recap.

2 weeks down and 4 more to go.. I can't believe that I have cruised through 2 weeks of Norwegian class already!! The lessons are beginning to get harder and if you don't have good time management skills then it's easy to get behind. I am a little behind, but this weekend I have been working hard to not only do the homework that is due on Monday, but also the optional homework, so that I can get lots of practice! Before, when I always had to get Anders or someone else to help me with my homework, I am now beginning to be able to do it/and figuring it out all by myself! That is a pretty big step for me, because now I am recognizing words and phrases without even thinking twice about it and without having to ask Anders, his friends, or family. We had another test on Friday and we'll find out tomorrow how we did.. granted I think that the test was a lot more difficult than the first one, I think I did okay on it! I have my fingers crossed.

We are now completely through Chapter 7 in the book, which is crazy. Here is a little recap on the stuff that I have learned so far:

Chapter 1: Hva heter du?
-How to introduce yourself to others
-How to tell where you are from & where you live
-Hva gjør de? (What are they doing?) Examples: learning basic/daily verbs used most often
-Pronouns, question words (the words that usually begin a question, if not a verb), & sentence order
-Alphabet

Chapter 2: Snakker du norsk?
-Land og språk (Land of language) or basically; nationalities & how to correctly write & pronouce them
-Different professions/careers you can have
-More vocab expressions
-How to make a sentence negative (adding no & not)

Chaper 3: Familien
-Numbers
-Letter vocab (what's included with sending one)
-Some store vocab (what you can buy in one)
-Family vocab (including titles just as mother, father, sister, brother, etc.)
-Kitchen vocab (what's generally in one)
-Meal & food vocab (especially what you eat for breakfast; frokost)
-Grammar: ubestemet & bestemet forms of nouns (singular & prural)
-Pronouns for nouns
-More question words

Chapter 4: En vanlig dag
-Normal daily living vocab (such as showering, brushes teeth/hair, etc.)
-Some home vocab (such as, living room vocab--what's in it)
-Fruits & vegetables
-Pronouns (subject & object forms)
-Prepositions (up, down, under, etc.)

Chapter 5: Hva er klokka?
-How to tell time (how to read, write & say it)
-More daily activities (getting out of bed, eating breakfast, going to work, etc.)
-Some cafe vocab
-Infinitive & present forms of verbs
-Modalverbs
-The difference between words with movement & no movement (Example: Han skal ut = He shall go out vs. Han er ute = He is out.)
-Days of the week

Chapter 6: På kjøpesenteret
-Shopping center/bakery vocab
-Colors
-Clothing vocab
-TONS more grammar, question words, adjectives & phrases

Chapter 7: Vær og årstider
-Weather & seasons vocab
-The different months of the year
-More clothing vocab (associated with winter)
-Some climate & temperature vocab
-Reflexsive pronouns
-Indirect & direct speech and more prepositions

This is just what we learn, in a nutshell, in each of the chapters. It doesn't include the SLEW of vocab and verbs that we learn every class from discussions, or dialogs in the text. Tomorrow we will begin to dive right into Chapter 8 which is about traveling. As you can probably imagine, I am a little overwhelmed with the amount of information that I've learned in just a 2 week span!!!

Other than classes last week, I was doing homework a lot of the days when I returned home from school, but was also able to be a little more active. Anders' mother bought me new hiking boots as a late birthday present (because I seemed to have misplaced mine back in the US), so I have been breaking those in from time to time! There is a mountain, a rather small one, right in Anders' backyard (for the most part) and it is a lovely hour hike with a beautiful view of all of Rykkinn at the top. I've been meaning to take my camera up there so that I can take a picture. Here is a picture I found on the internet though which isn't that bad. I'm trying to break the hiking boots in, so that I can be ready for the Basseggen hiking trip, which is only a short 2 weekends away!! I'm really looking forward to it. Some of the most beautiful views of fjords can be seen up there (you can also see where the water is two different colors, which is something it's famous for). Here is also a picture I found from the internet of what I can expect.


Solfjellstua


Basseggen.. gorgeous, no? :)

Yesterday Anders took me to the Norwegian Folk Museum which was a lot of fun!! It is this outdoor museum which shows what a lot of the buildings used to look like hundreds of years ago as well as showing some of the Native Sami peoples ways of living. Here are some more pictures!! I know you guys have been expecting some.


Anders standing in front of an old farmhouse


US :)


Me standing in front of an old wooden church

There was also some traditional music and dance that was preformed, so if you're interested, take a look:


I understand that this post is beginning to become too long, so I'm going to wrap it up! I have finally signed up for a gym membership in a city near by called Sandvika, which is at most only a 20 minute bus ride from Rykkinn. What's really cool about this particular gym is that there isn't official people that work there and in order to enter you punch in the code that was given to you when you signed up online. It's open Mon-Sun 6am-midnight, so I'm really looking forward to that!! I also signed up on this au pair/nannying site, maybe I'll be able to find some work in the area, but who knows! I will be going into the restuarant, that I may have mentioned before, where there is a possibility that I may have some work available for me! We'll see. I'm going to have to find a job either way for August, because that's when my class will be over. I also need to begin to finalize which visa I am going to apply for, which I would like to do before the first of August. There are just sooo many different options to choose from, so I need to make sure that I choose the correct one, because once my application is processing, I am not allowed to leave Norway until it's done processing, which I came to find out might take 9 months. Which means I won't be able to come home probably until next spring :( but I have to do it, so it's important!

I'll keep everything updated on that information though as time goes on! Have a good week everyone!! <3 Goodbye for now.