...cough, cough, sniffle

This week has certainly been a strange mix of wonderful and sucky, that's for sure. I've had a great week of alone time in Laura's apartment (she nicely let me 'move in' while she's back in Canada until November 2nd)...well, I guess it's a week and a half now that I've taken so long to get back to this update.

I've had some great writing sessions, some great reading sessions, and really expanded my web of contacts, but I've also come down with a bit of a cold, which has made my body unable to share in all the positive energy flowoign through my mind.

I took the bus here last Tuesday and was very fortunate that the bus driver pitied this pitiful foreigner, who let me ride for free after seeing me running down the street to catch him, weighed down with two book bags and a giant Ikea bag, and then rifle through my pockets, only to realize that I had lost my ticket somewhere along the line. I'm just ticked off because those things are damned expensive and I had only used 3 out of my 10 fares! ah well, such is life.

As soon as I got here I crashed, still exhausted from Budapest and even more worn down from not sleeping much. I am definitely still a creature of the night and have a difficult time turning my brain off; but then, as it turns out, I'm a creature of the day, too, because I wake up just as early as I usually do after sleepless nights and am left feeling the effects later. I'm glad I had a space for myself for my sick week, though. I didn't go out much, instead I had a terriffic time working on my cooking: some incredible chili, my first loaf of bread, an amazing soup that I mindfully mashed up by hand for 40 minutes since I realized halfway through making it that Laura doesn't have a blender, and omelets on multiple mornings. Not having to worry about being in someone else's way, I really got into the cooking groove and remembered how much I enjoy it. Don't worry, I even took pictures that I'll post later. Now, Prof. Mulrooney, here's your 'Lord of the Rings' reference: I'm sure you all now that I was an Uber-Dork last year, spending a great deal of my time philosophizing about the Hobbits' relationship to food and the more time I spend away from home, the more I realize that I am, in fact, much like a Hobbit: I guess Tolkein was on to something and I was right on with my paper. When I'm cooking the foods I made at home and not agonizing over the fact that I can't even figure out what I'm buying in the grocery store, my spirit feels a little more refreshed; plus, it makes me remember the times I cooked the same foods for my friends and family at home (Caitlin, you totally would have licked your bowl after eating my chili). And, yes, eating does breed fellowship: besides on the ice, the dinner table is the place where I find it easiest to connect with my hosts and teammates. Here are two great quotes from the November 2003 issue of Oprah's Magazine that I've been reading (it's all I've got here for my breakfast/coffee read besides the Danish newspaper and grocery store ads):
Food is our common ground, a universal experience. -James Beard
Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly. - M.F.K. Fisher
I think that's one of the reasons I want to open a cafe: I want to be the means for others to come together in the same way. AND! I think I've come up with a good name for our cafe: "Cafe Hygge." Hygge is a Danish word, which basically means "coziness." Think of a night at home, drinking tea with your friends, surrounded by candlelights, listening to jazz - that's Hygge. Yet, they also use it to describe just having a nice time together. After our trip to Budapest, someone described it as Hygge. So what, do you think? A certain boyfriend, whom I shall leave nameless, thinks it will be too difficult to pronounce so people won't go, but I think that it will just get people talking and therefore be trendy. You've got until Caitlin and I get enough capital to fund the place to decide.

Now, once you stop laughing at me for my LOTR reference, I shall continue. Ready? No, seriously. Ok, thank you.

I also went down to the University last week and picked up a book of female sports narratives from Sally (the old fellow). I basically tore through it this week, another good reason to just sit inside. The book is called "Crossing Boundaries" and is a collection of short stories, poetry and even dramas all written by women and centered on their experience with sport. As I read it, as well as the editor's comments about the different divisions of the book, including exclusion, reaction to exclusion, connections with nature, connections with one another, discovery of self, relationship to one's body and, finally, the very nature of sport, I couldn't help but continue forth in discovering just how profound an impact hockey has had on my life. I guess I always knew hockey was important, but just not how much: hockey has been my outlet when all else seems falling apart (indeed it is, like I've said, what keeps me going here), hockey has strengthened my relationships with my parents and, of course, teammates, hockey has given me the strength and confidence I needed to apply for the Watson...and there is so much more that I know will go into whatever I write at the end of all of this.

I've even been in touch with the editor of the book who is a professor in Budapest and we're hoping to meet up when I head that way during Christmas time - she even offered me a place to stay and invited me to her New Year's party!

Now, more about food (sort of): I spent last weekend working in the concession stand at the rink. Just like my club teams at home, here we have to sort of earn our keep as a team and work, somtimes concession and ticket selling at open skating, sometimes sweeping after the "pro" games. I don't mind, though, because it's a better chance to spend time with teammates. I had a hilarious time with Charlotte on Saturday and then Camilla on Sunday, selling disgusting hot dogs, working the deep-fryer, trying to figure out what the Danish children wanted. And I even began to get their "stories," realizing that I am so much like these women, and it is surely in large part due to our unique role as female hockey players that makes us so alike. Charlotte, though all smiles is tough as nails (she was the only one besides myself who showed up to run before practice last week and we did the 5K by ourselves and running it with her last night I wanted to puke afterwards and shaved at least a minute off of my regular pace). She spent a year riding horses around the world (Australia and Iceland), just like I'm playing hockey internationally. After that. she joined the Danish army and served in Bosnia, and now she's got to go internationally for a year for her schooling and wants to go back into the army after that. We had a lengthy chat while watching the U-18 National Development camp (luckily, I just happened to be at the rink for it) about our shared travel bug and how we don't understand "settling:" "just go!!!" she says with a huge grin!!
The next day I had an equally great time with Camilla, who just might be my soulmate: she doesn't work because she's still figuring out what she wants (though she said she thinks she wants to study Art History at the University), so she spends her days reading, 'The Little Prince' is even one of her favorites! She, too, loves cafe life and said her neighborhood (where I may move with another player in November) is filled with used book stores and cafes!! She even likes Lord of the Rings AND cooking AND WANTS to read my paper. (Seriously, stop laughing, we got into talking about it after discussing how beautiful New Zealand appeared in the films and how she should visit me there). She too has been everywhere, including a year of scrounging in England. So cooking, even if it's nasty hot dogs, does bring people together. I wonder what stories I'll have after working this coming weekend!

Yesterday I did manage to get out: the sun was shining and I was feeling so much better, so I rode my bike down to the Ny Carlsberg Glypotek Museum, which is like a Mecca for all of my Classics friends out there. It's dedicated to classical art, though they have a lot of modern works and French landscapes and impressionists (I could gaze at Monet for days, well, his works anyways). They have an incredible room that you walk into and feel like you're in the Parthenon (I think); it's filled with huge statues of Roman gods and it really is being in the midst of gods...I only wish I remembered more of the mythical stories. I enjoy museums because I find that, though my "liberal arts" education wasn't all that pragmatic, I can at least go to a museum and know that I've now got a much greater appreciation for what I'm looking at. You should have seen the way people flew past Monet and VanGogh!! I could actually walk from the Roman statues, into the abstract room and say: my, what an abrupt change! My particular favorite examination was an abstract that had a title along the lines of "Mythical Story" (or something like that). Which mythical story is a yellow conversation bubble like shape on top of a gray background? Curious juxtaposition for sure. (thanks for that background, prof. dustin!)

Today I will be interviewing a girl from a local team, which I'm really excited about. It will be my first "interview" but I've actually got a lot lined up with University anthropoligists, Team Denmark, the Ice Hockey Union, and even an old player/antrho. student. I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere because my legs feel like they're going to fall off. Spinning and practice monday, lifting Tuesday, riding my bike all day plus a 5K team run plus team lift plus practice last night, all of these add up to some sore legs! I think I may take a "rest" tomorrow, too. It's supposed to be sunny and I'm hoping to get to Helsingor to see "Hamlet's Castle" before the weather turns really bad. After fearing the weather, though, it looks like it's tropical here compared to back home. The Apocalypse perhaps?