Around Denmark in 48 Hours

On Sunday and Monday I will be part of a rather crazy venture: Travelling around Denmark in 48 hours, stopping in 48 different towns along the way. Flying and driving. Here’s the story.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church (worldwide) has launched a program called “Follow the Bible“. A specially produced multi-lingual Bible (with each of the Bible’s 66 books in a different language) is travelling around the world in 650 days. Two of these days are allocated to tiny Denmark. And instead of just doing one or two events, we decided to copy the world tour, only on a smaller scale. So the Bible will visit every single Adventist Church in Denmark during its two-day visit.

Why are we doing it? Simply put, we want to draw attention to the Bible as the word of God. Hopefully, this event will encourage Christians all over to (re)commit to reading the Bible and sharing it with their friends.

Such a venture demands a heavy logistic effort, a private plane, several sponsored cars, and many hands on deck. My part is largely in communications, updating web sites, writing press releases and so on. So I will join the entourage, armed with wireless internet access, and try to keep people updated on the progress. We will work somewhat in shifts, so I won’t be at all 40 sites. But you may meet me in either of these towns along the way: Hjørring, Østervrå, Jerslev, Aalborg, Randers, Viborg, Silkeborg, Lille Nørlund, Herning, Holstebro, Odense, Svendborg, Nyborg, Slagelse, Faxe, Haslev, Ringsted, Roskilde, Nærum, Copenhagen, Lyngby, Køge, and Holbæk.

Danish readers should follow the event on followthebible.wordpress.com.

Holiday Season

I haven’t posted a whole lot recently, with the MA thesis taking a great deal of time and energy. And it will probably remain more quite than usual around here for a while now, as several weeks of travelling commence. Katrine and I will enjoy many parts of Australia, including Alice Springs, Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane, Whitsundays, and more. It will be great to be away, and great to share a wealth of new experiences together.

For those of you who understand Danish, you can read some travelogue on katrineogkenneth.wordpress.com. Pictures are availbale on flickr.com/photos/kennethbirch. We will update these sites when we have the opportunity. And don’t worry – we will eventually return to a more stable existense, and this blog will once again awaken from its slumber.

Two Worlds Apart

When I last left for Australia, in December 2006, I was breathing a sigh of relief. I was happy to go – as always, since Sydney is a great place. But furthermore I was happy to get away from it all. I was leaving behind me a seemingly unresolvable situation. I was in love, and she knew it, and she didn’t envision any future for us. I was crushed, and I clearly remember being moved to tears while watching “Sleepless in Seattle” somewhere over the Timor Sea. The trip proved a good respite from all that, and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to leave it behind me for a while.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

Katrine is now my girlfriend and has been for seven months. So when I leave for Australia today, the emotions are somewhat similar, but also altogether different. This time, it’s not great to get away from her; it’s sad that I won’t see her again until July when she joins me down under. My tears are not for the fact that she doesn’t love me back; they’re for the fact that she does, and that we’re going to be apart for too long. I am filled with the sorrows of saying goodbye, but also with the joys of having found true love. I am looking forward not to returning to Europe in 2009, but to experiencing Australia together for an extended period of time.

I post this from Copenhagen Airport, while waiting to board my Thai Airways flight to Bangkok. This is it. I’m going. An old song comes to mind… an Australian one, incidentally:

Don’t ask me what you know is true
Don’t have to tell you, I love your precious heart

I was standing, you were there
Two worlds collided
And they could never tear us apart

We could live for a thousand years
If I hurt you, I’d make wine from your tears
I told you that we could fly
‘Cause we all have wings
But some of us don’t know why

I was standing, you were there
Two worlds collided
And they could never tear us apart

INXS: Never tear us apart

Don’t Look Back

One of the queerer Bible stories is that of the destruction of Sodom and flight of Lot and his family. They were told to leave behind that city of evil and venture forth in faith. Only, Lot’s wife lingered back – the text reads: “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:26) This text is often used in sermon-making for convincing people to move forward, trusting God. As such, it was influential in my decision to be baptised almost 10 years ago. It’s still a good point: don’t look back.

I will not look back on the things I now leave behind, questioning whether my old life was better. I will cherish the memories, sure, but not linger with pointless nostalgia. I will think fondly of my time in Aarhus (not in the least comparable to Sodom), the people I have met here, the many many good experiences, and the church I have helped build during my 9 years in Denmark’s 2^nd largest city. But I will look forward, not back.

I will look forward to leaving my home country, travelling to Sydney in the middle of May. I will look forward to calling Australia home for at least the remainder of 2008. I will look forward to meeting old and new friends in Sydney and elsewhere, introducing them to Katrine, experiencing everyday life down under, and to living with my parents again for the first time since 1997. I will look forward to eventually living in Copenhagen when we return to Denmark sometime in 2009. I will look forward to not knowing exactly what the future brings but hoping for grand experiences and new challenges in the months and years to come.

Christmas in Vienna

My very good friend Kamilla is in Vienna, studying for one term. I was lucky enough to find extremely cheap tickets from SkyEurope, so last weekend I spent three days in Austria’s beautiful capital.

And Vienna proved to have the perfect mixture of classic grandeur, laid-back charm, and Christmas celebrations that are large-scale but very authentic and not too tacky.

In a couple of days I managed to drink melange at Café Central, visit Hundertwasserhaus, do a bit of Christmas shopping, visit Christkindl (Christmas market) at Schloss Schönbrun and hear Bellini’s Norma performed at the Staatsoper.

All in all, a very nice weekend. Vienna is well worth a visit, especially at this time of year. (There’s a few pictures from my trip on Flickr.)

A Rather Diminished Joy of Flying

Starring:

• Norwegian Air Shuttle
• Dubrovnik Airline
• An old MD-80
• Oslo Airport
• Avinor (Norwegian Air Traffic Control and operator of OSL)

It is yesterday evening the 22nd. I’m on Norwegian flight DY928 from Oslo (OSL) to Copenhagen (CPH), scheduled to leave at 1750 hours. The weather has been splendid all day in Norway, so I’m looking forward to the view (free seating secures me 3A) on the 1 hour hop down to Denmark. Usually a simple trip, but not today.

After the sound of “boarding complete” we wait for the plane to leave the gate, but in vain. Instead the crew begin discussing something fervently, and after a while ask for a certain person on the PA system. He’s not there, and after yet a while they embark on roll call not unlike those in elementary school. This does not satisfy them either, so they tell us there is one person too many on the plane and they need to see everybody’s ID again and cross-check with the passenger manifest. Free seating sure paid off here.

Neither plane nor crew is actually from Norwegian, but from Dubrovnik Airline of Croatia. They are smiling, but not very professional.

Finally, at around 6:30 they find the problem – there was no terrorist or stowaway on board. A computer error had given them a completely wrong manifest. The crew is quick to point out that the fault lies at Oslo Airport, not at Norwegian or Dubrovnik. Fair enough.

At this point, we have been in the plane (no air-con) at the gate for an hour and everybody is getting impatient. But alas, Air Traffic Control cannot give us a time slot for take-off for yet another hour. Now the thing you should know about Oslo Airport is that it’s not exactly the busiest place on earth. While time slot delays are quite common at, say, Heathrow, they shouldn’t occur here.

We finally take off, shortly before 8 p.m., more than two hours late. It is not until the captain’s address at cruising altitude we get the real explanation for the delay: lack of staff at Air Traffic Control (Avinor).

This is hardly the first time Avinor have caused trouble, and fairly often there have been reports of disruptions in air traffic over Norway. It is beyond me that one of the richest democracies in world can have such shabby aviation infrastructure. Someone needs to get their priorities straight.

An hour later we land at CPH, and after visiting Starbucks and Burger King I catch the last train for Århus, arriving at my home at 1:30 a.m. Still quicker than the ferry would have been, but not quite as fun as hoped for.

How to Spend a Day in Hong Kong

Next Tuesday, the 16th, I’ll be in transit in Hong Kong for the better part of a day. I’ve been there a couple of times before, so I’m thinking I’ll go into the city and just wander around, maybe take the tram up to the Peak and enjoy the view. But that will probably leave me with still some hours to spend. Any other suggestions?

UPDATE: Well, in case anyone’s interested, I had a great half day.  I came in very early while it was still dark, and a little rainy, but it turned out to be a quite nice and sunny day. I have posted some pictures on flickr.

Globalisation: An Example

As many people know, I love to travel, and I guess sometimes I get a little geeky about it, too. This fall has been wonderful: A weekend in Riga, Latvia, in September; this last weekend in London; and now this Friday, a whole week once again in Riga.

But add to that a rather peculiar piece of trivia: As a family, my brother, my parents, and I travel a lot, separately and together. We’ve been far apart before, but at this very moment for the first time we are on four different continents.

My brother and his wife on holiday in Kenya, my Dad at meetings in the U.S., my Mum at home in Australia, and I at home in Denmark. When I leave for Latvia, none of us will be in our native country.

How’s that for small world?

I’m Alive

I just came back last night from a week-long stay in London and Newbold College. The Vejlefjord Choir asked me to join them as pianist on their annual tour, and I gladly obliged. Ryanair provided the £25-incentive to stay a couple of days extra, mostly hanging out with friends.

Many highlights deserve mentioning: bus trip with a load of happy students; improvised worship session at Newbold Church Friday night; meeting old friends again after way too long; the very warm welcome at Stanborough Park Church; the choir performing beautifully; meeting the Danish small group (some of who read my blog ; revisiting Tate Britain; helping Sabrina and Risto move; and much more.

But apart from all that and the thrill of leaving the country again and speaking a lot of English, what I really enjoyed was being busy again. There was a lot to do with practicing and performing, and the tension of it turns me on. As it turns out, I miss being busy, even to the point of stress. I think I am closest to myself when I have a lot to do, and just a little bit less time than I actually need. Lately it’s been too much the opposite.

Back For Good?

Today it’s been exactly four weeks since I returned from my RtW summer trip. Time sure flies sometimes. And now I find that living in Denmark is, sadly, not that bad. Even my home town of Aarhus, which usually is way too small, actually feels like a nice place to be. I’ll probably end up living here for another year.

Don’t get me wrong. I would still love to go away, as I probably always will. But now I’ve come to accept that Denmark is, in fact, not as bad as I thought. But I miss the longing. I miss the all-encompassing desire to be somewhere else. I lament my own complacency. I’m sad that I’m happy.

I don’t know if this makes any sense. Actually, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.