Discovering Denmark: Tuesday and Wednesday- Week 3

Tuesday Morning was a usual morning. We woke up at five to six, got dressed, had breakfast, packed our lunches and bags, walked to the bus stop, traveled on the bus to school, walked from the bus stop up to the school, and had lessons. After school we did the reverse. Walked to the bus stop, traveled home on the bus, walked from the bus stop to home, and put our bags in our room. Natacia then did her homework. We then had a delicious dinner of sausages and mash potato. The sausages are really thick, but taste delicious. There was also a special Christmas sausage, which was really nice.

After dinner we got ready for Scouts. Scouts tonight was different to a usual meeting as we were to go around the town putting flyers in peoples letter boxes. We split up into groups of roughly 4 people per group, were given a map of the area's we were to deliver to, and sent on our merry way. It was cold, my hands were freezing, but gloves weren't an option, because with gloves on you couldn't separate the sheets of paper. We had one of the biggest sections, and it took us around an hour to complete. When we got back, everyone else was already there, drinking hot chocolate, and eating Marie biscuits. I was quite glad to pour myself a mug of hot chocolate, not because I wanted the drink, but because I wanted something to warm my hands on. The hot cup worked a treat, and I suppose the drink was quite nice too.

Wednesday's school day was much like every other school day, I didn't understand a single word being said. Although luckily for me I took senior Chemistry in the last two years at school, so I am able to understand some of that, and the maths they are doing is of a similar level to what you do in year 9 & 10 advanced maths in Australia. I even taught Natacia how to do some of the Chemistry. Yay I used organic chemistry in the real world! After school we caught the bus home, as usual. When we arrived home my host mother was already home, and my host father arrived home just after us. We all had something to eat for afternoon tea, which included them all trying peanut butter for the first time. I don't know what they thought, but personally I think peanut butter is delicious.

Once our stomachs were satisfied Natacia had a Danish essay to complete, so we went into our room, and she finished that while I sat on Facebook, probably annoying her with my laughing at pictures. unfortunately I have discovered that most of the things I laugh at on the internet are only funny to native English speakers, so if I sit there laughing for five minutes and she asks to see what I'm laughing at, I generally get a look of total confusion after showing her.

At 5:45-ish, we all piled into the car and drove to one of the next towns over for some indoor rock climbing. Natacia doesn't like rock climbing, so she stayed with both feet on the ground, as did her mother. But I harnessed up, strapped on some sticky-shoes, and took to the wall... slowly. With my host dad belaying me, I took to the wall, the easiest wall, of course. And without too much struggle, admittedly a little bit though, I reached the top. Then when I came back down, I did it again. Once I had successfully climbed that wall twice, I though I would try the next level up. I got halfway up the wall, but had overestimated my strength, I was struggling to hold on to the wall, and slipped multiple times, so I came back down. After assessing the wall for about 5 minutes, I tried again, and barely even made it three steps up the wall. So I took a rest. During said rest I witnessed a kid, probably just over half my age climb a wall to the point that they were practically climbing upside down on the roof, and had the best rock climber in Denmark pointed out to me, he's sixteen. After watching these amazing people, who happened to be younger than me, I though I would lift my spirits, and climb again. So I went back to the easy wall, to make myself feel better, and made it to the top. By now, though I was exhausted, so we left.

What I realised after last night:

Concepts I know and understand about rock climbing:

- Push with your legs, don’t pull with your hands

- If you fall, the rope/ person belaying you, will catch you before you hit the ground

Concepts your body automatically reject once on the wall:

- Push with your legs, don’t pull with your hands, your hands are for balance

- If you fall, the rope/ person belaying you, will catch you before you hit the ground

*Note, these concepts aren’t consciously forgotten. Although legs are predominantly used, your arms can’t help but pull you up anyway.

*Note, you’re not in constant worry about falling, but missing that knob, or slipping, do cause minor panic until you remember you are attached to a rope.

I had a whole heap of fun, even though my arms are mildly sore today, and can't thank my host family enough. If you read this Host Family, THANKS SO MUCH! YOU'RE THE BEST!

Once we got home from rock climbing, Natacia added the finishing touches to her essay, then we had dinner, sausages and pasta, which I ate a fair amount of, I must say, because rock-climbing sure takes it out of you. It was also really yummy, so who could resist. After dinner we went back to our room, where we both sat on our laptops for a bit, before going to bed.

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