"They were known as the ferocious Vikings, now they are known to be one of the most gentle people in the world. "
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| The “Dannebrog” was first acknowledged back in 1219, which makes it the oldest state flag still in use by an independent nation. |
After months of working from home, Boss told me that we need to be relocate to Aalborg, Denmark for 9-12 months from Jan 2021. The first things came into my mind was "oh we are in the Northern side, we can go to Artic Circle for the Northern Lights during the winter and the Midnight Sun in the Summer." And not to forget the Faroe Islands and Iceland too !
Denmark is one of the most expensive country in the world. The tax for local is 45% and GST is 25% !
Therefore, most Danes choose to dine at home than outside in the restaurant.
The weather in Denmark is a dream weather to me, the max is 25 degrees celsius in Summer!
Denmark's information
Total Population: 5,748,769.
Currency: Danish kroner (DKK) estimate SGD1 = DKK5
Official language: Danish. But Faroese, Greenlandic, and German are also recognized as regional languages.
Time zone: CET (UTC +1), summertime, CEST (UTC +2)
Country Number/Prefix: +45
Country Code: DK
Capital: Copenhagen
An ancient city where Viking ships once sailed past on the Limfjord ( a shallow part of the sea, a term that been used since the Vikings Days), Aalborg has evolved to a vibrant cultural hotspot with a spectacular waterfront of iconic architectural buildings.
Aalborg, the capital of the Northern Jutland regions which makes up of total 16 towns. With a population of 217,075 (as of 2019), Aalborg is the third most populous in the country after Copenhagen and Aarhus. Glad that I had already been to Aalborg 2 years ago so I am fully aware the city itself. I remembered it gave me a good impression of a clean and safe place though the living standard is rather high. My Burger King set cost me SGD20!!!! .
The people there are friendly and nice too, they are ready to greet you anytime! I remembered I was resting at the Starbucks over a coffee and I felt someone touched me at the back of my head, I turned around and saw an old lady smiling at me, I assumed that she just wana feel the condition of black hair.
Here is my blog for your better understanding on my last trip to Amsterdam & Aalborg : https://followblueginger.blogspot.com/2018/01/holland-denmark-amsterdam-nijmegen.html
Aalborg traces its history back over a thousand years. Similar as Singapore, it was originally settled as a trading post because of its position on the Limfjord(means the shallowest part of Sea since Vikings Days) . The sites of what were two settlements and a burial ground can be seen on Lindholm Hoje (which I will explore soon), a hill overlooking the city. These large settlements, one from the 6th-century Germanic Iron Age and the other from the Viking Age in the 9th to 11th centuries. I look forward for my living experience as a local resident in months time.
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What a year it has been! For the greater part of 2020, the whole world has been held hostage by Covid-19! As the world is crippled by Covid-19, the relocation task is not as easy as I thought. Relocation is not just just buying an air ticket, there are too much work to be done before we can do the actual move. Whether the preparation work to be done is Singapore or in Denmark, it takes a lot of time and understanding each steps.
Boss's company engaged a professional "Relocation Agency" to help us for this. This agency will guide us step by step to become a local resident.
Covid-19 situation is Denmark
Though Denmark is located in the Northern Region of the Globe, it is not spare from the notorious Covid-19 as well. Most of the cases occured in the main city on Denmark, Northern Jutlands region has the least case. At the time of wrting this post on Oct 2020, Northern Jutland has less than 1200 cases out of 37,000 cases countrywide.
Everyone is require to wear a mask at all time except for eating. All F&B will shut their doors by 10pm.
There was shock last week when Denmark decided to cull all its mink - up to 17 million animals - because of the spread of coronavirus. That national cull has turned into a political outcry, now that the prime minister has admitted the plan was rushed and had no legal basis at the time of writing on 13 Nov 2020. Danish authorities worry that a mutated form of coronavirus found in mink could potentially hamper the effectiveness of a future vaccine. Overnight most farmers has seen his livelihood wiped out which is really saddening. Denmark is not the first country to report outbreaks on fur farms but it is the world's biggest producer. Spain, Sweden, Italy, and the US have all been affected, as has the Netherlands, where mink farming will be outlawed by spring next year. Here in Denmark, more than one in five farms have reported infections, in total there are more than 1000 mink farms here.
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Preparing all the necessary documents and paperwork
12Nov 2020, we had a discussion with IPM (the relocation agency) who will assist us on all the necessary actions for the move. First of all, application of the Resident Card / Work Pass.
Boss busy playing with the scanner. Need to scan our marriage certificate, all pages of our passport too.
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Cycling is a way of life in Denmark, everyone's doing it. They even have our own cycling embassy, designed to promote and inspire cycling. There are more bikes than people in Denmark’s capital city, and half the population gets to school and work on two wheels. Cycling paths are scatter all over the Denmark which are either raised above the shoulder of the road and separated by a curb or the cycling lanes are separated by a thick white line and sometimes the lane may be marked by other colours.
Since we are going there, cycling is expected for us too as a mode of transport therefore before we leave Singapore, we are learning it.
This is what I got for not braking on time, end up bang into the wall. 😭😭😭
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Our apartment is ready! The house rule is here, it is just like the usual airbnb we had rented in our past trips. 15 minutes walk to office for Boss, 10 minutes walk to city center, 1 minute walk to the nearest supermarket. It is 3 bed room fully furnished service apartment.
Today 19 Nov 2020, we are here at VFS Global located at Anson Road for "Biometric Recording" for submission of our digital photos, fingerprints and signatures for our Residence Card.
VFS Global is the world's largest visa outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. The company manages the administrative and non-judgmental tasks related to visa, passport, identity management and other citizen services for its client governments. This enables them to focus entirely on the critical task of assessment.
Another step nearer. hahahaa
On 30 Nov 2020, we received this email from Danish Embassy. Our Danish ID cards are ready, we are now the residents of Denmark!
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The Packing before the move
Relocation Agency will air freight all our stuff over, Since we are going less than a year, all furniture were excluded from our list as the apartment is fully furnished with most fixtures and fittings, we just need to move over those daily necessities and my kitchen stuff. We just brought most of the clothings for most seasons (which is winter clothings), household items and all the basic necessities like my tools from the kitchen, some canned food and some soup base for our hotpots cravings, some tonics. Most importantly is my 3 heavenly kings, which are my Philips Pressure cooker, Philips Air Fryer & my quick steamer etc. On top of these, company is giving us extra 30kg luggage weight on my flight. The whole house now is so messy with cartons & luggages waiting to be filled and sealed.
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The Move - Count Down 5 Days
Relocation company came to collect our stuff to fly them over to Aalborg. This will take 5-7 days then the usual by ship which takes about 2 months.
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Denmark has classified Singapore as an open country, Traveller arriving from Singapore are allowed to enter, no matter the purpose. However all Travellers must have a medical certificate with a negative Coronavirus ( Covid-19) PCR test taken at mot 72 hours before.
Glad that we have a clinic nearby our home to have the test done. I was feeling rather nervous after hearing bad stories on the procedure. It is not that bad afterall! . The doctor was very gentle who explained to me what to expect next. Though when the doctor inserted the test kit into my nose, it went real deep inside til it knock on the wall (yes, it feels so werid), once there, doctor start to swab which was so itchy that it makes me cough, followed by tearing and itchy throat. Each side took about 5 seconds to get the cells. The whole thing was over in less than one minute.
The tears stopped almost immediately once it ended, cough lasted me another couple minutes while the itchy throat lasted me for about 10 minutes then I am all clear from it. Results will be email to us by next noon which is just nice for our early check in at the later noon.
To be precise, this is what the test actually is about.
But!!!!, ( at the current time of writing) We are required to serve a 14 days Stay-Home Notice(SHN) when we are coming back to Singapore from Denmark and will be tested for Covid-19 before the end of SHN.
Taaa... Da..... Here is the "negative" medical certificate we got from the doctor.
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Finally it is our actual move, on top of our regular 2 big luggage, company still give us extra 30kgs b. Total we have three 28cm luggage, one 26cm and two 20cm to be check in therefore, we are here to check in at the airport 6hrs before the supposed actual check in time. With the help of my nephew Mervin, half of my loot went to his car while the remaining got into mine.
With one 20cm luggage, one bags and one travel pillow and paid for the excess baggage, we are ready with all our boarding passes all the way to Aalborg.
Boss's family and my family wanted to send us off at the airport, but due to Covid rule - we cannot have a group more than 8 people therefore we split the meeting into 2 groups.
His mum and sister came to Changi Airport to meet us for dinner and some photos taking from 630pm - 9pm whereas my family will come at 9pm til 1015pm.
After all the waving and hugging, Boss and I cross the custom and the challenge of long flight is approaching. Singspore's custom system is upgraded. Instead of thumb prints, the system will snap out photos instead. So there is no touching of anything at all! Very good system for this tiring Covid-19 period.
The transit area is extremely quiet and deserted.... It is such a wow and sad sight for me, I hope this thing will not lasts one. Tasting once in a lifetime is enough... The travel trade is dying now.
Flying during Covid - airline done a pretty good job. All passengers are well spaced. All staff onboard are masked on. 😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷
The plane is a pretty new one, 6 cabin crew, 2 pilots and 5 passengers!!!!!
I never tried this kind of flying before!!
Recap "Pretty Woman" onboard.
Supper with ice cream.
Breakfast, and we are landing Copenhagen soon.
After flying in the air for 13hrs, finally we reached to the land of Vikings - Copenhagen International Airport. The airport here is also like Changi Airport - quiet and deserted
Crossing the custom here so there will no further custom check in Aalborg airport later.
This is my first time seeing the stamp of Denmark, the previous trip I did not get my passport stamped as I was coming from Amsterdam.
The waiting time for our next flight to Aalborg is 5hrs! So this is how we killed the time...
Visit SAS lounge who is a team with Singapore Airline - Boss is Elite Gold!
See, the teeny tiny one is here, it is going to bring us to Aalborg.
Finally, it is the boarding time...
Nobody check our passport & boarding pass at all. It is a mere 45 minutes flight.
Total there are less than 15 passengers.
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Landed Aalborg finally after all the transit and waiting.
Out of the 15 passengers, only we have luagges.
His buddy at work came to pick us up at the airport, it is such a great blessings.
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Our Comfy Home - arranged by his company - everything are paid of
Located in Vejgaard, which is the eastern neighbourhood in Aalborg, barely 10-15min walk to the city centre.
This 3 bedroom apartment is fully furnished and was just renovated before we move over. I will load photos after i tidy up... it is an Ikea showroom... simpler version kind.
| 💓 this key chain very much, Pig got it for me for last Xmas, meant for my keys to this house. |
Our first day in Aalborg ended simple at 8pm as we were too tired... Zzzzzz
We woke up at 530am on the second day!
We had a 15min walk to Fotex Supermarket to get some stuff.
With my PPC and food from Singapore, we had it for lunch followed by more unpacking.
Our Pizza Dinner with wine as it is getting colder.
Day 3 and he is going to office to show face and do some stuff and today is my first ME Day.
I just need to go opposite to Netto supermarket to get some stuff for tonight's dinner. Well, the snow stopped when I went out.
My favourite Tulips.. this bundle cost SGD5 only.
My lunch today while writing the blog.
Here is our one-pot dinner : Herbal chicken stew - good for the cold snowy night.
Well, that is how my last 3 days went by. Tomorrow, we will be going to the City to get our ID physical card, bank card and transportation card.
Our 4th Day start by taking a public bus from our door steps to the town, which took us about 20 minutes ride.
We need to present ourselves with all relevant documents at Aalborg Kommune for the staff to cross check our identities. Once all cleared, the phyical resident cards and Doctor's card will be mail to us in a couple of weeks.
Today is our 6th day here and we are rewarded with snow.
There is some delay of our 10 cartons, my coffee is running out. Got these from Netto that cost SGD1.20 per cup.
Today is our 7th Day here, I urgently needed a freshly brewed coffee.
I found a Starbucks on-the-go located in a petrol station which is one minute walk away from my house. But It is still snowing since yesterday's noon til now 10am.
This is the photo which I took yesterday with a Milo vs today with a Starbucks.
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The Unpacking
Finally, our stuff are here on the 10th day, it's time to get busy again.
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Everything is good
After all the unpacking and arranging, our little nest is ready. The photos of the House Tour will be loaded at the next blog : "Exploring Aalborg - I am a resident here!"
My 4 heavenly kings are ready for work again.
Looking forward spending our time here to understand the culture, to enjoy the weather.
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My National Cards to start my life as a resident here.
CPR
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.
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Yellow Health Card
The yellow health card shows your name and 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.
Below is the sample.. See the photo sample below, I divided the card into 2 segments for an easier explaination.
The upper segment in blue refer to your nearest doctor at your residential area. Call and book an appointment before visit.
The lower segment in purple refer to your own personal information including the CPR number.
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Our Bank Card
Danske Bank is a Danish Bank which was founded in 1871. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the Northern European region. Going cashless in the Europe is so common, therefore we also need this card for daily lives.
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My Danish Phone Card
The good news is that it’s fairly easy to switch over to a Danish sim when you arrive, and within a few minutes of buying and installing the sim in your phone you can be back online and connected with your friends. Fortunately, the country still has some decent pay-as-you-go options, so read on to find out which one is the best for you. 7-Elevens are always sure to have pre-paid cards and sims available.
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Transportation Card
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Lastly... Our Mailbox
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. My block got 6 units.
Finally, here is how the recycling bin look like.
Green is for bottles, Blue is for paper, Grey is for general. Everyday, 3 different trucks will come to collect them via crane. Check out the video..
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Upcoming next blog will be my life as a resident for the first month, house tour & real Danish food.
Stay tune for my trips out from Aalborg on my upcoming blogs while going around in the Denmark.
I hope I have the chance to visit the Northern Lights / Midnight Sun / Faroe Islands and Iceland. Hope Covid-19 will go away soon.
Stay Safe Everyone!
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.
Here are some of my blogs on the places and town I visited in Denmark.
1) Exploring Aalborg as a resident
3) Lindholm Høje @ Aalborg - The Ancient Burial Grounds for the VIKINGS
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 💓
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