Friday 19 July 2013

It's open when?

Time for a sojourn to the Sprogoe roots - Odense.

Classic early start to the day by waking by 10:30ish and after a bit of breakfast, dashing to the Central Station 5 minutes away to catch the train - we had to catch the midday train as we seem to pack, move and dash with the pace of the worlds quickest snail.

The kids were very excited as we would be staying with some friends that we had met when they came to Perth a few years before. Bo is one of Ree's Brothers oldest friends. He is quite possibly the nicest person in the whole world or perhaps the galaxy. He is married to the multi-talented and also nicest person in the world Elsebeth and they have two children called Aia (eye-a) now 7.5 and Julia (Yoo-lia) now 5.

The kids had bonded really well in the Dembo swimming pool in 2009 and other venues around Perth. At that time they had no common language except smiles and splashes and this time, at least at the start, that hadn't changed.

This few days was not much different to the last time they met. The kids just loved each other, smiled, taught each other the important words of  English and Danish and pretty much walked around holding hands, playing games and singing songs. Love to see them making connections that hopefully will give them starting blocks later in life.


Sprogoe Island
In the middle of the sea between Zealand (the land mass where Copenhagen is situated) and Fyn (the island where Odense is) is a small island called Sprogø. Not a coincidence. Transport between Zealand and Fyn is via tunnel and bridge and they intersect on Sprogø.

Ree is a Sprogoe and imagines that this island is somehow her birth right. She and Kate (who we met earlier) had colluded to try and organise a special trip to the island while we were there, but it turns out you need special permission to actually spend any time on it and its hard to get. So we made do this trip with a "quick kids - look its our island!!". There is a story behind the naming of the island but details are sketchy...
The train pops up out of the dark - you see a lighthouse, a couple of other buildings, some lovely grass and a dramatic landscape and then you are off across the sea again toward Fyn. Don't blink.



The Isle of Sprogø



The afternoon was pretty much broken into three - catch up time, Odense tour time and dinner and children not wanting to go to sleep time. A minor bit of late night expensive whiskey time is mentioned for posterities sake but not elaborated upon.


Lego - some belonged to Bo when he was a child



Inside their cubby!






Kids of today



Bo then piled the Sprogoe-Dembos into his car and took us off to Odense armed with a list of pertinent locations (kindly provided by Uncle Crispy) to enable us to seek out the Sprogoe roots. Ree's Dad was born in Odense, went to school here and departed when he was about 19 to make his way to Australia where his father Hugo had relocated and set up a new home with his latest wife. But the Sprogoe's before Ree's Dad had been here for some time and left their mark a number of ways. They were sea loving folk it seems and made a name as compass and sail makers and then also established a tavern in the town (they call it a cafe but seems less concerned with coffee production than beer consumption). When Ree's brother lived in Odense years ago he set about tracing all of this stuff and so his "must see" list included the house where he was born and spent the first part of his life, the church where his folks were married, the school he went to and the cafe. Off we went.

First though there was a stop at "Fairy Tale Park" because HC Anderson, Denmark's main attraction it seems, was born and lived here for a large part of his life. The more you delve into HC Anderson's life the less you might want to actually know, but his stories live on and the Danes have made a damn fine park in his honour.
The Danes don't really like him, but he is also a part of their heritage and their most famous writer besides Kierkergard so he begrudgingly gets a statue or two in his honour.





HCA deep in paranoid and often depressed thought...



Our House.... In the Middle of our Street...





Not sure what the "other" owners of Sprogoe House thought - but these are the new "real" owners...







Next stop...the surely famous, Café Spwowoo.


The cafe thats not really a cafe...



Its a cafe for beers, musik and dans - and appeared not to be open...



It's open when????
So this café is actually not of the highest repute. Essentially now a place for the late night never stop boozing types to go after all the other drinking venues are closed. Maybe i should have known this in the pre-marriage phase?


Because actually its opening hours (every day from 10pm to 7am) are a little odd.... "Oh" - said Bo - "Its THAT kind of cafe"



Rounding out the day with a traditional danish hot dog with the lot - ie. mustard, remoulade and crispy fried onion chips - mmmmmmm






Denmark has been an education for us. The Danes have a different way of looking at the world - one where a lot of trust is placed in the individual - to be responsible, to be civic minded and respectful, and to seek personal fulfillment and development. This naturally sounds like gobbledegook until you see it in action. As far as I could tell that has a lot to do with gymnastics. Danes are into gym in a big way - and see physical development and teamwork as integral and essential for full personal development.
Many of the top students or those that seek improvement, take a year out of the free Danish secondary education (tertiary is also free) at the end of middle school (about year 10 level) and pay for a year of "gymnastics university" or " language university" for example - there are areas like science, drama, music and sport to concentrate on as well as core units. A bit like American college, the kids move out and live near or at a school with special interest. After a year they return to their final two years of standard schooling.
Its quite confusing in that this extra year is called "Efter Skool" as opposed to the last two years of high school which are known as "gymnasium". Their concept of what we call phys ed or gymnastics is so integral to their understanding of education that the words have almost become synonymous. Thought and action combined.
Our understanding is that by all measures, these kids who do take a paid year off standard school, do better at school and are better prepared for tertiary education, travel and fitting in with Danish and world society.
Bo and Elsebeth both work in education and hearing them talk about their jobs - both understanding the importance of fully rounded human development is quite a revelation when compared with our system. Bo was an elite gymnast and works now with high end athletes from Denmark and other European countries. Elsebeth is a very accomplished musician , singer (you should hear her sing), and teacher. She teaches language (she speaks 5 including Latin) and music at a specialist language college.
Once again we felt a little bit (lot) backward. The Danes will do that to you - you are kind of in awe of their underlying societal structure, but they make you feel like you are the special ones.
Should Zoe or Drew ever decide to travel or study in Denmark, we would be elated. Come to think of it WE would like to go study there.



Tomorrow the choice is to go to Legoland or to do some local cool things. Legoland is more than an hours drive and another theme park but Legoland is also Legoland. Pretty sure I know what will be the chosen option.
For now its off to bed. The kids are sleeping in Julie's room, we are in Aia's room and the family Madsen are all sleeping in one bedroom. We had a fantastic dinner made even more so by being like a "normal" meal - ie at a table in a house with everyone helping with the cooking, table setting, cleaning up etc - no waiters and not bill at the end of the meal - charge it to the room!


Whiskeys


Enough

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