Stock Memorial Day Historical Post (zzz...)

Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone in Denmark. I didn't do much celebrating on my own; barbeques and trips to the beach just don't have the same effect with weather like we've had over the past, well, since I've been here really. Historically, MDW signifies the beginning of the summer season, so perhaps things will soon cooperate here as well.

In modern times, Memorial Day honors those American soldiers who gave their lives during military service. Often lost, though, are its roots which show much less clarity about what is actually being observed on the day itself. It originated as 'Decoration Day' in 1868, when Posts of Union Veterans would literally decorate grave markers in the many cemeteries of those who fell during the Civil War. This celebration would later adapt a strong religious tone. Those who died in combat were linked to God, as they were fighting for a better United States; one that was closer to the Lord. These baptisms of blood later gave way to much more nationalistic sense of the holiday until it ultimately expanded to recognize soldiers lost in all conflicts following the Great War (World War I).

However, regional differences in beliefs held during the Civil War once again presented themselves when efforts were being made to remember those who were killed in action. There are those who claim that the first Memorial Day celebrations were actually Southern traditions. The first such documented event was held by black Americans in early May, 1865, with others springing up in the years to come before 'Decoration Day' was enacted. The divide between white and black observances also became an issue, as I am just reading about in a book called "Confederates in the Attic," by Tony Horwitz. In this book, Horwitz investigates some of the modern ways in which the South still clings to its Confederate heritage. Pertaining to the Memorial Day question, he writes that it is essentially celebrated by four different groups in four different ways for four different reasons: whites in the North, whites in the South, blacks in the North and blacks in the South. Whether it was remembering the dead, remembering the cause, remembering the result or just the War itself, all refer to the same events, yet each group has their own specifics as to why they honor who, or what, they are honoring.

Celebrations were often times more locally recognized in small towns and communities. Parades, picnics, cookouts and concerts soon became the norm and as those who lived during the days of the War Between the States gradually died off, the reasons for remembrance began to fade.

In the interest of not writing a thesis here, I'll move on to say that the name 'Memorial Day' was enacted as Federal law in 1967 and the tradition of the three-day-weekend came the following year, along with President's and Veteran's Day. Poppies purchased to benefit VFWs across the country are actually not a truly American tradition themselves. They are a throwback to Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae and his poem, 'In Flanders Fields,' written about the Second Battle of Ypres, fought on Belgian soil during World War I:

In Flanders fields, the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below...

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields...

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands, we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields...

I knew those lessons from student teaching would come in handy at some point. I could go on, but that would be too much like work. The point is, sometimes things get lost or shuffled over time and occasionally, it's nice to look back and rediscover them. After you've hopefully enjoyed a nice weekend with friends, loved ones and most importantly, good food, I hope that perhaps you took a moment to think about why you were able to do so.

Before heading off, I'd like to mention that I just caught up with Copenhagen correspondent, Olivia Nagle tonight, fresh off her tour of southern Europe. She's heading back to the States tomorrow and I wish her all the best in safe travels and offer thanks for the many travel tips she has offered so far. I also encourage her to think of those who will not have decent BBQ or hot wings for some time when she undoubtedly celebrates her homecoming in (delicious) style. Well, I'm hungry now. Maybe a snack before bed. Goodnight.

One Score Makes Four

A long touchdown pass from QB Henning Alstrup to WR Marc Sørensen proved to be the difference maker in this afternoon's contest as your Aarhus Tigers narrowly bested the visiting Esbjerg Hurricanes 7-0. With the win, the Tigers improved to 4-0 on the year.

I was actually a spectator for the lone scoring play of the day. It occurred on our first possession after the half, which I decided to watch from the sidelines to see what was going on with the defensive fronts we were getting. In weather conditions just as sloppy as our last game, the first half was mired by sloppy performances by both teams. It became apparent that we were having some difficulties with their defenders up front, who relied heavily on slants and stunts to make up for a lack of size and strength. I didn't think to remove myself from the game to see firsthand what was going until after halftime and when I did, I saw what I had anticipated. Their defenders in the box (linemen and linebackers) were simply exchanging gap responsibilities (who covers which hole we run to) and we were not doing a great job recognizing this. That didn't matter on the fourth play of the second half though, as the OL provided good protection and Henning delivered a strike to Sørensen in stride from midfield en route to a TD.

Some frustrations would continue on offense, as they had in the first two quarters. We were able to move the ball for a string of plays and then we seemed to fall flat for a few. Adjustments will be made in the next few days in anticipation for this week's game and the second half of the season ahead. With some of these in place, our offense will no doubt look to sustain and more finish more drives than we have been recently; all part of the fun in being a coach, I suppose.

Hats off to the Tiger defense once again. They have not been scored on in fourteen consecutive quarters of football and show no signs of letting up. They forced two key turnovers today; a fumble recovery inside our own five-yard line and an interception with under twenty seconds to play as the 'Canes were threatening on our side of the fifty.

It was definitely strange to be playing a game on a Sunday. I think I might have only once before, a JV game eight years ago when I was sophomore in high school. I could be mistaken, but nonetheless, still a little weird. I'm just happy the weather held up and it only hailed for about two or three minutes during the third quarter. My bag on the sidelines got totally drenched yet again, including the bag inside holding my wallet, iPhone and iPod. I looked in after the game to find said bag at the bottom of a small lake. However, thanks to my folks back home and the cases they've sent (one for each electronic device), they remained safe and dry; crises averted.

Felt good to be out on the field again. Some of their guys did a little more talking than we saw last game. I'm sure they were saying very tough and meaningful things but since they were speaking Danish, I just smiled and waved at them before each play. They were probably just lonely and I thought to myself that you always catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Actually, since I didn't say anything back, they probably thought I was hard of hearing or something. Good times, but it wasn't quite enough to qualify for this week's "WTDAFM" (Welcome to Danish American Football Moment ... I guess it doesn't form the cleanest acronym, but it's an awful lot to keep writing it out like that).

Anyways, this week's WTDAFM (eh, it's not so bad) is really more for all the football strategists out there (Smitty, Coach B and all the other MHS guys, I hope you're taking notes). At today's coin toss, I was going about my business and staying warm and loose during the monsoon and I peaked over and saw that we won the toss and deferred to the second half. Now, even the casual football fan (I hope) knows that when your team defers their option as we did, the other team is presented with a few choices. Among these are whether they want to kick or receive the ball to start the game. Common sense would dictate that you would want to receive because the other team put off making that choice until the second half (which almost always means they will receive then). Each team therefore has a chance to start off a half with the ball and look to set the tempo as they see fit. Well, today, I think a new strategy was employed. The Hurricanes opted to kick to start the game, essentially allowing us to start each half with the football. This confused even our special teams units, as our kickoff team had already started to run on to the field and then had to be replaced by the kick return squad; I know it sure threw me for a loop. I guess it almost worked as we only managed seven points but generally speaking (call me crazy), I'm a fan of free possessions.

That's about it for now. I'm going to relax to a movie tonight and enjoy the win. Tomorrow starts preparation for the next game. We play again on Saturday so it's a short turnaround this week. Come on back again soon; I'll be here.

Fri-Man (Last time, I promise)

I forgot about this part and then I promise not to talk about Friheden until I go back again! This is also pretty cool because I got to play around with some of my iPhone's nifty features. I shot the following video at the base of the 'Sky Tower,' a ride I really wanted to do, but opted not to and you can see why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrum5_vdL7U

I am fully confident that my back is strong enough to handle what you you'll see there, but my gut told me to think otherwise (he's around me [literally] enough to know these things). A little later on in the summer, I will absolutely return for this, but for now I'll just let the video do the explaining.

The iPhone actually allows you to send video you shoot directly to YouTube. You just take your vid, hit "Send to YouTube," add all the pertinent info and it compresses the movie for you right then and there. This was the first time I got to try this. Now that I know how easy it is, look for more of these little featurettes in the future.

Almost bedtime here, I'm just preparing some things for tomorrow's game. Be back after that for a full recap. Before I sign off, I'd like to send some brutal birthday wishes to my good buddy, Mr. Bryan Dine back home. I don't think DineBot's an NTD reader, but that's okay. He's still Something From the Tree's number one SuperFan and the biggest one we've got (literally). Happy birthday, Bryan; hope you've had a safe Spirit Journey.

Goodnight to all else, this Tiger's gonna rest up now. Goin' on the prowl at 15:00 tomorrow...

Fri-Man (Cont.)

As promised, I've returned now to finish off last night's escapade through Tivoli Friheden. I mentioned last post that while we Tigers were free to roam about the park and prey on unsuspecting rides and attractions, these things themselves weren't exactly 'free.' At your average American amusement park, admission covers the cost of pretty much everything inside, with the exception of course of food and tacky souvenirs. Here though, such is not the case; admission is merely your first opportunity to fork over some dough. Once you're in, these opportunities continue to present themselves, at each ride for example (pretty ironic, since Friheden means 'freedom'). You have to buy tickets that are good for x amount of rides, or pick up a wristband that provides you unlimited access to most of them. The contingent of dedicated ride-goers that was Bysted, Stefan Meyer, Thomas Pedersen and myself opted for the bands to enjoy ourselves to the fullest (thanks to Anders for generously treating me to mine). In a moment, I'll get to those rides, but first I want to show you some of the scenery inside:


As I said yesterday, both this park and the one in Copenhagen borrow part of their names from the ancient Roman township, Tivoli, famous for its gardens and impressive landscaping (though I'm pretty sure it didn't have a roller coaster). Friheden does have some pretty nice hedgery though and a lot of neat fountains and decorative pools like the one pictured above.


Pictured above is a portion of the entrance way. The arched branches continue down the path a ways and it looks pretty cool. If I had stood about fifteen feet to the right, you would've seen a rather large mass of people pouring in, assumedly for the Kashmir, but more likely for what's in the next two pictures:



Though this wasn't the restaurant where we ate, what self-respecting American could resist taking a few photos with one of his own? "Eating the American Way," at least in the mind of the Danish amusement park designer, is eating typically-Danish foods (i.e. hot dogs with the bun on the side) that are just much larger than usual. Bysted told me they used to have a giant sausage that nobody really cared for because it was just too big and gross. I was just happy to get a shot with the man himself.


This was taken from the very back of the open-air amphitheater where Kashmir played. Pretty good crowd despite their set being played during the night's heaviest period of rain.

That's about all for scenery, on to the rides!

First off, we went on a rather small roller coaster (the name of which escapes me at the moment). I realize this isn't the best shot, but I can assure you there wasn't much more to it than this. It did however feature one inversion and served as a tasty appetizer to some of the others to come later.




The next one was a pretty excellent coaster called 'The Cobra.' It was much larger than the first, featured two inversions and had a great little mascot (pictured above in some kind of a water-themed variation of the ride, to take place later in the summer). This particular ride actually broke apart in 2008 and injured four passengers, as the car came loose and struck the ground. We experienced no such misfortune last night.


Our favorite of the night was probably 'Pegasus.' This twisted variation of the 'Tilt-a-whirl' has you seated in a gondola while its arm rotates about 360 degrees. Meanwhile, the arm inverts up and down repeatedly, while each gondola rotates independently on its own axis. This was pretty comparable to an astronaut's G-force simulator as you are literally thrown upwards, downwards and side to side for a full two-and-a-half minutes. This is strange because I always figured flight on a real winged horse would be a pretty smooth go. Proof that we got our money's worth here: Bysted's nose started bleeding halfway through the ride.



The 'Tyfonen' (Typhoon) was probably the weakiest of the night in our estimation. It was sort of like a Turkish Teacup on a roller coaster track with only a fraction of the amusement of each. Still though, expert cameraman Morten Sehested was unsuccessful in snapping a halfway decent picture. In the one at the top, you can see my hand sticking up. The one below it was supposed to be the best shot of us ... until this guy walked right in the path of the camera.

No one managed any pictures of the next ride, a giant kiddie swing set that Stefan and I managed to squeeze into. I liked it so much I almost stayed there for the rest of the night. That was also due in part to the fact I was stuck in the seat. I was eventually released by the guy working the ride (Danish carney, minus the meth addiction).


The last ride of the night was a tried and true classic, bumper cars. The Danish equivalent though featured a ratio of way too many cars to bumping area. It was more like a simulated traffic jam, but still fun nonetheless. Pictured above, you see me destroying a twelve-year old (him and his buddies were eyeing me from the start - I had to show them who was boss). Pedersen is pictured just above my left shoulder and Stefan is next to him.

That's about all for now. Great times at a fun place; I know I'll be back there again sometime before long. For now, time to go pick up a few things at the store to avoid cleaning up around here. Be back either later today, but definitely tomorrow with a game recap of our clash with the Hurricanes of Esbjerg. Until then, adios.

Fri-Man

Hello again. Sorry for my recent absence but I've been catching up on some rest over the past couple of days and still holding on to a few nice events that I did last week. In between some much-needed cleaning of my apartment tomorrow, I think I'll be able squeeze a post in. Right now though, I do have some cool stuff to share as tonight marked one of the most exciting adventures I've participated in since arriving in Denmark.

Since we don't play until Sunday, a team event was planned tonight at Tivoli Friheden (Free-dhen), an amusement park about two minutes from my front step. Before I go on, it should be noted that this park is not to be confused with Tivoli Gardens, Scandinavia's largest and most-visited attraction of the sort (third most in the EU). That park is located in Copenhagen and I have not yet had the pleasure of going there. Furthermore, neither location should be confused with Tivoli, Italy (just outside Rome), though both are named after it and its famous botanical wares.

To those in NH, Friheden is very comparable in size to Canobie Lake Park; on the small side, but bigger than you think once you've walked in and out of everything after a while. It's been an Aarhus staple since opening in 1958 and unfortunately seems to have a less-than-flattering reputation, as several rides have experienced malfunctions over the years. The aftermath of these has resulted from the minor (guests being stranded for a few hours in midair) to far more serious (fatality). One would never know this by looking at the place in its present condition now though, as it is a clean, seemingly well-functioning environment. On this particular night, despite (you guessed it) some more RAIN, the park was still filled with families and patrons of all ages enjoying the heck out of all it had to offer. It had been a long time since I was to an amusement park (five years ago to Universal Studios for a high school trip) and I really forgot how much damn fun they are. Friheden was certainly no exception.

Our night started with a buffet dinner at one of the restaurants in the park. Defensive and Special Teams Coordinator (and NTD follower), Anders Bysted (Byoo-steth) worked in security at Friheden for several years, so he set up the whole night's affair. The food was okay, but the softis (soft EES) or Danish soft serve was definitely the winner of the meal. It was probably the creamiest soft serve I've had since B & J's in Fort Washington, MD and tasted pretty good, too. After dinner, we were free (well, not free - I'll explain in a moment) to enjoy ourselves in the park. Part of the reason tonight was selected was because a popular Danish rock group was kicking off Friheden's summer concert series. The group was Kashmir and they sounded an awful lot like U2. They were enjoyable enough; not something I would normally listen to, but they seemed to have a pretty big following and they put on a decent show. Interesting note about their name:

They have actually been around since 1991 and were originally called 'Nirvana.' Somewhere along the way, three meddlesome youths from Seattle decided to go and become extremely successful and our Danish friends were caught in a bit of a pickle. To avoid any confusion (just in case their stark musical differences weren't enough), they changed their name to 'Kashmir,' after the famed Led Zeppelin number.

I must admit that I did not see their entire set. Bysted, myself and two others were busy braving several of Friheden's most treacherous rides during their first few songs. We did manage to catch about a half-hour of their performance though, which I'm glad we did. I'm a sucker for live music and it never hurts to say you've "seen so-and-so a few years back" during conversation. Add another one to the list. The guys I was with said they played a lot of their new material, which apparently isn't as "rock 'n roll" as their old stuff. I'd say not, just from my initial impression, but like I said before, it was just nice to see a few dudes having a good time, playing some tunes.

As for the rest of the night's adventures, I'm going to leave this as a rare "To Be Continued..." edition of NTD, as I'm pretty tuckered out at the moment. I will defintely get this one posted early tomorrow, possibly over breakfast (mmm ... Danish corn flakes...). I also have some really good pictures and will be sure to include those as well. For now, I'll leave you with Troels Vendelbo 'jumping for joy' on the way to dinner. It would have been better if (as Troels himself said) he got more than 5 centimetres off the ground.


Goodnight; be back in a few hours.

Lazy Monday

Today was some sort of holiday in DK. I had heard about it several weeks ago, but since I don't usually do much on Mondays, I didn't think of it until I walked to the post office and a few grocery stores, only to find them all closed. I then came back to my apartment to wallow in my lack of certain foodstuffs for a few hours. In retrospect, I should have limited my wallowing to a few less hours, as I decided to go to the gym right as they were closing early for, you guessed it, whatever today's holiday was. Taking this as a sign that I should probably begone before somebody dropped a house on me, I returned to my apartment and took a nap before I ate some leftovers from yesterday.

A teammate stopped by later to retrieve a few DVDs I had borrowed and I asked him what exactly the Danish people were celebrating today. His response, "I dunno, something with the Holy Spirit, I guess." Good enough for me. At least I got a good nap out of it.

In this weekend's football action, my U16 team again came up on the short end of our game. However, our progress continues to show on the field as we held the best team we've seen so far to a mere six points for the better part of the first half. The Junior Tigers are learning the game and are becoming better because of it. They have continued to put forth effort and do so with a smile. On the way home, we stopped at McDonald's and I regailed the kids with tales of America's finest fast food burger joint: Five Guys Burgers & Fries. They really seemed to enjoy the concept of a large drink cup and paper bag filled to the brim with fresh cut fries, but who among us could honestly say they don't feel the same? Certainly not I. After this, the kids basically held their own karaoke session on the back of the bus and even got the Ol' Coach up for a song. Needless to say, I gave 'em there money's worth (speaking of which, I don't recall anyone paying...).

That's all for now. Before I go though, I'd like to send some birthday wishes to my good friend and NTD reader, Jessica Savino of Hillsdale, NJ. If anyone out there ever needs some sort of decorative cake for any occasion, look no further than Ms. Savino (my personal favorite was an Iron Maiden-themed creation from our Junior year at Marist, complete with '6-6-6' candles), though I'm pretty sure she takes off from her baking duties on her special day. Happy birthday, Jess; Sonic run on me when I get back. Goodnight to everyone else, be back soon.

At least it's not raini...

I know I've been absent for the past several days, but things have been pretty nice here. I dare say this has been the most spring/warm-like weather we've experienced since I've been over. I'm making an effort not to stay cooped up inside when this happens and thus I'm usually tired at night and not much in a posting mood. The problem with that though, is that I'm often out doing post-worthy activities, so eventually something's gotta give. I'll do a short one tonight because I have a long day tomorrow and want to get some good rest for it. My Under 16 team has a game in Slagelse at 15:00 tomorrow. Just so everyone's on the same page, Slagelse is actually Danish for "on the other side of the country" (okay, not exactly). Anywhere else, I'm sure this would be a rather ominous task, but here, it really only amounts to about three hours of drive time. Weather looks like it's going to hold up too, so it should be a good time.

On this subject, I decided to do some exploring on the bike today. My first week here, Peter showed me a beach at Moesgård, about ten kilometres South of the city center. I thought today might be a nice opportunity to check it out, seeing as how it's no longer the middle of March. According to the forecast on my phone also, today was the pick of the week, with temperatures in the low seventies. So, after a visit to the gym, I picked up a sandwich, packed a lunch and saddled up for a pleasant beach outing.

Before leaving Århus, I rode by a park that was very crowded and thought about skipping the beach. I really wanted to take a dip though (even if the water was New Hampshire-cold) and thus I continued on my way. I then came to the road that would lead to Moesgård (MOSE-go-ahd), which actually hugs the harbor and surveyed the area to see if there were any people on the 'beaches' (artificial stretches of sand no more than forty feet wide). Since no one was down around that area, I figured they weren't being used now and opted to head to the nice beach I'd seen about two months ago.

I actually came across a bike path that follows the coastline and enjoyed a very scenic trip South. At times, I even scooted off this path down on to walking trails that appeared more treacherous and really put the Manitou Shocks on the bike to work. Along the way, I passed by the Deer Park, which is like a cross-between a nature trail and a petting zoo. As the name would suggest, deer are rather abundant in the park, however, they are not the only fauna for you to observe. There are other KINDS of deer. And birds. Oh, and of course, wild boar. The locals have told me about this and I figured these guys probably just skulked around in the undergrowth, rooting about in solitude, save the occasional straggler that might wander out in the open. How wrong I was. While biking alongside the perimeter fence of the park, I stopped immediately when I came across a pack of hogs doing exactly what I expected in plain sight. I was a bit too far away to snap a decent photo and actually did manage to take a short video, but the lazy bum was camera shy and didn't too much on film. No sooner did I put my phone away when the largest male (probably four-and-a-half feet long and close to 300 pounds) rose up on his hind legs and snatched a low-hanging branch down to snack on. These things were freakin' huge and were certainly the wildest boar I've ever seen (make that the ONLY ones I've ever seen, in the wild at least). Very cool. The little piglets were just as much fun as the bigguns; a rambunctious lot that scurried about on their short little legs, snorting and squealing all the way. I'll have to go back and take some better video; these guys were too much.

Well, I ended up distracting myself on more trails after that and eventually showed up to Moesgård a little later than I planned. I didn't think much of this though, because the forecast still looked good and it doesn't really get dark much these days (more about this in the coming weeks). I put my feet in the water, set my towel and sat down to enjoy the sandwich that got a little crushed in my trusty DonJoy bag after I was done playing Lance Armstrong. No sooner did I do this when I looked to my left and saw what I should have assumed was coming:


Of course. Ten minutes later, this was followed by thunder, lightning, strong winds and a very, very soggy ride home. The real kicker of the whole thing though, is that at the precise moment I pulled up to my front door, the sun shined brighter than it had earlier in the day. For those out there keeping score:

Danish Weather - 10,835
Me - 4

Oh well, it was nice to see that I could bike to a nice beach in about thirty-five minutes. After all my trail riding, backtracking and exploring, I must have gone close to forty or fifty kilometres on the day. Things did perk up after showering at home, as Bager invited me to a BBQ at his place and I enjoyed a tasty dinner. Grilled meatsies cure all. With that, I'm going to call it a night. I've got more fun things to share soon. Until then...