Today is celebrated by having the world's first ever virtual translators conference. I have been attending for an hour now, and I got to say I am impressed by the set up, hosted by www.proz.com, one of the premiere translators web sites on the Internet.
Just like a regular conference, but without the handshakings (hey, no chance of getting the flu, ha!).
I have met and chatted with colleges from around the world, attended informative workshops and browsed booths by major vendors. All in my pajamas. Cool!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Books
I love to read, the only problem is that when I get a good book in my hands, I have to finish it right away. I just can't put a book down and wait until later.
So I really hesitated when I downloaded Dan Brown's new book, "The Lost Symbol" (you know, the "DaVinci Code"-guy). The book is over 1000 pages! It was good, definitly a read if you liked any of his other books.
Now I am off to the bank, then to pick Sarah up at school, then Publix for groceries, then to pick up Ken, and then to pick up my car which is having a window fixed today...
Phew!
So I really hesitated when I downloaded Dan Brown's new book, "The Lost Symbol" (you know, the "DaVinci Code"-guy). The book is over 1000 pages! It was good, definitly a read if you liked any of his other books.
Now I am off to the bank, then to pick Sarah up at school, then Publix for groceries, then to pick up Ken, and then to pick up my car which is having a window fixed today...
Phew!
Weekend
Florida is a bit backwards - the summer is NOT the time to grow anything edible, it is too hot and there are too many bugs. But I tried anyway, of course.
But now, when fall is here (well, it is still HOT, but in a few months it will be just warm, I hope). Time to plant!
This weekend I extended my herb family, so now I have regular basil, Thai basil, lemon grass, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, mint (for my new fave Mojitos!), dill, chives. Forgot the parsley, so will have to get that too.
Apparently some fire ants had decided to nest in one of my planters. These fire ants is not like Swedish "pissmyror". Fire ants are evil! After you get bit it feels like fire is burning for days, and you get puss filled little bumps. The venom they inject is apparently a substance related to black pepper, so that could explain the intense burning! I still have scars from months ago!
But apparently I must have developed some kind of allergy, because my left thumb (where I also got bit) is swelled up like a cartoon thumb and it feels all weird and numb. Not to forget the intense itching and other lovely sensations...
I tried antihistamines (double dose), antihistamine creams (normally works great for the bites), and also some cortisone cream. No relief. Freaking ants! I guess I will just have to be careful in the future, I usually get bitten every other month or so, they are everywhere around here.
Made the season's first apple pie, an Apple Crumble Pie, this weekend. With Swedish vanilla sauce, yum!
I better get to work now, have a large editing job to do.
But now, when fall is here (well, it is still HOT, but in a few months it will be just warm, I hope). Time to plant!
This weekend I extended my herb family, so now I have regular basil, Thai basil, lemon grass, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, mint (for my new fave Mojitos!), dill, chives. Forgot the parsley, so will have to get that too.
Apparently some fire ants had decided to nest in one of my planters. These fire ants is not like Swedish "pissmyror". Fire ants are evil! After you get bit it feels like fire is burning for days, and you get puss filled little bumps. The venom they inject is apparently a substance related to black pepper, so that could explain the intense burning! I still have scars from months ago!
But apparently I must have developed some kind of allergy, because my left thumb (where I also got bit) is swelled up like a cartoon thumb and it feels all weird and numb. Not to forget the intense itching and other lovely sensations...
I tried antihistamines (double dose), antihistamine creams (normally works great for the bites), and also some cortisone cream. No relief. Freaking ants! I guess I will just have to be careful in the future, I usually get bitten every other month or so, they are everywhere around here.
Made the season's first apple pie, an Apple Crumble Pie, this weekend. With Swedish vanilla sauce, yum!
I better get to work now, have a large editing job to do.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday
Today we have a few small things to take care off. Ken is having a meeting with a client right now, and when he gets home we are first going to get his new glasses. His first ever with progressive lenses (bifocals)!
Then we have some shopping of different kinds to take care of, and hopefully a nice meal at the end somewhere too.
Other than that I am hoping for a lazy weekend around the house, perhaps a hike on Sunday with the dogs, but it is still HOT, hot, hot outside, so we will see.
I have some work to do, but I think I will save that for Monday.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Then we have some shopping of different kinds to take care of, and hopefully a nice meal at the end somewhere too.
Other than that I am hoping for a lazy weekend around the house, perhaps a hike on Sunday with the dogs, but it is still HOT, hot, hot outside, so we will see.
I have some work to do, but I think I will save that for Monday.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Positive outcome
Ken and I were pleasantly surprised at the conference yesterday. The speech therapist was great, she really listened to us and explained anything that was unclear. In attendance were also Sarah's teacher, Mrs S and a state legal representative, to explain our rights.
We got to see the evaluation they did on Sarah last semester, and there are very few areas that needed some improvement, and we agree she still have a hard time with those areas.
What really surprised me was the IQ test they had also done. This is conducted as a standard to see if a student's speech impediment is more deeply rooted or just a superficial issue. Sarah had scored in the upper 99 percentile, with a very high IQ. So she is bright, but just need a little help to realize the potential that she has.
We talked for over 1½ hours and they really apologized about the 20 page paperwork they had sent us. It is a standard "umbrella" statement used by the state, and it covers everything from slight problems to severe mental disabilities, so the term disabled is something they all cringe a bit at, since many parents apparently react to the wording in the document, just like I did. But it is a state document, and it is not in the budget right now to have individual documents for each type of issue, therefore everything is piled under the same label.
At least we don't have to worry about this being something that sticks with her. She will get speech therapy (along with 2 other kids in her class, so she doesn't have to feel singled out) twice a week, could be for a few months or a few years, whatever she needs.
All in all we were made VERY confident we have nothing to worry about. She starts her fist session today, and we will get continuous updates. When they feel she has reach the goal that we set for her, she will be dismissed from speech therapy and should have no problem in the future.
After the conference I feel so much better. I am pretty impressed by the free services they offer for students that might need something extra. If anything, the school system is very good in this country, and from people who have experience with having their kids in both Swedish and American schools, the US schools win, hands down.
My impression is that everyone here takes school very serious. Parent involvement is a must, and there are lots of demands early on for both kids and their parents. But this also means the kids LEARN. In Sweden it feels a little more like parents put a lot of the responsibility on the school. They drop their kids off and pick them up, show up to teacher parents conferences now and then, but that is it.
Here they stress the importance about volunteering in school, being a big part of your kid's school life. Of course, it feels a bit tough with all the requirements already starting in Kindergarten, the amount of home work they get and so on. If the child does not have support from home, it could be easy to fall behind quickly.
But by being strict and not tolerating any disruptive behavior the kids who need the concentration get sit. I remember countless days when a few unruly kids in my class would disrupt everything, and the teachers were to weak to say or do anything...
Here school is serious business, and they seem to really take it upon them as their duty to ensure the kids get what they came there for, an education.
What are you other Swedish mom's living in the US thoughts on American schools?
We got to see the evaluation they did on Sarah last semester, and there are very few areas that needed some improvement, and we agree she still have a hard time with those areas.
What really surprised me was the IQ test they had also done. This is conducted as a standard to see if a student's speech impediment is more deeply rooted or just a superficial issue. Sarah had scored in the upper 99 percentile, with a very high IQ. So she is bright, but just need a little help to realize the potential that she has.
We talked for over 1½ hours and they really apologized about the 20 page paperwork they had sent us. It is a standard "umbrella" statement used by the state, and it covers everything from slight problems to severe mental disabilities, so the term disabled is something they all cringe a bit at, since many parents apparently react to the wording in the document, just like I did. But it is a state document, and it is not in the budget right now to have individual documents for each type of issue, therefore everything is piled under the same label.
At least we don't have to worry about this being something that sticks with her. She will get speech therapy (along with 2 other kids in her class, so she doesn't have to feel singled out) twice a week, could be for a few months or a few years, whatever she needs.
All in all we were made VERY confident we have nothing to worry about. She starts her fist session today, and we will get continuous updates. When they feel she has reach the goal that we set for her, she will be dismissed from speech therapy and should have no problem in the future.
After the conference I feel so much better. I am pretty impressed by the free services they offer for students that might need something extra. If anything, the school system is very good in this country, and from people who have experience with having their kids in both Swedish and American schools, the US schools win, hands down.
My impression is that everyone here takes school very serious. Parent involvement is a must, and there are lots of demands early on for both kids and their parents. But this also means the kids LEARN. In Sweden it feels a little more like parents put a lot of the responsibility on the school. They drop their kids off and pick them up, show up to teacher parents conferences now and then, but that is it.
Here they stress the importance about volunteering in school, being a big part of your kid's school life. Of course, it feels a bit tough with all the requirements already starting in Kindergarten, the amount of home work they get and so on. If the child does not have support from home, it could be easy to fall behind quickly.
But by being strict and not tolerating any disruptive behavior the kids who need the concentration get sit. I remember countless days when a few unruly kids in my class would disrupt everything, and the teachers were to weak to say or do anything...
Here school is serious business, and they seem to really take it upon them as their duty to ensure the kids get what they came there for, an education.
What are you other Swedish mom's living in the US thoughts on American schools?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Don't know what to think
Some of you might remember the story about Sarah and me talking Swedish to her. I really wanted her to speak Swedish and therefore I spoke Swedish to her when she was born.
When she was around 2 ½ (or was it younger, can't remember), she was evaluated and considered "speech delayed". They told me (in a way that made me feel very bad) that it was my fault for talking Swedish to her. I had read that it is normal with speech delays for bilingual children, but this lady was really pushy and made me feel like the only thing was to stop the Swedish if I wanted Sarah to learn to talk right. I was bullied, quite frankly.
So I did. Stupid, stupid stupid!!! I don't know what I was thinking, but they really had me thinking it was my fault she was having speech problems... They did not contact me for a looong time, but when they did I found out that the lady who had evaluated Sarah had been fired, she was never a qualified evaluator, in fact, she was a college student in training!!!
But now it was a bit too late, Sarah was NOT interested in learning Swedish anymore, so it felt a bit like I missed the boat on making her bilingual. This is one of my biggest regrets in life! I try my best to teach her and she is very interested in Sweden, but I think the only thing that would help at this point would be "immersion therapy": go to Sweden for an extended stay and really immerse her in the language. But that is not possible right now.
Then back in spring they asked if they could evaluate Sarah again, but this time it was through her school, and I made sure it was by a qualified speech therapist... They said she would be a candidate for speech therapy and that they would get back to me with a plan in a few days.
They never contacted me. Until this past Friday, 5 months after the evaluation! We have a meeting with them this afternoon, but both Ken and I feel she no longer need any speech therapy (if she ever needed any to start...). Over summer her speech have clearly improved, and the only thing I really hear her having trouble with are her Rs. I don't think anyone can expect a 6 year old to pronounce Rs perfectly!
So we will go to the meeting and see what they say. But a 5 month old evaluation is not much to use as a backbone. A lot have happened in her development in 5 months. She reads and writes really good, she is a whiz at math... I don't think we have anything to worry about.
The thing that gets me really upset is the paper work that came with the notice of the conference. If she would receive speech therapy she would be considered special ed and disabled. Disabled (handikappad)??? Who knows if this label then would stick with her throughout school and cause problems, not a chance I would want to take. Special ed (specialundervisning) is also considered a pretty serious thing here, which would definitely put her in a category I don't think she deserves to be in.
I am NOT ready to label my daughter HANDICAPPED just because she has a hard time pronouncing her Rs.. What do you guys think about this mess???
When she was around 2 ½ (or was it younger, can't remember), she was evaluated and considered "speech delayed". They told me (in a way that made me feel very bad) that it was my fault for talking Swedish to her. I had read that it is normal with speech delays for bilingual children, but this lady was really pushy and made me feel like the only thing was to stop the Swedish if I wanted Sarah to learn to talk right. I was bullied, quite frankly.
So I did. Stupid, stupid stupid!!! I don't know what I was thinking, but they really had me thinking it was my fault she was having speech problems... They did not contact me for a looong time, but when they did I found out that the lady who had evaluated Sarah had been fired, she was never a qualified evaluator, in fact, she was a college student in training!!!
But now it was a bit too late, Sarah was NOT interested in learning Swedish anymore, so it felt a bit like I missed the boat on making her bilingual. This is one of my biggest regrets in life! I try my best to teach her and she is very interested in Sweden, but I think the only thing that would help at this point would be "immersion therapy": go to Sweden for an extended stay and really immerse her in the language. But that is not possible right now.
Then back in spring they asked if they could evaluate Sarah again, but this time it was through her school, and I made sure it was by a qualified speech therapist... They said she would be a candidate for speech therapy and that they would get back to me with a plan in a few days.
They never contacted me. Until this past Friday, 5 months after the evaluation! We have a meeting with them this afternoon, but both Ken and I feel she no longer need any speech therapy (if she ever needed any to start...). Over summer her speech have clearly improved, and the only thing I really hear her having trouble with are her Rs. I don't think anyone can expect a 6 year old to pronounce Rs perfectly!
So we will go to the meeting and see what they say. But a 5 month old evaluation is not much to use as a backbone. A lot have happened in her development in 5 months. She reads and writes really good, she is a whiz at math... I don't think we have anything to worry about.
The thing that gets me really upset is the paper work that came with the notice of the conference. If she would receive speech therapy she would be considered special ed and disabled. Disabled (handikappad)??? Who knows if this label then would stick with her throughout school and cause problems, not a chance I would want to take. Special ed (specialundervisning) is also considered a pretty serious thing here, which would definitely put her in a category I don't think she deserves to be in.
I am NOT ready to label my daughter HANDICAPPED just because she has a hard time pronouncing her Rs.. What do you guys think about this mess???
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Great Saturday
Yesterday we were just suppose to go and see a matinee and then go home, but Ken was in the mood for some more and we ended up having a great afternoon!
First we saw the movie "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs", which Sarah and I thought was a lot of fun, Ken not as much.
Then Ken took us shopping, he got himself a bunch of new shirts, got me a new purse (needed one with a zipper since stuff always falls out of my old one), and then to another store for some clothes for Sarah.
Then we went over to Siesta Key and had some really good fish at the Lobster Pot. After that we stopped at the beautiful Sarasota Bayfront Park, down by the Marina Jack. We had a great long walk in the park, and then we happily drove home, sweaty as can be (37 C hot in the park!).
Then we had a leisurely evening watching a movie that I have been wanting to see for a while. Great day!
First we saw the movie "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs", which Sarah and I thought was a lot of fun, Ken not as much.
Then Ken took us shopping, he got himself a bunch of new shirts, got me a new purse (needed one with a zipper since stuff always falls out of my old one), and then to another store for some clothes for Sarah.
Then we went over to Siesta Key and had some really good fish at the Lobster Pot. After that we stopped at the beautiful Sarasota Bayfront Park, down by the Marina Jack. We had a great long walk in the park, and then we happily drove home, sweaty as can be (37 C hot in the park!).
Then we had a leisurely evening watching a movie that I have been wanting to see for a while. Great day!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Where...
is my mobile phone? I have looked everywhere, nada. I can't call it, because it is of course not charged any more...
Hopefully it is in my car, which Ken is driving today. I hope...
Hopefully it is in my car, which Ken is driving today. I hope...
Friday
How come, after an entire day and evening with no fever, she wakes up with 39 C at 6 this morning? Well, another day at home for her...
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