LOL - man, do I crack myself up. That's good, since I am by myself 1/2 the day on Thursdays and Fridays.
Yes, ladies and gentleman, today I walked on water. Granted, the damn lake was frozen but it still doesn't mean I didn't WALK on it. It was, by far, the strangest, creepiest thing I have EVER done. Reagan and I both weren't too sure what to make of standing in the middle of a lake we were just at in December with Mya. Incredible!!! What's cool about this community (and it probably exists elsewhere, I just have never been to a frozen lake before) is they measure how thick the ice is as well as plough a path for ice skating and skiing. This particular lake's ice is 18cm thick (go ahead, do the math - I just call my husband who said "yes, it's thick enough to walk on"). There were a few people out there with us - some skiing, some skating, some walking. It takes about 20 minutes to get there and I'd say about an hour to go around the lake so tomorrow I will be a little more prepared and walk the whole thing.
Tomorrow marks the end of two weeks in my Swedish class. It is going really well and some students even look to moi for help. Of course, at the beginning it didn't seem to be going so good. At one point, I had to look at my paper to say the alphabet and count. That's pretty pathetic since the alphabet is composed of all the same letters as the English alphabet (minus the W) plus the 3 extra letters (which I will not include here as I still have an English keyboard, thank gawd, and do not know the shortcut keys to make them). My brain was having a hard time understanding what I was subjecting it to at first, but by last Thursday it had located the "learning a new language" section and it was full speed ahead.
The class, naturally, is filled with people from around the world. I am the only American and there is only one other English speaking person in the class (from England). Of course, most of the other students do know a little to a lot of English so I can communicate just fine. I think sometimes it would be more helpful and easier for me to start learning Swedish if I didn't know English. The students from Iraq only speak Arabic so their grasp tends to be better. However, that being said, Arabic is so far from Swedish it is quite difficult for them to even hear the sounds in addition to writing. I can't imagine how overloaded their brains must be at the end of class each day. At least with English, there are quite a few similar words so it is easy to figure out what things are. Writing in Arabic looks like a doctor's signature and has nothing even closely related to Swedish. Plus, they read right to left so they are literally learning from scratch. I get exhausted just thinking of what their minds must be going through. Kudos to them for attending these classes - I think it is important for people to know the language of the country they live in so they can be a part of society. I won't get on any kind of rant, but I do wish the US offered something like that to our immigrants. Unfortunately, I think the situation is so far gone it wouldn't really help.
Moving on (geesh, where did that come from?!) - to follow up on the mystery night Anders had planned for us back in January of 1977 (no, it hasn't been than long - give me a break). He ended up taking me to the restaurant, Pontus by the Sea, which hosted an English comic troupe which acted out quite a few and very funny scenes. The food was a "choice of" menu and was incredible. In addition to an awesome venue, I also got to enjoy it with Marie and Freddie - two of my most favorite people. For those of you who don't know them, Freddie and Marie were two of the first people I met when I came to Sweden in 1999. I enjoy hanging out with both of them so much and it was such a surprise to see them (especially Marie, as I hadn't seen her since we moved back - silly, I know!).
My mom said that quite a few people (including one of my Aunts - you know who you are) said I must be busy since I haven't been posting lately. Well, let's just say I am getting use to having only 3-6 hours of free time during the week instead of all day. It's a struggle, but I think I will persevere!!!! Ha, ha, ha!!
Have a great Thursday, Friday and weekend everyone!!! Wish me luck in that Reagan and I don't fall through the lake tomorrow!!
Yes, ladies and gentleman, today I walked on water. Granted, the damn lake was frozen but it still doesn't mean I didn't WALK on it. It was, by far, the strangest, creepiest thing I have EVER done. Reagan and I both weren't too sure what to make of standing in the middle of a lake we were just at in December with Mya. Incredible!!! What's cool about this community (and it probably exists elsewhere, I just have never been to a frozen lake before) is they measure how thick the ice is as well as plough a path for ice skating and skiing. This particular lake's ice is 18cm thick (go ahead, do the math - I just call my husband who said "yes, it's thick enough to walk on"). There were a few people out there with us - some skiing, some skating, some walking. It takes about 20 minutes to get there and I'd say about an hour to go around the lake so tomorrow I will be a little more prepared and walk the whole thing.
Tomorrow marks the end of two weeks in my Swedish class. It is going really well and some students even look to moi for help. Of course, at the beginning it didn't seem to be going so good. At one point, I had to look at my paper to say the alphabet and count. That's pretty pathetic since the alphabet is composed of all the same letters as the English alphabet (minus the W) plus the 3 extra letters (which I will not include here as I still have an English keyboard, thank gawd, and do not know the shortcut keys to make them). My brain was having a hard time understanding what I was subjecting it to at first, but by last Thursday it had located the "learning a new language" section and it was full speed ahead.
The class, naturally, is filled with people from around the world. I am the only American and there is only one other English speaking person in the class (from England). Of course, most of the other students do know a little to a lot of English so I can communicate just fine. I think sometimes it would be more helpful and easier for me to start learning Swedish if I didn't know English. The students from Iraq only speak Arabic so their grasp tends to be better. However, that being said, Arabic is so far from Swedish it is quite difficult for them to even hear the sounds in addition to writing. I can't imagine how overloaded their brains must be at the end of class each day. At least with English, there are quite a few similar words so it is easy to figure out what things are. Writing in Arabic looks like a doctor's signature and has nothing even closely related to Swedish. Plus, they read right to left so they are literally learning from scratch. I get exhausted just thinking of what their minds must be going through. Kudos to them for attending these classes - I think it is important for people to know the language of the country they live in so they can be a part of society. I won't get on any kind of rant, but I do wish the US offered something like that to our immigrants. Unfortunately, I think the situation is so far gone it wouldn't really help.
Moving on (geesh, where did that come from?!) - to follow up on the mystery night Anders had planned for us back in January of 1977 (no, it hasn't been than long - give me a break). He ended up taking me to the restaurant, Pontus by the Sea, which hosted an English comic troupe which acted out quite a few and very funny scenes. The food was a "choice of" menu and was incredible. In addition to an awesome venue, I also got to enjoy it with Marie and Freddie - two of my most favorite people. For those of you who don't know them, Freddie and Marie were two of the first people I met when I came to Sweden in 1999. I enjoy hanging out with both of them so much and it was such a surprise to see them (especially Marie, as I hadn't seen her since we moved back - silly, I know!).
My mom said that quite a few people (including one of my Aunts - you know who you are) said I must be busy since I haven't been posting lately. Well, let's just say I am getting use to having only 3-6 hours of free time during the week instead of all day. It's a struggle, but I think I will persevere!!!! Ha, ha, ha!!
Have a great Thursday, Friday and weekend everyone!!! Wish me luck in that Reagan and I don't fall through the lake tomorrow!!
1 comment:
Walking on water? You mean to tell me you haven't been ice fishing yet? C'mon Monica!! Check out my site for pics of Angele and Molly ice fishing at Christmas!
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