We had more fresh snow in the mountains this morning… it’s like powdered sugar has been sprinkled over all the peaks around here – it’s so pretty, but it’s still September! The air has definitely gotten a bit chilly (in Norwegian it’s spelled “kjølig” but to say it properly you need to hold a pencil between your nose and upper lip and then say “chilly”). Our teacher was telling us all the ways to say hot, warm, chilly, and cold, in reference to the weather: hot, varm, kjølig and kald. They are spelled differently but it all sounds the same to me when you pronounce them. I razed our teacher a bit about the Norwegians stealing English words and changing the spelling to make it look like their own, but really, it’s all pronounced and means the same as the English. She quickly, and with no humor in her response, told me that it was the English who stole the words from the Vikings in the first place… that the Vikings had a huge influence on much of the English language. (From all that pillaging and pummeling they did down there, those Brits probably did learn how to say a few things in Norwegian, but I’m wondering why “Uff da” wasn’t one of them.) She said that it was the English who took on Norwegian words and changed their spelling, not the other way around. Ok, I stand corrected. (Geez.)
Today’s photo was taken yesterday of Kaleb and his new playground bodyguard and 3rd cousin, Tobias. Tobias is already doing a good job keeping an eye on Kaleb as he talked to him at lunch and after school today and introduced him to some of his friends. Word will get out, I’m sure. “Don’t mess with the American kid – he’s a relative of Tobias…” something like that (I hope). And I’m pretty sure I won’t have to pay any “black money” for this “inside job” at school – keeping my sweet boy safe. It’s all in who you know. So Kaleb had a great day and came home a happy camper. Kory came home cold. It was raining this morning and quite cold but the sun was out this afternoon. Kory stayed after work and collected all the scrap lumber to burn at home (are we immigrant salvagers or what?) He went to buy a load of firewood at the hardwood store (they sell it in bundles there) and refused to pay sixty cents per foot long piece, so he got creative. (He thought he could wad up dollar bills and get more heat from them than the little piece of wood they were selling at those prices.) He will now be the after-hours janitor on his job sites and bring home all the wood scraps as they burn the same as split firewood, but are free! (And they stack nicer, too.) Our little wood stove heats up the house in no time and it’s just so darn cozy to have it going when it gets a bit “kjølig” outside.
Kaleb had massive amounts of homework tonight because he will miss school Thursday and Friday. Every week the kids get sent home with a paper from the teacher showing what homework they have each night of the week in each subject – which page numbers to do in which books, etc. Kaleb’s teacher had to start making him his own homework list because he uses different books from the other kids while he’s trying to learn Norwegian. And what they are doing in math here is just far too basic for him (he was doing algebra before we came) and the teacher has yet to get him an advanced math book so she just wrote “do your own homework” for math. I’m so glad I brought the next level of algebra book with us so now he can keep up with what he was learning at home and not have to waste more time on the easy stuff they are doing here (today they learned to carry over numbers to the next column). And Poor Sabina, she must have rang our doorbell five times wondering when he would be done with everything. Finally, she just let herself in and sat on the couch waiting for him. Kaleb was anxious to show her his new Pokemon cards so she stayed for dinner and played a game with Kory and Kaleb afterwards.
I was up until nearly midnight last night, cramming for my big test today in Norwegian. Uff da. I think I did OK, but I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself over the simplest things I missed. I still struggle with sentence structure and spelling, but I think I have that same problem in English, too. As a warm up in class today we had to go around the room and talk a little about ourselves. What I found interesting was all these foreign women in the class that are married to Norsk men LOVE to cook (I’m not one of them.) It got me to thinking (sometimes a dangerous thing.) For years Norway has been considered the most feminist country in the world (according to Ms. Magazine) and they are top-notch when it comes to women’s rights and equal pay and all that. Even in our school literature we read all about how Lars stays home with the baby, prepares dinner and cleans the house while Kari goes off to work (and Lars likes it, no less). And based on the incredible amount of ready-made food that is being sold in the grocery stores around here, I was wondering if anyone even cooks a meal from scratch anymore. And then I hear today in class that all these women, new to Norway, LOVE to cook. Perhaps there is something to that (can it still be true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?) Maybe it’s the more traditional (less liberated) men that are leaving Norway to get a wife who is not quite so feminist? It does make me wonder. And based on how poorly some of these women speak English, and that is the only language they have in common with their husbands, well, I gotta figure they didn’t get married because they are sparkling conversationalists. I imagine cooking isn’t everything.
Today’s photo was taken yesterday of Kaleb and his new playground bodyguard and 3rd cousin, Tobias. Tobias is already doing a good job keeping an eye on Kaleb as he talked to him at lunch and after school today and introduced him to some of his friends. Word will get out, I’m sure. “Don’t mess with the American kid – he’s a relative of Tobias…” something like that (I hope). And I’m pretty sure I won’t have to pay any “black money” for this “inside job” at school – keeping my sweet boy safe. It’s all in who you know. So Kaleb had a great day and came home a happy camper. Kory came home cold. It was raining this morning and quite cold but the sun was out this afternoon. Kory stayed after work and collected all the scrap lumber to burn at home (are we immigrant salvagers or what?) He went to buy a load of firewood at the hardwood store (they sell it in bundles there) and refused to pay sixty cents per foot long piece, so he got creative. (He thought he could wad up dollar bills and get more heat from them than the little piece of wood they were selling at those prices.) He will now be the after-hours janitor on his job sites and bring home all the wood scraps as they burn the same as split firewood, but are free! (And they stack nicer, too.) Our little wood stove heats up the house in no time and it’s just so darn cozy to have it going when it gets a bit “kjølig” outside.
Kaleb had massive amounts of homework tonight because he will miss school Thursday and Friday. Every week the kids get sent home with a paper from the teacher showing what homework they have each night of the week in each subject – which page numbers to do in which books, etc. Kaleb’s teacher had to start making him his own homework list because he uses different books from the other kids while he’s trying to learn Norwegian. And what they are doing in math here is just far too basic for him (he was doing algebra before we came) and the teacher has yet to get him an advanced math book so she just wrote “do your own homework” for math. I’m so glad I brought the next level of algebra book with us so now he can keep up with what he was learning at home and not have to waste more time on the easy stuff they are doing here (today they learned to carry over numbers to the next column). And Poor Sabina, she must have rang our doorbell five times wondering when he would be done with everything. Finally, she just let herself in and sat on the couch waiting for him. Kaleb was anxious to show her his new Pokemon cards so she stayed for dinner and played a game with Kory and Kaleb afterwards.
I was up until nearly midnight last night, cramming for my big test today in Norwegian. Uff da. I think I did OK, but I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself over the simplest things I missed. I still struggle with sentence structure and spelling, but I think I have that same problem in English, too. As a warm up in class today we had to go around the room and talk a little about ourselves. What I found interesting was all these foreign women in the class that are married to Norsk men LOVE to cook (I’m not one of them.) It got me to thinking (sometimes a dangerous thing.) For years Norway has been considered the most feminist country in the world (according to Ms. Magazine) and they are top-notch when it comes to women’s rights and equal pay and all that. Even in our school literature we read all about how Lars stays home with the baby, prepares dinner and cleans the house while Kari goes off to work (and Lars likes it, no less). And based on the incredible amount of ready-made food that is being sold in the grocery stores around here, I was wondering if anyone even cooks a meal from scratch anymore. And then I hear today in class that all these women, new to Norway, LOVE to cook. Perhaps there is something to that (can it still be true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?) Maybe it’s the more traditional (less liberated) men that are leaving Norway to get a wife who is not quite so feminist? It does make me wonder. And based on how poorly some of these women speak English, and that is the only language they have in common with their husbands, well, I gotta figure they didn’t get married because they are sparkling conversationalists. I imagine cooking isn’t everything.
