All Over the World At The End of Day

After a late night yesterday it was difficult to get myself up and going.  But we had homework, plus I wanted to make an extra batch of cookies.  Today was the big day in class.  We each brought a dish from our homeland!!!

I have wondered for a few weeks what to take to our Danish course international party.  There are only a dozen of us or so, but SK and I are the only ones from the States, and with Doris, the only ones from the western hemisphere.  The problem with anything that I can think of as American is that it would have had to sit for 2 hours before being served, and hamburgers don't taste good under those circumstances.  I finally settled on cookies, but I decided to give it my best shot and take 3 varieties.

We took SK's favorite: white chocolate almond, and my favorite:  the humble little chocolate chip cookie, and one I have had great success with:  Erin's chocolate crinkles.

Normally we work for an hour and an half, have a half hour break and one hour more of class before getting out at 3.  Today we worked for an hour and 45 minutes and then began our little party...which took the rest of class time.  We were all kind of excited about it.

At the break, it was like relief society!  Some women just naturally take over when it comes to things like that, and Melba and Doris set to work laying out cups, plates, plastic utensils and napkins.  Doris made sure everyone had a little of everything, while Melba did the same...both very sweet.

We took a large bottle of Dr. Pepper...something we thought was uniquely American.  No one had ever tasted it.  One girl from India thought it was pretty bad...most others thought it tasted medicinal, and one of the teachers thought it tasted like prophy paste (the stuff Olga uses to clean your teeth!).  Basically, it was not well-received.

We had wonderful curry rice from India, an excellent cream chicken over a thin slice of potato topped with a boiled egg from Peru, a spicy hot chili with a very thin bread/tortilla from Liberia, an amazing pink cold soup from Latvia, baked garlic chicken from Philippines, an excellent vegetable noodle dish from South Korea, a banana meringue cake from Slovakia, a very interesting juice, some delicious fresh potatoes, Dr. Pepper and three kinds of cookies!

Have you ever seen pink soup?  It is a cold soup from Latvia, closely related to Borscht.

It was downright fun.  Everything was quite tasty and so interesting....flavors we hadn't had before. The cute young Korean said to me before class, "I'm nervous about the dish I made!"  She was genuinely worried about whether or not anyone would like it.  Our cute friend from India was also a little apprehensive, because she is just beginning to cook.  (She says her husband is kind about her attempts.)

After everything had been served up and we were all sitting at our desks trying the various dishes, Andruis leaned back in his chair and with a big smile stated, "This is fun!"  Everyone was openly complimentary to everyone else, and I think everyone came away from the little party feeling better about being there and about themselves.  Isn't that really great?

The cookies were devoured and I believe enjoyed.  SK felt vindicated that his cookies were the most well-liked, and he was gracious about it.  Then we all parted for a week.  It is Spring break next week so we will not meet again until the 22nd of April.  I am sooooooooooo looking forward to not having to go to school 4 days a week!

We walked home and then walked into Copenhagen and down by the waterway to a very large shopping center where we meandered around for a couple of hours.  We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look.  The shopping center is called Fiskatorvet or  "Fish Market."  I believe it must have once been a site for selling fish, but now there are hotels and large business buildings built right over the water, and this huge mall.

This giant sculpture is made up of hundreds of silver fish.

We walked home and played "Nines" with Elder and Sister Thorne for an hour or so.  It is an easy game to learn and fast moving.  You can visit while you play so it makes for a relaxing time.  They have been here 2 weeks now and are beginning to get the hang of everything.  They are doing great.
They have been doing a lot of walking today too.

Would you like to do something fun and exciting?  Enroll in a Danish class!...of course you'll have to come to Denmark first....but I am positive you would love it here.