Danish Social Club of Victoria Volume 17 Issue 3

NYHEDER

November/December 2017 DANISH SOCIAL CLUB OF VICTORIA Didn’t we have a great dinner on Thursday, October 20th at Norway house?! Thanks to all those who helped with table set-up and meal preparation under the capable supervision of Annemari. For entertainment our bursary winner, Tara Zerbe, gave a presentation about her Rotary Student Exchange to Denmark.

As she hopes to keep practicing her Danish, we hope to see her at future events. We also had a very interesting and informative presentation by our new Web Master, Teresa Laird. Please check out our new site. You will be impressed.

Plans are underway now for our Danish Christmas festivities, taking place on December, 15th. The ladies committee will be in touch with members to help make food. Hopefully the response to this request will be met with the same enthusiasm as last year. Everyone agreed that the result was fantastic.

Looking forward to seeing you soon, Hans Frederiksen, on behalf of the Danish Club Board of Directors

Friday December 15/17 7:00 PM

Christmas Dinner Friday*** January 26/18 2:00 PM Membership (see note below) Appreciation Lunch & Bingo Saturday February 17/18 2:00 PM Fasterlawn Saturday March 17/18 1:30 PM Kro-Lunch Friday April 13/18 7:00 PM AGM Friday May 25/18 7:00 PM Kro-Aften Friday September 7/18 7:00 PM Potluck??

Friday October 19/18 7:00 PM Kro-Aften Friday December 14/18 7:00 PM Christmas Dinner *** = This event will be free for members who is paid up by Dec. 31, 2017

Board of Directors

President Hans Frederiksen 250 478-0537 rosehans@shaw.ca Vice President Finn Sander 778-432-0260 fsander1940@gmail.com Treasurer Grethe Russell 778-432-2717 gretheandtom@gmail. com Secretary Rosemary Frederiksen 250 478-0537 rosehans@shaw.ca Social Directors Karen Kierkegaard 250-658-4872 j.k@shaw.ca Annemari Hermans 778-425-4391 annemari@shaw.ca Membership Director Tom Russell 778-432-2717 gretheandtom@gmail. com Publicity Gloria Sander 778-432-0260 gsander008@gmail.com Webmaster Teresa Laird 250-889-8936 th1627@telus.net> Nyheder Editor Jan-Evert Hermans 778-425-4391 jeh88@shaw.ca

VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITE - danishclubvictoria.bc.ca

Page 2 Motion by the Board of Directors of the Federation of Danish Associations in Canada to establish a Jens Munk Commemorative Steering Committee September 12, 2017 It is moved by Rolf Christensen, seconded by Sune Overgaard, that the Danish Federation establish a Jens Munk Commemorative Steering Committee.

The Committee shall consist of: Jens Woller/Edmonton, Helle Wilson/Winnipeg, Karl Sorensen/Winnipeg, Carl Sorensen/Edmonton, Barbara Schweger/Edmonton, Sune Overgaard/Toronto (ex officio), Ed Kuhlman/Vancouver, Gunnar Kristensen/Kolding, Rolf Christensen/Ottawa, Otto Christensen/Gimli.

The Chair of the Committee shall be Carl Sorensen.

In view of the upcoming 400th anniversary of Jens Munk’s voyage, the mandate of the Committee is to initiate and carry out the commemoration of the arctic expedition to find the Northwest Passage by Danish explorer Jens Munk in 16191620.

The Committee shall routinely keep the Board of Directors of the Danish Federation informed of its initiatives and plans.

The Danish Federation shall endeavour to promote the initiatives and events of the Committee, also through its Member Organizations.

The Committee shall be totally self-financing, and is authorized to raise funds for its initiatives as an arm of the Danish Federation which will keep separate accounts for the Committee. A financial plan must be presented to the Danish Federation prior to any financial activity.

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The Treasurer of the Danish Federation shall be an ex officio member of the Committee, and shall be responsible for the financial operations of the Committee.

The Danish Federation shall provide $500.00 to the Committee as seed money.

CANADAS’S LARGEST STRESSLESS RETAILER

The President of the Federation, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, may on behalf of the Federation, appoint additional members to the Committee, as may be appropriate.

At the end of the Commemoration, or by February 1, 2021 at the latest, the Committee shall provide a Report to the Danish Federation on its activities to commemorate Jens Munk and his voyage of exploration.

S

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D NED E S S II GGN S N .C S O. M C SN C A

NANAIMO

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News and a bit of history from Danmark http://cphpost.dk/

Golden-haired Louise Augusta was born in 1771 to the tragic Queen Caroline Mathilde and her lover, the German doctor Johann Struensee, who had been employed to treat Christian VII, who suffered from a severe and apparently incurable mental illness.

Throughout his stint as the mad king’s personal physician, Struensee exercised increasing powers at court – virtually revolutionising the Danish monarchy with his model of enlightened principles – and in the consort’s bed.

The birth of the little princess in 1771 was a veritable open secret: even if Caroline Mathilde hadn’t boasted openly of Struensee’s sexual prowess before her chambermaids, the child bore an unmistakable resemblance to the de facto ruler of the country, a man who could hardly be dismissed as a German quack. In January 1722, Caroline Mathilde and Struensee were both charged with high treason under the orders of Dowager Queen Juliana. Struensee confessed after hours of torture and was drawn, quartered, broken on the wheel, and finally beheaded. Caroline Mathilde was sent into exile and died in Hanover, Germany at the tender age of 23.

“The castle hotel is expressly designed with our core target group, families with children, in mind. Because we only work in one Lego universe, it will also be completed at a level that we haven’t seen in Billund until now. So, the castle will also be our absolute top product in our overnight stay portfolio,” said Christian Woller, the head of Legoland. Legoland Billund will invest 200 million kroner into the 8,000 sqm hotel – the greatest single investment for the company ever – which is expected to be completed by 2019. The new hotel will also include over 900 Lego models. Check out the 3D animation about the planned hotel in the video below.

Guests can already stay the night in themed rooms at Hotel Legoland and in its hut area, Legoland Holiday Village.

Breaking News Now here is a good News Story from Denmark Just in - November 5/17 at 16:00

Tom & Grethe Russell went to Denmark to celebrate Grethe’s sister’s 70th birthday. While in Denmark they became to ultimate tourists.

This particular day they went to Christiansborg on the tiny Island of Stotsholmen. The home the Danish Parliament Folketinget, Supreme Court and the Ministry of State. Here is where they met up with the Prime Minster of Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

Great picture, great event.

Page 4

My First Summer in Canada – on a Danish Farm Part 2 By: Finn Sander

They all screeched and hollered, yelling “yippee”, “hip, hip”, and such. Predictably, at the end, the old horse (it was over 20 years old) was showing signs of fatigue, but it was for a good cause, as it got all the kids out of their parents’ hair, so they could enjoy their Molsons and coffees in peace. END PART ONE I also conducted rowing, swimming, and bull frog hunting activities, and later took a group of my peers out to the mid-channel buoy to dive in the deepest part of the river. A handful of mud was proof of having reached the bottom.

A good time was had by all, but Pop was quite puzzled and visibly annoyed that evening, when his many Danish guests had returned to the big city, for his best milk cow mysteriously failed to produce milk at her usual high volume. I never said a word. But worse was to come, for the next day he was equally perplexed and much more upset when he found his strongest work horse stone dead in the field. I never said a word then either, for I was quite certain that I probably had taxed the old horse’s endurance to the limit with all those kiddie rides, and the poor beast had had a heart attack.

In the event, the farmer did what he always did when one of his

creatures died before they reached the slaughter house – he disposed of it in a most ignominious way. He tied a noose around the horse’s neck, tied the rope to the tractor, and had it dragged to the remotest end of his property – this time by me. I did as I was told and dispatched it to a small choke cherry oasis in a far corner. Here, the maggots promptly went to work. But I wasn’t going to let it all go to waste, and two weeks later I overcame the stench, severed the horse’s head with an axe, and brought it down to the river where I left it in shallow water among the reeds to give the fish, plankton, assorted bottom dwellers, and bacteria a chance to finish the job – and they did. So by the time I was ready to return to Montreal in September, it was reasonably easy picking, and the skull accompanied me home. Here, a bucket of Chlorox bleach finished the job. After that, my father wired two red light bulbs inside the eye sockets of the skull which I then installed in a corner right beneath the ceiling.

All my male class mates who saw it over the next few years were unanimous in feeling that the red glow in my room bestowed the atmosphere of a cheap bordello – not that they’d ever been to one, I’m sure. More importantly, when a year and a half later I got the courage to invite the cute little eight grader in the apartment immediately below us to see my room one evening, she suggested that the red glow was quite romantic, actually, and then supported her opinion by giving me my first kiss in high school. “Horsing”

around sometimes pays dividends!!

But back to the farm, where happy times constantly eluded me when working alone with the two other hired helpers in the field while Pop tended to other duties. These two boys, Brian and Mack were 16 or 17 and naturally bigger and stronger than I. They were also rather sadistic, especially the former, and never ceased to taunt me as they were confident that they could subdue me if I lost my cool.

They were right about that, for I did so on several occasions - with result that they would wrestle me to the ground and push my face down into a freshly deposited cow patty. The first time it happened, I kept my mouth and eyes open as I cursed to the bitter end. As a consequence, I got my mouth, ears, and eyes full of cow dung. After that, I learned to keep my most sensitive orifices shut at the critical time of impact. However, the first time it happened, I also freaked out and ran all the way down to the river and jumped in head first.

On subsequent occasions, logic prevailed, and I stuck my head in the nearest cow drinking trough – which must have left a bad taste in the mouth of these poor creatures.

I also ran into trouble with the indigenous fauna. It happened one day when I managed to do what Pop had attempted, but had failed to do for the past two summers. I permanently terminated

Page 5 the perennial scourge of the chicken coupe. This menace was a large skunk, which I managed to dispatch with a well-aimed slug of pellets from Pop’s shotgun. Unfortunately, it was also my first skunk sighting (there are no skunks in Denmark), and, in an effort to get sufficiently close to the beast to ensure a certain hit, I got too close to my prey and became the unlucky recipient of a generous dose of its glandular secretions. I was totally overwhelmed by the pungent spray, but my trigger finger kept its cool, and the skunk was history – and I was in the Richelieu River before you could count to three.

The next mishap was a total disaster although not really my fault, I suppose. One of Pop’s milch cows was quite gravid with calf towards the end the summer, and luck would have it that on a day when Pop was in Montreal on business and my two mean colleagues had stayed home as it was raining all day, thus precluding all fieldwork, the old cow decided to deliver. This was quite apparent from the cow’s distressed behaviour, but it soon became equally apparent that it was not going to be an ordinary delivery.

Simply put, the calf was very large, and I was unable to expedite the process with my helping hands. The reason I would even attempt that was because I had early on leaned on Pop to allow me on several occasions to insert my hand and lower forearm into the birth canals of pregnant cows to ensure the right position of the emerging calf. I was espe-

cially keen to do that to foster legitimate bragging rights back in school that fall.

In the event, I was able to reach in to properly arrange the legs, but no matter how hard I pulled and how much Mrs. Kloeve prompted me on, I could not manage to extract the calf from the womb. After considerable time had elapsed, and the poor cow had become increasingly loud and agitated, I reached the conclusion that the solution was beyond the capabilities of man and beast alone. Accordingly, I procured a piece of rope, tied a small noose, reached inside the birth canal, and inserted the noose around the front legs of the calf immediately above the hoofs. I then pulled the rest of the rope through the barn window and attached the other end to Pop’s tractor.

Mrs. Kloeve, who was on hand, was beside herself, but agreed that the intended procedure was probably the only means by which the calf would see daylight. As such, she agreed to mount the tractor and ever so slowly drive and thus pull the calf into this world. I was positioned next to the cow to be able to catch the poor calf and scream “Stop!” at the appropriate moment. All proceeded according to plan, as the legs made a quick appearance, but just as quickly the noose slipped off – but it was not alone. To my horror, I realized why the rope had disengaged, for with it came off both the cow’s hoofs. Ugh!

Part 3 - To be Continued

Halifax is calling!

The 2018 Danish Federation conference will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 2427, 2018.

ON

Saturday, one of the highlights will be a visit to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 where the AGM will be held.

There will also be a guided tour and some free time to visit the Scotiabank Family History Centre where you can get help to trace your family immigration story. That night, join the other conference participants for a sunset harbour cruise and dinner on the water. And this is only Saturday’s agenda!

Watch for more details about the rest of the weekend as well as a registration package early in the New Year. See you in Halifax!

Larry Kjearsgaard Conference Chair 2018 Conference Organizing Committee

Page 6

Event Calendar - 2017 Swedish Club November 22 December 9

Norway Club

November 25th December 10th

Movie Night Lucia & Christmas Dinner Lutefisk Christmas Celebration

We spend the first twelve months of our children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve years telling them to sit down and shut up.

-Phyllis Diller

At Mattick’s Farm Serving the Vancouver Island’s Scandinavian Community Since 1985 Come and see us for: Scandinavian Christmas decorations, Dansk Glaskunst Birds, Ekelund Table Linens, Norse Jewelry and the finest Danish Candles…

We are also proud to support local Potters, Weavers, Jewelry and Glassmakers

Mention membership in the Club and receive a free pair of Danish Tapers with every purchase over $25.00!

Danish Club Bursary Report: The Danish Social Club of Victoria recently awarded a $1500 bursary to Miss Tara Zerbe who has recently enrolled at University of Victoria as a first-year science student. Tara hails from Kelowna where she graduated from high school with a 4.0 (A) average. She also received recognition for her frequent volunteering efforts in the local community, while additionally being an active participant in three Rotary clubs and her own school’s Rotary Interact Program.

Currently, her future goals lean towards biochemistry, specifically tailored to the field of genetics. Additional interests are Government and Languages. She clearly faces a broad spectrum of opportunities and decisions.

For the past year, Tara, has resided in Denmark as a Rotary International exchange student living with three host families in three different communities near the school that she attended in northern Zealand, a short distance from Copenhagen, the capitol. Here, she immersed herself in the Danish lifestyle and traditional culture and came to appreciate why Denmark is such a happy country, for she claims to have thoroughly enjoyed her multi-varied experiences during her immersion-stay there. Not least, she also achieved a firm grasp of Danish, a notoriously unforgiving, guttural language to learn for English speakers. No mean feat, therefore.

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Next to Cordova Bay Golf Course

In short, Tara has met all the criteria the Club appreciates regarding educational achievements and aspirations, extracurricular activities, AND connections to and/or substantive interest in Danish history/ society/ culture/ values.

Page 7

Kro Aften - October 20th, 2017 A picture speaks thousand words.

Another very successful Kro-Aften and there are many people to thank. Especially those in the kitchen who help making those delicious Annemari designed sandwiches. Thanks also to all of you who come and enjoyed an evening of wonderful food and friendship.

Tara gave us an excellent review and picture presentation of her adventures in Denmark. There is no doubt that the Directors picked a very good candidate for the Club’s very first bursary.

Our new Web Master Teresa Laird presented the DANISH SOCIAL CLUB OF VICTORIA’S VERY NEW WEB SITE. Teresa spent many, many hours re-creating the Web Site. Please visit the site, it will have pictures and notices, especially the Nyheder that will be much easier to read.

Jan-Evert

Page 8 Two old boys having a great laugh... Don’t ya just love this photo!

Laughter is the best medicine I went to the liquor store Friday afternoon on my bicycle, I bought a bottle of Scotch and put it in the bicycle basket.

As I was about to leave, I thought to myself that if I fell off the bicycle,the bottle would break.

So I drank all the Scotch before I cycled home.

It turned out to be a very good decision, because I fell off my bicycle seven times on the way home.

Two old guys talking.

One said to the other: “My 69th birthday yesterday.

Wife gave me an SUV”.

Other guy: “Wow, that’s amazing! Imagine, an SUV! What a great gift!”

First guy: “Yup.

Socks, Underwear and Viagra!”

Preschoolers!!

A PRE-SCHOOL TEST FOR YOU Which W ay is the bus below traveling?

To the left or to the right?

Can't make up your mind?

Look carefully at the picture Again.

Still don't know?

Pre-schoolers all over the United States Were shown this picture and asked The same question. 92% of the pre-schooler's gave This answer. "The bus is traveling to the left."

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Have a nice day!

Personally, I think the reason why us 'old farts' answer incorrectly is 'WE FRIGGIN WALKED TO SCHOOL! '