life on the eastern front

Haven't written a lot lately. Perhaps something deep is stirring. Or perhaps life has just been busy. Swedish class has only been going on for two weeks now but it feels like a point of no return, as far as grasping the language. One of the realities: hitting a saturation point every day. New vocabulary, new verb forms, new pronounciations, new bookbag. I leave school every day at two thinking I'd like to keep the Swedish going the rest of the day, but then I pick up my little English speaking guys who have been dying to speak their native tounge all day and inadvertently my new Swedish is forced to concede. I try to sneak away in the evenings to do some studying but the reality is that life keeps marching forward and the Swedish will always be there - stuff still has to get done around the house and we got little guys who have different needs everyday. I don't have the luxury of some of the students to spend six hours a day out of class studying. Another reality is that some SFI students with young kids have had to drop out for their family's sake. The daily class schedule can conflict with family need, especially little ones. We aren't near crossing that bridge but it sure is rough some mornings getting everybody out the door by 7:20 without a battle. At this point, Mon and I are putting our heads together to consider how we can make the mornings smoother.

There is also an individual resistance factor a guy from London had me consider the other day. If you can get by speaking your native tounge - for us, universal English - you can grow to resent having to learn a host country's language. And most the adult population in Sweden is fluent in English. He said his buddy back home told him he needed to go out and have a few drinks and bash Sweden for a night to get the resentment out of his system. Then he can come back and approach tackling the language without a barrier. I'm not much of a drinker but the 'barrier' may be something I wasn't willing to admit to. I think there may be a Swedish poke or two up my sleeve. The guy from London had a bit more pressure on him to learn Swedish than myself because he is starting some type of business endeavor in January. Even in the accelerated program they haven't kicked me out yet, so I think I'm probably doing okay. Then again, it's Sweden. I don't think they kick anybody out.

Boys are doing good in their schools, once we get out the door. Jake is settling in fine. Hard to get him to leave some days. Picked him up yesterday and he had something blue all over his face and dirt on his white t-shirt after a great session in the sandbox. His class had gone into nearby woods during the day and Jake smashed blueberries and painted his face so he'd look like an indian. I don't think it was a class project. Sammy is doing good too, though after week two the reality that Dad was dropping him off everyday was starting to set in. Most days are pretty good. This week has been better. It also helped the other day that mormor dropped by his school to visit during the day. I think both mormor and Sam were encouraged to see each other.

We've started Friday night family swim night at a local indoor pool. It has been fun, the one time we did it so far. Mormor joined us too. Pool and sauna makes for a relaxing evening fer everybody. And this Friday we'll have a pot of tex-mex chili ready to go when we get home. Can't wait.

That's about all for now.