DENMARK II

I realized this even stronger when I came back home. I mean we all know these past month has been the most difficult ones but to be honest, when I was in Denmark it did not feel like it was. You would like to know why? Well, let‘s begin at the time when none of us expected anything would challenge us.

It belongs to whoever needs it
February 3rd.
"What people don‘t need anymore, especially furniture, is put on the street in front of the house", explains Jørgen, our international coordinator. But you have to understand things not broken, not shabby, actually really nice stuff! So in case you need a mattress, check the sideways first. Just observe a little in advance, in case somebody is moving in or out. And I tell you, it really is extraordinary what I found during the past months. I probably could have furnished an entire apartment, if I hadn‘t had to think about how to take the stuff home.

Through trust you win the heart
March 6th.
It was a Friday morning. I was sitting at my favourit café in Århus "la cabra“ with the greatest flat white you can get. Not only do they trust every customer there by serving your hot drinks in a 35€ cup but you can even take it across the street and sit in the meadow.

We would protect it as if it was our own
March 12th.
Did you know, that in Denmark when the mother takes her baby for a walk with the stroller and stops at a store or café and wants to go inside and In case there are people sitting outside, which is most of the times the case in the cozy oldtown streets of the citycenter, the mother would leave the stroller and baby at the door outside?
All of these and many more situations were suprising to me as well. I never thought that trust and loyalty would be something unfamiliar to me. After living in Denmark for a few months, I realized that the culture I am from shows a fundamental distrust in many aspects. Not so much in how actions of peaceful gathering happens, but much more in a tense situation. Where in our Central European culture empathy for many people is the last thing on the agenda; in Danish culture it is the starting point. Especially when it comes to tackling problems or finding an uncomplicated way of working together, it is remarkable how naturally they show their trust and solidarity towards each other. I have never seen or heard of a Danish person who felt deprived of their basic needs, nor have I observed protests or felt the slightest hint of misunderstanding. Whether it is the government, the decision makers or politics. No one.
Where as on the other hand, here back home in a familiar surrounding I am overwhelmed by such unfamiliar actions.

Natalie Krieg SS20