three years in denmark: balance beam

henry wanted me to take a picture of him balancing this morning...

he pronounces it buh-LON-suh.

i've been following the refugee situation in denmark fairly closely this past week. it's hard to follow it in detail as it changes constantly and most of what i'm reading is in danish. the most up-to-date information is, of course, on social media, (which is why i say it's changing... you can get updates literally as events are happening... i suppose this isn't news if you're more techie than i am). as perhaps you've seen, refugees are coming through denmark from germany, most on their way to sweden, because perhaps they have family already in sweden and sweden has more hospitable rules for asylum seekers to, for example, get permanent residency (automatic right now for syrians getting to sweden) and to reunite with family (immediate family members automatically get residency for those who get asylum in sweden). whatever country an asylum seeker is registered in, is the country they have to seek asylum in. (that is, they are supposed to register their asylum claim in the first country they arrive in.) so that's why most are trying to pass through denmark without being stopped, if sweden is their ultimate goal. otherwise, they must stay in denmark or be sent back to germany. of course, some are choosing to stay in denmark. but many more are trying to pass through. at first the police were trying to stop as many people as they could-- take them off trains, put them on buses and send them to holding areas, but today they decided to change course and let them pass (they were not going to forcefully detain them and many left the holding center to walk 180 miles to sweden). there was information that they could take the trains for free, then no, they needed a ticket, then yes, they could travel for free, that volunteers could drive them to sweden without fear of being arrested, and then no, if they crossed the bridge they would risk arrest. that supplies were needed here. that supplies were no longer needed here. that suddenly supplies were desperately needed here. people opening up their homes, people buying train tickets, people donating and sorting supplies to pass out at train stations.

today a woman came to pick up donations we housed for the last couple of days...

and the two of us went through things in the give-away shed here and came up with a few more large bags of warm clothing.

later in the day i resumed the tutoring i'd been doing with the daughter of our old neighbors before we left for the u.s. this spring. on my way, a little group of horses trotted close to the bike path...