Hamburger Heaven

Last week I had my first international business trip since moving to Copenhagen...a whole 30 minute flight away to the city of Hamburg, Germany. It was my first time to Hamburg, so I was quite excited - especially for the opportunity to see all my fellow program mates again after 9 months apart, as we gathered for a week-long training camp. I will not bore you with the details of the training (it was even a bore for me), but interestingly, it caused an odd situation - over 7 days in Hamburg, I only saw the city in the light of day for one single afternoon. Most of the time I was cooped up in a hotel, and I did not even leave the hotel walls until the third day. Given that situation, I must report that Hamburg was quite beautiful after being covered in two fresh snowfalls, but I cannot properly convey how nice it was given that it was often too dark to take pictures. Fortunately, Hamburg avoided the super heavy snowfall that plagued the rest of Europe, but it was still a mess of snow, slush, and freezing cold.

All of Hamburg was awash in the Christmas spirit, as evidenced by the Christmas markets present around every corner of the city. Christmas markets exist across Europe, and was described to me as a place to drink mulled wine while shopping for things you don't need. The Hamburg model follows the American street fair model - the market is simply an excuse for Germans to drink booze outside in public under the guise of yuletide spirit. Stands that sell glüwein and other hot liquor beverages are about every 25 meters apart, separated by a multitude of food vendors and a sprinkling of vendors selling crap you don't need.

Every once in awhile, Santa and his helper fly across the market and up to the big Christmas tree, then proceed to back it up in reverse over the market again. I really love how Santa has to use a crane lift to get into his sleigh.

The best thing I ate in Hamburg - a bag full of mini beignets. It made me forget about Dunkin' Donuts quite quickly.

For those unaware, Hamburg has quite a nightlife. I don't have any pictures except for this one - an upwards view of the WWII bunker that I went to a dance party in. A fair amount of time was also spent in the Reeperbahn, the city's nightlife and red light district. I didn't get a chance to see the special street that only men are allowed to visit due to my ill-fated decision to continue talking to a pretty Hamburger (yes, they are called Hamburgers) I had met outside a bar. I did, however, get to see the many, many prostitutes that walk the streets. It was quite shocking to find out that prostitution was legal, and many of them were in fact quite pretty. The key to spotting them and avoid accidentally chatting one up is to look for the fanny packs they all wear. All in all, my last night in the Reeperbahn was probably one of the most fun nights I've ever had. A big thank you to the DJ at Rosie's, the sole reason we did not head back home until 7:30 AM.

Øbamakare

Today I had my first experience with a nationalized health care system. Concerned that I may have a broken foot after falling down some stairs last week, I got a little taste of what the new American system may be like, at least for those who are government-insured. Here's how I score it for the American politicians, given my experience:

Claim: a nationalized system a dis-incentive to doctors, as they are not motivated to earn more and more money by seeing more and more patients.
My experience: the doctor office is open from 9AM to 2PM. 5 hours a day! However, if I only had to work 5 hours a day, I would not be as concerned about making $200K a year instead of $100K.
Republicans +1 point.

Claim: a nationalized system would cause a flood of patients that overwhelm the system.
My experience: I was able to see the doctor the very same day - just like my experience with my GP in the US. Even though the doctor only worked 4 hours a day, it was no problem seeing him the very same day.
Democrats +1 point

Claim: quality of service will go down
My experience: the doctor treated me like he didn't really want me there, and was with me all of 5 minutes, at most....just like it is in the US!
Could be a push, but I'll say Democrats +1 point because technically service level did not go down.

Claim: we can't afford nationalized health care
My experience: if you charge 45% income tax, you can afford it.
Republicans +1 point (since nobody in the US wants higher taxes, even if it benefits them in the end)

Tie score it is. But overall experience, I found it to be just the same as going to the doctor in the US, with the exception that I didn't have to pay a cent (or, in this case, a single øre). Overall, I'm pleased. Tiebreaker goes to the Democrats. Oh, and apparently my foot is not broken. Good news!

Thanksgiving Weekend in Stockholm

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I don't care for the shopping, or even so much for watching the Lions being demolished on TV, but I think about Thanksgiving dinner all the time. So when Thanksgiving rolled around in Scandinavia, it was quite a weird feeling to see it pass by just like any other day.

To make up for missing my first Thanksgiving ever, I decided to skip town and head to Stockholm for the weekend with my good friend from Yale, Roberto, who lives in The Hague. Upon arrival in Stockholm, the string of bad luck I had throughout the day continued - I got locked inside an airport bathroom because the handle had broken off on the inside. I should have taken a picture to commemorate the event, but I was too busy freaking out and dreading how long it would take for someone to walk by and hear my calls for help. I wasn't in there for more than 5 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity.

Outside of the bathroom incident, Stockholm was quite pleasant, even despite the 20 degree temperatures. Stockholm is quite a beautiful city, kind of like Copenhagen except a bit more colorful, more water, a bit more modern in the city center, and people are a bit blonder and taller. Contrary to popular belief, not every Swede is blonde, but it is true they are generally tall and are indeed quite pretty. They also talk like the Swedish Chef on the Muppets show. It seemed like a great place to live, though, and if it weren't for the crazy cold winters with 6 hours of daytime, I bet it would be a bit more crowded of a city.

Stockholm is a network of islands - here we are looking across one of the waterways towards the main center of town, with the rich people homes off to the side.

This part of town is quite pretty because it's where the rich people live.

This is what I meant by Stockholm being more modern than Copenhagen. I have no idea what this is, or what it's used for. A Swede giving us directions called it "the mushroom".

Think of Swedish food, and you think of meatballs, fish, or something from the Ikea cafeteria. While in Stockholm, I had none of that - rather, I had breakfast at the Marriott, sushi, a kebab, and this...the Östermalms Special. There are a ton of hot dog carts around Stockholm, and since I love low-class street food, I had to try this beauty - a concoction of hot dogs with mashed potatoes and dressing, wrapped in flatbread. An interesting $10 somewhat well-spent.

Some friends that Roberto and I hung out with. I only include this because two of them work for Ikea.
Here's Roberto at a Christmas market in Gamla Stan, the old part of town where Stockholm originated. The buildings here are quite colorful, and the market full of things you don't really need.

A more ominous view of Stockholm. The city only appears more sullen because it was already 2 PM and the best sun of the day was past, and the snow was coming down quite hard.

I see London, I see France...

Similar to Sarah Palin, I can see another country from where I reside. Well, not really from where I reside, but from where I work. But unlike Sarah P., who has Russia at her doorstep, I have Sweden right across the way. I am now as experienced in international relations and policy as she is! For those who don't think Sweden is much of a threat, well, you are correct. But just this month in Malmö (right where the bridge in the picture leads to), there was a D.C. sniper copycat, only this guy was targeting immigrants. There was a bit of concern that the sniper would jump over to Copenhagen and its super-international community. They caught they guy, thank goodness!

That big arrow points to Sweden! I still think my view of the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island when I worked at Gap is still the best work view I've ever had, but this is still pretty cool.

Jeg forstår det ikke (I don't understand)

Danish is a tough language. So much so, I've been told by Danes that I shouldn't even bother trying to learn. Weird pronounciations, dropping of the back-end of certain words, and the inability to use the spelling of a word as a guide makes it quite difficult. For example, the street I live on, Nyborggade, is pronounced "neue bo gael". Amagerbro is "Amá bro". Christianhavn is pronounced "Kristanhau", yet I've heard København pronounced "Koubenhagn". What the deelio? So far, I've mastered "hi", "bye", "thank you", "yes", "no", "excuse me", and "cheers".

Today was a momentous day because I did my first load of laundry in this country. I'm fortunate that I have a washing machine in my apartment, but it was a struggle to figure out how to use the thing. The manufacturer used pictures instead of words, as I imagine they figured it would be a more universal way to communicate across language barriers. However, it would have been a lot easier if they just wrote it in Danish and allowed me to do a Google translation, rather than sit in front washer for minutes on end trying to figure it out.

It took me longer than it should but I finally figured out what these symbols meant

This one I couldn't figure out. Anyone have any idea what the left four buttons mean?