Weekend in Helsingor

This past weekend I went and stayed with Dinos family up in Helsingor. Another overall cultural experience because of the language differences and ways of life. I still haven't gotten used to the feeling of not being able to speak to people, especially people who's house I'm staying at. Here are the highlights:

Friday--I took the train (all by myself) to Helsingor. I almost started to feel like a local, except then when Dino called I had to spell the name of the stop I was at so I think that sorta ruined that idea. As soon as I got there, we went to this old elementary school gym to play basketball with a bunch of his friends. They were all really nice to me even though I felt like I was invading their ''guys night'' territory. We played 4-on-4 and it was pure pick-up game, no organized anything. Thank God I didn't suck as bad as I could have for not playing in months. I ended up scoring I think like the first 8 or so points. The weird thing was hearing all the guys talk (and probably trash talk) in Danish because to me it was like playing a basketball game in pure silence. Except with the constant question of whether or not they were talking/complaining about me or my style of play. I never realized how much body language and the overall just watching and observing conversation you really can figure out quite a bit from what people are saying. I later found out, though, that you cant know everything just by observing.... Dino told me that they were talking about me in Danish saying things like "I dont want to guard her, I cant push her cuz she's a girl" and "I think she pushed me" and one guy even teased Dino about me scoring more points than him (for the record, since I KNOW he is reading this, he (probably) scored more than I did..). Later in the night this older man came to ref/coach. He was soooo nice, translating everything to English for me. I felt sorta like an idiot needing things translated when I had gotten along just fine before but it was still very nice of him. He even stopped the game at one point to do a little ''lesson'' for everyone and told them to watch how well I was moving to the open spots on the court and to feed me the ball! I could've went home right there and had a good weekend. After basketball, we picked up his dad, then went back to their place. His parents are hardcore food pushers so his dad made us these Bosnian sausages. Probably the best thing I have EVER tasted since being here. Then came spinach, bananas, granola bars, and I was already full. At one point I even declined a banana and he gave me one anyways. The rest of the night we watched a comedian with Dinos brother.

Saturday--Woke up, had breakfast, got ready and went into town to do some shopping. We walked around Helsingor for hours trying to find black sandals for my spring break and a guidebook for all of Europe. Two things that I could find in about 2 seconds back home. I don't think I saw one pair of even remotely wearable sandals in the entire city and all guidebooks were for specific countries and all other continents besides Europe. I was getting so frustrated with everything that we needed to take a little shopping break. Dino brought me into this coffee shop and we sat for a few minutes in silence, of course I started thinking (pouting) about all sorts of stuff--not being able to find sandals, the fact that we are IN Europe why wouldn't they have a guidebook for it?, how I felt invisible at his house when him and his family were talking b/c I just sat there like an idiot b/c I don't have a clue about what they are talking about, and how crappy it was that after I was not being able to talk like normal all Friday night Dino decided that the ride into Helsingor (about 10-15mins) was going to be some silent "look at the scenery" ride. DAMMIT! All I wanted to do was to talk!!!!!! About anything, just something, I had almost a full day of not being able to talk whenever I felt like it all bottled up in me... and if you know me, that's saying quite a bit. Anyways, after my little meltdown we kept shopping. Found this bag store in an alley, the lady in there was a little on the nuts side--talking to us forever. Maybe that was Gods secret way of warning me to watch what I wish for.. I wanted to talk and he gave me exactly that---a crazy lady to talk to. I ended up buying a duffel and a purse (2 for 200kr, or $20 each). As soon as we left I tried out the purse and the zipper was broken. Soooooo that went back. Then we went back to his place and, yes, more food. This time it was rice and goulash. Dino went grocery shopping so i ate with his brother. I think his brother and I are getting along a lot better than right at first, we talked about a ton of stuff and even a few laughs in there. When Dino got home, he was supposed to take the laundry down to the washer/dryer and I made a joke about how he should have to do it. His mom and I had our first real conversation!!! She said that she likes her laundry done precisely, so thats why she wouldnt trust any of the men to do it, and told a story about how she was gone for 5 days once and they couldn't figure out anything. Later that night we talked to mom on webcam for awhile then got ready and went out to Club Manhattan. It was a younger-crowd bar with lots of pool tables and bar games. Dino and I played air hockey (not my best performance), then he went to return the stuff for it and I grabbed our stuff and went to the bathroom. When I got out, he was frantically searching around for me and then I got in trouble for not telling him where I was going. I felt like a child again... cripes I'm 20 years old I didn't know I had to ask permission to use the restroom. He was freaking out like "where were you?!?!" okay where do you THINK I would be-- I was gone for all of 2 minutes and I had just drank like 3 sodas. I feel like sometimes he feels like he is my permanent babysitter since I don't know pretty much anything about Danish or where we were, etc. It's a weird line to draw--where are we regular people and where does he need to guide me through all this stuff I don't understand..? So that pretty much killed the mood for the rest of the night, so back to his house we went. More food. Of course.

Sunday--our day of studying alllll day didn't really work out as planned, there was a lot of naps and tv watching going on. It was nice to have a lazy/relaxing Sunday again. I was originally planning on leaving during the afternoon but then we decided to go to the movies at night so I stayed until Monday. I thought maybe I was overstaying my welcome but when I asked him he laughed at me and said of course not. Chicken fajitas and nutella for dinner. The movies was an experience... $18 to get in, PER PERSON!!! So if you think movies are expensive in the States, think again. Then popcorn, soda, candy, etc.. add another $15 per person. The theater was pretty much exactly like an American one, much better preview commercials though. We watched "The Bucket List", a pretty good movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. In America its called "The Bucket List" but it translates to "Now or Never" in Danish.

Monday--We had breakfast and then I was outta there. I had sooo much to do for preparing for spring break! I got back to Tordens, got ready, and went out by Kongens Nytorv to find sandals. I finally found some and also found the guidebook. By that point I was by the central station so decided I should figure out how to navigate the train to Norreport. I was a little frustrated because it seemed like all of the trains were going the same direction (North when I needed to go South) but I somehow figured it out. Then to the library to study for awhile, back home for dinner and packing. I had to catch up on all of the happenings in Tordens since I had been gone. I ended up talking in Bens room for quite awhile getting the highlights and overall just talking. Ben even did some of my laundry with his!! That's about as eventful as the night got.

Today--class, workout, dinner with Dino, packing, sleep for an early wake up tomorrow!!! So I won't be updating until I get back from Spring break. Talk to you all when I get back!