Well, Kaleb got nailed in school again today, ironically on the day he brought home an “anti-bullying” contract from the principal that was sent home for all children and parents to sign. They have ZERO tolerance for such things, they say. I’m sure having Morton and his pals sign a piece of paper is exactly what is needed to change their behavior (ha). But actually, it wasn’t Morton today, it was his friend, Markus. I guess Morton has passed the torch. Kaleb’s side of things goes something like this: as they were lining up this morning to file into the classroom, Kaleb got a few steps out of his line. When he went to reposition himself, the kid behind him shoved him forward into Markus. Markus didn’t like the body slam, so he grabbed Kaleb’s chin with one hand and then put the death squeeze on his throat with the other (mostly pinching his windpipe closed so that he couldn’t breathe.) He said he was unable to yell but when he tried to say “Help,” the kid let go. Yes, it was reported and I’m sure Markus got a talkin’ to (the worst punishment possible). When Markus punched him in the stomach a few times after school though, Kaleb failed to report it, so he got away with that one. Tough times for Kaleb, but it has yet to diminish his love for school (even though he was crying as he relived the day). We keep telling him that his whole life he’ll have to deal with difficult people so it’s best he learn how to do it now. (Hopefully he won’t consider me one of the difficult ones.)
Kory went to work today and didn’t come home complaining about his aches and pains, so by all accounts, it was a good day for him. He was able to pick up the new part for our van and he spent the evening replacing it (see photo – and note the high tech ramp he made). And he FINALLY got a call today from the internet provider! They are coming tomorrow to install our home telephone and high speed internet!!! YAHOO! I’ve actually discovered a weak internet signal from an unsecured network in the middle of our driveway that seems to be there only if we have overcast skies for some reason. I’ve been able to send and receive e-mails and post my blog on a fairly timely basis these last few days – thanks to the weather? I can’t tell you how odd I look standing there holding my laptop in one hand and typing with one finger on the other hand, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. I’m just glad I don’t gotta do it much longer….
My teacher today asked me to tell the whole class what I did on Saturday – in Norwegian, of course. It was a humbling experience. I know many verbs. I know a lot of nouns. I even know all the pronouns in objective and subjective form. I know how to say nouns as singular or plural. I know how to say verbs past tense or present tense, but I have yet to figure out how to form a proper sentence. Go figure. When I was learning Spanish in college, the big thing to remember was the adjective comes after the noun – they don’t say “green tree” – they say “tree green.” If only Norwegian could be that simple. They have all kinds of things mixed up. Their “the”s come after the noun (“tree the”) the negative comes after the verb (they say “married NOT” – as opposed to “not married”), and the second word in the sentence has to be a verb. Their word order (sentence structure) is completely different than English and as of yet – I’m clueless. Whenever I write something and read it to Kory he says I can’t just take an English sentence word for word and translate it to Norwegian – I have to translate the entire sentence and “think like a Norwegian.” OK, “I have it out figured NOT.” And Lord help me the day I start thinking like the Norwegians! But I will admit that when I make a shopping list, I do write some of the items in Norsk because “agurk” is easier to write than “cucumber” and “paprika” is quicker than “red peppers.” And I get a kick out of some of the words Norwegians use to name things. Literally translated a pencil sharpener is a “pencil eater,” and an eraser is a “learning wash.” And when we sing songs in church, they will have an entire song on the overhead with words that all have just one to three letters in them – jeg, vil, liv, får, håp, alt, meg, er, gud, så, med, du, i, å, det, om, en… words like that – so many small words that mean so much. But when I go to school, I see words that should be an entire sentence in themselves – like “voksenopplæringssenter,” which translated means “the grown-up people’s higher learning center.” I guess their solution to the dilemma I face, is to make it all just one word rather than to try and figure out where all those words go in the sentence. Maybe I should start thinking like a Norwegian after all.
Kory went to work today and didn’t come home complaining about his aches and pains, so by all accounts, it was a good day for him. He was able to pick up the new part for our van and he spent the evening replacing it (see photo – and note the high tech ramp he made). And he FINALLY got a call today from the internet provider! They are coming tomorrow to install our home telephone and high speed internet!!! YAHOO! I’ve actually discovered a weak internet signal from an unsecured network in the middle of our driveway that seems to be there only if we have overcast skies for some reason. I’ve been able to send and receive e-mails and post my blog on a fairly timely basis these last few days – thanks to the weather? I can’t tell you how odd I look standing there holding my laptop in one hand and typing with one finger on the other hand, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. I’m just glad I don’t gotta do it much longer….
My teacher today asked me to tell the whole class what I did on Saturday – in Norwegian, of course. It was a humbling experience. I know many verbs. I know a lot of nouns. I even know all the pronouns in objective and subjective form. I know how to say nouns as singular or plural. I know how to say verbs past tense or present tense, but I have yet to figure out how to form a proper sentence. Go figure. When I was learning Spanish in college, the big thing to remember was the adjective comes after the noun – they don’t say “green tree” – they say “tree green.” If only Norwegian could be that simple. They have all kinds of things mixed up. Their “the”s come after the noun (“tree the”) the negative comes after the verb (they say “married NOT” – as opposed to “not married”), and the second word in the sentence has to be a verb. Their word order (sentence structure) is completely different than English and as of yet – I’m clueless. Whenever I write something and read it to Kory he says I can’t just take an English sentence word for word and translate it to Norwegian – I have to translate the entire sentence and “think like a Norwegian.” OK, “I have it out figured NOT.” And Lord help me the day I start thinking like the Norwegians! But I will admit that when I make a shopping list, I do write some of the items in Norsk because “agurk” is easier to write than “cucumber” and “paprika” is quicker than “red peppers.” And I get a kick out of some of the words Norwegians use to name things. Literally translated a pencil sharpener is a “pencil eater,” and an eraser is a “learning wash.” And when we sing songs in church, they will have an entire song on the overhead with words that all have just one to three letters in them – jeg, vil, liv, får, håp, alt, meg, er, gud, så, med, du, i, å, det, om, en… words like that – so many small words that mean so much. But when I go to school, I see words that should be an entire sentence in themselves – like “voksenopplæringssenter,” which translated means “the grown-up people’s higher learning center.” I guess their solution to the dilemma I face, is to make it all just one word rather than to try and figure out where all those words go in the sentence. Maybe I should start thinking like a Norwegian after all.
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