeing them this summer.
I had an hour layover in Amsterdam. The stores in the airport were really similar to the stores in Solvang. I think you could buy the same exact souvenirs in Solvang. There was also a Starbucks in the airport! So, of course, I had to try it out. Plus, the fact that I was tired and needed a pick-me-up made it sound even better. I ordered a tall and they gave me a grande instead. Nice!
I hailed my first taxi at the Copenhagen airport. All of the taxis are Mercedes in Copenhagen. The ride to my hotel was really pretty. It was a nice intro to what the city is like. My hotel is nice. Small, but nice. There is a pretty view out of my window and the hotel is about a block away from the waterways.

Two More Days!

In two more days, I will be on an airplane headed to Europe! I am so excited! There is so much to do in the next two days but I know that the time will fly by fast so I must enjoy my last few days at home.

Tonight my family celebrated my birthday and my mom's birthday together. We enjoyed a beautiful feast at Lucile's Barb-b-que. It was sooo good! Tonight was also the last time that I will get to see my dear brother before I leave. I am really going to miss him.

Two more days...