Our House part 2

Soooooo Im awesomely tired in Arhus, starting the second day of this awesome weekend.

In the morning we went to The Women's Museum, where we listened to a woman talk about her role with an NGO being a mentor to newly emmigrated women. Truly a great program, it helps women negotiate the workplace and cultural aspects of being new to Denmark. The next part of the day was great though.

We loaded on the bus and went to a sort of ethnic bazaar, full of Turkish and Arabic bakeries, not to mention a couple of chatchky shops. After grabbing lunch (falafel still hasn't gotten old), i picked up two great items, a keychain and a watermelon. Not just any watermelon either, this bad boy was from Costa Rica. Well it was delicious, but my other keepsake was even more special just for the fact that it exists. I am now the not-so-proud owner of a 3D glass Yassir Arafat keychain. I completely support the palestinian cause for an end to Israeli occupation and the creation of a palestinian state, but I hardly consider this man a leader after he turned down negotiations with Israel at Camp David in July 2000. Essentially Arafat turned down the right for palestinians to have sovereignty in over 90 percent of the West Bank and the Gaza strip, along with declining the return of political prisoners. Anyway, I feel like I am an owner of Nazi propaganda or something similar.

That afternoon we were taken to a bilingual school in the suburbs of Arhus, where ethnic Danes and immigrant children came together to become "world citizens." After talking to the principal it was clear the school was painted in Danish integration perogatives (versus multiculturalist approaches), but still seemed to be doing some good work. Plus, we got a tour of the school, and got to enjoy gym class with some 6 year olds. And yes, two of them were better at basketball than me. Sad.

After a buffet dinner and endless bottles of wine (thanks Danish Institute for Study Abroad!) we were treated to a concert by our program director. Carpark North is an electro-rock band, and were definitely influenced by Depeche Mode, the Police, Kraftwerk, and the Beatles. And the Danes loved it. This band may have been playing to only a thousand people, but it felt like an arena rock show, with the Danes next to me throwing their arms around me in the middle of a chorus sing along (which were repetitive and in english-i fit right in). Then after a couple hours of sweating and dancing, the climactic encore. All of a sudden my teacher who is leading the trip bursts up next to me and we start jumping up and down to the music. This guy can rock way harder than me, and he's 39 and has two kids. This was certainly the highlight of the night, dragging oneself home after one more beer and a little bit of a danceparty couldn't compare to the face-melting rock show we just experienced.

The next morning we went to the Arhus ARoS museum, an art museum with lots of interactive modern art, along with alot of pieces relevant to national identity. The interactive exhibit was incredible. There was a typewriter that as you typed projected bugs onto the page with each letter-different letters produced different bugs via a projector hovering above the extending scroll paper. There was also a treadmill with a virtual running path, some psychadelic goggles, and a light bulb pulse reader that altered the lighting pattern in its vast room.

So the tour came to an end, just in time to go home, take a nap, and go out with DIS kids. we went to a bar where a great acoustic guitar player was playing US classic sing-alongs-hilarious and fun at the same time.

And Wesleyan bands are everywhere. Every time I turn on the radio I hear an MGMT song on, and no one beleives me when I tell Danes they went to my school. Also, I was walking down the street today looking for an alarm clock (my cell phone isn't doing a great job of making me on time for things), I saw a Mixel Pixel t shirt. This band is part electro-funk, part post-punk, and part psych-folk, which all blend beautifully (and often) at Wesleyan university. It isn't clear to me if this is a Wes band that moved to Brooklyn, or are original Brooklynites, but still it all rings too close to home. Oh and people like Santogold here too. Also, next week Wesleyan Alum band Amazing Baby is playing here, and looks like its going to be a good show. Yeah Wes!