min dansk familie i roskilde

i went to see my 'visiting family' in roskilde on saturday. inge, the mom, met me at the train station along with her kids johanna, 8, and mats,10, and johanna's friend lisa-marie. their black lab puppy fyrre came with them as well. johanna and mats are wiry little towheaded kids with slanting blue eyes and shy smiles, lisa marie a robust, ruddy cheeked redhead who was strong enough to keep the one year old puppy in check.

we went back to their house, an open, breathable and well lit space that makes my apartment look like a matchbox. there i met amalie, inge's 16 year old daughter who is mentally handicapped. she was playing with a helper who is paid by the danish government, a 19 yr old girl named fredericka. inge had made some fresh bollen and mats made waffles. we all had a cozy tea time and a nice chat, said, 'tak for mad' and made our way back out to the blustery outdoors. inge, the kids and i went down to the roskilde harbor, fed some old bread to the ducks, looked at the old viking ships, then went to the park. i kicked around the soccer ball with mats, jumproped with the girls and chatted with inge.

after returning to the house, we played ping pong and then made our own pizzas from scratch for dinner. johanna showed me her 'først rød bøg for dansk-engelsk, engelsk-dansk.' she taught me a slew of charming new danish words and i taught her a few words in english. inge was quite impressed with my danish vocabulary.

after dinner and 'easter beer' we watched some tv. i did my best to follow along with the danish subtitles and was able to tell what was going on most of the time. inge's husband bruno came home and soon after took me back to the train station. i can't wait to slappe af med min dansk familie again.