Day 24: Kindergarten

The kindergartens here are totally different than the kindergartens we have in the US. Kindergarten ages are 8 months - 6 years. Sometimes they are splint into two groups (older and younger) but often they are all together.
The year before the 6 year-olds are going to start school, the 4th graders get to start becoming friends with them. When the 6 year-olds are in 1st grade next year the 4th graders(then 5th graders) will be in charge of them at recess to make sure they are having a good time and they have a friend to play with.
I wish we had something like that in America. It wouldn't be that hard. One big kid for every little kid, make sure they are having a good time. But then we don't really need to have that because our kids don't all go out to recess at the same time.

The 4th graders and the kindergartners went on a walk today. When we got to the spot we were going to have lunch the kids immediately ran off and started playing. They slid down the muddy hillslide, bounced on moss covered rocks, tried to pull tree's out by the roots. This last one they actually succeeded in doing. It took 8 kids 20 minutes of work. At first I was pretty horrified "You can't do that to the tree!" and I don't know that I liked them doing that. But Hilde said it is good for the kids to be challenged sometimes. And getting the tree up was challenging, they had to use their weight and their brains to get it up.

One of the kids was complaining about being thirsty.
"Well, let's go down to the river and get a drink." Hilde said. She led the kids down to the river and they got to experiment on how to get a drink! I told her how we shouldn't drink straight from the rivers in the US. She simply responded "We're vikings, we drink from the river." I loved that response!
She actually used that response a few other times while we were there. She told me that the kids are tougher, which I believe. The kids can fall down and suddenly they are okay.

One little boy fell down  and Hilde asked him what was wrong. He told her he got his shoes muddy and she said, alright do you want to try and drink from the river. He was so involved in drinking the water that he forgo to be upset about his shoes. I loved that!

On the way back I asked a student to teach me the Norsk Alphabet. I don't know that I have ever had a better teacher! She sang the whole thing for me and then went through it letter by letter. When I did something correctly she would praise me "Good job!" and then continue on. When I had trouble she would say the letters and have me repeat it at least three times. Then when I had successfully learned the alphabet she praised me some more then encouraged me to sing it for everyone around me individually. She was a perfect teacher! I hope I can be like her when I grow up.

Day 1: First Day of Skole

Happy first day of school in Norway! They spell school skole, though it used to be skule. It is pronounced skool. As I went through my dad I realized a few things. I can't be afraid to sound silly. I need to try and try and try until I get it. When they make the guttural trilled r that I may never be able to duplicate, I still need to try. I also want to learn Norwegian. I want to be able to talk with the people around me. When I am speaking to anyone I am noticing myself speaking slower and with more precise vocabulary. This way of speaking required quite a bit of thinking and so I have unnatural pauses and often forget the word I am looking for. But I hope it helps people understand me better. 

I started out the day with Hilde picking me up for school. Hilde is my cooperating teacher and is marvelous! She is a wonderful teacher and is willing to ask questions and answer questions. I can tell her students really like her a lot. She introduced me to the teachers at her school and showed me around. She warned me that recess may be crazy with all 100 children that attend the school running around. I told her not to worry, back home we have 100 children in just one grade, not seven!

As class started I walked around to get a good look at what everyone was doing. Several children raised their hands and it was right then that I realized what a difference a language barrier makes. I couldn't help those kids, answer their questions, or point them in the right direction because I couldn't read their instructions or speak to them in a way that they would truly understand. It kind of hurt my heart. 

I took note of several things, but mostly what was similar or different about Norwegian schools and American schools. 

Same: The teachers counted down to let the students know how much time they had to get ready to learn. 

All of the children had cubbies for their books and equipment. 

All children love drawing, and all children can draw excellent stick-figures. Guess that is something that translates well between cultures. 

Students still learn cursive, it is just in Norsk instead of English. 

Early finishers had extra work they can do. 

Lunch is at 10:50. That was a happy discovery, it was the same time at Ellis for the 5th grade!

Attention getters such as clapping in a rhythm and the students answer in a different rhythm. 

Communicating with the parents is important. 

Different: All of the grades have recess at the same time on the same equipment.

Recess is awesome! The kids have to get their equipment and are allowed to create and fun around and play on everything. It was wonderful to watch!

They don't have every subject every day. They spread the subjects out through the week. But Mondays (mandag) are always the same and so are Tuesdays (trisdag) and so forth. 

I get to teach on Thursday. I am excited to do that! Also nervous. I wonder what it would take to get a teaching job here. I would need to know Norsk first! I want to spend an entire year here, and teaching here would be a joy!

Norway

Hi.

That is a deceptively simple world. that is what people say here in Norway as greeting. When you reply "Hi." back they assume you speak Norwegian. And that can create quite a problem.
It is a wonderful experience to be here in a country where everyone speaks a different language. I love being surrounded by the language. I sure hope that I will be able to understand at least a little bit by the time that I leave. Maybe even speak it.
We went grocery shopping yesterday and were able to find some great food, but it took a lot of guesswork. This was basically how all of our conversations went:
"Is this oatmeal?"
"It looks like oatmeal."
"What flavor is it?"
"Maybe apple and blueberry... that is what the picture is."

Rosendal Barony Rose Garden

"Sounds good to me, let's get it."

The start of the hike to the waterfall.

Yeah, it was great.

Waterfall trailhead. Hattebergfossen.

Today we went on a hike that lasted around 4 hours. Maybe a little more. Rosendal Barony and looked around. But we were really just walking past there to get to the trail head for the waterfall.

The waterfall. 

We went to the waterfall and it was so beautiful! Everywhere I looked there was something beautiful to look at. It was just like being in Southern Utah. Something to take your breath away with every blink. I think we saw the sun rise at least 3 times because we kept going deeper into the mountains. We did get to a spot in the mountains where the sun never actually hit.

The sheep.

While we were in a canyon between two mountains we got to see these two sheep being herded. There was a young woman who whistled at her dog and then the dog would change directions so that the sheep would stay on the road.
The waterfall looked pretty far away, but it turns out it was closer than I thought it was. The entire experience was awe-some. It put in perspective for me how small I am. I am just a small piece in this huge world. I am just a small piece in Norway. Together is how people are able to live.

Tomorrow we start teaching. I am going to Valen skule. (Yes, that is how you spell it) I am going to need so much help on the names. I cannot say the names of half of the people or places here. But I will be able to say a lot more by the time I go back to the states.

For now we can say that I love it here and am so excited to live here for the next while.  I already love the land and the people that I have met. I love the food (they put corn on pizza, salad, and tacos...It is surprisingly good.) and I love the view.
This picture about sums up how I feel about Norway.

A very soft, large tree.