gymnasium

"when i went to the dentist, they put soap in my mouth, and a little bit of peanut butter and jelly." this is what william is saying to greg right now on his way to bed.  recalling the one time when he was three that he went to the dentist to have his teeth cleaned.

you can see our morning began with oatmeal and tea and henry insisting he sit next to his big brother.

i went to class.  came home.  and didn't finish my 1,667 words that would at least not put me any further back than a day.  i am about 500 words short.  so, there is plenty of catch-up to do.  i almost resolved a problem of one of my characters before realizing just how many words are needing to be written.  his problems will have to dog him for at least another 15 days.

more breakfast

i picked up the guys.  on our way from their school, we pass the back of the high school.  in denmark, around 10th or sometimes 11th grade, students either go onto a technical/trade school or a 'gymnasium' (pronounced with a hard 'g').  gymnasium is, from what i can gather, like u.s. high school, with a big, maybe bigger, emphasis on college prep.  so this is what we passed, and, like most fridays, a scattered group of students was outside, many smoking, most with a beer in their hands.  i recently asked someone about this.  he said many gymnasiums have a friday bar for the students.  when i was visibly amazed by this, he pointed out that many students don't start in gymnasium until they're around 17 years old (the drinking age here is about 16).  he also pointed out that most aren't driving cars (you have to be 18, and it's very expensive to get licensed).  still, even with both these points in mind, it looks so strange to see a bunch of high schoolers standing around outside their school with cups of beer and cigarettes.  they only very recently (within the last month or two) banned smoking on school grounds, but plenty of the kids were doing it today.

and we took the long way home again.  it rained on us briefly.  william and henry made pizza for dinner with greg's help, and there is plenty of cheese on the kitchen floor evincing their hard work.

happy friday!