The Saustrup Family Blog

Wow, it’s been a while! So, what have we been up to since the last post? Nina’s been learning Danish, we got a fish tank and we’ve been on a delicious vacation to Greece! And tonight we’re going to a sweet concert with my favorite Elvis-metal band!

Shortly after Nina got her residence permit, she was offered a free Danish course with a total of 5-6 modules. I’ll be the first one to admit it - Danish is a bloody difficult language. I’m no linguist, but I think it slightly resembles English and German, except for a few awful pitfalls in pronunciation - like the soft d’s and g’s, which will undoubtedly twist the tongue of most foreigners. I’m truly sorry about that Nina is going at it with much dedication, and she’s doing good. On Monday she’s going to the Module 1 exam, so we’re very excited

When it comes to patience and waiting in line, Nina beats me hands down. About a month ago, Nina stayed several hours in line to buy a severely discounted fish tank at a pet store sale. She was the first one there, and ran off with a cool 54 liter tank with light, filter, heater and thermometer. A couple of weeks later the first residents moved in, and now I think we’ve got a total of 15 fish in the tank. We also got a tiny eel, but nobody has seen it since it moved in. I know absolutely nothing about fish, but Nina’s a big enthusiast, so she’s officially Master of the Fish Tank.

My employer gave us a delicious gift card for travelling, so a couple of weeks ago we went to the Greek island of Rhodes for a week. We got it fairly cheap as it’s nearly the end of the season and we managed to go on vacation one week before the rest of the country. Rhodes is nice, but not terribly exciting. There’s plenty of delicious food, beautiful beaches and absolute tranquility - if you rent a car and manage to escape the hordes of tourists that roam around the island. I haven’t managed to put up pics yet, but I’ll see to it as soon as possible. We had a great time, great food and a lot of mandatory Ouzo shots with the bills.

Tonight we’re off to a concert with the Danish band Volbeat. It’s difficult to describe their style, but if you try to imagine what Elvis would have sounded like if he weilded an electric guitar, you’re probably not far off. A couple of their videos can be found on YouTube - check it out, it’s quite delicious!

Just an ultra short update for our faithful readers - hi to both of you. Nina just received her residence permit in the mail this morning, so we’re very excited and happy. This is awesome!

On May 17 we finally got married! We’re leaving for our honeymoon in two days, and nothing is booked or arranged yet, so we’re a little busy! We do have a little treat for our faithful readers - of which there must be at least one or two left. Here it is - our first pictures from the photographer! Enjoy!

Nina sent me a link to an essay by Paul Graham about stuff and having too much of it. A very enjoyable read, and a big plus was the complete absence of the horrible expression simple living.

I first realized the worthlessness of stuff when I lived in Italy for a year. All I took with me was one large backpack of stuff. The rest of my stuff I left in my landlady’s attic back in the US. And you know what? All I missed were some of the books. By the end of the year I couldn’t even remember what else I had stored in that attic.

Read all of it right here.

Some people plan weddings for years, but for us that just seemed too easy - so we’re doing it in 4 weeks. Invitations were finished this morning, and they are almost ready to be sent out. Four weeks notice should be enough!

Really, we would have loved to not rush like this but unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of time. Luckily for us, we have some very understanding friends, and we still hope they can share this day with us.

We still need to rent a garden tent, organize food, a spectacular cake and various other stuff but I will make some phone calls today and hopefully we will have an idea of just how difficult it will be to make appointments. Again, time is not our friend, but we will find a way.

In other news, Nina turned 29 last Sunday and had her very first Danish birthday cake shaped like a girl! Pictures will be online soon.