How Many of Me

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There are or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Snow In November.

It is snowing!! Simon came in and told me it was snowing. I knew it was getting cold but not that cold. I guess I should have figured since the other day it was 5 celsius and it has been drizzling for a lot of the past 2 weeks.

Simon has been home sick the past two days. We think he caught something in Denmark. Although I feel bad for him being sick it was nice being together and re-watching to bourne trilogy. Go bourne! :D

I miss all of ya'll and Beck's party looked like a lot of fun. I'm sorry I had to miss it! 
Hugs and Kisses XOXO

Weekend to Denmark

In 2 days Ole is going to drive down here to Gemany and we, comprising Simon and myself, are going to head up to Denmark for a weekend visit. 

During this weekend we are going on visiting Simon's family, playing Wii Fitness/Sports, and most of all ... drumroll please... turning in our Danish residency paperwork!

We already have everything printed off and we started filling them out. Tomorrow we plan and getting a lot more filled out... hopefully. 

So we pray that our prayers are answered and that we are blessed with Danish residency!

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
Rachel Bendtsen

Quick Update

I was in Denmark this past weekend and had a lot of fun. We played a lot of Wii fitness and had a great time listening to General Conference. 

Gotta Run... more to come later...

Hugs and Kisses XOXO

Guh...

I have lice...

Hair Styles (while being bored)

Well, Simon has been working almost everyday this past week and will even work through this weekend and won't get a break until next Saturday (...what a complete run-on sentence). He usually works around 7 hours but today and tomorrow it will be more like 10.     :/

Since Simon, who is my entertainment committee (:P), works all the time I have been forced to entertain myself. What ever shall I do... 

Totally Kidding.

I've been having a lot of fun dressing myself up and learning new ways for me to do my hair and make-up.

 
My first attempt at trying the smoky-eye look I looked like I had gotten punched in the face (no kidding). I didn't even let Simon look at it... (not that that really matters).
My next try took me a while but eventually I got it down! Woohoo!!

 
I also tried a new hairstyle. My inspiration with cute little Mattie and her pictures up on facebook. To do this hair style I needed to learn to tease my hair. 
(Teasing is equivalent to ripping your hair out if done wrong :D  )
Luckily I got it right and finished by styling and pinning some of the sides up. Here are a few pictures taken by Simon and myself.

I thoroughly enjoyed dressing up for Simon. It reminded me of our dating days. 
Good Times.

Today after Simon left for a 10 hour shift I decided to try a few more hairstyles.
The first one was a complete disaster and I wish I had taken a pic of it. (oh well) 
 
   
The second one turned out great!! Here are some more pictures.
 
 
It was relatively easy. After I learned how to do an outside french braid (rather than the one I usually did where the braid is hidden...) I was able to braid to the bottem. At that point I twisted the two ends together, flipped it up, and pinned it. 
 
I loved the way it turned out (especially since today wasn't my first attempt at this and I finally mastered it). 
 
I added a flower to distract from the pins just sitting in my hair.
 
 
The flower actually represents 'help cure cancer' as I bought it on our roadtrip to Utah. They were selling them at a gas station to help raise money to cure a family relative's cancer. 
 
 
This is one of my favorites! :) (above)

I am having a great time playing with my hair and learning new styles. 
Thanks for keeping up with my blog and I'll post again soon (hopefully).

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
-Rachel Bendtsen

Nervousness

Man, yesterday I was so nervous. 

It was Michaela Klinker's baptism and Elder Heyen and DaCosta asked me play piano. Luckily for me the two songs were both easy ones I had already played before! The two were Come Follow Me (#61) and Nearer my God to Thee (#63). I was nervous but I only made a few mistakes. 

After the baptism one of the Relief Society sisters asked me if I could play in RS. I said yes and she gave me the song numbers. I practiced them for a few minutes before I left to go home. The next morning when I got to church I was readying my hymn book when the numbers were put up that we were going to sing... and they weren't the same ones. Panic... 

I looked through the songs and realized that they weren't that bad. I knew one well enough for both hands and the other one was Because I Have Been Given Much (which I know on one hand). The other song was one that we had sung in Sacrament meeting 2 weeks earlier (or something) and that was the first time I had ever heard it. It went pretty well. It was't fabulous or anything but it was a disaster either. 

I saw Michaela after Sunday School and invited her to sit with Simon and I during Sacrament meeting. There was hardly any room because another couple sat beside us as well. It wasn't too bad though. The last speaker went over time but not too much. I was going to practice piano but someone else had beat me to it. Oh well. We decided to just go home other than wait. 

Simon and I are about to read scriptures and clean up a little bit before dinner. 
I miss ya'll all so dearly and I'm sorry I missed Becky's shower and will miss Lizzie's B-Day celebration.

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
-The Bendtsens

In The Local Library

It's been an uneventful last couple of days. Simon's been working and I've been reading 'The Name of the Wind'. It was such a great book!! I finished it this morning. After I finished it I made my way down to the library. It was nice that it was mostly downhill :) I immediately went for the language learning section.

Yesterday Simon and I saw that it was open and decided to look inside. Simon then proceeded to get me a library card. Sweet! I thought I was going to have wait for some paperwork from the government (because of something I had read on-line) but I didn't. Yesterday I found a new magic book to read when I finished 'Name of the Wind' (something called Magyka or something close to it) and 2 language CD's to help learn Danish. After checking them out back at the apartment I found out that one was for those who were Native Danes (definitely not me) and the other one was a kid's CD (I still enjoyed it though :P ) I returned them today knowing that I needed something a little better for my lack of knowledge of the Danish Language.

Today I found some beginner CD's to help me (eurotalk, talknow, and lær dansk 1). I'm hoping these work better for me than the last one's. I'm definitely looking to record my voice and comparing myself to what other natives sound like (aka how badly I sound compared to everyone in Denmark). I was walking to the English shelves (luckily shelves and not just shelf) and saw 2 guys on the computer... hmmm. I was too shy to try to use it myself but after realizing I already had 3 language CD's and the Magyka book I headed back over and shyly asked the gentleman working at a desk if I could use the internet. He said I could and pointed at the computers. Sweet! So I'm online now typing up my little blog trying not to make too much noise form the constant click clicking of the keys (luckily the guy beside me is even louder than I am even if not as frequent). I'm looking forward to checking out the CD's so I think I'm going to be on my. I'm glad that I could quickly update and let yall know how I'm doing!

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
-The Bendtsens

P.S. I think Birgit (and maybe Ole and/or Pia's family) might be coming for a visit tomorrow to see the apartment and come say hi! I'm excited!!

My Own Little Journal

A few days back Simon bought me a little journal that I could use. (I had lost the one he bought me in the states).

It is soo cool!! I love it. I write in it all the time. It's sometimes hard to remember if I wrote something on blogspot or if it was my journal.

Last night we brought down the PS3 and the tiny TV so Simon could play Call of Duty 4 online with Dennis (one of his best friends). I had a lot of fun watching him play too. He is getting better everytime he plays. I can't wait to get his big TV down here. This tiny one is so hard to see on unless your way up close to the screen. Everytime I see Simon leaning in to read something or see I picture Caleb doing it as well. :P I miss him a lot (and his hugs).

Simon went off to work half an hour ago and I'm already bored with him gone. Thomas is gone on a vacation too so it really is just me. I need to go upstairs and clean but I really don't want to.

Dinner last night was soo good. Around 9pm I was so hungry I decided to cook food. We had instant mashed potatoes w/ some sort of gravy sauce and some canned corn. Hhhhm. It was actually really really good.

This morning Simon was going to go to the store and buy eggs and bacon and surprise me with breakfast but I ruined it by saying I wanted to go with him. Bummer.
The store didn't have eggs!! What?!? What grocery store has a (small) bakery but no eggs...

We bought some food for the next few days and headed up. Simon still made bacon and sausages while I read scriptures. We are started to make it a habit to read in the morning instead of at night because we get so tired at night and it's harder to get stuff out of it. So far it has been great knowing that we had already read scriptures when we wanted to go to bed.

I love and miss my family and friends. I definitely can't wait until we get flight benefits again!
(and maybe even go to Panorama!! ***hint hint Mom***)

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
-The Bendtsens

Office Visit

Yesterday Simon and I went down to the City Center to try and work out residency papers. I already knew the way so I didn't have to stop for directions. (I didn't have to worry about getting anymore directions :P ) We stopped by where we thought we had to go but they redirected us to an office up 4 flights of stairs. Simon wanted to wait for the elevator but I didn't want to wait. So we walked up all the stairs. We got the office (huffing and puffing a little bit from the workout) and took a number. We only had to wait for like 6 people. They even had a little time clock that stated how much the wait time was. We looked at it and it said 11 minutes. Sweet! Not too bad. 2 minutes later though it said 14 and then 19. It got all the way to like 23 or something. What? We realized that everytime someone else took a number from the machine it would add on time for that persons wait time. Oh. lol. We got ourselves registered. Sounds easy, well not really. The lady we had didn't speak any Danish and only minimal English, so Simon tried his best to understand her German and she did her best trying to understand his English. After a while though we got everything filled out and she got photocopies of our passport and things. After everything was taken care of we went downstairs (back to the room we were in originally... luckily this time it was walking down the stairs and not up). We didn't have to wait long before our number was called... we were the next ones in line. They called us in and we realized that we were in the same anguage predicament as before only this time the Lady helping us knew even less English than the one before. Luckily (or blessed) the Lady working next to her knew Danish and came over and translated for us. We found out what we needed to bring in the next time we went in and were on our way. We stopped on our way home to look through shop windows to see if we wanted to go in. The ones we stopped at were closed since it was 9 or something and they didn't open until 11. One store had movies posters on the outside so we decided to stop and take a look inside to see if they had a movie we might want to buy since it was open. We walked in and then we walked straight out. (Me shielding Simon's eyes) We must have missed the German sign that said people only 18 allowed in. UUUUhhh. Lets just say we will NEVER EVER ever go in that one again. So after having our eyes scorched out we decided it was time to just go home.... (up the hill. Guh.) When we got home we decided that we were just going to relax for the rest of the night. We had pasta and spaghetti sauce for dinner. It was ok, it probably could have been better since we didn't have any meat to add to it. We still ate it though (we were hungry).

This morning Simon got to sleep in. Sleeping in for Simon was 7:40. Too early for me. I slept in until 12:00 at which point we had breakfast. Simon got ready for work and I got ready for shopping!! (Too bad it was only for food) Simon was on his way and I headed over to Penny Markt. Someone at Simon's work said that that store was one of the only stores open until 22:00. We got so blessed to be so close to it too. It is only 2 blocks away. I went and bought some pepper, fetticine dinner stuff, corn (with an easy open tab since we don't have a can opener), instant mash potatoes, and gravy mix. We've done our shopping for the weekend. After I came home I got on the internet and checked my e-mail and facebook (while downloading some music for me to listen to later while I wash our clothes). We are so old-fashioned. We don't believe in using washing machines or dishwashers. We prefer to wash EVERYTHING by hand ... not. lol. We don't have the conveniences of everyday life that we were used to before so now we get to use the bathtub to wash our clothes. Everytime I think about washing our clothes in the tub I think of the older times like Pioneers (or even before that) sitting outside using a metal slate to scrub their clothes on with an old western theme song playing in the background. lol

Overall, We still love the apartment and enjoying what we have and the blessings we have been blessed with.
Love and Miss yall,
The Bendtsens

Past 3 Days

I do so much bike-riding here, it's insane. Yesterday I tried to find my way down to the City Hall to get some paperwork. It was a fairly easy way downhill most of the time. (Meaning that going home was going to be killer.)

On the way down I tried to find my way but couldn't really find it so I had to ask for help along the way. Most of the people I talked to knew little to no English. I got a lot of phlah pleham lehapfh fhel lema le and a lot of hand pointing. :P

Eventually I made it to the building only to find out that they were closed today (even though the guy I called 'said they were open' (I don't blame him, his English could be a little better- and I think I got confused). So I made my way back home... up the hills. It was hard. I was so tired. Especially when I passed this kid walking up the hill. I wanted to show him so I decided to ride past him...big mistake. I was soooo tired. Finally making my way home, I layed on my bad. I totally passed out. I was exhausted. I had been gone for like 2 hours... most of which I think was bike-riding.

When I woke up I got ready to go pick up Simon from work. He got off at 3 so I started about 2:50-3:00. It is a 20 minute bike ride there. Yesterday I met him on the way so I only had to bike ride halfway there. This time I didn't see him at all. I rode all the way to his work. It was already 3:30 when I got there too. It wasn't too much longer before he was ready to leave. We walked-rode together. It was still really nice even if I had to walk some of the 'hills' (more like slight inclines) but still.

We watched a little bit of anime (Trigun) and eventually he fell asleep. (I had already had my nap or else I would have taken it with him. I went online while he was asleep.

I love being here and I hope everything works out with the government. We won't really know until they open on Thursday. Thanks for reading this.
Love and Miss yall

P.S. I have done more bike-riding in the past 4 days than I have in the past 4 years put together!!! (and I haven't even ridden today... yet)

New Apartment

27. juli 2009 (inbetween 10:00 and 11:00)
We drove down to Germany yesterday to check out our apartment. I thought that it was going to be a one room 'black hole' as mom and dad called it. I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't. When we arrived we did notice that they had a dog (or two...not sure yet) and also that they might smoke (really can't tell). After looking through the apartment we paid them 667 euro total (350 for next months rent, 67 for the 67 for this weeks rent, 200 for deposit (i think), and 50 for if they need to clean when we move out). They don't have wireless here (bummer) so we are going to go see how much it will be for a cheap connection. I can't really describe the place well so I'll just have to show you with some pictures. :D



After we finished pulling everything out from the car we took a car ride down to Simon's work so he knew where he had to go in the morning (and to hopefully prevent getting lost tomorrow). The bikeride is so beautiful. I haven't riden it yet but from the car is was so pretty. Attached a short way off the road is a bike bath that he will ride to and from work. The road goes through fields of wheat and corn, forests, and little house developments. I'm excited to one day ride with him to work and see it all again. After dropping Simon and me off at the apartment, we said our goodbyes and watched them drive away. Tear. It was kind of nervous-like to watch them go since we knew that we were in a foriegn country where we didn't know anyone. We did know that we had Heavenly Father watching over us though.


Simon and I then went on a bike ride. (Oh and earlier we found the church right down the street- SOO Awesome!) We went downhill through some apartment complexes down near an old church and decided it was time to turn around (we knew that it was all going to be uphill on the way back- guh) It was a fun ride up anyway. I stopped like 3 times but I made it! :)

After getting up the hill we took a detour through some of the other houses and neighborhoods. It was all still really pretty. After getting home we had some more salami and rejeost (shirmpcheese - like creamcheese but better) on my favorite bread, Swedish Bread. Mmmh. We set up Simon's playstation on this little bity incy wincy TV. (We will definitely have to ask Birgit and Ole to bring down our bigger one next time they visit). After playing just a little bit and finding that all the channels were German (I was hoping for English iwth German subtitles) we read scriptures and got ready for bed.



Going to bed a little harder than I expected. Our bed is a single mattress. Not like the singles in America but European singles. It was pretty small. So we pulled in close for bed. Simon almost fell right asleep while I tossed and turned a little bit trying to find the best position.



In the middle of the night I woke up and found that Simon had curled his knees up and since his knees can't go into the wall his body pushes over to my side. I am so close to falling off the bed. I rolled up over him and slept next to the wall to insure I wasn't the one falling off. Luckily after we switched sides there were no more near accidents. :P


Simon and I got up around 6:30. He got ready for work while I made his lunch. I wonder what he had... oh wait I remember... more salami. That will be our meal for the next few days until we get a little more settled and make some potatoes (w/ bearnaise sauce). Simon left for work (sadly) and I started de-dog-inizing the apartment. I was worried that I would be completely bothered all of the time with all the dog hairs and stuff. I pulled off all of the cloth products (pillows, table cover, and rug) and vacuumed all of the apartment (almost Grandma Quality too). I did not want to suffer the wrath of the dog hairs. While vacuuming this German worker dude (oh yeah, there is construction work happening all down the street) yelled up to me. After turning off the vacuum I was like 'what?' and he said the same thing to me in German... like I understand that. Luckily Thomas heard him and want to talk with him (I'm guessing it was something about electricity or bathrrom or something). After vacuuming I started unpacking. I'm really close to finishing with 3 of the huge checked bags done. Only 2 more (small) bags. I stopped to see if my computer could find any unsecured wireless but no luck. I got sidetracked and decided to write up this entry.

I'm glad that we have such a nice apartment and that we didn't have to haul all of our furniture out here (that would have been awful). I can't wait to see how Simon's first day went.
Love ya all,
-The Bendtsens

P.S. I'll blog when I find out how his work went (or when anything interesting happens - whichever comes first. Love and Kisses

Some MORE Great News

We had a really busy day today.

This morning we got up around 6:35am and got ready to go help Birgit's Sister move. It was 45 minutes or so to get there but it was a fast ride. We arrived and found that there were 4 or so men there not including Ole and Simon. Sweet Deal! The other thing we found out was that she was moving less than 50 yards away in one of the next buildings over. There were even 4 Sister Missionaries that showed up as well to help do the cleaning. It was so nice!

After cleaning we went straight over to Valdemar's birthday party. It was a lot of fun and we got to meet a lot of Lizette's family. I had a great time. We ate outside on her really pretty back-front yard until it started to sprinkle. Luckily, we were mostly done when it came. The kids enjoyed jumping in the rain as well. We said our goodbyes and headed home.

We did some laundry and went to Christian's house to find some sheets and rags for our new apartment.

Now to the good news. Not only were we truly blessed already, later we went online to search for a nearby church and we found out that it was on the same exact street!! It was so cool! We are living in number 144 and the church is 101. We are so excited!!

Love and miss yall bunches,
The Bendtsens

Only a Week and a Half

We got home from Texas a week and a half ago and we already have a place to live and Simon has a job. We are truly blessed!!

While we were in the US, Birgit had the impression to visit this store right on the other side of the Danish border. They said that Simon could come by later that week, except that we were still going to be in the US. Birgit told them that we were coming back soon and would come then.

During our trip to Germany, that was our first place to visit. This was the place that Simon got his job.



This morning we woke up to Simon's phone ringing. We were expecting a call from either Oliver (nephew) or Dennis (best friend) but it turned out to be neither of them. It was Morten from Fleggaard offering him a job!! Now that he has a job we just needed a place to stay...

Simon found the German translation for apartment and found one in less than 5 min for 350 euro a month and only 5 kilometers away. He called them but it was an ID-Concept place. So we decided that later we would maybe look in the yellow pages to try and find him.

While shopping, Simon got an unknown call and it ended up that this was the apartment guy. They talked for a few minutes and agreed to see the apartment Sunday at 7pm and to sign papers.



In less than 2 weeks back to Denmark we not only had a job but we had an apartment not too far away! We are truly blessed by our Heavenly Father. We know that he truly is watching over us.

The apartment is about 30 square meters. It is a one room place with bath-shower. It is also fully furnished with TV. It looks really good for what we were looking for.

http://www.immowelt.de/Immobilien/ImmoDetail.aspx?ID=14757860

So now it's time to pack up and move (again) but this time to our own place. We are so excited to be on the next step to our final goal.
Love and miss yall bunches,
The Bendtsens

Job Search via Road Trip

A few days ago Simon and I had heard of an oppurtunity. Pia's Family were going to go down to Germany and go shopping for some cheap goods. Birgit offered to give us a ride down there and while down there we could search for jobs for Simon. So, yesterday Simon called ahead to several locations of Fleggaard. So today we woke up around 7 and started getting reading for the trip. Simon typed up a semi-formal resume for the companies to keep and printed up several copies. We started on our way.

The trip down was relatively fast since all I did most of the way was sleep and read my book Hero of Ages. Simon got through a good chunk of his book The Awakened Mage. Right after the border was the first stop for Simon. While we went shopping Simon had an interview. They said that they might have a postiion for him and would let him know by the end of the week. We tried 2 more stores each with about the same response. Then it was shopping time.

We headed over to a big shopping store-mall thing and took a look around. After a short bit of walking we decided we were hungry enough to stop for food. Birgit and Ole went to a fresh fruit stand and bought 2 bowls of mixed fruit. Simon and I went straight for the bread-pizza place. After seeing what they had we decided to get 2 salad type wraps. They were really good. Ole, after a few minutes of eyeing our wraps, went over and bought himself one. We then got a hold of Pia and family and found a meeting spot.

After we met up we spent most of our time slowly making our way through each department. Simon and I had 100 kr to spend on what we wanted from doing work around the apartment. We found some toffifee and licorice to fill our appetites. After a while of shopping we found out that Simon's brother Peter and his family were also there. They were on vacation and we just happened to be in the same store at the same time. Small world. It was fun to have everyone together to shop.

After making our way out of the checkstand we said our goodbyes and headed on our way. This time Mathias rode with us. The first hour I don't remember because I was asleep most of it along with Simon. I woke up to Mathias and Birgit playing 'name that tune' out of the Hymn book. I quickly joined in when I knew the tune. We went from Hymns to Disney movies. I made a list of all the songs I knew and had fun going through them all. Mathias had us beat when he sang the song from the Credits off of Bolt. We had a fun time and made our way to drop off Mathias. We said our goodbyes and headed home. We had bought several cases of really cheap 7up and sprite zero so we had to take a trip to the basement for storage (for now). After unpacking the car we were free to relax and just not do anything. It was a great day and fun experience.
-The Bendtsens

Traveling (back) to Denmark

Well, we’re safe in Denmark. Yay! The trip home wasn’t bad. I guess we should start at the packing.

I am definitely a last-minute packer. I guess it’s half to do with the fact that I wear the clothes I pack and I’m just not in a hurry to get the packing done. We started-finished packing the night-morning before we left. It took most of the day and night but we were ready, packed, and the room was cleaned. It was a miracle all in itself. Aside from actually getting it all done in time, we fit everything we needed (minus a few clothes and socks), and cleaned up the room Grandma quality. Woohoo!

We had 4 checked bags, one carry-on, and a guitar. Mel drove us to the airport when the time came and we sat and talked seeing as how we were 2 hours early with a 50 min delay. After finally saying all of our goodbyes we headed on through security. We bought some Mcducks because we were starving and waited until our flight boarded. We didn’t wait long. We boarded as soon as we could. We wanted to make sure there was room for his guitar in the overhead compartments. There was… luckily. The flight had movies and we both watched Monster vs. Aliens. A little after that we were at our next destination. We had a connecting flight so we didn’t have to get our bags and go through security. We didn’t wait too long for a next flight.

We boarded again and again raced to find room for his guitar. We had little trouble. Sweet deal. This flight was our longest flight. It was a 777 so we had individual entertainment systems. Simon watched several that he doesn’t remember the names of (must not have been that good). I watched 17 again, Hannah Montana (It wasn’t as bad as you would think), and this one about being bullied as a 4th grader or something. It was actually really good. We had chicken plate for our hotplate and had yogurt, a muffin, and orange juice for breakfast. We landed shortly after that. I slept the last hour and 30 minutes. We landed in London and retrieved all our bags on those really really difficult to steer carts. Security was easy. We then had the hardest part of our trip coming.

After taking a national express bus from Heathrow to Gatwick, we searched out a place to camp ourselves for the next 12 hours. Can someone say Boring! We found a set of 3 chairs (one double and a single). We decided that we weren’t both going to be asleep at the same time (so that nothing got stolen). I had the hardest time staying awake while Simon slept. We took one hour shifts. I was so tired.

Both of us had only had 5 hours sleep total for the two previous days so were both dead tired. I almost fell asleep standing at one point. We bought meal deals from Boots, a store close by. We had different types of sandwiches, such as BLT, tuna and corn, meat and cheese, and this other really good sandwich. The meals came with a choice of snack and a drink. We got 2 yogurt things, one water, and one fruit water thing (whatever they are called). Later we went back and bought at least 4 bags of Salt and Vinegar chips. They helped to keep us awake.

Finally the time had come for us to go check our bags. We had to arrange a few things for weight this time but only because they checked my carry-on… oops. Lol. We got on the flight (we actually had our marriage license out this time for proof of my name change and stuff. Before I simply had my driver’s license…which really probably shouldn’t have worked, but did.) I slept most of this flight while Simon tried to sleep unsuccessfully. We arrived in Denmark around 10:45 or something, an hour earlier or so than we thought.

We walked off the plan and through the revolving doors into a crowded pile of people waiting for their passports to be checked. Simon got ahead of me and went through. I was close behind but they had to ask me questions since I was a non-citizen. He asked if I was travelling alone and I said no. I called Simon over and he rechecked his passport. He stamped mine and let me through. He didn’t even ask how long I was staying. Sweetness!! So we waited for our bags. One of ours was almost the last bag through…blah. Waiting for luggage isn’t the funnest thing. It turns out that our text saying we were early didn’t go through…bummer. We only had to wait like 30 minutes in gorgeous weather. I didn’t have a problem as long as we weren’t downwind from the group of smokers. The car was a little packed as our nephew Matthias came too. It probably wasn’t that bad, just that I was in the middle back. It felt cramped to me. Lol. The drive home was pleasant. Birgit and Ole had brought us cold homemade pizza. Mmmmmh. We were starving. After dropping off Matthias and saying hi to his family, we finally were home.

We couldn’t sleep until 8 in the morning. Stinkin jet-lag. Simon slept in until 13:00 and I was out until 16:00. We spent that day just relaxing. It was nice to be back home (and Simon to be with his PS3 again) :P The next day we almost fell asleep at midnight but couldn’t sleep until 4am. We were getting closer to being normal again. Lol. The next day Simon spent helping with Pia’s yard work but that’s a different blog update. Thanks for keeping up with us. We had a great trip and are happy to be done travelling (for now). Love all and Miss all.
-The Bendtsens

Utah Trip Part 1

A few weeks back Simon and I went on a trip to Utah. We didn’t have the money to fly so it was going to be 24 hour drive. Woohoo. Lol. We started our trip Monday morning at like 2am. It was early. After filling up our gas tank, we were on our way. We drove for 5 hours and pulled into the back of the parking lot at Walmart. We slept for a few hours and continued to drive. We drove through Oklahoma City and headed up to North. We stopped for an oil change on the way. Mel’s car was way overdue. The drive at points went by really fast. We stopped to eat or sleep whenever we wanted to. We slept anywhere from Walmart parking lots to Rest Stops along the way. The hardest part of the drive would have to be Kansas. There is absolutely nothing in Kansas. We even took 4 pictures outside of each window to prove out point.

Entering Colorado almost looked like Kansas but we had high expectations for the mountains that were soon to come. We watched a lightning storm along our drive to. It never was over us but it stayed parallel most of the time. Then we hit the mountains. Mel’s car was having a hard time excellerating up the hills. We decided to let the car take a rest along with my eyelids. The next morning there was not as much traffic so I didn’t feel bad about going so slow. Going down the pass was very pretty and we got some really pretty photos.

After a ways we stopped at a Truck Stop for a little shut-eye. I slept in the car while Simon took our comforter and slept out on the picnic table. Simon didn’t think it was very funny when a truck came by blasting its horn. The nook where this stop was was very pretty.

Finally we hit Utah… and the desert. It was the same thing over and over. After a while we hit a prettier area and civilization. We were pretty psyched by this point.

Plato's Closet

I just got back from Plato’s Closet. I took in a box of clothes to sell. I sold 4 of the items and got 7 dollars from it. Not too bad. One shirt I got for free from Jordan, one from Mel (I think), a pair of flair pants, and a shirt that looked funny when I wore it. I also bought one while I was there. It is red and gray I think. It has cherries on it. It’s cute and long enough. It was like 2.50 I think. (Originally 5, but with a 50% discount.) I love discounted clothes.

See ya next time,
Rachel Anne

Hair Color

Well, I’m a brunette now. I got my hair colored a few days back. At first it was a shock because of the difference it was. I was strawberry blonde before now. I colored my hair in Denmark last and by last week it had grown out by 2-4 inches, not exactly sure. I also got a hair cut from Toni and Guy. I chickened out of having it cut short. I didn’t want it making my face look chubby or anything. So I got it cut just a few inches longer than my shoulder. It has grown out very nicely now. I love my hair.

Along with my hair, I have lost weight. I am 10 lbs lighter than when I came here. I think it was from working so much and not having the money to eat out too much (even though sometimes we still do…lol). It could also be from being so dehydrated (less water weight) lol. I hope that that is not the reason though. :D

Until next time,

Rachel Bendtsen

The Trip to Texas

So after finding out that I only had 19 days left in Denmark we had some serious thinking to do. A week later we decided to travel to Texas and stay there while my visa re-starts. We were afraid the flight costs were going to be too much but luckily we found some that weren't so expensive.

We left Aalborg on Norwegian Airlines on April 14th (my last day I was allowed to stay in Denmark...we were cutting it close). We had seats directly over the wing...guh. Oh well it wasn't going to be too long of a flight. That first flight went by fast enough. After we landed in Gatwick we had to follow the signs to get to Heathrow Airport. We bought some cheap airport food and found the National Express bus. The bus ride was 40-60 min. It wasn't too bad and the seats were comfortable. After getting to Heathrow we looked around a bit and found that there was no really good place to sleep. There were a few good chairs but they were in the handicapped area. Luckily, the guy working in the handicapped area said that we could sleep there. Sweet! There were 4 seats in a row without armrests and I had two in a row. Overall we got like 5 hours each (I think). After getting up we went to check in with Air Canada. We waited by the gate and then loaded.

Of course we got a seat right above the window again. Luckily the flight was wide-open with seats of 3 in a row all over the place. We had the option to move but never took it because there were individual tv's in each seat and the window shades would probably be down anyway so we could see better. They had a some good movies on too! I only watched half of a movie and fell asleep. Later I woke up and it was Simon's turn to sleep. We only had 2 hours left at that point.

Something not right... how do seatbelts work again?
(Simon found two of the same side of the seatbelt)

These were the sandwiches we ate while waiting. They were ok and we were hungry so they worked.

It was great being with my hubby while we traveled.

We arrived in Canada and found out it was time to go through customs... sweating time. Customs has the power to deny Simon entry into the U.S. at the drop of a hat. Our only hope was in Simon's return ticket (hopefully proving that he doesn't want to stay for long-term). They didn't even ask about the return ticket! We told him we were staying for 3 months (he of course corrected us and said 90 days) and after that we were cleared! Phew... we were glad that was over with. We dropped off our bags for our last flight and waited at the gate. While waiting I went and bought us a bag of skittles (they don't have them in Denmark). We almost got sick from all the skittles we ate. Finally, we were boarding.

The last leg of the flight wasn't too long. They had individual tv's here too! I read my book most of the time though. We arrived in DFW and waited for our bags. Mom came in and greeted us and promptly left to make sure she didn't get a ticket for leaving her car unattended. Mom had forgotten how tall Simon really was when he got in the backseat and almost hit his head to the roof. :) We got home and were glad to see our nieces and nephews and sisters and brother-in-laws waiting for us! It was great to see everyone again.

We are glad that everything went so well without any problems. We truly were blessed to see this all work out like it did. It is wonderful to be in Texas and see everyone again. We do miss Denmark. While we are here we are going to be having loads of fun. Love to all,
The Bendtsens

Babysitting w/ Pia's kids

I babysat Pia's kids one day and I took pictures of the day. Here they are:

Oliver(left) and Mathias (right)
We were watching Bolt on my computer and Mathias was doing the dishes!

Emilie and Mads played this online Scooby-Doo game.

The boys played their ps2 games.

While they played their games Emilie and I read a Danish book. It was fun to read with her. Matthias had to help with some of the bigger words that neither of us knew. :D


They are soo cute!!

I had a lot of fun playing with them!! Hopefully we will get to do this again!

-Rachel Bendtsen

Life's Venture

(For me it's bold if I have done it and underlined if I think I have done but not sure)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland!
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched an amazing lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (oven pad making…it didn’t say it had to be hard :P )
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (does that include our plants in mom’s garden we picked out, planted and grew??)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (no idea)
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (from school)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (don’t think so but maybe)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (yes and no)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (when I was in high school (and working) and I went shopping and was happy… until I spent it all)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (Idk if it was Old Faithful… but I’ve seen a geyser)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (I’ve ridden in plenty of ambulances)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (music video… does that count?) (and I was in a satire video…)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (babysitting)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (even though I didn’t see any)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood
65. Gone sky diving (though I really really want to)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (I think so, I’m a packrate)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (I remember flirting with them…)
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (I tried… the guy’s pacemaker was firing and he had an unknown downtime so we were doing everything for him… I participated in the CPR… but he didn’t wake up)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (maybe not world famous but Branson Famous)
92. Joined a book club (I think so)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (no, but soon)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit (idk, kind of… they wanted me to testify in court)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

47 things I have done…

14 maybes…

And a bunch or want to’s

Kicked Out

Well the government contacted us yesterday about my residency papers. They called Simon and said that my application had been denied. :( They told me I had to leave within 19 days (now 18) and if not I could be punishable by law. We have a lot of options to take from here...and we haven't decided what to do.
Options include:
going to the states (by myself) (for a time)
moving to Swedem (w/ Simon)
moving to some other EU country (with Simon)
Moving to Sweden or another EU country will trigger a law that might allow us to stay in Denmark.

The government said I could come back in 6 months and reapply for residency at that time. Otherwise, I'm not allowed back inside Denmark for another 6 months.
I'm sure everything is going to work out eventually.

I'll keep yall posted on whatever we decide to do.
-Rachel Bendtsen

Crazy Hat Party Sleepover

I heard great reports from the last Crazy Hat Party so I decided to have one of my own! I invited all the Single adult women to come. All could come and most could stay the night too! So I cleaned up the apartment (even though later I knew we would all trash it again ... lol).
Here's a picture of my crazy hat!!

Here's the back...

and the side.

Grethe and Kamilla both forgot their hats so Grethe borrowed my bow and Kamilla used whatever I had and part of your jacket's hood to become the Queen of Iceland. (She is marrying Arnar from Iceland)

Grethe

Kamilla (above) and later dressing up (below)

I don't have a picture of Line's hat but this is Margit's.

We had a lot of fun waiting for Simon and his friend Dennis to leave. (Simon had just gotten home from work so he had to change before he went over to Dennis' house to spend the night.
The girls started a movie ('The Perfect Man') and Line and I played dress-up. (More like Line played dress-up in my dress...lol)



She had fun being in the dress.
After that we sat around and watched 'Next'.


The junk food we had was really good! :P

Grethe had to leave at this point. We then made some home-made pizza. We had fun making it. :D




We played cards while the pizza was baking.


The pizza was good and filling (and a little overcooked...oops lol)


After a lot of fun and talking and playing around we headed off to bed.

There were 4 of us with one bed, a couch, and a bean bag.
Line and her sister Margit shared the bed,

Kamilla slept on the bean bag,

and I had the couch.

The sleepover and party lasted until about 1:00 pm the next day.
It was a success!