Walking In Heels

So today was officially my first day of work at Haldor Topsoe. Since I didn’t post yesterday I will backtrack a little first.

Sunday had an adventure all it’s own because I had to get from my house to one of the train stations, Noerreport. This particular station is incredibly busy. All three modes of public transportation meet at Noerreport: bus, train, and metro. Saturday night I had figured out what time the bus would leave and knew I would have plenty of time in the morning. The plan was to take the 11:03 bus to Noerreport and then walk around aimlessly until I was to meet Cecilia, college ministry contact, at 12:20. About 10:45 I left for the bus. As I closed the door an older woman stopped and started giving me a verbal thrashing in Danish. I tried a few times to say, “I’m sorry but I don’t speak Danish” but never got beyond “I’m sorry.” The third time I said “I’m sorry” she looked at me, pointed her finger and said “Are you English?” When I confirmed this she proceeded to give me the whole thrashing again. In English. She went on about some rate that I of course wouldn’t think to pay being English and that they wouldn’t stand for any leaning against the wall and doing nothing. That was nonsense and wouldn’t be stood for. I stood there wondering what on earth to do and, when she finished the second thrashing, I told her I would let my host know and she let me leave. I walked to the bus stop trying to figure out how exactly I felt about what had just happened and, upon looking at the posted schedule, found out there was another bus at 11:34 and 12:04. Since I had no idea how long it would take to get to Noerreport I decided to take the 11:34 bus and walked back to the house to read for half an hour. Thankfully the second time I left the house I was not accosted by an older woman. I found out later that she is a little crazy but will do no harm. Good to know.

Anyway, I stood waiting for the bus for 15 minutes and had three men, who happened to walk by me every minute to load a moving van, constantly looking at me like I was crazy or probably wondering how a female could be standing at the bus stop for so long with no coat and no stockings/leggings under her skirt. People, it’s been between 18-24 Celsius here and I love it. It’s a little chilly in the morning but you suck it up and by afternoon you’re glad you don’t have a coat. The weather is seriously perfect! The bus arrived, I checked with the driver that we were headed to Noerreport (no repeat of Saturday’s mistake!) and sat down. Upon arrival at the station I double checked with the driver and he said "Oh no, this isn’t it" and I said "Oh really? Okay" and he proceeded to get a big grin on his face and say "No, no, this is the station." We laughed and off I went. It must have been obvious I had NO idea where I was going because he got off the bus and asked me where I wanted to go. I told him and it was just a short walk away. I was half an hour early so I decided to wander around. I found old buildings, a cute kaffe shop, and another shop that had plates, bags, and random other things. I met Cecilia and we walked to church. She helped set up before church started and I was introduced to Ray (Lithuanian). That’s what I’m going to call him here anyway until I know how to accurately say and spell his name. He showed me into church and a couple of people introduced themselves and, because Cecilia hadn’t come out yet, I asked to sit with him and Thomas (Romanian). Service began and it wasn’t much different from Elmbrook or Blackhawk (as long as you don’t consider size a HUGE difference), just a few congregational readings in addition to everything else. Announcements were read and I found out that the pastor of the church is organizing IBC Interlacken: a meeting in Interlacken, Switzerland for Baptist churches in Europe and one of the featured speakers is Stuart Briscoe. I nearly jumped out of my seat I got so excited! This world is so small; who would have thought a pastor from my home church would be featured at a meeting overseas? I certainly didn’t, but I don’t give much thought to these things. I shared the news with Ray and Cecilia and both thought it was interesting. Anyway, the sermon was on being patient. The biggest takeaway for me: do not let the circumstances you are in frustrate you so much that you become upset. Oh yeah, that was definitely me on Saturday. Go figure that would be the topic on Sunday. :-)I got to meet the Interim Pastor (who spoke) and not only thank him for the sermon but also tell him I’m from Elmbrook. All the people I met were so friendly and there was something wonderful about being around a bunch of people who do NOT speak Danish as their first language. There was a family there who had been living in Sweden but was from WI and will be moving to Oklahoma this week. It was a great blessing to meet them but also sad to learn they were leaving. After church Ray walked me to the station but then offered to show me the Botanical Gardens because they were not far away. We got sidetracked by another area I pointed out and ended up walking around Copenhagen for three hours! I saw sooo much! The Queen’s garden, one of her castles (it looks like it was plucked straight out of a fairytale), Nyhavn (New Harbour), King’s garden, another palace where the Royal Family is actually staying, the New Opera, a huge church, and I rode the Metro back to Noerreport and then the bus home. Now, three hours walking is nothing normally but I had worn heels to church and all the walkways were made of cobblestone. Needless to say my feet were not happy by the time I got home. Still, it was an adventure worth having and definitely caused me to fall in love with the history of this city--and just the city itself.

Once at the house, I called home and talked to my family and ate and eventually figured out directions to work. So many blessings: meeting people, the walking tour, family, and then finally getting directions that had caused me so much frustration Saturday! I was excited and uploaded pictures and planned for today but went to bed late. I do not presently have an alarm clock so I’m using one on my laptop and I didn’t set the sound high enough and woke up at 6:55 instead of 6:20. Yay! There are no worries, though. I made the bus (after going to the wrong stop and having two sweet women turn me around and then tell me to run after the bus I’d just missed) and had no trouble getting on the right trains to work. The last train was a local one and, since it didn’t come right away and there were no visible signs, I asked the young man near me if I was in the right place. He said yes and that he was going to the same place. I didn’t want to seem creepy so I did not sit directly by him on the train. We did, indeed, get off at the same stop and, as I again looked around trying to find Esben, my boss, he asked if I was going to IBM. Apparently IBM and Topsoe are near each other and that’s where he works. I said no, I’m looking for Topsoe and shortly thereafter Esben found me. I’m so grateful for nice people! And like any normal person I’m hoping the same young man is on the same train home tonight so I can thank him again for his help...or just see him again. :-P

So now I’m at work. Again, I’m wearing heels because I wanted to look nice for the first day. Esben showed me around a bit and I have my own desk area. On our way to the lab I met Jesper. I have no idea WHAT he does but he was very friendly and asked me all sorts of questions and then I found out that he is the one who put the order in for my computer. Yes, apparently I get a computer while I’m here. Awesome. Anywho, the lab looks different and yet not from those in Madison. Most walls are white and there’s more fume hoods but overall it doesn’t feel too different. Esben went through and explained to me the reaction we are working on and I asked questions about set up and analysis. They do not have an HPLC here. Instead, titration is used. I haven’t done a titration since Chem 115 so I made sure to let Esben know I am out of practice. It won’t be too difficult, though, and we only need titration if we take a certain route for the reaction. I am pretty sure we are both praying we don’t have to take that route. I read articles for an hour then Esben and Simon (Esben’s boss) took me down to the cafeteria. 11.00 kr for lunch (that's $2.06) and it was good. At the hot food table a man kept looking at me strange as Esben answered my questions about food (it’s all in Danish) and the man eventually stopped me and asked if I was American. Turns out he and I are the only Americans here! His name is Brandon and he’s full time. He mentioned an International Network so I’ll have to look into that at some point. How did he guess I was American? My “accent” is a little different than the Danes when they speak English. It is weird, I find myself talking kind of funny the more I talk to Danes. Their English is very good but every people group has little things that make their English unique. I think I’m picking up on those.

Anywho, after lunch more reading and then a safety tour from Henning, another worker, in the lab and then more reading and now I’m writing this in Word. Esben said when the work is done there’s no reason to stay but it’s not even 4 yet (I started this a bit after 3) and I feel guilty. It’s a different atmosphere here and definitely summer/holiday time. I’ll head off in a little bit. Sitting has been nice, especially because my feet still hurt and today’s heels aren’t helping any.

I'm actually back at the house now. I went to give Esben the catalyst I'd brought to find that he was gone for the day. It wasn't even 4 yet! So I packed up and headed to the train. I have quite the commute: a local train then switch lines to an S-train then catch a bus then a 5-10 minutes walk to the house. Today was good, though. Oh yeah, did I mention there are free coffee machines ALL OVER at work? Yeah, if I were a coffee drinker I'd probably be in heaven. Good thing there's hot chocolate too. :-) Yeah, that's right, be jealous!

Once home I called home and found out that my brother and mother had spent about two hours total trying to buy my football tickets. And they got them! My mom said she was stressed and from all the Facebook statuses saying the server was being stupid I can only imagine what went on. So this is a huge shoutout to my mom and brother for getting me football tickets!

I eventually went to the store because I needed more meat and some veggies and juice and whatnot. Plus, my bus pass has ten "klips" on it. The city is divided into zones and one "klip" is good for two zones. I go through 4 zones to get to work so I need two "klips" to get to work and two more to get home. A ten "klip" ticket is $24 so it's be $48 a week for me to get to and from work. Granted, over 8 weeks that's only like $400...but still! So as soon as I can figure out how to get a picture of myself printed I'm getting a monthly pass. It will be way more convenient and, overall, less expensive.

So yeah, that's it for now. Just going to chill for the rest of the evening and go to bed early. 6:30 is very early in the morning! Oh and a word of advice: if you go to a new place and don’t know if you’ll be walking long distances, wear flats.

Until the next post,

Bekah