I have finally gotten to my last Denmark post. 🙂 We spent our last Sunday in Copenhagen with the two nicest people I have met in Denmark. We met up at Joe & the Juice which is somewhat like Starbucks here in the Philippines, wherein it’s everywhere, only it’s more healthy than Starbucks. I ordered Sex on the Beach, mostly because the name is interesting, but one of the ingredients is ginger! J and I with our favorite colleagues! 🙂 Both of them bakes as well, and they brought us some scones and Vanille Kranse (translation: Danish Cookie Rings, not in the photo).

After some Christmas shopping at Fisketorvet Shopping Center, we went to Torvehallerne.

Christmas Caroling in the market.

We went cheese tasting.

We had lunch and (let’s call our colleagues A and U), A ordered some of this Paleo food. While U ordered pizza! I love the one with lots of potatoes in it! One of the best things about Danish food is it mostly includes potatoes and I could survive with potatoes (as long as it is cooked differently) every day.

We were so full after eating everything (this much food for four people had gotten my skirt so tight around my waist, I found it hard to breathe). We walked around to relieve us of that “too full” feeling. There were a lot of sweets and if I was not that full, I probably would have tried everything.

See the pastry that has a crown in it? The label said Galette des Rois – it is a popular flake French pastry filled with almond cream. There is a doll (or whatever you want to hide) called feve hidden inside and once served, only one gets a slice with the doll in it. It is said that whoever gets the doll will have good luck for one year (and will also get to wear the crown). I know all of this from memory because I watch a lot of pastry shows okay (so I may not have gotten every detail right). Hahahaha!

Chocolate covered marshmallow cream. I’m not sure if that description’s true but that is how it was when we tried it. There were a lot of flavors (plain, blueberry, mocha, etc) but it was a little messy to eat.

Sweets-inspired bath soaps! I wanted to buy some but I kept thinking that no matter how yummy the smell may be, I probably would not get around to using it. Hahaha!

Whenever I see flower stalls, I think of those movies where you’re roaming around the market with a guy (or you simply pass by a flower stand) and he stops to buy you some. Those are small gestures but it gets to me. Every single time. Maybe because it has never happened to me? *cough chicken boy cough*

A bought us take away dinner (which was a lot).. because we were not aware that U was also buying us take away dinner of fish and chips, and fish tacos, at the same time. Hello, piggies!

Funny how whenever we encounter an obstacle, we feel like we’re trapped between walls that are closing down. We get suffocated, and when things get tight, we feel like we have to give up. We forget that we have all been made to survive. And survive we did. Through hardships, pain, failures, rejections, long nights of crying.. I may not have gotten the “dream job” I had eyed for when I graduated from the university. And the rejection made me feel humiliated, and it seriously lowered my self-confidence. I can’t help but ask why I got everything else (and turned them down) but not the one I wanted. Now, I see the big picture. I was meant to be taught a lesson in humility. No matter how high you think of yourself, someone else will always be better than you. You have to keep your feet grounded and your head on top of your shoulders, not up high in the clouds. It’s okay to dream and aim for the moon, but nothing worth it ever comes easy. You have to work hard and keep going at it. The people who succeed in life are the ones who do their best and work with whatever that has been given to them. That is something I always have to keep in mind. And you know what, that saying “Being rejected is being redirected to something better”.. it’s true. 🙂 I may not have gotten what I wanted but I am somewhere unexpectedly good.

So thank you, current job, for the opportunity (via business trip and, well, mostly my nice salary) to see a small part of the world in the span of 2013 (Puerto Galera, Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong and Macau), and for the medical benefit that has covered more than half of my mom’s hospital bills. I may hate it sometimes (especially when I’m tired and overworked) but I will always be grateful.