this is one of those, i have to write about this in order to figure out what i think about it posts. we've had, for us, quite a lot of snow this week. today, it was sunny, clear and cold and very windy. the wind caused quite a lot of drifting across various roads in our area. i didn't walk far enough to actually show you how bad it is, so this picture doesn't actually do it justice. i decided to take another way around to get into town to get groceries and i got thoroughly stuck in a snowdrift. i oddly neglected to take a photo of my predicament. i called husband, who wasn't anywhere near home, to tell him what happened. he laughed, told me to go home and get a shovel and come back and start digging. i was definitely NOT wearing the right clothes for that task, but i was about a kilometer from home, so i walked back home to change clothes and get a shovel.
in the meantime, i asked husband if he could call the farmer who rents our field, to ask him if he could come with a tractor and pull me out. he could. i said i'd run home to change into proper winter clothing (thank goodness sabin got two pairs of moonboots on vinted for christmas) and i'd meet him back at the car.
i bundled up, found a little shovel, just in case, and headed back. as i was walking back, i noticed that our new neighbors were standing out by the road by their driveway. they are actually fellow americans and they are here in denmark as missionaries (apparently the danes are godless heathens, despite the fact that we have a state religion here and virtually everyone is lutheran).
when they first moved in back in october, husband and i took a couple of my many avocado plants over and welcomed them to the neighborhood. they didn't even really invite us in that day and we stood awkwardly in the entryway, talking to the wife and her mother who was here from nebraska, helping them move. while we talked, a couple of the sons (they have 3 and 1 daughter) also said hello. but we haven't met the husband or the daughter or the eldest son. it all seemed a little weird.
even weirder, when they looked up and saw me headed their direction, they went further into their property, seemingly to avoid talking to me. i'd think a bundled up woman in a blizzard, carrying a shovel, might warrant a, "hey, do you need help?" but i don't even think i would have gotten a hello without my saying hello first. it was weird, to say the least.
i wouldn't have actually taken them up on help, as i knew help was on the way, but honestly, i think it would have just been neighborly politeness to offer. i find it absurd that they are in denmark to "church plant" (according to one website i found) and they don't even display the slightest hint of christian kindness. what kind of christianity are they here to spread? i am honestly a little offended.
yes, we have painted viking symbols on our house. but they don't even know us and haven't talked to us. what kind of attitude is it to see me coming and move further in to avoid even greeting me, especially in weather conditions like today's? what kind of christianity is that? i don't know if they're trumpy, but this makes me suspect they are. but christianty aside, i honestly would have expected more polite kindness from our next-door neighbors.
it feels like yet another symptom of a world that's just completely out of wack. luckily, the actual danes in the neighborhood were quick to help me. when i got to my car, the farmer was there with his tractor, along with another farmer with a big snow mover scoop. one pulled me out and the other cleared the road while we went to the other end, so that i could turn around and drive back home. dinner will just have to be what i already have in the fridge. and i'm thankful for the good people who do live in our area.
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