The World Badminton Championships just finished in Copenhagen this year and in extension of this the local Ulkebøl Badminton club will have an open house where you can try your skills with a badminton racket and shuttlecock (yes – that is the English word for ‘fjerbold’).
The open house at Ulkebøl Badminton is this Saturday the 6th of September from 1pm to 4pm in Ulkebøl-hallen. Bring indoor sports shoes and the club will lend you the gear to play and tell you about the sport.
Ulkebøl Badminton club has about 200 members in all ages, there is a lot of social activities around the year and there are family events.
International family law can be complicated. When couples join up across borders cultures, norms and bureaucracy can get tangled up in the process. Some of it can be enlightening and charming but sometimes it’s just frustrating. This is a case of the latter where two countries with equally bureaucratic systems butt heads.
We got married this spring in Malta and wanted to change our name in the process. We figured there might be a bit of bureaucracy involved but figured we could work it out.
We wanted to join our two surnames so both of us would be called “Fenech Andersen”, so we could have the same name and Ann could have the same identity in Denmark and in Malta.
We got married in Malta where the husband doesn’t change his name. So after our marriage Michael kept his name and Ann changed hers to “Fenech Andersen”.
After arriving back in Denmark, Michael went and changed his surname to “Fenech-Andersen”. In Denmark you can change your name to a lot of things but you cannot have two surnames (a double name) without them being joined by a dash. Unless you are Spanish – or from a Spanish speaking country – then you can…
Although people often think Malta is a Spanish speaking country it is not. So when Ann came back to Denmark she went to the kommune to ask to have her new name registered. They sent her to the church (because in Sønderjylland the church handles all name changes (when they are not done within 3 months of the marriage)). The church disagreed and tried to send her back to the kommune but we ended up back at the church. At the end of that loop de loop we got the verdict that Denmark would not recognize Ann’s new double surname from Malta. Had she been double surnamed when she moved here it might have been a different story.
So Denmark has spoken: it had to be the dash. So now she is changing her name in Denmark to “Fenech-Andersen”. We contacted the embassy to hear if a name change made to a Maltese citizen in Denmark would be recognised and they came back and said a name change will be recognised but, no – in Malta you cannot have a dash in your last name.
Maybe it’s not a big deal – it is after all just a dash. But still it’s a strange realisation that Ann in essence will end up having two identities. In Malta, in her passport and when she books flights she will be Ann Fenech Andersen. In Denmark, on her health insurance card, at her bank and to her colleagues her name is Ann Fenech-Andersen. Her two “home” countries has diverging naming laws that can’t agree whether to dash or not.
This is a guest post by Vivek Menon a member of Sønderborg Cricket Club.
Did you know you could play the sport of Cricket right here in our lovely Sonderborg? What the hell is Cricket – most of you may ask?
Well here is the Wikipedia version – Cricket is a bat and ball game, played between two teams of 11 players each. One team bats, attempting to score runs, while the other bowls and fields the ball, attempting to restrict the scoring and dismiss the batsmen. The objective of the game is for a team to score more runs than its opponent. There are many rules to the game which are better understood by checking out this basics video.
It is a team sport and considered to be Gentlemen’s (and Ladies’) game with a rich history and tradition. What makes cricket stand out from football and other team games is that it has a more gladiatorial feel to it. It’s not an even 11 vs 11 contest but more of a 2 vs 11 uneven battle in the ring. The batsmen, like the gladiators of old – go out to the center with a bat, some protection and helmets to face a hard leather ball which is being thrown at them upto 100 Km/h which swings or spins in the air and after pitching and have to survive.
To the serious fans of the game it is best encompassed by the a quote from Jon Arlott:
“Cricket is a most precarious profession; it is called a team game but, in fact, no one is so lonely as a batsman facing a bowler supported by ten fieldsmen and observed by two umpires to ensure that his error does not go unpunished”
For the more light hearted fans/interested people the famous American comedian Robin Williams has a more apt definition:
“Cricket is like baseball on valium”.
It is game invented by the British and played in over 100 countries today including Denmark. Many of you would be surprised to hear that some of the oldest football clubs in Denmark started as Cricket clubs when the British came here to build the Danish railways?
So where can you play this game in Sonderborg. Well the Sonderborg Cricket Club has been recently formed and they are currently using the grounds of the Uklebol school (Just behind of Park Kollegium). During winter they are playing indoors in the Klovermarken hallen. They practice almost all Thursdays (from 1700 hrs) and Sundays (from 1000 hrs). Everyone is welcome to come and join in or watch the action.
The club currently has about 20 members living in Sonderborg and Flensburg. It includes players from Danish, Indian, Pakistani, Srilankan and Afghani backgrounds. They are looking to increase their membership and invite both children and adults from all backgrounds.
The aim of the club is to spread the message and team spirit of cricket and supporting integration of all nationalities living in Sonderborg. They will be present at the Sonderborg Kultur Nat on 24th August – so be sure to catch them there.
So are you or your kids ready for battle? Become modern day gladiators? (Kids will play with rubber balls)
For those who would like to read more about cricket in Denmark in Danish please read more at Dansk Cricket Forbund.
Last year we started a ‘survey’ of weekend brunch places in the area. Having Michael’s mum visiting on Sunday we decided to expand on this list by trying out Brøggeriet’s brunch. We arrived at Broggeriet close to opening time at 10am so it was absolutely no issue to find a table. It being a very warm day the tables outside were also available so we opted for one of those.
As part of the brunch, coffee or tea are included. The coffee comes black, with continuous top-ups. I was the only one having tea on our table. You get a sachet of earl grey tea and a glass of hot water. I wasn’t offered a selection of tea, so not sure whether other teas were available. However, milk was provided when asked. There were no extra top ups for tea (though may be available if asked).
The brunch was, of course, set up inside the restaurant itself so while the tea and coffee were being prepared we went for our first look. The brunch area is set up in two: a warm area with sausages, eggs, a quiche, grilled tomatoes and pancakes and a cold area with cheese and cured meats, fish, fruit and yoghurt. Oh…and cake! The variety here was bigger than what we saw at Cafe Figo.
None of us had anything negative to say about the food, except that the yoghurt was quite warm (but tasted good), having been on the table for a while. The day being very warm, this is to be expected. I was not impressed with the quiche, but then I rarely am in Denmark, but Michael liked it.
Going to the highlights I would say that the selection of fruit was good, I liked the pancakes (though there were different kinds… the small thick ones at the start and the thin big ones at the end) and the 2 cakes on offer (a cheesecake and an almond/marzipan cake) were absolutely gorgeous! The cheeses on offer were also quite varied and tasted good.
Verdict: At 109 DKK including coffee/tea, the price is cheaper than Cafe Figo and the same as the buffet at Ib Rehne Cairo (although that one also offers free juice). The selection was good and the quality very decent. Would try it again, but not before trying the Ib Rehne Cairo full buffet to see what that is about.
