Yelling at Kids and ARMPITS!

Tags

armpits, petrified students, quiet zone, school, smell, sniff, teaching

So today while teaching my class of 2 (yes, two kids showed up…one was a bit late and the other kid did not look happy at the prospect of being stuck with me for an hour…) I all of a sudden hear screaming and running around from the “Quiet Zone” beside my class. I open the door and yell “BE QUIET” and then after they had all stopped in shock, explained that I had a class and this was a Quiet Zone, in case they missed the HUGE signed tacked on the wall. I returned to my class, only to hear nervous laughter, followed by more screaming…SO!

Troublemakers are Awesome and Visitors!

Tags

funny, math, principal, research project, teaching, troublemakers, visitors

So, I’ve been teaching a little (and *real* lessons, not the intro stuff) and at the end of one of my lessons, this student came up to me and said “Miss, did I do well today?” and he had done extremely well, translating stuff to Swedish for me, participating in my class, all that fun stuff, and so I said “yes _____, you did” to which he immediately responded “oh good! can you tell Ms ___________________ that I did really well? She needs to know!” (Ms ________ would be our principal).

Obviously, this kid sees the principal a little too often, and obviously not for the *best* reasons.

The First Week

Tags

assessments, crying, dismissal, first week, lockers, new, permission to sit, small classes, students

Well it has been a hectic week. With new students coming, students changing classes, and some not even showing up, it’s been difficult to keep track of everyone at times. Add to that that the shared drives for the whole organization are constantly down, the printer/photocopier is usually down (because people keep playing with it instead of calling IT) – and the week was spent in a scramble.

Nevertheless, it was fun – although tiring.

Church Today

Tags

batman, church, Eskilstuna, pentecostal, spiderman, Sweden, youth pastor

So I went to Church today, apparently it’s pentecostal – which would have explained the speaking in tongues =P Someone just told me baptist to mess with me…or they didn’t know the english word =P

Anyways! today the youth pastor was speaking, and naturally I didn’t understand a thing, however he did talk about batman and spiderman =) And so I went to ask about english cell groups or anything like that, and eventually got redirected to him (and fun side note, met a woman from Congo in the process, and we spoke in French =P). So he came up to me and stuck out his hand and said “you won” (or that’s I thought he said…with a swedish accent)

School Starts Monday!

Tags

alleyway, banking, chase, internet, landlord, squealing of tires, SUV

and we don’t have our schedules! haha Swedes seem pretty relaxed about such things, it’s kind of a “well if you get it before you have to teach, then you’re good” attitude…which is ok I guess.

Internet is kinda funny here. I got my personal number (yay) which is what I was told I would need to go get internet, only to find out that I don’t really know how to get internet, and from what I’ve heard certain buildings can be tied to certain companies, and certain companies can require proof of residency for 7 months…And naturally, I can’t really find out too much about my building (which would be the first step) without contacting the landlord – which I am going to do right after this =) So yay!

AND! I got a bank account…and there are currently some random, crazy guys yelling things in swedish at the McDonalds – WHICH REMINDS ME!

The Last Week

Tags

chaotic, church, disorganized, dumplings, internet, mandarin, nice, rhubarb, school

So the last week has been interesting. I started work – and things are very different here than they are in Canada. Everyone is really nice (which is not different from Canada =P) and it’s been interesting trying to figure everything out, but no one seems to really know what’s going on…As in “plan the curriculum and how you’re going to teach everything for the year…but no, we’re not going to tell you what classes you’re teaching.”

Umm…let’s see…work started Wednesday, that was alright, just meeting people and stuff, and Thursday we started unpacking boxes and planning some math stuff, and we did the same on Friday. I have my own laptop, and each classroom has a projector and speakers, which is nice. I also have my own desk, which is weird, because I’m used to sharing with my lovely co-student teachers (which I guess I no longer am).

My department head has been here since the school started, and is also Canadian. He has been a huge help! And he had the whole department (which consists of 4 people) over for dinner on Friday. He has the cutest kid, and his house has pear, apple and plum trees! and he grows all kinds of berries – which apparently, in Sweden you can just pick if you see growing. In fact, you can stay anywhere in Sweden, just pop up a tent for 3 days before you have to move on, provided you’re not too close to someone else’s house. Which means if you’re a farmer, people could just stay in your fields for a few days before moving on…

Umm..SCHOOL! here I think is going to be really interesting for the first few days. We’ve had to line up, alphabetically, and no leaning against the lockers! before we’re allowed into a classroom, and the assistant principal greets each of us, by name, and shakes our hands. Once in the classroom, we all wait standing until he comes in and gives us permission to sit. …I can already see myself waiting in my classroom wondering why my class hasn’t arrived yet >.<

Cousin, Why Are You So Blur?!

Tags

apartment, contract, eskils, Eskilstuna, fireworks, Ikea, iphone, Justin Bieber, pride parade, short, Stockholm, stool, swastika, tuna

That was the exclamation uttered by my Singaporean cousin when I figured out that my contract is only for one year (as most of you if you read my unimportant fb statuses probably know).

So yes, my contract is for one year. I found this out today when I went to go get my personal number, which tells the government that I exist. So that was a lovely revelation. I also found out that I only have 18hours a week of teaching time, the rest of my time is supposed to be doing various extra curricular things and prepping.

Anyway, some interesting things that have happened so far (I am still internet-less, and will be for the next month or so, which is saddening!), but I do have a pay-as-you-go phone until I get the phone from the school.

I have a swastika which has been carved into my door