jelly fish

We went on a walk yesterday to the little harbour in Kolding with my cousin Marianne and her dog Sussi. Mei and Rus caught three jelly fish. After much deliberation, we gave them the names Rainbow, Pinky and Marianne. Next time we go there, we are certain that they will come to us when we call them by those names.

Pinky and Rainbow

Rainbow

Marianne, Sussi, Dean and Mei

docks

Dean and a sunken sailboat

the outside world

As with most people around the world whose normal lives are shut down, our days all blend together and become almost indistinguishable. For me, they are now divided into days that I work and days that I don't work (although I still attempt to have a different mindset on Sundays).  On the days that I don't work, we have been finding ways to get out and explore the outside world despite not being able to go to any museums or castles or other cool places we were hoping to visit together when Rus and Dean came back. This afternoon, all seven of us went for a long walk together. Rus goes for a bike almost every day with some of the kids and he had discovered this wetlands area and abandoned house. Dean was afraid of the abandoned house last time, but today he crawled inside and explored it with the rest of us.

Swan at the lake - picture taken by Dean on their first visit

just a creek

Liam and Dean having a chat

Mei

Dean, Mei, Rus, Liam, Freya, Ila

Dean

the little abandoned yellow house - Dean wants a thatched roof house now

Dean - on the inside looking out this time

Ila and Freya - the tunnel under the train tracks

Group selfie by Dean

Dean's selfie with Ila and Liam

our Saturday afternoon

It was a beautiful day today and I didn't have to work so Rus, Dean, Freya and I took the opportunity to go for a bike ride into the woods close to home. It was just what we needed: exercise, fresh air, sunshine and the discovery of a rope swing.

Freya

an old railroad station/cafe in the middle of the forest

the plaque explaining the history of the station

Dean at the little bridge over the creek

covid-19 virus in Denmark

The Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, announced on Wednesday evening in a press conference that all public educational institutes and public service buildings will close for two weeks; essentially that Denmark will shut down for two weeks to slow the spread of the virus to make treatment more manageable. People were encouraged to not gather in large groups, keep a safe distance from others and to work from home if possible. Immediately after the announcement, people flocked to the grocery stores to load up on toilet paper and food. They stood tightly packed in long lines. So if they didn't have the corona virus before, their chances of having it now are higher.
Since then, other measures have been put in place.
Yesterday, I had to board the bus through the back door to keep a safe distance from the driver.  There were only 2-3 others on any of the busses I have taken since Wednesday. In the cafeteria at work, we have to sit in every second chair and not across from each other. We have to keep a one meter distance from colleagues and customers.
Rus had a job interview at an English language school in Germany yesterday, which was probably pointless to bother going to because the borders have since been closed to foreigners entering Denmark. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to make it back and would be stuck in Germany. People are allowed to leave Denmark if necessary but borders are closed to people coming into Denmark unless they are Danish citizens returning home.
Right now I have excellent job security, filling online grocery orders. I have been working every day as much as I am able. I took today off because I needed some family time and I know that they needed me. And I was getting worried that I would burn out. So today the sun is shining (a rarity this year in Denmark!) so we are going to go on a bike ride and then I will be refreshed and able to work hard again tomorrow.
Bilka has barely been able to keep up with orders. They have recruited employees from all the other departments to help and are taking up more and more space in the warehouse. They have put a cap on the amount of orders being taken and have pushed the pickup time up by three hours but are still scrambling to finish. Sometimes, it feels like there are more of us pushing those big carts around the store than there are customers.
Today I feel so blessed that this is the employment that I was able to get. There are many who have lost their jobs or whose family restaurants and small businesses will suffer. The social system here in Denmark is so good that most people don't have to worry and everyone should be taken care of. I can't imagine what it will be like in other places where they don't have those measures in place.
Today I also feel blessed that Dean and Rus were able to return to Denmark. It was only one week before they closed the borders to foreigners. We aren't sure what this will mean for us returning to Canada eventually, but right now I have work and we are all in the same country.
And lastly, I feel blessed that we don't have any chronic health conditions that would make this virus so dangerous. We will most likely get it eventually, but when we do, we will get over it.
Stay safe everyone, don't panic, and please help those around you who need it.

no school = lots of time to get creative!

The boys are back!

Freya and I took the train to the Copenhagen airport this afternoon to meet Dean and Rus. I think Dean has grown and Dean thinks Freya has grown. It was good to see Dean and Freya together again, chasing each other around the train station. I think Freya has missed having someone she can run around and be a kid with. And when we got home to Kolding, and the dinner conversation with Rus turned to movies, I could tell that Ila and Mei have missed having someone to talk movie culture with.

Dean and Denmark reunite

Århus

Freya and I took a little trip to Århus together this weekend to hang out with Liam and attend a regional conference for our church. Liam rents a room in a place that used to be an office building where half of the building has been converted into rooms for rent, either through Airbnb or on a more permanent basis. Liam has two other roommates who rent monthly like him and the rest are rented through Airbnb. There is no living room but there are two shared bathrooms and a kitchen. It makes for a strange living environment, having many new roommates every night.
Freya and I were able to stay in one of the nightly rentals for free if Liam promised to clean it after for the owners (Thanks Liam!)
Liam met us at the train station yesterday and we explored downtown all afternoon, visiting a tiny viking museum and an enormous old church. Liam had to work last night until early this morning and we just let him sleep when we left for the conference today so we didn't get to hang out with him the whole time but it was nice to see where he lives and works.

Downtown Århus with Liam and Freya

The cafe and wine bar where Liam works

Spring flowers

Viking artefacts

Skeleton of a man from the Viking age, found at site of museum, believed to have been murdered. 

Århus Domkirke

The altar

Meeting room in the church

There are many of these gravestones in the floors of old churches

Århus playhouse

Just a doorway that I thought was pretty

An old building and a goofball

Another old building, same goofball

Just a cute little old classic Danish church close to where Liam lives

Liam's place

Back to Kolding by train