Week 13 - Cultural Development ( Easter Hags what are they ?) 07/04/12 - 13/04/12

Easter week in Sweden has definitely been a cultural change and different to my normal Easter Sunday. Instead of my usual family dinner and chocolate Easter eggs Megan and I spent the day making crepe with the French students. I received some lovely Easter Cards and letters from my Granny, my little brother and sister telling me about how many eggs the Easter bunny had left them.

Påskkärringar (Easter Hags)

Whilst in town I noticed that there were witches hanging in the town centre. I was curious so I asked Ulla our tutor what these represented. Ulla explained that in Sweden a myth exists surrounding Easter time. On the Thursday before Easter it is believed that witches fly off on broomsticks to dance with the devil at Blåkulla. This tradition has continued to this day and Swedish children dress up as witches known as Påskkärringar (Easter hags) painting their faces and walking door to door carrying their broomstick to spread the Easter cheer and receive sweets. I thought this was very much like Halloween in comparison to the Easter bunny story In Northern Ireland. These witches give a clear indication that Swedish Påsk origins predate Christianity. However, Easter today, has little to do with Christian beliefs for the majority of Swedes.

Megan and I loving our bikes

Easter week here in Trollhattan has been very relaxing and with the weather picking up again Megan and I decided to embrace the Swedish culture and purchase bikes. We have spent this week exploring the many beautiful areas in Trollhattan as well as cycling to Vanserborg. I can understand why so many people here travel by bike as the grounds are very flat in comparison to Northern Ireland where there are hills everywhere.

Trollywood stars

Some people refer to Trollhattan as Trollywood as it is very well know for the music and film industry in Sweden As we explored the town we noticed that the town has its very own Trollywood stars on the ground on a street close to the canal. We cycled to the beautiful canal, waterfalls and even visited a lovely church.

The beautiful Canal in Trollhattan

Church beside the waterfalls

 

My placement in Fridaskolan starts next week therefore at the end of this week I will purchase my first monthly bus card. Although I would much prefer to cycle to school I will be attending a school in Vansburg, the neighboring town of Trollhattan. The class begins at 8.30 therefore taking the bus at 7.30 to make it on time is the better option. The bus and train system is very efficient, very rarely do people in Sweden take a taxi as it is too expensive.

Enjoying some party food at Trollhattan badminton club.

This week the French student Robin who plays badminton with me decided to have some food and drinks after badminton at the club to celebrate his birthday. Robin and I discussed our opinions on the Swedes character and both agreed that they are very friendly and helpful but extremely reserved and it takes time and effort to get to know them as they don’t like to open up to new people. He thought it was a great chance to get to know the badminton players of the club and it was definitely a great idea. He told me that in his club in France they usually sit together after badminton to have tea and cake and he would like to introduce his club tradition to the club here in Trollhattan before going home which seems closer than ever.

Week 12 - Personal and Proffesional development (31/04/12 - 06/05/12)

This weekend Rebecca, Megan and I went for a Chinese with an American student named Pierce. It was really nice to eat out at a restaurant as it is not often we can do this. We also took the bus to Overby the biggest shopping centre in this area. I have booked my flights to return home and cannot believe that the end is near. I definitely feel at home here in Sweden and think I will be really sad to leave this town and all the wonderful people I have became really good friends with here.

Class this week was really interesting as we discussed the importance of creativity in learning and how schools can kill creativity amongst children. Formal tests in Primary education can minimize children’s confidence. Children can be discouraged to take risks and children can develop a fear of being wrong. I think this issue is very relevant and Ulla highlighted the importance of been creative in your teaching approaches. Furthermore, we had another visitor who talked about the early year’s education. She spoke about the importance of Preschool giving an insight into how the Swedish Pre-school came about and who the founders were. The Swedish system is different in comparison to Northern Ireland as children here attend pre-school between the ages of 3 months to 6 years old. Children do not start formal education until the age of 7 and there is a lot of focus on outdoor play and communicating with the children. She said that ‘learning to read and write starts with conversation.’ I am looking forward to visiting a Preschool whilst I’m on teaching practice.

I think long holidays at Stranmillis is something I have taken for granted over the past few years, as here in Sweden they don’t have Easter holidays as such. The lecturer (Ulla) told me that every Sunday is a holiday; luckily we have less class next week and have no class on Megan’s Birthday. I went to a local bakery and ordered a cake for Megan’s birthday, I was surprised when I seen that the cake was yellow with an Easter chick. They told me it’s an Easter birthday so the cake is yellow; it looked and tasted nice and Megan loved it. We spent the day baking buns and food and later had a party in our flat with the rest of the Erasmus group, it was a great night had by all.

I was shocked by the fact that it snowed this week especially after the previous warm weather. It felt strange to look out and see everything covered in white, it almost felt like Christmas again. Hopefully despite being so picturesque this won’t last long and we’ll see the return of some sunshine.

The view from our balcony