If perhaps you would be so kind as to maybe make me the falafel which you are selling?

The Danish language reflects the egalitarian nature of their culture. Like Spanish and other Romance languages, Danish is gendered. It is not, however, divided into a masculine/feminine binary, but rather words are marked as being either gendered or neuter. That's it. Neat!

Also, formal conjugations and terms of address, such as the Ud. in Spanish, are vanishing, and some more 'polite' structures are being phased out. At least, that's what it seems like. "Skal" translates essentially to "will" and as far as I can tell after a whole two weeks of Danish class, is sometimes to indicate future tense as well as to indicate immediate desire/future, as in "Jeg skal have en koppe kaffe" or "I will have a cup of coffee." "Gerne" carries a more polite, formal tone to it, although it translates essentially to the same thing. I suppose you can think of it as "would like to," but I probably haven't wrapped my head around the word yet. I have heard many more people use "skal" as opposed to "gerne" and one of my friends was told that "no one uses 'gerne' because it puts people above others socially" or something to that effect. I have no idea if this comes from an authority on Danish culture or a flesh eating zombie, but if it's true, it fits in with the overpowering egalitarianism that seems to motivate a lot of Danish culture. Or at least how I've interpreted what's been presented to me. Anyway, it's part a relief to realize that people aren't being rude, and I'm not if I use it, and it's also funny to me as another example of how textbook language teaching falls somewhat short in the real world.

Adventure update:

I went to the forest by Bakken, which is the oldest amusement park in Denmark. I missed the season, sadly.

The forest began life as where a bunch of rural farmer people, etc. lived. However, King Christian IV wanted some private hunting grounds, and so he offered everyone living in the woods land and houses on the coast. Then he put up a fence around the forest and declared it the Royal Hunting Grounds. And that's where we went as a Field Study for my Danish Language and Culture class! It's huge and old and amazing and what noticed primarily was that unlike forests in, say, California, there's virtually no undergrowth. Just grass and big old trees. Oh, and it's deer mating season, so there's bucks with big scary racks making their mating calls, which sounds like a cross between the biggest belch ever and a moo. Try it, and see if any lady deer come running.

We played what was billed as a traditional Danish game that was also very BDub (Breakaliscious for all you folks in Miami):

It's sort of baseball - there is a place of hitting, a first base, a second base, and a third base. Once you round third, though, you automatically go home. The pitcher stands to the side of the person at bat, though, and the pitch is vertical rather than horizontal (so the pitcher throws the ball up and then the batter hits it as it descends). Also, the person at bat has the option of self pitching. If they get it, they have to run/go to 1st, etc. Of note is that there are only two pitches, and even if you 'strike out' you still get a walk.

The team in the field has a pitcher, and then everyone else is scattered around the field to help catch. There is no official infield or outfield.

There are no points. You don't keep score, and there are no official winners and losers.

If you hit the ball and someone catches it (on the fly) or if the pitcher touches home and shouts 'stop" while you are not on base, then you are out. Except they don't call it out, they call it "dead." In a game with no winners, losers, or score, you're supposed to kill people. Maybe a last remnant of their Viking roots struggling up through modern Danish culture :p

The object is to be the last team at bat when the time limit runs out. Play rotates when there are three people dead at the same time.

Overall? It's a lot of fun and I think it would be even more fun to introduce a noncompetitive baseball to my students!

After the game:

HOT CHOCOLATE. We were taken to this old house whose historical significance I cannot remember, but now functions as a place to get fantastic hot chocolate. It's similar to the places I've been to in Cambridge where they melt slabs of chocolate into your cup and mix in milk or spices. This place was adorable, and it's all-you-can-drink, and served with freshly whipped cream. The catch is that it's so unbelievably decadent that you can't even make it through one tiny cup without pausing for a water break. It was probably the best antidote to the grey, moist weather.

Word of the day:

Kartofle = potato

Observations:

Shout out to my lovely Aunt L. for her many questions! If anyone wonders anything by all means let me know and I'll see if I can find out for you.

Clothes: 'dressing down' is more dressed up than the US. For example: no one would ever go to class in sweats. You'd be super put together, and probably wearing skinny jeans. 'dressed up' though is more relaxed than in the USA. Business wear, for example, is more often than not jeans and a nice button up as opposed to a suit or chinos. That's not to say no suits, but fewer. Though those that I have seen have been a lot nicer than the majority of suits I've seen in the states.

Food: easy to find: beer, gummi candy, bread products (baked goods and bread, pita, etc). Hard to find: limes, tequila, peanut butter. Also: tupperware = absent as yet.

Lastly: My dorm has Mega-Washers. They have settings in celsius (of course) and one of them is 95!!! For those of you not familiar with celsius, that's almost boiling. I have no idea why I would ever need to boil my laundry in a power washer that could probably take over a small country by itself. Oh, and they're 'smart' washers - they can tell how many clothes are in them and adjust accordingly. Really impressive, but somewhat curious. Oh, and American students who think Brandeis/your school sucks for laundry: We have six washers and three dryers FOR MY WHOLE BUILDING of 5 floors each about 45 students...

Med venlig hilsen (with kind regards, which is how most of the emails from Danish people I've received have been signed)
-Jacob