Aslaug's Axe Shed

Well folks, I?ve now been busy at work for over two weeks. And busy is exactly the right word for it.

I haven?t written anything on my blog for a while, simply because I wanted to get settled in first before telling you all about this, but suffice to say I?m having a fantastic time of it. Much as I loved my job in Randers, this is really in another league entirely. The amount of trust placed in people like me ? new as I am in this job ? is astounding.

Let me explain what my duties include so far:

Primary amongst the things I have to do is a major project, dealing with the fire-brigade in Hj?rring (the town where I now work). The paid firebrigade in Hj?rring was founded in 1890, after centuries of problems with serious fires which almost completely destroyed the town on several occasions. In 1911, the firemen formed their own club. This club, obviously, celebrates its first centeniary next year and they want a book written about their past history. Some parts of the book will be written by their own members, some parts will be written by people at the museum. Or more precisely ? by one person at the museum. Yours truly. Don?t think it sounds interesting? Well, I was thoroughly surprised after reading about these men ? ordinary people with ordinary jobs, doing an extraordinary thing to keep people safe from harm. And of course, there are a lot of funny little stories relating to that. But it gets better. Next year, the museum will play host to a special exhibition about the firebrigade, and once again, I will be deeply involved. My boss goes on maternity leave next month, and she has instructed me to please come up with the outlines for the exhibition before then, so that I can work on it while she?s gone. Imagine that ? my first exhibition. I?ll probably be waffling about that on and off on this blog. Don?t say I didn?t warn you.

Next, I have some registration duties. This isn?t unlike what I did in Randers, but then again ? it?s a minor part of the job here. It?s meant to help get a backlog out of the way, and I don?t mind it at all. Sadly, the national database, REGIN, has been inaccessible for ages so I haven?t done much work on that yet. It?ll come though.

Oh, and the museum apparently don?t have anyone working for them comfortable enough with the English language to translate anything from Danish into English. All texts at the museum as they are now are presented only in Danish,, meaning tourists are hard pressed to get anything out of a visit to the museum. Guess who will be translating the texts, guys? And guess who will also be translating loads of internet material.

On the same note, I?ll also be writing new text. Such as short stories, typically about a page long, about something out of the history of Hj?rring for use on the homepage or in brochures. Any topic I stumble across which I can write something about, I?m welcome to do so. Not to mention a yearbook article ?

Yep, things are going in the right direction. And hopefully, they can find a few months of actual work for me once the support period runs out, if I haven?t found something else by then.

Hopefully.

In any case, I?m glad I have something to do again. Something to get up for in the morning. I have great colleagues at the museum. Very friendly, very open people who don?t check up on me to make sure I do my job twice a day, which is a nice feeling of freedom. And which also means I get work done on all the projects I?m working on, simply because I don?t feel nervous about constantly having someone looming over me.

I get up at four thirty in the morning to get here, and I have no problem doing so. That?s how happy I am with this. Four thirty in the morning ? and I still have about two hours to and two hours from work. Fortunately, my boss is exceptionally nice about it so she suggested ? without my even mentioning this ? that since I had such a long way to and from work, that I could do an hour worth of translation-work on my way home on the train and bus and then leave an hour earlier, meaning I at least get home before the shops close.

Again ? trust. Which also means I have so far translated twelve brochures and a number of small articles ?

It feels great. And I?m glad I don?t have to get up in the morning now and wonder what on Earth I would make the day go with ? only to sit down and pine away in front of my computer-screen, doing nothing but playing whatever game suited my fancy.

Isn?t it strange how actually spending energy GIVES you more energy? How going to work makes you a lot less tired? At least mentally?

Great place this. Great place.