The school year is about to begin....

..... and even though I'm not technically going to school (and haven't for the last four years) I still get excited come fall and always feel impressed to think of new goals and ideas for the upcoming year. My new goal for this fall is to became as fluent in norwegian as possible.  I started learning the language last fall (I can't believe that its been almost a year) and I'm not nearly as proficient as I would like to be. So, in order to accomplish this monstrous goal I have done/will do the following:

1. Changed my language setting on Facebook. I spend entirely too much time on the site but at least now it'll be på norsk so I can justify it that much more. 

2. Text with my norwegian friends in norwegian. This sounds easier than it actually is. My listening comprehension is passible and I can read okay but my spelling is a disaster! Thank goodness for google.

3. Start attending all 3 hours of church in norwegian. At the moment I go to the English (investigator) Sunday school class. Relief Society and Sacrament meeting are in norwegian and I understand about 75% of what is going on. Not too shabby. I also got a norwegian Joseph Smith book and am planning to read the upcoming lessons in norwegian and english before church. I'll do the same thing with the sunday school manual. I really think that'll help.

4. Do all my interviews at work in norwegian. Right now we are in the midst of the summer rush so I honestly don't have time to talk to everyone in norwegian but in a few weeks our load with cut by at least half and my poor applicants are just going to have to suffer through my bad pronunciation. 

5. Read more norwegian. Right now I read the newspaper and church things but I've realized that is not going to give me the vocabulary that I really need. So today, after talking to some colleagues at work, I am planning to read "James and the Giant Peach," "The BFG" and "Charley and the Chocolate Factory" in norwegian. I also checked out "Ronja Røverdatter" from the work library today. Its by the same woman who wrote the Pippy Longstockings stories, should be fun.

So, who knows, but I'm going to do my best in the next few months to bump it up just a few more notches. I just think it would be entirely too shameful to leave Norway after two years and still only speak basic norwegian. Wish me luck!