rich

Trying this blogging thing again... somewhere else:

2010-11-07T21:00:00.001+01:00

Going to check out Tumblr for a while. Check it out if you want, and follow there instead if you like!

Lately I...

Education: evolution or revolution?

2010-06-30T19:23:00.003+01:00

Oh... I want to teach in an agile space... please, please, please...

More Prof Heppell if you're interested.

Thanks... for what?

2009-11-19T20:06:00.004+01:00

Been a while... and there's not going to be much here this time either, but here's a little video that a friend sent me:

For the non-Swedish speakers – just listen to the mood music and get into it.
(Not the most flattering picture, but hey, if you're the star you can get away with it!)

And then...

it can be amusing to know...

that...

... it's an ad for the tv-licence in Sweden. They have this system where you have to pay an annual fee if you have a tv which is used towards public service tv. And this film is saying "tack" (thank you) to everyone who has paid. The amusing thing, for me at least, is that I don't have a tv, so don't pay, but still get a little film saying thanks. And just last night a guy from the TV licensing commission came round and asked me if I have a tv, simple answer: "No". Although with a laptop and broadband these days, who needs one!

Africa: An Interactive Map Africa: vanityfair.com

2009-11-09T22:28:00.000+01:00

Africa: An Interactive Map Africa: vanityfair.com

Taxes in Sweden... lol!

2009-09-19T09:14:00.000+01:00

And here we go again... another journalist/newspaper wants to discuss taxes in Sweden in a ridiculously narrow and incomplete picture: here's the link.
Why discuss the top marginal tax rate in isolation? You should have added in the 25% VAT on many consumer items... makes it look even worse - great ammunition for all the free market capitalists, and their children ;)
But certainly do not mention that this affects 3% of the population who earn more than 44 900 kr/month (538 800 kr/year), which is:

almost double GDP per capita (271 574 kr/year);
more than double the average income in Sweden, even when excluding those under 20, over 64, and only including those that actually have an income (266 494 kr/year);
more than double the median income in Sweden, 20-64 years old (241 911 kr/year);
and almost more than double the median income for men, 20-64 years old - because we all know it's men's incomes that are important?! (306 520 kr/year).

The other thing obviously omitted is any reference to what you receive for your taxes in Sweden, which often cost in many other countries - either through up-front payments, private insurance, or levies (cute political name for "another tax when we promise no new taxes"). I could start the list by mentioning:

free primary, secondary and tertiary education;
subsidies whilst studying;
free healthcare;
pension;
unemployment benefits;
parental leave;

... the list goes on I'm sure - these are tax funded privileges that people in many other countries can only dream about. Or, if you're American, you might even fight to prevent - can't even begin to imagine why people are fighting for the rights of insurance companies to make millions (or is it billions?) of profit on sick people... but that's another story.

So, thanks DN for Saturday morning reading with an amazingly biased editorial in your finance section - it got me up on my soap box again, which hasn't happened for a while in this forum - nice to know I still care!

Must be time for a coffee and "Vetenskapsfilosofi" av Bengt Molander... Happy Saturday to you all!

Reflections 090902

2009-09-16T15:23:00.000+01:00

Has teaching changed with IT?

Internet is decentralised... traditional teaching is centralised (around the teacher)... Education/teaching has been transfered into IT... why no change? Should there be?

Meta data - how to make easier to classify? software to scan and suggest?

from Bansky

2009-06-17T09:35:00.002+01:00

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle.

Then I realised God doesn’t work that way, so I stole

one and prayed for forgiveness.

- Emo Philips

2nd day of conference today... makes you think

2009-05-20T18:11:00.000+01:00

me again!

2009-05-19T21:56:00.002+01:00

Maybe this won't just be a sporadic once (twice) off. Should really right something about the Beverly Hills High kids about to graduate... maybe soon.

But just wanted to share what I was listening to:

Ruh's new album on Spotify, or check out their own website.

Good night,

rich.

2009-05-19T20:21:00.001+01:00

Cyberculture and Education

2009-04-19T12:02:00.004+01:00

Finally getting back to doing some work for the course I am taking from unimelb - enjoying actually discussion what all this IT in our world and schools is actually doing, rather than just blindly using it. There's been some interesting reading and viewing, so I thought I'd share:

and:

Where was Rich?

2009-04-13T13:35:00.002+01:00

Got me thinking...

2009-03-14T20:04:00.002+01:00

So I decided to watch something from TED instead of STC whilst gobbling down some pasta pesto - lazy dinner I know, but hey...

And after listening to how all the plastic in the ocean is ruining the world I found this little gem. Makes me start thinking about how we might be able to change IT tools we use in the school to be designed from the perspective of the learner, not from the perspective of the computer and keyboard... tablets are a start, but surely there's more - Siftables for example:

Kenya

2009-02-20T13:46:00.002+01:00

Been ages, been busy... and now I'm in Kenya.

Check out the blog if you're interested:

http://vrgeamun2009.wordpress.com/

warm,

rich.

Happy Reading

2009-01-04T14:49:00.002+01:00

Here's a piece that does express some of my hopes for 2009. Hope everyone is well.

rich.

Thanks for the article Tori!

Happy New Year: Why money is not enough
Alain de Botton
(taken from Monacle, issue 19, volume 02. pg... 049)

I believe 2009 will be the year when the question of how society should be arranged will cease to be an idle, abstract topic, dwelt upon by ivory-tower intellectuals after a few glasses of wine, and will instead enter the workaday mainstream with a vengeance. Everyone will become a political philosopher; and all of a sudden, some of the great issues facing our world will be up for grabs. It will be a frightening, exhilarating time. Expect to see record numbers of people reading political blogs, attending classes in political theory and turning once again to Karl Marx, Adam Smith and John Ruskin.
All this because of a consensus about the virtues of individualism, liberalism and consumer capitalism is splintering beneath us. At the heart of the debate lie questions about fulfillment. We'll be asking whether the modern economy has been attending to our needs.We'll be asking, to paraphrase that thundering 19th-century prophet Thomas Carlyle, "This successful industry of ours, with its plethoric wealth, which of us has it enriched? We have sumptuous garnitures for our life, but we have forgotten to live in the middle of them. Are people better, stronger, braver? Are they even what they call 'happier'? Do they look with satisfaction on more things and human faces in this God's Earth? No, for we have profoundly forgotten everywhere that cash-payment is not the sole relation of human beings."

Environmental arguments against consumer capitalism will fuse with a horror at the vulnerability of capital markets. There will be a new climate of scepticism about the market system - one which will defy old labels of left and right. Expect to see ex-bankers finding unexpected points of agreement with environmental activists, poets and fashion designers. Ultimately, the question will be: are our economies delivering on their promises? It'll again be pointed out that our outer success is masking deep-seated inner disturbances. Western society has always been an uneasy amalgamation of the values of the old Roman Empire - success, wealth and individual glory - and the values of the Judeo-Christian world, with its emphasis on charity, serenity and love. After 20 years of success, the values of the Roman lion will go into abeyance and the more compassionate lamb will take centre stage again.
Theis will have consequences. Greed and superficiality will be out. Television executives will have to raise their game and stop giving us bread and circuses when we need facts and consolation. During a deep recession in the construction sector, we'll ask whether buildings should ever have been in the business of making money. Wise minds will stress that the quality of our houses, streets and cities is ultimately part of the mental health industry - and should not be seen as commodities without public responsibility.
The sensitive and educated readers of Monocle will know not to give up al interest in the aesthetic side of life, but nevertheless be smart enough to raise questions about enterprises that use beauty as a superficial lure, rather than as a way to herald inner transformation.
Over all, we'll become a lot richer, but not in a way we had planned. Here's where John Ruskin comes in. He was interested in wealth - obsessed by it even. However, it was wealth of an unusual kind that this great art critic had in mind, for he emphasised repeatedly that he wished to grow wealthy in kindness, curiosity, sensitivity, humility and intelligence - set of virtues he referred to as "life".
In his great text, Unto This Last, he entreated us to set aside our monetary conceptions of wealth in order to take up "life"-based view, in which the wealthiest people would not be the bankers and the ladnowners, but those who most keenly felt wonder beneath the stars at night or were best able to interpret and alleviate the sufferings of others. After the greatest stock market crash in living memory, there will be no end to questions about what being wealthy really means.

My festival

2008-09-13T15:04:00.000+01:00

A holiday recap

2008-08-31T12:21:00.002+01:00

I wrote earlier about the great week in Montpellier with Dino and BJ, after that I spent most of July in Sweden with the main focus being swimming. The group I help out with was in the final stages of preparing for Swedish Nationals and the Olympics (for 4 of the guys). All in all everyone swam well in most of their events so it was a good end to a long season. The boys who went to the Olympics also swam well, although I think we were all taken by surprise by how fast everyone else swam. PBs and Swedish records, even times under the WR before the Olympics were often not good enough for medals. The swim club has been in the Swedish news this week for all the wrong reasons - due to economic troubles they've made redundant 2 coaches. The worst of it was that Johan who has been coaching Therese Alshammar for the past 4 years under an agreement with the club was told a month before the Olympics - not the best psychological help a month before the Games. And the other coach has been at the club for something like 20 years and was told around the time of Nationals, just before his holidays... so it is all a bit messy there. But I just help out on my own terms so if it all goes to chaos then I'll step away and find something else.

After Nationals, at the end of July, I headed off to London to catch up with friends and go to Larry and Martyn's 30th anniversary party which was a great night, followed by a very early morning trek out to Heathrow to catch a flight to DC to visit Dad and spend a week on the beach in Mexico... see the pic from last post!

I'm back in the swing of things at school, as well as the swimming coaching (slowly building up for next season), and I'm also doing some online study - a subject as part of a Masters from Melbourne uni as well as a subject from a uni in Sweden. Both are to do with the use of IT in education, so this means Sundays on the laptop doing work... which is what I'm supposed to be doing now. Instead I'm sitting in Paolo's cafe writing this!

I will now try to do a little bit of work...

thinking slowly,
rich.

the brats are back...

2008-08-21T21:23:00.002+01:00

Yep, the darlings of West Beverly High are back in school. Well only the newbies today... ahhh, so fresh faced and nervous. Slowly getting myself into gear for the new year, think I have the first lesson planned?!
'spose a trip summary might be due... but not tonight - have spend the last hour or so reading online posts, blogs and wiki entries for an online course I'm doing... teachers being nerdy - love it!

And all the while I try to keep this image in mind...

holidays...

2008-08-06T07:09:00.004+01:00

ahhh...

Margaritas... beach... Isla Mujeres... (check a map!) life is really tough... so tough the internet connection is being driven by an iguana on a treadmill, that's one letter per minute - so appreciate this sentence!

chilled,

rich.

(A pensioned iguana, after 50MB of good service)

Time for an update

2008-07-05T15:27:00.002+01:00

Yes, as was kindly pointed out, it is about time for an update:

I'm on summer holidays, and if you're the sort of person who is particularly jealous of the extensive holidays that teachers have you should probably stop reading. That said, I am having a great time. A few days after school finished it was time for "midsummer" here in Sweden which usually involves hanging out with family and/or friends, lunch in the sun with accompanying shots of Swedish snaps, followed by a lazy weekend... that's exactly what I did this year (after missing last year's edition due to a week in Lisbon). At the end of that weekend I took myself out to the airport, managed to talk my way to the front of first the bag-drop queue and then the security queue so that I was able to make my flight to Paris. Once there I had a nervous wait for Dino who was delayed flying in from London (what a surprise for Heathrow!), she ran from baggage collection to the TGV station and we thankfully made our train to Montpellier by about 9 minutes. This was to be the most stressful part of my 6 days in France/Montpellier... the other stressful moments were limited to deciding whether to buy a baguette or fruit loaf for breakfast - usually solved by buying one of each. The weather was great and Montpellier beautiful, the old town is predominantly pedestrian with lots of small laneways winding around and leading to tiny squares with cool cafés and bars. A mate of Dino's from Canberra, BJ, was also there for the week so the 3 of us took it very easy... bakery, cafe, beach, bar... you get the picture. BJ is on his way through Stockholm next week so hopefully the sun will still be shining - this week has been fantastic by Stockholm standards: 20-25°C, generally blue skies and light breezes... it's hard not to love it when it's like this.

Since the last post I've also been to the very north of Sweden - trooped off with 40 odd students and 3 other teachers for a 4 day trip to the northern most ski resort in Sweden (literally on the border with Norway - one of the runs takes you across the border and back again!). Skiing at the end of May, with almost 24 hour daylight was a very cool experience. And thankfully the cherubs were neither too spoilt nor too bratty so the experience was altogether different from last year's debacle. After that there were about 3 weeks of school left and it passed by very quickly in a rush of marking and setting final grades, at the end of which I was happy to say "enjoy your summer" to the kids and (surprisingly?!) even happier to say "see you in August" to colleagues... after 10 months it is nice to have a break from school and everything that goes with it.

The rest of summer is looking as good as the start... the next 2 weeks or so I'll be in Sweden coaching the group I've been working with at the swimming club - we've got nationals in a week and a half, and 4 of the 8 are off to Beijing for the Olympics straight after that. So that's giving me a bit of structure to most days! After that I'm heading to London to catch up with friends, including Larry & Martyn's 30th anniversary party which I'm really looking forward to. Then (yes, there's more!) I fly to Washington D.C. to visit Dad, and I think there is going to be a side trip to a beach for a week with them. After all my globe-trotting I arrive back in Stockholm at about 6pm the day before I go back to work... just the way I like it.

Think that's enough for now.
Chilled, rich.

Enjoying London

2008-05-14T11:34:00.001+01:00

View of the city which has produced 5 days of brilliant weather, making relaxing all the easier. Hyde park, wahaca, the ship, flat white, soho square, foyles, milk bar... The list goes on!
Relaxed, rich.

a hole in the ground...

2008-05-04T20:27:00.002+01:00

Gotta love the Tate Modern... must be one of the world's biggest modern art galleries, it's free and consistently uses its massive hall for installations that get the kiddies talking, if not lost between cubes or falling through the gaps...

Tate Modern, March 08

art,
rich.

Spring again...

2008-05-04T10:03:00.002+01:00

So MEP came and went: 2 months work in the space of a month, not much sleep and little socialising. The week after I was particularly zombie like but did avoid falling in a complete heap which was nice. Unfortunately some bug caught me in the middle of last week so instead of enjoying the 4 day weekend we have just had I spent far too many hours in my apartment watching B-grade American TV series and movies, but that was about all I could mentally handle. Like all blokes, I'm not very good at doing anything except feeling sorry for myself when sick - probably a good thing we can't fall pregnant, a week of one of us whinging with a cold is bad enough, imagine 9 months! Speaking of pregnant, a number of close friends have recently shared the big news that they are going to be proud parents in late summer early autumn, and 2 from Beverly Hills High this spring (teachers, not students - they're far to posh to let that happen...).

With spring upon us in the northern reaches it means longer days, sunshine with some warmth in it, and every man, woman, child and dog rushing to all the little parks and cafés in the area I live in as soon as the weekend arrives... most upsetting for this inner-city snob when he can't get a seat at one of his favourite little spots because all the weekenders are crowding. I do wonder where they have all been hiding for the past 9 months. Still, did manage to find a new place that is a bit "off" the main centres of attraction, the next big thing (!) until the hordes find it - gotta stay ahead of the curve. Or whatever marketing/sales say.

Spring also has an amazing affect on the kids at school: "can't we have this lesson outside? Promise we'll work." "Sorry, bit hard to show that film clip. Nice try though." It also means that the final year students are close to graduating which is displayed in different ways according to student. They do have a strange habit of having graduation parties before they graduate - silly season started near the beginning of April. So some of them seem to spend much of April and May somewhere between drunk and hungover, with a few sober moments for the maths test. Wednesday (before the 4-day weekend!) was time for them to officially put on the graduation caps - usually about a month before they graduate, all part of the process! A very civilised singing of the national anthem and the school song whilst drinking non-alcoholic cider is only the beginning. After then leaving school, rumour has it they all congregate on what is very kindly called a beach (aussie bias!) and have a champagne party with dj 'n all! Brats do it in style!

Spring also means that the swimming season is nearing summer (the serious end of business), and this being a leap year (you didn't miss the 29th of Feb?!) is extra special... Beijing, y'know! Our club (I help out as assistant coach to the elite group... and am managing to do progressively less swimming myself) has 5 on the swimming team for Beijing. 3 from the group I work with, 1 at college in the home of gambling (!), and 1 who has a personal coach. So we're pretty stoked that of our group of 7-10 swimmers (there's a few part-timers on their way in/out - sometimes we're not sure which!) we have 3 on the team. This weekend was supposed to be spent at the pool watching the last major meet of the season before nationals, but the afore mentioned bug kept me in bed instead- not going to risk infecting them.

Am going to try to post some photos soon - bought a new digital camera with some birthday money from last year... first digital camera! Finally catching up.

Smiling,
rich.

radio and "Return to Filzmoos"

2008-03-30T14:26:00.003+01:00

Sitting in a radio studio listening to "skitsnack 08", a student radio station that Jake and I have organised an hour every second Sunday for some of the kids to broadcast live. We both think it's a great opportunity, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be enough students wanting to do it next year so it will probably end in June... maybe it could continue as the Jake and Rich show! Unfortunately we're not students!

Had a great Easter with Jacqui, Ralf and Chiara (an angel during the day, but not always quite so angelic at nighttime). Went past the scene of last year's accident, more than once, and didn't have any flashbacks or nightmares. And I walked onto the plane to go home! (Although being in a wheelchair did have certain advantages when it came to queues.)

2 weeks until MEP in Stockholm... think I'm going to be busy.

smiling,

rich.

laugh

2008-03-20T20:38:00.002+01:00

Working lots, sleeping less, very happy it's Easter! Visiting "ze Alps" for 5 days to hang with the Schörghofers (including bub Chiara), sleep and ski... can't wait. Here's something to laugh at:

Not in Nairobi

2008-02-15T07:27:00.001+01:00

Yes... was supposed to be in Nairobi this morning - but if you've watched the news this year you'll understand that taking 18 students to Kenya was not the safest thing to do. So I'm stuck in sthlm for a little longer. Realise this is the first time I write anything in 2008... not much of an update now, just wanted to show you a horrible little piece of propaganda (or an amazing case of being able to stick you head in the sand).

If your Swedish is up to scratch then you might want to see something from the "other" side...

Swedish weather and climate centre (SWC)

if you're Swedish is not great then just look at the pictures and make appropriate noises pretending like you understand. Like the ones I make anytime there is a group of males looking at a car engine - I have no idea! Well, not entirely true. I know where the starter motor is in a 1983 Toyota Corona (two-tone brown... who remembers EVA?), and can even bash said starter motor to help start the car.

Time for school...
rich.

Boxing Day

2007-12-26T01:46:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope the festive season has treated you well. I am in Melbourne and spent yesterday celebrating my grandma's 80th birthday (as well as Christmas!) with my mum's family. Nice weather, good food and great company!

I'm back in Melbourne for 2 weeks and have already seen more sunshine in 3 days than I have in the past 2 months in Stockholm. I lose all sense of time in the afternoon evening as I am used to it being dark by 3pm and it is taking me a while to get used to not having 15 things to do everyday... but I think I'll cope.

I'm about to head out for lunch and the plan is to spend the afternoon hanging out with family and friends, drink a few beers and work on the holiday thing.

Cheers!

Sultan's Revenge

2007-12-16T12:47:00.000+01:00

(Written 10 Dec, posted today!)

It’s been a long time since I logged in… and I think each of the past few posts has been accompanied by some weak promise to try to write more often… maybe I should lower expectations and then surprise when I exceed them! I am writing this offline in the air, flying my way back with my school colleagues from a 4 day conference/teambuilding trip in Istanbul. It would seem as though the Beverly Hills surroundings are not always conducive to working and/or creating that wonderful team spirit. Spirit… I now think I should have had a bit more of the liquid variety on Friday as it might have helped kill whatever nasties there were in the food I ate that night. Instead I spent the next 24 hours feeling extremely ill, unable to get out of bed for more than about 10 minutes without feeling nautious, and went about 36 hours without consuming anything more than two glasses of Sprite and one dry cracker – as you can imagine my memories of Istanbul are somewhat tainted. My quite (un)substantial energy reserves are depleted and I am still eating like a mouse, at least I have 2 weeks to build up before the Christmas extravaganza – my first in Australia for 5 years.
Autumn seems to have flown by very quickly, the dark has descended and the snow has made a couple of fleeting appearances. I was in Jönköping (town about 3 hours south of Stockholm) a few weeks ago for the Swedish Swimming Nationals (shortcourse) watching the swimmers I help coach. They all swam well and our club had an extremely successful meet – in our squad we had 6 Swedish records (all 5 men’s relays and 200 IM), 13 gold and 2 bronze. We now have 3 swimmers about to head to European Shortcourse and already have 4 pre-selected for European Longcourse in March (which will be used as Olympic selection trials). I help out 2-3 times a week most weeks, although take more sessions when Anne (coach of the Elite squad that I help) is away for training camps or comps. It’s been a great way to stay connected to elite swimming without having to do all the training! And I try as much as possible to stay out of the politics in the swimming club – sometimes it seems to be worse the smaller an organisation is?!
Beverly Hills High is going along smoothly, the courses I’ve taught before are feeling good and settled and the new ones a challenge to make sure I don’t get complacent. We have also recently confirmed that the Model European Parliament that I attended in Sofia last April will be hosted in Stockholm next year and I will be in some way involved in the organising. This will of course mean more work, but will (hopefully) be fun and definitely good experience. I will also be going up north in Sweden for 4 days at the end of January to accompany 4 students who were selected to participate in another youth parliament there (the essays they wrote meant that our school was selected) – also linked to European Union issues. And if they do well there they may be selected to travel to an international version in Czech Republic or France next year – with a teacher in tow of course! So as you can understand, teaching the spoilt darlings does have its benefits.
I hope all is well in your part of the world.
Eating slowly,
Rich.

London

2007-09-29T18:18:00.000+01:00

Hello! Having a quick, lazy weekend in London. Visiting Dad for what might be the last time (he's moving to Washington DC soon), and also conincides with his birthday (Monday) - so a great reason to come here and hang out for a couple of days. To that end I won't be writing a whole lot today... you'll all just have to wait until next weekend. I did add a bunch of old photos to facebook - so hopefully you can find them there.

Enjoy,
rich.

PUT

2007-09-22T10:26:00.000+01:00

Long time, no write... sorry about that, so many excuses... where to start:
- bathroom renovations took 3 weeks longer than they told us,
- kitchen renovations (but they took 2 days less than planned!)
- now the floors are being sanded and polished, so I'm homeless again but this is the last step! By the middle of next week I'll be able to start cleaning my new apartment and move all the furniture back in... will try to post some pics when it's all done.
- I've also started back at work and it took a while to get up to speed after my long, lazy summer holiday... life's tough.

As I have no home to sit in, I'm in one of the local cafes (usual weekend activity!) and so of course can't help but observe the funny people that are Swedes:
1. A group manage to get a table that a couple have just left. There are of course dirty dishes on the table (they're a bit slow collecting them here sometimes). So the new guests pile them up, pick them up and then look around (as if waiting for the dishes fairy to magically appear and take them... this doesn't happen), eventually they decide to place them on a small table (unoccupied!)... why not just take them to the kitchen - it's just as close!
2. The extraordinary number of couples that come in and avoid asking me if they can share the table I'm on.... Swedes don't do that!!

School has started really well, the new group of brats at Beverly Hills High is as nice as all the others and mostly tanned after a tough summer in St.Tropez, Nice and Monaco. I have a couple of new projects which are really exciting this year, including a course which involves participating in a Model United Nations held in Nairobi, Kenya. So it is off to Kenya for Rich and 18 students (good ones!) in February. I managed to choose (from those that applied for the course) students that it turns out do have a social conscience (more than supporting Sri Lanka/Vietnam/China/or which ever developing nations the world's fashion houses manufacture their clothes in). They have (on their own initiative) contacted an orphanage near Nairobi and are going to collect sponsorship for supplies they need... I was impressed and grateful that they took this step!

Another possible project is not confirmed yet, it will possibly mean a lot of extra work for me but would be lots of fun... I'll let you know if it happens.

As for the title of this post: "PUT", no not "PUT another prawn on the barbie", in fact it is "Permanent Uppehållstillstånd" - Permanent residency... I'm here to stay and now they can't kick me out! I got the letter yesterday so the only thing left is to get it stamped into my passport. Until now I've had to apply for a new work permit every year which, despite being relatively straight forward, has always been a cause of slight worry.

I will leave it here for now, but should hopefully update more regularly than the last 2 months!

take care,
rich.

bathroom complete!

2007-07-22T11:39:00.000+01:00

Ahhh... yes... you thought it would never happen, well I thought it might never happen, but 2 weeks after they said it would be ready my shower room and the WC are finally completed. And they look great! I have also paid a deposit on the new kitchen I am going to have installed in sept/oct - so by the end of the year I will be showing off my new bach pad in style and seeing if we can't work on that bach status at the same time.

I head off tomorrow for Nationals which are on the west coast, after that I am going to have an extra week on that side of the country hanging out with some friends - eating drinking and relaxing. You know the deal.

Finnhamn 07

A few pics here for you to peruse... have a few more on facebook - for those that have succumb to that dreaded time waster!

Any of you in Stockholm at the end of August? I'm celebrating getting a bit wiser and more mature on 25 aug... let me know if you're nearby.

rich.

summer in stockholm

2007-07-17T12:15:00.000+01:00

I've been decidedly slack with my writing... which can be interpreted as me enjoying my summer holidays and not spending nearly as much time near a computer. I have had a very busy social schedule - 2 weddings since my week in Lisbon and a visitor from Melbourne. The first was a couple from the swimming club here in Stockholm who met 117 years ago on a training camp and have been together ever since - a lovely ceremony followed by an Italian inspired dinner (delicious!) and a party that lasted until dawn. I lasted until about 2 minutes after the couple retired for the evening... can't leave before them!

The next wedding was a kiwi, Paul, and a swede, Sara, that I had worked with at my first school here in Stockholm (the one with the crazy owner, more principals than I can count and a turnover that would make a revolving door cringe). I had the honour of being the toastmaster for the wedding - which meant keeping the whole show running... only forgot one thing (Sara said she's forgiven me!) and everybody seemed to have a great night. A very international flavour to the whole event - Sweden, NZ, UK, Australia, Norway were all represented, which was then followed by a couple of nights out in the archipeligo with some of Paul and Sara's families, me and Kate D (visiting from Melbourne). Although not the finest weather we had a great time and managed to get a couple of swims in (more like jump in, jump out really).

Kate was here for 8 days and experienced the usual Swedish summer of sunshine and rain. We spent a lot of time walking around Stockholm and even made it out to the archipeligo again last weekend. There we visited Anne and Leif, Anne is the coach of the elite squad at Neptun Swimming Club (I'm the assistant coach!), and Anne and I had to have a very important planning meeting:

The wine glasses are purely for show!

Any comments regarding the likeness of me and the monkey will be rudely rebuked.

Not sure if you've heard that all the water pipes for all the bathrooms are being replaced in my apartment building? Like all good builders they are behind schedule ("due to unforseen circumstances" - you hear that phrase so often you think they should just add an extra 25% to any schedule automatically). It is almost over now, it is all tiled and they just have to fit the basins and lights... they have said they'll finish tomorrow, so I hope they keep to that. That would give me just enough time to clean and wash everything before I head to off to Swedish Swimming Nationals next Monday. I'm there to help out with the elite group, and to hopefully swim the 50 free on the last day - it has been giving me motivation to do my knee rehab more consistently, as has the challenge from one of the girls in the club... although she is a world record holder so it's not as easy as it sounds!

Along with the water pipes saga, the other point of frustration this summer has been the annual quest to update my visa. Which involves sending forms backwards and forwards to 2 different administrative bodies... I'm still waiting on the first! The lovely lady that is looking after my papers at the moment has a wonderful job where she only needs to answer the phone between 10am and 11am... amazingly service minded the "public servants", and now she is probably on summer holidays for a month! When do they do any work??!! I'm sure it will all work out, just frustrating while it is all in someone else's hands. Other than that summer has been very relaxing so far, and should continue that way for another 3 weeks!

relaxing,
rich.

Lisboa

2007-06-23T12:53:00.000+01:00

A quickie to say hi and let you all know that you should be jealous of teachers and their summer holidays! I'm in Lisbon, Portugal... looking forward to a week of sun and relaxation to kick off the massive 7 weeks I have to recover from the tough spring term I've had - see previous entries for details ;)

Also wanted to have a little rant about ridiculous bank identification rules in Sweden... I want to pay a cheque (check for the Americans!) which is payable to "Richard Walls" into an account of the name "Richard Walls" and they won't accept my passport as ID... in fact no bank will ever accept an Aussie passport as ID... because it doesn't have my Swedish ID number (birthdate plus 4 digits).
"So, what you're saying is that I can enter your country, work here, pay taxes but I cannot pay IN a cheque??"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Does the bank issue a valid ID card?"
"Yes, but... I don't suppose you have any relatives that live here?"
"No" (How ever did you guess?!)
"Well your employer could come and vouch for you. That's the only other option."
hmm.... I think to myself... how likely that my boss wants to come to the bank with me??!!

Anyway, thankfully it was my local bank where I have taken my mortgage and the woman I have dealt with was able to vouch for me... so I got my money eventually!

Swedes are so amazed that Australia manages to function without every citizen having an ID number that is used for everything... I am amazed that everyone here is so happy for "Big Brother" to know everything about them (and me now... I have a number!)... but then I do come from a country founded on convicts and other dubious immigrants. And we all know that all immigrants are violent, rude, criminals that should all be put on the next boat back... except for me, of course, and all the immigrants I know... it's just the ones I don't know that are dodgy. Isn't it wonderful being right all the time... one of the luxuries of being a white, middle class citizen. Time to step off the soap box...

enjoy the sunshine,
rich.

Rainy Sunday

2007-06-17T09:36:00.000+01:00

We finally kicked the brats out of Beverly Hills High on Friday for summer, 3 days of meetings, reflection, evaluation, feedback and small amounts of planning next week and then I begin 7 weeks of summer holidays... which will be kicked off in style when I fly to Lisbon, Portugal for a week on Friday. The end of term/year varied for us teachers, some had finished all their grading quite early and looked like they were in holiday mode a couple of weeks ago. We, on the other hand, didn't plan it as well and had a final exam 10 days before the grade deadline (60 essay answers to read!) and an all-day parliamentary role-play 2 days before the deadline... so a few late nights/early mornings... but a 3 hour nap after lunch yesterday seemed to help put things back into order!

The final year students had their graduation a week ago - all the girls wear white, the boys in suits. Champagne breakfast somewhere is followed by a lunch with all the teachers, a final gathering in the hall for some prizes, speeches, and songs followed by a mad dash outside at 2.30pm to meet awaiting family members and friends. All the finery is quickly lost as they change from fines to dime, jump on the back of a truck of some description which has been suitably equipped with loud music and cheap beer. The drive round Beverly Hills generally making a nuisance of themselves but claiming it is their tradition and right to do so (do I sound like a whinging geriatric??). And then they are gone... some reappear a few days later to collect work or books but most become ghosts overnight.

And now here a short joke that made me laugh during the week:

A chicken and an egg are lying in bed. The chicken is leaning against the headboard smoking a cigarette, with a satisfied smile on its face. The egg, looking a bit pissed off, grabs the sheet, rolls over, and says, "Well, I guess we finally answered THAT question."

If anyone needs it explained - read it a second time.

hmmm... simple things...

And now come the plug for local aussie music, have a listen to the myspace site, go to the launch, show some support!

I know one of the guys in the band (JC) and I know they would appreciate all the support they can get - will make an even better impression on the industry folk if there is a decent crowd.

So take your friends and have a beer!

Think that will have to do for today, I have to do all those exciting Sunday things like dishes, washing, cleaning...

I read that Melbourne has 63 weeks worth of water left, assuming that it doesn't rain... kinda scary, although it sounds as though Adelaide was a lot worse. The whole water issue isn't quite the same over here, can still see people watering their concrete pavements... brings back memories of growing up in Albert Park!

Also, tip on a great documentary: Planeten. It is a Swedish production, but most of the interviews and voice-overs are in English for those of you that struggle with your å, ä and ö!!

raining,
rich.

Acting or teaching?

2007-06-06T12:39:00.000+01:00

I forgot to mention in the last post:

For those of you that know my sis, you'll know that she is the actor in the family and I stuck to following a black line (not a white one - that would make me a futures trader in London or a QC in Adelaide??!!). Although yesterday I did start to wonder... as we are coming to the end of the school year we usually have some form of evaluation of the course and our teaching with the students. So I sat down with half of one of my classes yesterday and had a bit of an open chat with them about what they thought about the course - the funniest moment came when one of the kids said that my "acting" made the classes more interesting, note he didn't say my "teaching"! I do remember at uni one of the lecturers saying that teaching was like being on stage every lesson, every day - although I had forgotten until that precious comment yesterday.

back to the essays...

spring time, party time

2007-06-06T10:09:00.000+01:00

Yes, spring is finally here in full force - sunshine and mid-twenties all week. Perfect! The weekend was very busy and that resulted in the past 2 days being a bit of a write-off, rich was very tired... can't party like the students any more!

My cousin Andy came up to Stockholm for the weekend (not from Aus obviously, he'd been studying in Lund for a semester and is now on his way around Europe for a couple of months). So on Friday we went out for a few beers and had a bit of a look around, ended up being quite late and then I had already promised I'd get up early to help coach... and also organise to "kidnap" Paul for his "svensexa" (buck's day/night). In Sweden it is tradition that the boys organise a day for the groom but don't tell him when it is going to be, the tricky bit is then kidnapping him sometime when it suits... Paul's habit of arriving at least one hour late made this a bit of a challenge. However the offer of all-you-can-eat brunch was too hard to refuse and 1hour 15 minutes after suggested time he finally arrived (I'd factored in the first hour, so really he was only 15 min late - perfectly within the realms of downunder "-ish" time!). When all the other guys turned up all he could say was "Oh no, oh no!" With perfect weather we set off for a park for a bongo drum lesson - we sat in a group of about 12 and made enough noise to be heard over half the town, thankfully no one complained. Then off to Sergels Torg (the most central square in town) and gave him his first challenge - draw a picture of Sara (fiancé) with chalk on the pavement... and what a crowd... up to 100 people at some stages (took him a couple of hours). His dad and brother arrived in the middle of the from England (another surprise). After that it was paint ball, dinner and out to a club - where I met another friend, Jakob, who had had his "svensexa" on the same day (Jakob is also getting married on the same day as Paul, unfortunately I can't teleport between them).

Sunday was spent wandering around Stockholm with Andy until he had to leave for the airport. Then it was time for me to get ready for the Beverly Hill High Graduation Prom - all the little darlings, and some of the teachers, get dressed to the nines and air kiss all night. This year it was located at a beautiful old château. Starting with mingle and drinks on the entrance balcony in the setting sun with views over a lake, then dinner upstairs in amazingly decorated rooms (think France (18th century?)), followed by dance and bar downstairs. There were speeches, some good and some not quite as good, as always - I hope my improv speech fell into the former category! Many of the kids piked early as they have been on the party wagon since the start of May, happy to say that Hanne, Jens and I kept up the faculty side until dawn was threatening. We were all, however, a bit tired the day after...

Today is Sweden's National Day, which means no work... well, for me it means no lessons but I do have 60 essay tests I need to read... gulp... better get on with it.

sunny,
rich.

been a while...

2007-05-28T05:47:00.000+01:00

It has dragged on between posts a bit... and this is just a quick note before heading off to school for the day. It's getting close to the end which means everybody has a bit more to do, especially the darling kids that now want to make up for 10 months slacking in one week! Also starting this week is the renovation of all the bathrooms in my building - it has been years since all the pipes were done, so it is time to rip everything out and put in new ones. This means no shower or toilet for 6 weeks... thankfully (oh so, thankfully) I have a friend who lives less then 5 minutes from me who is overseas for another 3 weeks and has very kindly let me stay here - THANK YOU!!

And now something that I was sent recently... thought I could use it next year to explain political ideologies/economic models:

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away...

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows.
No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

THE ANDERSEN MODEL
You have two cows.
You shred them.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy....

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

Cheers!
rich.

ruh

2007-05-17T19:15:00.000+01:00

The last post was more for the readers down under I suppose, the rest of us not being able to buy OK Australia. So in the interests of fairness... well, no, not really, just because I know the guys:

I went to the Release Party for the début cd for the band Ruh, check out their website and myspace. They rock even more live, and are going to play with Bo Kaspers Orkester over summer (and, rumour has it, The Ark - of Eurovision 2007 song contest fame, 18th is still better than Australia if that is any consolation! ummm... hold on a sec... Australia's not in that one, 'cos I have no doubt Slim Dusty could win that one too if Oz was ever let in, even from the grave. Pub with no beer - classic.)... get on the Ruh bandwagon early! And buy their album - now!

And just to let you all know I am (in)officially 22% rich(er)... well, supposedly apartment prices in inner Stockholm have gone up by that much this year already. This of course means that my apartment would now be 22% over my limit... glad I bought it when I did!

hungry,

rich.

Wedding photos...

2007-05-15T15:09:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned, the photos from the wedding I was at in Oz were going to be published in OK Magazine - this is the best pic I can find on the website. Guess they want you to buy the real thing!

wedding, family, friends...

2007-05-12T08:47:00.000+01:00

Almost a week since I returned, which must mean that any desire I have to sleep in the middle of the day is now due to laziness and not jetlag. The title of this post aptly describes my week and a half in Melbourne. I arrived at stupid o'clock on a Tuesday morning and was greeted by the beginnings of a beautiful sunny day - the sun was definitely needed after about 40 hours travel (Sofia-Amsterdam-Stockholm-London-Hong Kong-Melbourne). Breakfast with mum and sis was a great start to 11 days, most of which seemed to revolve around meeting people and eating/drinking - tough really. Shame we are not all rich (wallet, not name!) and can lead this life all the time - although, I'm sure I would miss all the brats from Beverly Hills High. Arriving on the Tuesday morning was very important with regard to the wedding plans (the reason for the timing of the trip), as Tuesday night was the buck's night (buck's or bucks'? his night or everyone's night? ahhh... the dilemmas we face). I had (optimistically as it turns out) thought I would manage a siesta after lunch before the festivities began... hmmm... well, not quite, had to try on the suit (I was a groomsman), find shoes and a belt, and help out with last minute stuff. And see the bride! Brooke and Jared (the couple!) are two old swimming buddies who (finally!) tied the knot with many old friends in attendance - many with quite a few air miles under their belts to get there. The bridal party (is that bridesmaids and groomsmen? That's what I mean, anyway!) had travelled from: Italy, Texas, Stockholm, Sydney, Bairnsdale and the suburbs of Melbourne, whilst the rest of the guests covered all the states and territories of Australia as well as parts of Asia... quite the logistical exercise.

I could go on forever (and quite often do, I know) but will cut it shorter by saying that the buck's night went well, the cooked breakfast the next day at Torch on Swan St in the sun was delicious. The reason for the buck's on a Tuesday was that the next day was ANZAC Day, and hence a public holiday. Many of those connected to the wedding went to the "traditional" Aussie Rules footy game at the "G", I had lunch with my first swimming club - Powerpoints. Was a great afternoon, Katherine had done a great job of getting in touch with a bunch of old swimmers (we all swam together about 10 years ago) - it was very strange seeing many of them after 10 years, we have all grown up and are doing the most amazing array of different things: medical research, law, development work, teaching (!), real estate... Was great that it timed so well for my visit (Thanks Kath!).

There were other days like that, catching up with people I hadn't seen for between 6 months and 3 years... always a shame it is so short, but better than nothing. It is strange though, with old friends the time apart seems to disappear in an instant, it can feel like 2 weeks (just that we have managed to fit an extraordinary amount of stuff into those 2 weeks). I notice it most when I meet kids (cousins, or friends') - they change much faster and grow so much. Although I do try very hard to avoid saying, "My, how you've grown!" as I do want to try to still seem young (30 this year!). I managed relatively well to stay relaxed and enjoy it all without getting stressed about the lack of time - not a whole lot of sleep the first week!

The wedding was a fantastic day, everyone looked fantastic (for those in Aus the photos will be in OK! Magazine next week (14th May, I think) - just checked the website and they still have this week's one). A few drops of rain after the ceremony were all we got, until later that evening as we headed from the reception centre to the after-party. Yep, trust swimmers to organise an after-party to their own wedding!! It was great! A very long day, but everyone was happy.

The rest of my days were spent, much like the first few, drinking coffee and catching up with friends - there is never enough time to do everything I want to do - really will have to try to make the next trip a bit longer. Having said that... it will no doubt end up the same.

I've had a week back at school which thankfully coincided with the schools project weeks (twice a year for 2 weeks, December and May). This time I don't have a project, and there are no normal lessons, so I get time to catch up on all my marking and stuff that was covering my desk. I had my big project in December which kept my extremely busy then - so this is my pay-off!

Time to go and do something with the day, now that I have done my knee exercises, updated the blog, folded half the washing... all that domestic stuff... maybe time for a caffè...

latte,
rich.

home

2007-05-06T18:01:00.000+01:00

Home is a fluid concept sometimes... however this most recent journey to Stockholm did feel more like coming home than any other. Now I get to embark on the week of jet lag that I so love, all I want to do is sleep but I have to try to wait until the sun goes down otherwise I'll have the 3am stares. You know, lying in bed, staring at the roof - wondering why your eyelids seem incapable of closing.

So, I had 9 days in Bulgaria - obviously the reason I got into teaching was to jet all over Europe! I was accompanying 6 students from 4 schools who represented Sweden at a Model European Parliament. This involved the kids spending lots of time in committee meetings (each had a different topic), and the teachers went sightseeing! I did check my emails a couple of times and did the proof-reading of the committee resolutions before they were published for the final 2 days spent in the Bulgarian Parliament House. It was a great experience for students and teacher - they learnt lots, but more importantly they got to know others from all over Europe (some better than others, but what happens on the trip stays on the trip!). I got to experience Sofia (Bulgaria's capital) and some of the villages in the region - the stuffed us all in a buses a couple of times and carted us off to some little place that is valiantly trying to overcome Communist induced apathy or neglect and become European. We were introduced to 3 different Mayors - who varied from Mafioso, to business-liberal greenie, to farmer - quite an experience! And shown a cure for insomnia - a DVD about the region we were about to visit... 45 minutes complete with commentary... in Bulgarian, with music from Borat. I had to try very hard not to burst out laughing watching another one of our group try to conceal his sleepy head nods... you know the ones... where you fall asleep, your head drops and you wake up 1 second after you drifted off... I found it very funny at the time!

There were many highlights... the candle-lit bar at the back of a building that used to house the Communist propaganda printing press... the orthodox church in the middle of Sofia... arguments over dodgy taxi fares, until we realised we were arguing over 50 cents... the very cheap beer... the great company of teachers from all over Europe... and me being able to introduce myself as "Richard, from Sweden" and nobody questioning it!

It all went very quickly, especially the last night's sleep which was rudely interrupted by the alarm at 4.45am! Bulgaria, as is probably the case for many ex-communist countries, is somewhere between East and West, in some ways European and in some ways so far away from much or the EU. It will be an amazing journey for the people involved where change can be measured in months and weeks rather than years.

I'm sure this hasn't done it justice, but for now it will have to do... I'm hungry and tired - not a good combination for rich...

jet lagged,
rich.

away

2007-05-02T01:55:00.000+01:00

Has been very quiet here, sorry to the 3 of you waiting expectantly for a long update! A quickie to say that I am alive and coming to the end of 11 days in Melbourne - it has been mad (as were the 9 days in Bulgaria). So many stories (some of which may make it here!) and no time now... you'll just have to wait!

rich.

the tough life of a jetsetting teacher...

2007-04-13T18:36:00.000+01:00

Yes, it is about to start. I came to the end of my wonderful month of taxpayer-funded taxi travel to work, had a week holiday (where not a whole lot was accomplished - I did sleep lots - does that count as constructive?), and now am packed and almost all set for tomorrow morning's 4am alarm. Ahhh... just like the good old days at Nuna... very early swim sessions! Although now I will head to the airport instead of the pool and set off for Sofia, Bulgaria. A week watching (and helping!) kids play politicians - I'm sure they'll be scarily good, and then all choose wonderful careers as venture capitalists, leaving the suckers to educate the next generation and the others to play at being real politicians... bloody cynical Social Studies teachers - send them all to the gulags!

This week's encounter with a politician was at the swimming club's welcome home for the members that were in Melbourne for the World Championships: 3 swimmers, 3 divers, 2 coaches, 1 doctor - for a total of 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze (better than Germany!). Anyway, Therese Alshammar was (as usual!) the star attraction but, lo and behold, somebody forgot to tell the local city politician who, after welcoming Therese to the stage, proceeded to talk for 5 minutes about all the wonderful things Stockholm (she) was going to do to help everyone. Meanwhile Therese stood there very politely, smiled and didn't get to say a word! But they had organised an autograph session afterwards... I think the kids went for the star swimmer and not the politician!

For those of you familiar with my avoidance of an iron (still haven't felt the need to buy one in Stockholm!) and also avoidance of having a clean shaven face you'll be happy (?!) to hear that I have packed my (only) suit, shirts, ties and shaving kit, and will be expected to be 'formally' dressed at many of the functions in Bulgaria. Still, if I get into it maybe I'll start looking for a job in the city. They even have an evening where they have organised for the delegations to visit their embassy - which means, as the teacher with the Swedish delegation, that I will be going to "my" Swedish embassy. Will be interesting to see how they react when an Aussie rocks up! "G'day mate! Where's the barbie? Gotta coldie? Long way from home, eh!"

on that note...

rich.

2007-04-08T13:24:00.000+01:00

Lots of WAB at the moment (Work Avoidance Behaviour)!

Tenerife 06

rich.

Friday night...

2007-04-07T11:20:00.000+01:00

Morning... well, it's afternoon really, but surely you are allowed to say morning if you eating breakfast! The last post about understanding Aussies was supposed to be published yesterday (Friday) - but I mucked something up, I'm sure you won't notice!

I'll try to keep this brief, although I've said that before and usually fail dismally. Had a great night last night at Stefano's 30th and thought I'd just mention 2 things that made me laugh. First the way Swedes often have a great ability to see how they act, claim/admit that they fit the stereotype, denounce it as being typically "Swedish" - by which they mean boring, and yet do nothing about it... social norms... wonderful! Last night the conversation ended up centering around typical Swedish behaviour queuing and travelling on public transport. It was brought on by a question to me about what differences I experienced when I first came to Sweden - the person who asked had herself lived and studied in Brisbane for 4 years so she had seen the same contrast in reverse. (She also very kindly apologised later for any embarrassment or uncomfortableness that asking the question might have caused - it hadn't, but a lovely gesture!). In summary - don't talk to any one you don't know. This of course result in people travelling on the same bus/train together for many days, weeks, months, years (more so in the country one would assume) and not talking to each other despite the fact they recognise each other. The reasoning is something like this: "Why have you chosen today to talk to me? Is there something wrong with me? No, I don't think so. Therefore there must be something very wrong with you, in which case I don't want to talk to you... I hope we get there soon so I can escape from this horrible conversation and get back to my solitude." At which time someone else on the bus is no doubt daydreaming about their last trip to Australia, Asia, America, wherever, and how nice it was that everyone chats to you and is very friendly. How you can go to a bar, talk to someone and it doesn't automatically mean you are trying to pick them up or that you are on day-release from the loony bin. Hmmm... on to the second thing that made me laugh...

Some of us continued out after the party to a club, Solidaritet, which in English translates to Solidarity. Not an all together surprising name in a country with such a long tradition of socialist government. Oxford defines it thus,

solidarity

• noun unity resulting from common interests, feelings, or sympathies.

It is often associated with unions, and was the name used by a Polish organisation of independent trade unions founded in 1980 and outlawed in good communist style in 1982.

So nothing strange there. Except that the club is located in the heart of inner-city yuppie town and has its fair share of people who are there to see and, more importantly, be seen. There were also a decent smattering of wankers... more than one example of a guy who walks in with some trendy overcoat on and a stylish scarf wrapped around his neck - not at all unusual given the weather outside - but who then proceeds to walk straight past the cloakroom to the bar where he orders a beer and then continues to walk around a very hot bar/club in his very warm overcoat and scarf. Must be tough being so cool. Then of course I tried to imagine how I fitted in to the surroundings: very short hair (shaved yesterday), short stubble (shaved at same time with clippers, not a big fan of shaving properly!), glasses, black shirt, jeans (baggy enough so that they can go over the knee/leg brace) and black shoes... which class of wanker do I fit into in that club?
Still not quite sure how much irony there is in naming a club after the ideal of union fellowship and then filling it with people whose fellowship is fashion - nor in how many people appreciate it.

That's enough for now, time to go for coffee in the sun - preferably behind a window as it's not supposed to get into double digit figures today!

rich.

understanding aussies...

2007-04-07T11:18:00.000+01:00

As part of my effort to spread love and understanding I try to educate the world (one classroom at a time!) about Australia, Aussies and, of course, our wonderful sense of humour. To that end I have inflicted Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on some of my students, and I think The Castle should be next in the line up. There are also any number of www sources to help with this process. I was recently sent this:

Aussie surf lifesavers

which my darling students didn't really get much of! But at least I got to laugh a bit. (If you ever come across wonderful bits like this one please let me know - always good to get a little outside input into my English lessons.) Also on the subject of being an English teacher... thanks to all of you who didn't comment on my spelling and grammatical errors in the last post - very kind of you not to embarrass me in this giant forum!

What a good Friday I've been having... a nice long sleep in (preceded by a very early night as I was completely knackered even though it was a short week), a lazy breakfast, 3 skype calls to friends around the world for a total of 2 hours, lunch... even managed to do the dishes and wash some clothes! And a couple of friends just dropped by with a bookshelf which they no longer need - for the first time that I can remember I have more bookshelf space than books - time to go book shopping! Or I could maybe get some of the ones in Oz... only 18 days to go, but who's counting.

Easter, for teachers, means not just 4 days off work, no, it's a whole week of hols - yay for me!! Looking forward to taking it very easy, sleeping, whiling away hours in cafes and continuing the rehab on my knee. Well, I'm not really looking forward to the last bit... I am looking forward to it being better though. Found out on Wednesday that I need to have the brace on for another 4 weeks (as well as no full squats for 3 months after that!). So all of those in Melbourne will get to see it - but at least I can almost throw away the crutches. The holidays and the travel also means that yesterday was the last taxi ride to school... and also the most enjoyable one for two reason, 1 - the driver was very friendly, turns out he lives in the building opposite mine with his family and his son spent last year in Australia, played rugby in Sydney and has now just made the Swedish Team! 2 - got a call from Alex in Melbourne whilst in the taxi and realised that it won't be all that long before I am there. The funniest moment from this week's taxi rides was the guy who was complaining about drivers not following road rules, especially the lower speed limits in residential areas, whilst doing 70 in a 50 zone. I chose not to point out the hypocrisy of the situation instead employing the "smile and nod" strategy that works in so many situations.

Many of you probably don't know, although won't be surprised to hear, that I am involved in one of the swimming clubs here. I swim a little bit (although not now due to the knee) and also help out coaching the club's elite group 2-3 times a week. I started about a year ago when a friend of mine, Johan, had the group and I could see he could do with some help. He has since moved to Göteborg but I stayed and now help Anne, the coach the club have appointed to replace him. For me it's a way of staying in touch with elite swimming without having to do 10 sessions a week. The club had 6 members on the Swedish team in Melbourne for the World Champs (1 team doctor, 2 coaches - Anne and Walle, 3 swimmers - Therese (gold and silver), Stefan (bronze), Petter (semi-final)). So everyone was pretty happy with that!
It is also to great to have something away from work that I am involved in - it forces me not to stop thinking about work. I have also met a bunch of great people, one of whom is having a 30th birthday party tonight - so I have to get ready for that very soon. Quite possible that tomorrow morning will be a little bit on the slow side...

Aussie it up!

rich.

the sun is shining in Stockholm

2007-04-01T08:22:00.000+01:00

Yes, for those of you not here, it really has been shining in Stockholm. Wonderful early spring weather - clear blue sky, very little wind, temperature around 15. And the consequences? (sounds like me in one of my Social Studies lessons - "so, what's the issue/problem? What are the causes? The consequences?" - did I mention we've started looking at Identity/Integration/Immigration? more of that later). Anyway, back to the weather... the consequences are a significant number of people that think it is now warm enough for shorts and skirts - particularly the girls at Beverly Hill High, presumably to show off their legs to the boys or so that they can wear the latest ArmaniGucciPradaGabana skirt they bought last weekend in ParisMonacoRomeNY. I have ventured to sitting in the sun in a T-shirt in the middle of the day - it's not summer yet! Put the shorts away!! The weather also increased the particle & pollen count to the extreme, which in turn gave rich a severe dose of hay fever - mostly over now. See: cause, consequence and solution (loratadin 10mg!)

School is rolling along, 4 days next week before Easter holidays start. Have started looking at Integration with my Social Studies classes - not an issue unique to Sweden, looking at how society is affected and how it should react to immigration. It is always interesting talking about Integration, Segregation and Assimilation at the High School located in possibly THE most segregated area in Sweden (particularly based on socio-economic measures). Thankfully there are some students in the class that see that, and most of them agree with it when it is pointed out to them. (Teachers seem to develop this wonderful ability to ask questions where it is completely obvious to the student how they should answer - great!??) The main challenge for this issue (anywhere in the world) is to avoid falling into the "us" and "them" trap - which most countries/political parties/people fail to avoid. "They" should do this, do that, jump through hoops, do 13 years of school and 6 years of university again, learn our language (but not lose their foreign accent, so we know who they are), not complain, and be happy driving a taxi, working at a kebab place or a school kitchen in snob-ville. Above all, fit in, don't cause trouble, don't take our jobs, and fill the scape goat roll anytime we need you to. And whilst this may seem a bit harsh I believe that degrees of this lie behind many of the views/opinions expressed (not just in Sweden). Even when you look at the political parties "plans" for Integration much of it revolves around measures to help them - and very little that we need to do. So I'm fighting the uphill battle, in the hope that one day (when all the darlings to which I proclaim my great knowledge have leapt up the social/business/political ladder) some of this understanding will seep through and make the world a better place... here goes rich again - the idealistic [tree-hugging, left wing hippie - Alex's note] teacher. Enough of that... well, maybe one more thing:
What do fans of Midnight Oil, Nuclear Disarmament Party (ca. 1984), Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace, Surfrider Foundation, "sorry" (Sydney Olympics, 1st Oct 2000), and the Australian Labor Party?
Peter Garrett - and maybe he is managing to affect environment policy in the Opposition party... Australia might finally sign the Kyoto Protocol if Labor wins the next election. Would be amazing if they did - I was sadly disillusioned last election when I realised that many people seemed to vote with their hip pockets rather than ideals/morals (Iraq vs. interest rates was my interpretation of that election - and this one could be the same). Now I really do sound like Alex's tree-hugging hippie friend... enough banging on.

Time to go put my shorts on, the sun is shining!

rich.

skiing trip, minus the skiing

2007-03-25T16:27:00.000+01:00

Working at Beverly Hills High does come with certain perks and one of them was last week - the annual ski trip to Ramundberget. This year, due to circumstances beyond our control, the school combined the student ski trip with teacher conference days... what this meant was that instead of the teachers that chose to go on the trip being able to cruise around on skis for 3 days (working hard for our money!), all teachers were expected to go and then sit in a conference room from 9am to lunchtime - with a couple of hours of skiing afterwards if we wanted to. Obviously I was off the slopes - but managed to find a gym to work of the energy accumulated whilst sitting through meetings, and then hobbled over to after-ski. With 200 students on the slopes it was one of the largest groups the school had taken for quite a while, combined with the great snow this lead to almost hourly updates of the latest student to hurt a knee/arm/back. We were quite a group of wounded after 3 days.
It also, once again, gave the minority a chance to really piss the teachers off by flaunting all rules and generally acting like spoilt brats. It would seem that a few of them were on the trip for the after-ski not the skiing. Yes, the over 18s are allowed to drink (and the under 18s try very hard to!), but there is a difference between having a couple of beers and waving your Gold Card around ordering champagne. Anyway... it's building team spirit... so they say. There was a disco one night and an open-mike night as well (which did give some of the students a chance to show some amazing musical abilities... and some to show a distinct lack of said abilities).
The 8 hours on the bus each way gave me a chance to catch up on B grade chick flicks that I regularly miss out on now that I don't have my little sis to keep me up do date. The Mean Girls DVD was unfortunately scratched, but we managed to fit in 50 First Dates and A Cinderella Story!

Back in Stockholm... I went to the physio on Friday and now have some exercises to try to stop the rapid wasting of my right leg - amazing how fast it disappears. I am walking on it almost properly, although need crutches as I can't bend it fully in the knee brace I have, and have been able to go to the gym and do some upper body exercises. Which has been great to work off the frustration of not being able to ride or swim. Thankfully (luckily!) I have the "taxi note" from my doctor all the way until the Easter hols, so I get to avoid the train for another 2 weeks - thanks for the comment Scotty! And then after the holidays my travel involves planes more than trains...
... first it is off to Sofia, Bulgaria for a MEP conference. Model European Parliament - students play politicians for a week, representing their country, debating issues that face the EU. Ours is one of 5 schools in Sweden that comprise the delegation - and I'm the chaperon! Having now seen the final program it looks as though the students will be doing more work than I will - the way all teaching/learning should be. 9 days in Bulgaria is followed by 4 hours at Arlanda airport and then back onto another plane...
... and the lovely, long flight back to Melbourne. I have somehow managed to swing time off work (combined with public holidays and project days that I'm not involved in) to get 10 days in Melbourne. The reason for timing is Brooke and Jared's wedding... the booking of the ticket did take a bit of time at the travel agent: can't leave before 3pm on Sunday (arriving back from Bulgaria), have to be in Melbourne by Tuesday for the buck's night (which the 4 groomsmen are trying to organise from Texas, Sydney, Bairnsdale and me in Stockholm - nothing like local knowledge!). So we managed to find a flight and I am very excited. Although I am beginning to realise that I'm not going to have enough time to do all the things I would like to do... particularly anything that involves driving a car - as I will still have the knee brace on. Will probably have a general get-together, so stay posted for that! Unfortunately my trip to Melbourne is not coinciding with the World Swimming Champs which are on at the moment - hope all you Swedes that are down there now are enjoying it, you're not missing much here. But my trip will let me catch the end of the comedy festival - so a few laughs hopefully (not for the littlies!).

Time to get on with the exciting Sunday evening stuff - everything that I've been putting off since Saturday morning... take care out there...

rich.

hop-a-long

2007-03-16T12:55:00.000+01:00

Walking (hobbling?!) around on crutches is an interesting experience... for a rookie so to say. Like this morning as I take the train one stop to go to the pool to coach: outside all the underground stations in the mornings there are people handing out the free newspapers that seem to explain the rapid depletion of the Amazonian rainforests (that and the 20 articles I copied for 140 students on Thursday... hmmm...). They stand there because commuters are incapable of doing anything for themselves that early in the morning - i.e. reaching to take a paper from a box is far too taxing - or maybe these producers of intellectually, incisive news coverage are scared you'll take the other mob's effort which is nowhere near up to standard but is in very nice colours and has an even smaller easier to hold/read on train format. Anyway, so these people stand at the top of the steps (almost in your way) and hold out these papers at you... and they continue to hold it out to me... as I walk towards them... on crutches... what am I going to do - hold it in my mouth?! They don't even smile when they see/realise the situation - maybe they just don't get it?
So I can't hold things as I'm walking with crutches, which makes trying to serve myself lunch at the school dining hall a daily task of finding a friendly colleague or student to help out. Shopping for food also presents the same difficulties... at least I know this is for a limited time only (like all great offers). In fact I can take more and more weight on my leg every day so I might be off the crutches in a week or two, but the knee/leg brace is on for a while yet.

Thanks for the comments... at least I know you've read it! Realised though that maybe I need to fill in a few details for old friends that aren't quite sure where I am - I'm in Stockholm, Sweden. (There is probably one in Texas too, so I put Sweden just to avoid the confusion... that's not Switzerland either. Did you know that in Austria you can buy T-shirts with the slogan "Austria - we have no kangaroos!"?? speaking of confusing countries with each other). I work at Beverley Hills High (you should all remember Brandon and the gang from 90210) and try to teach the little neo-liberals that just because the former Prime Minister of Sweden was a member of the Social Democrats it does not mean he is the devil incarnate. Quite strange in some ways to be in the country often regarded as having had the best social welfare system in the world and to have landed at a school located in a suburb as far from that as possible, but it does lead to some interesting times! And is not without it perks at certain times... although this week's "perks" were 12 hour days... there really aren't fairies in the world are there? - 'cos if there were they would have done my work for me while I was at home/hospital nursing my knee, instead they just leave it there for me to catch up with now. But have now caught up with most of it and can relax a bit. The only good thing about combining the late nights at work and being a temporary invalid is the service provided by the afore mentioned Swedish welfare system: I can take a taxi to and from work, and the state insurance agency will pay for it all! So no waiting for trains in the dark. It is a great system! The doctor fills out the form saying that due to my decrease mobility I cannot go to work (it would take me 30 min to walk from the station to school at the pace I go at the moment (instead of 10) - and that is only at one end). However the doc then fills in the part of the form that says that I could work if I had transport to/from my workplace - wonderful! School is happy (no substitute needed), saves the system money overall and, most importantly, helps keep me sane (less crazy anyway) by not making me sit at home.

Time for me to hop-a-long,
rich.

Welcome to my world?

2007-03-10T12:34:00.000+01:00

well, now, here goes... as for the title, no this is not my world - I do get out outside and breathe fresh air on occasions. Well, as often as possible. However in pursuit of this activity last week I managed to make it much more difficult for myself this week - I'll explain. Last week I was in the Austrian Alps (thanks Jacqui and Ralf, and family, a great week despite the accident!), Filzmoos to be exact (near Salzburg - go 2014!), skiing... which was fine until lunchtime on Wednesday, then a mass of deep snow jumped out at me and swallowed my right ski. This caused me to elegantly face-plant into the white stuff (the Alps stuff, not the London snuff), unfotunately my upper and lower right leg failed to communicate in real time and my knee was the link that broke. I now get to hobble around on crutches for a few weeks, and have a knee brace on for 6-8 weeks. I've torn the medial ligament, damaged the posterior cruciate ligament and also the meniscus. It was relatively (considering the damage!) stable and the doc thought that it should heal itself as long as it is braced to stop sideways movement of the knee - which I am very happy about, as sideways movement in my right knee provokes scream, shout followed by a few minutes of deep breathing whilst sitting still waiting for the pain to dissapate. My first question for the doc after the MRI scan on Wednesday was can I travel in April! Great to see my priorities are all in the right place. More about travel plans later, but she said, "yes", but with the knee brace.

A result of this is I have time to start on of these things, a blog, and possibly even time to update it. I've thought about it before but always doubted my ability to stick to it... we'll see... time will tell.

Of course the skiing accident has resulted in numerous questions and comments. Top of the list being "What have you done?" followed often by "Guess you've had that question a lot." Also it has been pointed out that maybe Aussies shouldn't associate with snow, and that I should stick to non-frozen water! I'm sure I won't learn.

bye for now,
rich.