Dialed in on so many levels

Let's see. My big focus is on language immersion of late. I have been going to Swedish language classes for the last two weeks. It is so great! I think that taking the train, by myself, and learning something, uninterrupted, is as golden as the course itself. Although, the class is good and I am learning a great deal. It is very similar to English. The pronunciation is the variable. My teacher relayed, when the Vikings were at their height, around 800 AD, they would go to Britain and could converse with each other because the words were so similar. Then, after the Normandy Invasion with France, different words were introduced and you can tell if it is French because it does not sound like English (of course). Interesting, like "knee" is knä pronounced kah-n-a, and "foot" is fot pronounced fut, and "knife" is kniv pronounced kah-n-short i -v. So, it is fun to learn and also not too stressful because the entire population (mostly) of Stockholm speaks English. As well, it is good for Saniya to have us learn as a family. I think it is an important part of living in their culture and embracing it. She is learning in school, but she learns differently. I haven't figured out how yet, but she is one to listen and observe and then begin speaking all at once. This is how she learned to talk, so I think it will be the same. She says, "nej", pronounced ney and means "no", constantly. Yeah! Not. Rob switched to my class location for language study. It is a more accelerated school, with a better commute, so he begins next week. Rob is great with retaining information so I think he will pick it up faster than all of us. I spent 8 months in Central America and Mexico and was proficient in Spanish. I have lost it in the last few years. Rob spent three months there and still remembers most of it. Hmm...

Also on the "dialed in" mode, we finally got cell phones! Amazingly, these are the first cell phones we have had for personal use. I have had them for work, but never for myself, and Rob has never had a cell phone. We are so old school. It was time to update, I guess, with two kids and no car and being in this new place and all. Actually, they are incredibly cheap here because this is the cell phone mecca of the world. It is one of their premiere industries and has given an incredible economic boom to Sweden in the last 10-15 years or so. Cell phones were developed here and they still have a big hold in that market.

So, here are our #'s in case something happens:

Yasmiene cell 011-46-7-04610434
Rob cell 011-46-7-04584270
Home (no answering machine) 011-46-8-7369875

The funny part is that all of the instructions for the phone is in Swedish so we still haven't figured out how to retrieve messages or even leave a personal outgoing message. Haha. We hope to call and ask the provider for help in the next few days, but then we have to figure out the # as that is Swedish as well. Ah, the joys of being a foreigner. Anyways, we will do that in the next few days, so if you do call you will know that it is us. Also, we will put up some Halloween pixs of Saniya and Rowan, and of when it snowed, in the next few days! The snow melted after a few days and now the weather is sunny and windy. It is a crisp Autumn again.

Yasmiene