An Overdue Post

It’s been a while since my last post, and there is a lot to cover. Things have been going great, and I’ve even done a bit of teaching too. As I mentioned earlier, school here is quite a bit different and it will take some time/flexibility to get used to it, but it has been a great experience thus far. The teachers/community/students have been incredibly nice, and Jared, Patty, and myself have all been outfitted with touring skis. We have since skied twice. Once to a lake that was still frozen, but looked amazing. The second time was near a ski resort that had a groomed trail that was free to use.

Apart from the skiing, I’ve been doing some hiking as well, as the melting snow is opening up some trails. Rosendal is only a town of 1,400 people, but there is so much to do outdoors. When the snow is completely gone, there are some boulders on the North end of town that look like they will be good for bouldering.

In class, I have taught about Native Americans, U.S. Geography, illegal immigration, and the Rwandan genocide. The students seem quite interested in all of those topics, but are shy during group discussion, which is ridiculous considering the fact that some of the students have English that is equal to their American counterparts ( that’s an exaggeration, but a Norwegian student has not put “idk” for a test answer, something which happened to me in the States). When they do speak, it is really nice to hear their perspective, which gives a greater understanding of not only the world, but teenagers too ( the latter is something I never thought I would want to know about).

My impression so far is the teachers is that they have a much better relationship than the schools I have previously been too. They seem to talk much more with each other, and often co-teach in various lessons. They’ve even been kind enough to let Jared and I in on some of their rituals, like playing darts every day after school. They also have a wine lottery each Friday during the lunch hour, which Jared and I won last Friday. Further, I was invited to help with P.E. today and had it handed to me in soccer by some 10^th graders ( My play was complimented though … for a beginner).