Well met! I'm a young woman from Denmark with a year long interest in Tolkien and especially The Lord of the Rings. I won't call myself an expert though, because noone can obviously know everything about this magnificent story. I've always refered to The Lord of the Rings when asked about my relegion, and I have a very strong emotional relationship with especially the story of Aragorn and Arwen and the story of the elves. Therefore I'm of course studying the elvish language and writing as much as possible, and know all of the phrases and songs from the films, and some of the elvish poems from the books, by heart. I am also the proud owner of the Evenstar pendant of Arwen, Frodo's sword Sting and of course Aragorns sword Anduril. More pieces are to come. Hopefully! I very much like to believe that The Lord of the Rings and everything about it really took place, because this gives me an imaginary world to seek refuge and strength in, when things in this world gets a little rough. My name by the way means 'Child-Of-Elessar' in Sindarin.

Welcome Hin-O-Elessar.Join the threads and have fun

Well welcome however you write your name. And ............wow. I know almost zero about these awesome languages. I did try to find some time around last year, but had to get down to business with Hebrew, French and Irish Gaelic which I promptly forgot as soon as two weeks had passed without my using it.

Please feel absolutely free to teach us anything you know and I can tell you that you will absolutely love this place. I came about 2008 and thought I would stay a month or so. Then I fell in love with Grondy, Loss, ,Vir, Amarie Cloveress and so many many others and my heart refused to let me leave since then.

  Welcome and hello!  to our small planet with a big heart.

  It's nice to see one so enthusiastic about the languages.  I do like the plain forms of the languages, so you can leave the small fiddle-y parts to your own opinion and whatever you're happy with you stick with.  But it is good to see Galin put in his know-how on the subjects.  We learn and learn more with him, even though some may not keep up!

  Leelee, I think that even if you told us that you were planning on staying for a month or so, we would have chained you to the Khazad-dumish Inn, you would have warmed to us eventually .

So, have a look around Hin o Elessar and if you like us, you may not be chained to the Inn after all!

You know, I used to be Elessar Lossehelin and all called me Elessar, that is, until Loss caught on, of which, and don't quote me Galin, was meaning:  elfstone within an icy pool, but one thing is for sure, Loss means snow/ice 

Hi Loss

Thanks for the appreciation of my (and Galin's) interest in the languages. It's nice to finally get some credit for what other people just find really odd and a waste of time. :P

I've also been called Elessar a few times already, so maybe I'll end up with some completely other name as well! Haha..

Oh, and actually, I find The Khazad-dumish Inn rather nice, I can definitely think of worse places to be chained up!

See you around.

Yes, it's going to be interesting to see how many new member The Hobbit will bring.

Well, I was born on Sealand (the eastern island in Denmark), close to Copenhagen. When I was 9 we moved to Fyn (the island in the middle ) where I had my only 'real' teenage years, until I moved 200 km. away from home when I was 16, to study as a zoo keeper in Silkeborg (a city in Jutland, which is the part of Denmark attached to Germany).

So now I'm 19 and haven't really had time to be a teenager for the last three years, studying hard and going to work at ''my'' zoo.  My work is to feed the animals, clean their exhibits and sleeping boxes and stables, activate, train and enrich them and of course do feedings for the public with my headset on, telling them about the animals while feeding or training the animals. 

Generally my work is to make sure the animals are healthy and having a as natural life as possible, while telling the public about them, to make them take care of the wild animals and nature of the world.  

I'm (hopefully) graduating next Thursday where I'll attend my final exam.

Wow, you're learning Danish? That's awesome!

Nej, vi er ikke så stort et land. Det er også godt at se dig! (No, we're not that big a country. It's nice to see you too!).

Hvor er du fra? - Try figuring out what that means.

Yes, it's very fulfilling indeed to live my dream. I, like you, was dead certain that I was going to be a zoo keeper growing up, but my parents always told me that everybody wanted that as a child (which is almost true ), and that some of us (me apparently) had to choose some other profession.

Though, I never felt like doing anything else, so as I finished what we call ground school, I started studying as a zoo keeper. This takes about three years and eight months, and you have to have an apprenticeship in a zoo, which is VERY hard to find (due to popularity of the profession). But even though there are literally TEN TIMES as many zoo keeper students as there are apprenticeships, I managed to get one. I was the only one from my school, out of almost two hundred students, to get an apprenticeship in a zoo! And here I am.   

I'm looking after all sorts of animals, but you're not totally wrong guessing that I'm looking after the birds, as we have a lot of different storks, ducks, geese and some swans. But I also care for a lot of fish and of European otters, European beavers, nutrias (my favorites ), mink, raccoons, sheep, goats, chipmunks, brown rats, raccoon dogs and of course reptiles and amphibians.

My zoo is actually kind of a Danish national zoo, specialized in animals living in, and around the Danish freshwater rivers and lakes. This might sound really boring, but I think it's a great, and very important topic to cover. A a lot of people give their attention to fx. the endangered primates and big cats in other areas of the world, forgetting about our native and invasive species.

Another benefit I get from working with smaller animals instead of large rhinos and lions is that I get to go very close to the animals and interact with them, because they're not as dangerous, and I get to do a lot more exiting as a student, than I would in a larger zoo. And of course, large animals needs more cleaning than the small ones!  

Sorry, my reply got a bit long! But once I start talking about my job, I'm hard to stop. I guess that's one of the things I've been taught to do for the last four years, so who can blame me, really? Haha..

  You certainly seem to be liking your chosen profession.  And I'm sure that only good things will come to you, you got the position because you deserve it out of two hundred other people!  I would have said reptiles, but thought that the aviary would have to have more care given them than the odd lizard.  And they're probably more loud!  Most children do think of becoming one at one time or another I suppose, but that's why we need people like you, who can give the children these ideas because it is such a great job to have  generations inspire other generations

  Jeg er fra England og I know more than I seem to!

Rednell: Thank you!

Loss: Yes, but there's almost no need for me inspiring, it seems that everyone wants to become a zoo keeper these days! :P But now I AM, I graduated!

Well, Danish is a hard language to learn, but it seems you well on your way!

Mellon: Tak! I lige måde!  

Haha, yearh..!! And thanks..