Kevin arrived in Norway this morning, and he said that Gjovik doesn't have as much snow as we have in New York right now. (As you can see, the dogs are very pleased with the weather!) It has snowed off and on since Friday, so unfortunately our plans to replace the leaking roof have been postponed until the mercury reaches 40 again. We also realized that our snowblower is somewhere adrift on the Atlantic, so we needed to come up with a plan to deal with the drifts in our driveway. Kevin called several guys who advertised snow plowing services, but none of them drive out as far as our neighborhood. In a last desperate attempt to find someone with a plow before leaving for two weeks in Norway, Kevin decided to make a "Help Wanted" sign for the front yard. Sadly, our brains are a bit soft and mushy from the stress of the move, and we couldn't figure out how to word it. Kevin wanted to write "Plowman Needed" but I thought that first, that's sexist and might offend plowwomen, and second, it's a little old fashioned sounding. We could really go old-school and spell it "Ploughman"! I suggested we write "Snow Plower Needed" but Kevin said that "plower" isn't a real word. It was ridiculous--we discussed what to write on this sign for 20 minutes, and finally resigned ourselves to the fact that we are not clever, and that our English skills leave much to be desired! We ended up writing "Snow Plower Needed" and the very next morning, we got a phone call from a guy with a plow. What a relief--instead of spending hours outside shoveling the driveway, now I can use the time to brush up on my rusty English!Wednesday, December 5, 2007
I No Longer Speak English
Kevin arrived in Norway this morning, and he said that Gjovik doesn't have as much snow as we have in New York right now. (As you can see, the dogs are very pleased with the weather!) It has snowed off and on since Friday, so unfortunately our plans to replace the leaking roof have been postponed until the mercury reaches 40 again. We also realized that our snowblower is somewhere adrift on the Atlantic, so we needed to come up with a plan to deal with the drifts in our driveway. Kevin called several guys who advertised snow plowing services, but none of them drive out as far as our neighborhood. In a last desperate attempt to find someone with a plow before leaving for two weeks in Norway, Kevin decided to make a "Help Wanted" sign for the front yard. Sadly, our brains are a bit soft and mushy from the stress of the move, and we couldn't figure out how to word it. Kevin wanted to write "Plowman Needed" but I thought that first, that's sexist and might offend plowwomen, and second, it's a little old fashioned sounding. We could really go old-school and spell it "Ploughman"! I suggested we write "Snow Plower Needed" but Kevin said that "plower" isn't a real word. It was ridiculous--we discussed what to write on this sign for 20 minutes, and finally resigned ourselves to the fact that we are not clever, and that our English skills leave much to be desired! We ended up writing "Snow Plower Needed" and the very next morning, we got a phone call from a guy with a plow. What a relief--instead of spending hours outside shoveling the driveway, now I can use the time to brush up on my rusty English!
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5 comments:
hahahaha - funny Emily! If it makes you feel any better I find I am constantly making grammatical and spelling errors in my blog and e-mails. I feel I should go back to high school English.
I'm glad you got a "plow person"! That is a great picture too.
I completely understand. I used to be a great english speaking and writing person. OMG, even this is difficult. But now, living in Norway and speaking as I say Halv og Halv, it's really hard. I forget english. It's weird. I never had a spelling problem but now I have to think in english and norsk ...so give yourselves a break. You are now bilingual (sp?)
Funny post, Emily! Hey, I'm a bit sad that Kevin's here but you're not. Kevin probably feels the same way... ;-)
OMG, you have so much snow! That makes me think about all of the dire warnings people gave me before I moved to Norway. "It's so cold! It's so dark! It's covered in snow all the time! How will you survive?" Obviously none of those people, 1) have been to southern Norway, and 2) have lived in the U.S. midwest, upstate New York, or Manitoba, Canada. The weather in Sandefjord is so much more mild than any of those places. How will you survive? ;-)
The dogs look happy!
How about a large sign:
Snow Plowing Being Needed to Plow Snow...
Nah, that won't work.
Victoria, it will only get worse the more you study Norwegian!
G, hmm, I think bilingual is a pretty generous assessment of my language abilities. I'm by no means fluent in Norwegian, and really, most days I feel like I've only got a rudimentary grasp of English!
Michele, yeah, I found the Norwegian winter to be pretty mild. I think the snow lasts longer there, but it definitely gets colder in upstate New York.
Bear, if the current ploughman falls through, I'll definitely use your wonderful wording on the next sign! Emily
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