F ~Fitting In, Friends and The Flintstones

These are the continuing adventures of a Swedish immigrant during her first year as an American. She boldly went where she'd never gone before...please come along on Adventures in America.

School got better after that first horrific day. I learned the routine, I learned the rules, I got more confident in my English, no longer rehearsing each sentence in my head fourteen times before daring to say it.

I guess I should have told you earlier in the series, but both my sister and I were bilingual when we moved. DataBoy didn't talk. He was two. Growing up, we learned both languages at once. I've asked my parents how they did that, and I think I remember the answer. They both spoke Swedish to us. They spoke English to each other. Regardless, I've always known two languages, though at the time that we moved, Swedish was stronger.

Grandma Vivian had come on many visits, and we'd been to America when I was 6, so I'd had plenty of time to converse with those with whom I couldn't just switch to Swedish if I got stuck. I just had to move that file to the front of the line and open it. It didn't take long.

Making friends at school meant that I had more than the Camponellas to play with. There was one friend who lived on that big street beside our house (as opposed to the only slightly smaller, two lanes each way street that we lived on) and she was quite the bossy one. I know you're laughing – bossier than Tina? Yes, such a person exists, though her name is lost. She wasn't very kind.

I remember one afternoon I was done playing with her and said I had to go home. She couldn't leave it there.

“Why do you have to go?”

“I promised I'd watch a TV show with my sister.”

“You're leaving me to watch TV?”

“Yes, in Sweden they don't have kids TV and here they have cartoons and my sister and I want to watch it.”

“What show are you watching?”

“Scooby-Doo.”

“You like Scooby-Doo better than me?”

(free images from picgifs.com)

Apparently I did. I didn't know how to deal with someone so persistent and unlistening. So I just said, “See you tomorrow!” To which she answered, “I'll think about it.” Fine.

Swissie and I enjoyed our Scooby-Doo. After all, we had to look at the TV guide when it arrived and mark out our chosen two hours of TV. If you missed what you marked, it took quite a bit of persuading to substitute something else.