American in Denmark....

I’ve been in Denmark for one week.  I’m staying on the outskirts of a town named Aarbenraa.

My friend, Gesche and her husband, Gerhardt bought a place here, not more than six months ago.  It’s a beautiful, old home overlooking the shore of the Baltic Sea.  Just an hour ago, from their front window, I saw a large, blue and white ship go past.  As I’m writing I see a small sailboat taking an early, evening sail.  It’s hard to believe I’m in this little portrait of a place.

This old home is perfect for them to fix to their liking.  It has a preserved forest, ocean beach and the Baltic Sea framing it like it’s inside a fairy tale.  

For Gesche it was coming home.  Her mother passed away just a month from turning 100 years old last year.  Gesche felt drawn to return to the area her mother, grandparents and great-grandparents and great-great-great-grandparents had lived in the past. Her six children are grown and on their own.  She’s beginning a new life with Gerhardt here in Aabenraa.  

Gesche spotted the house about 20 years ago and dreamed of returning someday to Denmark.   She is a well-known artist in this area.  Now semi-retired, she sees the wealth of what her family roots offer.  She knows the forest’s paths.  She has heard the stories from her mother of what dirt road was once a railway.  She knows where her mother use to go by horse and cart to school and later by bicycle through the forest to go to school.  There’s a staircase up through the woods is called “Oldmorold’s Traeppe “ after her great-great-great grandmother, Rebekka.  She was the daughter of a well-known bishop in the church.  She had trouble walking because of her hip so the community made the steps out of stones for her.

There’s a totem of a Viking on the crest of a hill we climbed the other day, through the woods.  Gesche said, “Every day as my mom would walk past here she’d sit and rest on that bench and knock on the wood carving a few times and say, “Hello”. 

Gesche acquired languages from her mother and is thankful her mother sent her to live with an uncle in America when she was 15, so she could see more value in her years of English at school.  She speaks German, Danish, English and French.  The Danish is coming easier to her now she lives here again.  

I’m sleeping in a little house, down a small hill, alongside the main house.  Gesche painted a sign “Maggie’s Paradise” and put it above the door.  It has just what I need for privacy and sleeping and it’s too comfortable to be considered camping out.  

The birds seem to sing all day long here, whether it’s sunny, rainy or windy.  I’ve watched a beautiful pheasant who thinks it’s a tame chicken.  It hides in the long grasses in this small valley and it’s bright colors telegraph its entrance to the open field. It’s quite a squawker!

Usually, we start our long walk by going down to the beach.  Gesche likes to take the salt water and put it on her face.  We walk along the beach until we get to the hill leading to the woods.  When we walk through the forest there are many little waterfalls, streams and wetlands.  There’s a forest-keeper who lives amidst the forest.  (Not like a the DNR of Michigan, but more like a lighthouse-keeper)  He maintains the forests and keeps the paths open for the community.  

Gesche includes me in her morning ritual. It feels good to join her.  When she gets to an enormous tree, atop a hill, she stops.  She respectfully gives blessing to the four directions of earth. When she’s finished it feels like a complete prayer to all she loves and needs in gratitude. She always leaves either some tobacco or a few nuts to the forest, thanking it for letting us be there.  We gather some common greens she’s familiar with to take back home with us.  They end up in a green smoothy.  She puts, papaya, pineapple, apples, bananas, oranges, seeds and whatever else she has with water, to mix it up. 

One day, instead of our trek through the forest, we rode bikes to town to get some food.  The wind was fierce and cold!   It was nice to have the wind at our back on our return, and most of the way was downhill.  I haven’t been on a bike for a year, so I was a little nervous about the terrain.  I kept my speed down.  I didn’t want to end up over the handlebars.   It’s so different to ride a bike on trails rather than road or sidewalk, I was constantly looking ahead for any holes, gravel or sand that might trip me up.  

In truth, twelve kilometers go by pretty quickly when you’re not thinking about the time much. (only what’s in front of the tires)  The little town is delightful.  Cobblestones, hills and turns with old establishments up and down them.

When we left one of the shops after finding some interesting things, Gesche found her front tire was flat.  We were looking at it (wondering what to do) and an older, Danish Gentleman stopped and discussed the problem with Gesche.  He gave her directions to a bike shop and I looked around the German Public Library while she was getting it repaired.  I looked at the pictures and captions for the Oscars in Danish.  I could read the names and figure out some of the captions.  By the time Gesche returned to the library I was snoozing on a comfortable couch in the sun. 

I can’t wait to write about our adventure crew rowing for the first time on the Baltic Sea….stay tuned….