Just Like one of H.C. Andersen's Fairy Tales...

On Friday, we took a two hour bus ride to get to Odense, Denmark, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. It was a beautiful ride through the European countryside as we passed fields of wheat, corn, rye, and barley as well as gorgeous views of water and windmills along the way.

We began the day at the Sct. Hans Skole (school). Then we met with our host families to spend the afternoon and night in a Danish household. I'll be telling the stories of those two days with pictures:

Here's the principal of the school, Lars Eriksen, as he tells us about programs there. I was surprised to learn that there is no teacher evaluation. He doesn't observe his teachers as we are accustomed to in America. And the students seem to have more freedom than our American kids - there were no hall passes; they just kind of walked around unsupervised much of the time. However, it was their last week of school, and they were turning in books and cleaning up, etc. We know our own schools aren't quite as structured at the end of the year.

Our tour guides were Viola (pronounced VeeOla) and Emma. You can see that Viola has on a scarf, a staple in the wardrobe of European girls.

They called this class "needles class" - they were knitting on some wooden frames.

The kids hammed it up in woodworking class. We were horrified to see them handling saws without goggles in such a laid back atmosphere. I would have been terrified that someone would get hurt.

This is the Teacher's Lounge, and you can see how many teachers would be in there at any one time. I asked where the students were, and I was told that the kids go out to recess alone - the teacher has free time then. One thing we do have in common - they love their coffee, but instead of someone making coffee every morning, they have a coffee/hot chocoloate dispenser in their lounges (like we have Coke machines.)

This is art class. We loved the fat colored pencils in the box. I was amazed that each color was in its place in the box. I pictured American children just throwing them back in there (or throwing them at each other.)

The school has a dentist office in it. All health care and education costs are paid by the government so they have dental care right in the school.

Our tour guides couldn't translate this to English - they just said, "It's something about teeth."

We have these signs in our schools, too. They say "Testing. Do Not Disturb."

We spoke to this class of sixth graders (our equivalent of seventh graders - they start at grade 0). They asked us questions about our school, our students, and our country. I didn't know it at the time, but Anders, from my home stay family, was in this class.

The school treated us to lunch, including several types of Danish beer (right there in the school!)

Here's our lunch - pork, herring (I'm not a fan - it was basically raw), new potatoes (a big deal in Denmark - the mayors issue proclamations when the "new" potatoes are ready), some kind of sauce that the Danish folk put on their meat, and homemade rye bread. For dessert we had a bowl of strawberries with fresh cream. It was so good I wanted to lap it up like a cat. They ended an already amazing meal with that famous "soft ice" ice cream, a vanilla version and a caramel.

After lunch our host families came to pick us up. Claus, the father, and Anders, the 13 year old son, were all smiles and made what could have been an uncomfortable meeting with strangers very easy. I told them I hoped my suitcase wouldn't take up too much room in the car, and Claus said, "There's no car. We're walking." The house was just around the corner from the school!

When we turned the corner, I saw Lise and Anna standing on the porch...more smiles. They were all so excited to see me, but I was the one who was really excited!

Just after I arrived, my host family treated me to Danish pastries - I can tell you that nothing we have in America (that we call "Danish") can compare to these authentic delicacies!

The first thing we did was head to the Hans Christian Andersen museum. The Danish are proud of their most famous writer, who they refer to as H.C. Andersen (pronounced "Ho See Andersen"), and there are tributes to him all over the town.

We were greeted at the museum by ducklings...appropriate since one of H.C. Andersen's most popular stories is "The Ugly Duckling."

The museum included a timeline to help us understand the life and times of the author. Here's a familiar person who was a contemporary to the author.

Numerous scultptors have contributed to the immortality of H.C. Andersen.

H.C. Andersen had a difficult childhood, growing up in poverty. He grew up to be a prolific writer and artist, but was aware that he was not very attractive. Anna told me that she learned in school that he favored his right profile - thinking it made him look better. It's reported that his story "The Ugly Duckling" is somewhat autobiographical.

Here's the street where H.C. Andersen's birthplace sits.

After visiting the museum, my family took me to dinner in this restaurant. The food was very good and was similar to what I eat at home - some beef that looked and tasted like what we call hamburger steak or chopped steak, new potatoes, and bread. Also included were sweet pickle slices.

The restaurants are rated in Denmark just like they are in America. But they don't get grades; they get smiley faces.

After we ate, we rode around the Danish countryside. Some storms came and went, and there were beautiful rainbows along the way.

Here's my wonderful host family on the coast of Denmark where they like to go and look for fossils. Claus, the dad, is in advertising; Anna is 15 and is graduating this week from "gymnasium" (our version of high school), Anders is 13, and Angelise (Lise) works with one to three-year-olds at a day care.

We passed an authentic, and still functional, wooden windmill on our site-seeing trip.

Thankfully most tourist sites in Denmark include an English version of the description.

We climbed into a tower for this spectacular view.

On Saturday we went to the outdoor market. That red O (with a slash through it) symbol indicates that the food is organic.

There's Odense's most famous son. Anna told me that this park (beside the library that in the past was where the "rich people" went to read) is where the teenagers hang out and drink beer. Teens can drink at age 15 in Denmark, but they don't drive until they're 18...so they don't have the drinking and driving problem that we have in the US.

These prams (strollers) were everywhere. For a country that uses smaller cars and has small hotel rooms they sure like extra large baby strollers. The children stay in these for years, eventually sitting up in them. Also, it is common to let the baby sleep outside in the yard in the pram so they can get fresh air. Danish parents put the baby out for nap and then go on about their day. By the way, after the mothers take maternity leave, the fathers get 14 weeks of paternity leave, two weeks of which overlap with the mother's maternity leave.

As we walked around the town, we came upon this outdoor line dancing class.

This is city hall in Odense; it looks very similar to city hall in Copenhagen.

There are Lise and Anna outside H.C. Andersen's childhood home.

And Claus and Anders on the other side.

Next we came across a protest in the square where signs read "Demokrat Iran." The protestors were peaceful, chanting in a language that was neither Danish nor English. Lise said, "If they want to get their message across, they should use one of our languages."

The crosswalk lights in Odense display the likeness of H.C. Andersen.

When we went to the market, Lise set the timer on the car windshield that indicates what time they parked (there's a one hour limit.) I asked her how they knew people didn't put the wrong time there. Evidently there is a strong honor code in Denmark.

And with that, my time had run out in Odense. I cried as I embraced my host family, knowing that I may never see them again, and if I do, it will be a long time. But on my first morning back at home, I received an email from Claus that included this picture:

We had just finished our lunch on the deck overlooking the gardens and greenhouse. Claus set the timer and ran around behind us while we laughed hysterically. I enjoyed my stay in Odense and will miss my host family. Thank you, Claus, Lise, Anna, and Anders. It was a life-changing experience...

I'll miss you, Denmark.