I had to give a parent/student presentation about our Seattle Project last Tuesday night to the incoming 1st years. So there I was, up in the front of about 80-90 people, sharing all my pearls of wisdom PÅ DANSK... not using any notes, although I did occasionally refer to a slide in my Power Point, but really just TALKING to the audience about each of the points I needed to make.
I thought it went great. There were a few times that I just could not recall the word I needed PÅ DANSK, so I threw in an English word. Why not? Danes get to do it, right?! :-)
I had explained to the parents that as they LISTENED CAREFULLY to my very TEXANSK DANSK, they should not think of it as work, but rather ENTERTAINMENT that they did not have to pay for!
So 20 or 25 minutes later, I was finished. Questions were answered and several students were already handing in their forms to enroll in the new Seattle Group, and since that was the PURPOSE of my talk, I knew they must have understood MOST of what I said.
So I go out into the hallway, smiling about my accomplishment, and there stands one of my colleagues. Now mind you, THIS COLLEAGUE is also one of our school COUNSELORS so he is supposed to be the one that makes us feel good about ourselves, right? (LOL) Well, he had sat in on my presentation and all he had to say when I came out from the auditorium was "I think I just saw an episode of the Julekalender" to which my other colleague responded, "Yeah, maybe we can use that in another afsnit." And of course, everyone burst into laughter.
You gotta love Danish humor and LUCKILY I totally "got" this particular piece of it so I could crack up with the rest of them! Because you see the Julekalender is this awesome little show that we have at Christmas time in Jutland (the folks in Copenhagen think it's ridiculous!!) where these 3 Nisse men speak and sing in MY KIND of Danish.... the kind that mixes in a little English. Watch this video of one of their songs and then you will hear all those little "slips"....but it's what makes them CHARMING!!
So the way I figure it is that if I am causing my colleagues to think about a Jylland-tradition as big as "The Julekalender" when I speak, then I need some MAJOR INTEGRATION POINTS for that because what that means is that now I can officially call myself "JYDSK"! I think I will write to Søren Pind and tell him he needs to add an "OTHER" box on our application....this should be worth more than that silly Prøve 3 Test in my book!!
8 comments:
LOL - love that! And I'm glad you were able to laugh about it as opposed to being offended by it!
Congrats on your presentation!
I would have been a bit offended actually.
We do not share your hilarity.You are being ridiculed by your colleagues which is certainly not a cause for hilarity.
"Deet bår dæjli!"!!!
Flot Kelli!
You should say exactly the same thing *every time* they speak English.
I don't think Copenhageners think that The Julekalender is ridiculous, it is supposed to be silly, but then again I'm an Amagerkaner (to those who matter) so what would I know?
I'm glad you didn't take offence, Kelli, I know I would've. Some Danish people need to get as much as they give - I certainly would've given some of it back. And if they can't take it, they sure as shit shouldn't dish it out!
Dear Pernille Æ (if that is your name)
It is all in how you take it.
If you live on the defense all the time, you will see things like this in a defensive way.
However I am trying to understand Danish humor, Danish irony and just the social norms in a Danish workplace and if that means I am in a situation where I might initially be offended, I have to look at it and see if they are doing it to hurt me or to "poke" at me... and I am confident that this time it was the latter. To me, when you become a part of a group to the point that you can tease each other, you are really part of that group.
So you call it ridicule, I call it "all in good fun".
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