Well, today Willy and Nancy got to see the best that Norway has to offer – Kory took the day off work and drove them out to Geiranger, which is the most visited spot in the entire country. The photo today is not of Geiranger because Nancy didn’t like the looks of her windblown hair in the photo Kory took of them there, but it’s of one of the four ferry ports they waited at. Willy and Nancy slept through this wait – which goes to show how tired they were from our hike up the mountain yesterday. Kory said they were completely overwhelmed with the beauty of the drive and the ferry ride through the fjords that they almost had to close their eyes and not take in anymore because it was just so incredible. God gave them another beautiful day in which to see our corner of the world so their pictures are spectacular. Nancy says, “It was like being home for the first time - like a feeling that this is ‘my’ country. And I thought we had a corner on beauty in Washington, but this is way beyond beautiful.”
I went to school today and overwhelmed my brain again with additional nuances in the language. We got our first test back yesterday and out of 97 points I got 88, so it was as low of an A- as a person could get if they are academically minded. There were seven other people with scores better than myself, including my partner Vestina, who got a 91. (We were trying to guess who got the high score of 95.5, but no one has fessed up yet. We think it was the doctor from Germany who sits behind us.) Vestina was devastated she didn’t get 97 and I told her it’s like the competition between the Norwegians and the Swedes – the Norskies don’t care if they win, they just care that they beat the Swedes, so she shouldn’t worry about not getting them all right – she should just be glad she beat me. I don’t think it was any consolation though because I’m sure she thinks it wouldn’t take much to beat me in this game (she IS 22 years old and her brain is still working.) Then we had a little spelling test and out of 30 words, the highest score anyone got was 18, and I got a 17 right (a few more than Vestina!), so I felt fairly good about that, but I still have oh so far to go. The letters are so hard for me to remember since the letter J sounds like a Y and the letter I sounds like an E and the letter G sounds like a J, and the letter Y sounds like an E -- but you have to be able to hold a pencil on your upper lip when you say it - stuff like that. It’s hard to shed old habits.
Kaleb got his first test back too – he took the same one other kids in his class took – the “weekly test,” which covers all their subjects. It had a little English, a little math, a little Norsk (identifying verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.) and a little spelling. Out of 29 possible points, he got 29, (no one can beat that kid) so he was incredibly proud. I was impressed as well and asked him how he did it. He said he had to get one paragraph translated in order for him to figure out which were verbs, nouns, etc., but once he knew the meaning of the word, he knew what it was. He also had memorized the spelling list, so even though he didn’t know the meaning of those words, he knew how to spell them. I like his style.
I was so excited about getting fresh coffee from America yesterday, that I absentmindedly drank a cup of it at 8pm last night so I didn’t fall asleep until after 1am and had to get up before 6am. I have been more than tired all day. The night before last I only slept about two hours because Kaleb and I shared the air mattress and he’s yet to learn about keeping to himself when he sleeps. He’s a heat seeking missile and I am the target.
I went to school today and overwhelmed my brain again with additional nuances in the language. We got our first test back yesterday and out of 97 points I got 88, so it was as low of an A- as a person could get if they are academically minded. There were seven other people with scores better than myself, including my partner Vestina, who got a 91. (We were trying to guess who got the high score of 95.5, but no one has fessed up yet. We think it was the doctor from Germany who sits behind us.) Vestina was devastated she didn’t get 97 and I told her it’s like the competition between the Norwegians and the Swedes – the Norskies don’t care if they win, they just care that they beat the Swedes, so she shouldn’t worry about not getting them all right – she should just be glad she beat me. I don’t think it was any consolation though because I’m sure she thinks it wouldn’t take much to beat me in this game (she IS 22 years old and her brain is still working.) Then we had a little spelling test and out of 30 words, the highest score anyone got was 18, and I got a 17 right (a few more than Vestina!), so I felt fairly good about that, but I still have oh so far to go. The letters are so hard for me to remember since the letter J sounds like a Y and the letter I sounds like an E and the letter G sounds like a J, and the letter Y sounds like an E -- but you have to be able to hold a pencil on your upper lip when you say it - stuff like that. It’s hard to shed old habits.
Kaleb got his first test back too – he took the same one other kids in his class took – the “weekly test,” which covers all their subjects. It had a little English, a little math, a little Norsk (identifying verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.) and a little spelling. Out of 29 possible points, he got 29, (no one can beat that kid) so he was incredibly proud. I was impressed as well and asked him how he did it. He said he had to get one paragraph translated in order for him to figure out which were verbs, nouns, etc., but once he knew the meaning of the word, he knew what it was. He also had memorized the spelling list, so even though he didn’t know the meaning of those words, he knew how to spell them. I like his style.
I was so excited about getting fresh coffee from America yesterday, that I absentmindedly drank a cup of it at 8pm last night so I didn’t fall asleep until after 1am and had to get up before 6am. I have been more than tired all day. The night before last I only slept about two hours because Kaleb and I shared the air mattress and he’s yet to learn about keeping to himself when he sleeps. He’s a heat seeking missile and I am the target.
