mars 1, 2017 av asaole

Fourhundred and thirtysixth åsic- London, always safe and secure! #Londonfrossa

I’ve been to London several times and it doesn’t really matter how often I visit this busy city of the world. There are always new things to see. The London fire in 1666 or the Blitz during the second world war are both examples of disasters from the past. Nowadays London may suffer from occasional terror attacks, but just like before London seems to be a city to trust… I always feel safe and secure when I walk the streets of London. I never worry. To me, the people I meet seem just as relaxed, too, as if there wasn’t anything to worry about. I do however notice that the huge trees in the parks do suffer… they seem to be victims of a no longer clean environment. Maybe the smog will win in the end?

To me it seems as is the only serious threat London City may not cope with in the end IS environmental issues. This morning I watched the BBC for a weather forecast, but I also caught a glimpse of the news where a report of recent pollution was in focus. Obviously some parts of London deal with levels above what is recommended.

When speaking about environment I have noticed that many things here are organised, such as the painted walls outside Royal Festival Hall. The minute before I noticed this ares, that may be a skateboard park, we had walked past a tunnel for pedestrians, right under Waterloo Bridge and I had noticed that there were almost no tags or grafitti on the walls. I guess the authorities have invited the grafitti-painters to share their artistery in a limited area…I enjoyed what I saw! ❤

mars 1, 2017 av asaole

Fourhundred and thirtyfifth åsic- Maybe it’s because I’m NOT a Londoner… #London

…that I love London so? My top sights that I tend to re-visit whenever I go to London are:

Victoria and Albert Museum ( …for the huge amount of things to see, the variation and professional exhibition and to get a glimpse of the uncountable collections of Queen Victoria and Albert)
Covent Garden ( an Opera House, of course, but outside, in the square you will find people of all kinds, listening to music, watching street performances, having a relaxed and enjoyable time together in a beautiful setting of old buildings and little shops and cosy restaurants).
Shakespeare’s ”The Globe”(This beautiful museum let you experience London as it was when Shakespeare lived there!)
Natural History Museum (Amazing!!! SO much fun to do and see!)
British Museum (one of THE best Museums in the world)
Leicester Square (wonderful place where you can buy tickets for musicals and shows)
Harrod’s (for the incredible exclusive display and for the many possibilities to watch wealth from a short distance…)
Dillon’s (for the reason that there are no books in English that this bookstore doesn’t store)
Hamley’s (for the wonderful feeling of finding all different kinds of toys in a huge five story building…)
The Whispering Gallery (A perfect sight for kids and their parents if you enjoy physics…)

I don’t really know how many times I have visited London, but I have always enjoyed being there. It’s a wonderful City with international pulse that I enjoy tremendously! In my opinion, strolling around is the best way to see London, but both buses and the tube is very safe and easy accessible, too. I guess it’s just a matter of taste. I also enjoy going by taxi in London. Some drivers are quiet, of course, but I have been lucky enough to find drivers who enjoy chatting. If you read Swedish, read #sextonde åseriet

I always try to visit a few of the Museums in London, and among others I think Victoria and Albert Museum is the very best. The collection of varied items let me understand, to some extent, what impact Queen Victoria made on the British Society. One thing I never miss to admire is the collection of cast iron. It’s wonderful!

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I once went to Greenwich to actually stand with one foot in the West and one in the East, just for fun. On the site I noticed so many other things that I enjoyed, that just standing there on the Meridian seemed less important than the other impressions I got there. It is a wonderful place to be, especially when fruit trees are in blossom! But honestly, I find almost every moment in London interesting and rewarding and I don’t even mind the rain…I every corner there are umbrellas and other souvenirs to buy! 🙂

Covent Garden is another place I always return to, since the atmosphere is so relaxed there. I also find the little shops in the surrounding area very pleasant. A walk in Notting Hill reveals the Asian touch with Indian curry served in every little restaurant, whereas Soho offers Chinese food at its best, but my all time favorite is a pub lunch. Maybe ”Steak and Kidney Pie” or a ”Ploughman’s Lunch”? Places like Fortnum and Mason’s are worth the effort to visit, too. Have some ”High Tea” and enjoy scones with clotted cream and jam!

I do however not expect to find any places where there are no tourists… Instead I hope for the Londoners to share their beautiful city with the rest of us when we visit for a few days. When walking on Bond Street or Piccadilly Circus, I almost always notice people around me speaking any of the Nordic languages, such as Swedish, Danish or Norwegian. Thus I have learned not to comment too much on others when I’m in a crowd… I wouldn’t want a person saying

”Jaså, är det fler svenskar här?!” 🙂

mars 1, 2017 av asaole

Fourhundred and thirty-third åsic- Three different perspectives #Londonfrossa

Yesterday I spent eight hours between a young Indian woman and a middle-aged American man. The three of us were seated in the same row during a flight between London Heathrow and Newark, NJ, USA. We had very little in common, but made friends during the flight and talked about different aspects of life. Since we came from three different continents, three different societies, it was very interesting to share viewpoints and thoughts. We all had three different reasons to travel to the USA.

The young Indian woman was going to reunite with her husband after two months apart. The young couple were newly wed and had planned to start their life in the USA. Since they were both engineers and he already had a position in a company the three of us started to talk about HER options in her new country. The American man currently works as a lawyer in a big national bank on Manhattan and he travels frequently abroad to make agreements with other banks, companies or financial departments in countries worldwide. Me, the Swedish teacher, between the two of them, found it most interesting to learn more about possible futures for engineers in NJ or what bank lawyers think of life, at the same time as I was comparing their English accents. We were all three genuinly interested in each other’s stories, so it seemed anyway. Meeting people like that, sharing thoughts and ideas, is very rewarding, I think. It is a perfect way of learning, since you are doing it for fun and you are motivated, since you very much like to understand that other person. Sharing moments like that is important to me.

februari 23, 2017 av asaole

Fourhundred and thirtieth Asic- The Need for The Good Example in Times of Trouble

Migration is not a new phenomenon. People migrated thousands of years ago both abroad and within national borders. Despite the many negatively written articles lately, there are good examples that need to be acknowledged!

I read in today’s SvD (Svenska Dagbladet) about a small community in the middle of Sweden, where the new migrants were as many as the original inhabitants, but the people in Åre manned up and contributed volunteerly for the group of immigrants. Åre is very far away from the bigger cities. In a small community like Åre, connections between representatives of different authorities may be closer and I guess people in a small village also know each other quite well. When a busload of immigrants arrive, it may cause somewhat chaos for a short while, but true friendship in the local community is crucial. According to the article, people all contributed in their own different fields of society to help the immigrants as smoothly as possible. Today, not even two years later, the Åre society is profoundly changed in many positive ways.

I think, on a national level, when Sweden welcomed many of the refugees who had fled thru Europe in the fall of 2015, that was the only decent thing to do under those extreme circumstances. In my profession I meet many of them now, two years later and guess what? Many of the refugees who have been here less than three years, in fact cope quite well in their new lives in the wintery and snowy northern country of Sweden. My teaching subject is Swedish as a Foreign Language and I meet my students after they have passed the compulsory level and head on to higher levels of Swedish.

I cannot stress enough how rewarding it is to teach adult immigrants and share their stories about life. They learn Swedish, search for jobs and they dream of a home of their own and later a reunion with their family. Thoughts of the past, traumatic memories and losses may slow down the pace in which they learn to cope in their new environment, but despite very emotional events prior to their current situation, most of them are working hard to achieve their goals. In the long run, I think we all try to make the best of every situation despite hardships and trouble we pass along the way, at least that is what my students prove to me over and over again, every day in school.

februari 20, 2017 av asaole

Fourhundred and twenty-eighth Asic- True or not, that’s the question, Mr President! Part 3

As you all know by now…President Trump has been to Florida, speaking to ”the People” about Sweden… I live in Sweden, an open democracy far away from the USA. In fact it is so far away that Mr Trump hardly knows for sure by himself whether we had a terror act here or not yesterday… We didn’t…

I wrote about this yesterday. Obviously I was right about what happened. Here’s part of what I wrote yesterday:

”Maybe he [President Trump], unlike most political administrations worldwide finds his ”facts” from the famous American TV channel Fox News instead of consulting professionals like most other presidents would?”

The Swedish Embassy in Washington DC has been in touch with the Trump administration regarding the content of the speech that President Trump held in Florida. Shortly after that, President Trump posted a comment on Twitter. According to today’s Dagens Nyheter the Swedish Government take the tweet as an answer for their inquirements:

Yesterday I was suggesting that President Trump was lying. This time, however, I think he is honest! I actually believe he used Fox News as his reference for the comment on the situation in Sweden. Wouldn’t that lead to the conclusion that Fox News are now ”banned” by the President for using fake news??? 🙂

februari 19, 2017 av asaole

Fourhundred and twenty-seventh Asic- True or not, that’s the question, Mr President! Part 2

President Trump has been to Florida, speaking to ”the People” about Sweden… I live in Sweden, an open democracy far away from the USA. In fact it is so far away that Mr Trump hardly knows for sure by himself whether we had a terror act here or not yesterday… We didn’t…

But Mr Trump has obviously listened to advisors that he trusts and thought it wise to share his worries for this nation far away with the audience in Florida. I wonder what kind of advisors would lead their president in such a stupid trap if they were his allies…or is it possible that President Trump has his own way of finding information? Maybe he, unlike most political administrations worldwide finds his ”facts” from the famous american TV channel Fox News instead of consulting professionals like most other presidents would?

Let us assume that he has been watching Fox News when they were openly lying about a fake terror act that did not happen, but was SAID to have happened here in Sweden… He has then consumed ”fake news”, hasn’t he? Let us then assume that President Trump this time did not at all think twice, instead he, like many viewers across America, just assumed that since it is a news channel, it has to be true…What does that lead to in the end? It may lead to a bad reputation for my country, in the eyes of those who believed the nonsense on Fox News…or it may lead to a bad reputation for Mr Trump’s precidency worldwide for listening to lies and believing them without a doubt…

First of all we, the people of Sweden, who did NOT experience a terror act, would instantly know that Mr Trump is spreading lies. Secondly we, the people of Sweden would either think that he is stupid in doing so, since it shows no respect for the ambition of sharing facts instead of fake news that he so eagerly have been yelling about in a number of press conferences lately. Thirdly we would worry deeply for the American people who still watch Fox News, thinking that they are served with the truth.

The Swedish Embassy in Washington DC has been in touch with the Trump administration to ask more about the content of the speech that Mr Trump held in Florida. I believe Mr Trump no longer need to worry for Sweden. Instead he can concentrate on worries for his own country.

januari 26, 2017 av asaole

Fourhundred and twenty-third Asic- Trump or not, that’s the question! Part 2

The battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has been one of my favorite soap operas last year, but as we got closer to Election Day I must admit that I was surprised that Mr Trump could actually be a possible future President of the United States of America. To me, he seemed to be far away from the person I had assumed the general american would like as their president.

But having said that, I also know that a number of Americans I talked to this past summer, were not at all as surprised as I was. This was clear to me when my family and I were visiting the USA as tourists in Florida, California and New Jersey. Since I enjoy talking politics I kept asking people I met about their opinion in the coming election. Interestingly they all seemed to enjoy the topic and shared their viewpoint with a stranger like myself.

The first person I talked to was a cab driver in Miami. He was a Haitian and on my question about the potential of the two candidates and their chances to become presidents he said that neither of the two were good enough for this wonderful country, but if he had to pick one, he would vote for Mrs Clinton AND…he said; the Cubans around Miami would most likely vote for Mr Trump, for the reason that they were all still very disappointed with the JFK leadership in the sixties. They would not likely change their opinion no matter what candidate would run for president now… They would all vote Republican, according to the cab driver.

A few days later we met another cab driver in San Fransisco. He was of Swedish origin and had his opinion crystal clear. Mr Trump was his choice… The reason was that Mrs Clinton was not to be trusted and had been involved in too many political decisions that she could be criticized for. I said that from my point of view, there were plenty of things that one could easily criticize Mr Trump for, too, but the cab driver claimed that the most important issue for the President of USA, would be keeping an economic balance and who would be better at doing that but a billionaire?

A lady whom I talked to for a while when lining up for the ferry to Alcatraz shared the viewpoint that Mr Trump was just playing around. In her opinion Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump were involved in a conspiracy, since they have known each other for many years and may have decided that Mr Trump would be running for President only to make sure Mrs Clinton would easily win…

Last but not least, a member of staff in the National Constitution Center, held the viewpoint that there had to be NEW THINKING and then Mrs Clinton would be disqualified for the reason that she had been a politician for way too long…

Four different opinions from four different Americans, but with one thing in common… They all seemed to be fed up with the SYSTEM and just wanted the Election Day to come, to get it over with. Lately when the tone in TV debates was worse than ever, I wanted the Election Day to come, too, so we would get the answer to the thrilling question: Who would be the President of the United States?

When that answer actually came, I was truly surprised and the many questions in my head about the future for the ordinary citizens of the USA piled up. What would happen to the Obamacare? How about the Mexican Wall…? Can that truly be of any interest for the general tax payer? And the Dakota Access pipeline… Who would go against so many people’s protests? What about the multilateral agreements with East Asian countries? Who would want to disagree with China in any matter concerning money? There were many more issues that was brought to the surface this last week and a few of them made more impact than others.

Women’s right to decide for themselves what their future will be like is closely linked to legislation for abortion. The last week Mr Donald Trump wrote his signature over and over again on executive actions, when surrounded by his crowd of ”yes-sayers”. Many of the executive actions meant changes for the worse for people in other parts of the world, such as the one where President Trump ordered that federal dollars cannot go to organizations that provide abortion services. What kind of LIFE will mother and child have if the pregnancy is a result of a rape? In this matter I would say that:

One step backwards for the American President is a giant leap backwards for women worldwide

Today’s news was all about the twitter battle between Mr Trump and the Mexican president concerning the Mexican wall… They are like little boys in the sandpit. Why write official tweets with offending content when they would be better up talking, just the two of them…

Luckily some officials dare to go against stupidness… One of them was obviously the Mexican president when he decided to cancel his trip to Washington DC. The other brave act was when the staff in the foreign ministry decided to resign, all of them, as a group, because they did not wish to work for Mr Trump and last but not least the 24th of January Gov. Jerry Brown promised to stand up for ALL citizens of California, including the immigrants.

The country I visited last summer is divided…

What an extremely difficult task someone else will have four years from now, to make America UNITED again, after being ”GREAT” for four years…

januari 7, 2017 av asaole

Fourhundred and Twentysecond Asic- Warm or Cold is a Matter of Where…

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January is one of the nicest months in my opinion. The only truly competing month is February… I enjoy the crisp air and relative chill outdoors, as long as I am properly dressed. As a child I had great fun playing in the snow or going skiing or skating, but nowadays I think a walk is enough to get that wonderful feeling of winter that I enjoy so much.

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This year I have been indoors due to a severe cold, watching from my window how others indulge themselves with my fave activity during the first days of the year… Self pity party? Yes! Sure! But I do remember I wrote last year about this, so here’s from a year ago, when I went for a walk to a nearby lake, where I stopped to take some photos. Two of the photos were taken from the very same spot, although in different directions. Those photos prove that it’s a matter of angle…;)

Blue and white when the sun is behind me!

…but when facing the sun, she sky seems to be on fire!

I rememeber when I was a child that we always played outdoors, both during breaks at school, but also in the afternoons when we were at home. One of the repeated instructions from every adult around us kids was; Don’t ever lick on metal! You can tell why, huh?

The rewarding moment comes as you go back indoors. That’s when you either have a cup of cocoa or tea… 🙂

The Swedish winter is generally coldest in January and we also tend to have a lot of snow this time of the year. In the last week we have both experienced a lot of snow and a severe chill. I think that is a lot nicer than the slushy period by the end of the winter… Today it’s predicted to be a lot warmer than yesterday and luckily I am almost well from my cold now. This will be the first day out in a week. I look forward to a walk with friends later today. 🙂

januari 4, 2017 av asaole

Four Hundred and Twentyfirst Asic- The Impact of the Principal in the Process of Change

To be a teacher means working in a constant change. It goes on and on and has no end. We all know that. We meet new groups of students, we teach new content to new age groups or we meet new teaching friends whom we are supposed to work in teams with. International school surveys like PISA and similar, serve as evaluation for school systems on a global level and governments in countries worldwide develop their school systems accordingly. We all understand school systems need to be flexible since everything else would be an obstacle to the whole educational system. But having said that, it would for sure help both teachers and students if changes on a local level would also be based upon scientific results, rather than a single person’s bright idea. Being part of something new and interesting and being listened to in a reciprocal process to create a better learning environment, such as the case below can be very rewarding for every participant, but what happens with the willingness to invest more energy in another ”bright idea” when you change principals in the middle of the process?

I remember a very interesting situation in my teaching career when the teachers in the school where I taught at the time, had worked together in smaller groups, with the only instruction to ”find a way to work more efficiently with the new curricula”. The groups may have been three or four. Every group consisted of teachers not only from school years 1-6, but also from the very new ”preschool class” level and from nursery school with children at the age of 1-5. The mix of teachers in each group, made it more difficult to find general solutions where every group member was satisfied, but on the other hand, all groups came to the conclusion that the very process was important. All groups also noticed that the process created a more close relationship between the different teachers involved. Being part of a group concerning school development stimulated the teachers and they found the project meaningful and interesting.

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They also felt more professional, more engaged and interested in educational development. Most teachers took their time listening to each other, both to experiences of teaching, but they also listened to ideas, new input that they themselves had not tried before. The principal at this school was very engaged, too, and after a while, the whole school seemed ready to form a completely new organisation. Many of the teachers could see a very interesting learning environment take form and where thrilled to go on with the process.

The new thing at this time in this particular school was to split up the original groups and classes vertically rather than horisontically. So far this school had taught groups of children born the very same year. According to the new idea children would follow a certain path or track with mixed ages within the group. The students would thus be in groups with not only children who were born during the same year, but also with both younger and older children. Teachers specialized for a certain age group would be working with teachers focusing on other age groups than they did themselves and the idea was to create an enrichment for all involved, both students and teachers.

When the idea with tracks was fixed as a new organisation to come, the teachers met a new challenge in planning for the work in each ”track”. Those who would be teaching the very same children planned for their own track and now they needed to focus on questions like ”How?” and ”What?” and ”Who will be responsible for this or that?”. A new frustrating, but also interesting process started, where members of the groups tried to communicate what would be ”the very best solution” for their ”track”. Interestingly enough, the different groups found very different ways to work. None of them was ”bad”, but just ”different”, which every teacher in this school agreed upon. When they all met to share the results of the group level work. The good ideas were collected and shared between the groups. They all felt prepared and eager to start the new school year.

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Guess what????

This school then changed principals and the new principal simply said: ”The idea with tracks is not my cup of tea. Let’s stick to the old organisation and cancel the change!”

I remember how I felt that moment… I remember I looked around the room and saw many disappointed faces… All the effort, all the anticipation and expectation for the coming school year was blown away… This was the starting point for a new principal with completely different ideas…

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december 5, 2016 av asaole

Four Hundred and Eleventh Asic- At the End of the Road

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When learning a language is comparable to an everlasting straight road, I bet it’s boring! I think of learning as a kind of journey, but not quite the kind of journey one would have on the above road. When I was visiting USA in October 2014, I noticed that American teachers in the schools I visited were more of puppets on a string than teachers in Sweden are. The teachers I met in New Jersey, needed to follow certain reading programs, hand in their plans to the principal etc. No excitement will be hidden anywhere, because there are no hiding places, just like in the road above! In a classroom where lessons are predictable and have to follow a certain pattern, I would already have changed my career… especially if I had to follow a dress code, too…

What if my flip-flops would be banned!?

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This past semester I have met a group of wonderful adult students from all over the world, all eager to learn and never giving up in their struggle for success. This morning when I met them for an activity in the classroom, I felt the usual sadness so typical for the end of a course. I will miss them, just as I always miss students who leave for new challenges elsewhere. I wish them all the best and hope they will keep up the hard work of improving their Swedish! I know there will be bumps in the road, even some potholes or sharp bends, but hey, it will be fun and it will never be boring!

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