Sunshine, running, good coffee and blueberry pancakes! (and slugs, too!)

TGFW! Thank God for Weekends!

Now, let's put things in perspective. I really do love my job! It's a great group of people who are all working tirelessly to provide the best education we can to our students. But, in all honesty, it's absolutely exhausting right now!

So, on this Sunday morning, I have spent the past few weekend days relaxing, and being ''off'' mentally and physically.

Friday night we went out with the staff. It was quite lovely, but I'm still getting used to the price of beer here! It's pretty unreal! Thank God my tolerance is moderate! A few of us stayed until the very end and got delicious food afterwards ( I got falafel) and it was great, because post-going out food is porbably one of my favourite parts of going out!

Yesterday the weather was OK. It ended up storming in the afternoon,so that cancelled my plans to go out and buy more ''teacher'' clothes. I got caught up on a lot of my catching up with family, and got to speak to my parents, grandparents, aunt, cousin, brother and his friends, who were very obviously so thrilled to hear my voice that they were speechless!

I just went for a pretty intense run. I took a new path and ended up running uphill. I did end up at a beautiful lake, so I stayed and stretched a few extra minutes.
The best/worst part of running is trying to avoid stepping on slugs! YUCK! Next time I'll bring my camera to take some photos!

So now it's time to finish making my blueberry pancakes :)
I love it here, but I keep getting more and more excited for coming home. . . .only four short months! hahaha

-Rendawg

P.S
Look what I stumbled upon in one of the grocery stores here! Maple Joe! Product of Canada! Mmmm real Canadian maple syrup! Heavenly.



(Now all I need is to find tofu and BBQ chips and I'm set!)

Eat, Sleep, Discipline (and coffee whenever possible)

Please refer to the title of this post for all the information you need about the goings on in my life at the moment.

I am officially the Queen of Mean. Ask the parents of the many students I've had to call!

I will write more when my sanity is restored. . . .

probably sometime on the weekend!

The First Day of School!

I survived day 1 as a teacher!

Surprisingly, I was not overcome with nerves, or worry, or panic. I'll spare any very specific details for now, mostly because it's so beautiful outside and I want to get out while I can.

So, at our school each class group has two (or in our case three) mentor teachers. As the students arrived, myself and the other two mentor teachers welcomed our students to IES. We went over the pamphlet of rules every student has to sign, both in English and Swedish (guess which one I did!)

Some of the rules include: no cell phones EVER; no gum, soda, or other junk food (I will personally break this rule in private, no question - it's a sickness); the students must line up before any class begins, and they may only enter once the teacher allows it; they cannot leave school grounds; they may not speak out of turn in class or run in the halls, among many, many more.

From my understanding, most Swedish schools do not enforce rules strictly, so I definitely saw a few shocked or suprised faces in the class. As a school, we are going to all work together to enforce these rules. Now, anyone who knows me surely knows that I am not "traditional" in any sense of the word. Sure, I agree with rules, and think that respect should be a big part of everyone's day. But if you had the strich and tough-as-nails teacher, and the anything goes, whatever teacher. . . well, I suppose my personality tends to located a little more in the middle, but let's be honest, a little closer to the easy going end of the scale. I tend to think that if students understand that I respect them, they show the same kind of respect in turn. It's always worked for me, and I do think our school rules are basic respect rules, so I can definitely be "me" while enforcing the code of conduct.
I am doing and will continue to do my best to uphold the school values. I can seperate the easy-going me of my personal life with the stricter teacher side of myself.

Anyways, back to the school day. So after the mentor meeting, I had Year 7 French. There were eleven students in the class. Eleven students. . . kind of felt like being handed some cake on a plate. Now, the level of French is essentially non-existant, so we will have to work together and learn as a nice little class.

Next we had lunch. Lunch here is NOTHING like lunch in Canada. Students all serve themselves from a buffet-style lunch, and find a spot in one of the cafeteria rooms. Teachers disperse and eat with students. Not at the the table, with them. Literally. It's not punishment. In any Canadian school I've been to or taught at, the presence of a teacher constitutes some kind of punishment, or "behaviour warning." Lunch is not the same "relax time" it was at other schools. It will take some getting used to, but for the most part, students really did seem to want the teachers there.

I had an English class. Had to do a bit of disciplining. I spoke about Canada, hockey, and poutine.

Had a great, relaxing weekend, and now I am going to open my books and start to return to school mode!

oh, I bought a skipping rope. I hope the neighbours below me aren't afternoon nappers!

p.s, I also got the sweetest sweater at a thrift store. I will let it speak for itself below.





Thug life.

Parent Teacher Meetings. . . GULP

Well, the title pretty much says it all: we're meeting parents tomorrow! And the gulp pretty much says how I feel about that. Well, maybe if I looked a day over seventeen I wouldn't be so anxious.
But no, I'm prepared. . . my nicest teacher clothes have just been laid out, and tomorrow, in anticipation, I will suit up much like ancient warriors going into battle.
I need a cool warrior name, something to do with fighting for equal rights and education. Oh, did I say cool or nerdy?

We all got teacher laptops (beyond sweet) and workrooms (with our names on the door, yeah, official) and our schedules! I really am a grown up person, Mom!

Now, I am heading to bed (cough Six Feet Under) and I am currently in a food-induced coma! One of my colleages had two of us "International Teachers" over for an amazing dinner, dessert, and movie viewing session. I must admit, going from ACTUAL furnished apartments, to what can best be described as a "shit hole" is getting harder and harder! I need to invest in some colours and non-essential living articles, but let's be honest, I'm saving the money for food.

so at 530 Swedish time tomorrow, say a little prayer that I can pull off the "cool, calm, and collected" teacher vibe!

Oh, here are a few pictures:

I already posted this on facebook, but here is my 1970's apartment. . . so messy





And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the smallest kitchen all the world over!



(look at those sweet potatoes. Not actual sweet potatoes, but you get the point.)

Leaving Borås, the most rainy city in Sweden. . .

Hey hey!

So, yesterday was the big day trip to Stockholm to visit the first IES school, built over twenty years ago. As I've previously mentionned, we were to be at school for 4:45 am. I did manage to sleep a few hours, and walk to school in the rainy, rainy dark. My pants stayed wet for a good five hours after that! Anyways, I did sleep a bit on the bus, and a short four hours later we were in Stockholm, well actually, South of Stockholm. When we left Borås it was so rainy. Thirty minutes out, it's beautiful. I JUST found out that Borås is, in fact, the rainiest city in all of Sweden. Joy!

One noteworthy event on the bus was that the new IES school in Gothenburg shared our bus. At the pit stop, I met another Canadian, and we spoke for a bit about how much we're enjoying our stay so far. He also just graduated Teacher's College, and is teaching Art.

When we finally get to IES #1, it's a beautiful school, full of artwork, banners, two amazing auditoriums, and a cafeteria that puts most University cafs to shame! (Especially Ottawa U's!) We are treated to a magnificent display of fruits, coffees and teas. I'll skip past the presentation stuff, which was actually really good, and weirdly did inspire confidence and pride in our school system, and really hammered home the ethos behind IES schools. In terms of how boring it COULD HAVE been, it really wasn't too bad . Our school all sat together as a nice little group. It was really nice to meet all the International teachers from around the world (the had a bunch of flags set up, the maple leaf, of course, was there) One of the presenters mentionned he was Canadian, and there were quite a few "woos" from the audience. Also, my "Candian accent" got picked out by another Canadian, who said she never realized we had a distinct accent until hearing me. I wasn't sure how to feel about that, but we did speak a lot about Sweden vs. Canada, and the reasons we came over (which were similar- no jobs!).

Also, after lunch I met up with my friend from Queen's, who arrived in Sweden a week or so after me. Like me, she's a High School English and History teacher, and they have her teaching Maths, a subject she has no desire to teach. I can't complain too much, I at least have a background in my subjects. She's only living an hour away from me, so hopefully we can meet up sooner rather than later, but we are both feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point.

The lunch was so so so delicious. A giant buffet, with three different salads, roasted potatoes, steak that could have tempted even this vegetarian (but didn't), stir frys, roasted veggies with paprika, and a stir fry with veggie meat! I went for seconds! In Sweden they eat their biggest meal at lunch. I can definitely get used to this.

We had a few more presentations, and headed back on the bus. One of my colleages helped teach me Swedish for a good three hours, and we stopped to have a picnic dinner. Also delicious. There's this thing in Sweden, I forget the term, but basically if it's nice out, Swedes treat themselves to ice cream. Who am I to deny Swedish culture's influence on my life? Of course I got ice cream, and it could be in the top ten ice creams of life. Anyone who visits me WILL eat this ice cream.

When we got back my friend gave me a t.v, and after lugging it up my stairs, I listened to an NPR podcast, and fell asleep.

Today the plan is to go buy some OJ, go for a run, do some work, and perhaps watch a movie, or see if one of my many (sarcasm) friends might want to go for a walk today or tomorrow. The kids start school FRIDAY and we have Meet the Teacher on Wednesday. This is happening!

Miss you Canada!

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain

Honestly!

I think it has rained every day I've been here except for three. That is no exaggeration! I've gotten so used to always having an umbrella on me, and I don't like it! On Friday I went to Amsterdam. When the plane was about to touch down, the speaker man informed us of the weather: no rain! I escaped!

Waking up Saturday morning broke my heart! (Well, it would have had I not been in Amsterdam!) It was raining! Blah! But, thanks to my newfound European-ness, I had packed my trusty umbrella. It basically rained all day. And we stood in in all day.
But, it's hard to really complain when you can take off and be in Amsterdam in about an hour. (minus airport waiting)

AMS was beautiful. You always hear about the crazy party side of it, and yes, that was there and is awesome, but there is another side of Amsterdam that we visited Sunday afternoon. All in all, it was a great weekend with Kayla and Sarah. There were lots and lots of laughs, walks, parades, and fun times. We were actually there for the Pride parade, which was too fun for words, so I will include some pictures.

Amsterdam was a nice contrast to Borås, which tends to be on the "quieter" side. 10 am and it was so loud outside our window that I could not have slept if I had wanted to! My one beef with Amsterdam (or should I say "tofu") is the mayo on fries. I know, it's a dutch thing, but mayo is basically my kryptonite. Bleugh. I obviously still ate fries if they had mayo on them. Fries!

Oh yeah, this was meant to be a post about the rain. It sucks! I always get wet, and so do my books! Boo!

I just finished hours of curriculum mapping, so this is how I celebrate! If I had friends, I'd say we'd go out to a bar, but who are we kidding, I would be eating some sort of celebratory candy bar.


MMmmm.

We're gonig to Stockholm on Friday, so that may provide me with something other than the weather to type about. We leave at 4:45 am. I still don't know if I'll even bother sleeping. Oh, and we have to "dress smart." I absolutely despise that term, and apparently everyone around me loves it!

all right, voici des photos de ma vie!

Hejdo








I heart Pride!

(the out of place one is my school!)

Sweet Dreams are Made of. . . new beds

Just celebrating the fact that I now have a bed! :)

. . .The Kindness of Strangers

As someone who often wishes she had more faith in human beings, namely in terms of inherent goodness, coming to Sweden has shifted my belief system to one more alligned with the "glass half-full" camp.

One of my neighbours, the man who helped me the first day I arrived by inviting me into his coffee shop, just stopped by to give me some delicious crepr type Ramadan bread, and tell me he has found a suitable and reasonable priced bed for me. (He would not allow me to buy one, saying that I shouldn't waste my money) He and his friends are the most generous people I've met, and they have no other agenda than to help someone who they perceieve is alone in this foreign place. I'm not sure if it has to do with the fact that they were once in my position, strangers in a foreign land. Perhaps someone or a group of people extended many acts of kindness to them, and they are paying the favour forward. They have been nothing but respectful, and kind, and generous and it's really thrown me off!

Now, native Swedes have also demonstrated this amazing willingness to reach out and help. Upon hearing that I was cabbing to the airport on Friday, three of my coworkers insisted that they would drive me and pick me up. I hardly know any of these individuals yet, and the airport is a good 35-40 minute drive away. I politely told them I'd figure it out, but they persisted, and eventually I accepted one of the three offers. She even called and cancelled my cab for me, and gave me a quick tour of the city before my flight.

My principal made an announcement to tell the staff about my "big trip" and I think every single person wished me a good time. Today, almost everyone genuinely cared about how my weekend went, and asked me about it.

Anyways, these little snippets of my life are big reasons why I'm not too home-sick. It's hard to feel lonely when people show you the full-potential of kindheartedness. No one is doing anything to get recognition, or a gold star, but it just seems that some people are kind for the sake of being kind, and it took me a trip almost halfway across the world to realize that if you scratch the surface of a cynic, she might just start to regain some faith in people.

(This sap attack brought to you by: crepes and Holland nutella)

I Guess I Really Am a Teacher. . . .

(Here are a few photos. . . my apartment pre-anything, the dreaded air mattress. . . and so on)

Hej!
(Oh, yeah, I'm super Swedish now, and that's how we say "hey") Actually, friendlier people even say "Hej Hej!" (Sounds like "hey hey." It's pretty fun!)
Well, anyways, I have internet in my apartment, finally! This means these blog posts could get longer, and for that, I apologize!

Yesterday was my first day of work! It definitely was not a typical first day. I got to the school in almost no time. It's amazing to be able to walk to school! Definitely couldn't do that from Carp to St. Mark! There's also a bus route that goes directly from my apartment, which will come in handy when I have piles of work to mark, or when it's winter! I'm not the best winter walker. . .

Anyways, the first day! The school is still very much under construction. Literally, there are fifty construction workers going to town. So as I walk up the many flights of stairs, I see a group of about 10 teachers, one being my friend Gemma who showed me around. Everyone introduces themselves, and then shortly we're led upstairs to a room with nothing in it but a projector. Our principal tells us that our folders have out names on them, and we can pick them up. It felt like a sorting process on a reality show or something!

It turns out the principal is American! I had no idea because she has a Swedish last name! Well, anyways, she does a little intro, and then we all pair up and have to interview the other person. I got paired up with a teacher who's my age, and has lived in Boras her whole life. I told her about playing hockey, and obviously being from Canada, to which she exclaimed, "Oh my God! So you're like Robyn on "How I Met Your Mother?" Little did she know, I watched the entire 2nd season in three days here, and that was a funny little coincidence. Also, Robyn on the show is drop dead gorgeous. . . so yes, I AM exactly like her.

Anyways, we heard everyone's intros, and there's another teacher from Toronto! (A Leafs Fan, bleugh) There's a few UK teachers, one from Spain, two Americans, one from South Africa, and I think the rest are Swedes. Let me just say that every single person was so warm, inviting, generous, and genuine. I don't think I've ever felt less awkward with a group of strangers! We had coffee, and then went for an intense uphill hike to this beautiful cabin, where we had pasta, bread, juice and cookies. There was so much pasta that I barely ate half. . . and I love food!

Anyways, I got to chat with a lot of teachers about how crazy I seem for moving to Sweden, and spoke with others about where else they've taught.

We then got into logistic things, like our school rules, routines, and curriculum. I now have three days to plan my English and French classes. If I remember correctly, I'm teaching English to grades 5 and 6, and French to 7, 8, and 9! My vacation's over! Time to work!

I'll stop with that now, in the interest of time, but just add a bit about my apartment! I NEED to get a bed. I'm just so lazy, and there's no elevator, and I live on the 4th floor! Lazy bones!

Ok,well, I'm off to do some much-needed internet surfing!


And. . . I can see the sunset from my window! All last year, I complained about facing the other way!

oh P.S I found hummus and veggie meatballs and chicken nuggets! Vegetarianism in Sweden! (fist pump)

-How do you non-awkwardly end one of this?
Hejdo,
R

p.s Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Borås, je t'aime?

So I'm home. Well, home for the next year anyways.

I am still phone and internet less (mind the spelling errors, it's a Swedish keyboard) and after a kind of rocky start, am getting used to being here.

After the flight, my arrival to my place was not as seamless. When I got to Borås it was pouring. I had sort of directions on how to catch the bus to my street. The driver was so friendly, and as I sat as the only passenger on the bus, I looked out at all the forests and trees and was reminded of Canada, my real home. Then, as I was feeling a bit blue, the amazing song known as Dynamite came on, and I smiled and knew I'd be ok

Finally, I got to the city, and with my 4 giant bags, caught another bus to take me to my place. Well, actually, I had to wait 4 hours for my landlord to meet me with the keys. . . Did I mention it was pouring?

So as I walk to this little square, a few men ask me (in Swedish) if I need help. When I tell them I don't really speak Swedish, they ask if I speak French.
Fast fwd a few hours later, they gave me a place to stay, coffee, treats, and tips on how to get around- They even eventually took me to find the landlord's office.

Essentially, they were life+savers!

I don't have much time to write about the rest, but I'd love to say things instantly got better. . . but they didn't.

My air mattress had a hole in it, I had no blinds in my apartment, and some bad airport water made me sick all night.

That was then. . . now I'm sitting in the apartment of a fellow teacher I met up with who has shown me everything I need in this town. We went out for a few drinks last night and I got to experience another side of this town.
I start work tomorrow, and we're apparently going on a hike! Not a bad way to break the ice.

Anyways, I should go do some other internet stuff. . .I'm sure I am leaving out anything funny or important, but once I get my own internet, this blog will be as spicy as. . . spicy tomato sauce!

Happy August day off tomorrow if you're in Canada!

Much love from this edition of Renblog.