School is work

One of the changes we have had to adapt to is that our oldest has homework every day. On average he will have four different tasks to do: reading a text, practising handwriting style, learning vocabulary and spelling, maths. At first it felt like the whole day was taken up with school work and I was worried that he would start to complain - but he has developed a great attitude towards it and is rising to the challenge. As he has grown in confidence, he has started enjoying the tasks more. It's amazing to see how fast children can learn information and new skills as well as adapt to new circumstances. It is very obvious that new words are slipping into his every day vocabulary. Today he was saying "bloß" - meaning just, only, but, merely. It took me a while to understand what he was saying because I'd never heard him use the word before :D

Taking a hike

I thought I would share a short film of our hike the other week. Check out the steep drop next to the path and the wooden bridge. I actually walked over it first to check that it was stable and safe for the rest of the family to walk on. At times we walked holding on to the kids because the path was so narrow and the slope next to it so steep (angles of 70deg).

The best/worst thing with moving according to a 3year old

Today I asked our youngest what the best and worst thing with moving country and home was. At the time he was busy playing with his soft toys, but this is what he said:

What is the best thing about our move?
The best thing is that we can eat Zopf (milkbread). A piece of zopf with butter and jam has quickly become a favourite

What's the worst thing with our move?
That we didn't stay in our house with Torsten. I hear you my son.

Fountain pens and roundhand script

Two things we learnt this week about Austrian school.
1.) All kids start off learning to write roundhand script. By the second class a child should be able to copy a printed text into roundhand script with not too much difficulty. Our son has no problem writing and reading printed material, but suddenly he has to learn a whole new way of writing and adapt to reading this style of writing.

2.) We found out that during this year second grade students will learn to use fountain pens - the kind with ink cartridges. I've unpacked my old fountain pen and have started writing letters to our children to encourage and help them to read this style of writing. It feels like travelling back in time for me - and I realise that my writing has become very sloppy. I have to take great care if I want others to be able to read what I've written. Thank God I can use the keyboard for Blogger...

Early Birds

It's a little after 07:30 here and Elin is on the way to school and kindergarten with the kids. This is a country that favours early risers. Shops open by 7 or 8 and school starts at 07:45 - that is 45 mins earlier than what we are used to. Those of you who know us understand that this is a big challenge for us parents - because we love to sleep in! Oh well, moving here was bound to have some downsides. ;)

School and Kindergarten

Yesterday summer holidays came to en end for us. We took our oldest to his new school where he started in second grade. The school here is very different to what he and we have been used to. It is large, has its own sport shall in the building and is spread over four floors. Materials such as exercise books, stationary and so on has to be bought by the parents, as well as a number of boxes to keep everything nice and tidy.

 Our middle boy started in kindergarten. It is the same one I went to as a child, though in my day it was run by nuns. Some of the staff have been working there since my childhood but I haven't met anyone who remembers me yet.

 Our youngest has discovered that his grandparents have a steady supply of cake and biscuits and his motto has become "Kuchen jeden Tag!" - cake every day... So 'fika' is still very much alive!

We took some time for family activity on Saturday and visited the local dinosaur park. There were loads of life size replicas for the kids to look at and climb on.

It's just been harvest time for pumpkin seeds. We were given three pumpkins by a friend. One turned into soup, another into a smiley face and stew and the third is still standing on our kitchen table waiting for its fate to be decided.
I can honestly say that even though we have so many questions on our minds, worries and at time doubts I feel the nature, food and weather fit me like a glove. It is like coming home in ways that I hadn't necessarily realised that I'd missed that much.

Schau Papa - Ich hab eine AIK-Larv gefunden

Skellefteå is still very much on our minds and hearts. The other day one of our boys came running shouting 'Schau Papa - Ich hab eine AIK-Larv gefunden', meaning 'look dad I've found a caterpillar with the colour of our local hockeyteam' (from Sweden).

 

Today we visited som friends who live on a small farm where they keep chickens, goats, rabbits, deer and a cow. They also grow loads of different fruits such as grapes, peaches, apples and nashi. It was wonderful to see the love they have for their land and animals, how they call them all by name and treat them with respect.

 

 

We also took a walk in the nearby forest picking flowers and admiring the huge beech trees that grew there.

 

 

The boys' language comprehension has already improved. Previously they would watch kids' shows in German without really understanding the dialogue. Now it's like someone has flipped a switch, they follow the story and happily fill us in on what we've missed.

Sillweger Aussichtswarte and Airpower16

 Today we went on our first longer outing closer to the mountains. Feldbach is in the southeast of Austria and more hilly than mountainous. We took a trip northwest to Zeltweg, closer to the mountains and where one of Europes biggest airshows is happening (thanks Dad for pointing it out to us). We hadn't told the kids, so they were really surprised when they saw planes leaving smoke trails and doing loopings.
We had decided to not go to the main event but instead hike up to a lookout point nearby. Our walk took us past a wonderful old farm, on some very narrow paths and in the end we were able to see the whole show from a safe distance from the noice and crowds.

 
 Going on an outing like this you realise that Austria is so much smaller than Sweden. We drove less than two hours one way, and the scenery was completely different. The motorway wound its way through the mountains and we drove through more than 10 tunnels each way. The rolling hills turned into steep and jagged cliff faces and mountains. On the way home we saw valleys covered in the shadow of the mountains.

One of my highlights of the day was a MiG29 passing close overhead with both afterburners thundering - I managed to warn the kids so they covered their ears just in time.