Monday the 25th of June the German theatre group Ratz Fatz aus Bochum will be performing with a circus act and fire show in front of the town hall in Sønderborg.

The 40 performers will make two performances, the first at 4pm and then again at 10pm.

Read more on the website of Ratz Fatz – the show is free for all.

Early in the morning of June 24th you can get to experience the reenactment of the Battle of Als. This battle became the decisive moment in the war of 1864 between Denmark and The German Federation.

On Saturday you can see the soldiers parade through Sonderborg, hear a marching band play tunes from the period and visit the soldiers’ camp where you can experience how they lived, prepared for war and got treated in the infirmary.

On 18 April 1864 the Prussians overran and captured the position at Dybbøl, but the Danes were able to retreat to the island of Als with heavy losses. On 29 June 1864 under cover of darkness the Prussian soldiers crossed the water of Alssund. Using 600 boats 2.500 Prussian crossed the water in the first wave. It was a daring operation that was rewarded with victory. The Danish army lost nearly half its deployed forces and had to give up Als and thereby ending the war with a defeat.

The Historical Brigade Als will revive the battle in authentic uniforms and with weapons and equipment, which corresponds closely to what the soldiers used during the war in 1864.

The main event will be when the German soldiers cross the water which will be reenacted at the historically correct time of 3am in the morning on Sunday the 24th.

This is our translation of the program. Check ‘Kampen om Als’ website for any updates. Please note that at the time of writing this post the Danish version of the site had a lot more information than the English version.

For the 20th time an association on the west coast of Jutland is organising a Wood Sculpture Symposium in Højer and for the first time this year they are bringing the event to Sønderborg the week after.

Artists apply with sketches of the sculpture they intend to make and based on these applications 15 artists are selected and invited to take part in the symposium.

This is a truly international event as you can see from the list of participants in this year’s event:

• Turkey: Evrim Kilic
• Russia: Alexander Lakhno
• Denmark: Dorthe H. Lund
• Czech Republic: Pavel Spelda
• Lithuania: Julius Urbanavicius
• Lithuania: Vitalija Urbanaviciene
• Ukraine: Valeriu Ciumacu (PDF)
• Armenia: Hayk Tokmajyan
• Uganda: Kamya Charles
• Argentine: Christian Alvarenga
• Italy: Carlo Abba
• Poland: Grazyna Szymala-Wolynska
• Spain: Francisco Remiseiro
• Romania: Ion Maftei
• Germany/Russia: Roman Manevic
• Added later: Arlindo Arez
• Added later: Valentina Pazzini

Each artist is given a big block of oak tree measuring 60 cm by 160 cm and then they have a week to turn it into a sculpture. Here’s the description of the tree from the Symposium’s website:

The oak trunks, which will be put at the participants’ disposal, were planted at the beginning of 1800 and have various names according to where they have been growing. Here in Southern Jutland (Sønderjylland) we call them bridal domes or fleet oaks. – It happened to be so that at that time Denmark was at war with the English fleet, which had gradually burnt down the whole Danish naval fleet. In order to secure enough tree for shipbuilding in the future, the Danish king ordered that all young men, who were to be married, had to plant four oak trees and four beech trees and attend them until they were strong enough to grow by themselves, thereafter he was permitted to get married.

The artists will be working outdoors in the area around Sønderborg Castle in the period June 18th – June 24th.

After the event 13 of the sculptures will be put up in public spaces. You can have a say in which public spaces they go up in. Sønderborg Ugeavis is organising a petition for ideas of where the sculptures should be placed.

While the artists work members of Midtals sports club will sell drinks and sausages on the pier and after the event the last two sculptures will be auctioned off and the profit will go to the sports club.

We have lived in Sonderborg for around 6 months now, and of course there are things I really love, and things I really miss. So before going home to Malta for a short holiday I thought I would think about my thoughts on living here.

Things I Love

1. Living close to the sea
2. My new bike (particularly that it has a Back pedal brake)
3. Our apartment
4. The greenness of my trip to work
5. Basmati rice from our local ethnic store
6. The big windows in our living room
7. Being able to see the stars at night
8. The friendly people we have met
9. The friendly guy on the bus who smiles every morning
10. My job

Things I miss

1. Farmers’ markets on a Sunday (or any other day for that matter)
2. Mediterranean style of interaction
3. Being spoilt for choice with high quality shows
4. Regular pillows! (i.e. rectangular, and offer some support)
5. People having the vocabulary to say what they mean
6. Ginger beer (and Kinnie)
7. Being presented with the right utensils for the right dish
8. Village feasts
9. Large luscious parks to lounge about on a good day
10. Shorter summer days, longer winter ones.

There is enough going on in Sonderborg that you can easily be satisfied by the events in the area. However, every so often you need that change of scene. A good way to get that is to get yourself to one of the bigger cities around.

Copenhagen is an excellent place to spend the day exploring, without losing out on the comfort of your own bed in Sonderborg. This is my favourite way of spending a day in Copenhagen.

Get the train at 5:53 from Sonderborg station. If I still have some sleep to catch up on I can easily get it on the train, especially since this train is rarely too busy (especially up to Odense).

Arrive in Copenhagen at 9:50. This is perfect timing as it is right around the time when things start happening.

Drop in to the National Museum. The best thing about this museum is that it is free, so you don’t feel the need to do it all at one go. I typically pick one of the exhibit, from the olden times to the year 2000, and check it out. There are often special exhibits, so there is always something new to see.

Time for some relaxation. Walk down Stroget, the long shopping street through Copenhagen’s centre, to Nyhavn. There pick up a pølse from one of the sausage stands, some beer, and get your tickets for a boat trip to sight-see from the water. A good way to relax for 1h while still seeing the town.

At this point there is a couple of options:

If you are up for more museums, check out the Danish resistance museum. If you have a head for heights, back track a bit to Stroget and climb to the top of the Round Tower just off this road.

By now you are probably quite hungry. Go down to Strædet (Kompagnistræde and Læderstræde running parallel to Strøget to the south) and pick one of the numerous restaurants for a relaxed dinner.

Finish off your day at Tivoli. You can also opt for dinner there, or go there directly after the boat ride for an afternoon of fun, games and entertainment.

Catch one of the last trains from Copenhagen back to Sonderborg. By now you are probably quite dead. Enjoy your slumber for the 4hrs or so it takes to get to Sonderborg.

When I first moved to Denmark I had driven Michael’s mum’s car a couple of times. However, so far I had never driven on my own (probably as Michael doesn’t trust me!). So when this week I had to drive to another work site for a meeting I was both excited and apprehensive.

The ‘Car’

Since this was a work trip I took a departmental car. I thought I would get a car, but no! I actually got a small van! My first time driving alone in Denmark, on the ‘wrong’ side of the road AND my first time driving a van. It didn’t help matters that the van was clearly not designed for short Mediterranean girls!

Lesson? Definition of a car is not universal!

The Motorway

Before moving to Denmark I had only driven back home in Malta. Now Malta being so small  means that we don’t have motorways (the national speed limit is 80 km/h). So this time was the first time driving on one for me! It wasn’t as harrowing an experience as I thought it would be. Being able to count the cars that passed by during my ‘motorway experience’ on my fingers probably helped.

Lesson? If you want motorway practice the new Sonderborg-Kliplev motorway is probably a good place to start!

The Fog

I was meant to drive the ‘car’ back to work in the morning. Just as my luck would have it,  we woke up to severe fog all around us. It was the worst fog I have seen so far. I was slightly heartened by the fact that in Sonderborg the visibility was at around 100m. Unfortunately things only got worst the further away from Sonderborg that I got, with visibility down to maybe 20-30m at most in some areas. It was my first time driving on this road, making things a bit more scary.

Lesson? Fog in the Sonderborg area can be quite bad. Be careful!