I just told two different people I'm 40 and it wasn't until I saw my own last post that I remembered, excuse me, I'm 41.
About 2 weeks ago someone told me about a web site called telefonkatalog.no, the Norwegian white pages. She said if you want to find out what realtives you still have in Norway, just put in your Norwegian family name, and look for listings in your ancestral home town, and write a letter to the people listed, and tell them who your great grandmother was, and ask if they're related. I did so, picked two people from the list that displayed, wrote to them ... and just two days ago I got an email from one of them. It said she was the daughter of my grandmother's cousin...and that the other person I'd written to was her own brother! She even knows who my branch of the family is because her parents came to Washington state to visit us when I was a teen ager, although she doesn't seem to remember when I visited them in 1985 and met her and her brother. It was just that easy, I am so excited. I have been able to tell my children that they do have relatives in Norway, I hope to know more of them soon.
That same day, the front desk receptionists handed me a brown padded envelope , mailed to me from our corporate office in Kansas City. I opened it. It was a small metallic lapel pin, and a brief note saying congratulations for winning your second such award, due to a compliment from one of our clients. I was confused. I took it to my manager's office and said why did I get this and why does it say it's my second? She scowled and said, "You weren't supposed to know about this. It was supposed to come to me. I was supposed to present this one and the other one I have for you , in an upcoming all-employee meeting."
"You're not supposed to know about that," and "You werent' supposed to find out about that," are becoming my least favorite phrases in the English language lately. And because I told my 12 year old daughter this incident, she teases me by saying , "You're not supposed to know about that," to me, at every occasion.
I had to write a note to the volunteer coordinator on my way out of my ESL volunteer job last night, and ask that our class room be moved from the pop-machine break room. People just walk in and out the whole 90 minutes, for pop, while we're trying to hold "English Conversation Group." It's so disruptive. Whose idea was that in the first place?
About 2 weeks ago someone told me about a web site called telefonkatalog.no, the Norwegian white pages. She said if you want to find out what realtives you still have in Norway, just put in your Norwegian family name, and look for listings in your ancestral home town, and write a letter to the people listed, and tell them who your great grandmother was, and ask if they're related. I did so, picked two people from the list that displayed, wrote to them ... and just two days ago I got an email from one of them. It said she was the daughter of my grandmother's cousin...and that the other person I'd written to was her own brother! She even knows who my branch of the family is because her parents came to Washington state to visit us when I was a teen ager, although she doesn't seem to remember when I visited them in 1985 and met her and her brother. It was just that easy, I am so excited. I have been able to tell my children that they do have relatives in Norway, I hope to know more of them soon.
That same day, the front desk receptionists handed me a brown padded envelope , mailed to me from our corporate office in Kansas City. I opened it. It was a small metallic lapel pin, and a brief note saying congratulations for winning your second such award, due to a compliment from one of our clients. I was confused. I took it to my manager's office and said why did I get this and why does it say it's my second? She scowled and said, "You weren't supposed to know about this. It was supposed to come to me. I was supposed to present this one and the other one I have for you , in an upcoming all-employee meeting."
"You're not supposed to know about that," and "You werent' supposed to find out about that," are becoming my least favorite phrases in the English language lately. And because I told my 12 year old daughter this incident, she teases me by saying , "You're not supposed to know about that," to me, at every occasion.
I had to write a note to the volunteer coordinator on my way out of my ESL volunteer job last night, and ask that our class room be moved from the pop-machine break room. People just walk in and out the whole 90 minutes, for pop, while we're trying to hold "English Conversation Group." It's so disruptive. Whose idea was that in the first place?
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