Inga, my Norsk teacher, went around the class today reading everyone’s homework. I noted she wrote “Bra” (Good) on several papers, but on mine, she wrote, “SUPER” (Excellent). “Super bra” would have been too funny, I guess. She also drew a big smiley face below my paragraph. (You never get too old for a smiley face). It did make me proud. On the bus ride into town this morning I must have written at least twice as much as I had down last night, so she appreciated all the effort I went through and she said it was very interesting to read (as well as mostly correct). Woo hoo. She also complimented me on my pronunciation today and said I was “flink” (capable). I’m having a great time in that class. I enjoy learning the rules of grammar but I also enjoy getting a good laugh out of the language. For instance, if you just say “chew-a-shoe” – you have just said the number 27 in Norwegian. Another funny thing is the saying, (this is phonetic) “Snoop doggy dog.” Isn’t that the name of a rap star or something? But in Norwegian, it means “candy day today” (some kids only get candy once a week – so it’s a common saying) – it’s actually spelled “Snop dag i dag.”
Today in class we learned the crazy system they use here to tell time. The two women from Poland sitting next to me about had a cow over this one. I think Norwegians even wonder the logic in it. If it’s five minutes after two o’clock you say “fem over to” - no problem (five past two). Then when it’s 15 minutes after the hour, you get “kvart over to” (quarter after two). If it’s ten minutes until two o’clock you say “ti på to” (“tee po two” is how you say it), or “fem på to” or “kvart på to” if it’s five or 15 minutes until two. You get the idea. When it’s 2:30, we say “half past two,” but they say, “halfway to three o’clock”, so it takes a bit of getting used to and you can easily be an hour late if you hear “halv tre” and you think it’s 3:30 when actually it’s 2:30. But here in Norway, they don’t just use the hour straight up as the reference point for all time telling – they also include the half hour. So the kicker is, if the time is say 2:20, (or any time between 2:16 and 2:44) they don’t say “20 over 2”, they say, “10 minutes until half an hour until three o’clock” which goes like this: “ti på halv tre.” And if it’s 2:40, they say “ti over halv tre,” (ten past half-way to three). They’ve streamlined a lot of things in this country, but their time telling isn’t one of them.
Kaleb got in trouble a few days ago for being disobedient and VERY disrespectful to me so I took away a few of his privileges. He said to me, “Now all I have to look forward to is school,” so I take that as a good sign. He jumps out of bed in the morning and wants to leave the house as soon as he can (I hope it’s not so he can get away from me). He also loves the after school program, so I say he’s doing fine. He even told me yesterday that when the teacher gives instructions to the class she then tells him in English what she said in Norwegian, but yesterday she said something and when she started to translate, Kaleb said, “I already know,” so I think he’s picking up the language VERY quickly. No surprise there, really. He plays with the American girl, Victoria, a lot at recess. He said they help each other with the language as he knows some things and she knows others. Ironically, her mom is in my Norwegian class.
Kory had the day off today. I think he slept a lot. He said he turned over the long rows of long grass (so they can dry) decorating our front yard but it’s hard to tell (see photo – we live in the fourth house from the left in the center duplex). We need to get the grass picked up before the lawn needs mowing again. It’s been raining this afternoon and tonight (we actually fired up the wood stove as there was a chill in the house) so we’re hoping tomorrow is more conducive to yard work. It was sunny this morning and my teacher commented today what a nice fall we are having this year (it’s still summer by my book, but apparently fall comes sooner here.) One year when we were here for a month in August, we didn’t see the sun even for a day, so I understand her amazement over the weather this year. I think that was the year that Odd said, “Summer came, but I was sitting on the toilet, so I missed it.”
Today in class we learned the crazy system they use here to tell time. The two women from Poland sitting next to me about had a cow over this one. I think Norwegians even wonder the logic in it. If it’s five minutes after two o’clock you say “fem over to” - no problem (five past two). Then when it’s 15 minutes after the hour, you get “kvart over to” (quarter after two). If it’s ten minutes until two o’clock you say “ti på to” (“tee po two” is how you say it), or “fem på to” or “kvart på to” if it’s five or 15 minutes until two. You get the idea. When it’s 2:30, we say “half past two,” but they say, “halfway to three o’clock”, so it takes a bit of getting used to and you can easily be an hour late if you hear “halv tre” and you think it’s 3:30 when actually it’s 2:30. But here in Norway, they don’t just use the hour straight up as the reference point for all time telling – they also include the half hour. So the kicker is, if the time is say 2:20, (or any time between 2:16 and 2:44) they don’t say “20 over 2”, they say, “10 minutes until half an hour until three o’clock” which goes like this: “ti på halv tre.” And if it’s 2:40, they say “ti over halv tre,” (ten past half-way to three). They’ve streamlined a lot of things in this country, but their time telling isn’t one of them.
Kaleb got in trouble a few days ago for being disobedient and VERY disrespectful to me so I took away a few of his privileges. He said to me, “Now all I have to look forward to is school,” so I take that as a good sign. He jumps out of bed in the morning and wants to leave the house as soon as he can (I hope it’s not so he can get away from me). He also loves the after school program, so I say he’s doing fine. He even told me yesterday that when the teacher gives instructions to the class she then tells him in English what she said in Norwegian, but yesterday she said something and when she started to translate, Kaleb said, “I already know,” so I think he’s picking up the language VERY quickly. No surprise there, really. He plays with the American girl, Victoria, a lot at recess. He said they help each other with the language as he knows some things and she knows others. Ironically, her mom is in my Norwegian class.
Kory had the day off today. I think he slept a lot. He said he turned over the long rows of long grass (so they can dry) decorating our front yard but it’s hard to tell (see photo – we live in the fourth house from the left in the center duplex). We need to get the grass picked up before the lawn needs mowing again. It’s been raining this afternoon and tonight (we actually fired up the wood stove as there was a chill in the house) so we’re hoping tomorrow is more conducive to yard work. It was sunny this morning and my teacher commented today what a nice fall we are having this year (it’s still summer by my book, but apparently fall comes sooner here.) One year when we were here for a month in August, we didn’t see the sun even for a day, so I understand her amazement over the weather this year. I think that was the year that Odd said, “Summer came, but I was sitting on the toilet, so I missed it.”
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