"Oh look they're singing the birthday song!" My host family pointed out to me as we're watching the evening news while eating dinner. I looked at the screen - and sure enough, there is a crowd of about 100 people all waving Danish flags and singing the birthday song (which has so many different verses and is infinitely more complex than the simple Happy Birthday to You that we sing). It turns out it was the TV station's 20th birthday, so the other news station, TV2 was singing to TV1! "How nice", I thought, that one station is spending so much of its time to congratulate the other station! When I mentioned that it was great how they were nice to each other, my host dad said "oh no no, they are actually very competitive with each other". Duh, how could I not see the intense competition through the singing? The Danes have come a long long way from their reputation as fierce warriors as Vikings.
One more observation: Danish people don't seem to sweat. It's an interesting phenomenon. I have gone on many runs here where I've encountered other runners: none of them seemed to sweat. Also from talking to people that go to gyms - it seems to be the case there as well. Danes just look impeccable no matter what they are doing. This past weekend I was somehow convinced to run 14 kilometers with my host dad and his friend, and definitely got my butt kicked. It was a great run and very beautiful, but I definitely have a long way to go if I want to be in good shape like these two 50 year old men. At the end of our run, I was the only one who seemed to be sweating or breathing the way normal people do after a tough workout.
After the run, they always reward themselves with a beer. This seemed fine to me and I didn't think much of it - until we were drinking the beer in the car as we were driving home! Have they not heard of "don't drink and drive"? As I awkwardly asked my host dad "so....should you really be drinking that beer while driving and are you aware that my life is in your hands?", he just seemed surprised that this was even a concern. We started to talk about the laws here versus in the U.S. and in Denmark, you can drive if you have one drink. This seems okay, .08 whatever, but it was pretty crazy to me that you can drink your one drink while you are driving. Don't worry mom and dad - it was fine and safe, it is amazing though how different their attitudes are here. They were so amazed that you cannot have an open bottle of alcohol in the car with you even if you are not even touching it. There are not open container laws here at all. As for driving, I think it's a great idea that in Denmark you are allowed to drink before you get your driver's license. Learn your limits, then learn to drive! Very smart.
Oh Denmark, you continue to amaze me in oh so many ways!
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