Copenhagen

Stig and Anna invited me to Copenhagen for Christmas and I just couldn't say no. The result of that decision was one of the best weekends I have had. Thinking about it later, I realize that it was more the combination of how I felt there and the awesome company I was among than the actual events that took place.

Copenhagen in the winter is a very spooky version of everything I remember about the place in the spring and summer from previous visits. At 55 degrees north, 4 days after the winter solstice, the Sun didn't seem too interested in sticking around long, let alone seeing what was over the treetops. The weather was far colder than what I was experiencing in İstanbul, but I was happy to trade that for the crisp freshness of the Denmark air. Stig and I enjoyed that fresh air in style on Christmas day with an afternoon of sledding.

We aimed for the jumps and hit them pretty hard. It didn't take long before the sled broke into pieces. I put the pieces of the sled back together to demonstrate its damage in this video of Stig taking on the hill and trying to avoid collisions with small children.

On the way back from the sledding, I took a picture out the bus window of the Carlsberg Brewery. This was really a tribute to Pete-Pete, my friend and former roommate who so relentlessly insisted that we pay the brewery a visit, but we never did. I'm still holding off on a visit to the place until we can be reunited in Copenhagen and go there together. Anyway, if all this means nothing to you (i.e. you're not Pete or you're unfamiliar with this story), the picture at least shows what the streets look like in Copenagen in a particularly snowy December.

Christmas evening rocked. Before I continue, I really should point out that it (the weekend, the atmosphere) didn't feel like Christmas in the ways I am used to. There wasn't an excessive amount of decorations in the streets, on buildings or in advertisements. It was evident that the people were having a holiday which was Christmas but it just wasn't in my face 24/7. I like that. Moving on, Christmas evening was excellent. Our friend Thomas came over for the evening. Henrik couldn't make it, so I'll just have to catch him next time. Anyway, Stig and Anna made a wonderful rendition of traditional Danish meal. I say rendition because they substituted the main ingredient, cabbage, with spinach. It was awesome. We also ate caramelized potato balls and ham (the first pork of any kind I'd eaten in about a year). I shouldn't have to mention that we also drank really delicious beer.

After dinner, we finished our game of Settlers. Most of us learned the rules as we went along, which caused strategies to change frequently and therefore made the game last very long. We all had a lot of fun with that. I find myself wanting to play again.

I'll tell you now that I was not feeling particularly well health-wise at the beginning of the trip. On the plane ride in, I felt absolutely terrible. Friday night, I took a little medicine and slept in a well heated room under warm blankets. I mention this now, because by Saturday evening I was feeling better than I had felt in several weeks. The sledding was rigorous, but the movement kept me warm. The food I ate was always hearty and delicious. Also, I really felt like I could relax there. In İstanbul, it's never really quiet and life is often hectic. It can be stressful for me. However, Copenhagen is the opposite of that and I think the change of scenery was valuable to my health in many ways. Unlike with my recent trip to Amsterdam, I had a fair amount of familiarity with Copenhagen before I arrived, and really felt like I could relax there.

Sunday.

We were invited to Stig's parent's place (I think it was in Gentofte) for dinner. There were about a dozen others there. Of them, I had only previously met Stig's brother and their parents. I was promptly introduced to the others and handed a beer. The house was warm and the scent of various unseen foods in the kitchen filled the air. For a while, I just listened to the conversations, challenging myself to understand what they were about. I actually did pick up a few words here and there. I also conversed about several things with the folks sitting near me, including Danish football, Turkish football and life in Turkey. You might laugh about the football part, but it is something of which people can easily have common knowledge and therefore has its use when meeting new people (especially guys).

The evening included a gift exchange game, which was really fun. Then we sat around the living room, drinking coffee and eating pastries. It was about as hyggelig as it gets (as far as I know). The evening ended with warm thanks and goodbyes. We made the trip back to Anna and Stig's place, through the quiet snowy streets of Copenhagen.

I marveled at how quickly the weekend flew by, but each moment was special for me. I really thought that the cold and the darkness would bother me, but it was actually enjoyable to see the city in a quieter state. Anyway, this trip was such a good idea. I'm really happy that Stig and Anna invited me. The weekend was additionally meaningful to me in that there wasn't any alternative. By that I mean, I had already let Thanksgiving pass without so much as a slice of turkey or the sight of a member of my family, and it looked as though Christmas would pass in a similar manner. For lack of family here in İstanbul, it was especially meaningful to me to have enjoyed the warm company of friends and their family and traditions for at least one holiday in 2010. It came at a time when I really needed something different, if only for one weekend.