There was food for hours, and guests wrote songs about the twins and passed around the lyrics for everyone to sing along. This is apparently a really common tradition for most big celebrations like milestone birthdays, and confirmations. Luckily, I don't read Danish so I was able to just hum along.
Earlier in the weekend, Mikkel and I took his niece and nephew to the Zoo for an afternoon. Jannik and Alberte were really excited to see the polar bears, so that was our first stop. After that we wandered through all the animal exhibits and even got to pet a pregnant goat. Near the children's zoo, there was a tree with pacifiers hanging from it. When I asked why, I was told it's some kind of tradition for children to tie their "sutter" (binkies) to the tree when they're ready to give them up. Alberte was not.
But we also got to see the harbor near Aalborg. We saw boats and ate ice cream. Though it's May, it's still surprisingly cold (in the low 50s) and very windy. Nevertheless ice cream is always a good idea.
All in all, a weekend full of people speaking Danish, eating Danish food and watching Danish television can be difficult for a foreigner to get used to. Sometimes it's hard to ask for someone to pass the salt or find the correct button on the remote control. But part of the cultural exchange is getting used to being uncomfortable. It's an empowering feeling to know you can get along without the comfort of understanding everything around you. It's a comfort you probably don't even know you enjoy. But all in all, there are some languages everyone speaks: laughing, eating, and enjoying each other's company.
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