They do those small town things around here where all the newspapers have one page devoted to wishing local kids a Happy Birthday. For free, anyone can send in a congratulations and little message to any child for their birthday and include a photo, so “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Kaleb saw it before I did, as a friend pointed it out to him yesterday. I wanted it to be a surprise and it was. Of course, he thinks it’s normal that his photo shows up in the paper, as it’s happened so many times in his life already. What a kid.
I had a chance to talk to Kaleb’s teacher yesterday and she said his 8th grade math book was the highest one she could get for him (it’s still too easy), so she agreed that after the first of the year she’ll let him do the algebra book I brought with us. Kaleb can turn his corrected assignments over to her and she can record how he’s doing. That makes all of us happy as he was starting to forget some of the rules in algebra, plus he was bored to tears with the math they are doing. He finished up the whole book already and it’s supposed to last til June. He just sat in class and worked out all the problems while the teacher was explaining the concepts to the other kids, so he recently ran out of things to do during the math hour. He was so excited when I told him he could go back to Algebra. He said he likes to make his brain work. (I don’t like that he figures everything out in his head. I keep getting after him to write things down, but he thinks it makes it too easy to do it that way. Ugh.)
The big news today is that we had lunch with a woman who has a program on a Christian radio station here in Ålesund and she asked if we can come and share some of our “God thing” stories to her listening audience this Saturday! Both Kory and I are excited to tell people how God works in our lives, so this is a wonderful opportunity He has put before us. (I will have a translator as my Norwegian would be too embarrassing for us all.) She is the mother of a woman in our home fellowship group and her daughter has been telling her things that we have shared and they both felt they were good stories that needed a wider audience – so HALLELUJAH! We trust God will use it for good and we’re excited to be His “vessels.”
Well, I guess yesterday must have been some kind of national “Juleverkstad” day as I went to my school this morning to see that it had been decorated with all kinds of Christmas things my classmates made while I was gone. In the newspaper I saw an article today about some of the crafts made in another school. It’s incredible how synchronized things can be around here, but traditions are traditions. It’s quite lovely to be part of something so big, and Christmas is BIG here in Norway. HALLELUJAH!
Today in class we learned the differences of a few words in Norwegian that there is only one of in English. “Think” for example has three possible words to choose from in Norwegian. There is the word “tenke” – which is the actual act of thinking. Then there is the word “synes” which is what you think when you are giving your opinion and you know for sure what you think of it. Then there is the word “tror” which is the word you use when you aren’t quite sure what you believe but you “think it might be so.” It’s interesting that they use the word “tror” to also mean “faith.” I guess they go off the Biblical definition that “faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” It’s possible to use all three words in one sentence when I’m speaking about what I’m THINKing (tenke) about the Norwegian language because I THINK (synes) it’s very difficult to learn and I THINK (tror) I may never learn it properly. English is just too simple.
The other words we learned were the two words used for “a lot” – “mye” and “mange.” The kicker here is that you use “mye” when you are UNABLE to COUNT what you are talking about, and you use “mange” if you CAN count it. So you have “mye” snow, but “mange” snowballs. You drink “mye” coffee, but “mange” cups of coffee. But what gets me is that they don’t even follow their own rules because they have a “for MYE” tax (a penalty tax you must pay if you have assets greater than your debts – and obviously you CAN count how much that is). And when you want to give someone a huge thank you, you say “mange takk” – a lot of thanks, which obviously you CAN’T count just how thankful you are. It’s these little things that keep me awake at night when trying to learn their rules of grammar. I guess if I just don’t THINK A LOT (tenke mye), I’d be better off.
I had a chance to talk to Kaleb’s teacher yesterday and she said his 8th grade math book was the highest one she could get for him (it’s still too easy), so she agreed that after the first of the year she’ll let him do the algebra book I brought with us. Kaleb can turn his corrected assignments over to her and she can record how he’s doing. That makes all of us happy as he was starting to forget some of the rules in algebra, plus he was bored to tears with the math they are doing. He finished up the whole book already and it’s supposed to last til June. He just sat in class and worked out all the problems while the teacher was explaining the concepts to the other kids, so he recently ran out of things to do during the math hour. He was so excited when I told him he could go back to Algebra. He said he likes to make his brain work. (I don’t like that he figures everything out in his head. I keep getting after him to write things down, but he thinks it makes it too easy to do it that way. Ugh.)
The big news today is that we had lunch with a woman who has a program on a Christian radio station here in Ålesund and she asked if we can come and share some of our “God thing” stories to her listening audience this Saturday! Both Kory and I are excited to tell people how God works in our lives, so this is a wonderful opportunity He has put before us. (I will have a translator as my Norwegian would be too embarrassing for us all.) She is the mother of a woman in our home fellowship group and her daughter has been telling her things that we have shared and they both felt they were good stories that needed a wider audience – so HALLELUJAH! We trust God will use it for good and we’re excited to be His “vessels.”
Well, I guess yesterday must have been some kind of national “Juleverkstad” day as I went to my school this morning to see that it had been decorated with all kinds of Christmas things my classmates made while I was gone. In the newspaper I saw an article today about some of the crafts made in another school. It’s incredible how synchronized things can be around here, but traditions are traditions. It’s quite lovely to be part of something so big, and Christmas is BIG here in Norway. HALLELUJAH!
Today in class we learned the differences of a few words in Norwegian that there is only one of in English. “Think” for example has three possible words to choose from in Norwegian. There is the word “tenke” – which is the actual act of thinking. Then there is the word “synes” which is what you think when you are giving your opinion and you know for sure what you think of it. Then there is the word “tror” which is the word you use when you aren’t quite sure what you believe but you “think it might be so.” It’s interesting that they use the word “tror” to also mean “faith.” I guess they go off the Biblical definition that “faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” It’s possible to use all three words in one sentence when I’m speaking about what I’m THINKing (tenke) about the Norwegian language because I THINK (synes) it’s very difficult to learn and I THINK (tror) I may never learn it properly. English is just too simple.
The other words we learned were the two words used for “a lot” – “mye” and “mange.” The kicker here is that you use “mye” when you are UNABLE to COUNT what you are talking about, and you use “mange” if you CAN count it. So you have “mye” snow, but “mange” snowballs. You drink “mye” coffee, but “mange” cups of coffee. But what gets me is that they don’t even follow their own rules because they have a “for MYE” tax (a penalty tax you must pay if you have assets greater than your debts – and obviously you CAN count how much that is). And when you want to give someone a huge thank you, you say “mange takk” – a lot of thanks, which obviously you CAN’T count just how thankful you are. It’s these little things that keep me awake at night when trying to learn their rules of grammar. I guess if I just don’t THINK A LOT (tenke mye), I’d be better off.
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