Comments at the Hjelle Jar
Glad to hear that you guys enjoyed your trip over to the Netherlands. My wife and I were fortunate enough to have been able to visit once in a while on our travels. We had a great time looking around in Rotterdam and Amsterdam especially. 
Though our situations are different, I may know a bit of what you are talking about. I was the first generation of our family living in the US who did not grow up with Norwegian spoken around us. Because of an exchange program at my high school, I met and married my awesome wife Britt...who is actually from Norway. Thus, learning Norwegian language and culture became a 'must'. Since coming to live in Europe, I have battled many culture shock frustrations and have gone through similar situations as those you have mentioned. But after a couple of years the hard work and frustration finally paid off and now I have been taking upper level college courses for several years in subjects like Theology, Ethics, and Hebrew...all in Norwegian. Patience, hard work....as well as faith and prayer...will carry you through and stretch you in some amazing ways. (Sorry to sound too preachy...but I feel very strongly after having to adjust to a totally different culture
One tip of advice that you probably already know...If you want to learn a language, keep using it daily and if you live overseas in the US or Canada, start watching news casts and children's tv shows in the language you want to learn. Sure, it may be difficult to find time...and you will need to count on making a fool of yourself early and often when trying to speak with native speakers.. (Been there definitely...) However, its well worth the effort! Plus, with just even a little more knowledge (since you already know some) you and David can use it while shopping back in America and avoid pesky sales clerks pushing certain products.
Jon!
Thanks for the encouragement. Hrm...funny how a month or two since our trip has lessened the desire to learn. :-/ We'll keep it on our list, though--maybe we'll get there sooner rather than later!
David
P.S. The sales clerk advantage might be reason enough for me to learn...
That's so great that you guys got to go to Holland! Rita, how is your job search going? I got notice that I'm getting laid off in the fall, but I've already found a different job that I'll be starting in March. I'll be in the IT dept at Saint Cloud Technical College in St. Cloud, MN. I'm really looking forward to it, they seem really nice. My title will be Management Analyst II, which sounds vague but important. And I'll be getting good benefits I hear, and hopefully plenty of oppotunity for more education.
I don't know if you guys knew about it or not, but I had a baby on Oct. 12, and she's now 4 months old! Yay! I just love to talk about Kira so I just I had to mention her. Hope I see another posting soon here!
Love you both,
Sarah (Palm) Possail
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