Carnival LAST WEEKEND IN DK

Carnival Aalborg 2006


It was my last weekend in DK.
I went to Aalborg, north of Denmark to meet some friends!

Bram took a flight from Brussels to be with us at the Carnival!
It was a very cool weekend...

There was a trainee from each LC, a sample of each!
Laurence, Rafael, Sorina, Tatyana, Bram and I

Also Gaby joined us... it was crazy!
There was an offer in DK last Friday... you could travel all around DK by train for only 25Kr that is 3 Euros...

The trains were awfully crowded!!! I was so lucky I had a seat although I didn't have a reservation =)

Rafael and Laurence had to stay standed for 5 hours. (From Copenhagen to Aalborg).
Gaby did something crazy... she decided she wanted to go to the Carnival in the middle of the night so she took the train at 2am and arrived to Aalborg early in the morning.

We went to the Carnival... it was very cool! The crazy Danes were wearing very light cloths and the girls were wearing bikinis although it was only 10 degrees!

There was a samba contest really cool!

After that we went to Bram's place were we had the best chill out evening I have had since long time ago...

We were singing taking snaps, laughing and making crazy videos!
Late at night we headed to a famous street known as "Jomfru Ane Gade". We went to a club and had a great night dancing...

Rafael was a bit drunk and did something we promised we'll bring to our graves! He is not sure if he did it of not... we have been teasing him with it! I guess he'll never know although we might have some picture evidence... :)

Thnx friends for an awesome weekend! It was really worth spending my last weekend with you guys...

You'll always have a friend in Guatemala and you're always welcome to come and visit me!
When ever your sick of winter and bad weather... think of Guate!!

My Guatemala

I have one month left in Europe and then...BACK TO GUATEMALA!I can't wait! It is a mixture of happiness and sadness! I will miss all my friends, my life at the dorm! The parties =) the food and of course travelling!But I also miss my family and friends a lot! I like Guatemala and that is the place where I want to live and grow old!

I also forgot to mention that the weather is muuuuuuuuuuuuuuch better =)

Guatemala-->Danmark<--Guatemala

MY FRIENDS

ONE MONTH TO GO

Guate, here I go... I have 7 days left at Damixa, 15 days in Denmark, 15 days in Germany = ONE MONTH IN EUROPE.

Wow I am totally booked! A-bar/ party with friends tonight. This weekend I have the ILA in Københaven arranged by CBS! We will meet with all the interns from Denmark from Friday-Sunday! Next week there are holidays in DK. Thursday and Friday =) wooohooooo It will be a long weekend! I will spend time with my friends from Odense Wednesday afternoon and night, whole Thursday and Friday. Will be awesome we still don’t know what to do... maybe Legoland or the beach. Going with canoes? We will see!

Friday evening I'll go to Aalborg with Daniela! We will meet with Bram and Sorina for the Carnival in Aalborg! IT IS MY LAST WEEKEND IN DENMARK. So far: Vivi, Raphael, Laurence, Tushar, Bram, Sorina and of course the cool interns from Odense will be in the Carnival.

Bram and Sorina promised cool parties and a lot of fun!

Wednesday 31st is my last day at Damixa. I don't know if I am happy or sad! I have to get my things ready and on Wednesday night it will be my goodbye party and Daniela's B-day. You're all invited just remember to bring ur drinks.

I also have to say "see you soon to Gaby" because she'll go back to Rumania before I come back from Germany :(
Daniela, Eugenia and Eduard will still be here until the end of June =)

Friday 2nd of June I will be heading to Frankfurt to visit Till, one of my best friends.
I will be in Germany for 2 weeks until the 16th.
You guessed right... it is during world cup time! yeeey!

Friday 16th I fly back to Denmark and I will meet my friends for one day in Odense. I will pick up my suitcases, laptop and guitar...
Sunday 18th early in the morning, I have my flight to "The Land of the Everlasting Spring" not to make u jealous!!!

You're all welcome to come and visit me in Guate. I already warned my parents that we will have a lot of guest from now on!

Winter time Guate / Denmark

Being in Denmark, I have felt a stronger connection with Guatemala.
We are a privileged nation… we are blessed with beautiful nature, amazing landscape, delicious food and a weather that everyone envies!
Guatemala is known as “The Land of the Everlasting Spring” and now I understand why. The flowers are always blooming and the trees are everlasting green.
Guatemalan’s complain in December and January that it is to COLD! What is cold? 10 degrees early in the morning or late at night? The coldest days in Guatemala, the temperature might drop to 8 degrees at night but when the sun shines we can easily get 15 degrees or 20. I was used to that in Guate. Here in Scandinavia if the sun shines it only means that the sky is clear therefore freezing cold! I know it sounds strange but it is true. Here it is a bit warmer when it is cloudy! Does that sounds normal? Because of Denmark's and Guatemala's geographical position it does! In winter, Scandinavia is very far from the sun. That is why nights are so short and the sun doesn’t warm although it is shining! By the other hand Guatemala is very close to the Ecuador; it doesn’t make a very big difference if it is June or January. If the sun is shining you can go to the beach and get tanned =) even though at night the temperature can drop.

Most of Guatemalans have never experienced a real winter like the ones they have in Europe or North America. During wintertime, there is almost no sun in Denmark.
The sunrise is at 930am and the sunset at 240pm. It can be sometimes depressing; I was taking the bus at 7am and it was totally dark and when I left work at 4pm it was dark again! So the only chance I had to see the daylight was during weekends because at my office I HAVE NO WINDOWS.

This year it was a very long, cold and dark winter. It lasted almost 6 months.
I learned to live with this cold; I was not freezing that much anymore! In Denmark they say it is not a bad weather, IT IS ONLY THE WRONG CLOTHS!
Get a good jacket, a thick scarf, gloves and a hat and you’re cool!

Winter has done something strange to me. I became Vikingish!
Now in May, if there are 13 degrees it is like wow so hot, I take my jacket off and ride my bike. If there are 15 degrees you can see people wearing flip-flops, girls with short shirts and guys wearing surfer swimsuits!

Finally last week the sun started shining again because spring came! It was a bit warmer and the sun was shining 18- 20 degrees! Danes were lying on the parks getting sunbath, drinking beer and making BBQs!

We all thought it would be an awesome summer but… yeah right! One day after that it started raining and the temperature droped to 5 degrees at night! I couldn’t accept that stupid weather again! I said good-bye to winter like 3 weeks ago and my winter jacket and scarf are already on my suitcase!

Sadly, Danish weather sucks and it is cold again but I don’t want to face it!
I am ridding my bike to work and I am only using a windbreaker and a pullover! It is not that bad. I am still using my gloves because I freeze my hands but the rest is fine!
It is 18th of May and we still have 8-10 degrees in the morning and the highest temperature is 14 degrees if we have luck!

The good thing is that there is a lot of daylight now! The sunrise is at 4am and the sunset is at 10pm!It is amazing the sky is dark blue until 1030pm and it looks beautiful! In June the sunset will be at 11pm and hopefully the weather will be great!

Pre-Columbian City Found in Guatemala

Guatemala, May 17 (Prensa Latina) Guatemalan researchers have found vestiges of what could be a pre-Columbian city submerged in Lake Atitlan, some 90 miles from the capital.

Julio Marroquin, one of the researchers, said the find was made on the slopes of one of the volcanoes surrounding the lake.

“We first thought there were only steps, but continued explorations uncovered walls and caves that could be the traces of a city or a pre-Columbian settlement,” he explained.

Marroquin asked Congress for resources to continue investigating, noting nothing similar has been found so far in any other regional site.

Atitlan is one of Guatemala´s most beautiful lakes, and is guarded by three volcanoes: Atitlan, Toliman, and San Pedro.

Dinner with friends

Guatemalan dinner(Pollo en Jocom) and italian dessert(Tiramisu)

Pizza and Russian Vodka

Pancakes mmmmmm delicious!!!!

Swimming @ The Baltic

Are we crazy or what????
I think we are! Finally last week we saw the sun in Denmark after 6 months of a long, dark and cold winter.
The sun was shinning and it was friday morning in Denmark! The sky was blue and we had holidays. Damixa was closed and the schools were closed too!

Gaby+Daniela+ Eduard+Mario + swimsuit+sun= tanned+ eduard totaly sun burned+ gaby and I Swimming @ The Baltic

The water was freezing... it hurst when you get in! The part that hurts the most are the feet! Eduard didn't dare getting in the water! He only got went up to his knees hahah!

WHEN WILL I BE IN SUCH COLD WATER AGAIN! The temperature of the water in Guatemala, Caribean and Pacific has an average of 20º C all year long.

As you can see, Gaby and I took a bath on the freezing Baltic sea. We checked the temperature on the internet last night and it is 5º C on the water!!! Now i know why it felt so gooood!

We had fun =) Check the temp of the water
http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/ukm.html


at the beach

Poland 

With Thomas

Poland was awesome... I knew that Poland was famous for having beautiful cities and cheap beer hehehe

But now I can say that Poland is mostly known for having great friends! For me Thomas is one of the best guys I have ever met in my life.

We went to Wroclaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, Thomas' hometown and the Rock City in Chech Republic.

I went to to Chech Republic withThomas and his bro... he is a very cool guy, just like Thomas!

POLAND

Train+Bus+Airport+Plane+Airport+Bus+Train Station+Train=POLSKA

Going to Poland from Odense was a long long trip! First I took a train to Malmo in Sweden. It took like 2 hours to get there!

Flying from Malmo, Sweden is way cheaper than flying from Copenhagen!
I had a flight from Malmo to Warsaw! Then I took a train from Warsaw to Wroclaw.

I was so scared of Polish language; my friends told me that they don’t speak a word in English! IT WAS SO TRUE!!! Not even at the train station!!!

I could find people speaking English at the Airport but very basic English!

Before going to Poland my two polish friends from Damixa, Magda and Katarzyna gave me some Polish lessons.

I learned some basic phrases and I learned to pronounce them more or less…

Here are a few examples… the ones in bold are phonetically more or less how it sounds to me if I read it in Spanish!

Please – prosze / poprosze proshe/poproshe
Thanx – dziekuje llenkuye

Thank you for the food – Dziekuje za sniadanie (morning) Jenkuye sa shniadanie
za obiad(afternoon) Jenkuye sa obiad
za kolacje Jenkuye sa colatzye

It was delicious – Bylo bardzo smaczne /pyszne Bewo bartzo smachne/ peshne

The city is beautiful – Miasto jest piekne Miasto yest pienkne

How are you? – Jak sie masz? Yak sheun mash?
Jak sie czujesz? Yak sheun chuyesh?
Co slychac? Tso swejatch?

I am fine – W porzadku! V poshonku
And how are you? A co u ciebie? A tso u chebie

How much is the ticket to Wroclaw – Ile kosztuje bilet do Wroclawia?
Ile koshtuye bilet do wraclaw?

Which track… - Z ktorego peronu odjezdza? Skturego peronu odiershda?

Track – peron peron

Platform – tor tor

2 – way ticket - bilet powrotny Billet povrotne
bilet w dwie strony Billet v dvie strone


direct train – pociag bezposredni pochong besposhretni

Cheers NA ZDROWIE!!! Na zdrovie!!!

I would like to buy the bus ticket – Poprosze bilet autobusowy do dworca centralnego
Poproshe billet autobusove do dvortza centralnego.


How many stops are there to the station? – Ile jest przystankow stad do dworca centralnego?

ILe yest pshestankuf stound do dvortza centralnego?

Magda helped me with the directions; how to get the bus in Malmo, how to take the public bus in Warsaw to go to the Train Central Station, etc...

THNX KATARZYNA AND MAGDA FOR YOUR HELP AND THE LESSONS POLISH 101! IT VERY VERY USEFUL!

I was a bit complicated because first of all as Magda told me the Bus stop at Warsaw airport moved 200mts to the left! Of course that was writen in Polish but Magda warned me about it so I had no problem with that =)

At the train station I tried to buy the train ticket to go to Wroclaw, the city were Thomas lives!

I said in Polish: How much is the ticket to Wroclaw – "Ile kosztuje bilet do Wroclawia?" I had no problem... they understood but the big problem was that they wanted to charge me double the price of what it said on the Internet!

Thnx God there were some angels around =) a polish guy who spoke English! He helped me buy the ticket! The woman selling the ticket was on a very bad mood and the polish dude had to argue with her a bit! She didn’t have a friendly face.
OK, finally I got the ticket at the correct price!!
WOW THAT WAS TOUGHT HAHAHA

I hoped in the train heading to Wroclaw were Thomas was waiting for me!It took 6 hours to get there!!!

It was so cool to see Thomas again...

VIVA GUATEMALA

Archeologists discover Maya tomb in Guatemala

A newly uncovered Maya tomb might be the resting place of the first ruler of Waka', an ancient city on what was a major trade route. The tomb, uncovered deep in the jungles of Guatemala (see map), contains a single skeleton lying on a stone bench, jade jewels, and the remains of a jaguar pelt, according to news reports.

The structure was discovered on April 29 by archaeologist Hector Escobedo of the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and graduate student Juan Carlos Melendez.
It lies at the base of the site's largest pyramid, which is about 60 feet (18 meters) tall.
Escobedo is co-director of the Waka' Archaeological Project with David Freidel, an archaeologist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
"We are trying to identify the remains, which appear to be in good condition despite the collapse of the tomb's roof," Freidel wrote on his Web site.
"This may be the resting place of either the dynasty founder, a man we do not have a history for, or K'inich B'alam the First, the Maya king who allied with Siyaj Ka'k', conqueror of Tikal [a major Maya city] in AD 378."
"Sounds Exciting"
Archaeologists believe the site of Waka'—located in Laguna del Tigre National Park and also known as El Peru—controlled trade along the San Pedro Matir River.
At the city's height, tens of thousands of people may have lived there. Over the course of 700 years, 22 kings ruled.
Oil prospectors discovered Waka' in the 1960s. It contains 672 structures and several smaller houses.
Harvard University archaeologist Ian Graham mapped the site in the 1970s, and Freidel and Escobedo are the first to excavate there.

Although he is not directly familiar with the discovery, he said it "sounds exciting."

"Any time you find something that early, you may well be finding something that sheds light on the early days or founding of the dynasty," he said.
Further excavations and research at the tomb, he adds, may reveal exactly who is inside.
Norman Hammond heads the archaeology department at Boston University in Massachusetts.
He says that if this is indeed the tomb of the founder of Waka', it pushes back evidence for royal burials of dynasty founders to the Maya Preclassic period, which scholars date at between 2000 B.C. to A.D. 250.

(Related photos: "Maya Gods and Kings.")
"It fits in well with the rapidly increasing evidence for a high level of economic, social, and political complexity in Preclassic Maya society," he said, "something which not too many years ago was thought to be nearly at the level of peasant villages or small towns."
The royal tomb is the second found at the site. In the spring of 2004 Freidel and his colleagues discovered a queen's tomb more than 1,200 years old and dated to the Late Classic period of Maya civilization.
(Related news: "Ancient Portrait of Maya Woman Found—Who Was She?")
On Tuesday a different team of archaeologists discovered another royal grave in a pyramid up the hill from the tomb discovered last week. The pyramid was likely built some 400 years later than the newly opened tomb.
The latest tomb has yet to be opened, but elaborate offerings of figurines of ballplayers, elegant women, dwarfs, and seated lords hint at the supposed occupant's royal status, according to Reuters.

RELATED Oldest Known Maya Mural, Tomb Reveal Story of Ancient King Photos: Maya Royal Grave (2004)

Danish Hygge

The Danes have a word that's hard to translate, and no foreigner can hope to pronounce, but it's as Danish as roast pork and cold beer. It's hygge , and it goes close to illuminating the Danish soul. The closest native English speakers can come phonetically is "hooga" ... if we try forming our mouths for "ee" while saying "oo." It doesn't translate directly into any other language but we can illustrate it in action ... Gather the family and invite over your closest friends. Push the sofas and chairs up close to the coffee table. Turn off the lights and light some candles. Better still, light a fire in the hearth, serve plenty of good food and drink, raise your glass and make a toast or two, or three, and feel the warmth flow around the table. Smile at each other until you see the candlelight shimmering in each other's eyes. You've got hygge !
Luckily, we didn't have to use near-synonyms like coziness, fellowship, security, reassurance or well-being to describe the concept .. Because they just don't add up to hygge, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Strangely enough, hygge didn't originate in the Danish language, but in Norwegian, where it meant something like "well-being." It first appeared in Danish writing around the end of the 18th Century, and the Danes have embraced it wholeheartedly.
One good thing about hygge is that you can apply it anywhere. Danes allocate it generously to everything commonplace. " Hygge is essentially a phenomenon of overabundance," according to newspaper columnist Anne Brockenhuus-Schack. "You can't hygge yourself very much if you're cold and hungry." Other pundits profess that hygge is born of the climate: The Danish winter is notoriously long and dark, but summer nights can be remarkably bright and balmy. Anthropologist Henny Harald Hansen subscribes to this theory of hygge. "It's a term that has grown out of our cold and darkness, when we come together around a source of heat. Our ancestors surely didn't decide to settle here in December !" she writes. However, most Danes also think that sitting at a seaside picnic table or amid the flora of a summer garden is just as hyggelig as huddling close to the fire on a Winter's night.
A critical ingredient in hygge is familiarity. This doesn't suggest intimacy, however . that's an entirely different word: råhygge , or literally " raw hygge " which is when you get beyond superficiality into the real meat of existence like the meaning of life or your monthly average disposable income, after tax.
The High Season of Hygge is Christmas Danes generally lead a secular lifestyle most of the year, but when it comes to religious holidays, they pull out all the stops. In fact, some people believe that early Danes adopted religion in order to get the occasional day off !
But as the Danish sun approaches its winter solstice, the hours of daylight are squeezed down to little more than six hours. This makes for a lot of darkness, but the Vikings fight back with millions of candles, red-capped elves, rice porridge with cinnamon and an exhausting social agenda. Then on Christmas Eve, the quest for hygge even drives the Danes to lighting real candles on their Christmas trees .. Is it surprising then that homeowners' insurance is expensive here ?

Going to POLAND

I am going to Poland to visit a really good friend.
I promised Thomas that I was going to visit him...

Man, I am soooo looking forward to see you!
I will be in Krakow and Wraclaw from 6th-10th of May.

Na zdrowie , salud and skål!!!

PS: Hej Tomasz! Jesteś gotowy na imprezkę ???