Here's the song...

I was talking about that song, Hvad nu hvis - which I think means, 'What if'. I've discovered 'singing' is a good way to learn a language once you translate the song and know what it's about, as long as it has some sort of melody. A day later and I am literally FLUENT! Well,sort of. Anyway, for those wanting to practice, get your dictionaries out and here's some help:

Hvis jeg var et sejlskib på det åbne hav,
var hun vinden, der tog mig hjem.
Hvis jeg var en kornmark,
var hun sommerregn, der endelig kom igen.
Og hvis jeg var en storby,
var hun energien, der gav mig liv og lys nu.
Og hvis jeg var 7 år igen,
var hun sneen, der faldt uden for mit vindue.

Hun betyder alt for mig,
lad det aldrig vende.
Hun er mit et og alt,
jeg vil ikk' stå alene.

Så hvad nu hvis stjernerne en dag var væk,
og hvad nu hvis vinden døde stille hen.
Og solen aldrig mere ville vise sit ansigt.
Hvad sku' jeg så gør'?
Og hvad nu hvis sneen smeltede bort,
og hvad nu hvis regnen udeblev.
Hvad nu hvis alting blev helt sort.
Jeg håber det aldrig sker, jeg har brug for dig her.

ohoh, oh oh oh oh oh oh. ohoh, oh oh oh oh oh oh.

Hvis jeg var en sommerfugl,
så var hun solens stråler, der varmede mine vinger.
Hvis jeg var faret vild i skoven,
var hun stjernerne for oven, der viste mig vej, min sti finder.

Hun betyder alt for mig,
lad det aldrig vende.
Hun er mit et og alt,
jeg vil ikk' stå alene.

Så hvad nu hvis stjernerne en dag var væk,
og hvad nu hvis vinden døde stille hen.
Og solen aldrig mere ville vise sit ansigt.
Hvad sku' jeg så gør'?
Og hvad nu hvis sneen smeltede bort,
og hvad nu hvis regnen udeblev.
Hvad nu hvis alting blev helt sort.
Jeg håber det aldrig sker, jeg har brug for dig her.

Det' mit liv, jeg nyder showet. Jeg ved, at det lyder flovet,
men jeg har ting jeg vil gøre før min tid er gået.
Det er de ting jeg kan vide, at der betyder noget.
Hey stjerne i det fjerne, hvis mig vejen jeg følger den gerne.
Vi gjorde det, vi er her. Det der ikke slog os ihjel, gjorde os stærkere.
Nik, yo. Lad mig kæmpe lidt, elske lidt. Jeg er her jo kun for et øjeblik.
Før tidevandet vasker det hele væk, vil jeg skrive for mig og mine,
og jeg prøver på at skrive for dig og dine,
for der er ingen, der fortjener at leve alene.

Så hvad nu hvis stjernerne en dag var væk,
og hvad nu hvis vinden døde stille hen.
Og solen aldrig mere ville vise sit ansigt.
Hvad sku' jeg så gør'?
Og hvad nu hvis sneen smeltede bort,
og hvad nu hvis regnen udeblev.
Hvad nu hvis alting blev helt sort.
Jeg håber det aldrig sker, jeg har brug for dig her.

ohoh, oh oh oh oh oh oh. ohoh, oh oh oh oh oh oh.
ohoh, oh oh oh oh oh oh. ohoh, oh oh oh oh oh oh.

Thanks to: Monica, Niels M, Andreas L & Sweet Lyrics.com for the...lyrics

I do like to be beside the seaside...

I think that post that turned into a cross between not-fitting-in-to-a-new-country and homesickness thread must have got to be because I found this picture yesterday in my iPhotos I took a year or so ago and suddenly started thinking about holidays in Byron Bay and the gorgeous beaches. I wasn’t down, per se, just the light, the colour of the water and the sea bought back pangs of good times gone.

Coming from the second coldest city in Australia, heading up North is very common in the long Melbourne winters (or they used to be so). Byron Bay is our favourite. So yesterday, when I gazed at this picture, I thought a lot about it. That was until I found this article, concerning the next town down from Byron Bay, this morning, and suddenly Danish beaches (and they have some great ones) look just as good, in spite of a few degrees difference in temperature.

I’m looking forward to a summer swim in (relatively) safe waters. I can cope with drowning (I guess) but not…other things.

Can someone tell me what this song is?

Okay, sorry, but I don't have much to go on. It's a group (three?) of black guys singing in Danish and it's quite up beat. Part of the chorus goes: "Oh ohhh..........oh ohhh, oh ohhh, Oh ohhh'.

I know, it doesn't give you much to work with but I've heard it lots and it might be one I can learn the lyrics too.

A great way to learn Danish!

Now this is the way to learn Danish. Forget about the Jensen family, børnehave, buser etc etc etc.

Nothing like a marital nightmare to get me interested in flicking through the dictionary to find out more.

For this, I have to thank my insightful teacher, Ms C, for choosing some good texts for our forthcoming oral tests. Now I can safely go out to a dinner or party and hold my head high, knowing I can contribute to adult conversation and not have to bore everyone with my acute knowledge of playground rides or food items.

Here’s a quick translation of the pictured pages:

“You’re drunk,” says Per

He pushes her away.

“Why have you just got home now,” asks Inge angrily. “We had an arrangement.”

Per looks at her.
His eyes are cold.
There is no love in his eyes.
His mouth is narrow.
He doesn’t reply.
He turns from her and goes.
He goes into the bedroom.

“I am tired,” says Per and shuts the door.

But Inge opens the door again.

“You weren’t at the office,” shouts Inge. “Where were you?”

“I had a meeting,” says Per and looks away. (Yeah, right!!)

Inge grabs hold of Per’s coat.
She looks at him.

“I made dinner,” says Inge.



I finished this, my second Danish ‘book’, yesterday. It’s called ‘Alene’ (Alone).

It’s about a woman called Inge who prepares a dinner for herself and her husband, but he doesn’t show up. He seems to have been very busy of late.

In the process of waiting (alone as usual) she gets a tad sloshed on the old rød vin, as I would do myself. But, unlike me, the thought that her twenty-year marriage may be under threat doesn’t enter her mind.

Dear oh dear.


Just in case you don’t have time to read the book yourself, what transpires is Per, the louse, has been having an affair with a slut called Mette and all is revealed. The most distressing aspect is Mette is not a young bimbo after his cash but a mature 49. Inge is 52.

What a slap in the face!

Per demands a separation and, again, Inge is left alene. But, with true courage, she’s determined not to be the victim any longer and is going to get on and live her life and never be alene again.

Good for her!

Although it ends before you know what happens in the bigger picture, I’m pretty sure Per is diagnosed with prostate kræft and is forced to undergo a radical prostatectomy, which leaves him totally impotent. Mette thinks the better of being stuck with an invalid for the twilight years of her life and takes herself off to a resort in Thailand where she is kidnapped by a drug lord while riding an elephant through the Golden Triangle and spends the rest of her years in a lathered, fungus-filled sweat, trying to learn how to make decent coconut rice.

Inge meets a Danish shipping magnate (who shall remain nameless, in case he sues me for defamation) and discovers how much fun it is to be married to a multi-billionaire. She suddenly feels no pain about the ending with Per and keeps him in a lifetime supply of incontinence pads.

I have to get a F***ING Dankort with chip

That's it. I can't stand it any longer. I can't survive any longer with a bloody card without a 'chip'.

Last night we went to see the film I mentioned earlier in Østerbro with a Danish friend. I'd booked the tickets earlier in the week, did the whole spiel in Danish when I picked them up, flashed my Danske Bank Mastercard and went to swipe it in the swiper but NO!! Even though the machine had a f**cking swiper on it, it was all taped over. You could only use the chip.

The very nice girl serving me directed me over to the automatic teller across the road near McDonalds, and off I trotted only to find it out of action, which sent me off on a mega-trek up and down Østerbrogade looking for another.

It all worked out in the end but it was the comment from our Danish friend that was interesting. "See, it just means you're not part of the tribe yet. Everyone would have been watching saying, 'He's not one of us'".

So, my warning to anyone moving to Denmark: as soon as you get your CPR number, GET A CARD WITH A CHIP IN IT!

Sang i den uge

...Okay, it's been a very busy week and I'm too stuffed to write much but, as it's Friday, what about we start having a song of the week. Here's this week's.

Weird dream...

A while ago my sister-in-law, who is my equal best friend rang me to tell me she’d ‘out of the blue’, had a dream about Nicole Kidman and how she, for some unknown reason, was helping her out in her adjustment to married life and relationships etc etc. It was quite unlike my sister-in-law, if you knew her. She was giggling as she told me on the telephone.

Well, then, lo and behold, last night I had a dream about Frida, or Annifrid, from Abba. It came out of nowhere because I’ve not thought about Abba at all lately (strangely enough). I know Sweden is just across the water but I have no idea how she got into my subconscious - and why her.

I wasn’t her best friend but we had a good, long chat – most of it in Swedish (which is interesting in itself because I didn’t realise I could communicate at all, these days, in Swedish).

So what do you think? Am I about to meet her? Or was it my mind playing an April Fool. We seemed to have some sort of rapport... :) There must have been something in the air last night. The stars were so bright…