Published: August 30, 2008 12:28 am            

CHRIS GILLIAM | In Denmark, when it rains it pours

Sept. 3:



I’ll never forget my first visit to the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown five years ago. It was in the middle of February and back in Baltimore we had a weird winter and people were wearing shorts during that month because it was fairly sunny.

I went to a basketball game in flip-flops and I can remember all the stares that I got because there was over two feet of snow waiting for me outside after the game. I wasn’t used to that much snow.

My first winter when I was a student at UPJ was very similar. The cold brisk air never seemed to stop blowing and the snow seemed to never stop falling.

In Baltimore, we closed down school and towns in anticipation of snow. We didn’t play around with the snow down there because it was something that seemed so foreign to us. No one ever drove in the snow, even if there was a half-inch on the ground. Everyone stayed inside.

But in Johnstown, even with several feet of snow on the roadways it was business as usual with everyone driving on the roads like it wasn’t even there. I remember my mom calling me all the time telling me when it was going to snow and insisting that I didn’t drive my car anywhere, but of course I did anyway. I wanted to fit in with the Johnstown way of life.

I don’t know if I really want to fit in the Danish way of life, though.

Since I have been in Denmark, I think it has rained at least once a day, 90 percent of the days I have been here. The house that I’m staying in doesn’t have a clothes dryer, so everything has to be hung dry like they did back in the day before my time.

So, when I dry my clothes, I have to check just about every 15 minutes so they don’t get soaked and then I’ll be back at square one again. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Now, as you all may know, I use a mountain bike to get around the city. I was just told that it was too small for me but it doesn’t bother me too much. I have to peddle about 10 to 15 minutes to the city where everything is, so I have definitely gotten caught in a rainstorm a few times, and let me tell you it’s not fun.

But I have no other choice, since a car isn’t affordable and neither is gas.

By the way, I will gladly come back and pay $4 a gallon. Out here they pay roughly $7 to $8 a gallon. It should be the Danish who are complaining about gas prices and not us.

The cars splash water on you and I’m beginning to think it’s on purpose. I think it is the driver’s humorous way of saying, “I have a car and you don’t.”

But everyone here seems to not mind the rain – just like Johnstown doesn’t seem to mind snow.

Everyone here has rain gear so their regular clothes don’t get soaked. I just deal with being wet in public now, at least until I get my rain gear, which I conveniently can’t find in my size.

When I was in Johnstown I couldn’t stand the snow, but I think I would much rather have to deal with the snow in my car than the rain on my bike.



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Aug. 29:



Welcome to my new blog!

As you now may know, I am currently playing basketball in the top division in Denmark. I playing in the city of Aarhus for the club Aabyhoj IF.

I sit in my house now that I share with another woman waiting for my first scrimmage game, or practice game as they call it out here. I have a lot of emotions running through my mind right now.

I am wondering how I am going to do, how the team is going to do and then finally how the fans will feel about me as the new Americano on the team, as they all call me.

I am still trying to get them to call me “Curly” just like everyone from back home and at Pitt-Johnstown does, but I don’t think that’s going to well here. I’m just simply known as Chris from America. So unoriginal, I know.

My team and coaches have full belief in me that I can get Aabyhoj IF basketball back to the top in terms of Danish basketball. I, myself also believe that I can do the same for the club.

I will not be able to do it alone, but I do have some very good teammates on my team, some even played college basketball in the States. With the exception of Joe (Benjamin), who played his collegiate basketball at West Virginia State University, and myself, all my other teammates are Danish. The reason is because there is a rule in the league that there can only be two Americans on each team in Denmark.

But, at times, I even consider Joe to be Danish because he can understand the language and his girlfriend is Danish, making it seem like I am the only American. But it is not that big of deal because they all still speak English.

That was one thing I was worried about when I was doing my research on Denmark was if they could speak English. They do, but not to one another, as I presumed. They only speak English to people who cannot speak Danish. And they cannot tell who is Danish and who isn’t.

I always have to tell people when they ask me questions that I am American and have no clue what they are saying. I have had a few people try to teach me the basics of the language, but I just do not have the tongue for it.

On the other hand, my practices are mainly in English – except for times when my coach is yelling at the players on the team or when he has meetings with the team, which isn’t a lot. At those times, I have a player next to me translating into English what he is saying. It’s amazing to me how they can do that.

But so far, everything is going well and I really like it out here.

I hope that everyone who has the chance to visit Europe would do so. It is really an eye-opening experience to me as an American.

The culture and way of life are different, but very similar at the same time.

I have a long time to get used to it, though, since I will be out here till March 31.

I have to get going. My game is at 6:15 and I have to be at the gym by 5:45. It is not like in college where it seemed like I had to be at the gym a day in advance for a game.

Talk to you soon.



Former Pitt-Johnstown standout Chris Gilliam is playing for Aabyhoj IF in the Danish elite basketball league. He is writing a regular blog for The Tribune-Democrat and www.tribdem.com about his experiences living in Denmark.

        

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