The Monday Deluge

(<-- Of no relevance to the rest of this post, but excused because coffee is, naturally, the first order of business on any Monday morning.)

As of yesterday, we are officially members of the Roskilde Vineyard church.  I have actually never been an official member of any church before now, although joining this one was possibly as informal as you could get - we just had to promise them our firstborn son, and Isaac didn't mind seeing as they have an outdoor playground. ... No, basically we just had to say yes, we would like to be considered a part of this church.

Tim recently attended a work-related conference designed to help foreigners adapt to the Danish culture, and was told that it would be very difficult to find friends in Denmark (... something to do with how Danes relate to strangers?).  Yet here we are, just seven weeks since moving to a foreign country, and we have already found family in a church home.  To me, this is incredible.  A Christian can literally travel across the world and still find a place of belonging with other Christians, despite having never met them before.

Also, I'm really loving just how laid-back this church family is.  They meet in the middle of the day, dress however formal or informal they choose, break mid-meeting for coffee, and translate the service for those of us who fear they will forever remain baffled by the Danish language (me).  Plus, anyone who drinks coffee is okay in my book.

Speaking of the Danish language, I am hoping to order a program to teach myself while here.  Apparently the commune also offers free Danish classes so I will be looking into that as well.  In the meantime, I've been trying to pick up some useful phrases on Google Translate, and am now wondering if I should give up altogether. This language is nothing short of baffling.  I had a much easier time trying to learn Spanish, ASL, and Tolkien's Elvish language (don't ask).  Suffice it to say, I have made no progress whatsoever.  When I come home over the holidays, please do not ask me to speak Danish.  Nothing I say will be accurate.  Tim, however, will probably be fluent so you can ask him.

And now I'm going to awkwardly segue onto the topic of books ...

... but before I go, thank you for all the smoothie recipes!  Now we've got plenty to try out on Isaac (he's such a good little lab monkey).  Case in point, he has refused all solid foods since the introduction of the blender into this household (he'll do just great in a nursing home someday). This morning we had a mango-pineapple-strawberry-banana-apple-yogurt smoothie that wasn't exactly disgusting.  (Next time I won't use everything in the fridge.)

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And onto Books ...

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Currently reading:  Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbran.

Also: The Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane mystery series by Dorothy Sayers. (A wonderful person gave me the entire set for Christmas.  I love you, you.)

Just arrived today: Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver.  I've been dying to get my hands on this one for weeks and now I HAVE IT!

Currently waiting on: The next Flavia de Luce novel by Alan Bradley, which is now available for pre-order and will be released over the holidays.

Next on the list (to be read before school starts in January and all pleasure-reading privileges are revoked): The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Also:  Got any non-fiction you’d like to recommend?  I usually read fiction, but I’d like to become better acquainted with non.  Particularly memoirs with strong historical backgrounds.  (Many thanks.)

… What have you been reading lately?