First week in Aarhus

I have been here in Aarhus for over a week now but it certainly felt longer. Perhaps the first week is so much about getting used to things that it seems that much has happened.

Arriving in Denmark has posed greater challenges than I thought; the biggest being the language. It is spoken fast and almost mumbled (it seems) and as much as I try to pick out keywords, it proves useless most time. If something is online, at least I can use Google translation service but given that a lot of sites are Flash-driven, it means that I have to rely on people around me to translate. This may be fine if someone is around and they are not too busy with their own stuff. However most time I just try and struggle through with a dictionary. The supermarket poses similar problems. While I can work out to some degree what things may be, I find that I lose out on the richer descriptions of the product. I think I get about 20% of what is labelled.

On the topic of food, I have been searching out Asian provision stores around Aarhus and I have tracked down four so far. Only one proves to be adequate although they still don’t have exactly what I am looking for. Improvisation is the key I guess.

I received an official letter yesterday and guess what, it is in Danish. While it looks important, I have no idea what it says. So I have to get it translated by colleagues at work. When I bought a local prepaid simcard, I was told by the shopkeeper that it would be cheaper to top-up online. However to my dismay, the website is only in Danish and primarily Flash-driven.

Public transport is not too bad once I have begun to recognise the stops where I need to get on and off but damn if I know what the announcements are about for they again are only in Danish. However it is not cheap to travel on public transport. So before I get around to getting a secondhand bicycle, I am walking a lot.

Finding a shared household is another challenge. Since this is primarily a university town, most advertisements for rooms are University students who prefer to live with people of their own age. From their ads, they seem to like to have sociable households and that includes conversing in Danish. So while I have written to many expressing my interest, few have replied. Perhaps they would rather have it easier by living with another Dane rather than having to think harder in English. I am not upset about the situation for that is just how it is. However it does appear that if I want somewhere more permanent to live, I will just have to rent a place on my own.

While paying higher rent is a shame, I have to also spend a fair bit on buying household items. They can be rather expensive. Things here are considerably more expensive, even when compared to the UK. Take for example the iPod. I checked out the iPod classic (120G) online today on both the Danish Apple site and the UK site. In Denmark, it sells it for 1799 DKK (danish kroner) which converts roughly (in today’s rate) to £212. From the UK Apple store, I found the same iPod seeling at £175. Besides money, it is a shame that I can’t share with Danes for I am sure I can learn a lot from them and vice versa.

pre-departure 2

My mood is  swinging like a yoyo. One minute I am ok and the next seized by nervousness and stunned into inaction.  Put simply, I am a mess inside. One minute I am ok, the next I am all emotional inside.

The past, the present and the future are colliding and it is all happening inside my head.  Is it strange that all of a sudden I am bumping into people from my past; people whom I have not seen for years? Interestingly, most of them happen to be people from the choir I used to conduct. And despite being nearly 10 years ago, they still hold those memories so dearly in their hearts. While I seem to  have forgotten the potency of those years, they certainly have not. All of them confessed that those years of singing, of touring, of performing were some of the best times in their lives. And besides wishing me a safe journey and a great future, they thank me for enriching their lives.I admit to being stunned as I catch glimpses of the ripples I have created throughout the years of living in Melbourne.

So whether I like it or not, my past is catching up with me; confronting me and reminding me of what I have forged and what I am leaving behind. Instead of experiencing it as a loss (well of course there is a bit of that), I feel encouraged that I have at least done some good and have left a positive mark, at least with some.

To deal with my emotional state, I try to hold on to some familiarity.  Unwittingly I end up hanging on to my  routine. I still get up as early as before, go to my office as before, eat lunch as before, and so on, eventhough I have finished with my PhD. I really have no need to return to the office but still, I do. This is perhaps my way of claiming some normalcy.

It is not that I am reluctant to leave. As much as I love Australia, I know it is time to eke out new adventures. I told a friend yesterday that starting anew in Denmark-where I know so few people, and the ones I know are new friends- avails  me the opportunity to reinvent myself or even to rewrite the past. That might be alluring to me as a 15-year old when I first arrived in Australia but not this time. With this 2nd big move in my life (the first from Malaysia to Australia), I need to remind myself of my focus and purpose. This time, it will be to build upon what I have established.

pre-departure 1

The absence of any posting lately is not due to the lack of ‘happenings’ in my life. Perhaps it is because too much is happening and so much that I have to deal with  that makes it difficult to attempt to write coherently.  Of course I could just simply write without care or concern but often I feel that there needs to be some internal censoring before posting an etnry.

Yes, Partly it is because I have been very busy trying to deal with the events that are unfolding in my life. There have been a lot brewing and stewing in my mind but somehow I have not really been able to put them down succinctly.

The mind is stirring on overdrive since I knew I will be leaving Australia. Sorting out personal effects have uncovered many memories, some unsought for. Even driving around in Melbourne while catching up with people has led to reminisces flooding in, crashing through time, all converging in one point. Streets I used to live on, people I used to visit, places I used to frequent, etc all return to me as I stand still looking forward and at the same time with the past surging forward.

There will be more of such pre-departure posts (hopefully) as I grind closer each day to the date I leave Melbourne.

Copenhagen in March

Am now in Copenhagen (CPH) after traveling 3 hours and a bit by train from Aarhus. Minutes prior to arrival in CPH, it began to snow! So I got covered in snow as I dragged by bag to the covers of the platform. An easy and relaxing train ride, although not that cheap @ about 330+ DKK (Danish Kroner) -approximately $AUD80. But the seat is very comfortable, with power connector above the head for the laptop. I chose the ‘non speaking’ carriage. Yes, you get to choose what type of carriage you want to ride in, e.g., family ones.

Anyway, I checked into Hotel Twenty Seven. Friendly, smiley staff, with free internet, breakfast and even a free buffet nightly. A wine bar, ice bar, as well as a cocktail bar forms part of the establishment. Apart from the smallish room, I really like the place. Its funky and modern with nice little touches. The wine bar I am writing this from has various kinds of seatings – from perch up high stools along great wooden tables, to lovely modern (and comfy) sofas covered in grey flannel-like wool upholstery and seats and an assortment of chairs over nice rugs and finally a slightly more ‘formal’ dining area – wallpapered in a mottled black and white adorned with black and white framed photographs.

I went for a quick walk but due to the combination of snow raining down on me together with the unfamiliarity of the roads made me retreat back to the warmth of the hotel room after 15 minutes. Perhaps there will be a chance to explore further tomorrow.

nordic lights

Four months since my last post and much has transpired. In that time I had spent a month away in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. In that time, I had also progressed the thesis to its final edit. Now, I am visiting Denmark, having arrived in this country since the 8th of March. The purpose: to seek out opportunities for life beyond a student.

Having been here for 3 days now, I must say that I do like what I have encountered. While relatively sedate, there is something about the way things  are ‘designed’ – the little details in everything. I guess the Danish aesthetics is very much a pervasive attitude that permeates through every facet of life.

Aarhus, the city I am in, is refreshingly larger than I anticipated. Not the backwater place that some people seem to indicate. There is a certain bohemian air about parts of the town with many little nooks and crannies. A good mix of the old and new. The people are friendly but only when approached; more reserved and keeping to themselves.

But the cost of things are high when compared to what I am used to in Australia. The most common index I use is the BMI index – The Big Mac Index (not body mass index). With today’s exchange rate, a single Big Mac in Denmark costs approximately AUD$7.80. The cost in Australia, the last time I checked (Dec 2008) is AUD$4.25 – so not quite double the price but not far either…nearly 45% more. Of course I have to also take into account the poorly performing Aussie dollar right now. But the wages are higher.

Society is certainly more flat and there appears to be a highly consultative nature in the way decisions are made.

Well I am sure i will keep writing but right now, I need to get going to grab myself a coffee.

post draft blues

…or is it just a drop in adrenaline as some might attribute it to? ok, i handed in my draft yesterday with great trepidation and a urgency not because ‘they’ (my supervisors) were demanding it but i was really pushing it out to them. besides being one to work best to a hard deadline, i needed to give it to them ASAP because i am going away in a few weeks’ time to malaysia. thus i wanted to make sure that they have at least a couple of weeks to read through my draft so that i have corrections to take away with me.

and now i am feeling all down and sad; unsure of why and what it is that is dragging me down.

so i dialed up itunes, cranked up the volume to the max and set it on shuffle while i clean, sort, file, organize, tidy up my office. i will have to face up to starting on the appendix soon.

the thing is that i guess i would have liked to have a few more days up my sleeve before handing up the draft; to clean it up, to polish it a bit before giving it away. it’s just pride and ego at the end of the day isn’t it? you spend years at this work; you live it, breathe it and you let it consume you and you just feel that you might not be doing it the justice it deserves.

ah well, let’s hope it passes soon.

a quiet milestone

i finally handed in my first draft of the thesis. it has taken me about 6 months to write 245 pages and just over 90 000 words. of course this will need to be trimmed. there were moments of inspired writing (if i dare say so myself) but there are also chunks of highly uninspired dribble. of course i told myself that i would polish the latter before subjecting my supervisors to it but due to time constraints, i just cannot do it, much to the bruising of my pride.

so i turned it in; all 245 pages of it, spiral bound to make my supervisors’ task a bit easier (and to make up for the inadequacies of my writing). it went in at 2.30pm today.

i had looked forward to having this tome lifted off my shoulders for i kept reminding myself that in fact the first complete draft is the most difficult stage towards submission. but yet i don’t feel elated. what an anti-climax.

so it is onward to the next task at hand – preparing the appendix.

the things you learn on a friday night

I had a really busy (and hectic) day today.  It was a day of teaching, sorting out overdue administrative tasks, attending seminars, and meeting students. And came 4.30pm, I was ready to go home, having not done any writing, although I did think about what to write. By the time I got home and made a light dinner, one of my headaches was starting to brew. I realized that I was just too tired to write and instead, decided to do some housechores and laundry.

I suddenly remembered that I had always wanted to learn just how some people managed to fold their fitted sheets into a nice rectangle. I did try on many occasions on my own but it always ended looking like a pile of elasticized mess. I don’t know why I never thought about looking on the internet until tonight and boy, did I learn how to do it or not.

Here is the instructional video.

I was so surprised how easy it was after trying it a few times. Now I feel so proud of myself when I look into my linen cupboard and see nicely folded rectangular piles of fitted sheets.

Ah, the things you learn on a Friday night.

i’m still alive

I thought I might just write a short post to indicate that I am still alive. Time is running out quickly and I am panicking even more. That is one reason why I have been so quiet. Day in, day out, it’s the same thing, pushing on and forward ever so slowly. It’s definitely the most difficult thing I’ve attempted so far and I am still no where near the end.

Here is another pic of my ‘new office’. Things are piling up and I am making myself at home. But today is such a gorgeous 25-degree day. Just look at how bright and blue it is outside.

Stuck inside and wishing I am outside

out of the cave

OK. I have been  neglecting the blog. It could be a good thing because it could mean that I have been focusing on my work. Have I? Well, yes and no. I have been trying though. There had been a spate of health related issues too. To stop the nagging from my friends, I finally relented and went to see my doctor. The tests and scan have come back negative and now all I need to rule out is migraine. Yup, I was getting quite severe headaches up to 3 times a week which left me quite debilitated.

The writing has been slow. I get tired quite easily these days. So I am looking at supplements and also trying to get adequate sleep. Perhaps it is all psychosomatic because I am finding the writing tough going.

Well, I have managed to find a nice spot to work (for now). It has a great view of the city of Melbourne and plenty of natural light. It is also much quieter than my office. Just moved in this morning and after wiping down the dust and ‘purifying’ the air with my oil burner, I am loving it so far.

Temporary office