#6: Unfriendly CPH, X-mas, Brexit, Enhedslisten
Hi,
sorry for skipping last week’s update. Blame it on the piercing screams of a two-year-old flatmate of mine.
A bunch has happened in the meantime. Masks are back in shops and transport. It rained. It drizzled. It sleeted. It snowed.
More importantly, another survey came out highlighting how unfriendly and unwelcoming Copenhageners are by InterNationes, a global expat social networking thing. In the “Friends and Socializing” category of the 2021 Expat Insider report, the Danish capital ranked 56th out of 57 international cities! Only Stockholm was worse. Take that, Sweden!
On “Local Friendliness”, Copenhagen ranked 54th. In the “Feeling Welcome!” category, it inched up to 53rd place! Fantastisk.
None of this comes as any surprise. A popular expat leisure activity is to complain about how difficult it is to befriend the locals. My take is not that they’re unfriendly or unwelcoming per se. Compared to the last place I lived (Berlin) most people are insanely friendly — and more than happy to speak English with ignorants like me. On a superficial level, I have been made to feel very welcome here.
But actually making friends? Not so easy.
My theory is that Danes’ lives are so ridiculously well organised, with every minute of every day planned months in advance, there’s simply no room for a sponteous after-work drink or drop-by coffee or what have you. An American friend here told me a Danish acquaintance of hers set up a lunch date six months in advance.
Danes, despite the rumor that that they’re the “Brazilians of Scandinavia” apparently circulating among Swedes, appear to hate frivolous, flighty socialising with people they don’t know and would prefer to hang with their chums from back in their kindergarten — or maybe university — days.
For the first few months I lived here, I whined to my Danish girlfriend about the lack of socialising, the lack of invitations, the lack of off-the-cuff summer picnics and impromptu play dates.
But then I said, screw it, that’s just the way they are. If they don’t invite you, try being that aggressively open foreigner that asks a Dane to do something at the drop of a hat (meaning two weeks notice). And if that doesn’t work (it probably won’t) just hang out with foreigners - there’s plenty of them around.
Some corona stats and news…
😷New infections in DK within 24hrs: 5,120
💀Covid deaths in DK within 24hrs: 14
🚑Covid hospitalisations: 439
💉Vaccination rate (first jab): 77.81%
Source: DR
No new restrictions were announced at the government’s Wednesday’s pandemic press conference, but Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen again urged people to get the booster shot when they were offered it - or get the first jab if they belonged to the minority of un-vaxxed Danes. The government wants to double vaccination capacity and administer 500,000 jabs per week.
Mette is aiming for a 90% vaccination rate. She said that the vaccination of kids (from age 10) was going swimmingly since kicking off last month. So far, 14% of the adults have received a booster shot. Seven cases of the Omicrom variant have been identified in Denmark, with another 18 suspected cases being investigated.
Post-Brexit residency deadline
Under the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU, British citizens residing in Denmark have until the end of the year to apply for permanent residency in the country. The government sent out final reminder letters in September and October. Now it’s crunch time. Her Majesty’s subjects, if you haven’t done so already, get thee to an application form.
Just how left-wing will the new city council be?
Hip English-language socialist site Jacobin has published a lengthly analysis of Enhedlisten’s historic victory in the Copenhagen municipal election last month. As you’ll recall, the left-green alliance won more votes than the Social Democrats, running on a manifesto of affordable housing and climate action. They weren’t able to dethrone the Social Democrats from the mayor’s seat, but, with around a quarter of seats on the council, they’ll enjoy considerable clout in city politics. Jacobin situates the election success within a trend of a resurgent far-left in pockets across Europe. Read on.
Christiania Julemarked
Most of Copenhagen’s Christmas markets feel like they rolled of an assembly line somewherein the Black Forest. Fake log cabins, mass-produced X-mas wares, overpriced Glögg. The Freetown’s annual Christmas market - which has been going strong since the 1970s, on the other hand, is the “most delightful and exotic” one north of the Alps. It opens on December 9 and runs through December 20. I bet you can get some hand-made mittens or some tree deco made from recycled junk and without child labour! And veggie Christmas nosh! And it’s inside! The info.
That’s all. Stay warm, stay safe.
Maurice
P.S. We’ve got a Twitter.