One Week In: "I Love it Here"

The fact that you can feel "this close" to someone 4,000 miles away is pretty amazing – thanks to modern technology. The only downside (other than the 4,000 miles) is that you can keep tabs on up-to-the-minute news events – both good and bad – in that corner of the map.

This week saw major snowstorms and avalanches in Germany. But just like weather in the USA, some areas get it while others are spared. Still, we had to check to be sure the boy was safe!

This is picture of someone's tabletop snowman in Heidelberg. Yup, they were definitely spared the brunt of it. Not that Carter wouldn't know what to do in snow! He did pack a coat and boots of sorts.

Still, I took any excuse to connect with him and tonight – well night time his time, but afternoon here – he called us through the WhatsApp application. I put him on speaker so hubby and I could listen and talk with him together.

After a hectic start in the new country last Sunday, it's all good now. He's definitely figuring things out and has been really busy. He said it feels more like he's been gone three weeks already. Not just one. A lot to adjust to with times, languages, shopping, eating, etc. But in a nutshell: "I love it here!"

I just loved hearing his voice!

Eventually, he'll share some more pictures but their language program does have a Facebook page and they shared some images from the first week and this post (translated) with them:

The first week of 2019 is coming to an end. The Collegium Palatine was allowed to welcome many new and already known faces. The culture and leisure programme also started in the new year with a tour of the Heidelberg Castle and a bowling tournament. We are looking forward to more adventures with you!

This is the group at Heidelberg Castle. Carter is in middle in bright shirt behind guy kneeling.

And no. Your eyes don't deceive you. We sent our son halfway across the globe to go bowling! They went Friday night and he proudly reported he was the only one to break 100. Way to represent! He's second on in from far right. Weird that there is a spotlight on his face. I honestly didn't Photoshop this in any way!

He said that each week they'll have optional activities he can sign up for. We encouraged him to do as many as he can if it doesn't interfere with school work. Plus, they aren't "allowed" to speak anything but German in class, so it's nice to have social time to speak English. And apparently those Austin dimples are an international language of charm. But we don't need to go into that.

I got to hear his voice and get my virtual hug, so momma's all good. For now.

Sneak Preview

Today was like a sneak preview into the weekend. Except for the weather part, that's actually changing for the better! Maybe the other "shows" are, too.

As a sneak peek to Sunday's Packer-Viking game...

Yes, I am a glutton for punishment and wore a Vikings sweatshirt to work today... and long-sleeve Vikings shirt underneath... and Viking socks. Got a little ribbing from Packers fans, naturally, but I explained that I probably wouldn't be wearing purple on Monday. If nothing else, I am a loyal fan but a realistic one.

As a sneak peek to a Mockingjay Saturday...

Finally watched the second movie in the Hunger Games series tonight. So I am all set to see third movie, Mockingjay, tomorrow with my girlfriend Christine. We both managed to get our preview viewing done this week. Now that's homework I can handle.



Speaking of homework...

Carter brought his report card home for the second hex (we do hexes, not quarters) and I hope his Language Arts grade is not a preview of things to come. The reading-writing-editing gene skipped this generation unfortunately. Perhaps he could an English as a Second Language course??

Just kidding. I love him and I just throw that in there once in awhile to see if he reads my blog. So far, I am safe. If you get a sneak peek into the future and know when I won't be, please let me know.

I don't mind a spoiler alert now and then.

Back to the Books?

When I was a child, one of my favorite summertime activities was the Summer Reading Program.

On a certain day each week, a "book-mobile" of sorts would stop by the church and we could check out one, two or as many books as we desired to read until the next week. The organizers kept track of our progress on one of those charts where you'd earn a little star sticker for each book read.

Oh how I loved to get my "new" books each week. And oh how I loved to see all those stars after my name. Yup, a little bit competitive even at a young age.

As a teen, my summer time was divided between work (weeding and mowing), play (slathering myself with baby oil and sunbathing) and escape (reading). Didn't need a book club then, but I did take advantage of a book-by-mail program where they actually mailed books from the county library some 20 miles away. I don't think they even charged us. Wow. Times change.

Not my love for reading, though.

Carter, on the other hand, is my complete opposite. The image above may look like a boy enjoying reading, but my mind sees a book dragging a reluctant boy along, hoping to hook him into the story.

During the school year, he absolutely hates reading. During summer vacation, why would he even give it a thought?

Well, it turns out he should have much sooner than now, one month before school starts. Pretty sure he's known all summer he has to read Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (nearly 600 pages "in small print, Mom!") for English class and 1776 by David McCullough (just shy of 400 pages) for history. Now, instead of reading at his leisure, it is stressful crunch time. Could it get any worse for Mr. Procrastinator?

Why yes.

Today an email from the English teacher announced another book has to be read by the start of school, The Last of the Mohicans. While I personally think that is kind of late notice, I really do hope Carter reads that one and enjoys it. It was one of my favorites.

That one, I might just have to add to my own Summer Reading List. The question is: If I finish it before school starts, do I get a gold star??

On Break

What's the reward for squeezing 5 days of work into 2? Three days off... well, make that a 5-day break from the office!

I'm officially on my Turkey Break and may even take next Monday off to extend it. Have to use up vacation days or lose them and, as you can tell from the Christmas ads and movies on Hallmark, time is running out!

My plans? Well, right now I've got some DIF soaking into the wallpaper in the bathroom so I can get my stripping routine started. Somehow this probably isn't what hubby had in mind when I volunteered. Ha.

Later, I get to help Carter study for an English test. That will be more fun for me than him, trust me. Likely I will lose patience when he can't define words or use them in a sentence. But I will try to remain calm. I'm on break, after all.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be that fantastic Almost Indian Summer day with highs near 60. Somebody in this house better find an open golf course! Just sayin'.

I do have cooking and cleaning and baking and blah, blah, blah that I SHOULD do. And there's always more stripping to do. Maybe I'll be on a mission tomorrow so I can relax the rest of the week. I'm nothing if not goal-oriented.

Right now my goal is to get this stripping business down to a science. If anyone wants to slip one-dollar bills my way, that's fine. I will use them to buy Band-Aids for my blisters when this is all said and done!

Briefing Room

Just some Monday briefs...

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream: Who would have thought that changing the clocks would mess with all our sleeping schedules? It did. Big time. We were all up wandering the halls or tossing and turning throughout the night. This morning was not a good time to interact. 3 tired crabbies = silence over breakfast. The Sandman better not bypass our house tonight!!

Spellbound: So Carter brings home his report card and, as usual, he is just shy of getting straight A's. Every time he brings a grade up to an A, another slips down. So of 11 classes, he is getting 9 A's and 2 non-A's. The stunner is that one of his non-A's -- and this is very non-A -- is in language arts (you know, English, spelling, etc). How is that genetically possible? Apparently Dad and Mom kept all the writing and editing skills to ourselves. Unreal. I mean we ARE proud of him. But still...

March Madness: It's that time of year again. In my hands I have a NCAA bracket that I will fill out with total guesswork and wonder why I finish in the bottom 5 in our work pool. And I don't mean the bottom 5%. I mean the bottom 5 people! Yet, I still fill it out, pay to enter and hope. I have no knowledge whatsoever of college basketball. I just look at rankings and randomly pick upsets... 'Cause you never know! Anything can happen in March Madness. I might even finish ahead of Carter (a.k.a. Mr. Sportscenter)...

Well not quite anything.

Under the Weather

God afton! That's "good evening" in Swedish. Jag skulle vija ha Shamrock Shake. "I'd like a Shamrock Shake."

No, I am not really learning Swedish. I just ordered a dictionary to potentially help me translate a few words on some family tree documents. It came in the mail today and I suspect it will be well worth what I paid for it (2 cents + $3.99 shipping on Amazon) in no time.

I was thinking it might be easiest to have another native language and learn English second. However, I'm coming to realize the English language (as we use it) has soooo many words and phrases that mean the same thing, that it would very, very challenging.

The other night we were on our way to the basketball game and some announcer on the radio mentioned someone wasn't appearing somewhere because they were "under the weather." Carter asks, "What does that mean?" Hubby and I look at each other and both ask, "You've never heard that?" Nope, he says.

We explain that it simply means someone isn't feeling well, they're not 100%, sort of like Carter was Monday when he stayed home from school. Good explanation, but, asks the inquiring mind, "Why do we say that?"

Good question. I had to look it up since I wasn't completely sure and didn't want to pull a LeRoy and make something up. Turns out it stems from back in the days when sailors would feel seasick and would go below deck -- away from and under the weather -- to settle their stomachs and feel better. It made sense on land, too, since the weather can affect some people with certain ailments like arthritis.

Wow, you've learned so much already. Shall I go on?

Actually, that's all I know about that. But it is funny when we stop and listen to ourselves. How many phrases did we use this week without thought to their origin? I was talking with a friend about old wives' tales. Anyone mention March coming in like a lamb? Does anyone have cabin fever? Spring fever?

No wonder English can be a "foreign" language even to our kids. I'm sure Carter will figure it out eventually. After all, he's smarter than the average bear.

... But I have no idea how he stacks up against the above-average ones.

I'd Like to Buy a Vowel...

One of my favorite traits I inherited from my mother is the love for the English language. Learn it, love it, play with it, but don't abuse it. (And by abuse I mean dreadful sins like poor grammar, misplaced modifiers and misspellings.)

I'm convinced we'd be unstoppable as a mother-daughter team on Wheel of Fortune. But we never attempt to get on the show. Guess we don't want to show off...

The other day she called me with a word emergency. Yep, you read that right. She had to unscramble 30 Thanksgiving-related words to enter a contest. She figured out 28 on her own but her scrambling was stymied by the last 2.

It's always good to feel needed by your mother -- even if it's just to help her win a turkey! As it turned out, I got the first word as soon as she gave me the last letter, which was a D. I said, "Oh, D as in Drumstick?" She said, "Yes." When she didn't seem excited, I'm like, "Mom, that's the word -- Drumstick!" Oh, OK! Then she was excited.

We were down to the last one. I was working all the letters and wasn't seeing them come together in any way that made sense. I was about to tell her I'd call her back, when Carter, who was listening in on this and apparently working his English skills, said, "Mom, I figured it out. It's Celebrate!"

Wow. I couldn't have been more proud if he'd won a duathlon (or even a Spelling Bee). What a team Grammar, er Grandma, Carter and I make!

And just when I thought this word thing might be a fluke, yesterday Carter asked me when I'd be done with the book I'm reading. He had just finished his book (North by Donna Jo Napoli) for school. "Mom, you have to read this next! This book was awesome!"

Be still my heart. We may have a third-generation Wheel-er yet.

W-I-N (for 5 points)

You know the old adage, "It doesn't matter how you play the game as long as you win"? Oh wait, that's not it. But I can see how it would work in some circumstances.

Today, for example, our Vikings were pitiful against the winless Lions. So pitiful, in fact, we almost gave them their first "W" this afternoon. Almost, but not quite. So we'll take one in the win column and remain on top of our division (dismal all around this year) but certainly won't be bragging about it.

You'd be proud of me, I didn't even call my dad to rub it in that the Vikes had a win while the Pack was handed another loss. See, I told you this wasn't worth the boast. Plus, I'd end up talking to my mother (a fellow lover of English, spelling and all that is grammar) and have to admit to her I can't seem to beat her youngest grandchild in Scrabble.

Now last night, I helped him quite a bit, so he beat me by quite a bit. No surprise he wanted to play again tonight after supper. Of course, I'm happy he wants to play a game where he can "work" on English, but I said I wasn't going to help him this time.

Well I did help him just a little bit and then he won, again, by just a little bit. He had all the good letters! (whine, whine) I have this feeling that if I didn't help him at all, the best I'd do is tie him.

I guess when the real adage says, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game," they're referring to having fun, bonding with your child and figuring out how to make a word with a Q and a J.

Word up

Attention, ladies: If your man says you are acting like your mother, he may be giving you a compliment.

I'm serious. Yes, just like Mother, I do worry what people think. Yes, I do have trouble parting with possessions -- even plastic Cool Whip containers. But yes, I am also clever and creative. And, Mom and I both share this love, respect really, of the English language.

I think deep down, Marlys and I would have loved to have been English teachers. Words should be used appropriately (in speech and writing), written neatly and, without a doubt, spelled correctly. (Oh, I probably shouldn't say that or I'll have people editing my blog.)

Carter, too, is really grasping language arts and enjoying it. Each week, he gets a Big Word Challenge, where the students have to create as many words as they can using the letters from the "big word." They encourage the students to work on it with their parents so it can be a family activity.

I always enjoyed doing word puzzles as a child so I am having a ball helping him. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but last night when we started working on his word for this week, I said, "Do you know who would really get a kick out of this? Grandma Hedberg! We should call her and see if she wants to help."

And so he did. And yes, she was very excited and ready to accept the challenge. Carter told her she could just concentrate on the 5- and 6-letter words and he would handle the smaller words (though he's no slouch when it comes to those big words either).

"We could do this every week, Grandma," says Carter. "I'll call you with the Big Word on Monday or Tuesday and then call you later in the week to see if you came up with any words. Then, on the weeks we don't have a word, we could still call you to see how you're doing."

That sounds like a great plan! Of course, Grandma already came up with two words while on the phone with Carter.

Now, I told her not to become obsessed with this. She certainly shouldn't lose any sleep over it .... but I have a feeling that last night, instead of counting sheep, the letters in Baltimore were running through her head!

Progress report

Do you remember the nights your parents had to go meet your teachers for the parent-teacher conferences? Even if you considered yourself a good student, you'd feel a little anxious and you'd keep your fingers crossed that there would be nothing but good said about you.

It's different being on the other side of the scenario now. We the parents hold some power on these nights! Or we find out we are powerless over our children.

Tonight we had conferences for two of the boys. Jim went to the junior high for Clay's. He was not looking forward to it. Clay is still struggling with 9th grade. Well struggling isn't even the appropriate word because a person can't struggle when there is no effort.

Needless to say, Jim wasn't surprised to hear that Clay could help his grades if he attended school on a regular basis. I've mentioned before that Clay comes up with some sort of an ailment at least one day a week to miss school. As a result, he's not getting in-class work done or his homework. The key words heard: He's got potential if he'd show up. At this point, I think the teachers are feeling as powerless as we are.

Carter's conference, on the other hand, was pretty positive. Just like Clay, he's got potential but the difference is -- he's applying it. His teacher joked with us that she plans to fail Carter so she can keep him another year. That gave us a good feeling. Yes, he's a social butterfly, but already excelling in all subjects particularly math and, what a surprise, English/writing. (We got to read some entertaining samples of his work. I told him it's about time he starts a blog!)

His teacher said he's a bright, intelligent kid and we should feel fortunate about that. And we really should. We are gratefull all three boys are bright. We just have to help Clay find the motivation and help Carter keep it. Hmm... I wonder if they teach classes in that!

Apple of my eye

We've heard that phrase, "The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," when it comes to our dear Carter. They say it when they see how closely he physically resembles Daddy. And Daddy says it when he sees Carter being a worry wart like Momma. Sometimes the "tree" is not either/or, it's both.

Last night I realized both of our "trees" bear some good fruit.

I was looking through Carter's Monday Folder, which includes homework and classwork from the previous week. I was pleased to see he got 15 out of 15 on his spelling test -- including the word chrysanthemum!

Then I see a couple English worksheets with a 2 or 3 out of 5 score and I wonder why there's this inconsistency in basically the same subject matter. Then I take a closer look ... and smile.

The assignment was to find the punctuation and grammar errors in the sentence. Then, the directions said, write out the new sentence correctly. Only Carter didn't do that. Instead, each sentence was marked up with proofreader's marks -- just like Mom and Dad the editors would do! The teacher's note in the margins said, "Write out the new sentence." So that's why he got a low score. He marked them up and moved on.

All the proofreader's mark were correct, by the way. How do you like them apples?!

Sign of the times

The good news about being an editor is that I have an appreciation for the written word. The bad news about being an editor is that I don't appreciate it when others don't. Actually, I don't care if others appreciate the English language. I just want to see them use it correctly.

The violations are everywhere: newsletters, menus, road signs. I often find myself groaning over a dangling modifier or misplaced apostrophe. (OK -- I'm not a nerd. I just like saying "dangling modifier" because it sounds funny. And where else could I write about them?)

The apostrophe thing, though, that bugs me. People love apostrophes and they have to use them all the time. "Congrats to the Jensen's!" "Let's cheer on the Viking's tonight!" People don't get it.

For years I have been bothered by the sign at right, posted a mile down the road from my parents' house. I just want to scratch out an "l" or paint in a "y" at the end. I should probably carry an industrial-size tub of WhiteOut in my purse and take care of these things.

I'm pleased to report I am not the only one consumed by this righteous effort. My friend Sandy at work, also an editor, calls us "guardians of the English language." I like that. We have a cause!

My mother is a fellow guardian. That Rustic Road sign -- which she sees daily -- has probably pushed her to her limits. At least I know what to get her for her next birthday. But do they even make WhiteOut anymore?!