Igår var en vigtig dag.
En milepæl i denne overgangsfase fra at være dansk dansker til at være dansk i Schweiz.
Igår var nemlig første gang, at schweizerne blev ved med at tale schweizertysk til mig og ikke lynhurtigt slog over i højtysk (eller skrifttysk, som schweizerne kalder det). Om det var første gang, at jeg ikke så totalt forvirret ud, når de tiltalte mig på schweizertysk eller hvad der virkelig skete, ved jeg ikke. Men det skete TO gange med få timers mellemrum.
Den første samtale foregik på posthuset, hvor der skulle forklares en masse om at overføre franc til Euro til en tysk konto i Schweiz og det rigtige girokort, der skulle udfyldes på den rigtige måde. Og jeg forstod mindsandten, hvad der foregik.
Næste gang var i svømmehallen, hvor en lille ukendt pige ville have min hjælp til at lave en vandballon, hun kunne kaste efter sine venner. Måske burde min pædagogiske uddannelse på dette tidspunkt have sat ind og forhindret mig i at hjælpe i et så åbenlyst brud på reglerne i en svømmehal, men jeg kunne virkelig ikke lade være med at hjælpe. Tænk, jeg kunne tale med et schweizisk barn! Der Badmeister var sikkert ikke lige så begejstret som mig for situationen (men han opdagede mig heldigvis ikke...). Så jeg kunne efterfølgende svømme rundt i ren eufori og nyde, at jeg havde haft en hel dag uden kommunikationsudfordringer.
Yesterday was an important day!
It was a true milestone in my transition from being a Dane in Denmark to being a Dane in Switzerland.
Because yesterday was the day when the Swiss people continued talking to me in Swiss German and didn't quickly switch to High German (or written German as they call it localy).
I don't know if I simply looked less confused than usual or what happened. But it happened! TWICE within a few hours.
The first episode was at the post office where we had an incident with francs that were to be converted into Euros and send to a German bank account in Switzerland and the appropriate form to fill out. And I amazingly understood what was going on.
The next incident was in the swimming bath where a little unknown girl needed help to fill a water balloon so she could throw it at her friends. Maybe my educational training should have kicked in here and prevented me from helping with such an obvious break on the swimming bath rules but I couldn't help myself. I could actually communicate with a Swiss child! I am not sure Der Badmeister shared my view on this situation (but he didn't catch me with the water balloon). So afterwards I could do my 30 minutes swimming exercise in an euphoric state - I had had a whole day with no communication challenges.
torsdag, december 20, 2007
onsdag, december 19, 2007
Tak for forbøn -Thanks for your prayers
Tusind tak for forbøn. Det går allerede meget bedre med min hals. I nat sov jeg hele natten uden at vågne med hosteanfald. Det er vidunderligt!
Thanks a lot for your prayers. My throat is already doing much better. Tonight I slept the whole night through without coughing. How wonderful!
Thanks a lot for your prayers. My throat is already doing much better. Tonight I slept the whole night through without coughing. How wonderful!
søndag, december 16, 2007
host host - cough cough
Hmmmm. Har lige ligget med en slem forkølelse og nu hoster jeg. Øv! Jeg ved, at det ikke er jordens undergang, men lige siden jeg kom til Schweiz har jeg haft problemer med min hals on and off. Så hvis du har en bøn til overs, vil du så ikke bede om, at min hals må blive stærkere og kan vænne sig til den tørre luft her? På forhånd tak.
Hmmmmm. Have been ill with a cold and now I am coughing. I know it is not the end of the world but ever since I came here 3 months ago I have had problems with my throat on and off. So if you have a spare prayer - would you pray that my throat will get better and adjust well to the dry clima here? Thanks!
Hmmmmm. Have been ill with a cold and now I am coughing. I know it is not the end of the world but ever since I came here 3 months ago I have had problems with my throat on and off. So if you have a spare prayer - would you pray that my throat will get better and adjust well to the dry clima here? Thanks!
tirsdag, december 11, 2007
Instruere instruktører - Instructor of Instructors
I EB har vi et kursus, der hedder EBU - Effektiv BørneUndervisning. For at få lov at undervise dette kursus, skal man have en speciel instruktøruddannelse. Jeg har været glad for de gange, jeg har været i Schweiz for at få instruktøruddannelse i EBU 1 og 2. Men ikke nok med det: Nu skal jeg minsandten selv til at UNDERVISE de nye instruktører i januar. Så her sidder jeg med noter til op over begge ører. Normalt har jeg altid undervist folk, der skulle undervise børn, men nu skal jeg altså pludselig til at undervise folk, der skal undervise voksne. Det er da lidt af et kvantespirng, synes jeg. Så jeg vil sætte stor pris på din forbøn for, at Gud må velsigne mine forberedelser og give mig mange gode idéer. Tak.
In CEF we have some courses called TCE - Teaching Children Effectively. To be an approved instructor of those courses you have to get special two-weeks courses called IOT - Instructors of Teachers. I have been really happy about the two times when I have been in Switzerland earlier to take those courses. But the story doesn't end here: Now I have to TEACH these new instructors in January. So here I am sitting with notes all around me. Normally I have taught people who were going to teach children but now for the first time I am going to teach people who will teach adults. It is a big challenge. So I would appriciate your prayers a lot. Please pray that God will bless the preparations and give me lots of good ideas. Thanks!
Op ad bakken - Up the hill
Bjerget, vi bor på, hedder Bölchen. Vi bor i 915 meters højde, men når vi skal ned til civilisationen, så hedder det i daglig tale: "Jeg smutter lige ned ad bakken" og hjem igen: "Jeg kører lige op ad bakken." Idag var det imidlertid knapt så nemt at "køre op ad bakken". Jeg havde været ude og handle med to kolleger og på vej op kunne vi godt se, at snesituationen var lidt mistænkelig. Midt i det hele ringer en af mine brødre, og mens han forsøger at forklare mig alt muligt, må jeg konstant afbryde ham: "Øh, undskyld, men vi sidder vist fast." "Ja, det gør vi." "Nu stiger vi ud af bilen", "De siger, at der er alt for tåget til, at vi kan ringe hjem" (???), "Vi må vist hellere gå hjem", "Ja, nu er vi så på vej hjem (pust, støn)", "Nå men vi ses om 1½ uge, hej hej". Og så tog jeg et fint billede af Suzanne og Ruth men de vil mindsandten ikke på min blog i vinterkostume.
The mountain, we live on is called Bölchen. We live 915 meter above sea level but when we are going down to visit civilization, it's called, 'I'm going down the hill' or coming up, 'I'm going up the hill.' Well, today it wasn't as easy as it sounds to get 'up the hill'. I had been out on a trip with two colleagues and on our way home we realized that the snow situation was not an easy one. In the middle of this, my brother phones me. And while he is seriously explaining me something, I have to interupt him constantly, 'Hmm, sorry, I think we are stuck', 'Yes, we are, we can't drive up the hill', 'we're getting out', 'they are saying the phone reception is so bad we can't call to get someone to pick us up' (???), 'Well, now we're walking home (groan)', 'Well, see you in 1½ week, then, bye bye'. And then I took a really nice picture of Suzanne and Ruth but they don't want to be on my blog in their winther outfits.
torsdag, december 06, 2007
Hvordan har jeg det egentlig i disse dage? - How am I actually doing these days?
Hvordan har jeg det egentlig i disse dage?
At flytte fra et land til et andet er et meget stort skridt i ens liv. Og at gøre det helt alene stiller ekstra udfordringer til en. I løbet af den sidste måned har jeg ofte haft lyst til at skrive blogpost om følelser og tanker, jeg havde i forbindelse med den proces, jeg går igennem, men jeg har indset, at en blog er for åbent et forum for den slags tanker – især når man oversætter sine blogposter til engelsk. For dybest set handler en del kulturchok jo om andre mennesker, og jeg har bestemt ikke lyst til at hænge andre ud på internettet.
Jeg har især oplevet det svært at være alene her. De fleste andre af mine kolleger har en ægtefælle eller ven af samme nationalitet, og jeg håber, at de ved, hvor stor en velsignelse det må være. Der er så ofte, hvor jeg har haft brug for at vende dagens oplevelser med en ligesindet, når jeg kom hjem fra arbejde. Men jeg har været mutters alene. Hvor har jeg dog savnet mine venner og familie.
Til sidst begyndte det hele at stige mig til hovedet, og jeg indså, at jeg måtte klynge mig til Gud. Så vækkeuret blev sat en halv time tidligere. Hvor havde jeg dog ondt af mig selv de første morgener. Men der gik ikke længe, førend jeg så frugterne af mit udvidede fællesskab med Gud. Jeg kan nok ikke helt forklare, hvad der skete, men Gud hev fat i nogle ting i min personlighed, vendte dem lidt på hovedet, kastede nyt lys over dem og badede dem i hans kærlighed. Lyder det lidt ukonkret? Igen er bloggen et lidt for åbent sted til at fortælle, hvad der egentlig skete i mig. Men jeg føler, at Gud har givet mig fred i, at lige nu er livet meget anderledes end det var tiltænkt til at være og det er OK. Jeg kan se, at de ting, jeg lærer lige nu forvandler mig fra indersiden og giver mig ting, jeg altid har ønsket mig, ting som kan skabe en stor forskel for mig i min fremtid.
Så selv om jeg hellere sad og drak te med Anna, spillede spil med Karsten, var til netværksgruppe eller sammen med nogle af jer andre, så er det faktisk OK! For Gud er her.
Moving from one country to another is a very big step in someones life. And to do it all by yourself even adds some extra challenges. During the past month I have often wanted to write on my blog to tell you about the feelings and thoughts I have had but I came to the conclusion that a blog is a too open space to share those kinds of thoughts. Because culture shock is basically about other people doing things you don’t understand they are doing and I certainly don’t want to sound like I am pointing my finger at anybody in particularly on the internet.
I have especially found it hard to be alone here. Most of my colleagues have a spouse or a friend of the same nationality as their own and I really hope that they realize what a blessing that can be! So often I have had the need to come home from work and have someone to share the days culture shocks with someone. How I have missed my Danish friends and family!
Finally it all seemed to overwhelm me and I realized that all I could do was to cling to God. So the alarm clock was set half an hour earlier. How I pitied myself the first mornings when the alarm went off. But it didn’t take long before I started to see the fruits of my expanded fellowship with God. I can’t really explain what happened but God started pinpointing some personal things, twisted them a bit, shed new light on them and showered them in his love. Does that sound very unclear? Again the blog is a too open media to share those things in more detail. But the bottom line is that I feel God has given me peace about the fact that right now life is very different for me than it should be. And that is OK. I can see, that the things I am learning now will change me from the inside and give me things I have always wanted and that could change my future a lot.
So even if I would rather sit right now and drink tea with Anna, play board games with Karsten, or being in my old church house group then it is actually OK. Because God is here!
At flytte fra et land til et andet er et meget stort skridt i ens liv. Og at gøre det helt alene stiller ekstra udfordringer til en. I løbet af den sidste måned har jeg ofte haft lyst til at skrive blogpost om følelser og tanker, jeg havde i forbindelse med den proces, jeg går igennem, men jeg har indset, at en blog er for åbent et forum for den slags tanker – især når man oversætter sine blogposter til engelsk. For dybest set handler en del kulturchok jo om andre mennesker, og jeg har bestemt ikke lyst til at hænge andre ud på internettet.
Jeg har især oplevet det svært at være alene her. De fleste andre af mine kolleger har en ægtefælle eller ven af samme nationalitet, og jeg håber, at de ved, hvor stor en velsignelse det må være. Der er så ofte, hvor jeg har haft brug for at vende dagens oplevelser med en ligesindet, når jeg kom hjem fra arbejde. Men jeg har været mutters alene. Hvor har jeg dog savnet mine venner og familie.
Til sidst begyndte det hele at stige mig til hovedet, og jeg indså, at jeg måtte klynge mig til Gud. Så vækkeuret blev sat en halv time tidligere. Hvor havde jeg dog ondt af mig selv de første morgener. Men der gik ikke længe, førend jeg så frugterne af mit udvidede fællesskab med Gud. Jeg kan nok ikke helt forklare, hvad der skete, men Gud hev fat i nogle ting i min personlighed, vendte dem lidt på hovedet, kastede nyt lys over dem og badede dem i hans kærlighed. Lyder det lidt ukonkret? Igen er bloggen et lidt for åbent sted til at fortælle, hvad der egentlig skete i mig. Men jeg føler, at Gud har givet mig fred i, at lige nu er livet meget anderledes end det var tiltænkt til at være og det er OK. Jeg kan se, at de ting, jeg lærer lige nu forvandler mig fra indersiden og giver mig ting, jeg altid har ønsket mig, ting som kan skabe en stor forskel for mig i min fremtid.
Så selv om jeg hellere sad og drak te med Anna, spillede spil med Karsten, var til netværksgruppe eller sammen med nogle af jer andre, så er det faktisk OK! For Gud er her.
Moving from one country to another is a very big step in someones life. And to do it all by yourself even adds some extra challenges. During the past month I have often wanted to write on my blog to tell you about the feelings and thoughts I have had but I came to the conclusion that a blog is a too open space to share those kinds of thoughts. Because culture shock is basically about other people doing things you don’t understand they are doing and I certainly don’t want to sound like I am pointing my finger at anybody in particularly on the internet.
I have especially found it hard to be alone here. Most of my colleagues have a spouse or a friend of the same nationality as their own and I really hope that they realize what a blessing that can be! So often I have had the need to come home from work and have someone to share the days culture shocks with someone. How I have missed my Danish friends and family!
Finally it all seemed to overwhelm me and I realized that all I could do was to cling to God. So the alarm clock was set half an hour earlier. How I pitied myself the first mornings when the alarm went off. But it didn’t take long before I started to see the fruits of my expanded fellowship with God. I can’t really explain what happened but God started pinpointing some personal things, twisted them a bit, shed new light on them and showered them in his love. Does that sound very unclear? Again the blog is a too open media to share those things in more detail. But the bottom line is that I feel God has given me peace about the fact that right now life is very different for me than it should be. And that is OK. I can see, that the things I am learning now will change me from the inside and give me things I have always wanted and that could change my future a lot.
So even if I would rather sit right now and drink tea with Anna, play board games with Karsten, or being in my old church house group then it is actually OK. Because God is here!
Hvad laver jeg egentlig i disse dage? - What am I actually doing these days?
Hvad laver jeg egentlig i disse dage? Det var der en veninde, der spurgte om for nylig, så jeg tror, at jeg vil benytte anledningen til at fortælle lidt herfra.
Jeg har brugt en del tid på at blive lært op i mit nye job. Det har været vildt spændende. Jeg elsker virkelig det her job. Vi har haft nogle officielle oplæringsseancer her i vores afdeling, men jeg tror nu, at den primære oplæring sker udenfor disse afsatte tidspunkter, når der pludselig opstår en situation, hvor man bare kan træde til og lade som om man ved en helt masse om en helt masse. Når jeg ser på oversigten over mit tidsforbrug i november, har jeg brugt 17 timer på officiel oplæring og 76 timer på at hjælpe til med stort og småt i vores afdeling. Jeg har evalueret mundtlige eksamensopgaver, taget med kursister på praktikbesøg, ledt gudstjeneste, haft en smule sjælesorg og tusind andre ting (sådan cirka). Vi har også haft nogle rigtig vigtige møder i vores undervisningsafdeling, hvor vi har mødtes med nogle af lederne af EB i Europa for at tage små og store beslutninger for fremtiden.
Udover dette har jeg også arbejdet en del med at få den danske manual til vores EBU-kursus færdig (EBU = Effektiv Børneundervisning). Nille har arbejdet en del med korrekturlæsning ud fra et danskfagligt synspunkt, og jeg har nu været igennem manualen ud fra et undervisningsmæssigt synspunkt. Så håber jeg bare, at Hanne på et tidspunkt får gang i nogle EBU 2–kurser :-)
What do I really do these days? That’s the question one of my friends asked me recently. And I think I will take the opportunity to explain a bit more about what I am actually doing right now.
I have spent some time being trained for my new job. It has been really interesting. I love this job! We have had some official training sessions marked in our agendas but it seems like most of the training has been done outside those sessions. Often a situation has suddenly occurred out of nowhere and I have had a grand opportunity to step into a situation and pretend I know all about what I am doing... When I look a my time overview for November I have spend 17 hours in official training sessions and 76 hours helping out in various other tasks in our department. I have had lots of student evaluation (me evaluating students on their work), going with students to children meetings (practical time), leading a service, lending a listening ear to someone and thousand other things (approximately).
We have also had some really important meetings between the Education Department and some of the leaders of CEF in Europe to discuss different issues of the work.
Beside this I have also had a good chunk of time to work on a Danish manual for our TCE 2 course. (TCE = Teaching Children Effectively). Nille in Denmark had done a great job proofreading the text from a literary point of view and now I have been looking at the text from a teacher’s point of view. I only have four more chapters to go so that Hanne can get some TCE 2 courses going in Denmark ;-)
Jeg har brugt en del tid på at blive lært op i mit nye job. Det har været vildt spændende. Jeg elsker virkelig det her job. Vi har haft nogle officielle oplæringsseancer her i vores afdeling, men jeg tror nu, at den primære oplæring sker udenfor disse afsatte tidspunkter, når der pludselig opstår en situation, hvor man bare kan træde til og lade som om man ved en helt masse om en helt masse. Når jeg ser på oversigten over mit tidsforbrug i november, har jeg brugt 17 timer på officiel oplæring og 76 timer på at hjælpe til med stort og småt i vores afdeling. Jeg har evalueret mundtlige eksamensopgaver, taget med kursister på praktikbesøg, ledt gudstjeneste, haft en smule sjælesorg og tusind andre ting (sådan cirka). Vi har også haft nogle rigtig vigtige møder i vores undervisningsafdeling, hvor vi har mødtes med nogle af lederne af EB i Europa for at tage små og store beslutninger for fremtiden.
Udover dette har jeg også arbejdet en del med at få den danske manual til vores EBU-kursus færdig (EBU = Effektiv Børneundervisning). Nille har arbejdet en del med korrekturlæsning ud fra et danskfagligt synspunkt, og jeg har nu været igennem manualen ud fra et undervisningsmæssigt synspunkt. Så håber jeg bare, at Hanne på et tidspunkt får gang i nogle EBU 2–kurser :-)
What do I really do these days? That’s the question one of my friends asked me recently. And I think I will take the opportunity to explain a bit more about what I am actually doing right now.
I have spent some time being trained for my new job. It has been really interesting. I love this job! We have had some official training sessions marked in our agendas but it seems like most of the training has been done outside those sessions. Often a situation has suddenly occurred out of nowhere and I have had a grand opportunity to step into a situation and pretend I know all about what I am doing... When I look a my time overview for November I have spend 17 hours in official training sessions and 76 hours helping out in various other tasks in our department. I have had lots of student evaluation (me evaluating students on their work), going with students to children meetings (practical time), leading a service, lending a listening ear to someone and thousand other things (approximately).
We have also had some really important meetings between the Education Department and some of the leaders of CEF in Europe to discuss different issues of the work.
Beside this I have also had a good chunk of time to work on a Danish manual for our TCE 2 course. (TCE = Teaching Children Effectively). Nille in Denmark had done a great job proofreading the text from a literary point of view and now I have been looking at the text from a teacher’s point of view. I only have four more chapters to go so that Hanne can get some TCE 2 courses going in Denmark ;-)
En ny og meget mere seriøs fase af mit liv - A new and much more serious phase of my life
Ja, nu er det så sket. Jeg er hermed indtrådt i de voksnes rækker. Mit liv har taget en seriøs drejning og nu er det altså alvor. Ikke mere spøg og skæmt. Et monument har rejst sig på mit kontor. Et monument, som symboliserer effektivitet, langtidsengagement og nul kreativitet. Jeg har fået mit første arkivskab. Sådan et rigtig alvorligt et med skuffer, der kan trækkes ud, hængemapper, der kan tages op og meget seriøse filer, der kan læses, gemmes og endda låses forsvarligt inde.
Indtil videre ligger der ganske vist kun en halvspist chokoladejulemand i mit nye arkivskab, men det er ikke det, det drejer sig om! Det drejer sig om, at i løbet af de næste måneder vil dette kabinet blive fyldt med alle mulige og umulige filer fra de sidste tyve års historie her i vores europæiske undervisningsafdeling. Jeg er nu blevet indviet i alle de hemmelige systemer. Heldigvis skal mine to nye kolleger med samme job i centraleuropa og østeuropa have deres del af det gamle arkiv, så måske bliver der stadig plads til bare en lille smule spøg og skæmt? Måske kan jeg fortsat arkivere mine chokoladejulemænd under C? Eller min cola under S (for sodavand). Hvem ved...
Now it has happened. I am now officially grown up. My life has taken a serious turn and will never be the same again. No more goofing around. A monument has found it's way to my office. A monument to symbolize efficiency and longterm commitment. I have got my first filing cabinet. A real one with drawers to be drawn, hanging files to be lifted out and serious documents to be read, stored and even locked up if I wish.
So far I have only filed a half eaten chocolate Father Christmas but that's not what it is all about. It is all about the fact that within the next few months that cabinet will be filled with all kinds of files from the last twenty years in the our European Education Department. I have now been initiated in the secret art of our filing system. Fortunately my new colleagues who will work with the same things as me in Central Europe and Eastern Europe will get their share of the files. So maybe there will still be a bit space left to file chocolate under C and cola under F (for fizzy soft drinks). Who knows...
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