Copenhagen - Part 6

Monday, February 26, 2007 – Thursday, March 1, 2007

This week has been SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. At work, the one thing I have been able to do is prod them to think about how to get answers from the countries (mostly Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union) for whom WHO is paying the way. All the countries have to do is nominate someone to go. Yet so many of them have not responded. The former Soviet states have done the best, and we almost have answers from all of them. Eastern Europe, not so much, which is ironic, since the meeting is being held in their neighborhood!

Ole and I have been writing steadily, which is nice. I even called him for a few minutes before bed on Monday to say hello. I linked him to this blog, and I guess he has read it because he said it was nice to read about my life and know more about me. People have asked me for his picture, but the only picture I have of him right now is from his boyfriend.dk account, and they have cleverly set it up so you cannot swipe it off the site. Never fear, though, I should be able to get a picture this weekend when I go see him in Odense. He invited me to come this weekend to his home and see where he lives. I agreed to come.

I am looking forward to it. Seeing someone in their home setting is usually quite revealing, and I think it will give me more insights into who he is. I also look forward to seeing his artwork. He spent all night Tuesday painting in some kind of inspired frenzy of creativity. Once I get a better feel of what kind of artist he is, I will probably hook him up with Yonsenia for an artist-to-artist critique. It seems to be the kind of thing he craves, and even though he is untrained, he has been allowed to show his work in a gallery or two.

I have had some interesting developments politically too. The Murphy Reception for YDG apparently went really well. The place was packed with people, and we made a good bit of money. Not as much as we had hoped, but in a time where money for Democrats in Georgia is hard to come by, we did very well. It will help us springboard further fundraising as the year goes on. The other thing going on is constant chatter of who might be running for what. So far, no seems to be preparing to challenge me for President, which is good.

The interesting thing is that there could be a scenario where a couple of races are contested, and some races have no candidates at all. Things are fluid though, so a lot can change between now and April. Elections are good, but they can be divisive, and some might argue that the epic Billy-Preston fight still has some lingering ill effects. A good deal of that is people taking their marbles and going home when "their side" doesn't win. Sometimes you have to stick it out, especially if you really do care. If I had just given up when I was in high school and constantly got my ass beat for student council offices by the Athlete of my choice, I never would have accomplished the things I did as an appointed officer or won Student Council Member of the Year twice. It is much better to win, I agree. But some people might just run in the wrong year, and if they stay engaged, could easily win next year. We'll see. I am still hopeful to have a really great convention free of divisive in-fighting.

I want YDG to enter the new term with a focus on the future, building on our successes, and letting go of past grudges. Now more than ever, we need to be a united force for ourselves, and the Democratic Party of Georgia as a whole. YDG will be key to the resurrection of the state party. We are doing really good work now, and we can take it to the next level if we work together and keep our eye on the goal of strengthening the party and getting Democrats elected.

I finally discovered how to work the Laundromat too. I was confused at first, but some kind lady helped me out when she realized I could not read Danish. Of course, I put the detergent and fabric softener in the wrong containers. I guessed based on which ones I use at home, and I guessed wrong, but the clothes still got clean. I will save significant money by using the Laundromat, which is nice.

Thursday promised to be another boring day, especially after Jackie forgot to call me and patch me into the all-GMB phone call! Oh well, probably not a huge loss, but I still wanted to be part of it. I left early to meet Jacob Rasmussen, the President of IFLRY (International Federation of Liberal Youth). He lives and works in Copenhagen, so I had emailed him to see if we could have a chance for a friendly meeting.

I met him outside the Hellerup station at 5pm, and luckily, he looked like his picture on the IFLRY site. We went to the Café Apotek (literally Pharmacy Café) which is at the corner of the intersection where the Hellerup station is. We had a great time. We shared some beers, talked a lot of politics, and spent four hours together. He is certainly a fellow political junkie, although he works on the international level. I learned a lot about how Danish politics works, and it quite different from the US system. However, it seems to work, and that cannot always be said (especially since 2000) about American elections. On the Danish political scale, Jacob's Liberal party is just to the right of center. His philosophy would easily work within the Democratic party, though. It is very interesting to me that Republicans are far to the right of even the most right wing parties in Europe. I am pretty sure that is NOT a compliment to the GOP either.

Jacob will be having an IFLRY executive board meeting in Dallas in conjunction with the YDA National Convention. That should be really fun. I also offered Jacob an invitation to Atlanta anytime he likes. He flies through Atlanta a lot on business and political trips. I think our group in Georgia would like him a lot, especially our women. Blond haired, blue eyed Dane with an accent, and the accent alone would make many of them go ga-ga. Shoot, if he was on my team, I would go ga-ga. He's not buff like many Danes I have found, but he is still a good looking guy. I found out from him that Mortensen of the Atlanta Falcons is a Dane, and he is very popular in this country.

Going home from the meeting with Jacob, I stopped to get a small pizza for dinner. The TV was on, and the screen was filled what looked like a riot. Turns out there was a riot in Copenhagen yesterday, and the 'unrest' is expected to continue into the weekend. The story is carried in English on BBC. The left wing students (mostly of Communist extraction) have been squatting in this building for years, and they are finally being evicted. The odd thing was that no one has been hurt. No bullets fired, no blood shed. That would NOT be the case in the US if that happened there. Even rioting, the Danes are civilized about it.