B1

So I have moved up in the world. I am now in the highest level of Norwegian class that VO offers. I have a crazy, new teacher named Aud (crazy in a great way) . She is a couple years older than Liv and a couple measures more energetic. I learned right away that the class is WAY ahead of the classes I had been in before. I had just finished the lydkurs (sounds and alphabet) where we had focused on a couple letters a day, and also had picked up some simple phrases and a bit of small talk. We were finally moving on to our text book På Vei when Ivana lost her marbles and Liv gave us that test. So my current classmates have been in the country for years, and have been learning Norwegian for many months. I think some people have been taking class for a year or more. So, comparatively, my vocabulary is a joke and I sound like a bumbling idiot. Aud talks quite fast, but I understand most of what she is saying. It helps that she is really animated and the class is really involved in conversation. Oh, and the text book På Vei that we were just starting? They are done with that. Yep. Done. AND, they are halfway through the next book Stein på Stein! Oh boy.

So my initial reaction (besides oh shit) was bitterness and confusion. Is this really the right class for me? Can I afford to buy these new textbooks and is it the right decision? Mostly, I was really fixating on how quick money goes when you don't have an income, and what a shame it would be to spend another $115 on books when I hadn't even engaged the first one all that much.

And then I fell in love with my new teacher. At the end of class I asked if I could borrow the book she loaned me to use during class. She explained to me that she thought all students should have free books, regardless if they were 'paying' students or not. So she suggested that I could just turn in På Vei when I am finished with school and no one will ever know what happened. The school will not be losing money because the books have the same value! I thought it was a great idea, and thought it was the best suggestion I had heard for quite some time.

So I was so grateful to her, and felt welcome in the class right away. It is a pretty jolly group. I sit next to a guy from Burma who seems to be really smart but doesn't talk much. There are quite a few Serbians, a man and a woman from Iraq, a man from Somalia, a man from Burundi, a woman from Brasil and a woman from Romania. I think all together we are about 12 students. The room is also much more like a classroom--there are Norwegian phrases and newspapers on the walls, and actual desks--I am feeling much more challenged, and am actually excited to wake up in the morning to go to class.

So as much as I was in love with Aud on the first day, I was also in for a bit of a surprise. She announced that there would be a test the in two days! And then some of the students couldn't do it on that day because of some other commitment, and so the test was moved to the following day. So, day one: receive text book, day two: take a test on the first 6 chapters. Awesome. Aud told me not to worry about it.

Ok don't worry about it. Just a little test. On half the text book. After the initial shock I calmed down and decided that I would just take this test the same way that I took the test Liv gave us...with no expectations in my mind, with nothing to lose. I mean really, why not? What am I expected to know when I really haven't been taught much of anything? So I came the next day, and took the test. I knew that I failed it, and thought I might be lucky to have gotten half of it right. But then again, I was thinking, that's about how I felt after I took the other test as well...so let's just wait and see.

Turns out I did ok. They expect you to get 60% of the test right if you are in the right level and I got a 56%. I am not sure if I have ever gotten a 56% on a test, ...I don't remember. And if I have, I most certainly haven't been proud of it! But Aud was really impressed, so impressed in fact that she decided to announce my score to the whole class...apparently it was a fantastisk score. 'How long have you been in the Norwegian course?' she asked me. 'About a month?' Yep. About a month. My classmates also seemed to be impressed. I thought it was pretty strange the way she was making such a big deal out of it...maybe she was trying to boost my confidence I thought.

After class, I stayed to talk with Aud a bit about our schedule etc. And then it made sense why she thought my score was so great. She told me that I didn't have the lowest score in the class, that there were a few people beneath me. That was why she emphasized how long I have been in Norway. I think she was trying to light some fire under some of the other students' butts, if you know what I mean.

So I guess for now I am a B1 student. Aud and Liv both think it is the right place for me, and I think I will just go ahead and trust their judgement. At least then later if I do poorly I can just blame it on them instead of taking personal responsibilty. ;)