Settling down in Aalborg - A Resident's View

“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.” 

To continue from my last blog after Boss and me had finally settled down here in Aalborg, we are ready to explore this city deeper as residents. However Denmark is havind very strict covid restrictions that will lasts til 07 Feb 2021.  

I felt healthier ever since the first night here as we will go to bed before 9pm and wake up automatically at 530am. The earliest time I went to bed was 730pm. I was pretty shock and I really feel good the next morning after a good detox for my body.

Recap as per below that we got all our National Cards to start our lives here. 

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My National Cards to start my life as a resident here. 

Below is the sample I grabbed from google.

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Danish Residence Permit

My two important cards: A Danish Residence Permit and a CPR Card.

Everyone who lives in Denmark is required to have a civil registration number called a CPR number

All residents in Denmark need to have a CPR number. You need it to open a bank account, access your health insurance, borrow books from the library, pay tax, receive a salary and so on. The CPR number consists of ten digits. The first six digits are your date of birth (day, month and year) while the last four digits provide a unique identification number for all citizens in Denmark. The final four numbers also indicate your gender, ending in even numbers for women and odd numbers for men.  

Most importantly, it act as a ‘visa,’ your Danish Residence Permit proves that you are in the country legally. When traveling to and from Denmark, you may be asked to show your Danish Residence Permit at customs to prove that you have the right to come back into the country. Denmark is part of the European Union's Schengen Agreement, which means that you do not need to show your national ID card or passport when you are travelling to or from Denmark from another Schengen EU country. You are still recommended to bring your passport or ID card with you in case you need to prove your identity. Some airline operators still require you to present a passport even for travels within the Schengen area. The following countries are part of the Schengen Agreement: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

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Yellow Health Card (CPR)

This yellow card a.k.a CPR Card: ‘CPR,’ meaning ‘Civil Registration Number,’ qualifies you as a legal resident of Denmark who can access the Danish social system and receive free health benefits. If you have a Danish Residence Permit, you are obligated to have a CPR card. You will apply for this once you are in Denmark.

The yellow health card shows your name, address, your CPR number and the name and address of your doctor. The card is proof that you can receive medical treatment in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. You must bring the health card when you see your doctor and to municipal offices. You can also use it at libraries, for identification in post offices and stores and in many others situations.

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After all packing & tidy up, our nest is ready and we are ready to start our lives here. "Hadsundvej" is the area where we are staying at. it is located at the eastern side of Aalborg. 20min walks for Boss to reach his office on foot. 

There are several supermarket located here as well, all within walking distance. The nearest is directly opposite. 

This apartment belongs to Boss's company, which is a 3 bedroom apartment, size like our 4 room HDB in Singapore. Pleased to introduce a house tour.  

This is the building look like.  

This is the entrance to my block, I am on Block B, ground level - there is no lift in most of the buildings here. The windows with lights on is actually my unit. 

This is our letter box, 6 units per block. The Postman here will cross check the names on the letter against the mailbox. Just in case that important letters goes missing. Therefore it is a must for all resident to have their names written on the mail box. 

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Here how the postman look like... so handsome

This is the door to my unit. We are at the ground level, so lucky.. there is no lift all in at the building. The interior is a simple Scanavanian look.. the standard wood flooring

After closing the door ( I hang a door bell there so when Boss is back, I will be aware).  

and as you enter, the toilet is at the left and Room 1 is at the right. 

I used the Room 1 as a store room to store my luggage and un-used stuff. 

Last look before going out with a storage tray for me to put keys, mask and sanitizer. 

Right opposite this walk way mirror, there is an utility cupboard. 

Continue to walk, to walk straight,the living room is straight ahead, the kitchen is at the left, Room 2 is at the right. Room 3 which is the only double bed is located in the kitchen area. The bathroom is located directly opposite of Room 3. 

Here is how the Living Room is. 

And here are our snacks to go with our Rose Wine while watching TV

Meanwhile, this is how the ventilation here look like. It can be a heater and air-condition.

Next, let's see the kitchen. Simple design with a mircowave and induction cooker. Glad that I brought along a few Corning ware pots as well as some kitchen helpers. 

"Stone Look" Switch

See, my wonder kitchen helpers are all here. 

See my loots here. These are my important treasure to last us for our cravings. I always love hotpot during winter. 

All my coffee are here, it is good to have our own. 

This is a very tall and big fridge. I cannot even reach the top shelf. 

Washing machine with dryer service. 

Room 3, which is our room. We moved the single bed from Room 2 to Room 3 as we want to convert Room 2 into our Laundry Room. 

Nothing Fancy about, just a Super Big Bed which is the merger of a double and a single bed, One large wardrobe, a couple of side tables and a big table. 

Lastly, Room 2 which is our laundry room. See General Warrior Dyson is resting there, standby for next duty of call. Yes, I brought over from Singapore.

Ok, that's all about the house tour.  

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Taking a bus in Aalborg

Aalborg Busterminal on John F Kennedy Plads , located  right by the station is a large regional hub for long distance, regional and local buses. 

The sun was not up yet when we went out at 830am, our bus stop name is "Filsterdvej" which is just next to the petrol station where they offer Starbucks on-the-go. 

This is how the buses look like here. New and comfy, 3 doors with wheelchairs or prams accessibilities. 

We bought our bus tickets via the apps, there is stipulated bus's timings to follow to fit the timing purchased.  Most of the locals own their own transportation cards which is just like our Ezlink.

We will get our own cards later as things are not so accessible due to the lockdown. 

Before we know about this app, we were paying cash but then the Government stricten up covid rule - extension of the lockdown til 28 Feb, 2 meter social distancing and zero contact. 

Due to the "Zero Contact" rule, bus captains no longer accept cash for the rides, there were a couple of times we did not pay for the rides til we found out app purchase. 

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Shopping for the basics

Bilka Hypermarket

Bilka is a Danish chain of hypermarkets that is owned by Salling Group. 

Took us an hr bus ride to reach this place. We are here to fill up our fridge

We took Bus 12 for 20 min ride at 24kr(SGD5 per person) to Aalborg Bus Terminal which is just outside of Aalborg Train station. 

Changed to Bus 1 to Zone 5 area at the flat rate of 24kr per person, another 20 min ride before we alight. 

this photo was taken on few night ago with Boss's Boss. That's Boss's Boss's back.

This place reminds me of Carrefour during her heydays in Singapore. 

Beside filling up the fridge with those standard food, here are some interesting stuff I also bought. 

This roasted duck noodles is a good thing I should buy for my friends. 

Tried the Singapore Laksa and it turned out to be totally different taste then what I should expected.

It is already catered to local taste I guessed. 

Here is our dinner after shopping at Bilka, feel so local. hahhahahaa

It has been 13th day here and I woke up to these scene! What a great start for the day!. 

Our cornflakes breakfast that goes with local organic milk which cost about SGD3.

I decided to pop over to the supermarket opposite to get this in the middle of the snow!

16 Jan today, is the coldest morning Aalborg got for the past 2 years. We woke up at near 7am to the freezing temperature of negative 8!!!!

First time seeing the sun rise here as the sun is always hidden behind the thick clouds. Though the weather is negative 8, the skies was rather clear for us to this view. 

We need hot soup for this cold harsh morning but I am too lazy to cook so we will have this cup noodles which we bought last trip from Bilka.. I never try this flavour before. 

By noon, we went to the Centrum to met up with a Danish Couple - Jeppe & Marlene, Jeppe is Boss's friend.. We went for a stroll in the Centrum & by the Fjord.

The Taxis here are all so glam and so does the price tag. 

The surface is frozen!!

If you know what this "F.R.I.E..N.D.S." that means you are as young as me . hahhahahaa.

Phoebe, Joey, Ross, Chandler, Rachel and Monica - you name it! They are all loved and admired in their participation in the worldwide series "Friends".

Now you can not just identify with them on the TV screen, because at café Friends in Aalborg it is lined up exactly like The Central Park, we know from FRIENDS. 

Asian supermarket, I managed to got these. 

Before we bade good bye to Jeppe & Marlene, they gave us some real Danish Food to try!

This is deep fried pork skin

The cup can easily get at any supermarket here, the fillings need to handmade, mine was made by Marlene.

Chocolate with cream fillings

And this is how it looks like inside though it is more at the sweeter side.

Fish Roe - bread spread

A.K.A our sardines

Chocolate bread spread.

Candy with local taste

Here is our dinner for this cold night, the temperature had already broke the thermometer! I felt so right of bringing these soup base over. 

16th day is a foggy day. 

My traditional Danish Lunch today.

This is Tarteletter, gift from local friends.

The cups can easily buy in any supermarket. But the fillings must home made which mainly made of chicken, wheat flour and asparagus.

And taste real yummy.

Here is the recipe :

boil a whole chicken together with herbs, onion and carrots for a couple of hours. Cool it down and take of all the meat from the chicken. Then you melt some butter in a big pan, add flour and mix well. Add the broth from the chicken and mix well. Ad the Meat and asparagus.

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So far,  Covid-19 restriction will last til 28 Feb 2021. People are expected to keep their distance from each other (2m), and face masks are mandatory in all indoor public spaces, including shops. The maximum number of people who can gather has been lowered to five people. 

The stricter measures include remote and online classes for pupils and students where possible, a ban on on-site consumption of food and drinks at restaurants etc. and the requirement that indoor cultural and sports facilities must stay closed. Further, citizens are still encouraged to work from home Special arrangements and approvals are needed if one need to work from office. . Durable goods stores, such as DIY stores and interior design shops, must continue to stay closed, as must also shopping centres, department stores, shopping arcades and bazaars. The same applies to liberal professions who are not able to maintain the distance required to prevent infections, such as hairdressers, massage therapists, tattooists and driving schools. Restaurants can still sell takeaway food. Shops handing out parcels are still allowed to do so if the goods have been pre-ordered and paid for online. During the entire lock-down period, grocery shops/supermarkets, pharmacies and specialist shops selling medical equipment can stay open. 

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First time, my closed up view with Seagulls. Usually I see them from far but here in Aalborg, this is one of the common birds here. I guessed Denmark is well surrounded by sea that is why it is easy to spot them at such close range.  Typically, most seagulls are banded at the legs,  there is one plain metal band and one color band. I even noticed that there are some words and digits on the band. 

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Chinese New Year(CNY) without our families. CNY in the Europe. There is no Chinatown in Aalborg thus there are only small celebration by the local Chinese Community who collaborates with the Confucius Institute at Aalborg University. The event consists of  enjoying Chinese tea, snacks and music and learn about our Chinese traditions over the new year. Well, due to the restrictions, we choose to keep CNY only to the 2 of us. Anyway it is a working day for Boss on the first day of CNY. 

Here is our reunion dinner for the 2 of us - Steamboat in the snow! When living abroad during CNY especially the town has no Chinatown, glad that I brought along all these yummies to fend for the cold and our mini way of celebrating CNY.

Other than the soup base, luncheon meat & abalone , the meat we got it from local supermarket and those steamboat stuff we got it from local Asian Supermarkets. 

First Day of CNY, mother nature greeted with -12. 

We managed to get these mini oranges here in the supermarket. 

Morning greetings from the mother nature on CNY : Seagull in the snow

I look forward for the day where everything will go back to normal. I yearn for shopping and strolling the walking street. I hope to explore Denmark and outside soon. For sure, we will missed Northern Lights this round, therefore I look forward for the chance with Midnight Sun at the Artic during the Summer. I heard the sun set at near 1030pm in Denmark during Summer! If possible, we plan for Sweden, Iceland and Norway.

This blog will end here, As for my daily life in this beautiful country, I will keep everyone update on my Facebook page Followblueginger & Instagram Page followblueginger. Therefore, please do like & follow my Facebook & Instagram Page.  

Meanwhile, if you are keen to know more about the trips I had made, please browse through the content on the main page. 😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃

We have come to the end of this blog, please look out for my upcoming blog on Saeby Town where we explored during the CNY. I will share more on a real Danish food and the real Scanavanian house.

Meanwhile if your time is permitted, please take a look at my our blogs on our lives here in Aalborg. 

Here are some of my blogs on the places and town I visited in Denmark.

1) Relocation from Singapore to Aalborg, Denmark

2) Exploring Saeby @ Denmark

3) Lindholm Høje @ Aalborg - The Ancient Burial Grounds for the VIKINGS

4) One Day Silkeborg @ Denmark

5) Explore Copenhagen @ Denmark

6) Summer Holidays in Saeby Denmark

7) The NorthenMost Tippest Tip of Denmark : Skagen

8) Half Day Frederikshavn @ Denmark

9) Explore Aalborg @ Denmark    

10) Singapore Moving to Denmark - what you need to know ?

As for my daily life in this beautiful country, I will keep everyone update on my Facebook page Followblueginger & Instagram Page followblueginger. Therefore, please like & follow my Facebook & Instagram Page.  

Meanwhile, if you are keen to know more about the trips I had made, please browse through the content on the main page. 😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃

Cheers and Good Luck 💓