danes are what I would call 'culturally religious' rather than 'religiously religious'. True, Denmark has a state-sponsored church, but there is very little overlap between church and state compared to the types of conversations we have in the US. In terms of daily life, the very religious seem to be a minority here. We do get a lot of official days off, however, as a result of this cultural religiousness. Thursday, Friday, and Monday were all official calendar days off, so most of the shops have been closed this whole time.

I love the types of conversations you get in to when you don't break the moment for yourself or others. There's a real art to conversation. A few of us from my language class chatted after dinner yesterday about the concept of hygge when examined in an anthropological setting and we were discussing some of the 'features' if you will, of hygge. some had to do with conversation. what comes to mind is organicism and balance. no agenda. no set desire or end goal. no overtly political or religious or pointed topics. every has an open mind to what the conversation is and can be - and is flexible. people can let go. everyone is able to speak and no one dominates the conversation, but at the same time everyone is invested and supportive of the environment. my host family and i lived together for four months and you can bet there were times where no one knew what to say or had something to say all of the time, but eventually we settled into this place where silence wasn't something to fear. we even talked about how silence is seems as something to be avoided when interacting with people (cue the american concepts: awkward silence, awkward turtle hand gestures, breaking the silence) but it can be a natural pause or reflection point in a conversation without someone rushing to fill the space. Technology use is starting to scare me and perhaps I'm a total old lady on this but I get slightly frustrated every time I see someone taking out their phone during a good conversation. it does break what everyone is trying to create.

writing, reading

i was watching family guy - we only get three tv channels here in the apartment and french news is not my thing - and there was a conversation along the lines of 'in the future you don't take vacations to places in the world in the present. you time-travel.' how ripe for a short story is that?!

graywolf press (where i spent some time as an intern last year) published the empathy exams by leslie jamison and i can't wait to read it. her writing excites me in a way i haven't experienced recently. there are two pieces of hers that can be found here, the first a short story and the second an essay:

quiet men and grand unified theory of female pain