Bring on the Night

Watching the World Cup Soccer tournament?

I am. At least the Danish matches even though we didn’t get a good start loosing 0-2 to Holland (well-deserved by the way).

I would’ve been keener on watching other matches too, but to be honest, I get annoyed by the constant noise of the bloody Vuvuzela horns after 3 minutes. I tried adjusting the audio settings on the TV but even so, the sound is overshadowing everything. Turning the volume down will make me loose half of what the commentators say. So that’s not a real option either. I have read that the TV producers do their best to isolate the noise, so the commentators are easier to hear, but they can’t. It is that loud. And it’s not like its a sing-along tune or a rhytmic chant. Nope, just a plain and neverending honk. Continue Reading »

Tags: black list, Rants

As I wrote in the last post, we’ll have our son baptised in church soon.

To be honest, it’s not really what I want, being a huge fan of FSM and not so much religion.

In a weak moment a few years ago, I told C that she could decide whether or not our first kid should do a full traditional baptism with church and all, or we should drag ourselves to the local municipality and get him registered.

C opted for the first choice and left me with the headache. Its really against my principles, but I like to think that I’m a man of my words too. It sucks, but on the other hand, I stayed a member of the church paying my extra annual 0.83 percent in tax for the same reason.

I don’t mind people being religious, and I basically think people should believe in whatever they want as long as they respect others right not to.

Here I am, paying taxes for something I don’t believe in, and if I decide to use the church services, I feel guilty. So yes, I am a hypocrite caught between my own promises and principles. I hate it. If I consider it a pure business deal, then I have no issues getting Mark baptised in Church (I paid good money over 20 years), but given my own principle to respect other peoples beliefs, I kind of step over the line by taking advantage of the church’s services without really believing in god. Continue Reading »

Tags: family, fsm, Mark, religion

C has a very good friend in Harbin. She has been extremely helpful with train tickets and similar, both when we visited China in 2007 and last summer when C’s parents were visiting us here in Denmark.

A few months ago she even sent us a gift to our newborn son. Its 2 silver bracelets that we plan on him wearing when we get him baptised in a month or so. We were both touched by the beautiful present and wanted to return the favour by sending a box of gifts and made sure to put “strange” Danish stuff there too.

The box contained things like: A summer dress for her daughter (probably made in China), some bags of dried pasta, chocolate, different candy, fish in oily pepper sauce and bottles of pesto paste (the post office in China refused to pass on the pesto though).

Some of the candy we sent is a Danish speciality called Tyrkisk Peber (Turkish Pepper). They are hard liquorice bonbons with hot powder inside. Not everyone here in Danmark like them, but since we went for surprising gifts, those seemed to fit the bill. It was either those or “Super Piratos”, which is a softer, but also a strong liquorice candy that will make your mouth look like you chew tobacco. Continue Reading »

Tags: china vs denmark, chinese

…. heres another one of those happy oinker drawings on the side of a truck taking pigs to the slaughterhouse.

Tags: animals, humanity

I wanted to write this entry for a long time, but just never got around to it with the baby and all. I think it’s important to tell, though.

One of our neighbours is a single mom living alone with her 2 children. She has a tiny old car bought from her granny. Nothing fancy, but its dependable. You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that her budget is tight.

A few months ago I met her outside in the morning, where she told me that the car had been stolen during the night. The car was parked right next to ours outside the kitchen window. Its always locked and even secured furthermore using a steering-wheel lock. This particular night she forgot the extra lock though.

She depends highly on the car and was pretty upset. It didn’t help her mood it was the second time it had been stolen in 1 year. Continue Reading »

Tags: car, crime, insurance

Last November we moved to a small rented house. It is a nice change that basically adds a small garden and a new adress but not more room unfortunately.

Of course we also got new neighbors. To one side is a young single mom with two kids, while the other is a friendly middle-aged Vietnamese family with 3 kids.

This evening our doorbell rang and I opened the door. Outside was the Vietnamese mother holding a cup. Ahh, the good old borrow some sugar routine could begin. I thought. C recently borrowed a few eggs from them, and we already seem to have established a good relationship.

I said hello and smiled politely, while the neighbor asked for my wife. Okay, woman’s issues of sorts I guessed and called for C.

As I asked the neighbor to step inside she said: “I would like to borrow a little milk”. I was almost on my way to the kitchen when she added: “from your wife”. Uhhhm what? That’s right, C is a wandering milk dispenser these days. Our kid is now about 2½ months old, and C is still breastfeeding. The kid is in good shape, so everyone can guess that C must be packing heat. Continue Reading »

Tags: Neighbors, odd requests, wife

Here in Denmark we have a fine tradition of mocking our animals on the way to the guillotine. Notice the drawings…

Those are a few of the trucks I have passed last year on the freeway carrying live piggies heading for the slaughterhouse. Actually 99% of all trucks here have similar pictures of overjoyed hogs painted on the side. I offer my take on a more realistic version beneath. Continue Reading »

Tags: animals, humanity

…but removing some posts and words actually helped repel the boob seeking crowd from here.

Tags: spam

…. when my wife starts messing up the garden.

It might not be pretty, but I’m rather sure its well worth it when the plants begin to give vegetables.

Tags: china vs denmark, garden, vegetables

It might not make that big of a difference, but today I marked a few old posts as “Private”.

The posts contain keywords used by visitors here, and include the name of a Chinese actress, who made quite a stir by posing the mistress of a Japanese sympathiser in a Chinese movie from 2008. In the movie there was some show of skin and it generated a lot of traffic here. Unwanted traffic really.

The result is that at least 90% of all keyword visitors come here for that only. They may all be very disappointed, as I have no raunchy pictures of her at all. Bummer, eh?

Back in those days, I posted a few entries with the keywords mostly used, as I was genuinely susprised about the whole fuzz. In hindsight, it may not have been a smart move to put more bait, so now 2 of those vouyer attracting entries are removed, while a third (including more normal stuff about me) is edited to keep the moths out of the flame. Continue Reading »

Tags: spam

After Mark’s birth, we have a regular visitor from the city district. It’s a nurse checking up on how Mark is growing, learning and similar. It’s a normal procedure here in Denmark and a good safety precaution for us.

The other day she came around when I was working so I had to hear the following from C:

The nurse asked C if Chinese still used bottomless pants for their kids, to which C said: “Oh no, those might be used in tiny villages, but in the bigger cities like my hometown, this was no longer the case”.

Now I look forward to the next meeting with the nurse, where C has to show her the very same kind of pants that C’s parents sent us as a gift to Mark.

I’ll make sure to post a picture of them later.

Tags: china vs denmark

Finally got hold of some pig’s feet for the missus to cook. The picture below is the end result after +2 hours boiling with cinnamon, anise seeds, garlic and ginger.

Pigs feet with cinnamon, anise seeds, garlic and ginger.... Looks erhmm...uhm, smells great, tastes... well - I dont know...

If you live in China or are Chinese, you might not find this anything special, but here in Denmark pigs feet is not considered normal food. Doesn’t look too inviting too me and I probably won’t eat em, but as long as my wife is happy. Actually smells wonderful with the spices C used, but I’d rather eat a nice bloody steak with a glass of red.

Tags: china vs denmark

Does this often happen to you too?

My wife just called from home telling me to grab some pigs feet in the supermarket for her on my way home….

Only old ladies normally go for those here in DK now that we write 2010.

Tags: china vs denmark, marriage

Overheard today:

• Half asleep I notice C come into the bedroom. She takes a quick glance at my leg and mumbles: “What a big leg – looks very tasty!” (I know she weren’t talking to me).
• Watch C check out a strange plate of hash-looking stuff her girlfriend gave her while muttering: “This is partially made of donkey skin. It says it helps you regain hemoglobin after recent blood loss”.

Tags: china vs denmark, marriage, wife

If anyone is interested: As expected the runaway dog never showed up. No idea about it’s fate, but C may end up being correct.

To compensate for the loss, C’s parents now have a new puppy. Hopefully this one will not be lost as easily as the first one. C told me about the new replacement, while she chatted with her parents on Skype. My first reaction was that she should tell her parents to buy a real leash this time. Time will tell if they save the money or learn the lesson.

Tags: China, dog

Finally allowed to leave the hospital today. Home at about 2pm.

We’re both wasted. C both mentally and physically. I have the benefit of getting more continuous sleep that last 5 days, which gives me an edge. Tbh though, I have slept like shit the last month or so and it shows. After C went to the hospital it just worsened. Now we’re home and can finally try to find our own rhythm with baby stuff and not be dependent on the short calm moments we found at the hospital. It has been very noisy and exhausting there with constant interruptions hence lacking sleep for C.

I have to give credit to the staff at the hospital though. They have been fantastic. Always helpful and patient. Equipment and support stuff like diapers, baby clothes and so on, has been plentiful and in good shape too.

After 3 days being “locked up” gets to you though. Tiny noises slowly become a pain in the butt, and we really started longing for our home, where most noise can be controlled by a remote. It really is silent here when we close the door. What we can’t control are things that need doing. Diaper changing, baby feeding and of course feeding the zombie-like parents. Continue Reading »

Tags: baby, home, Mark

As you might have guessed, I’m extremely busy visiting C and our new son at the hospital all day long. C has to stay there with the kid, since he is under observation. Nothing serious, just newborn stuff. If everything works out well, they’ll be home tomorrow, Monday. You never know, since I’ve heard that story from the hospital staff the last 2 days. They are pretty thorough and I have to say that I respect that. So even if we have to stay some days longer, it’s better than going home too early.

Meanwhile my time goes with driving to the hospital in the morning and home again in the evening (today from 8.00 am to 11.00 pm). I drop out to find some food from time to time, but other than my time goes with running errands for C, talk about the baby and baby related stuff and of course help out with diaper changing and you name it. Nothing I can’t do so far except feed the little bugger directly from the source, which turned out to be an issue this evening keeping me there 2 hours late, while we tried our best to suit him. Only to find out that he might be full, but not exactly happy with me trying to comfort him so C could catch an hour. So I had to cave and put him back to C’s “food storages” and he finally calmed down. Continue Reading »

Tags: baby, birth, hospital, Mark

Chances are now 1 to a handful of billions that I am.

Yesterday, Thursday the 11. february 2010 at 18:16, C gave birth to a healthy boy. She went 14 days past expectancy, and thus the kid is nearing a whopper. 4.2kg, which is about 400g over average. Hard toiling for C who was extremely exhausted. She seemed fine when I was thrown out of the hospital at 11.45 pm, though.

Couldn’t sleep after 5.20, when I recieved a late congratulations sms. So up and about collecting stuff to take to the hospital at 8.00, when its open for dads again.

More later….

Tags: baby, birth, Mark

So, my parents-in-law bought a dog last summer. They were very fond of it, but a few days ago it ran away. My wife’s father was walking it and suddenly some firecrackers set of, and so did the dog. Its leash broke only being a line my in-laws made themselves.

Now they blame themselves for not buying a “real” dog leash. And so does my wife. Even though she never saw the dog, besides on a picture, she was teary-eyed when she found out.

If they lived here in Denmark, they would hang pictures of the dog in the local supermarket and normally the dog would soon be returned by whoever found it. But this is China. My wife suggested posting pictures around town to her family (after I pressured her to it), but they just shrugged their heads knowing that the dog was most likely lost forever.

My wife explained it to me: “If someone finds the dog, they keep it and try to sell it on. Chinese people (not trying to generalize here, but that’s how she said it) have no moral and only care for money! I’m worried that if a restaurant gets the dog, it will be killed and served to costumers”. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, dog, moral

Well, maybe not “grand”, but at least I’ll try to start writing a bit again.

As a commenter wrote to an older post, I might have to tone down my ambitions and just write when I want to, instead of writing because I feel I have to.

So that’s how it’s going to be. I’ll write when I feel like it, and else probably not.

Tags: blogging