Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Life @ Copenhagen

While I was chatting with my friend last Sunday, he reminded me that I could blog about my experience in Copenhagen. Brilliant idea! Mmmm,...where should I start.

I recall my first visit here was a rather long one - it was a month's stay. I find the buildings here are rather square - hehe very geometrical and symmetric. Household designs are rather interesting too. Next, the things here are very costly, be it food, clothing, households, you get the picture. The living cost is high. Anything below 100DKK (Danish Krone) is considered reasonable or cheap. That's about MYR70 after converting to Malaysian ringgit (an estimation).

A very noticeable difference between this "Lego land" and Malaysia is the weather. It feels like summer throughout the year in Malaysia but it's a complete opposite in Copenhagen. Most of the time, the weather is chilly. Even in some summer nights, the wind can send you chills to your bones. Anyway, after all, you will just get used to it and wrap yourself with more layers! Haha. Right, that leads me to the next point. I always need to remember to put on layers before going out of the house or risk freezing myself.

The house lock system here is very interesting. The very same key you use to open your house door is used to open the main entrance downstairs (if you are leaving in an apartment) and also your back door! When you have visitors, they have to "ring" you at the main entrance. You then need to unlock the door by pressing a button near your house door, which is inside your apartment/house. Once the visitors managed to enter, they will then climb the stairs to your apartment. Most of the time, you would have opened the door to greet your visitors. Otherwise, they will give a knock at your door or ring the doorbell (if you have one). The apartments/houses have rather classical design in general (should I say, very Danish). You will notice a lot of things are wooden. Extra care is needed. I personally prefer tile floor or marble floor.

If you happen to arrive at Copenhagen on weekends, you will find the street is extremely quiet. Most of the shops are closed. Shopping malls (and supermarkets) are opened only on the first Sunday of the month. However, in some weeks of November and the whole month of December, the malls are opened every weekend due to the festive season. Anyway, there is a supermarket which opens on Sundays - Netto, for certain outlets though and the price of things are slightly more expensive. I actually miss the crowd in shopping malls back in Malaysia. They are opened over the weekends and even on festive seasons!

Being a Malaysian, we always treasure the variety of food we have! Nothing beats us as the food heaven. It's a lot cheaper in comparison to the food here in Copenhagen. Eating out is a luxury and you will be surprise that dining in Asian restaurant may be a wiser choice if you have already tried the Danish cuisine. They are more value for money and slightly cheaper. However, if you are going for sushi or Japanese cuisine, that is a slightly different situation. Thai cuisine is abundant here and a handful of them are rather good.

There's one thing I dread is throwing trash. I need to carry it to the backyard, out in the cold! The thing that I dislike the most is to use the backdoor. The staircase is narrow and it's rather dusty. That's quite a nightmare for me. Luckily, there's another way to the backyard. That's through the main entrance. I am fine with that :D In fact, I prefer to go through the front door. Just that, I need to make sure myself is wrapped warmly.

Well, I think that's all for now. Time to go to bed....zzzzzzzzz

4 comments:

HairyBerry said...

the closest time i got to denmark was eating danish butter cookies...hehehehe

happy new year! ;D

sdovelly said...

Take good care gal, most importantly must be happy in the foregin land. Undoubtedly you may feel lonely or homesick at times, just think of the loved ones and you will be just fine :)

said...

the staircase of the backdoor is shared? clean it, then you dont need to be kebab just to thrash. how does Danish spend their Sunday?

Petite Lass said...

Nic - Happy New Year to you too! :D

sdovelly - Thanks girl. Am taking care of myself and there are colleagues who are really kind to me. Also, enjoying some things in the foreign land although am missing some cultures back in Asia but yeah, can live with it.Hehe

白 - Haha yeah it's shared. Clean it?? It seems like no cleaning was done for a century!! Even go through backdoor still need to be kebab as need to walk out anyway ;) Erm,...time is spent with family or shopping when the mall is opened.