I Passed!

After my nice five day hiatus from school, I was back at it again today, training my ever shrinking brain how to speak and understand this very foreign language. It was good to be back though because I missed seeing My Pal Vestina. She was in crisis mode and texted me late last night that she needed my advice, so I had to go today to find out the details. She’s a smart cookie and knew the right answer. She just needed me to confirm it for her. She is sad I’m leaving, but I promised I’m just an e-mail away. She says it won’t be the same, and she’s right. I’ll miss her, too.

I got my practice Norsk Prøve 3 test back today and I PASSED! Not with flying colors mind you, just by the skin of my teeth, but still, I passed! The Good Teacher Inga was so proud. My writing assignment this time was much better, she said. I still have problems with some of the basic rules like pluralizing the adjective when the noun is also plural and remembering which of the many pronouns to set into play depending on whether it’s the object or subject of the sentence, but overall, she said, I made it! And when she handed me back the test she said sternly, “So STOP complaining! You’re doing great!” She said that only because I whine daily that I don’t know how to speak Norwegian properly, which I don’t, but apparently, they don’t care. With two official languages, all the dialects and so many variations on the theme, they REALLY don’t care. As long as they can understand what’s being said, that’s all that matters. But Inga also said that it’s very difficult to pass the level 3 exam before completing at least a thousand hours of lessons, and I haven’t even had seven hundred hours of lessons, so she said, I’m way ahead of the average. Woo hoo. But I’m still not taking the test for real because once I pass it and get my certificate, the government stops paying for my lessons. I’m not stupid - maybe a little slow, but not stupid. I’m definitely not “A4”, which I found out today is an expression meaning “normal.” The Good Teacher Inga was saying the family she grew up in wasn’t A4, so I had to ask what it meant. She said A4 is the name of the type of paper that is 8x11 (or the centimeter equivalent). It’s the most common form of paper used in printers and copiers and the size of paper used for most forms that need to be filled out, so it’s become the standard expression for “normal” and a person refers to things as “A4” or “not A4.” I’ve cracked another secret Norwegian code!

Kaleb didn’t have such a triumphant day. He came home saying he wants to quit school because he’s so tired of all the bullying. It’s not just Morten anymore, he says, there are other kids that daily slam into him, step on his feet, push and shove and knock him around just a bit too much. I tried to explain to him that it’s just the way kids are, but he wasn’t buying it. I told him I’ve even seen him act like that when he didn’t know I was watching him standing in a line, but again, he cries innocent of all charges. So then I told him he needs to forgive the kids because they don’t really know they are harming him and to look at the whole thing as a spiritual battle and not to let Satan win. He felt a little better when I explained it in those terms and he might even take on a little spiritual warfare at school just to see what happens.

Kory’s tooth was loose again this morning so he had it glued in a little better this time. The dentist told him that she has to repair at least one tooth a week from them either chipping, breaking or falling out, all from people eating dried fish! Now that’s funny. That’s how Kory broke his tooth off too, so I’m thinking that’s probably why the Norwegian government doesn’t provide dental coverage – everyone has to pay for their own dental work around here because they are addicted to dried, salted, hard-as-a-rock fish! The locals complain bitterly about how expensive dental work is, but it’s still much cheaper than dentistry in the US, even with the dollar falling in value a little bit each and every day.

It rained pretty hard the whole day so that was all the excuse I needed to sit at my computer the entire afternoon (like that’s different from any other day.) But today I was focused on preparing for our return home and getting Kaleb’s school schedule for the Fall worked out. He made up his own IDEAL schedule including woodworking, sewing, cooking, science, educational games and gymnastics, which I incorporated, but then I had to throw in a few things like Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. He’s been taking math classes from Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth, since he was six, and he’s excited to start up with their on-line classes again because they now have a variety of subjects he can take now that he’s older. I signed him up for science, critical reading and Web design. He wants The Weekly Puppy (his dog newspaper) to have its own website. I can’t think of a better educational opportunity than that. Homeschooling does have its advantages. I’m just glad Kory and I share in that responsibility so I only have to do it every other day.