Copenhagen!!

So, we're in Copenhagen. It's been a little more of a culture shock than we were expecting, but we know in time we will become more familiar and comfortable and learn to love it here. The weather has been cold and windy, so we haven't been outside taking many strolls. Our first day here was cloudy and rainy, but all day yesterday and today we've seen sun and blue skies--I love it!

Some funny things so far:

--While driving, we turned too early, so we tried to just go around the block to get back on the street we were on. We turned on a side street and there were cars lining the street on both sides, leaving just a small gap for us to drive our little mini-van through. We made it only to find that 2/3 the way down the street there were barricades so that we couldn't go all the way through. Of course we couldn't turn around either because of the parked cars, so we had to back up all the way down the road. It was a tight squeeze. After 3 days of driving while not understand street signs, lane markings, and getting lost or going to the wrong address a couple times, this was just icing on the cake. I think we're gonna get bikes!

--The parents at church leave their sleeping babies outside in their strollers during church. They go out to check on them every so often, and bring them inside when they wake up. It's freezing cold outside and there's nobody with the babies to watch them! They are just outside by themselves! I'm pretty sure we'd get arrested for child neglect if we did that in the states.

--William went to nursery today and Don stayed with him the whole time. All of the adults here speak English, but of course none of the kids William's age do. This may be a harder transition for him than us! All of the nursery kids bring a packed lunch to church with them. Don couldn't believe what they brought with them. Carrots, cucumbers, rye bread, olives, cheeses, salami, and beets. No twinkies or doritos or even fish crackers. I'm glad Don saw what other kids brought before I packed William his first lunch. Another funny thing about it is that each thing in their lunches was wrapped separately in tin foil. Even the two year olds knew how to unwrap each thing, eat an entire long carrot, and make their own little sandwich from the bread, cheese and ham. I'll have to work on that one with William this week!

Copenhagen is a beautiful city. It is old, with beautiful brick buildings and cobblestone streets in many parts of the town. It has a big city feel, but isn't very crowded, people or car wise, which is nice. It is super expensive. I don't know what the grocery stores are like, but eating out is crazy. Mcdonalds cost $30 for us three and room service or restaurants are over $100. It's out of control. Being able to fix our own meals is one of the reasons we are excited to find an apartment, hopefully this week. This hotel room is nice, but(as Don says) it is "shrinking by the hour."
I'm excited to be here and am especially looking forward to exploring around outdoors more when the weather turns nicer in a few months. We welcome anyone who wants to come visit!