The days are getting shorter and I am starting to be a bit nervous for the winter. It's all well and good to say "oh yeah, there's 5 hours of sunlight a day" until you start to approach it. I am a person who is very sensitive to the light/dark, I wake up when it's bright and sunny and sleep when it's dark. Does anyone spot the problem for me living in Northern Sweden? Yeah, Me too. So it's Friday night and I was ready to go to bed at 7pm (sundown these days). What will I do when it's 2pm?
There are other changes I'm noticing too.Sundsvall is not so exotic anymore, it's the place I live like Toronto. I know the streets, have favourite places to go, I have a routine. This is great and kind of deflating. I like feeling like I'm at home, it's safer and more pleasant in the everyday, but it means I have to go farther for adventure.
Beth is changing rapidly. She can reach on top of tables, puts toys away, clothes in the laundry, items in the garbage (sometimes the right ones) and this week we were learning to roll down a hill. She has her first school photos on Monday, and I can't believe it. I wonder how many fridge magnets and key chains I can buy. I'm so proud of her and excited for her, and she hasn't even done anything, but it's such a first hallmark of being a child.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
First day of Skola
Kevin and I began work this week. Which is great, overwhelming, exhausting and different. Maybe more so for me as I have been on parental leave for 15 months, but still for both of us. For example it's 9pm and Kevin is asleep, has been since 8:30pm, something totally unheard of for him.
To some extent it is easy to say that teaching is teaching and kids are kids no matter where you go. They all struggle to find themselves, understand the world, make it through their education and maybe even look cool doing it. Teachers everywhere care about their students, stress about the difficulties, try to hold everyone together through the year and enjoy their vacations ;)
There are cultural differences though, and often so subtle that they can almost be disturbing as a result. You think you understand something, but not quite, and that is very unsettling for me. For example, Sweden has released a new curriculum this year. It is a significant change over past curriculums, grades are assigned as early as Year 6, the grading scheme has gone from G, VG, MVG to A-F where A is the highest and F is a failure, abilities (expectations) are laid out for each subject and topic.
If you know Ontario education, pretty similar right? And yet not. First, grades as early as Year 6 (before it wasn't until Year 9), really? How do you know how someone is doing? How can you measure achievement to the parents? How do you ensure a child reads? This is a system I will never be part of (as it no longer exists) so I don't know. Next the grades themselves, A-F, pretty familiar, except they have an E here (which does make sense, so that's a total oversight of someone back home in North American education), and it's entirely a rubric based system. You don't grade a paper and offer a percentage. Students abilities are matched on a rubric, or better yet the assignment is prepared in such a way that a student aims for a particular grade they wish to achieve and that is explicitly stated. Your final grade is not the average of all your grades, but the minimum level you reached. So if there are 20 expectations and you receive A in 19 of them, but E in 1 your overall grade is an E. This I have trouble with, probably because I'm a math and science person and averages just make sense to me, plus it doesn't agree with the Swedish ethos of lagom (not to big or too small, just in the middle). Talking with two of the other new teachers they liken it to swimming or skating where if you could not complete all the skills you did not advance, but mentally it is taking me much more to adjust to.
But see it's just the small things. I will still teach atomic theory, students will have homework and assignments. I sure we will argue about forgotten pencils and if their dog ate their homework. The tripping will be in the things I assume I know and understand. Wish me luck!
To some extent it is easy to say that teaching is teaching and kids are kids no matter where you go. They all struggle to find themselves, understand the world, make it through their education and maybe even look cool doing it. Teachers everywhere care about their students, stress about the difficulties, try to hold everyone together through the year and enjoy their vacations ;)
There are cultural differences though, and often so subtle that they can almost be disturbing as a result. You think you understand something, but not quite, and that is very unsettling for me. For example, Sweden has released a new curriculum this year. It is a significant change over past curriculums, grades are assigned as early as Year 6, the grading scheme has gone from G, VG, MVG to A-F where A is the highest and F is a failure, abilities (expectations) are laid out for each subject and topic.
If you know Ontario education, pretty similar right? And yet not. First, grades as early as Year 6 (before it wasn't until Year 9), really? How do you know how someone is doing? How can you measure achievement to the parents? How do you ensure a child reads? This is a system I will never be part of (as it no longer exists) so I don't know. Next the grades themselves, A-F, pretty familiar, except they have an E here (which does make sense, so that's a total oversight of someone back home in North American education), and it's entirely a rubric based system. You don't grade a paper and offer a percentage. Students abilities are matched on a rubric, or better yet the assignment is prepared in such a way that a student aims for a particular grade they wish to achieve and that is explicitly stated. Your final grade is not the average of all your grades, but the minimum level you reached. So if there are 20 expectations and you receive A in 19 of them, but E in 1 your overall grade is an E. This I have trouble with, probably because I'm a math and science person and averages just make sense to me, plus it doesn't agree with the Swedish ethos of lagom (not to big or too small, just in the middle). Talking with two of the other new teachers they liken it to swimming or skating where if you could not complete all the skills you did not advance, but mentally it is taking me much more to adjust to.
But see it's just the small things. I will still teach atomic theory, students will have homework and assignments. I sure we will argue about forgotten pencils and if their dog ate their homework. The tripping will be in the things I assume I know and understand. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Stockholm , city of Islands?
I came into the city by myself this morning; I need to renew my Hungarian passport and we decided that it would be easier if I went on my own instead of all of us trying to amuse Beth for a full day. So at 4am I walked from our apartment in Sallyhill to Sundsvall Central and sat down in my first class extrawide seat with breakfast, table, bottomless coffee and internet. 3 1/2 hours later I stepped out into a different world. Stockholm is a city. I know that is a very obvious statement, but after spending the last month in Sundsvall I'd kind of forgotten what a really big city felt like, and it felt like Stockholm. To start it is beautiful, fullstop. And has people and cars everywhere, it also has a lot to do.
But first things first. Me and the consulate had a date. A date that took 3 hours and a broken fingerprint machine. I was starting to have a panic attack that I'd have to come back to Stockhom again just for this when a consular employee finally came out, looked at the machine, hit it and it worked. I waited in line for over an hour, I was the second person in line this morning, spent 5 minutes filling out the form, scanning my fingerprints and taking a horrible photo and then another 45 min waiting for my information to be verified by Budapest. I left the office just before 12pm. What kind of amazed me about the experience is all the other people who had expired passports (mine was still good) and then got annoyed that they'd have to produce more evidence of their Hungarian citizenship to renew. I thought everyone knew not to let their passports (utlevel) expire or face dire consequences?? Anyway.
I had about 5 hours before I had to get back into my comfy first class seat and ride back to Sundsvall so I decided to see as much of the city as I could in that time. I feel pretty poor these days having had no income in 3 months and Stockholm is not a good city for that, supposedly, but I found my free afternoon thoroughly enjoyable and busy. I took the walking tour route suggested by Lonely Planet Sweden and added in a couple of my own excursions, mostly for recommended restaurants, so I could tell Kevin about them.
My first trip was to find Cafe Saturnus, this cafe is on a side street, unassuming and looks amazing! This and my next restaurant choice were both recommended by Mathias Dahlgren, and in a country of expensive are reasonable and amazing. Cafe Saturnus was recommended for its kannebulle, which are huge and the tastiest I've had so far, but their lunches and other treats also look fantastic. I would have posted pictures, but I felt awkward asking strangers if I could take images of their food. Definitely will return for a full meal with Kevin.
Then back Iwent to Centrum, I was going to walk through the city park, but ended up in the middle of Stockholm Pride. So much fun and so much calmer than Toronto Pride. Picked up a keychain from the army recruiting booth, doubt they have that at Toronto Pride, and learnt about massage, banking investments and how everyone is a person. Lots of kids, lots of visitors and lots of pride. Then I crossed over to the home of Swedish parliament, walked right through the middle and then over the bridge and onto the Royal Palace. I was on a mission searching for Karl Phillip for my friend, but for some reason he wouldn't give me his phone number. Did get to check out his place, pretty nice, you know if you're into that sort of thing. The palace is located in the medieval part of the city right across from Sweden's oldest building, a church. I then got to see the Novel museum (huge for a geek like me), Sweden's stock exchange and their school of art and design, all in one square.
The medieval city is where I spent most of my afternoon, wandering around its narrow streets, looking in unique clothing, design and textile stores. This area of the city is much quieter and smaller feeling than the rest. I think if I were to live in Stockholm, this is where I would want to live. I took one trip outside this area to find Nystekt Strömming. This place took me awhile. I was looking for a restaurant, but it's more of a hot dog stand. A hot dog stand with fresh, local, Slow Movement approved Swedish food. Also fantastic. I had fried fish on bread with mustard and dill, and for 40 Kr. It is also the only place in Sweden that I found that is cash only, that I found kind of mind boggling as most other places penalize you for using cash. I have definitely found a new favorite restaurant.
I rounded out the afternoon on the Knight's island, looking at the most beautiful lake views in Stockholm, right after my camera died so sorry no pics, and then a quick jaunt through the shopping district. I have even more severe sticker shock right now. I'm glad that our jobs are in the small town of Sundsvall and I don't think I'd ever be able to buy anything in Stockholm, except of course fried street fish.As a side comment, before I came I found out that Stockholm is made up of a series of islands, so I expected it to feel well oceanic? like islands?, but the city is so well established overtop and the islands so close together that often you don't even realize your crossing a bridge, its not like the danube, or thames or in NYC. Crazy weird, especially as they have more than anyone else. Guess I can see why people chose it as home though, burn a bridge, easy to defend.
One more place I have to talk about, Kulturhuset Stockholm. Everytown has a culture house which has conference rooms, exhibits and the library. but the one in downtown stockholm is again amazing. It's 5 floors, was full of Pride, and the entire 4th floor is devoted to children, rum för barn. I want to bring Beth on the 4 hour train ride just to take her to the library. They had a handson exhibit having turned Mumni storybook into a play and discover ground. Grouped books by age, had an infant area with an entertainer, costume area and stage, art studio, and its all free. All the children, except the ones leaving, looked happy and the parents relaxed.
Now I'm going to sit back in my seat, enjoy my pickled herring and kaviar and savour the rest of this first class lifetyle.
But first things first. Me and the consulate had a date. A date that took 3 hours and a broken fingerprint machine. I was starting to have a panic attack that I'd have to come back to Stockhom again just for this when a consular employee finally came out, looked at the machine, hit it and it worked. I waited in line for over an hour, I was the second person in line this morning, spent 5 minutes filling out the form, scanning my fingerprints and taking a horrible photo and then another 45 min waiting for my information to be verified by Budapest. I left the office just before 12pm. What kind of amazed me about the experience is all the other people who had expired passports (mine was still good) and then got annoyed that they'd have to produce more evidence of their Hungarian citizenship to renew. I thought everyone knew not to let their passports (utlevel) expire or face dire consequences?? Anyway.
I had about 5 hours before I had to get back into my comfy first class seat and ride back to Sundsvall so I decided to see as much of the city as I could in that time. I feel pretty poor these days having had no income in 3 months and Stockholm is not a good city for that, supposedly, but I found my free afternoon thoroughly enjoyable and busy. I took the walking tour route suggested by Lonely Planet Sweden and added in a couple of my own excursions, mostly for recommended restaurants, so I could tell Kevin about them.
My first trip was to find Cafe Saturnus, this cafe is on a side street, unassuming and looks amazing! This and my next restaurant choice were both recommended by Mathias Dahlgren, and in a country of expensive are reasonable and amazing. Cafe Saturnus was recommended for its kannebulle, which are huge and the tastiest I've had so far, but their lunches and other treats also look fantastic. I would have posted pictures, but I felt awkward asking strangers if I could take images of their food. Definitely will return for a full meal with Kevin.
Then back Iwent to Centrum, I was going to walk through the city park, but ended up in the middle of Stockholm Pride. So much fun and so much calmer than Toronto Pride. Picked up a keychain from the army recruiting booth, doubt they have that at Toronto Pride, and learnt about massage, banking investments and how everyone is a person. Lots of kids, lots of visitors and lots of pride. Then I crossed over to the home of Swedish parliament, walked right through the middle and then over the bridge and onto the Royal Palace. I was on a mission searching for Karl Phillip for my friend, but for some reason he wouldn't give me his phone number. Did get to check out his place, pretty nice, you know if you're into that sort of thing. The palace is located in the medieval part of the city right across from Sweden's oldest building, a church. I then got to see the Novel museum (huge for a geek like me), Sweden's stock exchange and their school of art and design, all in one square.
The medieval city is where I spent most of my afternoon, wandering around its narrow streets, looking in unique clothing, design and textile stores. This area of the city is much quieter and smaller feeling than the rest. I think if I were to live in Stockholm, this is where I would want to live. I took one trip outside this area to find Nystekt Strömming. This place took me awhile. I was looking for a restaurant, but it's more of a hot dog stand. A hot dog stand with fresh, local, Slow Movement approved Swedish food. Also fantastic. I had fried fish on bread with mustard and dill, and for 40 Kr. It is also the only place in Sweden that I found that is cash only, that I found kind of mind boggling as most other places penalize you for using cash. I have definitely found a new favorite restaurant.
I rounded out the afternoon on the Knight's island, looking at the most beautiful lake views in Stockholm, right after my camera died so sorry no pics, and then a quick jaunt through the shopping district. I have even more severe sticker shock right now. I'm glad that our jobs are in the small town of Sundsvall and I don't think I'd ever be able to buy anything in Stockholm, except of course fried street fish.As a side comment, before I came I found out that Stockholm is made up of a series of islands, so I expected it to feel well oceanic? like islands?, but the city is so well established overtop and the islands so close together that often you don't even realize your crossing a bridge, its not like the danube, or thames or in NYC. Crazy weird, especially as they have more than anyone else. Guess I can see why people chose it as home though, burn a bridge, easy to defend.
One more place I have to talk about, Kulturhuset Stockholm. Everytown has a culture house which has conference rooms, exhibits and the library. but the one in downtown stockholm is again amazing. It's 5 floors, was full of Pride, and the entire 4th floor is devoted to children, rum för barn. I want to bring Beth on the 4 hour train ride just to take her to the library. They had a handson exhibit having turned Mumni storybook into a play and discover ground. Grouped books by age, had an infant area with an entertainer, costume area and stage, art studio, and its all free. All the children, except the ones leaving, looked happy and the parents relaxed.
Now I'm going to sit back in my seat, enjoy my pickled herring and kaviar and savour the rest of this first class lifetyle.
The value of friendship
A couple posts ago I spoke of being homesick and missing the community I had built in Canada. Something happened this last weekend that is helping me feel less of the impact of being in a strange new home.
Last week was my birthday and to celebrate we had a BBQ on the weekend inviting everyone we had met in Sundsvall and quite a few people we hadn't. Three of the women we will work with lent us their apartment for the party, ours is extremely small and fairly ugly while there's is large and beautiful, and gave our baby a place to sleep in the closet. For the grandparents I should probably point out that the closet was close to the size of Beth's room at home, it's just fun and very Harry Potterish to say she's sleeping in the closet.
It was a lot of fun, most of the people who came were new to town like us so we had hours of hilarity discussing all the ways things can be different, go wrong or trip you up in a new place. Food was tasty, thank you Kevin and Lenita, and it was a lovely way to begin a new year in a new place. We did not get to bed until 3am, and my daughter who normally sleeps until 8am was obliging enough to wake up at 6am. Being a new parent I'm pretty used to sleep deprivation, but this hurt. We had crashed at The Girls apartment, so we were just going to grab our things and go to ensure that they didn't wake up, but we couldn't access our stroller. We had locked it up in their storage room the previous day to leave for space for the party. So we took Beth to the park and let her toddle all her energy off until 9am. When we went back upstairs one of the women were awake. We chatted, retrieved our stroller and were about to go when she offered to watch Beth while we napped.
Unless you have been living with an infant and no outside support I don't know that I can quite describe my feelings of gratitude, in Toronto we would have taken her to Grandma's for the day and had a good sleep, but here we were looking forward to a day of tired, cranky temper tantrums and that was just us. The nap was amazing. I woke up two hours later to all three women in the apartment entertaining Beth and her having the time of her life as center of attention. After that we spent the rest of the day with them and between the 5 adults managed to satisfy one small girl. While I am still extremely grateful for the sleep I am most thankful for the offer, it demonstrates something I thought would take months if not longer to find. Looking out my window now is beginning to feel a bit more like home.
Last week was my birthday and to celebrate we had a BBQ on the weekend inviting everyone we had met in Sundsvall and quite a few people we hadn't. Three of the women we will work with lent us their apartment for the party, ours is extremely small and fairly ugly while there's is large and beautiful, and gave our baby a place to sleep in the closet. For the grandparents I should probably point out that the closet was close to the size of Beth's room at home, it's just fun and very Harry Potterish to say she's sleeping in the closet.
It was a lot of fun, most of the people who came were new to town like us so we had hours of hilarity discussing all the ways things can be different, go wrong or trip you up in a new place. Food was tasty, thank you Kevin and Lenita, and it was a lovely way to begin a new year in a new place. We did not get to bed until 3am, and my daughter who normally sleeps until 8am was obliging enough to wake up at 6am. Being a new parent I'm pretty used to sleep deprivation, but this hurt. We had crashed at The Girls apartment, so we were just going to grab our things and go to ensure that they didn't wake up, but we couldn't access our stroller. We had locked it up in their storage room the previous day to leave for space for the party. So we took Beth to the park and let her toddle all her energy off until 9am. When we went back upstairs one of the women were awake. We chatted, retrieved our stroller and were about to go when she offered to watch Beth while we napped.
Unless you have been living with an infant and no outside support I don't know that I can quite describe my feelings of gratitude, in Toronto we would have taken her to Grandma's for the day and had a good sleep, but here we were looking forward to a day of tired, cranky temper tantrums and that was just us. The nap was amazing. I woke up two hours later to all three women in the apartment entertaining Beth and her having the time of her life as center of attention. After that we spent the rest of the day with them and between the 5 adults managed to satisfy one small girl. While I am still extremely grateful for the sleep I am most thankful for the offer, it demonstrates something I thought would take months if not longer to find. Looking out my window now is beginning to feel a bit more like home.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Drive-In Bingo
Seriously, I do believe my title says it all. DRIVE-IN BINGO!!! This is a reason to move to northern Sweden, all by itself.
Every Wednesday night, at the TonHallen (Town Hall?) they host drive-in bingo in their parking lot. People stay in their cars, receive their cards, numbers are called over a loud speaker and if you win you honk your horn. It's awesome.
Now we do not own a car here, nor are planning to, but I want to go. I'm thinking just take 4 lawn chairs and set them up in a parking spot like a car, no one will notice right? Or if they object, bring the stroller; that is a vehicle. We could bring a school bell or an airhorn for signalling our win. I think its brilliant, like those people who walk through drive-throughs.
Every Wednesday night, at the TonHallen (Town Hall?) they host drive-in bingo in their parking lot. People stay in their cars, receive their cards, numbers are called over a loud speaker and if you win you honk your horn. It's awesome.
Now we do not own a car here, nor are planning to, but I want to go. I'm thinking just take 4 lawn chairs and set them up in a parking spot like a car, no one will notice right? Or if they object, bring the stroller; that is a vehicle. We could bring a school bell or an airhorn for signalling our win. I think its brilliant, like those people who walk through drive-throughs.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Things I never thought I'd do as a parent.
But the doll is one of those creepy, hard plastic, with the eyes that open and close, makes you think of a Stephen King, "DON'T OPEN THE CLOSET JANETTE, THE DOLL'S WILL SEE YOU", kind of doll. But she loves it.
For the past 2 weeks she's been picking up any baby, hard plastic doll she could find, hugging it and dragging it around everywhere. I'm not heartless, I just find them super creepy. So this weekend we went out and looked through all the dolls in the creepy doll section of the toy store to find Beth her very own. Why not get one I like you might ask. Well I don't like any hard plastic toy, but she just doesn't have the same reaction to the plush toys, and I love her, and it's not like she's learning to love psychotropic drugs or "Grand Theft Auto" or anything. I do feel that this is the first of many decisions as a parent I never thought I'd make. Who knows maybe we will let her get a pony?
Monday, July 25, 2011
Our first fika!
To say that fika is the process of having a coffee, or meeting for coffee is to dramatically understate the reverence given to this occassion. In fact there is no direct way to translate this term into English that conveys the full process or importance of it. When I checked in my swedish-english dictionary it said "coffee". That's like saying hockey is a "sport" in Canada.
Fika is a meeting with friends and strangers. A time to talk, discuss, socialize and there happens to be coffee and food as well. It is the social and shared aspect of this ritual that is really important, otherwise its just kaffe.
So yesterday all the new Canadians in Sundsvall met up with one of the locals at Barista a beautiful fairtrade, organic coffee house downtown. They have coccoon swing seats inside, a huge couch bed for lounging, outdoor tables, blankets in case you get cold, a play area for children, oh and delicious coffee and treats. It is beautiful. Should you find yourself in northern Sweden I definately reccommend it. But coming back to the point, we met on the patio, parked the strollers with the sleeping children and proceeded to sit and chat for the next 3 hours. Service is slow, but tasty. Atmosphere is relaxed and easy to spend time in. Once the kids woke up there were places for them to run around and play in, I enjoyed the inclusiveness of it. The only downside would be the price. I am still living through sticker shock, and the $20 CAD for 2 coffees and a brownie makes me feel slightly ill. I'm assuming once I start having a Swedish pay cheque that will hurt less.
Through this small Swedish ritual I am beginning to feel the growth of the community to which I am going to belong. It was really really nice. As an adult I have moved communities about every 4 years, and it is exciting and hard to restart, make new friends and form your sanity and support. Toronto, our last move was probably the hardest one we had made. Because the city is so big its hard to become close to people, and because I grew up there I had this false sense that it should happen quickly. It didn't. Only after 4 years there was I really beginning to feel a sense of community in my life (outside of family). I'm not saying we're there yet here, but I can see where the seeds of it start.
So I look forward to many fika, although it definitely means that I will have to keep my running in top gear or I will have to add clothes shopping to my list of things to do.
Fika is a meeting with friends and strangers. A time to talk, discuss, socialize and there happens to be coffee and food as well. It is the social and shared aspect of this ritual that is really important, otherwise its just kaffe.
So yesterday all the new Canadians in Sundsvall met up with one of the locals at Barista a beautiful fairtrade, organic coffee house downtown. They have coccoon swing seats inside, a huge couch bed for lounging, outdoor tables, blankets in case you get cold, a play area for children, oh and delicious coffee and treats. It is beautiful. Should you find yourself in northern Sweden I definately reccommend it. But coming back to the point, we met on the patio, parked the strollers with the sleeping children and proceeded to sit and chat for the next 3 hours. Service is slow, but tasty. Atmosphere is relaxed and easy to spend time in. Once the kids woke up there were places for them to run around and play in, I enjoyed the inclusiveness of it. The only downside would be the price. I am still living through sticker shock, and the $20 CAD for 2 coffees and a brownie makes me feel slightly ill. I'm assuming once I start having a Swedish pay cheque that will hurt less.
Through this small Swedish ritual I am beginning to feel the growth of the community to which I am going to belong. It was really really nice. As an adult I have moved communities about every 4 years, and it is exciting and hard to restart, make new friends and form your sanity and support. Toronto, our last move was probably the hardest one we had made. Because the city is so big its hard to become close to people, and because I grew up there I had this false sense that it should happen quickly. It didn't. Only after 4 years there was I really beginning to feel a sense of community in my life (outside of family). I'm not saying we're there yet here, but I can see where the seeds of it start.
So I look forward to many fika, although it definitely means that I will have to keep my running in top gear or I will have to add clothes shopping to my list of things to do.
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