Sand Sculpture Festival and Summerfun in Copenhagen

My mom, aunt, sister, grandmother and myself all went to a sand sculpture festival in Copenhagen. The sand is special because it has a little bit of clay in it to last a Danish summer including rain. The sand sculptures can also last up to 3 months! I found all of the sculptures very interesting and most with great meanings. There were two that I voted for. I didn't vote all based on how much I liked the sculpture, but I also took in mind the meanings and why the artist created them.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * *

 

After the festival, we walked through Copenhagen going into stores and watching street performers. I thought it turned out to be a very nice day!

For more pictures, to Picasa web.

 

BonBon Land x 2

We went to BonBon Land with our cousins and aunt! I found it extremely fun and exciting, though I believe in a matter of time, I will have gotten too old for this amusement park.

The history of theme park, BonBon Land, can be dated back to when the Danish sweets boiler, Michael Spangsberg, got an idea to produce wacky candy with such funny names as "mågeklatter", "hundeprutter" (farting dog) and "tissebleer".
From early on the candy became very popular, and children wanted to visit the factory in Holme Olstrup (a small Danish town in the countryside) to see how the cheeky and delicious pieces of candy were made. However, the production of the candy had to fulfill some very strict regulations concerning hygiene, so the factory couldn´t continue to offer visiting tours. As a result, Michael Spangsberg came up with yet another good idea - to open a small BonBon Land.
In 1992, the theme park opened with a mini candy factory, a cinema, a shop and four small boats, shaped like a duck in a small pond. The park was an immediate success with children and over the years many rides and attractions have been added making BonBon Land one of Denmark´s most popular children´s parks (in 2008 it was the eight most popular tourist attraction in Denmark).

The first day that we went
, we started out together with our cousins but we quickly decided that we would go on our own adventure and then meet them at the end of the day, since they wanted to ride all the rides for little people. We went on bouncy rides to spinny rides to straight up and down rides. All were fun, but my favorite was a river rafting one. It went like this: spin, hop, splash, down, up, down, splash- "ahh, I'm wet". There was one ride (a roller coaster) that had a long line that took about half an hour to get through. There was a young couple smooching behind me which made me pretty sick. As if someone knew, I was stuck with them on the ride... Gross! After that twisty, turny, annoying couple ride (which I did survive through) I felt like I was going to puke!!! Don't you feel bad for me? ;-)
The end of the day was nice though there was a lot of, "Can we please just go on one more ride?"

The next day was similar, repeated rides and some new ones. FUN!

More pictures at Picasa web.

Annette

Annette. My mom's mom's (Mormor) cousin. I have no clue whatsoever she would be called in terms of  relation to me. (If you know could you please tell me under comments).
Any way, back to Annette. We visited her previously after taking a bus and train to her house. She lives in Copenhagen and is very close to her sister Lene. Lene... Yes we saw her too...
When we visited Annette we did the Danish hang out thing (in my opinion). Talk, eat, talk some more, do something. In this case it was going to an old beautiful park with a new playground funded by Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. He donated 152 millioner kroner to pay for this new playground. I can't even figure out how much that is in US$. Later we went back to Annette's house where we had coffee, cake and candy, talked, and then said good bye. I thought that was a wonderful day!

Soon I will be getting my ears pierced and it all started like this...
A long time ago (2 years actually) we visited Annette and while we were eating and talking she asked me, "Do you have your ears pierced?"
I responded, "Not yet..."
"How old are you?"
"Ten."
"Well you should have your ears pierced when you are ten. You should also have a mobile phone."
"Is that so?" Mom asked.
From then on I've been nagging my mom about it and finally we came to a decision that I had to get straight A's for a year. Check that off the list! Ear piercing here I come! (We also reminded Annette and she thought that I have forgotten... No I haven't! So, we invited Annette to come along).

Horseback Riding

I just had my first horseback riding lesson!! As most of you know I LOVE horses but have never gotten the chance to ride them because of my allergies. :-)
This is a long story of how I got riding lessons, so if you don't have time, I recommend that you read this post later (I'll wait for you).
Anyways, the story goes like this, we were headed to the lake to swim for probably the third or fourth time since we've been in Denmark, but instead of turning left to the lake, my mom turned right to where my aunt used to have a horse. She apparently had been thinking about horse riding lessons since I mentioned them to her in California.
We drove up to the stables and asked them about horse riding lessons, but unfortunately it was only privately owned horses. They were very kind and they recommended a lady who gives riding lessons. We left the stables, drove down the street, and turned to the recommended place. It was so big and beautiful there. There were horses everywhere all beautiful and well taken care of. We stopped the car and walked into the stable where we met a women and her horse.
My mom introduced us and it tuned out that that is the lady who owns the place. Her name is Bente.
My mom asked:
"My daughter would like to take riding lessons. Would you be able to help her?"
Bente replied;
"Sure. Come back Saturday at 9 am. I will be with another girl as well."
I was so surprised and excited!!!!
Saturday 9 am:
We arrived to see Bente walking into the stables with her new horse Sa Mara (the brown horse in the beginning of the pictures). We petted the horse and groomed her. When we were done, Bente put Sa Mara away. At the same time, the other girl walked in with her mom expecting a horse riding lesson as well. Her name is Sofie and she is twelve.
We got our horses, mine a white beauty, and went to an inside arena. We fist walked around, then galloped, learned to jump, balanced, and stood. After that all, she told us to take off the saddles. I thought we were done. Then we started riding bareback! That was fun! About 10 minutes later, Bente had us switch horses to get used to a different horse (we will have a different horse each riding lesson). This horse was a lot smaller so I slipped off a little bit more than the bigger horse. I had a GREAT day, with GREAT news, I get to do it again on Thursday!!!

See the great pictures at Picasa web.

Den Blå Planet

We just went to Den Blå Planet, the new aquarium in Denmark. It is designed in a way that sweeps you into the aquarium like a vortex. It is the largest aquariums in Northern Europa with more than 20,000 animals and seven million liter water. The second that I saw it I knew that I would be amazed. It's funny how some things do that to you.

 http://www.denblaaplanet.dk/

For more pictures, go to Picasa web.

Viking Play

Last week, we drove up to Frederikssund to see the annual Viking play. We have seen it two times before during our visits to Denmark over the years, both amazing, but I would have to say that this one tops the ones we have seen before. 

The plot:
"Odin has had enough of Loke's bad behavior and expel him from Asgard indefinitely. To do deserve to come back, Loke devises a plan that includes his best qualities: Cheating, deceit, slander and deceit. Heimdall, as guardian of the bridge from the human world, Midgard, holding onto that Loki can not get back to Asgard.
Loke must make sure that the Jutland jarlesøn Hagbard, who is a skilled warrior to die and go to Valhalla to be one of Odin's Einherjer. Valkyries has not been satisfied with the fighters as Loke has brought, but Hagbard will be a good catch.
Hagbard dream about a beautiful girl, and he can not forget her. His mother interprets the dream as a bad omen. She senses that an evil power monitors her son.
Hagbard dragons on the raid to Say's Earl Zealand farm. Looting is, however, nothing of. Instead comes Hagbard and his brothers on the feast of Earl Says. Hagbard falls in love with Say's beautiful daughter Signe, and love is reciprocated. He knows that Signe is the girl he has seen in dreams.
Signe has another suitor, the German jarlesøn Hildegisel who are not willing to give way to Hagbard. There forged wiles - assisted by Loke and his four assistants cheating, deceit, slander and deceit and the fawning, blind counselor Bolvise.
Guest Tenders will have a sad ending, and Hagbard must escape from Earl yard and leave Signe.
Earl Says put Signes betrothal to Hildegisel implemented, but Signe has not forgotten Hagbard. She waits for him to come back. When he finally returns to the Say's Earl farm, promises Signe and Hagbard each other that not even death will separate them."

For some pictures go to Picasa web.

Stella's B-Day

For Stella's real birthday we had a small celebration at home with the four of us (Stella, myself, Mormor, and Mom) We made breakfast, with lots of  pastries, that we served for Stella in bed, went to the lake and swam, and then went with our cousins to the movie Grusome Mig 2 with McDonald's after.
A couple days later, on Saturday, everyone came together at Mormor's  (our grandmother's) garden. It was a beautiful day and we ate an amazing cake, drank hot chocolate and opened gifts. It was a great day for all of us!

You can find some pictures of Stella's birthday at Picasa web.

 

"Person Number"

Today my sister and I received our "person number" from the community we live in... It has been a LONG process to get it but now that we have I am
1) Super excited
2) Proud to say that I am officially a Danish citizen

Here is a picture of Stella and I starting the process:

School Reminder

Here are some reminders that I have about my school...

It is a public school

Teachers aren't so strict

The school is huge!

Twice the size of ISM (over 800 students)

...and here are some pictures:

Pictures

Sorry for the wait, everyone. I was busy settling in and creating new normals... Before we left, my mom got a new, high-tech, totally cool Nikon camera. We currently found out how to download them so now here they are ready to be viewed at Picasa web, though you can find the specific ones as you read the up coming posts.

Inkheart

I'm reading this book Inkheart that I borrowed from Ms. Houseman and I think that it is very good!
I recommend it to everyone who likes mysteries and/or fairytales.

Internet!!!

Yea! Today we got the internet all set up and ready. Now, you will be receiving many emails (if you subscribed...) to come check out my blog. Before I go on, I just want to say thank you all for the support and excitement about this adventure. I couldn't have done it without you.
There will be a LOT of pictures soon (well only if I find out how to do it first- my mom got a new camera). Also, if you want to contact me by Skype, please email me for my Skype account. My email is imabunhead@icloud.com. Bye for now, it's dinner time over here... :-)

Hello from Denmark!

Sorry everyone for the long wait... My Grandmother doesn't have internet yet (we are getting it on Tuesday) so right now I am at the library typing. Just to let you know, a good way of knowing when I post something is to follow by email. That helps because you will receive an email telling you when I post something new. Anyways, I hope you'll keep reading to hear all about my adventure so far...

Airport: Our flight was from San Francisco at about 5:30 pm on the 26 of June. We checked in our bags, went through security, said bye to Dad*, and took off. When we were entering the plane I was about 35% yellow (excited) and 65% blue (sad, regretful and scared). 10.5 hours later, I felt way different. After all the soda and movies on the plane, I forgot all about being at all sad or scared and I definitely wasn't regretting it at all. I was on an ADVENTURE and I, Danya Novak, half and half of Danish and American, sixth-grader, big sister of Stella was 100% yellow and ready for this. I grabbed my suitcase and marched right out of that plane knowing that I was right at home.
* Saying bye to my Dad was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. He is my dad, one of the two who raised me, and helped me grow to be who I am. I still can't put it through my mind that I wont see him for about another four months!

Life in Denmark: Life in Lynge, Denmark is nice, quiet and peaceful. Everyone owns a bikes and  rides it almost every day. Copenhagen* is different because it is not so quiet and peaceful with all of the people and tourists but it is also very nice and beautiful with all the old buildings and castles.
Everyone eats rolls or bread made from grains and seed. There is a lot of fish, meat and potatoes.
The Danes like everything new, but I'm use to everything hand-me-down and I like it that way. My mom know this place in Lynge called "Glad Gaarden". (The Happy Farm). It is a very old farm that has been turned into a "last chance". It was open the Sunday after we arrived so we went. We walked out of there with a bike each for both Stella and I, a winter jacket for each of us and for my mom and rain boots. Total cost: $89 - got to love that!! :-)
* In Copenhagen, there are a lot of street performers (a lot coming form other countries) and hotdog and ice cream stands. We saw a man who got out of chains and locks in just 3 minutes!

Stella's B-day: Stella's birthday was on the fourth of July. In Denmark the fourth of July is just another day that turned out to be a little girl's birthday. We ate yummy pastries in the morning, went and swam in the lake nearby*, saw Despicable Me 2 in Danish and in 3D, and went to McDonald's** for dinner. Her birthday will also be celebrated tomorrow on July 7.
* It was the first time that we went to the lake since we've been back. We bicycled all the way (26 or so kilometers- a little over 40 miles roundtrip!!!)
** There are McDonald's everywhere in Denmark, but people only go to McDonald's as a treat because it is so expensive...It's funny because in America I never go to McDonald's. :-)

School: Our new school is called "Lynge Skole". It s right down the street from my Grandma's house.
We met with the head of the school - Thomas Kirkegaard. He is super nice! He gave us a tour of the school and we met Stella's teacher.  

• It is a public school
• Teachers aren't so strict
• The school is huge!
• Twice the size of ISM (over 800 students)
• Have a huge building for afterschool care
• In afterschool care you make your own food and have own room for grade to hang out in

My room in afterschool care has a great view, a pool table, a few couches, a TV, and a snack bar.
My school class room is the biggest in the school because it used to be four classrooms.
There are 24 students in my class and 26 in Stella's class.

City Hall: Stella and I have both signed up to be Danish citizens. Our "person number" is coming soon. Once we get it, we will be able to go to the doctor for free and we will be considered true Danes.

REMINDERS:

• My email is imabunhead@icloud.com if you want to contact me
• I am getting internet on Tuesday, so if you contact me before then I will be slow to respond
• Feel free to comment on this blog
• Subscribe so you know when I post something new