Visit by an American

Today we had a visitor in class. A woman from Maryland in the United States. She had recently moved here to Norway, and today she came here to talk about the American constitution. First off I must say that it was delightful to hear fluent English without a Norwegian accent. Her name was Lee Ann Potter and she works as the director of education and volunteer programs at the U.S National Archives in Washington, DC. 

She told us a lot about the U.S, and how it differs from Norway. She also had some amusing facts about how her experience in Norway had been so far. It is interesting to hear how Norway is perceived from a foreigners point of view, or in this case an American. She had trouble learning the language, as some of the words (she mentioned the combination of Ø and R as especially difficult) were really difficult to pronounce.

After her introduction and after the talk about cultural, political and social differences between Norway and America, she proceeded with her originalt intent - to talk about the American constitution and how the government works in the U.S. She also spent some time trying to get us reflecting about why we really need a government, and what responsibility the government actually have.

I think it was really interesting to listen to Lee Ann and I think I learned a lot.

The British System of Government

Politics is all about power - about winning power and using it to do what you think is right. In a modern society we arrange our democracy through representatives, who sit in parliament. The crucial event is when the people choose their representatives.

The Parliament is made up of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is often simply called the Commons, or the Lower House, while the House of Lords is referred to as the Lords, or the Upper House. Both Houses meet in the Palace of Westminster, so people often talk of "Westminster" when they mean Parliament.

The system of government is divided between the Prime Minister and the Parliament, and the Parliament is again divided into the Commons and the Lords. The Prime Minister is the leader of the strongest party, and is therefore the leader of the government. The Parliament makes laws, passes the budget and "watches" the government. The Commons has much more power than the Lords.

First Persian Gulf War drives Iraqis out of Kuwait

The Persian Gulf War started in August 2nd 1990 and continued until February 28th 1991. This war was referred to as Operation Desert Storm by the US military. The final conflict was initiated with UN authorization, which resulted in a coalition force from 34 nations against Iraq. The purpose was to remove all Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

The great majority of the invading forces were from the US. Former president George H. W. Bush deployed massive forces in Saudi Arabia, prior to the invasion, as a part of their Operation Desert Shield. During the same time, the US urged other countries to come and assist.

After many fights, the Iraqis had to retreat from Kuwait. There is estimated to be more than 20,000 Iraqi casualties. On April 6^th he decleared that Kuwait had been liberated.

Traditional Norwegian sports

Today I am going to tell you about a traditional Norwegian sport!

Most young boys, and some of the girls, start playing football from early on. Some start already at the age of 5, when they start in school. Personally I started playing when I was around 6 years old, and I continued to play for roughly 5 years. Then I realised it was nothing for me, because all of a sudden it got too serious. Our coach wouldn`t tolerate humour during practise, and we would get yelled at for any kind of inappropriate beheaviour.

Most Norwegians take football very seriously. A lot of people quit playing as they grow older, but they continue to support their favourite team by going to see the matches, or watching it on TV.


This is football: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt4X7zFfv4k

This is how a football field looks like:














If you want to know more about football, don`t hesitate to ask:)

To my Korean friends - about the weather in Norway.

Hey!

I bet you are curious about the weather and climate here in Norway. After all, we do live in completely different parts of the world, so there must be certain differences!

When I woke up today, it was -3 degrees outside and the grass had frozen hard. The sky was cloudy and it was completely dark. However, the sun was soon to rise, and then the temperature finally reached above zero. I could then unzip my jacket without freezing to death:)


Norway, in general, has cold winters and hot summers. In May we had temperatures exceeding 30, and last winter the temperature was as far down as -20 at several occasions. Nonetheless, we also have warm winters with a mixture of snow and rain, and cold and rainy summers. Then Norway is a rather unpleasant place to stay.


Tell me about the weather in Korea:)





Here is a picture of my dad and our family pet, Frank the polar bear. We use polar bears to keep us warm during cold winters, and some of us ride them to school instead of paying for expensive transportation. They`re also useful for protection.

Link to my shared notebook.

I have started to publish some of the notes I take in class in a shared notebook.

Click here to access it!

Tasks on page 54 - Does it matter?

Does it matter?

g) Three effects of the war are mentioned in the poem:

- Getting hurt physically (losing your legs)

- Losing one of your senses (losing your sight)

- The dreams and thoughts you gain from being a soldier in which you will never escape (those dreams of the pit)

h) This poem reflects the attitude that whom you fight for are more the enemy than the people you fight against. It does so by explaining how war can destroy you both physically and mentally and afterwards saying that “no one will worry a bit.” The people you fight against are often more your friends if you do not consider they are fighting for your enemy. All soldiers are in the same situation even if they fight for different teams.

i) The poem has experienced a revival of late. The reason is because of the glorification of war has been condemned in the previous decades. We now care more about how terrible it is being a civilian in a war. Additionally wars are still happening making this topic relevant.

j) “Does it matter” appeals more to us than the other one because it is easier to understand the content. It is easy to put oneself in the position of the soldier spoken of in this poem whereas in the other poem they speak more of England and the effort and consequently the lives given for the sake of England by the soldiers.

Introduction

Hello!


I`m an eighteen year old boy from Norway and I go to school in Sandvika. I have English social studies as a subject this year, and one of our first assignments is to create a blog that we will update regularly. My first task is to introduce my hometown.

My hometown is Bærum. It`s actually a municipality, in the county of Akershus. Bærum is probably the only municipality that almost every citizen in the entire country has heard of. It`s famous due to the high wages many of the inhabitants receive, and how they spend their money. Youth are common to be seen in expensive clothing, and driving in fancy cars. Of course, far from everyone in Bærum are rich, but the minority that really is rich and enjoys the world watching - they make their self really visible.

Besides from that, Bærum is a really nice place. We have a small town called Sandvika, that has one of the largest malls in the north of Europe.

There is also some beautiful scenery that should be given som attention.

I`ll do my best to keep this blog updated with some interesting reading:)
- Gunnar