A trip to Denmark and a new job

The picture was taken in Haslev, the weather on our trip was rainy and overcast, and this was our only day without a shower!

A month since posting and oh, what a month! Our school trip to Denmark was great, even with the 4 hour delay in Boston, missing our connecting flight in Iceland and making a side trip to Norway to get a flight to Copenhagen. Flying over Iceland and Norway was surreal with all the ice and snow. Our week in Denmark included day trips to Sweden and Germany, so it felt very much like a whirlwind tour. We stayed with families and I got to stay with two different teachers. Ilene lived in a country setting and she had two children close in age to two of my own with similar interests. I felt very much at home and enjoyed my time spent with her family. My second stay was with Bente and both she and her husband Fleming work at the school in Haslev. Fleming is more of a techie than me, so it was nice to be able to recharge all my electrical devices since their son travels around the world and they had an adapter that I could use. In both houses, I ate extremely well! My diet was shot with all the wonderful cheese, wine, bread, fish and great breakfasts.

We travelled with 12 students ranging in ages from 14 -17 and only one boy. I knew two of the students well and grew to enjoy all of the students throughout the week. After traveling with them on the first day for 24 hours, I really missed them the next day which was a Sunday and made sure to catch up with each one on Monday to make sure they were all doing okay. Everyday, we would compare our experiences and can I say it was nice to be with a group of kids who didn't have major issues? When we needed to step in and get them going or speak to them, the other chaperone and I would play good cop/bad cop which threw the kids off since we alternated. On our way home, one of the kids asked why one of us would be nice and the other mean, they definitely noticed the differences. By the end of the week, we were all tired and ready to go home.

There were a few subtle differences between our lives here and our stay in Denmark. What I enjoyed during my week: heated bathroom floors, loops on towels to hang them on hooks (why we don't have them here is beyond me???), beer, wine, chocolate, fish, seeing windmills everywhere, the furniture styles, checking out grocery stores that they even have in downtown Copenhagen, pubs, cobblestone streets, very cool toilets, bread, cheese and that's just a few. The one thing that bugged me, was the amount of smoking everywhere public, I guess I didn't realize how much it helps to have the no smoking in public laws here. It especially surprises me to see so many people smoking in a country where there is universal healthcare that is funded by taxes.

So now I am home and it took a week for me to get use to the time difference. I was waking up everyday at 3am and was out of sorts. Plus, I thought I fried my pda, turns out it was just the charger. However, I got a new pda for my birthday which is another blog for another day. But I needed something to help me coordinate my now very busy April, May and June since I got a new job away from teaching after this school year ends in June. In the meantime, I am working 5 - 8 hours a week after school just getting myself set up and trained, so I will be ready to get into it when school gets out. After only 5 years in education, I am going back to the hospital as a Lab Marketing Specialist, the official description is: Coordinate sales and marketing activities of Lab, act as a conduit of information between clients and Lab, represent client interests to internal Lab Administration and staff. Requirements include BA or BS in Medical Technology or related science field. ASCP certification or equivalent and additional degree in marketing or related field desirable. There will be no more trying to keep up with the sped paperwork, the politics of a high school and case managing in the town I live in. I won't be getting the summers off, but this job is only 24 hours a week, 3 days, no weekends or holidays. Another chapter in my life! I will miss the students and all of those daily interactions which I enjoy, but I like to think that the interactive part of my current job will benefit me in all of my future endeavors.