Sankt Hans

On Sankt Hans day (history below), Bethany and Jared hosted a BBQ at their house as a goodbye party for our friend Brett who was moving back to the States....he's a Duke grad student and despite that, a great guy! After I rode through a passing monsoon to get there (had to stop under a bridge to keep from getting completely soaked) it turned out to be a fantastic evening!

We played a very entertaining game of Apples to Apples in Bethany and Jared's amazing backyard - complete with frog pond, raspberry bushes, and enormous snails! Have I mentioned how much I love playing games with the international crowd - games like Catch Phrase, Apples to Apples, Boggle, etc., where you have to come up with words/descriptions quickly are hilarious with non-native English speakers...despite the fact that their English is almost perfect, they miss out on all the slang and cultural-isms.

Then we all headed to the beach, but not before Austin and I got to spend some quality time with the Bajna sisters - Julia and Cecilia).

Austin and I rode our bikes and then he demonstrated how to use the tricky, yet ingenious bike rack. Since biking is so popular here, many people don't have cars because they are outrageously expensive and you don't necessarily need one, there are tons of creative bike racks all over the city. Here, you flip the holder over your handles bars...as opposed to the more common way of holding the wheel in place.

There were HUGE bonfires all up and down the beach but sadly my camera battery died - but I will borrow some pictures from friends and get them posted.

Sankt Hans In Denmark, it was an official holiday until 1770, and in accordance with the Danish tradition of celebrating a holiday on the evening before the actual day, it takes place on the evening of 23 June. It is the day where the medieval wise men and women (the doctors of that time) would gather special herbs that they needed for the rest of the year to cure people.

It has been celebrated since the times of the Vikings, by visiting healing water wells and making a large bonfire to ward away evil spirits. Today the water well tradition is gone. Bonfires on the beach, speeches, picnics and songs are traditional, although bonfires are built in many other places where beaches may not be close by (i.e. on the shores of lakes and other waterways, parks, etc.). (Wikepedia)