back to canada

a canadian on copenhagen

i’ve come back to the place
where sandwiches have two pieces of bread
not just one on the bottom
in which knife and fork is required

i was glad to be among
my fellow canadians in the airport
all of different colours and backgrounds.
very comforting.

and english.
canadian english that is.
it felt good.

although still in my head plays
sounds of the danish language.
quite a language
i need a break for my ears.

going back to a place
where stores are open for more hours
where summer actually exists
and the land of food
not to mention cheap food that is.
no more DKK
i thought Canadian taxes are high
everything to me will now be cheap back here

after a while in Copenhagen
i became numb to prices
i forked out my money
it ran like a faucet
a leaky one

taxes were always included in prices
not like canada
where it’s always a surprise in the end
i think i like surprises.

the service in the city
was not what i expected
i very much expected courteous people
it’s such a developed
socially forward country
i would say they are a bit slow
maybe being overly critical

at grocery stores
i would get my changed slammed down on the table
and her look was of complete disgust
tossing grocery items down
like it didn’t matter

please is not a word they use often
it is more a demanding place
neither is sorry

it’s definitely a proud country
i would also say spoiled

babies are in the carriages
the size of a canadian shopping cart sometimes
they are very cool people
they think highly of themselves
and are highly concerned about how others see them

as i’ve heard
many of them reject religion and belief as ludicrous

they drink and smoke A LOT
i didn’t think they would smoke so much
but so many times
as i walk
i was behind a smoker

i said to a friend i think the people here
are very concerned about their health
then my friend said
didn’t you notice they smoke a drink a lot?
it’s all about balance i said

they are a very good looking bunch
they need to be seen and noticed

their transportation system
totally out performs any system i've seen
they've got a network of trains
new subway system
efficient bus system
a boat system
a superb biking system

they are very forward looking in terms
environmental awareness

they have five weeks of vacation a year
this year in copenhagen it has been cold
windy and rainy

when it's hot and sunny
the next day people will have
very noticable tans

in the summer
it's completely dark at 11:30 pm
and it begins to brigten at 3:30am
i experienced this a few times
when the birds started chriping
before i went to sleep

in the winter i hear
the sun rises at 10:00am
and sets at 3:00pm

it's good to be back

the story

a friend of a friend
brought over a book for me from toronto

as i've had more time for everything
since i haven't been working...
nor have the mindset to explore and travel
i've been back to reading

it's funny the things i begin doing when sick.
it's now i realize
this is what i would do if i had time
it's actually limited to some things
because i can't do much when ill

so this book begins
'life, you'll notice, is a story'
okay...
you already think i will agree
and i do...
read on...

'life unfolds like a drama, doesn't it?
each day has a beginning and an end.
there are all sorts of characters
all sorts of settings.
sometimes it seems like a tragedy.
sometimes like a comedy.
most of it feels like a soap opera.'

'so if life is a story
what is the plot?
what is your role to play?
what is this story all about?'

'for most of us,
life feels like a movie
we've arrived at forty five minutes late.
something important seems to be going on...
maybe...
i mean good things do happen,
sometimes beautiful things.
you meet someone
fall in love.
you find that work that is yours alone to fulfill.
but tragic things happen too.
you fall out of love
or perhaps the other person.
work begins to feel like punishment.
things begin to seem like an endless routine.'

'we find outselves in the middle
of a story that is sometimes wonderful,
sometimes awful, often a confusing
mixture of both and we haven't a clue
how to make sense of it all.
it's like we're holding in our hands
some pages torn out of a book.
these pages are the days of our lives.
fragments of a story.
they seem important,
or at least we long to know they are,
but what does it all mean?'

and then it quotes somebody called chesterton
'with every step of our lives
we enter into the middle of some story
which we are certain to misunderstand.'

'we can discover the full story.
maybe not with perfect clarity,
maybe not in the detail that you would like,
but in greater clarity than most of us have,
and that would be the price of admission.
i mean, to have some clarity would be gold
right now wouldn't it?'

excerpts from 'epic'
john eldredge