A bit more about my project, my life in kbh

I thought I would talk for a bit about my project.

First I will describe further the place where my project partners and I work. From previous entries, you know that I work at a museum called Frilandsmuseet or "The Open Air Museum". This is a place where families, school children, and senior citizens go to see what parts of Denmark looked like in the last couple of centuries. So the museum consists of original houses, farms, and other constructions all spread out over 86 acres with gardens, animals, and ponds in between.

There are many cool things about this museum, not the least of which is free admission. But another cool thing is that they hold special events for children during the holidays. Last week, we were around during the Easter events. I include here a picture of the children and their parents making decorative cut-outs. In a nearby room there were people dressed up in garb from the Danish 1800s and they were cooking food from a recipe book that looked really old. Everywhere there were children and their parents walking around. Especially popular were the geese that waddled in the dooryard and the stilts for everyone to try. I had not tried walking on stilts for maybe 15 years and gave it a go. I guess I did ok, but it took a while to get the hang of.

Back to my project. This museum has a program that was developed a couple years ago called Mulighedernes Land (Land of Possibilities). Basically it is a virtual role playing game that uses the museum grounds as the playing field. Participants choose which character they want to be and then they use a gps-equipped cell phone that gives them location-specific information. Where they go determines what happens in the story. Based on the story development, the group makes decisions about where to go next. The goal is for a the character to 'make it in life' in the 19th century. This program is for children of roughly all ages. Actually some adults have tried it and liked it, but it was really designed for the kids.

Anyway....

Our project is to create a teambuilding program for businesses that uses the gps technology. The museum's goal is to expand its use of the gps cellphone technology and to bring in some more money by attracting a wider audience to the museum. Shown right is our sponsor showing us how the gps cell phones work. If my partners look less than enthused, it is because it was a candid shot. We really like going around the museum and learning about everything. Most of all we like it when our sponsor comes to visit. His name is Klaus and he very excited and energetic.

I hope you can get an idea of what our project is like from what I have told you. If you have any questions or whatever just make it a comment to this post and I will get around to responding. I will leave you this time with something that I saw the other day. From these pictures you cannot hear the music being played in the streets or smell the bread being baked in a shop nearby, but you can imagine. It all brightened my mood a bit.

First Day on the Project

Last week, my group partners and I took the train and then a bus to our project site at the Open Air Museum, Frilandsmuseet, north of Copenhagen. We met the man in charge of our project, Klaus, from the Danish National Museum IT department. After introductions, we went over the project for a while and then went for a tour of part of the museum outside. Then it started snowing. However, the snow flakes were not flakes at all but more like pellets. In fact they looked like those white moisture holding things that you see in store-bought soil. They eventually became normal flakes. Anyway, it was also really windy. I put a picture here of the view from where we waited for the bus to come get us. Such dreary weather would normally motivate one to just go home stay warm, but we had other plans.

Since discovering what I call the Turkish part of the city, I have not been able to resist going there almost every day for food at lunchtime. My group partners decided to come along and so the three of us had Turkish food for lunch. Specifically, I had Adana kebap (a spicy stick-less meat kebob on rice) which was so very very good. I think I was full for about 9 hours afterward.

I think I am getting used to living here in KBH. I feel comfortable getting around, buying food, learning Danish, and exploring. I feel less like a tourist and more like an inhabitant. Maybe it is because I have seen many other foreigners living here, or maybe I am just turning into a Copenhagener.