Day 26

Had nearly everything packed yesterday, alarm at 7.20. Last shower, last breakfast. Stella had offered to bring me to the train station, of course I did not turn that down, at 9 I was at Triangeln station. Used my jojo card to buy a ticket to Copenhagen and off I went. Over the Oresund bridge one more time, and then *emergency stop*, ok... A minute or so later the train pulled up again but 10 sec later *emergency stop*. This happend one more time. The driver spoke through the microphone in Swedish 'blablabla technical difficulties'. In the end, we pulled up and emergency braked ourselfs to Copenhagen airport and arrived 20 minutes delayed. The quest for the locker took a little longer than expected. On the Copenhagen airport website I had read that I would be able to pay for a locker using my credit card. Well no, these lockers only eat Danish coins. Got myself some cash, exchanged the cash to coins, coins in the locker - and then it was 10.15. I had planned to be at the aquarium at 10 :(. Decided to take the metro to save me some time, at 10.30 I arrived. Luckily it was not too busy, there wasn't really a line, the lady at the desk was kind enough to let me pay using the rest of my Danish coins ánd pin and I was in \o/. The building is rather new and has an interesting architecture, it's build in the shape of a flower (F-L-O-W-E-R, not vulva.). Each petal has a different theme with different tanks. There's one huge bioscope-screen-size tank, turn around the corner and you can walk 'through' that tank. There's a rain forest petal complete with trees and high humidity, where you can look at tanks from above, take the stairs to a lower floor and find yourself surrounded by these tanks (with piranha's, crocodiles and what not). Of course I had to check out the sea otters, they are so cute <3 but were not all too active. There was one huge 'tank' with puffins, unfortunately I only saw one, hiding behind a rock. And then of course there were tanks with puffer fish, octopusses, one cuttlefish (<3 <3), sea horses, sea dragons, herring, one electric eel (with an energy meter on the side :D), poisonous frogs, non poisonous frogs, etc. I really enjoy visiting sea water aquaria, it was a nice way of spending my last day in Scandinavia. Around noon it got really busy and I went to the restaurant for fish (haha) and chips. At one, I walked back to the airport. Got my bag, checked it in, through security, to the gate, into the plane. The plane took off in the direction of Malmö and then, right before the city, circled round. As the weather was really nice, I had an amazing view of the city all the way up till Lund (of course my phone was switched off in my jacket, in the luggage compartment above my head, no pictures), but it was great to see it all one more time, circle round and get home. An hour later I safely arrived at Eindhoven, Martin was waiting for me there, we drove home and that was it: 26 days, 22 blog posts, 16 school days, 19 observed lessons, 9 lessons taught by me, 14 interviews; 2 x 500 gram drop, 3 packages of stroopwafels and 2 pots of peanut butter traded for one bike, a Swedish design candle holder, lakrids chocolate-liquorice, a borgarskola keycord and an I <3 teaching IB pen (:D); a mountain of experience and renewed self-confidence (I really can do this!), new lesson ideas and material, 8 packages of tea (amongst others liquorice, after eight, hoga kusten, blue berry / lingoln and marzipan); countless facetime conversations, 2 movies watched, 2,5 chickflicks read, 1 unit studied, an entire day of courses in Swedish about Evolution in Lund, 1 visit to Louisiana, 1 visit to the blue planet; and of course the amazing new contacts abroad.
This was one experience or as we'd say switching back to Dutch, dit was me het maandje wel. Tack så mycket for reading this blog and enjoy the last day's pictures.

Day 25

The last day in school! Today was a study day. It started early in the morning with a gathering in Swedish that Lena told me I did not need to attend. At 9.30 there would be 'fika', Swedish for coffee with something (in the morning a sandwich, in the afternoon a cinnamon roll or other piece of pastry) and as we Dutch call it 'gezelligheid'. So the perfect moment to join in. At ten, an IB session started, which was in English. First all (~40) IB teachers gathered in a room and the IB coordinator discussed some practicalities. Then, we devided into four subject groups to prepare a two day TOK (theory of knowledge, an IB course discussing how to do research and ethical perspectives and so on)-in-subjects lesson program for the new IB learners. Within the natural sciences group, we split up in the different subject groups and started working. Quickly it was decided that the biology topic should be reproduction, as the whole idea is to get students interested in biology.. what better topic than reproduction. We then made a list of different things involved in reproduction (anatomy, physiology, but also birth control, and ethical issues) and decided to connect al the terms in a wordweb (mind map) and make a prezi out of that (I was bombarded as the prezi expert and built the prezi, nice to be able to make one last contribution). At 12.30 it was time for lunch, they invited me to join for one last (free :-)) school meal, which was very nice today. We then had coffee in the teacher's lounge and at 13.30 their programme continued so it was time to say goodbye. Nice thing about the study day is that basically all teachers attend, which made it convenient to say my goodbyes to the ones I had been in touch with most. Couple of last pictures around the school and off I went. To buy kladdkaka of course, as Martin requested and I do not dare come home without it. The rest of the day I spent browsing the web, packing my bag (ok, that was 10 minutes) and preparing for tomorrow's trip to the blue planet aquarium in Copenhagen. Cecilia, who has been at the aquarium, told me that 3 hours would be plenty for a visit. Also, she told me there is a very nice restaurant, owned by the same owner as the Noma restaurant in Copenhagen. Sounds like a great place for lunch. Tomorrow around 8.30 I will leave the appartment, at 10 I want to be at the blue planet, my flight is at 14.45 (my boarding pass is ready on my phone, only need to drop off my bag :-)). One last day and the Malmö month is over!

Day 24

The last day of teaching, observing and interviewing. Feels very strange, it seems only yesterday that I started and now it's over. First lesson with Cecilia's pre-IB class, for 60 minutes. I'm afraid I will leave not understanding a single thing about the Swedish scheduling skills. Some lessons are 60 minutes, others 80, some start at 8.05 some at 8.00, there are no buzzers to start or end lessons... well, whatever, 60 minutes. Problem. I am now used to 80 minute lessons, this was going to be a tight one.
It all started off fine, discussing Monday's banana practice questions, on to mitosis. I had prepared a drawing yesterday that I was pretty pleased with. On to meiosis, for which I too had a drawing prepared. Yesterday I already felt there was something I had to take into account, but I couldn't really pinpoint what that should be.. I just left it at that. In class when I had started drawing all of a sudden it dawned on me, the mistake in my drawing. This was the moment at which I lost my lesson flow. I had to stop for a minute, think about how to solve it, but I did not really have a minute. I stepped right into the trap of wanting to finish everything I had planned (it was, after all, my last lesson with this class) and finishing everything in this case was not really humanly possible. After rushing through my less well prepared meiosis, I went on to inheritance, stuffing some terminology down the student's throats and was happy to have 15 minutes left for them to work on the worksheet. Which, of course, they did not really get because I did not took the time to go over it with them or prepare them for it. In the last minute I thanked them for having me as a teacher, I had taken some Dutch salty liquorice to class to hand out which apparently Swedes love (they actually also sell their own salt liquorice variety in stores here). The lesson was fine for the first half hour, for the second half, let's just say there's room for improvement :-).
Fifteen minutes later my lesson with Lena's class started. Here, I wrapped up last weeks hormones topic by drawing a table on the board that they had to fill out themselves first, then we filled out the one I had drawn on the board together. This actually worked really well, it summed up all important info, and made sure they got their info straight. After this, we went on discussing sex determining hormones. This was a bit tricky as they had not discussed reproduction nor inheritance yet. But we managed. Last part was naming the male and female reproductive organs (worksheets) and figuring out all different functions. We only had time to discuss the female reproductive system. How nice to end my teaching career in Sweden discussing the vulva ("ooooooooh! Is that the part that looks like a flower!?!"). Here too, Dutch liquorice, and at 11.35 it had ended. This lesson went very good, Lena thought the students respected me as their teacher, and that the interaction between me and my students was very good. Having good interaction with the students was Cecilia's comment as well, nice to have as a basis.
In the afternoon I observed another class Environmental Systems & Societies, very interesting course, will keep it in mind might it ever cross my path. Then, I had one more interview for the research (#14, rather proud), and around 16.30 I left the building. Tomorrow there'll be a study day, with an IB session that I will attend between 10 and 12. Rest of the day I will pack up and make sure that I'll be able to leave Friday morning. I want to visit that sea water aquarium across the airport in Copenhagen!
Today's weather describes my mood very well. Mostly sunny, some very dark clouds with heavy rain. On one end I can't wait to be home, together with Martin again in our own environment. But on the other end I have had a great time here that I do not really want to end. It was an amazing experience and as they say.. time flies when you're having fun, and sometimes also in biology.

Day 23

!!!!!WARNING. NASTY LAMB DISSECTION PICTURE AHEAD. BE WARNED!!!!!
A rather busy day today. Went to school at 8, to be in time for a lesson observation with one of the bio teachers at 8.30. The same lab lesson I had observed with yet another bio teacher last week on Thursday, it was nice to see the difference in teaching between the two teachers. This time, everything was explained step by step however, in the end more was expected from the students. This lab lesson really took me back to analist school - pippets, yeast solution - enzymes joy. Nice to help out here and there :D. After an hour I sneaked out and went to observe Lena's lab lesson, with her Swedish class she was dissecting sheep organs today (trachea / lungs / heart / diaphragm / liver and kidneys). Even though the groups are split in two sessions and therefore one session only has about 8 students, it is a good thing to be with two teachers. One can stand at each table (four students working per organ set), might a student get unwell, there is an adult in the room to take care of the student. Today however, they were allright, only one learner had to sit down. The practice was planned for an hour, to make sure students would not get bored, Lena put up a set of experiments for students to check out after being done exploring the organs (couple of neurological tests like cold-hot water difference feeling, knee reflex, visual test). Most learners however were fascinated by the organs and took most of the lesson cutting up and looking at the different parts.
Between the two lessons, there was an hours break in which I managed to do two interviews! Lena provided me with three teachers' names that are involved in organizing extra curricular activities outside the science department (as I pretty much have spoken to everyone in the science department involved in extra curricular activities by know) and although I only had three days left, I took my chances and emailed all of them. So, two I got to interview in the hours break (ofcourse I also had to eat some lunch and therefore was late for the lesson, already informed Lena, no problems there). The next interview I will do tomorrow! Talk about _smooth_, this is awesome :D.
After the second lamb dissection lesson, I shortly discussed tomorrows lesson preparation with Lena and that was it for today.
I payed a last visit to the el cheapo tea store where I went last week and cycled back through a park which in the Netherlands could (and would) be called a forest.
Now, my lessons are prepared, topics being DNA and inheritance for Cecilia's class pre-IB class, and hormones - sex determination and male & female reporductive organs for Lena's IB class (yeah.. great thing to end with.. well, whatever :D).
Got my bag loaded with drop to treat the students at the end and thank them for giving me the opportunity to teach them, tomorrow's my last day with lessons. It feels weird to say goodbye after such a short period of time!

Day 21 & 22

Yesterday was all studying - no fun, I finished the chapter and thereby the unit Ecology - yay! Two more units to go and I'll know everything there is to know about biology *cough*.

Today, not too early morning at 8.00. Woke up at 7.45, could take it easy and was at school at 9.30. Just in time for the morning coffee with bread in the physics department. I had planned a meeting with one of the physics teachers at 10.00 for an interview for the research project. When it was over, I went upstairs to find the one chemistry teacher I wanted to talk to and she directly had time for an interview. This research is going smoothly, I have now spoken to all policy makers in school and all science teachers involved in extra-curricular activities for their courses (contests mainly), 11 interviews in total. As I have a couple of days left I am thinking about extending it to the non-science subjects (languages / economy), I've got a couple of e-mail adresses, let's see if that'll work out (if not, no big deal, as I've probably got enough data so far).
Time for a quick lunch at 11.30 as my lesson started at 11.55. Two practical lessons in a row. What they do here, is cut a class in half and then have the practical lesson first with the one half, then with the other. In this way, the lessons are more personal and safer (there are no assistents).
This lesson was with Cecilia's class, which I'd taught about DNA on Friday. Today, we extracted DNA from a banana (yes.). First I got them to read the instructions, tried to make sure all steps were clear and all terminology was understood, then they got to team up in pairs and start doing the experiments. Of course, the first lesson was kind of trial-and-error, I had never done banana-DNA-extraction myself (or anything-DNA-extraction in this way actually), I had read the instructions of course, and it's not exactly brain surgery, but letting others put written instructions into practice is not something I do every day. Banana, as it turns out, does not exactly flow though a coffee filter when mashed up (yeah, I know right, _who_ would've thought!). And once again, I learned that _every_ step should be clearly stated in advance, reading instructions once does not stick in brains of any age.
By the way, you can easily extract DNA from anything at home: pick something you want to extract DNA from, mash it up - add a pinch of salt - mash it up more, add a soap solution - keep it cold whilst running it through a filter, then add ethanol carefully and lo and behold, flakes of 'DNA' (or simply watch this video, it's slightly different but probably works just as well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew9-YGrgpWo).
Whilst waiting for the banana solution to drip through the coffee filter, I set up a microscope showing a slide with dividing plant cells (mitosis). Something like in the picture on the side here. You can see plant cells (so orderly and squared), inside them are rounds (nuclei) those nuclei contain the DNA, you can see one dot, two dots, or strings being pulled apart - different stages in cell division.
In the end, I think all students were able to see some clouds in their beakers, they cleaned up, the hour was over, time for the other half of class. Needless to say, this lesson went much more smoothly. I told them to add water to their smashed up banana before putting it through the filter, but still, it was hard to run it through. Again, they got to look at the microscope, and again in the end they ended up with some clouds in their beakers. Wednesday, we will continue talking about DNA/cell division/inheritance.
After class, I went back up to the teacher's room. Lena had returned from Dubai and asked me if all was allright concerning my internship (enough data for my research / enough lessons observed / taught) and it is! Apparently I mentioned one day that Martin and I enjoy cooking together from time to time, because she had remembered this and brought me spices from Dubai! Red chili pepper and a Biryani spice mix - how extremely toughtful and awesome :D.
Later in the afternoon, I joined a bio teachers meeting, they discussed some practicalities in Swedish (some of it kindly translated to English, enough to get the bigger picture) and there were cupcakes. I don't believe it's legal to have get togethers in Sweden without some form of cake.
Tomorrow Lena's class will be dissecting sheep's organs, nice practice to join in :-).

Day 20

First day of my last weekend in Malmö. Last weekend alone, time to study! So today, I read two chapters in Campbell's 'Biology', one more chapter and another Unit will be done (4 in total over this year, one's done, another one nearly finished, two more to go).
As reading makes me very tired, I decided to go out cycling in between. And since the weather was not too good, I decided to cycle to the Emporia shopping mall, which I wanted to see anyway, and it's indoors. Cycling routes in Malmö are very well organised, nearly every crossing has a sign with a couple of directions. Furthermore, these cycling paths are unlike the Netherlands not directly next to a big street, it's more inbetween houses avoiding cars. The mall is situated 4.5 kms south of where I reside, about 15 minutes by bike. It was nice to see a whole different part of Malmö, first loads of bungalows, then loads of flats, then... nothing really and then the mall. From the outside, it looks massive. On the inside, there were loads and loads of people. The stores however were not all that interesting. I walked around for an hour or two and pretty much covered everything. To be out and about was a welcome change. I went home and cooked probably for the last time in this kitchen. Studied another chapter and that was it for today... slightly boring, let's see what tomorrow brings.

Day 19

My alarm went of at 8, I had trouble falling a sleep last night, maybe my day had been a bit too stuffed, so I was still tired. My phone buzzed again at 8.05 - message from Cecilia 'your class has been moved from 8.20 to 8.30, in case you are wondering where your students are'. Wait, WHAT!?! (instant awakening) Immediately texted back 'nooo.. my class started at 9.40!?!??'. Mix-up in the two paralel classes, luckily it was no problem and she took over. I checked my schedule again to be sure we really decided on the 9.40 class (which we did) and sure enough at 9.40 I was at school ready to start the lesson. Topic: DNA, Chromosomes, Cell Division (pre-IB). I had prepared this, I had written everything on a piece of paper, I had a task prepared, this was going to be good. I expected around 20 students to be there, but in front of me, there were around 10. Well, that solved my introduction / name problem. I quickly introduced myself and told them my reason for being here, I then could ask them all for their names, 10 students does not take too long :-). Now, I could start. As I said, I had written _everything_ on a piece of paper. Apparently, one can overprepare. There was too much text, I could not find the information. Ok. I just put the paper away and started talking about DNA: Cell - Nucleus - Chromosomes - (genes) - DNA - clear? (of course I slightly elaborated here and there) Great, we're going to build our own DNA model today! Groups of 3, everyone a piece of paper (on it deoxyriboses, phosphate groups and bases: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine), start colouring and cutting them out! As I passed a group a bit later, they complained a bit about how this reminded them to kindergarden. Hmm... maybe not the best of tasks I thought. But Cecilia told me it was too early to judge. As I forgot to set a time frame, after 15 minutes or so, I started pushing the students (you've got 10 minutes left to cut everything out), immediately the atmosphere changed to more focus on completion (awesome!). Frantic colouring, cutting and sure enough after 10 minutes most of them were done. They could start constructing their DNA models by glueing the different parts together. This was where it got interesting, directly the students gained insight in how a DNA model is constructed (one end is going in one direction, the other end in the other direction! oooeeh aaaah) and bases were constructed in such a way that an A could only pair up with a T and a C only with a G (like it's supposed to be). All the different groups' DNA molecules we glued together into one long strand, we needed to combine three tables for it to lay on. Standing around the completed molecule, I shortly explained the structure, and how to copy our DNA (break it open, connect matching bases => 2 strands). The lesson was then over and next week we'll continue. This task wasn't bad after all, next time I'll just make sure to leave out the colouring (can offer them ready-coloured structures to cut out) to speed up the process (some of them thought they were in art class and made an effort to colour perfectly...). Yay, another OK lesson!
Cecilia had to rush off to her next class, and I had to rush off to an interview for my research. At lunch time we met again and talked it through, whilst eating a nice lunch of course :-).
In the afternoon, yet another interview, this time with the school's IB coordinator. After that: weekend! A bio teacher had arranged to go out into Malmö for after-school-drinks. All in all we were 4 and went to cafe in Lilla Torg (I took a panorama picture there last week). The weather was very good and we could sit outside, drinking coffee. It was really nice to start the weekend with and the questions were rather enjoyable: 'My father was a sailor, and he went to Rotterdam, he always came home with great stories, now tell me, do you still have GIANT RATS that EAT your SHOES?!?!?' I told them that it's common knowledge in Rotterdam that you should never put your shoes outside as they will, for sure, be eaten by the giant rats.
Around 6 we walked back through the park, apparently 2 of the teachers are more or less my neighbours (one of them really lives across the street). As the sun was still shining, I was able to take a couple of nice pictures in the park. We also visited a cheese store on our way back, Swedes really love cheese (and noo, it's not Goeda, it's Gouda).