

	Of course, everybody's a winner...

michele serros

And the winner is... Sharon Z. of Seal Beach, California! Thanks to all who voted.

Tune in for the next Along for the Ride on Weekend All Things Considered, this Saturday, May 19th. Or listen on the Web and take time out to enter our next contest.

Now for Sharon's nostalgic "ride". She wrote about ...

Rundstykker and Frikadelle

As a permanent resident alien in the US (I left Copenhagen eleven years ago), I still don't feel 100% at home in the US. It's strange, having "a foot in each country" or better yet, floating somewhere above the Atlantic about halfway between North America and Europe, and one which I suspect is the primary source of an everpresent sadness that I often see in the faces of fellow immigrants.

I find, and perhaps even purposely seek out, an abundance of this melancholy in various watering holes for home sick immigrants (who, to begin with, are not sure where "home" is in the first place): places of worship, import stores, bakeries, cultural events/festivities, and at the international terminal at the Los Angeles airport, where the melancholy is so thick you could cut it by the slice.

As for melancholic Scandinavians, I've seen them at the Norwegian Bakery in San Pedro (now closed after half a century in business) and I see them at the Great Dane Bakery in Huntington Beach. I have so far resisted visiting the Danish church in Yorba Linda, but once went to the Seamens' Church in San Pedro and to the annual Swedish Christmas and St.Lucia event in Costa Mesa. I've been to Solvang, which was very surreal, and on my second visit there, I asked myself if there perhaps is a masochistic element at play here, hmmm.

Wouldn't I be happier if I stopped eating warm "rundstykker" with butter (Danish breakfast rolls) and just stuck with bagels and cream cheese, which I also happen to love? Wouldn't it help me feel more at home in the US if I stop reminding myself of the place I chose to leave? Or would that longing for things familiar fester and turn into a tumor the size of a "frikadelle" (Danish meatball)?

Tune in for the next ride and contest on May 19th.