Kory got up at six this morning to make his lunch and get ready for work, but he never went. He kept waiting for his boss to call him to say which job he was supposed to go to, but there was a miscommunication and a problem with his bosses’ phone, so Kory was left in the lurch. Nothing like being all dressed up with nowhere to go. So he had an unexpected day off. He’ll be off work next week too for his medical appointments so that gives him a good three week break, which I know he’s happy about. His bones are aching again. The other day he sliced some pieces of bread and groaned with each cut. I can so relate, as I’ve done my share of moaning and groaning lately too. Gettin’ old ain’t for sissies, that’s for sure.
I went back to school today after nearly two weeks off myself. The Good Teacher Inga has the flu so she sent her #1 son, Christopher to take her place and keep us in line. He was a bit green, but we all managed to help him pass the time. We have a good group of women now – we are down to about eight regular attenders. We were going too fast for the slowest members of the class to keep up, so they have stepped down into other classes. My fear however, is that now I have become the slowest student in the class. I keep having to ask what certain words mean and everyone just looks at me like, “We learned that LAST week, don’t you remember?” Uff da. I guess I only have myself to blame. All my classmates say they are learning the language quicker because they have TV and they read the sub-titles. All TV shows here use sub-titles for the American programs and movies (except kids shows, which they dub). I think that might be why no one in Italy could speak English – because they dub everything into Italian. But here in Norway, with only 4 ½ million people, I guess it’s too expensive to do that. Sometimes it drives me nuts that some Norwegians sit with their TV on and the sound muted because they just read the Norwegian sub-titles and can understand what’s going on. Kaleb’s friend Tobias is excellent at speaking English, and he attributes it to the fact he watches a lot of TV and has learned it all there. So I guess if we would have signed up for TV service when we got here, I might be further along in my language skills by now, but I’d also be $50 a month poorer as everyone with a TV in Norway must pay about $300 a year tax to have the TV signal come to their house (they sign you up in the store when the TV is purchased.) I’m too cheap for such a thing and our house would have a completely different feel if the TV was going every day, so I like it the way it is. Quiet works for me.
Kaleb still has the sniffles and a cough but he’s not moaning like he was yesterday. He came home and jumped right into his homework and got it done fairly quickly. He had to do some algebra today though because yesterday he spoke English three times and that did him in. We are still working on our agreement that he can get out of doing his Algebra if he speaks to me only in Norwegian between 8am and 8pm. The third time he slips up and says something in English, he seals his fate for the next day. He has put the same restriction on me so instead of doing algebra the next day, I’ll be restricted off my computer – no Facebook or reading the news. I blew it today so I’m on restriction tomorrow. I can’t always understand what Kaleb says in Norwegian so we designated one special rug that if we both step on to it, it’s like a cease-fire zone, and we can both speak English to help clear up the confusion (my Norwegian isn’t always understandable to him either.) We need to push ourselves like this and speak as much Norwegian at home now, or neither of us will ever be fluent. It’s fun to try anyway.
Tobias came over to play with Kaleb after dinner tonight and he brought with him a genuine American football. He got it as a gift recently, and he carries it like a prized trophy. He had it in a plastic bag so it wouldn’t get wet, it was so cute. In high school I was the manager of our football team, so I promised him I’d show him how to throw it properly. Kaleb and Tobias and I went outside for a while this evening and played “Monkey in the Middle” (keep away). I stood between them as they threw the ball back and forth and I tried to intercept it. Not being too quick on my feet these days, they were fairly successful at keeping it away from me. The ground is so uneven, I was extra cautious so I wouldn’t twist an ankle, but it was fun to be able to play catch after so many years. I can still throw that ball like a bullet nearly every time.
The photo today is one that Kaleb drew last week to pass the time on the train as we were heading to Pisa. I was so impressed with it - until I was told it’s a portrait of me.
I went back to school today after nearly two weeks off myself. The Good Teacher Inga has the flu so she sent her #1 son, Christopher to take her place and keep us in line. He was a bit green, but we all managed to help him pass the time. We have a good group of women now – we are down to about eight regular attenders. We were going too fast for the slowest members of the class to keep up, so they have stepped down into other classes. My fear however, is that now I have become the slowest student in the class. I keep having to ask what certain words mean and everyone just looks at me like, “We learned that LAST week, don’t you remember?” Uff da. I guess I only have myself to blame. All my classmates say they are learning the language quicker because they have TV and they read the sub-titles. All TV shows here use sub-titles for the American programs and movies (except kids shows, which they dub). I think that might be why no one in Italy could speak English – because they dub everything into Italian. But here in Norway, with only 4 ½ million people, I guess it’s too expensive to do that. Sometimes it drives me nuts that some Norwegians sit with their TV on and the sound muted because they just read the Norwegian sub-titles and can understand what’s going on. Kaleb’s friend Tobias is excellent at speaking English, and he attributes it to the fact he watches a lot of TV and has learned it all there. So I guess if we would have signed up for TV service when we got here, I might be further along in my language skills by now, but I’d also be $50 a month poorer as everyone with a TV in Norway must pay about $300 a year tax to have the TV signal come to their house (they sign you up in the store when the TV is purchased.) I’m too cheap for such a thing and our house would have a completely different feel if the TV was going every day, so I like it the way it is. Quiet works for me.
Kaleb still has the sniffles and a cough but he’s not moaning like he was yesterday. He came home and jumped right into his homework and got it done fairly quickly. He had to do some algebra today though because yesterday he spoke English three times and that did him in. We are still working on our agreement that he can get out of doing his Algebra if he speaks to me only in Norwegian between 8am and 8pm. The third time he slips up and says something in English, he seals his fate for the next day. He has put the same restriction on me so instead of doing algebra the next day, I’ll be restricted off my computer – no Facebook or reading the news. I blew it today so I’m on restriction tomorrow. I can’t always understand what Kaleb says in Norwegian so we designated one special rug that if we both step on to it, it’s like a cease-fire zone, and we can both speak English to help clear up the confusion (my Norwegian isn’t always understandable to him either.) We need to push ourselves like this and speak as much Norwegian at home now, or neither of us will ever be fluent. It’s fun to try anyway.
Tobias came over to play with Kaleb after dinner tonight and he brought with him a genuine American football. He got it as a gift recently, and he carries it like a prized trophy. He had it in a plastic bag so it wouldn’t get wet, it was so cute. In high school I was the manager of our football team, so I promised him I’d show him how to throw it properly. Kaleb and Tobias and I went outside for a while this evening and played “Monkey in the Middle” (keep away). I stood between them as they threw the ball back and forth and I tried to intercept it. Not being too quick on my feet these days, they were fairly successful at keeping it away from me. The ground is so uneven, I was extra cautious so I wouldn’t twist an ankle, but it was fun to be able to play catch after so many years. I can still throw that ball like a bullet nearly every time.
The photo today is one that Kaleb drew last week to pass the time on the train as we were heading to Pisa. I was so impressed with it - until I was told it’s a portrait of me.
