Undervisning - Teaching

De sidste uger har været travel. Der er blevet undervist på fuld tryk! Og så har jeg haft besøg af Claske – en tidligere kursist, som har hjulpet mig i to uger med at undervise, rette lektier og evaluere kursisternes praktiske prøver. Hvilken velsignelse!
Det er en utrolig dejlig gruppe kursister, vi har. De har masser af erfaring i at arbejde med børn og har masser af gode idéer. Det er (næsten) helt sørgeligt at tage på ferie og være væk fra dem i tre uger.

The last weeks have been busy. There has been lots of teaching going on. And then I have had a wonderful visit from Claske – a former student. She came to help me teach, correct homework and evaluate practicals. What a blessing!
The students this summer are really wonderful. They have lots of experience in children’s work and are full of good ideas. It is (almost;-) ) too sad to leave them and go on holiday later today for three weeks.

Ledermareridts - Education nightmares

Jeg husker stadig den sommer, hvor jeg lige var blevet færdiguddannet som lærer. Hen over sommeren havde jeg nemlig flere skolelærer-mareridt. Jeg drømte, at jeg havde fået et job, men første dag på jobbet gik alting galt og jeg endte i besynderligere situationer.

Nu, hvor jeg har overtaget lederposten her med ansvar for vores europæiske uddannelsesafdeling, så gentager oplevelsen sig. Jeg har de mest besynderlige mareridt, hvor jeg står i totalt mærkelige situationer som leder og skal finde en tjuhej hurtig løsning.
Så selvom jeg egentlig har det godt, så påvirker mit nye ansvar mig åbenbart mere end som så. Det gode er, at jeg altid vågner op og opdager, at det var bare en drøm...

I still remember the summer when I had finished teacher’s college and were ready to find a job and start teaching. That summer I had teacher nighmares where I dreamt it was the first day at work and everything went wrong and I ended up in strange situations.

Now when I have recently taken over the responsibility for our Western European Education Department the same thing is happening all over: I have these totally crazy nightmares where strange things happen and I have to find a quick solution,

So even if everything is going fine, this whole new situation is apparently affecting me more than I think. The good thing is I always wake up and realize that it was just a dream…

Sommerundervisning - Teaching

For to uger siden startede vores sommerkursus for børnemedarbejdere, og det er nogle dejlige kursister.
I denne uge og næste underviser jeg om hvordan man holder børneklub og om forskellige undervisningsmetoder. I år er jeg så heldig, at en tidligere kursist, Claske, er på besøg og kan hjælpe mig. Dejligt!
På billedet ser I lidt sjov og ballade vi havde, da vi startede med at undervise igår.

Two weeks ago our Leadership Training Institute began and we are really enjoying the students!
This week and next I am teaching about how to run a Good News Club and about different teaching methods. This summer I am so fortunate that a former student, Claske, is visiting and helping me. Wonderful!
On the picture you see a little bit of fun we had yesterday as we began the teaching.

Engle eller irere? Angels or just Irish?

(To irske engle - Two Irish angels)

Havde lidt ondt af mig selv i formiddags…
Jeg har tålmodigt i månedsvis ventet på at kunne leje et ekstra værelse i vores lille lejlighed, som før er blevet brugt til at huse diverse gæster her på Kilchzimmer. Og endelig lykkedes det fra første juli, så jeg nu har to værelser. Så i torsdag var det bare af sted til IKEA for at købe seng, kommode m.m. Og så sidder jeg her lørdag formiddag og kan ikke få samlet tingene. Øv. Mandag ville vores sommer-altmuligmand sikkert have tid, men mandag virkede som meget langt ude i en fjern fremtid. Tænkte på mine brødre og min far og dagdrømte om, hvor hurtigt de ville kunne samle tingene. Meennn de er jo altså 1500 kilometre væk. Har også fået mig en ”adopteret storebror” her i Schweiz - min kollega Sarahs mand, Andy, men han var sikkert også langt væk.

Så i mit hjertes nød gjorde jeg, hvad min mor lærte mig fra jeg var helt lille: Give selv den mindste bekymring over til Gud: ”Kære Gud, kunne du sende nogen, der kunne samle mine møbler i dag?” Satte mig ud i solen for at spise frokost, og kort efter kommer en irsk gæst forbi, som er på ferie her i en uges tid. ”Hvordan går det med dine IKEA møbler? Har du fået dem samlet? Skal mig og Stephen komme forbi efter frokost og samle dem?”
Og der sad jeg så i chok. Hvordan viste han overhovedet, at jeg havde været i IKEA?

Vi tilbragte en hyggelig eftermiddag med at få samlet møblerne, og resten af dagen gik jeg og flyttede ting over i mit nye soveværelse og måtte gang på gang tænke over, at Gud hører selv det mindste suk. Utroligt, at han, som har styr på alle stjernernes baner også har tid til at tage sig af min lille lørdagsbekymring.

Tak Gud fordi du sendte to "engle" på min vej i dag.

(Et lille kig ind på mit nye soveværelse - A little peep at my new bedroom)

This morning I felt a bit sorry for myself…
I have patiently waited for months to begin renting another room in our apartment that has previously been used for guests of Kilchzimmer. And finally I was able to take it over first of July so that I now have two rooms. Off to IKEA I went on Thursday to buy a bed, a chest of drawers and other stuff. And then I am sitting here Saturday morning and can’t get the things assembled. Monday our volunteer maintenance guy would probably have time but at that point Monday seemed far out in a distant future. Started longing for my brothers and my dad. Was daydreaming about how fast they could assemble these things and felt a bit lonely and far away from them. Here in Switzerland I have an “adopted” brother – my colleagues Sarah’s husband, Andy – but he was probably also far away.

So from the distress of my heart I did what my mum taught me from a very young age: To bring even the smallest and silliest requests to God: “Dear God, could you please send someone today, who could assemble my furniture?”
I went out to eat my lunch in the sun and soon after a visiting guest sat down beside me and said, “So how is all your IKEA furniture coming along? Do you need help assembling them? Stephen and I could come by after lunch and help you.” I was in chock. How did he even know I had been to IKEA?

We spend some nice hours that afternoon getting the furniture assembled, and the rest of the day I spend organising everything in my new bedroom, and again and again I just had to marvel at the fact that God who is soo big and knows even the course of all the stars also has time to look after my silly Saturday requests.

Thank you God for sending two "angels" on my way today!

Kysset af en ko - Kissed by a cow

Her på billedet ser I en meget glad version af mig. MED MIN NYE BIL!!!!! Det er simpelthen en kæmpe frihed for mig endelig at have min egen bil. De sidste måneder har det været så kompliceret ikke at have bil, men nu ligger alt det i fortiden!!! En kollegas mand har hjulpet mig med at finde et godt køb, så nu har jeg en lille fornuftig bil, der kører godt og sikkert i sne.

Og så hører der endda en lille historie med til bilen: Mens den stod pænt og stille hos bilforhandleren og ventede på at blive opdaget af mig, kom en ko forbi. Koen havde været hjemme for at blive malket og var nu på vej tilbage til marken for at græsse (nogle gang kan man altså blive i tvivl om Schweiz er et uland eller et højindustrielt samfund, men det er en helt anden historie.) Hvor om alting er, så endte koen med at blive tiltrukket af min bil, og dens horn efterlod en ridse i min forskærm. Dette resulterede i en rabat på bilen, fordi min kollegas mand vidste, hvordan det kunne repareres.

Jeg har allerede været på et "længere" ture. Skønt! Jeg har fundet et friluftsbad med bjergvand, som jeg tror, at jeg bliver en flittig gæst hos denne sommer. Det er nemt at køre dertil – hvis man altså har en bil!!!

On the top picture you see a very happy version of me. WITH MY NEW CAR. It is such an extreme sence of freedom for me to have a car. The last half year without a car has been so complicated but now that is all in the past. The husband of one of my colleagues has helped me to find a good car that drives fine in the snow. And there is even a little story to my car:

While it was waiting patiently at the car dealer to be discovered by me, a cow came by. The cow had been home for milking and was now on it's way back to the field. (Some places in Switzerland seem very far away from Zürich; Basel or high tecnology). To cut a long story short, the cow took a special liking in my car and it's horn scratched the front of my car. This resulted in a discount because my colleagues' husband knew how to fix it.

So now I am enjoying my car BIG time! I have already been on a few longer trips. I have also found a nice big pool with mountain water that I think I will visit regularly this summer. It is easy to get there - if you have a car!!!!!