What I meant to write about on Monday was studies. I have finished sfi (Swedish for immigrants) with flying colors, I got the best score at Nationella Provet — VG (Väl Godkänd). When you get that score and want to continue to study Swedish you will take a placement test. The next course to take is SAS (Swedish as second language) and it has three levels: base, A and B. When I was taking the test I had some problems understanding it. I hoped that I would make it to the A level anyway so I wouldn't have to go to the basics class again.

I learned in the placement interview that I had almost made it to the B level! Wow. She said that unfortunately my vocabulary was not quite good enough and recommended a quick summer course to bring me up to speed. As I was planning on taking the A course anyway we came up with the following schedule. I'll begin an intensive A course in August and B course in October, each course will last two months with classes twice a week on the evenings. That way I will be good enough in Swedish to apply for university degree by January. I have decided to become a librarian and that means at least a batchelors degree. Of course I have to be approved to begin the courses I have applied to first.

I also applied to take another course that lasts 4 months: Multimedial webbproduction (Multimedia in web). It should teach me all I need to know about Flash and multimedia to be competitive in web design market. We'll see if I get in.

R has been studying math to qualify for university. Today they got to know the results and he also passed with flying colors. He wants to become a teacher and has applied to Teacher's University to begin this August. He has not heard back from them either.

Pretty radical changes in our careers and lives if we both become students again. We have discussed this extensively and we both agree that this plan is the best for us in the long perspective.

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I just discovered that Blogger ate a part of my post. I had to delete a sentence from a previous post that was out of context. What I had written about was the cats I had to leave to Estonia: Kurri and Sassu. Sassu was her old feisty self. She did not remember me immediately, but after a short while we became reaquainted.

Kurri was another matter entirely. When I visited last he was so ill that I did not expect him to survive the winter. To my surprise he did, but his condition worsened so much in the spring that mom and dad had to take him to the vet to be put to sleep. He is now resting under a tree in the yard of my parent's summer cottage, his domain that he ruled over. I hope he is happy, healthy and free of pain now. He had 17 years with us and we will miss him terribly.

Good bye Old Fat.

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Oh my! Someone is twisting my arm to become a regular blogger again. I had begun thinking nobody wanted to read about my boring life. Thanks for the kick in the heinie, Mitz.

Couple of weekends ago I visited my family in Tallinn, R stayed home cat-sitting. It was good to see my parents, brother and SIL again. I wanted to check the situation in Tallinn's yarn stores, so we visited several with mom. I bought a sweater's worth of Novita Nalle in black and enough Estonian 2-ply wool for a pair of Landsknecht stockings.

Not much else to report than I enjoyed my stay and my parents gave me money to buy an iPod Shuffle. I bought it in Sweden to get a warranty here also. I love it! My old CD-player was on it's last legs so I was very happy to be able to replace it. I had been wanting an iPod for quite a while and when the Shuffle came out I wanted that even more. It's physically small and the smaller model (512MB) has sufficient space for music. I don't need to carry my whole library with me, I'll just make a list of the best ones I want to listen to at the moment. Something like this is really essential for a music junkey like me.

Although I had my camera with me I didn't take many pictures I can share. There are a few old pics I have meant to put up.

A beautiful sunset with moon near R's mom's place.

Sassu. My parents have begun to call her The Bugeyes for her huge eyes.

Mao conquering heights.

Ursus.

I have decided to pass on the latest Six Sox Knitalong pattern. Yes, if I finished these, I'd be in the drawing for the grand prize. But this pattern just does not inspire me. I am knitting the arrowhead lace socks instead and designing the new sweater. I also need to start knitting the Landsknecht stockings again. I have two pairs going right now and one waiting to be started. I got stuck figuring out the pattern at the foot, but I have gotten new research materials now. I should be able to figure things out and finish what I have promised so long time ago.

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Two little big things: I did not get the job and I passed the test!

Now I have to decide what and how to study further. I know for sure that I want to continue with Swedish, but will I study something else too?

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