As I've briefly mentioned in past posts, I've largely been working on planning Lars' upcoming trip to Egypt, where Sensus currently has a project to expand RoboBraille services for Arabic speakers and create more snazzy tech features like transferring SMS messages into audio files via mobile phones. Impressive, no? Particularly if you're blind, visually impaired, dyslexic, or illiterate. Two folks from Sensus have spent this past week training and working with the partner company in Cairo, while I struggle to actually make contact with people and organizations of potential interest... not that I can blame the vast majority of Egyptians for being rather distracted at this point in their political history. Still, it's an unfortunate reminder to the much more timely Danes that there exist highly noticeable cultural differences - and it's not helping the general Danish opinion regarding people of Arab and/or Middle Eastern decent, frankly. (So one might see how my free kebab yesterday was that much more abnormal in a Danish context. heh) ...aside from that, wrote a short synopsis of "Sommerskolen" for the RoboBraille newsletter, doing various research things, and working on my Fulbright grant proposal during any down time.
Rewinding a bit to Tuesday, I was reminded of the awesomeness of my coworkers when I walked into the office to find two presents waiting at my desk and announcement from two of the guys that they had breakfast waiting- what is known in the US as "danishes," but of course here have their own Danish names, like wienerbrød and kanelstang. The presents, fittingly, turned out to be a Scandinavian cookbook and The Complete Illustrated Works of Hans Christian Andersen. Lars and I later left the office I tad early, joined by his son Rasmus, to head out to Helsingør (thus "Elsinore") and wander around outside the famed home of Hamlet (sadly, no ghost spottings) before hopping the ferry to Helsingborg, Sweden, where we walked a few streets before ferrying back to meet with Lars' wife, Annemette.
I do have to add in a few peculiarities here. For instance, the 15-20 minute ferry ride between Helsingør and Helsingborg: my first reaction was an odd comparison to an airport terminal, inspiring me to ask Lars once again if the ride was really just 15 minutes long. Yep. ...So why all the stores and people stocking up on food, etc? I don't know about you, but I don't need a case of beer, several bags of candy, and loads of cigarettes for a 15 minute ride. This thought was fleeting, however, when the airport comparison hit me again: duty free. Duh. Even more entertaining was the announcement mid-trip: apparently you can only purchase tobacco on one side of the "border," and alcohol on the other, so time your purchase accordingly! To say the least, it's amazing how much people can accomplish when efficiently shopping in a 15 minute time span. ...In any case, I suppose it's an odd, modernized continuation of the revenue that straight has seen consistently - after all, the Danish crown once ruled both sides of the straight (thus you'll find fortress-like castles on both sides, one being Kronborg), allowing them to police and tax it should they so choose. [Second picture here is the entrance to the now-Swedish counterpart, as seen from the street below.]Back in Denmark after a short walk around central Helsingborg, we met up with Annemette and returned to Hillerød to meet with the remaining two of Lars' family, Karolina and Søren, for dinner at Cafe København. Burgers came the most highly recommended, so I took them up on their suggestion though feeling slightly guilty about the seemingly American dinner... until the heaping creation arrived in front of me and I had no choice but to join them in eating a burger and fries with a knife and fork- and laughing at myself all the way through it. Still haven't mastered the ability to eat while holding my knife; it is my constant battle. ahem.
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