All on a Friday!

Haha, sorry, I don't have a clever title for this one. And I have quite a bit to say as it's going on 11:30 and I've been home for about 30 minutes since leaving for work this morning.

I did not go for a bike ride this morning because I wanted to get to work early to make sure I could get two reactions in for the day. Well, I left a little after 7:30 and got to work around 8:20. Oh, but before I go further, if the bread on sale looks like it has carrot pieces in it, it probably does. So just because it's on sale does NOT mean you should buy it to save 5 kroner. Just an fyi.

Anywho, once at work I got to work right away. Things took a little longer than I would've liked because glycerol takes forever to heat up. Esben nearly scared the pants off me when he came into lab because I wasn't expecting him till like 9 and it was 8:40. I spent little time at my desk as I was observing, finishing and analyzing reactions and products.

It was nearing lunch time and Anders, the guy who retaught me how to titrate, asked if I'd like to go to lunch. I said sure. Esben came to my desk not two minutes later and said he was going to lunch. I had to choose: eat with Esben or hold to what I'd said and eat with Anders and Mai Britt (the lab technician of our group). I decided to hold to what I'd said and Esben went off. Anders, Mai Britt and I headed to lunch 10-15 minutes later and, before we did, I prayed. And you know what? It was fine! I asked them about their work projects and once we had our food Mai Britt asked what the English words were for some of the veggies and the flying insects that kept coming to our table. We ended up sitting at the table next to Esben, Kresten and Matt but didn't really talk to them. I did learn that Anders actually lives over two hours away from Topsoe, on a little island. Because the distance is so great he is only there on the weekends and has an apartment here during the week. He makes dinner for his wife every Friday, the first day he is home, which I thought was sweet. I can't imagine living like that, though, where I would only see my husband for 3 days but I am not married nor that old so I can't really judge their choice. At one point while we were eating everyone was talking in Danish. Now, I am learning a word or two a day but because I have no Danish grammar skills it is hard to understand what people are saying. During those few minutes I really missed having Klas or Arkady around because they would have said something in English or at least also been quiet. But no big deal, really. On the way back Mai Britt and Anders taught me a couple words, velbekomme being the best. It is analogous to Bon apetit (sorry if I spelled that completely wrong). :-)

The afternoon was also pretty busy as I had more analysis to do and another reaction. I had time to sit at my computer, though, and I read up on some world news as well as updated spreadsheets and presentations. Arkady came to visit us in the lab to see if we'd want to go to the pub for a beer and some pool after work. We agreed we'd meet up a little after 4 to go. I successfully used the GCMS here by myself and got results. Oh, I also successfully broke a burette and funnel today. Yeah, that was fun. I was doing a titration and after refilling the burette went to take the funnel out and apparently hit the stand holding the burette and it went flying backwards into the hood and hit one of the bars on the back. The top of the burette broke off and the bottom of the funnel did too. Thankfully I didn't get cut or any NaOH on me. Still, I broke a burette. Poo on a stick.

After everything was shut down and Esben and I talked about the next set of reactions we'd try we met Arkady and headed to the pub. The "pub" is on the Topsoe grounds and really all it ended up being was a beer machine. Similar to a soda machine but it puts out glass beer bottles and has a can opener on it. I started out with the Tuborg Special I think and watched the first game of pool. I played the next one and won with Klas as my partner. I think I won the next game with Rashid as my partner (a new person I met today; his office is right next to Esben's and he did NOT go to DTU--a first!). One more game with Klas as my partner and we again won. Then I played one-on-one with Arkady. He kicked my butt the first game and I won by default on the second because he scratched on the 8-ball. Esben and Rashid had left by that time and Klas and Arkady invited me to go downtown to eat with them before they headed to the Friday night concert at Tivoli. They invited me to that as well but Tivoli is expensive and I do not have a year long card so it isn't exactly economical for me to go for a few hours on a Friday night. Anyway, we headed downtown in the rain and eventually decided to eat at Vesuvio of Copenhagen, a pizzaria. We had quite a bit of time to talk and they kept telling me to say something so I just started asking questions. I asked about their families, their favorite color and from there we talked about favorite music and movies and where I see myself in 5 or 10 years. It was really nice. The pizza I ordered was very good but I could only eat half of it. No worries, I had two grown men to finish the rest of it. :-) They then walked me to the train station and I headed home. When I reached Hellerup I realized I'd forgotten to get my postcards from Arkady; I'd given them to him to keep dry in his bag since it was raining. So now I won't be able to send them until Tuesday of next week--oops!

While I was waiting for the bus at Hellerup I heard some yelling, in English, and realized a very ticked off guy was yelling at a woman standing near the station sidewalk. It was somewhat obvious they were lost but I didn't really know what to do. As God would have it they eventually walked by me and I asked if they needed help. You should've seen the relief on their faces; the poor woman had been crying too. As I talked and tried to figure out where they wanted to go the guy all of a sudden asked me if I was from America. I said "Well, yeah." and also told them I was from WI. We traded stories as to why we are here in Denmark; turns out they are both interns at the US Embassy, which is pretty cool. I kind of helped them get to the right bus and then got on my own. I'm sure they got to Svanemollen safely. I then came home and here I am.

Tomorrow is my day adventure to Roskilde with Brandon, Burchin and Patrick. I'm meeting them at 10 so I need to head to bed. Today was very good, though. I thanked Arkady and Klas for inviting me out because I really did appreciate it. I am so blessed. I would do just about anything to increase the amount of time I am to be here because I myself feel more comfortable and I think my coworkers are also more comfortable. I cannot tell you how many times I said "Poo on a stick" or "Holy poo" while we were playing pool. And the funny things that were said because it was Friday and no one was fully thinking were priceless. Really, I am blessed to be here and enjoying it!

Please continue to pray for the health of my coworkers and myself. Pray for courage, patience and peace of mind for me. Pray for a safe day tomorrow as we are out and about in Roskilde. Thank you so much for praying or thinking about me!

Have a great night/day/afternoon,
Bekah