kareina

Thanks to a conversation I had a 12th Night, where I found out that the Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) course that the government offers is actually a much better an more intensive course than the Swedish for Beginners course the Uni offers (and which I have taken), I have actually made the effort to track down the (SFI). (I tried sending an email (in English) asking about it back in August of 2011, when I first got a resident visa to live in Sweden, but never got a reply, and, as it turned out, I wouldn't have been able to make time in my schedule then for the course due to other obligations.) This time I found the same pdf document on SFI on line as I had discovered back in 2011, but this time I decided to send my email of inquiry as to when and where the course meets in Swedish, and I got a reply!

After exchanging a number of emails (all in Swedish) I am registered to take the next course, and just awaiting an opportunity to take the diagnostic test, so that they can determine which level course I should attend. I was slightly disappointed when she said that the next chance for the diagnostic test was next Tuesday, since I am also taking a GIS course this semester (since it wasn't an option for me to take such a course when I was a student, and the class was under-enrolled compared to what they were hoping for, so they are happy for post docs to sit in, too), and that class meets at the same time (and very different location) as that diagnostic test. However, the woman I have been corresponding with about the SFI course said that it wasn't a problem and that there would be other opportunities to take the test in February and she would get back to me to let me know when they were.

Then, this morning, I got an email from the GIS teacher letting me know that he has had a schedule conflict come up, and that Tuesday's course has been rescheduled. So I promptly forwarded the message to my contact for the Swedish course and asked if it was too late to sign up for the diagnostic test on Tuesday. She wrote back and said that it will be fine, so in just a few more days I will learn just how much Swedish I have really managed to absorb in three years living in this country. It will be interesting to see how I go with the course--four hours a day is way more time/effort than I have ever put into learning Swedish; I bet that after the first session my poor brain will be full, but I also suspect/hope that it will become easier with practice.

Since moving to Sweden in January I have been trying to learn Swedish. I am taking classes (we are up to chapter 14 in the text book), reading children's books, learning songs, and sometimes listening to conversations in Swedish and trying to catch words I know. Sometimes archinonlive and I speak a little Swedish at home, but rarely more than a minute or two, before we decide that my vocabulary is too limited to actually communicate and we switch to English.

Last night, however, we actually had a conversation in Swedish! We spoke for more than 30 minutes, discussing the many things that we need to accomplish before departing for Double War on the 27th, I told him the story behind a song that happened to be playing on the stereo, I described the steps to an SCA dance, and several other topics before we picked up the children's book I have been reading aloud to him. This is one of those books that was written in the 1920's and starts out with very easy reading--only one sentence on the first page, and then gradually progresses to more and more text. We are up to the section where there are several paragraphs per page, and it takes more than one page for a section. I am finding it ever so much easier to read and understand these days, and my pronunciation is much better than it has been (though I still have problems with ö, y, ä, sk, sj, and a few of the other odd things that happen when s is involved). I am also about 3/4 of the way through reading the Swedish version of Anne of Green Gables, and I am finding that to be much easier going, too. In this case I am not stopping to translate the words I don't know, but as simply reading the text as is, and using my memory of the English book combined with the words I do know to keep track of the story plot and the overall meaning.

Yesterday was also a good day on several other counts:

Had a nice time visiting with SCA folk at fighter practice in the morning (though I didn't armour up, having stayed up till 03:00 on Saturday night working on projects I wasn't able to wake up early enough to get to practice on time to fight, so we didn't even bring armour, but just went to discuss details on the road trip to Double War).

At the afternoon folk music session I managed to get the underdress in progress finally assembled--all pieces are now attached to one another, and most seams have been finished--I just need to finish the side seams and the dress will, at long last, be done.

The evening Folk dance session went well-- I now know all of the dances that we will be performing the Monday after we return from Double War, and am starting to get down the details that transform them from "sort of right" to "pretty".

This morning has been spent sending emails. I learned on Friday that I will need to return to Australia to apply for a permanent resident visa, so I am starting to work out details of when and how to accomplish that. My deadline to leave is 30 June, which, sadly, is before the local Medieval Days. I had been looking forward to helping out with that event and running dancing there, but now I can't. However, I will hope that it is possible to get my visa application processed on time to return here before the beginning class in Swedish Folk Dancing that I had agreed to teach (it starts in August). Please keep your fingers crossed for that one.