A dedication to all the people I'm living with.
It's raining outside as usual, my lessons just ended and I have infinite amount of coffee under my command. I can tell you stories about the most amazing things or maybe a little less amazing things...or just casual things, it depends on how easily you get excited.
So soon after arriving I found out that this school of Folkehøjskole has an alternate purpose to teach people how to live together in small communities. To see the same faces during breakfast, lunch and dinner. I guess it's an important surviving skill, as it shows you who you actually are and what is your social status amongst others.
My company around this place is rather colorful as I've probably told you. Unfortunately I have no pictures to add.
As I was mistaken to be a boy I was put into room with a short disabled girl, although it doesn't show so much, she is as playful and as extroverted as any other person, she already has the boundaries for her comfort zone established. For the first week, she didn't say anything to me, not even hello nor goodbye. But recently she seem to have gotten used to me and even has enough courage to poke me and annoy me when I'm cleaning up. Actually yesterday was a big break trough as she started telling me about her family and how her dad died last year (even though it was in Danish I understood that much). I guess that is something that needs time to get over in every case. During the night I've had some problems with her, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, or in my case, grouchy in the mornings. Today as I was vacuum cleaning the floor she came and turned the machine off several times and I poked her back, at least there's an international language of annoying people that works under every circumstance.
I also have a neighbor, tall, blond and thin girl who most parts reminds me of a boy. Somehow she found it a fun entertainment to sit on me while I watch TV, after that it has being a game of cat and mouse. She sneaks up on me and tries to tickle, the hardest part is that she is living next door which makes avoiding her sometimes hard, so whenever I find my shoes gone or keys displaced I know who to blame and then comes revenge aka tickling her until she gives over my stuff and that is the basis for our relationship as I can't really talk to her in Danish.
Btw as a side remark I should mention that we have touch screen computers and very fancy ones too.
Back to the people. In my class there's also this Japanese girl Y (for safety purposes), who is really the sweetest girl ever. She worked in Japan as a waitress in a small village, but ended up here. She is the only person who is trying to learn Danish too, so for that reason I always sit next to her.
There are also a few other Japanese people with I spend a lot of my time, but one thing is common to all of them. They are all very very polite, I guess it's already written in their DNA. I heard one Japanese lady apologizing one day for not knowing English, Truth be told there's nothing unnatural in not knowing a language. If you really want to communicate with the person you will do it, although it might require some creativity. Recently I've learned to talk with my hands and it seems to work much better. If you speak about liking something you tap on your heart, if asking other persons thoughts on something you tap on your head, for going you show a direction, things like that help a lot.
I also talk a lot or watch TV with some people who have been here for a while. Jør is around 60s and from the weight losers class, doing it very successfully. I met him on the first night I came here and he told me a lot about this school. He's a vibrant person, doing a lot of sports and enjoys being alive, even though he has been trough a lot. He comes here only for the company and I feel this school gives him a purpose.
From time to time I talk to a local Danish guy, who is in his 30s tall and blond, a very intelligent person, knows about movies, philosophy, music, politics, everything basically. I often enjoy talking to him about...well...everything. He is here in the disabled class, but you really can't tell it on the first sight. And even not when talking to him, but he did told me that giving him drivers license would be a mistake. Today I just noticed that he had a picture of a tractor and sunrise on his glasses. A thing he wasn't aware of. I also named his alter ego, he's name is Peter.
There are also two disabled people I should mention. First one...lets call him B is an artist, he has his own imaginary world, with an imaginary kingdom and language, he invented. He has tons of pictures of the citizens of those countries and their castles/houses. Each and every one of them have different names and the hole kingdom is built on equality, peace, fantasy and freedom (at least that's how I remembered it). From time to time he looks into people's eyes, which in my mind is a pretty good thing. He's 28 and should also live somewhere on Fyn (the central island I'm living on). I often envy him, his art has his own styles, he knows what he does and what to do, he even has a goal to his art.
There's also a B2 who is living in the same house that I'm living in. He arrived recently, but turned out to be rather scary. At first I didn't think much of him, seemed rather okay, but he has problems with the left side of his body, but that's not the issue. The thing is, every time I happen to be in the same room he is just staring at me until I get uncomfortable enough to cover my view of him or to leave the room, always saying hello and once he even decided to greet me shirtless after I finished washing my teeth. I just assume that is just a form of how his state, but it's still a little hard to handle. Just another day in Denmark.
Good news: There are jellyfish here, yesterday I went swimming and they were floating around, so soft and transparent, purple, as big as hands or tiny like peanuts, glowing in the water a little blue-ish. Next time will try to get some pictures. I LOVE jellies. In Danish jellyfish is vendmand (literally water man) and in Japanese it is
水母 [kurage].
Now if you're still awake you can pat yourself on the shoulder and find something exciting to do and think about jellies while doing it.
Cheers!
