Monthly Archives: April 2012

Speaking Swedish, Valborg, Activities

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

This past weekend was the first in which Mei-mei and Jie-jie spontaneously played together in Swedish. They have been using Swedish with friends who don’t speak English for a few weeks and for the last week or so I’ve noticed … Continue reading →

Posted in Speaking and Learning Swedish, The Weather | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Bridging and Bonding, correction

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

That last post was poorly written. This is what I was trying to say: 1. You could think of languages as creating connections between people (bridging) or strengthening existing connections between people (bonding). 2. Swedish, which is spoken primarily by … Continue reading →

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Bridging and Bonding Languages

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

Sociologists sometimes distinguish between bridging and bonding social capital. Bridging capital  refers to the value of connections between heterogeneous people or groups and bonding capital refers to the value of within-group connections. These concepts seem straightforward but actually they are … Continue reading →

Posted in In Sweden, Musings, Speaking and Learning Swedish | Leave a comment

Cooling out and selling out

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

Jie-jie’s teacher tracked us down to find out if we had finished thinking over moving Jie-jie down a level. When we told her that Jie-jie was staying where she was, the teacher was clearly shocked. I don’t know if she … Continue reading →

Posted in Ex-Pat Parenting, In Sweden, Schooling | Leave a comment

Spring Crazies

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

Along with the month of May comes the usual parade of end of year dance recitals, youth concerts, field trips, etc. We are gearing up for the onslaught. In addition, one of my mentors from the U.S. will be here … Continue reading →

Posted in In Sweden, Musings, The Weather | Leave a comment

Sweden’s National Health Care

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

When I am talking to friends and family from home I am frequently asked about Sweden’s national health care. We haven’t had much interaction with the medical system yet but here is the skinny so far: Kids get free dental … Continue reading →

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Culture Shock, Disco Edition

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

I have 4 post topics in the queue right now and only one of those speaks to the world of Swedish elementary school. So indulge me in this post and then I promise to move on to some other things … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture Shock, Ex-Pat Parenting, In Sweden | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Culture Shock, elementary school edition

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

This week we had a meeting with Jie-jie’s teachers. They asked for the meeting, saying that it is standard for students and their parents to have a conference with the teachers twice a year. Here is a little background: Jie-jie … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture Shock, Ex-Pat Parenting, In Sweden, Interculturalism, Parenting, Schooling, Speaking and Learning Swedish | 1 Comment

I read The Hunger Games Trilogy

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

A few weeks ago we got a babysitter and went out to see The Hunger Games. We so rarely go to the movies, I hadn’t read the books and I am disinclined to believe that mass popularity should in any … Continue reading →

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Weekend Update

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

We had a lovely weekend. Friday night we watched Newsies. The kids are really into musicals right now. They love Annie, Mary Poppins and the Sound of Music but Newsies didn’t really do it for them. I am not sure … Continue reading →

Posted in Musings | 3 Comments