Wednesday, April 20, 2005

letters

As some of you may know, I was naturalized and became a US citizen a while back. Rebecka shared this information at school and her teacher, Mrs. Hughes, asked me to come talk to the class about the process. So, I did.

The other day there was a big, manilla envelope by my spot at the table when I got back. It contained thank you letters from the kids in the class. I thought I'd share a sample with you (I'll omit the salutations and closings):

"Thank you for coming to talk to us. How do Sweden people talk? Have a nice time in America."

Well, people from Sweden, i.e. Swedish people talk like this: Hej, hur mår du? Jag mår bra. Visst är det kul att blogga? Men är det någon som läser eller bryr sej? Vem vet?

"Thank you for coming to talk to us. How old were you when you Immigrated? Was it fun on the ship or plane?"

Hmmm - I was 21. Just a young 'un. The plane ride was fun. I love flying alone.

"Thank you for coming to talk to our class. Was it hard to learn the U.S. language? Was the test very, very, very hard?"

Learning the U.S. language wasn't too hard, because I grew up bilingual. However, I still have trouble spelling because the U.S. language doesn't make sense. The test was very, very, very easy.

"Thank you for coming to our class. You are a vary good U.S. citizen Mrs. Green. And was the test really hard? I am so glad you were born in Sweden."

I'm a good citizen? Ok. Again, the test was a friggin' joke. And I'm glad I was born in Sweden too - it's a swell country.

Kids are so cool... :)

PS. I'm going on a field trip to MN tomorrow. Will get so see my dear friend Katie. This is a very happy thing. :)

3 comments:

katie said...

It was so great to see you!! It made me lonesome. I only wish we had more time to visit. I was thinking last night: I don't think I've ever driving that far for a lunch. ;o)

Balaji said...

You did not mention the F word to some 10 yr old?! Did you?!
:o lol.
Long distance plane rides alone are indeed fun... it gives you a LOT of time to think alone...

Tabita said...

Nah - these responses were just for my blog-reading friends. :) I am actually very nice to the children...

And Katie, yeh - more time would've been nice (or less people at the lunch table...). Heh. So nice of you to come all the way out there to see us. You rock!!! Move back. Move back. Move back...