48 hours without any money in a foreign country - Part 5

Needs

My cellphone badly needs recharging. I enter the market hall next to me and I am welcomed by groovy feel-good music. It comes from a smørrebrød-stand.

I cant help dancing and watch the two men in the stand preparing platters with artful decorated and neatly assorted pieces of the famous Danish dish. They concentrate on slicing, washing, boiling and peeling the different additions and simultaneously spread an atmosphere of professionalism and fun. Every single hand movement is quick and precise. It is joy to watch this aesthetic working-style. I ask one of the men if he would recharge my phone. Of course! He plugs in the phone and stows it under his worktop.

My steps still in the rhythm of the music, I return to my sunny bench and realize that my water bottles would like a recharge, either. And a toilet would be fine. I take a look around – there is a small building where my wishes might be fulfilled. I walk over to the tiny house – yes!

Above the entrance there is a little sign with the international symbol for “women” on it. I still hesitate. It does not look too inviting. But then…

The moment I enter my mouth opens in amazement and it hardly shuts again. I am standing in a superclean and well cured place, in front of a row of antique massive wooden doors, highly polished. The floor: terrazzo. Finest Venetian wash.

At the end there is a small, light room where a woman is sitting at a table. I walk up to her and apologize for not paying. She smiles at me and tells me using the toilet was at no charge. Then she watches me carefully. “If you have no money, there is a place you can go. There you get food, a shower or a bed in exchange for work. A meal for example would cost one hour of work. The organization´s name is Kofoeds Skole.”

I ask her if she could write it down for me. She nods, then opens up a laptop, switches it on, types and searches. Finally she hits a key and prints two pages with the adress and a description of Kofoeds Skole.

Another magic moment on my journey: A public toilet with a full equiped office and this calm, friendly and helpful woman with her wise eyes. I thank her and leave, the two pages in my hands.

To be continued.

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48 hours without money in a foreign country - Part 4

Thursday morning

I wake up early, 6:10. The whole house is still asleep. I get up quietly and go to the bath. When I am ready, Alexandra appears and we start the day with a meditation. It´s balancing an empowering effect is every day again a miracle.

And then...we have to hurry!! I tidy up my things and get dressed. A quick breakfast, I am glad I also can contribute something: 2 small packages of nutella from the day before.

Alexandra is a bit late. She takes her bike and indicates me the road to take for the city. We hug and our good-bye is affectionate and cordially.

Once again I feel how fast and intense bonds can grow in the shortest time.

The street lying before me seems endless. I feel that today I have no mind to walking and decide to hitchhike. I only did it once in my schooldays and remember still how frightened I felt to go with someone I didn´t know.

Today things are different. I am in the mood for a chat and interesting encounters. Only – nobody stops. I try several tactics, change the place, but still I am ignored.

Finally I start knocking on the cars´ window, asking politely to give me a lift. That works, the 4^th knocking is successful and a young woman gives me a lift just into the center of the city. She lets me out near to the subway station I had arrived first two days ago.

I want to contact Gabriele, one of the women who also had offered me a place for the last night. She is a friend of Kaya, who had offered me the subway-ticket from the airport to Copenhagen City. Kaya has linked us via facebook and added that Gabriele was German and an alternative practitioner, just like me. The evening before we had talked briefly and agreed to meet before I would leave Copenhagen. It had been like talking to an old friend.

In search for free wifi I watch out for a hotel and ask two guys, who are having a cup of coffee in front of a still closed restaurant. They indicate me one just around the corner. It doesn´t look really welcoming. I don´t enter and walk back in direction of the subway-station, crossing a sunny square where merchants are preparing their stands for a flee-market.

But still no wifi. I follow my instinct and walk to a large place with halls. In front of them benches and tables, arranged casually. As it turns out, this is Torvehallerne, the   famous Copenhagen market-halls. Here I have access to free internet, cozily sitting on a bench, enjoying the warm morning sun. It is round 9:00 am now.

I call Gabriele. She still has to do and wants to call me back. For me thats fine, it gives me time to find some food for the day. I have no idea how, but I am confident there will be a solution.

While I still sit in the sun, weighing different possibilities of Nina-food-logistics, a young man with a cart appears, walking to the other end of the forecourt. Onto his cart there are many boxes, most of them filled with vegetables.

In a flash I realize, where I am truly here – at the market halls!!! What a stroke of fate again!

Quickly I follow the young man, asking him whether he is going to discard all these vegetables. “Sadly yes”, is the answer. Christian offers that I may take whatever I want and invites me to come round every morning. He feels ever so sorry littering food. I take some nice carrots and we talk for a while.

Another merchant arrives with a cart; crammed with crates full of fruit, ready for the dumpster. He too offers me to come every morning for the previous days´ leftovers. I chose five excellent and aromatic pears, just in the perfect state. They are not hard, but still far away from being soft. What a bliss!

Now just a bit of pastry and I´m done for today. I walk over to one of the halls, where there are several bakeries. 

I ask for something to eat and tell about my experiment. The shop assistants explain to me, that every evening they donate all leftovers to homeless people. I love to hear this. A precious project where everybody benefits from.

When I turn around to walk away, one of the young women grants me quickly a small pastry-roll.

All the stands in is Torvehallerne are decorated beautifully, it is pure pleasure to have  walk around and just look.

In front of a stand with artisan chocolate I stop and enjoy watching their accurate designed pralines. Surely sometimes one of them is not perfect or breaks, could be, couldn´t it? I kindly ask, introducing myself and my project.

The manger at first is reluctant, then she likes my story and gives me a package with four gingerbreads of finest quality. They were supposed to be round, but in this package there are two round and two oval-shaped and she cannot sell it.

I thank her for this delicacy and return to one of the tables in the sun of the forecourt. A look at my watch tells me that in less than 20 minutes I had gotten together enough food for the whole day.   

To be continued.

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48 hours without any money in a foreign country - Part 3

Wednesday afternoon

In the afternoon I return to the hostel to pick up my trolley. In the lounge there is a kind of booth where 5 hammocks are swinging, softly moved by the air or by one or  the other person lying into them.

I hesitate. To all intents and purposes...I still have time before leaving for my appointment with Alexandra. The thought is not already finished as I find myself cozily sprawled out in one of those inviting hammocks. I enjoy the slow, swaying rhythm – left, right, left, right – and try to remember when I had last time so many chilling and carefree moments.

No one who wants me on the phone or somewhere else, no duties, nothing to accomplish – life is absolutely perfect in the here and now.

When I finally get up I see a book lying under the hammock next to me: It is Eckhart Tolle`s ”The power of NOW”. I burst out in laughter.

I leave the hostel which had really been hospitable to me. Thank you Lucia, Alison, Joe and the nice night porter, who patiently had answered all my questions and had provided me with a large, fluffy bath towel – for free, of course.

In front of the door there is standing a taxi. No, he is not interested in any way to drive me round Copenhagen without being paid. But he explains me carefully how to go best to Frederiksberg Have (Have = Gardens). Its 4-5 km to walk across the city and his eyes say clearly: Hey, girl, don´t be silly and take my taxi! He does not believe that anybody with a bit of brains would walk around  - let alone travel around! – without any money.

I consider this distance as a combination of sightseeing and workout and start walking. The stretch leads me literally across the center of Copenhagen. Citizens going for a drink after work, tourists on hunt for souvenirs, teenagers “checking the scene” and live music at every corner.

On each of the big squares I see there is a building site. Copenhagen is constructing a new subway. I already know it from my ride from the airport into the city.

I reach the town hall and discover next to it Tivoli, one of the worlds oldest pleasure grounds. As I was told, many Copenhageners own season tickets and visit the park regularly. On it´s other end there is the central station, an imposing building. The whole area evaporates a strange atmosphere. I feel trepidation and walk faster to get away from here.

Everywhere I go the streets are broad with mostly four or even six traces plus large bicycle ways. There are no bends or turns. A fact that makes me feel to walk into infinity. As it turns out, walking makes me a philosopher. 

After one hour of walking there is still no clue of the park. I ask somebody and learn, that I am on the right way, but its still REALLY FAR, 2 km or so. Umph. Better to ask one more person. The same answer. Umph again.

Courageously I walk on. After a while I ask again for the way. I am still right and now it is less than one km to go.

On my way I have taken a lot of pictures and now my cellphone´s battery is flat.

I meet Alexandra next to the entrance. Sympathy on the first sight and fortunately on both sides.

Frederiksberg Have is wonderful. In its center there is a big castle 
among an elaborated terrace-garden. Old trees, a fountain, people sitting on the grass, enjoying the evening sun and having picnic.

We sit down and in the middle of chatting ducks, geese and nature spirits we have a  deep and inspiring meditation.

Afterwards Alexandra shows me in another part of the park an area with formal gardens. They are beautiful and we explore them in length and depth. At a water basin we stop. With the very tip of one finger Alexandra touches gently the surface of the water. A very small wave forms and grows visibly on and on. In less then on minute the wave is enormous and reaches the other end of the basin.

Finally it´s hunger which motivates us to go home. Unfortunately (not really, but in this special case for me) Alexandra lives on the other end of Frederiksberg. Another nearly one and a half hours walk appeased my appetite for workouts. Likely for the next two years.

At home we quickly cook a meal and prepare the sofa for me. I recharge my phone. When I check the messages, I have to sit down.

There are TWO other offers for a sleepover tonight. TWO. MORE.

This experiment without money comes out to be an experience of true abundance.

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To be continued

48 hours without money in a foreign country – Part 2

Wednesday morning

My first night in Copenhagen was rather short. The events of the day still lingered on in my mind. All the encounters, conversations and especially the kindness I had experienced took place again in front of my inner eye. So I had only three or four hours of sleep, regularly interrupted by the sleep-walking guy in the bed above me. He would climb down the ladder regularly, stand in the room like irritated, maybe switch on briefly the light and the return into his bed.

The following morning I take it slow, I feel the missing sleep. And I feel my feet. The previous day I had walked approximately 5 hours while searching for an overnight stay. Even if I had taken with me only very few things (like a sleeping bag, 2 small water bottles, a warm jacket an NO toothbrush :) I was glad that I had chosen instead of a bag a small trolley to carry them.

Thanks to Lucia I have a decent breakfast in the hostel and take the chance to provide even for the rest of the day. Now the only task left for today is to find an overnight accommodation.

I benefit by the free internet and computers in the hostel and make a request-post on my facebook-site.

There I also find a message from Alexandra from Copenhagen. She suggests to meet in the late afternoon in a park. Yet we don´t know each other personally, but both of us are members of an international meditation- and healing-group. When I knew I would go to Copenhagen we had agreed to have a conjointly meditation.

I am delighted. First because I have enjoyed very much the conversations we had had before and second I love to meditate with others.

Round 11 am I leave the house. Thanks to the kindness of the hostel´s reception stuff I don´t need to pay for a lockbox, but I can leave my suitcase in their office.

Outside it is splendid. The sun is laughing from a nordic blue-summer´s –sky. The sunshine warms my skin and the people in the streets all seem to be cheerful.

My feet seem to have regained to good form, they don´t hurt at all. Two days before I had sprained of my toes. Now it is still swollen and decorated with a beautiful bruise. Thanks to Dr. Dieter Sielmanns Medi-Tapes* the pain is gone.

I slowly walk to Nyhavn and enjoy the setting of the bright-colored, beautiful old houses and in front of them the huge rods of the sailing boats, bobbing up and down in the water. Further down I reach the water front and enjoy the view and the fantastic architecture of the national theatre and the opera.

Yesterday, when I arrived I had been immediately taken by Kopenhagen. Now I I feel how I fall in love even more with this wonderful city: The soft breeze from the sea, the friendliness and patience of the people I get in contact with. The whole atmosphere seems to sparkle and energize everyone and everything.

Alexandra calls me, giving me the address of the park where we are going to meet and asks if I want to sleep at her house tonight. Of course I want!!

I am very grateful for her invitation. It gives me time to restore myself. I still feel tired and in need of rest, at least to digest my new experiences and give space to the happiness and lightness they create.  

I declare this day a chill-and-rest-day: On a huge terrace by the sea there are free deck chairs. I sit down and doze in the sun. Is it really to believe? Today I absolutely have nothing to do, it is taken care of me. - I have lunch in the sun and enjoy my life.

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                              To be continued.

*Dr. Dieter Sielmann, D- Bad Oldesloe
www.schmerzundtape.de