On Saturday our little expat family met at the new home of Monica and Roman.
They got the keys to their new house on Thursday and immediately drove to Bauhaus to buy all the supplies needed for the Demolition Project (AKA "Stress Relief Program") we were all invited to that weekend.
It was a real team effort, and after a few hours, we had really accomplished a lot!However I did notice three very important things during our work:
1. The girls never stopped working.....
no matter how tired we were....
or how thirsty we were....
or how much our arms hurt from all that MANUAL labor,
we never stopped!
We were like the Energizer Bunnies!! 2. The boys seemed to need a Beer Break after each big task that they did. "Rip out one appliance-- beer break." "Tear down one wall--beer break." "Take one load to the dump--yep, beer break!"
and 3. No matter how old boys get, they will always LOVE THEIR TOYS!
A bit of history: Danes get a really bad rep for being "stand offish" when it comes to strangers-- a trait that they believe shows respect (by their not getting into your personal business) but a trait that many foreigners mistake for coldness. However I keep telling people that THINGS ARE DIFFERENT IN HERNING... and after Saturday's events, I have at least a dozen witnesses who can vouch for me!
So knowing that, I have to say that the COOLEST PART of the day was mid-afternoon when we were out in the driveway loading all the debris in the trailer. An older gentleman made his way across the street and said to us (in Danish) "I was just out getting my mail and I thought I would come over and meet my new neighbors and say welcome." NO, I AM NOT KIDDING.
And when he found out his new neighbors were ..... FOREIGNERS, he did not run away or get a scared look on his face. In fact, he said (in English!) how awesome he thought this was and that he thought it was amazing that all of us were there helping them to do this work.... So on Saturday, 17 September 2011 LOTS of walls came down in Herning, Denmark and I am pretty proud that I got to be a part of both the LITERAL and the FIGURATIVE events! 
6 comments:
This is such a heart-warming story!
How cool! Amazing you have such great help and looks like you are in a good neighborhood. What more could you ask for?!
No, Anon. I don't wonder about THAT particular thing, but I do wonder why on earth YOU cannot SEE the GOOD without playing the what if game?
Ha ha, boys will be boys <3
This is a great story but I have to ask, you said, taking a load to the dump- beer break, is it allowed to drink and drive in Denmark? It´s very strict here so no one would be going anywhere if they had been drinking.
Norwegians are also looked at as cold, rude, stand offish by Americans living here (I am in these American/Norway groups on facebook and they bitch ALL the time there about Norwegians) but what you said makes sense about why they are how they are. Personally I have never met rude, cold, or stand offish Norwegians but then again- I truly believe you get what you give, not always but 99% of the time that has been my experience..
Have a great weekend my dear- was grrrrrrreeat news about your daddy :-))) So happy!
Amy-- I wondered if anyone would "catch" that . :-)
In Dk there is a 2 beer limit for drivers...
Very much like the .08 blood alcohol limit in Texas.
Danes are VERY conscious about it too.. in fact, Mads was the one doing the Dump runs and he made sure he was having soda until AFTER the runs were done. :-)
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