My first full weekend in Denmark, and whatever shall I do? Some suggestions from my Danish colleagues were to go north along the strand to what they called the forest or to go to Fano Island (pronounced fan-oo). That is what I did. I took my time in leaving the house, mainly because it was cold this morning; I waited for it to warm some. I rode the bike to the harbor and found the ferry that runs to the Island every fifteen minutes. Fano is a quaint little place; people live there, but apparently it is a huge draw for German tourists. My colleagues here have told me that the Germans load up their cars with picnic goodies and of course beer, then come to Fano for the weekend to camp, wind car race along the beach, or just get away from Germany for a while. And I did see lots of Germans while on Fano. Mostly I saw Germans on bicycles; I suppose because I, myself, was on a bicycle touring the island, but Germans on bikes were everywhere.
I spent about five hours on Fano and rode that bike pretty much all over the island. I stopped at a few shops; looked about. Had myself another of those fabulous ice creams I have come to love here. This one was a chocolate mix called Tiger. WOW! I just enjoyed the time touring around, through the very narrow streets, taking in the view of the North Sea, trying to figure out how those thatched roofs did not leak like a sieve.
I had fun: Fano = fun, well at least for a tourist, and that was exactly what I was this day. I have posted several photos from my day on Fano on my Facebook page; check them out.Well, the long bike ride back to the house was next. Actually, it was not that bad. Guess I am getting used to this means of locomotion. I am going to be in pretty good shape by the time this Fulbright assignment is over. I bet I rode that bike thirty kilometers today. I ride it a minimum of thirteen each day just going to and from the school – and that is if I go straight there and back, but I never just go there and back. I go either to the city centre or the shopping center on the way back from school. Fifteen kilometers a day, easy, and some days (like today) much more.
Riding that bike so much today made it easier to relax once I did get settled in at the house. By the time that happened it was late in the afternoon; the sun was shining into the sun room and warming it to the point of sleepy-time. I wanted to lie down and take a nap on the couch, but decided against it because I would probably be awake all night, so I read some from a book instead. Toward the early evening I turned on the TV and watched some of those German language programs. I have created a little game for myself. Though I do not fully understand what they are saying in most cases I listen to the voices dubbing over the American shows and see how close those voices sound to the ones in the States. Now don’t laugh, but I have watched quite a lot of Spongebob Squarepants (or Spongebob Shawmkapf as he is called here); it’s one of Lexi’s favorite shows and many are the times I end up watching it with her – whether I want to or not. I have noticed here that whoever the German actor is doing the voice dubbing of Spongebob sounds almost exactly like the one in the States. However, hardly any of the other characters sound at all like the American version. The same holds true for the Simpsons. The German voice of Lisa is dead on, but Marge, Homer, and Bart are not at all like the American versions. Apu is close, but not exact, but it is very funny listening to a distinctly German voice try to fake an east Indian accent such as Apu on the Simpsons.
Well, that is how I spent this day, this evening, and half the weekend. What did you do?
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