I like these four day weeks I now have. I think it was a good change for me to make, even though I end up with more homework. The Good Teacher Inga had jury duty today so we had a substitute, which everyone loved because she talked slowly and deliberately and taught us a few things we didn’t know. Like, the word “lekke” (pronounced “le-kah”) can mean three different things – it can mean your faucet has a “lekke” (leak), you have a “lekke” (you peed your pants) or you look “lekke” (elegant). Is it just me, or might others think it’s a bit odd to use the same word to describe someone who just peed their pants and someone who looks elegant? You’d think there are enough letters out there that could be shuffled around to come up with a new word for one of those two meanings, since they aren’t anywhere near the same thing. Not like the word “regne” which can mean both “rain” and “bill” (the kind you must pay). It’s easy to see how possibly one day someone got a bill in the mail and they felt dumped on, similar to a heavy downpour of rain, so the same word took on two different meanings; but using the same word “lekke” for such opposite meanings just messes with my head and makes me question the validity of this whole language.
We talked about a lot of things in class today (see photo of my “new” school), like building codes and inheritance rights – handy stuff to know if we were planning on staying a while. I could never figure out why the door threshold on bathrooms sticks up so much higher than the other doors and creates such a perfect place to stub a toe, but now I know. Building codes require it high in case there is a water leak in the bathroom – the water can be contained up to about two inches. But the strange thing is, the building codes also require all bathrooms to have a huge drain in the middle of the floor – in case there is a water leak. So I questioned the logic in requiring both of them since the water would obviously go down the drain and not flood the room, and I just got a shrugged shoulder response as our teacher couldn’t make much sense out of it either. Perhaps the threshold law came into effect before the drain requirement, and someone just forgot to remove the first one, and now for years all houses have been built with double protection against any kind of flooding in the bathroom. Laundry rooms are also required to have the floor drain, but not kitchens, so go figure.
The funny thing about those building codes is what “is” and “is not” required. Eighteen years ago on our first trip to Norway together, Kory and I visited the farm where his father grew up in Telemark. Kory’s cousin (who lived there) was so proud to show off the new house he had just built next to the old house where Kory’s dad lived (that was built in the 1700s.) When we were visiting, I had to go pee and I asked where the bathroom was. Kory’s cousin (not a young man), opened the front door and showed me the path to the barn and pointed out which door I’d find the toilet behind. It was an outhouse, attached to the barn that had been used for hundreds of years, I’m sure. I asked Kory to ask his cousin why in the world he wouldn’t have put a toilet in his new house (obviously the building codes didn’t require such a thing or it would have been there), and his cousin responded with, “Some things you just don’t think about until it’s too late.” He was so used to going outside, it never occurred to him to have it any other way. Unbelievable.
And as for inheritance rights, we learned that it is NOT allowed to disown children in Norway. Most people don’t even have wills because the money just gets divided according to the laws anyway. Children automatically get half (or 2/3rds – I’ve heard both) of the estate, no matter what, with the spouse getting the rest. A person can make a will and leave nothing to the spouse, but they cannot leave out the children. And by law, if a farm is involved, it automatically goes to the oldest child. It used to be the oldest son, but now they changed that law to say it goes to the oldest child (who may have to cash out other siblings if they protest.) It seems the more I learn, the more questions I have about Norway.
Kory worked today wearing six layers of clothes as it was so cold. Kaleb had a pretty good day until he came home and I asked him to do his homework before he played with his Pokemon cards. His nasty side reared its ugly head and he was sent to our room to calm down. He managed to convince his teacher that he has too much homework to do so she cut it in half, but he still sits at the table for two hours doodling, no matter how much work he has. He could do it all in about 40 minutes a day (or less), but for some reason, he doesn’t. Today he took three hours and only finished because Tobias rang the doorbell and he had a reason to be done. What’s up with that?
We talked about a lot of things in class today (see photo of my “new” school), like building codes and inheritance rights – handy stuff to know if we were planning on staying a while. I could never figure out why the door threshold on bathrooms sticks up so much higher than the other doors and creates such a perfect place to stub a toe, but now I know. Building codes require it high in case there is a water leak in the bathroom – the water can be contained up to about two inches. But the strange thing is, the building codes also require all bathrooms to have a huge drain in the middle of the floor – in case there is a water leak. So I questioned the logic in requiring both of them since the water would obviously go down the drain and not flood the room, and I just got a shrugged shoulder response as our teacher couldn’t make much sense out of it either. Perhaps the threshold law came into effect before the drain requirement, and someone just forgot to remove the first one, and now for years all houses have been built with double protection against any kind of flooding in the bathroom. Laundry rooms are also required to have the floor drain, but not kitchens, so go figure.
The funny thing about those building codes is what “is” and “is not” required. Eighteen years ago on our first trip to Norway together, Kory and I visited the farm where his father grew up in Telemark. Kory’s cousin (who lived there) was so proud to show off the new house he had just built next to the old house where Kory’s dad lived (that was built in the 1700s.) When we were visiting, I had to go pee and I asked where the bathroom was. Kory’s cousin (not a young man), opened the front door and showed me the path to the barn and pointed out which door I’d find the toilet behind. It was an outhouse, attached to the barn that had been used for hundreds of years, I’m sure. I asked Kory to ask his cousin why in the world he wouldn’t have put a toilet in his new house (obviously the building codes didn’t require such a thing or it would have been there), and his cousin responded with, “Some things you just don’t think about until it’s too late.” He was so used to going outside, it never occurred to him to have it any other way. Unbelievable.
And as for inheritance rights, we learned that it is NOT allowed to disown children in Norway. Most people don’t even have wills because the money just gets divided according to the laws anyway. Children automatically get half (or 2/3rds – I’ve heard both) of the estate, no matter what, with the spouse getting the rest. A person can make a will and leave nothing to the spouse, but they cannot leave out the children. And by law, if a farm is involved, it automatically goes to the oldest child. It used to be the oldest son, but now they changed that law to say it goes to the oldest child (who may have to cash out other siblings if they protest.) It seems the more I learn, the more questions I have about Norway.
Kory worked today wearing six layers of clothes as it was so cold. Kaleb had a pretty good day until he came home and I asked him to do his homework before he played with his Pokemon cards. His nasty side reared its ugly head and he was sent to our room to calm down. He managed to convince his teacher that he has too much homework to do so she cut it in half, but he still sits at the table for two hours doodling, no matter how much work he has. He could do it all in about 40 minutes a day (or less), but for some reason, he doesn’t. Today he took three hours and only finished because Tobias rang the doorbell and he had a reason to be done. What’s up with that?
