I'm late, I'm late for a very important date.

They could not, so the chairman of the education committee came out in his stead.

As way of apology, the mayor offered to come to the school personally and speak to the student reps from each class. Not only did he get to sit in a meeting with about a dozen student representatives (and no other adults), but each time I saw him in the playground, he was surrounded by children asking him difficult questions.

So far, he has avoided being at the centre of this. He has not been able to make a lot of meetings (though he has been able to get to meetings in other schools). Clearly, the children believe the buck stops with him. I do not know much about the man but I noticed the little patronising head tilt while he was talking to them about not being able to just go ahead and close a DIFFERENT school. I think it is lovely that our children have the right and the ability to stand up for themselves like this. It affects them the most and they have the least power over it. Lovely to see them getting stuck in. Even without all the problems that the proposal has, I think that mayors SHOULD have to explain to children why their school is closing because the council has run out of money. This is not bloodless, here, this financial mismanagement.

A lot of them have a really good idea of what is wrong with the plans, one 12 year old child wrote

“Synes det træls at de har sagt at de har regnet alt med, men når man spørge dem om hvad de har tænkt sig med modtagerklassen er deres svar ” det har de ikke lige taget stilling til” det kan man jo ikke bruge til noget.”

I think it is annoying that they have said they have worked everything out but when someone asks what their plans for the Danish-for beginners class are, they answer “we haven’t considered it” That’s not very useful.”

To the local newspaper!

I mean, not to denigrate children…. But a CHILD can see that they are shitting the bed. I have no idea how it has escaped their (or the press’ for that matter), attention.

I got stuck behind a truck and was not really up for overtaking (even though I could have), I just don’t overtake anything in my lessons (other than the occasional cyclist), so I did not want to learn how to do it during the test.

This oversight tipped him off to my hidden desire to drive slowly at all times, so he got me to drive ON THE MOTORWAY. Back home, you don’t get to try the motorway until you have passed your test. I fucked up getting into fifth gear and was so distracted by that that I did not get anywhere near the speed limit until I had been on the road for a couple of seconds. An eternity during a test.

This sign means "Get into 5th gear, newbie"

So, not surprisingly, I did not pass. But the nice surprise came when he said afterwards

“You CAN actually drive. You just need to drive faster! See you again!”

 

I am okay with that, I was approaching it as a sort of mock exam anyway. It is a bit of pain that I need more lessons and to go through that again. But then again. I NEED more lessons, there is a lot I am not happy about (like reversing, parking and the motorway).

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Anyway, I sent a letter to the editor about the council’s racist policy and these are a couple of the comments.

The lady one is actually quite sweet and might not be more racist than your average person (for example “me”), though she has not thought through a lot of stuff like “Is it true that all children with immigrant backgrounds need to learn Danish?” but I have hope for her.

The chap one is in his late teens and has not thought through a lot of stuff, his knee is jerking so much he will strain his hamstrings. He heard “Arab” and immediately jumped to the reactionary position that They should be stopped from whatever it is They are doing.

Neither of them seem evil and I bet as soon as they get to know some children from these backgrounds, they will grow as human beings and question their prejudices.

Lady one: Social og sundhedshjælper
hallo er du racist? hvorfor må arabiske børn ikke gå skole blandt danske børn ? så det der diskrimination skal du hvist tale for dig selv syntes det er helt ok at børnene lære fra hinanden og hvordan en i h skal de arabiske børn lære dansk ´da det nu er den beste måde at lære det på er at gå sammen med dansk talende børn fy du skulle skamme dig

“hello are you racist? why must arabic children not go to school with danish children ? so that is discrimination you should know talk for yourself thought it is completely okay that the children learn from each other and how should the arabic children learn danish when the besst way to learn it is to go to school with danish speaking children you should be ashamed of yourself”

Me
Jeg ønsker bare at børn få ligemuligheder. Jeg siger ikke at danske børn skulle have deres egen skoler, men det er ikke okay at tvinge børn at gå til en eller anden skole pga deres bedstemor var fra Syrie. Og det er jo underlige at sige at “arabisk” børn kun kan lære hvis de sidder ved sidden af “danske” børn. Børn er børn.

I only want children to get equal opportunities. I didn’t say that Danish children should have their own schools but that it is not okay to force children to go to one school or another because their grandma was from Syria. And it is really strange to say that “Arabic” children can only learn if they sit next to “Danish” children. Children are children.

Chap one · Efterskole
Hvorfor skal muslimske børn være skyld i at skolerne skal laves om for danske ?
så kan de sku da sagtens gå på en skole for dem selv !

Why should muslim children be the reason that the schools have to be changed for the danish? They can blody go to their own schools.

Lady one· Social og sundhedshjælper

det er ikke deres skyld og der er aldrig blevet nævnt at det var bare at der burde være ens spille regler lige meget hvor i verden du kommer fra på vores skoler

they’re not the reason and no one said that they were but just that their should be one set of rules for everyone whereever in the world you come from in our schools.

Me
Hvad har Islam med dette emne at gøre?

What’s Islam got to do with it?

Chap one Efterskole
Fordi “arabere” er ment som muslimer, min tidligere kommentar virker måske lidt racistisk men er slet ikke racist, men land skik følg eller land fly !

Because “Arabs” is meant as muslims my previous comment might look a bit racist but it is not even racist but do as the Romans do or leave Rome.

Me (written in English, couldn’t be bothered with the Danish)

Gosh. Do you think the council man realises that everyone will think he means “Muslims” when he says “Arabs need to be spread out”??? I think it’s a bit harsh to say that the town council should leave the country if they don’t want to follow Danish rules (like the Folkeskole Act). I am sure if we explain the law to them in mandatory classes, they will learn to integrate with the rest of us.

I am so not worrying about the quality of my written Danish anymore. I can spell “sgu”, know when a sentence is over and have discovered what the shift button does on my keyboard.

Another silver lining to this cloud is that my understanding of Danish has levelled up because google translate cannot even touch this and I really have to look at what they are saying to suck the meaning out. (Or ask someone)

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Not that I have a lot to move but this is the first time I have had to transfer furniture. I have been trying to offload unwanted stuff on f-town’s answer to freecycle. This is harder than I first imagined it might be. Though, I should have known after having lots of experience of London’s answer to freecycle: freecycle.

What is getting me through this is how great my new place will be. The front room is bigger than my flat. There are exposed beams. There is lots of light. And of course, it’s the start of something new with my “wiking”. He has only moved a couple of times and so has no idea what is in store. He says it is going to be fine.

I have been bracing myself for some serious moving-house bs. Though, it might not come. I just rang the telecom company to give them some notice on my move and even though I am cancelling my contract of land line and broadband, they just said “Okay, you’re not our customer in 30 days time, thanks bye!” This is light years away from what I could expect from BT. Oh my god, I’m getting palm sweats just thinking about it. Also, did I mention? I did it in Danish without much of an eyelid batter. I just rang them up, spoke to them in their language and I got the thing I wanted. Huh, what? Crazy times.

As for all the banking, utility and “other” bidness; this seems to be operated centrally. I change my address with one central database and TADA, everyone knows. This is craziness to me. On one hand, I hate that a central database has so much on me and is exposed to the threat of identity theft or privacy invasion. On the other, I cannot express how pleased I am that everything is taken care of with one conversation (or indeed, one click)

I have so far transported three bags of books and I have another set ready to go for tomorrow after volunteering. If I can help it, I would like to transport all my “bits” before the main moving day, so all anyone has to carry is my massive huge hulking bits of furniture. Up a spiral staircase. Oh god. I am so glad that I will be in charge of “morale” and “refreshments”. I voted early on for “men” to be hired for this lifting but the bf seems to think his friends are strong enough and well trained in the art of furniture transportation. We will see.

And then after all that, I have a major clean up session to look forward to. I like my landlord and I hope that he only takes from my deposit that which I truly owe him. I hear they make up bollocks about doors and floors and they have a “new condition” clause in the contract, as in, I have to deliver a “new condition” flat. Not that I received a “new condition” flat but it was newly painted, I will give them that.

Here are some pictures of my new place.

Things are going great. My relationships have so often been disaster zones, replete with hazard warning stripy tape.

Stay Back!

There was that guy I saw who was emotionally abusive and none of my friends liked him and I am not sure I even liked him but I stayed with him because I thought “One must have a boyfriend and this one is good about the sex phobia”. He shouted at me so much, I though it was normal. He made me nervous. He made me fat so I could not leave him! He did not like me, he hated everything about me. He only stayed with me because he thought “One must have a girlfriend and this one is good about me being an asshole.”

There was the guy who wrote me out of his life one bit at a time. I wouldn’t have minded (much) but it started while we were living together. A secret flirtation here. A kiss there. After we broke up, he forgot every good memory of our time together. Then he started working systematically on the things we had in common “I don’t like x anymore, it’s stupid” And before you know it, it’s like I never existed.

There were the people I fell in love with, despite having no future with them because I needed emotional intimacy and they were nice. There was the guy I let move in with me and he turned out to be a pathological liar. Oh shit.

What I really needed was a lovely extended time of being single. I learned to be brave, take risks and find out important truths. What I found out was that I am pretty kick-ass and that I do not need a chap. I found out how to play B on the guitar.

Now, I have a partner and it’s healthy, fun and exciting. No one wants to hear how happy I am, right? Not in exhaustive detail.

Not that it won’t be hard work. I appreciate the work I will have to put in to maintain this thing. I’m sort of looking forward to it. I loved being single and I could have rocked that life too but I am enjoying this one. This life that I have.