Blog #3 A whole lot of Advent

Christmas is around the corner and as usual December lies on the edge between a cozy holiday season full of nice events and the most stressful time of the year, so there is a lot I want to tell you about…

The last week of November we had Hanna’s friend Zoe visiting us. I was happy to meet her and we got along very well. Since Zoe is also a climber we of course had to go bouldering together as much as possible. She also brought the best sourdough starter (named Fried) with her and made us nice fresh bread. At work we were helping with hosting the little closing exhibitions for the Billedskole. It was amazing to see all the kids’ artworks. On top of that it was Ronni’s last week working at Kulturfabrikken and we had a reception with all his colleagues and friends. Towards the end of the week Emil also came to visit again. It was really fun to be four people in the apartment for some days. On that Friday we had another big concert with three different young artists/ bands from the area. It was great! I was honestly impressed by their performance and had the best time running around with the camera the whole evening taking photos. Of course it was even more fun since we had Zoe and Emil there with us, as well as our friend August. After the concert we went back to our apartment with August, Louie and some more friends and had a really fun rest of the night. The next day Hanna and Zoe went to Copenhagen in the morning. Emil and I joined them later in the evening, where we also met August and the five of us went to the great, big bouldering gym in Vanløse again. We had the best time and went back home very tired, but the week wasn’t quite over yet. Because after we sad goodbye to Zoe Sunday morning we started preparing and cooking for our trial dinner in the evening. We invited a few people to test out the specialities we made for “Jul på Fabrikken”. I made Kässpätzle (one of my favourite dishes from southern Germany). It was a wholesome end to a very busy week.

The following days at work were filled with more preparation for “Jul på Fabrikken” like painting the Christmas photo background, which was both fun and challenging. We also finally started our classes at language school. It took me a little bit to get back into the school mindset, but now I am really happy to get further with learning danish and it’s a nice switch in our weekly schedule. We now go to class every week Wednesday to Friday in the morning. Last Wednesday was special since it was “Klippe-Klistre-Dag” in school. We got to create danish Christmas decorations like the woven Christmas hearts or garlands. There was lots of nice Christmas cookies and little children came to sing Santa Lucia for us. That was very, very cute. In the evening our colleague Nanna invited us to go to her place and eat danish risengrød and watch a Christmas movie. Hanna and Nanna had found out that I hadn’t seen “Love Actually” which was apparently unacceptable so I agreed to watching it with them. We had a very hyggeligt evening, although I don’t think I will become a big Christmas movie person anytime soon.

Then last Saturday was the big day we had “Jul på Fabrikken”. I was working in the Christmas photo workshop together with Guna and Lizzy. We spend the day registering, photographing, printing and cutting so everyone could get there sweet picture with our nice background. Because it was Santa Lucia day all of us colleagues also did the Lucia walk singing the song and carrying the lights. Lena was in the front ,dressed as a snail, and the rest of us was wearing gowns Hanna and I made out of old bedsheets. It was very fun and a surprise for all the visitors. Hanna and I were really proud that we managed to learn and sing the whole song in danish. It was overall so good to have the house full of families. We had many different workshops and of course nice food including the specialities from our home countries. Me and Hanna spent the whole day before preparing them, so everyone could have a taste. As a cheerful end to the day we all sang danish Christmas songs together dancing around the house.

Now it’s the last week of work before my two week holiday and I am trying my absolute best to finish all the handmade presents and Christmas cards in time. Even tough I had such nice, eventful past weeks here I am so looking forward to taking the train going home on Saturday. I am exited to finally see my family and friends again and enjoy my time with them through Christmas and New Years.

You will here back from me in 2026, which I’m sure is going to bring many more adventures.

Until then: Jeg ønsker dig en glædelig jul!

Lily