Swedish For Immigrants (SFI)

As some of you may have read, I have started taking SFI classes, (Swedish For Immigrants). I've only been to six classes now but I have already passed my first test which was over introductory and elementary things, and I am now learning all about shopping, clothes, and food. I go to class every Monday and Wednesday night from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

In class, the first two hours are spent on self-study. I bought a book (the +46) and I spend my time going from page to page, learning words and doing the exercises and practicing by myself... or with my friend Caylie who is also taking these classes with me. If I need help or have a question, my teacher, Mrs. Gunilla, comes over and helps me out. Like I said, I have already learned how to introduce myself, tell where I'm from, how long I've been here, how old I am, I can tell the time, say the alphabet, count to one million, say all kinds of foods,  talk about the weather, talk about family members, colors... and some other things I'm sure but I'm not recalling them at the moment. 

The third hour is spent talking together as a class about something. Today for instance, we talked more about clothes and played BINGO but in the past we looked through newspapers and had small discussions (mostly the teacher talking and we students smiling and nodding), learned about verb congregation, and even how to change a word into it's plural form (there are FIVE different ways in Swedish)

I took Spanish for four years in High School... and I have to say that by comparing this class to my years in Spanish, I have blown through 2 years of studying in just six class periods. I can't help but ask myself how that is but the answer is very simple. The first day in this class, the teacher didn't speak hardly ANY English to me. The class was taught in Swedish, to Swedish. The common language was Swedish and by god that is what we were going to speak. The reason, for me why I am learning so fast is that I am not having to translate in my head from English to Swedish. By just knowing this is the word for that object or this thought, that's what I say and don't worry about translating it in your head.  

My class is mostly composed of Middle Easterners and Asians, but there are also a few Eastern Europeans in the group as well. It's interesting to ponder how and why these people move here for jobs, or to move away from the war.. if I could have a better conversation with some of them I'm sure their stories would be pretty amazing. 

Another benefit from this course besides learning the language is that I can observe how a class like this is taught. My first career goal is to be an ESL teacher (English as a Second Language) so this is almost like practice for me to be in this class. I thought it would be very difficult to teach someone else a language when neither of you have a common language to describe and explain things with... but the common language is the one that you are teaching! Never would have guessed it. 

Visit to Varberg

This weekend I retreated North to the wonderful city of Varberg! Upon my arrival I soon noticed that I'm really going to have to start pulling out my warm sweaters, hats, gloves, and scarfs... it's FREEZING! With temperatures in the forties and dwindling with a blowing wind and a humidity in the 90% range, it's going to be an interesting next few months! If you can't tell from the picture above, we've already had our first frost. 

Every time I go to Varberg, I have a genuinely great time. Not only am I surrounded by wonderful people but I also love being in the "small" (compared to Helsingborg's city feel) town by the sea. AND I really enjoy watching this summer town's population change with the seasons. This summer, Varberg was bustling with tourists and a lot of shops and cafe's were open longer, but now as the season is cooling off I can see that things are closing up in preperation for winter and shops aren't open as long for the locals. 

In Harry's Bar watching the Varberg BOIS Soccer Game

This weekend was an important one for Varberg's city soccer team, the Varberg BOIS. They are in the #1 spot for their division, and they were being challenged by the #2 seat. This game would determine if Varberg would win the division and be able to jump up to the next highest one! Ivar and I went downtown to Harry's Bar, one of the only places where you could watch the game on t.v., to witness this exciting game. Happily, Varberg won 3 to 1 and now they are the best in their division! It was a very merry celebration at Harry's, and it was very fun for me to witness that!


Funny story of the visit:
Walking home from Harry's, Ivar and I ran into this guy who was dressed up in traditional Western (cowboy) clothing, the vest, the silk scarf, the hat, in my opinion it looked pretty darn good! Anyhow, he was feeling a bit on the tipsy side and asked Ivar if he had a light, then Ivar bounced the attention onto me by mentioning that I am from America!  WELL This made the man very happy, it was probably the highlight of his day showing me the tattoos on both of his arms that were of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. He loves the Western United States, he asked me if I was a "cowboygirl" and I replied that I have horses and yes I am a cowgirl and he was thrilled! He and I shared a secret handshake and he offered me the beer he had in his hand but I shook my head and told him that I had to leave but it was nice meeting him and I liked his style. He had the biggest grin on his face as he waved goodbye and headed downtown probably to cause some sort of shenanigans. I'm really regretting now that I didn't take a picture with him, but that happens I guess you get too caught up in the moment and forget to take photographic evidence.

That's all for now! Next weekend I head back to Gotland with Alicia and her family to pick up a new horse!

Who Knew?

My sister Alicia who filmed this video approximately a year ago showed me this video today... and now I can't help but laugh and think how unpredictable life is and how I'm so happy that this idea that was "a silly idea and I don't know how it would work but would be cool" is really happening! I could never have imagined what would happen in the year ahead of me, and it's nice to  be reminded of how lucky I am to have this opportunity to be in Sweden for a year!

This year instead of driving to PPHS every morning I am taking online classes like I have said in previous blogs, and I have finally started going to Swedish classes! The course that I am taking is SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) and I am taking night classes, every Monday and Wednesday from 5pm to 8pm. I've only been to one class so far, but I have already learned quite a bit! I'm taking this class with my fellow American friend Caylie, and other fellow students in the class are mostly Middle Eastern, which is interesting. This SFI class is taught from Swedish to Swedish, which is an interesting concept for me. two main reasons; One is that because I am not thinking "okay.. so my name is Cori.. hmm what is that in Swedish.. oh yeah! I...Jag..my name is... I call myself.. heter? yes.." and so on. We are learning what to say in situations in Swedish, without having to translate it through our heads first. I believe this is much more of a natural way to learn a language therefore I should be fluent in no time! (HA!) The second reason is because I feel like I just have to figure it out when I can't understand the teacher, there's no cheating, and it always helps just to listen to the language and try to understand the most of what you are hearing. The first two hours of class are focused on studying by ourselves, making our way through a book that we are supposed to buy and learning things on our own.. and then the teachers are there if we have questions. The third hour is spent working as a group talking about different situations... last class was focused on stores... reading the signs saying what time the store is open, how long it is open, if something is on sale, do you have this in my size.. etc.

Never thought a year ago that I would be taking Swedish for Immigrants.. or even be considered as an immigrant... who knew?

Autumn Days... More Like Summer

                     It has been quite a great week in the life of Cori.

Not only has the weather been exquisite, but I have also been enjoying it! I have been able to wear a t-shirt and shorts for the past week, it's amazing! This doesn't feel like it's October now!
I have spent this beautiful week by going on a few very nice horseback rides, and some of the most memorable things about those is the cold and eerie mist coming up from the sea and casting a white blanket through the forest while I'm riding; and as I pass through the clouds of white I hear from a distance foghorns of boats passing by the water which is relatively close to where I am trotting around.  I've never experienced anything like that before, it was really nice.

One disadvantage to the weather being warm and sunny is that I'm prone to wanting my bedroom window open. By leaving this gateway to my living quarters ajar, I allow the #1 enemy in to attack me at every moment. The dreaded mosquito. I have bites ALL over me, and it's quite painful.

Funny story of the week:
Well, Wednesday after I got done having Hilma being trimmed by the horse-shoer, I got a craving for a jelly filled doughnut. I realized that Swedes don't eat that kind of thing very often, if ever! Well, after having this horrible realization I knew exactly what I had to do. Make some home-made jelly filled doughnuts! I've never attempted to accomplish such a feat but it had to be done. I looked up a recipe online and started to bake. I was heating a pot of oil so I could fry the doughnuts and while I had that warming up, I was working on the dough. Of course, I made the stupid mistake of leaving heating oil un-monitored and soon it began to steam like crazy! It steamed so much that it set off the fire alarms! I was SO SCARED! I ran the steaming pot outside to cool off, brought the dog outside and tied him up so he wouldn't die from the smell of burning oil, zoomed back inside in a panic and opened every window in the house. It took what seemed like forever for the alarms to go off, and I was very nervous that the fire department would come because it would be very difficult and embarrassing to explain what had happened. But, they never came, and soon enough the alarms did go off. The only things that remained from this was the horrible smell of oil, the humiliation of my mistake, and after I made them correctly, delicious jelly-filled doughnuts.

This Friday was Mira's birthday! She just turned 9 years old. We woke her up in the morning with breakfast in bed, (I kind of liked this tradition) and presents before school. I gave her a cute warm hat and a necklace. That night we had a dinner party, and that was really fun as well. Ivar was able to join in on the festivities and meet the family so this made the occasion even more special.

I got to Skype with my Aunt Lynne, Uncle Paul, and Grandma Joan today! It was great seeing them and being able to talk with them while they are on their trip in Poland. I was very delighted being able to do that, and to hear that they are having  a wonderful time.

That just about sums up the week. Next Wednesday I'm starting with my Swedish classes! I'm pretty excited for that :) 'till next time,
Cori