Bring on the Night

Finally a machine where you sucessfully can use the Jedi-Mind-Trick-Wave and it actually works.

Tags: Humour, nerdish

Here’s C preparing for tomorrows oral exam.

Its one of 2 final exams she has pass to graduate as social caretaker. It’s been 2 years since she started and she has studied harder than any Dane I know would have.

Still she’s very nervous, which may affect her performance. She know this, and it makes her even more nervous.

I know that she has all practical and theoretical stuff down, so I hope she’ll do fine. Nevertheless you’re bound to become nervous when you have to take an exam in a foreign language, that you don’t feel 100% comfortable with yet.

Crossing my fingers for C to pass, so I can get my normal wife back again soon. I haven’t seen her the last week and I miss her. :-)

Tags: school, wife

In attempt to teach our kid some Chinese, C got hold of some VCDs with Chinese children’s songs. Actually calling them ‘Chinese’, may be overdoing it, since many of the melodies are oddly recognizable to me (like Jinglebells for one). Anyway, the lyrics are in Chinese, and that good enough for the purpose.

Yesterday, as I was watching Mark and had the TV running with VCD in the background, I noticed a Portuguese flag suddenly popping up in one of the cartoons/songs. I knew the melody, so I tried to put it together, but no luck.

Then suddenly there was a sad child slowly moving towards an adult woman. They met in a big hug. In the subtitles I spotted “Macau” as the one non-Chinese word. I figured it was a song about Macau and asked C what they were singing. “It’s about coming back to the motherland” she informed me. Ahhh propaganda, you have to start early to get the full effect. Why haven’t I seen one of those with Greenland and Denmark yet? Continue Reading »

Tags: China, china vs denmark, Humour, Mark

It may not be South Pole cold here, but we did have a long period of freezing days.

Shot one morning when I was preparing the car before we went to work/daycare.

Tags: art, car, weather, winter

Tags: christmas

Nah, not really.

Information doesn’t have any opinion. WikiLeaks have opinions. They want information to be free. Well except information that hurt themselves. That’s just harmful and evil. But please – please don’t blame the information. Poor old thing.

But information REALLY wants to be free?!
Well so does my Willy, but that doesn’t mean it’s wise to release it to the public. Because you can, doesn’t means you should. That goes for most decisions in adult life.

But if we don’t show the world the wrongdoings, it will go unpunished?!
True – and we should make sure to spank those who selfishly disregard laws and ignore consequences. Does this remind you of someone?

But to do so we need to pass the evidence?!
Sure we do, but that’s not what WikiLeaks have done. They leaked everything regardless of informative value and they published it to everyone. Not just those who could use information to stop the specific crime. Continue Reading »

Tags: internet, rant

Just lost one of our 2 rabbits yesterday. Not sure what was wrong but it was surely heading for a slow death, so we decided to speed things up. I sent C upstairs while I finished it off after advice by my brother. He’s a hunter and knew how to do it fast and humane.

Not the funniest thing I’ve done in my life, but I’ve always meant that you shouldn’t be allowed to have animals if you can’t take responsibility for their well-being. This means ending their suffering too.

C was heartbroken. We bought it when it was 3 months old to be company to the other rabbit we had. That one was found running free 3+ years ago. They have kept C company while I worked and she sat home bored. It’s understandable why shes sad. We gave it a “burial” in the nearby forest where It’ll probably be recycled by a fox or bird of prey. At least it will do some good here in the freezing cold and snow.

I’m forbidden by C to get her a new one. She doesn’t want anymore rabbits to take care off in the future, and I think that’s wise. It’s a lot of work keeping the cage clean and keep in mind to feed them daily. So when the last rabbit goes, that’ll be the end of rabbits in our house. At least I know that the rabbit had a good life. C has always been very attentive to their needs and kept them well protected. Continue Reading »

Tags: death, life, rabbits

After 9 months of interrupted sleep during the nights it seems Mark finally started sleeping through the night.

Our fingers are crossed big time though. Its only day 4 of that happening and you never know if he has a relapse. Prospects look good so far though.

So what did the trick? It’s a mix of many things well helped on its way by a book Ryan suggested a while back. I recommend the book, but as always, it may not work for everyone. The book is packed with things to consider, and even if it is not exactly fitting your sleepless situation, the inputs will help you around all corners possible.

Our situation was extra complicated as we had our plans interjected by my fathers serious illness (may write more about that later). This meant that we temporary had my mom live with us. That was 2 days after I finally convinced C that Mark should sleep in his own room. Instead my mom got that room, and thus Mark was back in our bedroom. Major setback. Continue Reading »

Tags: baby, life, problem, sleep

As promised in an older post, here’s the picture of one of the gifts we got for our boy. It’s a pair of “special” Chinese pants:

Tags: china vs denmark, Humour, Mark, pictures

No time to write these days. Got my hands full with serious illness in the family. Might write more about it when I get above water level again.

Tags: family, silence

When you’re married to a Chinese woman here in Denmark, you are bound to have tried something like this:

5.30pm the phone rings while you’re almost done cooking dinner. It’s your wife’s Chinese friends, who’s just in the neighborhood and wants to come around.

If we lived in C’s hometown that’s would be quite all right and a normal scenario, but in Denmark it’s highly inappropriate. What’s the right thing to say in the phone? I really don’t know.

C and I often discuss this, because she likes these blitzkrieg visits, while I normally find them highly annoying. It’s not that I don’t want visitors. It’s just that I like to know when in advance. This gives me time to buy groceries, clean the place, plan dinner or whatever needed. Especially now that our days are 99% packed with chores and watching our little rascal.

The above example is not just an example. It’s what happened last Friday. We were both beaten from a long week and C already started moaning about how to get all her homework done before Monday. We’re both severely tired and not at all ready for anything but dinner, homework and relaxing an hour or two before hitting the bed. Still C wanted her friend to come by. She incidently had time to tell me about it, when her friend’s cell phone lost connection. Continue Reading »

Tags: china vs denmark

Saturday morning C was moaning about the flexibility of barbershops here in Denmark.

I understand her woes. I china she used to walk into the nearest barbershop and get a haircut right away. That’s rarely the case in Denmark. Here you make an appointment in advance. 1 day before, would probably not be enough.

Later Saturday she was getting her hair done at 10.00am. The appointment was arranged at least 5 days earlier. I knew for sure she wouldn’t be satisfied with the haircut, because she never has been here in Denmark. In China I’ve seen her walk into random barbershops and never complained. Here in Denmark she even has to bring a picture sometimes, but it’s never good enough.

I have to agree that the Chinese shops seems to have more skill when cutting C’s hair, but I think there’s more to it than just difference in expertise between Denmark and China.

I still haven’t found out exactly what goes wrong, but I have circled a few ideas:

• Asian hair is normally stronger than the average Dane and requires different hairstyle/techniques to make it “fall” the right way. Maybe Danish barbers really don’t have enough experience with Asian hair?
• C is not clear enough about what she wants (or maybe she lacks the detail in Danish to make herself understood).
• C has always been cut by women here, whereas in China it’s normally men. So a woman automatically can’t go right?
• C has just been unlucky the last 5 years?
• C is hard to please? Forget it, it was never written. *Jedi mind trick wave*

Continue Reading »

Tags: barbershop, china vs denmark

If you’re this drunken 7.45am on a Thursday morning, you might want to revise your lifestyle.

Snapped with my cell phone while driving to work. This guy was alarmingly drunk and decided it was clever to walk towards traffic on a 60km/h street looking enraged and gesturing wildly to oncoming traffic. Behind him, out of sight, is his equally drunken buddy holding a beer managing to remain impressively calm.

I’m so proud to call myself his fellow countryman.

Tags: Drunken, Fool

I could have sworn I’d be cold as freaking ice, but seems I’ve slowly morphed into your average pathetic parent. Today I watched Mark crawl for the first time and almost got all teary-eyed. Dammit!

1 day before his 7 month birthday the little bugger decided to crawl his first meter. And to reach what? My ugly indoor shoes made by my mother-in-law… Why is nothing like in the movies…

Best regards

Soft dad

Tags: Mark, parenting

A continued entry following the last post describing my day

C’s daily routine after Mark’s birth:

• 6.00am and sometimes even earlier: Mark wakes up and starts yakking/whimpering because he’s done sleeping. Normally he needs a shot of milk too, which C provides sitting half-asleep on the bed.
• 6.30am: After 30 minutes of sucky sleep C has to give up and crawl out of bed.
• 7.15am: C shower, feed Mark and get him ready for day-care, eat and prepare for school.
• 8.30am C walks Mark to day-care.
• 9.00am to 3.00pm: School.
• 3.00-3.10pm: Cycle home.
• 3.10 – 3.30 Walk and pickup Mark from day-care.
• 3.30pm: Arrive home.
• 3.30 – 4.30pm: Watch Mark, do homework or housework – if possible (up to Mark).
• 4.30pm: Chubby Hubby arrives home and we discuss the day.
• 4.30pm – 6.00pm: Watch Mark, do homework or housework – if possible.
• 6.00pm: Feed Mark and eat dinner (in an order controlled by Mark’s crying level).
• 7.00pm: Marks looks extremely tired and C prepares to tug him in.
• 7.30 – 8.00pm: Mark finally dozes off and sometimes so does C in mid-battle.
• 8.00pm: C starts on her homework, housework, watching TV with me or what is on agenda. But always work before pleasure.
• Between 9.00 – 11.00pm: C gets ready for bed depending on the status of homework.
• 11.30am: C is woken up by Mark and has to feed him.
• About 2.00am: C is woken up by Mark and has to either feed him or give him his pacifier. And no – I’m not lazy and I could easily give him his pacifier except for the fact that I’d have to crawl over C to reach him, thus waking her up anyway.
• About 3.00am: There is now a good chance that Mark has lost his pacifier and makes sure to wake everyone up and let them know.
• About 4.00am: C is woken up by Mark and has to feed him.
• About 5.00am: There is now a good chance that Mark has lost his pacifier again.
• About 6.00am or earlier: C is woken up by Mark who’s done sleeping and by 6.00am is hungry again.

Continue Reading »

Tags: life, Mark

I wanted to write this for a while, but didn’t prioritize it. The following may explain why.

My daily routine after Mark’s birth:

• 6.00am and sometimes even earlier: Mark wakes up and starts yakking/whimpering because he’s done sleeping.
• 6.30am: After 30 minutes of torture semi-sleep I give up and crawl out of bed.
• 7.15am: I shower, eat, and head for work.
• 8.00am to 3.30pm: Work
• 3.30pm – 4.30pm Drive home, buy groceries and similar.
• 4.00 – 4.30pm: Arrive home.
• 4.30pm: Discuss the day with C, while saying hello to Mark.
• 4.30pm – 5.00pm: start cooking.
• 6.00pm: Feed Mark and eat our dinner (in strict order controlled by Mark’s crying level).
• 7.00pm: I start cleaning the kitchen and dinner table.
• 7.30pm: I get a chance to sit down and sort the dailies in needed (bills, letters, overdue phone calls and similar).
• 7.30- 8.00pm: My time begin. This is when I watch telly, write on the blog, read news on the net or play computer games. If C has time we sometimes watch a movie or whatever we want.
• 11.00pm: If I haven’t automatically passed out in the chair by now (may happen once a week), I’ll start considering going to bed.
• 11.30pm: After getting ready for bed, I crawl under the sheets.
• 11.30am – 6.00am I “sleep” being woken up at least once every 2 hour by Mark either being hungry or wanting his lost pacifier. C takes care of this, but I still wake up most of the times.

Continue Reading »

Tags: life, Mark

If I was a trucker I might have chosen more “trucker-style” drapes than this bloke:

Close-up:
‘
Text on window says: “King of the Rai” – Whatever that means?

Sorry for the image quality. Cellphone camera held as I was driving behind him.

Tags: mobileshots

being alone with 3 yakking Chinese mothers and their 3 screaming infants.

Well now that I think about it, it’s either that or a warm gun.

Tags: china vs denmark, Humour, man vs woman

At the party celebrating our son’s baptism I watched C happily munching away on a piece of watermelon. She suddenly stopped eating, and looked to her left where the Chinese guests sat. She then looked around to the other guests and said: “Why are only the Chinese eating?”.

Tags: china vs denmark, man vs woman

Another one of those “happy pig” trucks.

The sign says “stress free”, which is hardly the case, but what do I know. And sure, I’ll eat the stressed buggers if I find part of them in my supermarket freezer.

Tags: animals, humanity