Happy Waffle Day!

Sunday was Waffle Day.  It is actually a day celebrating the conception of Christ, but the Swedish for the day sounded a lot like “waffle” so a lot of Swedish Americans celebrate it.  When Americans are visiting, the Swedes make an effort to have waffles on that day.  We had waffles with raspberry jam and whipped cream, which is the traditional topping.  It was good and the whipped cream made it taste very sweet.  Sunday was also the day we arrived with not having slept on the plane.  I went to my host’s house from the airport and slept for an hour and a half, then got up for a walking tour of Uppsala history followed by a potluck smorgasbörd.  The potluck was at the house of one of the teachers.  The people currently involved in the exchange were there as well as those from the past delegation this fall and some that are thinking of going next year.  It was great food and they sang to us after dinner.  It was fun seeing some of the teachers again that I met last fall and meeting new ones.  

Today (Monday) I went to Gunnar’s school in the morning and met the teachers at their staff meeting, then was introduced to the students (high school) at their morning meeting.  They had very few questions for me in front of the whole group, but a lot of them came up to me after the meeting to introduce themselves and tell me how much they love America (and Prince!)  and to ask me questions. Some of them were very funny and some were very sweet.  I got a chance to talk to several of them more than just introductions.  They were excited to try out their English.  They special needs students at this school are very high-functioning; some even take some regular education classes at the main high school without support.  In special education, the child is assessed one time in four areas and if their IQ is less than 70 they are place in special education.  They are not reassessed unless a teacher requests it.   That is supposed to be changing in the coming year.  The teacher meets with the parents three times per year and writes an educational plan—one page, very brief , with no timelines.    

After that, we went to another high school (the big school) that Gunnar’s school is a campus of and they talked about how educational decisions are made at the parliamentary level and explained their new national high school plan.  It is quite complex and they weren’t able to answer all of our questions about it.  Childen choose a career track when they enter the high school at 16. Some of the choices are college preparatory and the rest are vocational such as auto mechanics, carpentering/house building, and truck driving.  In the college prep there are even specialties such as dance, visual arts, performing arts, science, math, sports, etc.  They need a certain number of credits in  various areas to graduate and have until they are 21 to complete it, though it is considered to be a three-year program.  And the math class taken by an art student is different from that taken by an auto mechanics teacher.  It seems odd to be tracking children when they are 16 years old.  Those are the years in which they determine what they are interested in and discover who they are.  They are allowed to switch and many do.  The three-year high school program is not compulsory, but 98% of children start it because they do not have many choices otherwise for employment.

After lunch at the school, we returned to Gunnar’s school where we visitied some classes.  In music, Victor, a blind autistic boy, sang “Africa” by Toto and a song by Prince into the microphone while the teacher played electric guitar and another student played drums.  He was awesome! Many of these students were asked to be the house band for the bigger school production of “Footloose.” 

Tonight we went to a professional floorball game.  It is a lot like hockey, but no ice, different sticks, and the puck is similar to a wiffle ball.  There are 5 players on each team plus one goalie.  The goalie is padded and wears a helmet to protect them from the ball (and probably from stray sticks).  They are on their knees when they are defending their goal from an imminent attack.  The sticks are similar to a hockey stick, but the blade is perforated plastic with a slight curve to it.  The ball, though similar to a wiffle ball, is much thicker.  They get a two-minute removal from the game if they check someone with their stick and aren’t allowed to maul each other like in hockey.  The local team, Storvreta, won 4-1!  

More school visits tomorrow!