Weitering my Bildung

A quick Thanksgiving Update before moving on to the rest of my post: I was able to Skype with my sister in the evening (I was getting ready to go to dinner and she had just woken up...I swear I'll never ever get used to this time difference!) 

I was invited Thanksgiving morning to a Thanksgiving dinner by one of the daughters and son-in-law of my host parents. The hosts of the dinner had lived in the US for 6 years, and two of their children were born in the US. The kids said they wanted a real Thanksgiving dinner, so the family planned it and invited all of their friends. All of the traditional foods were there--Turkey, salad, bread, mashed potatoes, beans, corn, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. For desert there was pumpkin pie and some chocolate cake. I LOVED that they had all the traditional stuff! Everyone was so surprised about the sweet potatoes & marshmallows and thought it was both weird sounding and weird that it was not a part of the desserts! I think everyone liked it though--I know I did :-)

This weekend we had a Weiterbildung (Professional Development) Symposium in Biel.

We drove by car to the Symposium, which took a little bit less than two hours. For me, as an American, this was nothing. Driving home from Grand Rapids took longer than that! But for the Swiss, that is a long car ride. By the time we got to Biel, my fellow car travelers were saying how glad they were to get out of the car and that they needed to go for a walk or something because that was such a long ride. I was trying not to laugh. It feels like Switzerland is so much bigger than it is because of how Swiss people refer to how far away things are. Switzerland is approximately six times smaller than Michigan, but it feels as if I'm living in a state as big as California ;-)

Biel is in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, so (lucky for me!) everyone spoke in Hochdeutsch instead of Swiss German. Although I am understanding Swiss German more and more, it's definitely not enough to listen to lectures for two straight days. There were also French translators for the French speakers.

The main lecturer of the Symposium was a British man named Trevor Cooling. In his lecture, I found out that he's worked a lot with one of my professors from Calvin and my contact through which I got this job, David Smith. Professor Smith has done a LOT of work in the Christian Education field, and I have always found him fascinating and impressive, but never did I think he was so famous. People who found out that I studied at Calvin and under Professor Smith were so impressed and jealous, and thought I was so impressive. It was quite strange! His presentation on Christian teaching was really interesting (www.whatiflearning.co.uk if you're interested). Friday night, after his presentation, we went back to our lodge (hostel-esque) and had a couple of drinks in the lounge/restaurant area before heading to bed. It was really nice to spend time with the teachers that evening, out of school and mostly not talking about school. That was part of my motivation for wanting to go to the Symposium (since I'm not hired as a teacher, I was not required to go)--getting to know my fellow teachers better. The other part, of course, was wanting to learn more, since I will (hopefully) soon have a real class of my own.

On Saturday, we had another lecture from Trevor Cooling and then three workshops, where we could pick three from several options. I found the three I went to (one from Trevor Cooling, one about creativity in the classroom, and one from my school principal talking about what he learned about Christian schooling in the US) to be very interesting and I learned some new things that I can hopefully use in my classes in the future.

The only downside to having a Professional Development seminar on the weekend, is that there's not much time to relax before the next school week starts...oh well!

Thankful Turkeys

Thursday is Thanksgiving, only it doesn't feel like it because I don't have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off of work. In fact, I actually have a professional development symposium in Biel on Friday and Saturday, so that means kind-of work on Saturday too. In a holiday week, this almost feels unfair, except that there is no Thanksgiving in Switzerland. Some farmers celebrate a sort of Thanksgiving at harvest time, but it is nothing like American Thanksgiving. No giant family feasts or oversized turkeys or parades with larger-than-life floats and balloons, and most certainly not Black Friday. (It's a miracle if a store is open later than 8pm here, so opening doors anywhere between 12 and 5am would be unheard of.)

Normally, Thanksgiving isn't really my thing. Don't get me wrong, I have LOTS to be grateful for in my life. But I don't usually get excited for Thanksgiving. Partly because I'm a vegetarian, so I'm not exactly pumped for a giant bird in the middle of the table. It's not that I'm not an animal-rights vegetarian, but I don't like the smell or the look of it. Blech. I'm also not a huge fan of stuffing or cranberry sauce. (Sidenote: One Thanksgiving, my sister and I spent it alone together and ate Macaroni and Cheese as our Thanksgiving dinner. Probably one of my favorite Thanksgivings to date ;-D)

I do, however, find myself missing home and Thanksgiving when there's no chance for me to participate in it. And since I teach English Conversation, I get the chance to teach whatever I want, which includes teaching about American Holidays. And being able to talk about my culture's traditions and holidays makes me feel a little bit better :-)

So, in my English Conversation class today, we made Thankful Turkeys. I had a lot more planned, but due to some other circumstances, I only had two students today and shifted my plans a little bit (ahh, I love the flexibility of teaching!). I explained a little bit about about why we celebrate Thanksgiving and what the word means, and we talked about some typical foods that we eat--with Turkey being the biggest part. Then we made our Thankful Turkeys. Here was my example Thankful Turkey:

Here is what I said I am thankful for: 1. My year in Switzerland  2. Skype and Email  3. New friends (and old friends!) and 4. My family (I put Mom, Dad, Sara, and Edward to make it more detailed, but really, I'm thankful for all my extended family too!!)

My students thought it was funny that I put "My year in Switzerland" because they always live in Switzerland, so that's not so interesting. They also thought it was funny that I put "Skype and Email" (and weird that I didn't put Facebook--how uncool of me) until I explained that modern technology helps make the physical distance feel less far and a little more bearable.

Then my two students made their own thankful turkeys. One had trouble thinking of things, even when I offered to help translate into English (oops, too much pressure) and the other basically copied mine with a few minor changes ;-) They still got the point though, and they turned out adorably.

Today, I am thankful for a small class with just enough laughs to make my day brighter and opportunities for the quieter students to talk freely.
Today, I am thankful for doctors with steady hands and best friends who are healing well.
Today, I am thankful for everyone reading my blog, because that means you care, and that makes me feel loved.
Today, I am thankful for Switzerland and the amazing opportunities and experiences I am lucky enough to have.
Today I am thankful.

I guess I don't have to be in the US or surrounded by family to celebrate Thanksgiving :-)

Watching the Election from a distance

Being in Switzerland during this time means I’m missing the election at home. While part of me is kind of sad that I don’t get to vote in person at the polls (I have yet to do that for a Presidential election, although this is only my 2^nd Presidential Election where I can vote), but mostly I’m really okay with being on the outside of it. I don’t miss the TV adverts or the constant debates among friends, coworkers, and even random strangers. I don’t miss the bumper stickers or yard signs either. I’ve already voted, but despite that, I’ve watched all three presidential debates on YouTube after they took place. (I tried to watch the vice-presidential debate, but it didn’t catch my interest as fast, so I abandoned it and haven’t yet tried re-watching it.) 
 

I’m glad I’ve already voted, because watching the debates, quite honestly, can make it more difficult to choose. Voting for a president is not easy, because you will never agree 100% with whom you decide to vote for. You just have to find the one whom you agree with more. Some people choose to always vote Democrat, and some people choose to always vote Republican. I guess by voting history and most of the hot-button issues, I would be a Democrat, although I am nowhere near signing up to be a Registered Democrat. Yes, I voted for Obama in 2008, and yes, I’ve voted for him again. I’m happy with my vote, and I researched before voting and sending in my ballot. I agree more with Obama, although I am unsure about some things he says. When listening to Romney speak at the debate, there are some things I find myself agreeing with or wondering if he would actually do well, but I still would rather see Obama remain President. And no, I’m not interested in arguing about who might be better, and I won’t judge you if you vote(d) for Romney. To each his own. Plus, those of you that really know me know that I am a very non-argumentative person. Almost everybody here that I’ve talked with about the election has said that if they could, they would also vote for Obama. I must say, it’s pretty nice to not have to argue about my voting preference here. Most everyone has just happily smiled when I said I voted for Obama twice.

I’ve also been teaching about the election in a few of the English classes I help out in. In one class, I showed a video of the national anthem and made them stand, facing the flag with their hand over their heart. I showed a video of Whitney Houston singing the national anthem with full gusto and heart. I showed a video of the Presidential motorcade driving through New York. I showed a video of an Obama TV advert and a Romney TV advert. (These videos all took place over three different lessons.) The students thought it was weird, strange, funny, and interesting. And it is! We are one of the most (if not the most) patriotic countries in the world. Some might say we go a bit overboard. Our election process is unique—simple sounding, yet quite complicated. The arguing/debating, fame, and the quest for a down-to-earth appearance as President are odd. What I’ve grown up with as normal, is quite far from normal over here.

I’m bummed I don’t get to watch the Election results live on TV like I did in my dorm room in 2008 (it’ll be the middle of the night for me), but I am excited and anxious to wake up on Wednesday morning to the results of Tuesday night.

Good luck, America!