Cool tower and grey skies.
Yesterday, I bought an alarm clock because I had left the one from home at the apartment where I had spent the night. I was lucky and found one at the grocery store. It was in the sale bin. It was still $15 even so. I brought home, unpackaged it and tried to set up the time and date. Umm problem. It isn't behaving according to all previously known electronic clock devices. Now what do I do? I tried every configuration of pressing the buttons that I could. I did look at the instructions hoping that it had a section in either English of French, either of which, I could have sorted it out but nope. The instructions were in Danish and only in Danish. I tried to read them anyway, hoping to get a sense of the thing. That didn't work either. I then went back to trying different combinations of pushing the buttons. Nope. Finally, I started typing the text of the instructions into google translator and had success. I got my clock programmed.
Just before I went to bed, I made up my bed with the bedding that I had brought with me. The fitted sheet was a little tight but doable and of course the flat sheet was not a problem. Then I grabbed my pillowcases and the pillow and realized that I had a bit of a problem. American pillow are rectangular. European pillows are square. These two things do not match. It was a happy moment when I discovered that the pillow was feather and could be molded and shoved into the case I had. Sweet!
As of today, I still do not have hot water. This is a bit of a problem. I have electricity. All the breakers are on. I tried all the taps to see if I could get anything but no matter how long I waited, nothing. I searched high and low on the walls to find something that I must be missing. Eventually, I found a dial near the floor on a wall of the bathroom that is not near the shower. I figure, what the heck. It is worth a try. I dial it up to 5 which is about half way. After waiting awhile, I go back to check the taps again with a lot of hope only to find that everything is the same. As of writing this, I still don't have a solution. I ended up taking a cold water shower yesterday evening because I had to knock the sweat off of my body from walking 3 km/ 1.5 miles in the humidity. Brrrr. That was not what I had in mind.
Today, I woke up to overcast and rain. It wasn't really cold but I didn't feel much like going out and wandering around. I looked for a Danish weather website so that i could see when it might let up and I found one. It looked like early afternoon would be better but by dinner time the rain was due again. I decided that today I would go to the next closest grocery store and above fix my toilet paper issue. I had done my research on where it was. I prepared my bags to bring stuff home in. Bags are not supplied here and you pack your own bag too. Off I went. Oops. Turned back around. I had forgotten the paper about mobile phones. And we are off again.
Fotex store and more grey day.
I found my new destination easily enough. It took me about a half hour to walk it. In I went and found my eyes full of sights and my brain wanting to short circuit. I knew that somewhere there was a section where I could get that mobile phone. My Los Angeles one doesn't work at all and I need a number where the airline can call so they can bring me my bag. This is a priority. I start walking the periphery hoping that it will be up against one of the walls. I entered the food area and didn't find it. So I tried to head to the next section. The little gate said that it was the exit but the gate wouldn't swing open. I looked for a button or something. As I was getting ready to jump the gate, a lady at a service counter noticed me and pressed a button. I was free. But I was no closer to a phone. I went to ask the woman where these phones were and I held up the circular ad, just in case. She pointed to a kiosk that was about 10 ft away from me. Drrr.
I asked the man at the counter about setting up a phone. I suspected there might be a problem as I don't have a bank account yet so I can't set up a payment program. It turns out that because I don't have my Danish ID number yet that I can't do it. So I had to get a pay-as-you-go phone. While talking with him, I find out that he is in the same program as me but in the second year. I know it is a small town but I didn't think that I would so quickly run into someone from my school and program.
I went over to the section that had the pay-as-you-go telephones and chatted with the guy there for a bit and got some basic instructions on the phone. I didn't want the same frustration as I had had with the alarm clock, as you can imagine. After I made the purchase, I walked back to the central entry area of the store and someone starts talking to me in English. I turn and the guy said that he had heard me speaking in English and just wanted to chat. This time I find out that he is in my school and in my education program and just about to start, just like me. We ended up spending a good chunk of time talking and then looking around the store. I wasn't the only one that needed toilet paper. :)
We were in the grocery section and I was getting ready for a good old look-see when all of a sudden he said that he hear the word for closing so we rushed to get a couple of things and get into the cashier line. All I got was some hamburger, these little chocolate things and yes, the toilet paper. We got through and went outside. We continued to chat when he realized that in fact the store wasn't closing and we still had a good couple of hours. Oh well.
Whatever these are, they are yummy!
Then the weather started to feel like it was turning bad so we said our good-byes and I headed home.
Don't know what these berries are.
I chug-a-lugged up the hill back home and it stayed ok until I was 5 minutes from home when the rain started. It didn't start out softly and build up to a downpour. It started out as a downpour. I quickly closed my purse to protect my camera and pulled out my raincoat and booked it home. Of course, soon after I got home, the rain stopped again. I found out that my raincoat is not rain proof too. I guess that will be something else that I will have to invest in. There are always so many unexpected expenses when starting up anew somewhere unknown.
I just talked to a neighbor. There are very few people here yet. I asked about the hot water, if there was something that I needed to do to have it. He said that it should just be on so I would have to call the landlord. Well it is almost 10PM here so I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow.
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