The Gilmore Girls girls

Ja, hygge skal man jo. Og den sidste måneds tid har Kirstinas og mine hyggeaftener udviklet sig, så nu er min stue simpelthen fyldt, når vi sætter os til rette og ser Gilmore Girls. Vi har stadig 3½ årgang tilbage, så mon det ender med, at vi må tage vores konferencesal i brug?

You gotta have a goooood time! And during the last month, Kristina's and my movienights has kind of developed so now my room is full of girls in all ages when it is time to watch another episode of the Gilmore Girls. And we still have 3½ seasons left so I wonder when we will need our conference room instead of my room?

23 - 17 - 12 - 5

Så er vores tremåneders sommerskole for børnemedarbejdere skudt igang. Vi har 23 elever fra 17 forskellige nationer. De medbringer i alt 12 børn. Og kommer fra 5 kontinenter. Herligt! De virker til at være en rigtig dejlig gruppe mennesker, og jeg glæder mig til at lære dem at kende og til at undervise dem. Børnene virker også rigtig søde. Der er rigtig mange drenge, og i mine øjne ser det ud som om, de løber konstant. Frem og tilbage, på løbehjul, ind i laden og rundt omkring på grunden. Tænk, hvis man selv havde sådan en energi! Wow.

Vi mangler i øvrigt en babysitter, så kender du en, der kender en, der kunne tænke sig at være et par uger eller måneder i Schweiz med kost, logi (og evt. lommepenge) hen over sommeren, så sig endelig til.

Finally our Summer Institute for children workers has begun. We have 23 students from 17 different nations. They bring with them the total of 12 children. And they come from 5 different continents. Wonderful! They seem to be a really nice group of people and I am looking forward to getting to know them and to teach them. The children also seem very nice. There is a good bunch of boys and to me it seems like they run constantly - back and forward, on their microscooters, into the barn and around the property. Wow - if only I had that kind of energy!

By the way - we are still in need of one more child minder for these children so if you know someone who knows someone who would love a few weeks or months in Switzerland over the summer with room, board (and maybe even pocket money) then please contact me.

Fodboldfeber - Football fever

I dag tog jeg en tur til Basel (min yndlingsby) for at hygge mig. Hvad jeg ikke havde forudset var de tusindvis af hollandske fodboldfans, som også var i byen for at feste før aftenens EM-semifinale. Alt var orange! De hyggede sig virkelig, og der var en fantastisk stemning i byen (og en frygtelig stank). Men det var lidt svært at komme frem.

Da jeg skulle hjem, havde en folkefest udviklet sig midt i bycentrum, og jeg gik derfor hen til et par schweizere for at spørge om en omvej til stationen. Sådan forløb samtalen:
D: Undskyld, men kan De fortælle mig, hvordan jeg kommer til stationen?
S: Ja, De tager bare sporvognen herfra om lidt.
D: Tror De, at sporvognen kan komme igennem dette mylder?
S: Der står I køreplanen, at sporvognen kommer, så det skal den jo gøre. (Typisk schweizer-tillid)
D: Tror De virkelig, at det er muligt?
S: Næ, egentlig ikke, følg efter os! (Atypisk schweizer-opførsel)

Og så gik vi gennem folkefesten og hyggede os med at kigge på alle de totalt gakkede mennesker med kreative kostymer.
Det var ret smittende, og jeg har derfor totalt overdraget min opbakning til det hollandske team (eftersom Sverige og Schweiz nu er ude af turneringen).

Today I went on a little trip to Basel (my favourite town) to have a cosy day. What I hadn’t anticipated was the thousands of Dutch football fans who also had made it to Basel before tonight’s Eurocup game. Everything was orange! There was a fantastic atmosphere in town (and a horrible smell) but it was a bit hard to come from one place to another.

When I decided to return, a big party had developed in the town centre and I approached a Swiss couple to ask if they knew an alternative route to the station. This is how our conversation went:
D: Sorry, could you tell me how to get to the station, please?
S: Yes, just take the tram that will arrive here in a few minutes.
D: Do you think the tram will be able to get past this gathering?
S: The timetable says that the tram will arrive here in a few minutes, so that is a given fact? (Typical Swiss trust)
D: Really?
S: You are right, let’s walk together! (Not so typical Swiss behaviour)

So we went through the big party gathering and we had a blast looking at all the crazy people in great costumes. The atmosphere was totally contagious so I am officially smitten and have transferred my football support to the Dutch team.

Overholtzer

For over 70 år siden blev Evangelisk Børnemission stiftet af J. Irvin Overholtzer. Hans familie stammede fra Schweiz, og for nylig var jeg på en hyggelig lille miniferie hos min kollega Sarah og hendes mand, Andy. Sarah kørte mig ud til den lillebitte landsby, hvor Overholtzers familie stammer fra og viste mig det ældgamle familiehus. Der var ikke meget at se, udover huset, men den omkringliggende natur var fabelagtig.

More than 70 years ago Child Evangelism Fellowship was founded by J. Irvin Overholtzer. His familiy originated from Switzerland and recently I went on a short holiday to visit a colleague Sarah and her husband Andy. Sarah drove me out to the tiny little village where the Overholtzer family came from (and some still live in today). I saw the originally family house. There wasn’t much to else to see, but it was worth it anyhow.

Kruset – The mug

I dag var en sørgelig dag. Det var dagen, hvor vi for alvor skulle sige farvel til Paul og Audrey, som har ledt Undervisningsafdelingen i15 år og nu flytter tilbage til Spanien, hvor de har været missionærer siden deres ungdom. Jeg kommer virkelig til at savne deres venskab og gode råd! Heldigvis kommer de tilbage i ny og næ for at undervise.

Det sidste halve år har Audrey igen og igen hintet, at den eneste afskedsgave, hun ønskede var et krus, som hun brugte hver dag i kaffepausen. Den har nemlig i følge Audrey flere uforlignelige kvaliteter hvoraf den hvide inderside er den mest fremtrædende. Så Sam og jeg dukkede op til deres sidste morgenmad her i Schweiz med koppen og et par farvelknus. Snøft!

Today was a rather sad day. It was the day when we had to say the final goodbye to Paul and Audrey who have been leading the Education Department for 15 years but now are moving back to Spain, where they have been missionaries since their youth. I am really going to miss their friendship and good council. Fortunately they will return from time to time to teach.

The last half year or so Audrey has been hinting that the only farewell gift she wanted was the mug she always chose to drink from at our coffee breaks. According to Audrey it has several invaluable qualities of which the most important is the white glazing on the inside. So Sam and I showed up at their last breakfast with the mug and a few hugs. (Sniff!)

Dage med teamet – Team days

I denne uge samlede vi hele Kilchzimmer-teamet til et par dage med undervisning og fællesskab. Det var dejligt! Børn og ægtefæller dukkede også op, og det var rigtig hyggeligt at udbygge venskaber med folk. Jeg nød især at synge sammen, grille sammen, fejre Sam’s 30 års fødselsdag (billede herunder) og tage på tur (billede herover) til et lokalt vandfald. Vandfaldet kunne vi ikke finde, men på en eller anden måde fik Claudia lokket mig til at tage turen ned fra bjerget på en cykelscooter (billede herunder). Og efter et par kilometre midt inde mellem de krogede, kringlede bjergstier, dukkede vandfaldet pludselig op.

This week more or less the whole Kilchzimmer-team was gathered for two days of teaching and fellowship. It was a really nice time. Children and some spouses also showed up and it was nice to get to know people a bit more. I especially enjoyed singing, barbequeing, celebrating Sam’s 30th birthday (picture), and go on a hike to a local waterfall (picture). We searched and searched but couldn’t find the waterfall. Somehow Claudia convinced me to go down the mountain on a scooter bike (picture) and after a few kilometres in the midst of a crooked mountain path the waterfall suddenly appeared. Nice!

Så er teamet samlet! - The team is together!

Så er vores lille nye team her i uddannelsesafdelingen ved at være samlet, og det fejrede vi med en middag på min lokale yndlingsrestaurant Hotel Eirca (ikke at jeg har været der så tit meeennn maden er helt fantatisk og alt for billig). På første billede ser I Samantha (Sam) og jeg. Sam er vores længe ventede administrative assistent, som ankom sidste fredag (Velkommen!! Vi er så glade for at have DIG her). På næste billede ser I Kristina (venstre) og Martha (højre). Kristina har udfyldt en del af Samanthas job, mens vi ventede på hende, og nu overgår hun så til andre jobs i huset (snøft), men vi få lov at låne hende fra tid til anden. Marta er "Institute Supervisor", hvilket vil sige, at hun tager sig af den daglige drift med lærere og kursister, når vi har skoleophold her - de tre måneders kurser for børnemedarbejdere.

Vi glæder os til at arbejde sammen og finde kursen sammen. Bed gerne for os at vi må få nogle gode rutiner og fordele opgaverne imellem os på den rigtige måde.

Now our new little team here in the Education Department is finally together and we celebrated that at my favourite local restaurant, Hotel Erica (not that I have been there very often but the food is extremely good and too cheap to be true.) On the first picture you see Samantha (Sam) and I. Sam is our long longed for administrative assistant who arrived last week (Welcome, we are so happy to have YOU here). On the next picture you see Kristina (left) and Martha (right). Kristina has been doing part of Sam's job while we waited for her but now she will be helping in other departments in the house (sniff), but we will borrow her from time to time. Martha is the Institute Supervisor which is responsible for the daily life of teachers and students during institutes.

We are really looking forward to working together and to embrace the future together. Please pray that we will quickly find a good working relationship and divide the tasks amongst us in the best way.

Sortere - sorting

Som sagt overtog jeg jo lederstolen her forleden og i den anledning også en hel del papirer, mapper med mere. Det krævede en del flere hylder, kasser etc. og derfor har jeg de senere uger været en flittig gæst i den lokale IKEA. Halvdelen af resultatet ses her.

Bagved skimter man Philippe's skrivebord. Han er her stadig et par uger mere, men han har fundet sig i at blive presset ind i et hjørne af kontoret :-) Jeg har dog også store planer for dette hjørne, så måske kommer der en dag også en blogpost om dette hjørne!

As previously mentioned, the leadership of our department was passed over to me this Monday. But that was not the only thing passed over - a lot of files and other things also slipped into my office. That demanded so much more shelf space and therefore I have been a frequent customer in the local IKEA these past weeks. Part of the result is on this photo.

In the background you see Philippe's desk. He is still here for a few more weeks but I managed to put him in a corner of the office :-) However, I have great plans for this corner also, so who knows - maybe some day you will see another blogpost about this corner too.

Skræmmende - Scary

Forleden fik jeg en skræmmende gave fra de schweiziske myndigheder. To pakker piller, som skal tages i tilfælde af et udslip fra atomkraftværket, der ligger få kilometre herfra. Det var ærlig talt ikke en særlig betryggende gave, men Suzanne (min tidligere roomate) forsikrede mig om, at det skal opfattes på en helt anden måde - nemlig i lyset af den schweiziske mentalitet, hvor man er overpåpasselig og derfor vil være sikker på, at man har gjort alt, hvad man overhovedet kan forestille sig, at man burde gøre - og altså i det her tilfælde have uddelt piller på forhånd. Det beroligede mig en del. Og egentlig kan jeg vildt godt lide den mentalitet - bare spørg Buholo eller Maj, som jeg har arrangeret mange lejre med. Jeg må dog tilføje at som de fleste andre danskere er mit forhold til atomkraftværker nok ikke det mest positive. Jeg foretrækker de danske vindmøller!

Some days ago I received a rather scary gift from the Swiss authorities. To packs of pills to be used in case of a leakage at the local nuclear power station which is situated not many kilometres from us. It was not a very comforting gift, I must confess. But Suzanne (my former flatmate) convinced me to look at it from another point of view - taking into account the Swiss mentality of always making sure you have prepared for the worst case senario. That actually comforted me a great deal - and actually I like this mentality a lot - just ask Maj or Buholo whith whom I have planned many camps. I must add though, that my personal opinion of nuclear power is a whole other story!!! I prefer the Danish windmills!

Sightseeing

Da jeg tømte mit kamera igår for billeder fandt jeg disse fra sidste uge. Vi havde besøg af 63 Rumænske kolleger (inkl. børn, forældre og et par irere). Og da jeg havde lidt ferie, benyttede jeg lejligheden til at tage på sightseeing med dem en dag. Wow!

When I emptied my camera yesterday for pictures I found these from last week. We had the priviledged visit of 63 Romanian colleagues (including children, parents and a few Irish). And since I had holiday I joined them one day going sightseeing. Wow!

En fantastisk email - A fantastic email

Fik en fantastisk email idag fra to kursister, vi havde her på skolen sidste sommer og igen i januar på IOT kursus! Det første EBU-kursus er netop blevet afholdt i Tyrkiet. Læs gerne vidnesbyrdet herunder (kun på engelsk).

Got a fantastic email today from two students from last summer's institute and this years IOT course in January. The first TCE course has just been held in Turkey. Read the following testimony:

Our very first TCE-1 (Teaching Children Effectively – Level 1) course went very well. We rented our friends summer house for Friday through to Monday, taking advantage of a public holiday which fell on a Monday this year. There were 4 teachers attending from 2 different churches of İzmir. It was a very full programme with 22 sessions, including two practicals. All the teachers worked and concentrated hard to receive all the things which were taught. Then the following Friday we met again for their Bible lesson practicals and now we are looking for a suitable Saturday to complete the remaining 8 sessions. Please pray that the teachers will have opportunities to use what they learn and they will be diligent to use these opportunities.

Hvor er ballonerne? - Where are the balloons?

Igär overtog jeg officielt ledelsen af vores undervisningsafdeling, men jeg glemte helt at fejre det, for overgangen har vaeret saa gradvis at den stort set ikke föles.
Min förste beslutning var at tage en fridag idag :-), saa det gjorde jeg! Gjorde rent hele dagen og ordnede ting og sager i lejligheden. Suzanne flyttede ud (til Nordirland) i fredags, og Samantha flytter ind denne fredag.

Yesterday I officially took over the leadership of our Education Department but I totally forgot to celebrate it because the handing over process has been so gradually that I hardly felt it at all.
My first decision was to take a day off today :-) and so I did! I cleaned the whole day and made things ready for my new roomate (Samantha) that is moving in on Friday. Suzanne left last Friday to return to Northern Ireland.

Hvem er hvem? - Who is who?

Linda, Iris og Dorthe - men hvem er hvem?

Linda, Iris and Dorthe - but who is who?

I disse dage har vi besøg fra Rumænien/Nordirland. Det betyder blandt andet et gensyn med Linda, som leder vores undervisningsafdeling i Centraleuropa.

Hun påtog sig den tvivlsomme ære at navngive tre af mine nyligt indkøbte hånddukker efter de tre nye ledere for vores undervisningsafdelinger i Europa. Men hvem er hvem? Kig på billedet herunder, som blev taget sidste år, da vi mødte hinanden første gang og se om du give mig et kvalificeret bud på, hvem der er hvem.

Iris, Dorthe, Linda

At the moment we have visiters from Romania and Northern Ireland. This include a visit from Linda who is the Coordinator of Education in Central Europe. She took on the questionable honour of naming some of my new puppets after the three new Education Coordinators in Europe. But who is who? Check out the picture of the three of us when we first meet last year and see if you can give me a qualified quess as to who is who...

Eksamen - Exam

Nu tror du nok, at jeg vil skrive om min eksamen i fredags, men det var egentlig ikke meningen. Den gik fint, tror jeg.

I stedet vil jeg fortælle om en lille eksamen, jeg arrangerede i sidste uge for mine kolleger. Fem kolleger forlader os i løbet af de næste måneder, og i den anledning ville jeg teste dem og se, hvem der kunne huske flest af de 48 lande i Europa, hvor EB arbejder i øjeblikket. Nogle af de andre kolleger deltog også. Brent blev den ultimative vinder med 46 rigtige svar skarpt forfulgt at Suzanne, som havde 44½.

Now you might think that I want to write about my exam last Friday but that was actually not my intention. I think it went all right.

Instead I want to tell about a little test I made last week for my colleagues. Five of them will leave us within the next months and therefore I wanted to see which of them could remember most of the 48 countries that CEF work in in Europe. Some of the other colleagues also joined in the test. Brent turned out to be the ultimate winner with 46 correct answers. But he had Suzanne following right after with 44½.

Tonsvis af kopier - tons of copies

I disse dage ligger der stakke af kopier, ringbind og faneblade på borde i vores konferencesal. Kristina er igang med at kopiere alle de bøger, som skal bruges på vores tremåneders sommerkursus for børnemedarbejdere.

Kurset starter i slutningen af juni, og lige nu er der ca. 24 tilmeldt. Sommerkurset er altid mindre end efterårskurset, så vi er rigtig glade for 24 kursister plus alle deres børn.

Kristina er i øvrigt svensker og hjælper til i nogle måneder hen over sommeren. Næsten hver aften sætter vi os og ser Gilmore Girls sammen. Vi har et mål om at se hele serien fra første episode til sidste. Kristina smækker altid fødderne op på mit sofabord, så snart hun kommer ind ad døren og det føles faktisk skønt at have nogen omkring sig, som man kan smidde fødderne op på sofabordet sammen med.

At present we have stacks of copies lying on tables around our conference room. Kristina is in the process of copying all the books to be used by the students at our summer institute.

The institute begins in the end of June and will last 3 months and at the moment we have ca. 24 students. Our summer institute is always a bit smaller than the autumn institute, so we are really happy about 24 students plus all their children.

By the way, Kristina is Swedish and is helping some months over the summer. Almost every night we watch a few episodes of Gilmore Girls together since we have made it a goal to watch all the seasons from first to last episode. As soon as Kristina comes into my room, she puts her feet on my coffee table and it actually feels really nice to have someone around with whom I can put my feet on the table.

1½

Min lille lillebror Marcus (6) er lige startet på sin kommende skole i denne uge, og så var storesøsteren (mig) jo lidt bekymret. Men jeg er lige blevet beroliget: Drengen har allerede fået en og en halv ven. Hvad betyder det??? Og bør jeg virkelig være beroliget af det???

P.s. På billedet drikker Marcus "rengøringsmiddel" som Miriam (7) kaldte den amerikanske blå saftevand...


My little littlebrother Marcus (6) has just started in his new school this week so the big sister (me) was a bit worried. But the family has just tried to comfort me: The boy has already got one and a half friend. What does that mean?? And should I really be comforted by that information???

P.s. On the picture you see Marcus drinking "cleaning supplies" as Miriam (7) named the American blue lemonade.

Et skønt øjeblik - A wonderful moment

Sidder her i en halvsen aftentime (har stadig jetlag…) og er lige blevet færdig med det ene bibelkursus (Hermeneutics), jeg har taget her i foråret. Den sidste opgave er lige mailet videre til bedømmelse. Det er en helt fantastisk følelse.

Den næste uge står dog stadig i intense studiers tegn, da jeg skal færdiggøre et andet kursus (De gammeltestamentlige profeter), som jeg har taget i Tyskland. Næste fredag 16/5 har vi afslutningseksamen og fremlæggelser. Jeg skal fremlægge en opgave om ”frelsesforkyndelsen hos profeterne”. (Sig det ikke til nogen, men pga. sygdom for et par uger siden og tur til USA er jeg næsten ikke startet på opgaven…)
Så det bliver en intens uge med målet for øje. Jeg vil sætte stor pris på jeres forbøn!

Herefter kan jeg skrue lidt ned for studietempoet og forsætte de næste måneder i et lidt roligere tempo.

Am sitting here rather late at night (still affected by the jetlag) and have just finished one of the Bible courses I have taken this spring (Hermeneutics). The last assignment has just been mailed for correction. It is a wonderful feeling.

The next week is however still concecrated to intense studies as I have to finish another course (The OT prophets) that I have taken in Germany. Next Friday 16/5 we have our final exam and some of us have to do a presentation on a subject we have been given to study. I will have to speak about the OT prophets’ message of salvation. (Don’t tell anyone but due to illness a few weeks ago and my trip to US I have hardly started preparing for the presentation yet…)
So it will be an intense week with a few goals to reach. I would appreciate your prayers a lot!

After this I can slow down on the study speed and continue the next months at a more pleasant pace.

Nye medlemmer i vores uddannelsesteam - New members of the Education Department

Siden jeg forlod Danmark er der noget (eller nogen), der har manglet i min hverdag. Og her taler vi ikke om venner, familie, rugbrød og leverposteg. Her taler vi om Molly, Viggo, Sally og de andre dukker, som jeg så ofte har haft med mig til dukkemøder. De blev efterladt i Danmark og jeg har flere gange savnet dem.

I USA mødte jeg imidlertid nogle af deres slægtninge og skyndte mig at gennemgå en del ansættelsessamtaler. Det viste sig, at de var villige til at blive proppet ned i min kuffert og blive forflyttet til Schweiz. Så herover ser I mine nye kolleger. Jeg glæder mig til at vise jer i løbet af et par måneder, hvordan de skal gøre nytte.

Since I left Denmark there is something (or someone) that has been missing in my life. And I am not talking about friends, family, Danish brown rye bread or liver pate. I am talking about Molly, Viggo, Sally and all the rest of my puppet friends who have joined me in so many children meetings. They are still serving in Denmark. I have been yarning for them several times.

However, in US I met some of their relatives and I quickly performed a bunch of job interviews and asked them to be stuffed down in my suitcase and join me in Switzerland. They all accepted and I am proud to present these new colleagues. I look forward to showing you within a few months what they will be doing here.

Konference - Conference

Efter dagene med møder blev det tid til at være på EB's internationale konference. Og hvilken velsignelse: Min far, hans kone, min danske kollega Hanne og mine to mindste søskende Miriam og Marcus (se billede herover) var også med. Hvor dejligt at have masser af tid sammen med dem alle sammen - og med andre venner fra hele verden.

Jeg nød rigtig meget at lytte til vores internationale leder, Reese Kaufmann, dele EB's visioner og mål for de næste år. Vores mål er, at der må være EB arbejde i alle verdens 207 lande inden 2017, hvor vi skal fejre vores 80 års jubilæum. I øjeblikket rækker vi ud til over 8 millioner børn om året på verdensplan. Hvor er det fantastisk at være en del af verdens største børnemission.

Det var også fantastisk at høre rapporter fra hele verden om de spændende ting, der foregår hist og pist.

Hver eneste dag blev der uddelt gratis ting til møderne og i udstillingslokalerne. Det er amerikanerne vist ret vilde med (men både Hanne og jeg blev hurtigt ret begejstrede for denne kulturelle forskel). Herunder er et billede af min samling gaver efter fem dages konference.

After the days of meetings it was time to attend the international conference of CEF. And what a blessing: My dad, his wife, my Danish colleague Hanne and my two youngest siblings Miriam and Marcus (first picture) also attended. How wonderful it was to have lots of time with all of them - and with other friends from around the world.

I really enjoyed listening to our international leader, Reese Kauffman who was sharing about the visions and goals of CEF for the next years. Our goal is that CEF will be working in all the 207 countries in the world before 2017 where we celebrate our 80 years anniversary. At present we are reaching out to more than 8 million children around the world every year. How awesome to be part of the world's largest children mission!

It was also fantastic to hear reports from all over the world about how things are going in all the corners of the world.

The Americans seems to be crazy about giving out free stuff and we quickly started to enjoy that. At the second picture you see my collection of free stuff after five days at conference.

Kolleger fra hele verden - Colleagues from the whole wide world

Det var spændende at være i USA. De første to dage blev tilbragt i møder med de andre uddannelseskoordinatorer i EB fra hele verden. Hvor var det spændende at høre om kurser, der blev holdt i små hytter oppe i bjergene eller om en rigtig stor flok fra mellemøsten, som denne sommer må tage om på den anden side af jorden for at få den træning, de har brug for.

Jeg fik mange nye tanker med hjem, som jeg glæder mig til at dele med de to andre ledere for Central- og Østeuropa.

It was very exciting to be in US. The first two days were spend in meetings with other Education coordinators in CEF around the world. It was really interesting to hear about training going on in little huts in the middle of nowhere or about a group of people from the Middle East going around the world this summer to receive the training they need.

I got a bunch of new thoughts with me back and I look forward to share them with the two other coordinators in Central and Eastern Europe.