Rain again this morning, but not too bad, light sprinkles really. But it was still cold and wet as I rode my bike back to the police station one more time (hopefully the last time) to get the proper visa stamp so I will finally be legal. Recall that I thought I had the proper stamp several weeks ago, shortly after I arrived in Denmark, but then I found out I did not have the proper stamp. Well, yesterday while I was in Ribe eating my limone ice cream the Fulbright Commission called me and said that I was finally entered in the Immigration database and the proper paperwork for the proper stamp was properly processed. Proper! So I rode back to the station and went in to find the woman who had the proper stamp paperwork had just arrived and needed a few minutes to get things printed. Within five minutes I was finally legal in Denmark.
Then I headed to school and arrived within just a few minutes of class time. I had three sessions today; the first two with Joan and a solo gig in a third year class. Quite busy today. The classes went well. In the second class the students had read the Robert Conley short story “Witch of Goingsnake.” I have been getting good conversations from that piece. This one was also good. It got quite philosophical rather quickly. We really did not discuss the actual story a great deal; rather, we discussed Truth vs. truth and the paradox of beliefs and facts. We also got off into some mythological creatures for a short while, seeing as how this Conley work is about sgilis. I learned a small bit about Danish mythological creatures and a few tales of creatures both Cherokee and Danish were swapped. Overall I think it went well, though we did not spend a great deal of time on the actual story.
I stayed for a short while after classes to try to catch up some on emails and other matters that piled up yesterday while I was on my field trip, and then I made my way to the flat where I had another task before me: laundry. I had put off laundry for a while and then when I tried to do it a day or so ago the machines were all occupied, so I finally got the chance this afternoon. The laundry machines here (in Denmark, not just this apartment building) take a very long time to run. The machine at the house took at least an hour-and-a-half to run the cycle. Get this, the machines in this apartment building lit up at 200 minutes when I deposited my coins. 200 minutes, that’s over three hours. Laundry is a process here. So I finally got my laundry going and came back up stairs to do some writing and other work. But my patience would not allow me to wait for 200 minutes. I went back downstairs every now and then to find a good stopping time, so when the fourth, yeah fourth, rinse and spin cycle finished I pulled my clothes. When I did that the machine still had 45 minutes to go. Then to iron, but I won’t bore you with that.
The remainder of the evening, following ironing, I spent writing and working on my presentation for the upcoming lecture in about two weeks. I also now have a presentation I have to prepare for when I return.
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