Mormor

I just had a great weekend. On Friday night, I went out to a club to celebrate one of my friends who had his birthday last week. It was a big club with a lot of music and an open bar once you paid the cover. On each of the different floors was a different types of music, so we danced all night. We met a few Danes that we spent the night talking to and dancing with. They couldn't understand why we would ever come to little Copenhagen after living in the US, hah. They bought us champaign and were very good storytellers despite somewhat broken English and we had a really great time.
On Saturday, we made a family trip to Grandma's house. Going to Mormor's house in this family meant getting dressed up and driving across the island to her apartment that overlooks the water between Zealand and Fyn. It also meant eating 4 or 5 courses and looking at old pictures of Ida from when she was a little girl. Some things about Grandmas seem to be universal... even in Denmark each table was covered in a knit tablecloth and plates and figurines covered the walls and after you finished what was on your plate, Grandma wanted you to eat more. But the food we had was very different than anything I had had before and you kept track of the course you were on by the alcohol that you drank. We started off with snacks of chips and peanuts.. and champaign. Next, we had tunafish salad on pineapple with tomatoes and bacon (so so good)... with Rose wine. After the fish comes the main course of steak, salad and scallopped potatoes... with red wine. Next was candied figs with homemade whipped cream... with alcoholic pear cider. And just when you thought you were finished, you moved to applecake, these really delicious chocolate marshmellow things and cookies... with coffee and cognac. Then, as we were sitting around the table looking at old photo albums, Grandma pulls out the gin and tonic, rum and coke and Carlsburg just in case anyone wants to round off their night with a last drink. Let me tell you, though, Mormor drank like a champ and I could not keep up. After course number 2 I had glasses starting to line up because she was serving me faster than I could drink, haha. She is a sweet old woman and I'm glad we got to spend a nice night with the family.
On Sunday we celebrated the gorgeous weather and hung out outside. I did homework and my host parents worked around the yard. The blackberries in the backyard just got ripe, so Ida and I have been picking them daily and we picked a huge bowl on Sunday. Inspired by the Danish girl's success in the US Open, Ida and I have been playing tennis on their community courts and Sunday, the whole family played doubles in the afternoon. After dinner and more homework, Ida and I went and saw a chick flick at the theater because I won a gift certificate. It's a good thing, too, because I probably would not have gone if I knew we would spend almost $60 on the outing for both of us-- 160 krone on the movie tickets ($32) and 120 krone on snacks ($24). And we thought it was bad in the US! You also have to pick your seats as if you were going to a concert, which is kinda cool, too. Anyways, the movie was cute and Ida and I had fun and it was a great end to a great weekend.