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).

Day 18

8.05 a.m. is the time my IB-DP 1st years lesson starts. Since Lena is in Dubai, I'm all by myself. Last week, I taught this class about synapses (flip book), homeostasis and diabetes. Then, I used an activity and dictating (writing notes on the whiteboard). For today's lesson, I chose to make a Prezi. This is what I normally do in the Netherlands and I wanted to try it out here. We would shortly discuss the hormones insulin and glucagon again, as that's what we ended with last week and then move on to thyroxin, leptin and melatonin. Most of this lesson went OK, however, it really is too early in the morning for me. We started of having some technical difficulties hooking a borrowed MacBook up to the smartboard (but luckily got that fixed in a minute or 5). Even though it felt awkward at first, Lena not being there, teaching this class that I hardly know on my own, I just went with it. These students however.. they are _so_ quiet. Taking notes, doing whatever on their MacBooks, I learned that I find it rather difficult to teach without getting much feedback from the students. But, we finished insulin/glucagon, we managed leptin and thyroxin all right. Apparently by then, my energy was pretty much used up and I was not on top of my game anymore, I messed stuff up with explaining Melatonin. I finished with a youtube video that was able to set it more or less straight. Next week, when I teach them again (and for the last time..) I'll make sure to repeat this hormone again (and maybe leptin and thyroxin too, just to be on the safe side) and I feel confident we can move on.
Conclusion 1: 8 o'clock in the morning is no time for teaching.
Conclusion 2: I'm OK teaching classes without supervision.
Conclusion 3: Whenever doing an electronic lesson (Prezi / whatever), make sure to have a backup plan, makes problem solving easier as it's less stressfull if in the end it doesn't work out.
Conclusion 4: Find ways to get students' feedback, stimulate them to respond, something, anything. Passive sponges are possibly even harder to teach than a bunch of 13 year olds in a state of acute sugar rush.

Lesson ended at 9.25, at half past 10 there's the weekly coffee and cheese sandwich in the physics department. Lena's not here, but another bio teacher ensured that I could just join them, and if they'd give me a hard time for it, I should just say that I'd be representing Lena. They didn't give me a hard time, it was a pleasant gathering again. Nice coffee (with normal milk! ^^), very nice bread, nice teachers talking mostly in English. I like this tradition a lot :-). I got to make two more interview appointments for my research. Also, a bio teacher invited me to observe / join into a lab lesson he was about to give at noon. It's amazing how short the lines are in this school, how welcoming the teachers are, and how joining in small events like having coffee together or having lunch together seems to contribute to shortening these lines even further.

The lab lesson was in a pre-IB class and focussed on gathering and organising data (the results section of a lab report). Students added different concentrations of H2O2 to a yeast solution, measuring the starting temperature and the temperature after a minute, repeating the experiment for eacht concentration 5 times. Students that were done, were allowed to leave early. Sure enough, after an hour the most efficient group was done and left. The whole lesson took little over 1 1/2 hours in total. Although it seemed a bit boring to do the same experiment over and over again, students seemed to enjoy it. Furthermore, I really like that they are practicing just one part of a labreport. Apparently they do lab lessons every third week or so, making it possible to focus each lesson on a different part. Students do not need to write a report every time, but this time they did (only for the results section, the rest they could more or less leave out), deadline in two weeks.
The same teacher was teaching a lesson in Environmental Sciences (also an IB course) later in the afternoon and I had already planned to observe this lesson. Environmental Systems and Societies is 80% biology (and 20% physics / chemistry), but from a more philosophical point of view. The course adresses the interrelationship between societies and the environment (topics like global warming). Today's lesson was about several historical things that happend and promoted the 'green movement', the history of 'green thinking' (from declining whale populations to the start up of Greenpeace, to Tsjernobyl and Bophal). Very interesting, it took me straight back to the time when I studied Global Health. This course fits right into my background, very good to know that it exists and have a little insight in what it's all about. At the end, I got invited to the lesson next week on Wednesday, I'll make sure to join!
16.35. I've been in school for too long, I'm packing my stuf and going home, microwave dinner (leftover from yesterday, yay!) and bed.

Day 16 & 17

So much for making the most of my time here. There isn't much to say about yesterday and today.
I've discussed lesson preparations for tomorrow and Friday's classes with Lena and Cecilia. Did a couple more interviews, had lunch and worked at the apartment.
Lena's off to a conference in Dubai for the rest of the week, I'll teach her class tomorrow morning, Friday's lesson is cancelled. Today was a resource day, meaning no lessons at all but teachers were in, working. I went to school to discuss Friday's lesson with Cecilia, had lunch in the teachers lounge and got myself another interview for my research.
Furthermore I decided there should be a balance between the fun stuff and working. If I don't read up on biology, there'll be too much to do in the two months that are left when I get home. But if I work all the time, I get really tired and cranky, the trip to Louisiana was an immense mood booster.
One of the biology teachers proposed to organise an after school hang out upcomming Friday, the teachers sometimes do that and last time was a while ago. And since I'm here she thought it might be nice to organise one. Today she informed me that a couple of teachers were interested, so Friday afternoon is on. There really does not seem to be an end to how friendly the teachers are at this school. Tomorrow I'll teach the lesson (starting at 8 again) and observe an environmental sciences class. Also, I'll make sure to have Friday's lesson thoroughly prepared and do some more reading (I want to have Ecology done before I get home, that at least one more Unit, 2 to go at home).
At least I'll have more to write about tomorrow: next lesson hormones & homeostasis.

Day 15

Day 15, I've been in Malmö for already two weeks now and next week on Friday I'm already leaving! The realisation that I've already had more than half of my time here makes me think about the time left and what to do with it: what shops would I still like to visit, which attractions do I want to go to.. hmm... oh wait, school!

So, apart from observing and teaching lessons, I am doing a small research. The topic being: what does Malmö Borgarskola do for gifted children. To investigate, my main idea was looking at school policy and interviewing teachers. It soon became clear that the school does not have a specific gifted children policy. But.. there's loads they do to challenge students. This morning at 10.30 I had an appointment with one of the math's teachers to interview her for this research. Last week, I was already able to interview one of the students and another math teacher. It is very interesting how with every interview things become clearer. In a sence it's like puzzling and trying to get a big picture: with each interview you get information that's already there together with some additional information or personal points of view. I like talking to people in this way, learning more about something. And at this school, everyone is more than willing to have interviews with me, making my research go rather..(here it comes again).. smoothly and enjoyable.

At noon, Lena, another bio teacher and the interviewed math teacher wanted to go out for luch and they asked if I liked to join them, well of course! We went out to a sushi place. Most restaurants have 'dagens maltid' which is the daily offer, a rather affordable choice. This is what I had: salmon teriyaki with spring onions and white rice, very tasty.
After lunch, I started a quest for more interviews. As there is not really a policy in this school, I wanted to see if I could interview the policy makers (head master, head of the science program and head of the IB department). With the head of the IB department, I had already made an appointment for next Friday. The head master and head of science program I still had to run in to.
First, I knocked on the door of the head master, he was in a meeting and asked me to wait for 10 minutes. Sure enough, within ten minutes the meeting was over and he invited me in, and he had time to do the interview on the spot (fortunately, I came prepared!). Half an hour later, I walked out - one down, one to go. I knocked on the other door and the head of the science program too had time to do the interview, wow! Three interviews in a day! Can't believe it. So now, I've had 5 interviews, there are three more appointments in my schedule and one more teacher I want to ask, this is turning out just great!

As it was already half past two when I was done, I decided I'd done enough for today. The weather was really good so I decided to cycle around the city a bit. Stella had written down some second hand stores for me (as I was really curious what Swedes put in their second hand stores), and the three on my list I was able to visit all. They were ok, but I did not buy anything. Next to one of the second hand stores was a tea shop however. With affordable tea!! I'd been to one in the city centre, tea over there is ~8 euro per 100 gram, here it was 3 to 3.5 euro per 100gr... the difference between the tourist area and 'china town'. So, I scored! Marzipan rooibos, blue berry / lingoln rooibos, black liquorice and hoga kusten tea (!) (Martin and I visited Hoga Kusten last year). By the time I had gathered these 4 teas, there was somewhat of a queue behind me and I decided to stop right there. I can always drop by another time.. right..? 

For dinner tonight I had Swedish meat balls with lingoln berry jam and the brown (awesome)sauce. It had to happen. 

Eight more working days left, of which 2 (resource day & study day) don't have any lessons, all of a sudden my time here feels very limited and I really want to get the most out of it. I can do the sea water aquarium this Wednesday or Thursday next week. I can go to the Emporia shopping mall, visit the Malmö Huset, visit the loppis market in Lund, and I've got literature to read, papers to write and lessons to prepare. Let's see how much of the activities I'll be able to manage :-). 

Day 14

Today was totally awesome. Around 13.00 everyone was ready to go and we left for Louisiana museum. Stella took the scenic road, driving by the coast, first to Öresund bridge, through Copenhagen, to the museum, where we arived around half past 2.

Today's weather was beautiful, sun all around, which made the museum extra scenic. It is not all too big, but it is quite long (stretched). Situated on a hill at the sea shore, it has two floors and two gardens (one with sculptures at the shore site leading to the sea, another at the other side leading to a pond). In the museum you'll find changing exhibitions with modern art (photography, paintings, sculptures).
I took loads of pictures, all in all we stayed until closing time (18.00). I especially enjoyed today as it was so totally different from 'school'. The ginormous pictures made me wonder how it's possible to shoot at such a resolution that it's possible to print larger-than-life-size pictures. The museum is not all that big so we got to see everything (including the garden), take coffee and visit the museum shop without rushing in the time we were there.
Afterwards we took the same way back, picked up Stella's boyfriend who lives in Copenhagen and visited Nyhamn for icecream. Liquorice icecream to be precise. Oh liquorice icecream, how I've missed you. It's so delicious... Öresund bridge again and at 8 we were back in the appartment.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story, more information on the museum's webpage (www.louisiana.dk). Stella told me today Europe's biggest sea water aquarium is situated in Copenhagen, opposite the airport (can't be closer to Sweden). I really love visiting sea water aquaria, some of my favourite animals are sea animals (cuttlefish, octopus... <3). Now I'm thinking about going there too, maybe Wednesday... (www.denblaaplanet.dk).

Days 12 & 13

Yesterday morning, at 8.00 a.m. sharp, my lesson started. That means I have got to leave the house at 7.45 (that's just awesome really), cycling takes less than 10 minutes. It's down the street, there's only one traffic light and one big crossing without traffic lights but here cars from right and left have got to wait for all traffic from 'my' street, and they _do_ wait, which is rather awesome (took me 2 days before I trusted cars to stop for me).
Anyway, class half dead at 8 in the morning, who blames them. As my lesson on Thursday did not go the way I would have liked, I made sure to prepare this lesson much better. I had written out all information and wanted to do a lesson Swedish style. That's right, I used the white board to write down a shitload of notes. But.. of course I put a Dutch sauce over it (I can't help myself). I asked the students a lot of questions, not only questions they could answer by repeating their knowledge, but questions for which they'd have to use logical thinking. For some, this was maybe a bit too much (not helped by the timing), others were wide awake and able to answer most questions.
The lesson, I cut up in two (80 minutes is too long to stay focused anyway). First part: me writing, explaining and asking questions (homeostasis, used a sauna example actually - so very Scandinavian :D), wrapped up by answering some questions on a worksheet (yay - processing knowledge!). Second part: discussing worksheet, more info on the board about the pancreas and diabetes this time. Diabetes, _the_ diseases that they'd used as an example for right about anything in the three years I studied medicine. I can't hear the word diabetes anymore, I don't want to hear the word diabetes anymore, but explaining diabetes in 5 minutes I can do. I could teach a monkey about diabetes. Aargh. I've used the word diabetes 7 times already. Moving on. The lesson ended.
Before the next lesson started, there was some time for discussion. Lena seconded that this lesson went smoother than Thursday's. Next week I'm teaching this class on my own as Lena's off to a conference.
Next on the list was observing a ,lesson with Lena. Actually, it was teaching a lesson in Cecilia's pre-IB class, unfortunately this lesson was cancelled. So, Lena's Swedish class worked a case that I'd used in my lesson on Wednesday, but Lena took the full time and did the whole worksheet with her class. It's about a guy who eats puffer fish (Blåsfisk :D) and gets poisoned and some questions about how this poison works in terms of action potentials in nerves. Then, he recovers, flighs somewhere else to study birds, and gets poisoned again because the birds were poisonous (yes, poisonous birds exist), with again, questions about action potentials. The last part was designing a drug to counter the effects of one of the poisons. The learners were very much engaged in this lesson. They really enjoyed the worksheet (even though they couldn't really imagine how someone could be this unfortunate). The activity in which they had to design a drugs to counter the toxin's work I find a really nice one as it makes sure students use their knowledge and really dive into understanding processes.
LunchDinner time was again a pleasant happening. The teachers in the teacher lounge are all very nice, open and interested. I have interesting conversations there every day with different people each time. Today, I met a Swedish teacher trainee, training to be a Swedish & English teacher (here they all take two courses). We told each other about our trainings and she asked me how I arranged my internship. This really inspired her to pursue an international internship herself, nice :D.
After lunch, I went to the IB coordinator to ask for an interview for my research. As there is barely any hierarchical structure, it is possible to walk into offices and ask. The head master and science coordinator are next on my list but were not in, will try again on Monday.
Then, I went to observe another of Lena's lessons, her last year IB class again, the last time she teaches this class. As a goodbye, she brought candy. Then, in 80 minutes, she compacted the whole chapter about digestion. Even though I studied medicine, this amount of information, brought so compact and at a rather high level I found very educational (refreshment course, thanx Lena!).
Time flies when you're having fun, within no time it was over. Time to go home! I pretty much crashed on the bed, I was so tired I couldn't get myself to start my computer, no blog post. Managed a microwave meal (from the freezer, they're OK, and I had the best meal of the day at lunchtime anyway) and watched a movie.

Today I slept in. Although I woke up at 6.20. It's increadibly light incredibly early in the morning (sun rises before 6, and rises a couple of minutes earlier every morning). Today I was able to sleep again until 9.30, fair enough. Shower and breakfast, stumbled upon Stella in the kitchen and had a chat about loads of stuf. She asked if I wanted to join her in going to Louisiana - museum of modern art. At first I was a bit hesitant, last museum of modern art I visited (Gugenheim - Bilbao) was not exactly my piece of cake. And, I very badly needed to finish a certain university task. So I told her I wanted to finish the task first. At dinner time, I had finished the task (\\o  //o  o\\  o//  *\o/*) and asked her if she still planned on going. She did, tomorrow, I could still join, yes! It's a deal! The website looks really awesome: http://www.louisiana.dk/, after 4 days of working pretty hard, I am really looking forward to doing something completely non-school-related!

Day 11

So, this morning, my second taught lesson, at 8.05. That _really_ is no time to start, certainly not if you wake up at 5 by the bright light hoping to sleep some more but knowing your alarm will go off in one and a half hours anyway... As you can guess, my night has not been too well, and I was tired this morning. Needless to say, this affected my lesson. Luckily, Lena was there and when I completely blacked out (I knew I _wanted_ to say something about insecticides - neonicotinoids - nervous synapses - and so on, but what was it again.. no clue), she took over for a moment and after that I was able to continue. Fine teamwork. In the end, the lesson did not go too bad, it's just that yesterday went better, oh well, another chance tomorrow (two chances actually :-)).
Then, it was 9.30, apparently on Monday's and Thursdays that means: coffee and bread with cheese in the chemistry department. The biologists over time had sneaked into joining in this tradition, and it was really nice to have a chat together. Two of the teachers over there are native English speakers, they actually liked the change (speaking English) for once :).
At 10:10, Lena taught her last-year IB class again and I observed her explaining how the placenta works, and then classification (actually quiet nice to get to hear all that very compact end-of-high school bio, it's like a week long refreshment course).
After this lesson, I had a bit of a break, time for tomorrow's lessons preparation and lunchdinner ofcourse. Unfortunately, my guest user wifi account was only up for one week, which passed yesterday afternoon, and I have not yet been able to obtain a new code. Will try again tomorrow, but for today that meant I was unable to use internet for preparing my lessons. I can do a lot with the book, but looking up nice activities is what I do online. After lunch, I sat down together with Lena to discuss my lesson plans and we were able to look up activities together online - more cutting and pasting tomorrow (a DNA model this time, in Cecilia's pre-IB class).
The rest of the afternoon I spent in the basement, where one of the math's teachers held her weekly 'math-plus' class. This is actually a walk-in afternoon of math for students that are intrinsically motivated to solve math problems. Not only from Borgar skola, but also students that are in the last two years of primary education and show specific interest in math. This teacher challenges these students with a couple of math problems each week, also the students are being prepared for (and join in) national and international math competitions. The room has 3 large whiteboards that students can use for problem solving. Tables can be put in different positions and there are even a couple of couches for hanging out. Students can walk in and out all afternoon between 2 and 6, the atmosphere is very friendly and relaxed. Also there was a nice mixture of boys and girls (3 girls and 8 boys, the teacher is a woman holding a math PhD). I was actually there to see how a lesson like that goes and to talk to the teacher, however, within half an hour students had come up to me and put me to work on solving math problems (or were they just checking my math skills...).
At four o'clock I had interviewed the teacher and had seen enough. Time to go to the apartment (well, a quick stop at Hemsköp on my way there).
Tomorrow morning my first lesson will start at 8 (that's right, even 5 minutes earlier..). As I did not feel today's lesson was well enough prepared, I decided to write out tomorrow's lesson entirely (I had already done that for the second lesson). Having done that, I will now call it a day.

Day 10

The big day of the first lesson taught by me in Sweden! Was in school at 9, observed a lesson with Lena's Swedish class. The language is rather incomprehensible when pronounced, however, I am getting used to certain words and together with the pictures on the board and my familiarity with the theme (nervous system.. again.. (must be the 3rd lesson this week observing action potentials being taught), I was able to follow quiet well.
Lena also introduced me to one of her students, a bright boy that finished his high school math before even entering high school and is now doing university math + national math challenges. He was more than willing to have an interview with me for my research project, so we planned to do that in the afternoon.

Directly after this lesson, it was time for the IB first year class - 'my' lesson. I started off introducing myself and explaining what brought me to Sweden. Then I asked the students names, I figured if there were only 9, and I would be teaching them at least three 80 minute lessons this week, I might as well try and learn their names. Then I went on talking a bit about what Lena did last lessons and connected today's lesson to that, followed by explaining the flip book task and handing out the task. All students started working straight away.. they are so quiet.. I told them they were allowed to talk, but still they more or less worked quietly, only discussing silently with their neighbours if needed. After about an hour, most of them had their flip book ready and we discussed the whole process step by step. To practice some more with synapses, I copied a task about Parkinson meds from their textbook (they don't usually bring it to class as it is too large). Then, to illustrate this task, I showed them a video about a docter in a hospital investigating a patient with Parkinson's disease, who also talked about the effect medicine has on her. After this, there were only 10 minutes left to work on the task. We will continue tomorrow.

Lena commented on my lesson right after. She liked how I started with introducing myself and asking their names to show my interest in them. Also she liked how I linked this lesson to hers. I made a couple of small errors in my explanation (fi. writing Ca+ on the board, which must be Ca2+), some of which I can correct tomorrow. She finds my way of teaching very relaxed (I've heard that one before). All in all, she was very positive and I may teach again ;-).
Then, lunchdinner time, very nice today, with (amongst the more usual salad and hot meal options) pureed vegetable soup and lingoln berries! Together with Lena, I ate it in the teachers lounge, where I was able to meet a couple of other teachers again (I meet new people everyday there, and they are all very interested and welcoming).

After lunch, I interviewed the student, very nice experience, learned a lot about the school. They actually allow students that excell in math to come to this school years before they normally would start here, to do high school math. Apart from that, they have teachers that are able to give math lessons at university level to challenge te students. Also, for several courses, national challenges are organised (biology olympiad, and similar challenges in math and physics) and students are tutored in their preparation for these challenges.
At lunch I met a math teacher that is _the_ person in this school with knowledge about teaching gifted children. We are going to have a chat next week.
In the afternoon, again I observed Lena's last year IB class - another revision lesson. Had a nice chat with one of the students before the lesson started.
Now that I am well on my way getting the amount of lesson observations needed, teaching the lessons needed and I am reaching the contacts needed for my research, I am confident that I will get to complete all that's needed during my stay here!
16.45 I left the building, cycled home and did not do a whole lot as today was pretty tiring. Tomorrow, I teach first thing in the morning (8.05.. what time is that..).

Day 9

They fixed the water last night, yay! Then they started closing the hole they made and stamping the ground with a soil compactor - I felt it laying in bed (3rd floor). But well, this morning I could take a (rather cold, because the hot water was not working properly..) shower \o/. 

This afternoon I read an e-mail from a fellow student stating that she reads my blog (hi Christa!), that's really nice to hear! If you also read my blog and would like to comment on something (or have any questions), feel free to do so in the dedicated space below!
On to my day today: 

I had a lesson to prepare today! Because tomorrow I'll teach my first lesson here! Yes, Exciting! 

Synaptic transmission will be the lesson's theme. I haven't taught the nervous system yet, but how hard can it be really. The IB book is _very_ clear, the IB syllabus states what the students need to know. But I wanted to make the lesson a bit more fun than having the students listen to me for 80 minutes and take notes (/read facebook, reddit, tumblr, whatnot). 

Upon reading the chapter, a flip book came to mind. Flip books are books with drawings that change slightly over consecutive pages, with your thumb you can let these pages slide fastly one after another to see an animation. As this topic is about nerve stimuli - impulses - and the students need to understand and know the different steps, I thought it might be fun for them to draw it in their own flip book. But.. how to measure how long it takes for someone to draw a 9 page flipbook.. yeah, just timing it myself seemed to be the most logical option. The answer was: about 40 minutes (but I already understand the process). The lesson will be 80 minutes. Since the students are motivated, I think they can do this task within an hour. To fill up the other 20 minutes, I found a youtube video of a doctor investigating a Parkinson patient and although he uses a lot of jargon, I think it will be interesting to use a medical perspective to make the synapses come to live. What better way to show than with an illustration of what happens when it does not work correctly. Additionally, in their IB books is a task about meds for Parkinson's disease, and how they affect the synaptic impulses. After viewing the video, they can do the task, we will then discuss the task on Thursday and move on. Lena seemed to be pleased with this idea too. 

In the afternoon, I observed Lena teaching her final year IB class (the one that could not get enough bio lessons before their exam). Today, fortunately I must say, they were a bit more talkative. The lesson started at 15.00 and went on till 16.15, I suppose the timing was not helping them concentrate. 

Also I was able to plan my first interview for my research today, we will do that tomorrow (planning that went ever so smoothly again). On Thursday there's a 'pythagoras quest', a kind of math olympiad that fits in with my research rather well. Lena asked the organiser if I would be welcome to have a look, we will see if that works out, should be interesting! 

Day 7 & 8

Yesterday, day 7, was spent indoors, finishing a study report. Therefore, nothing much to blog about.

So today, day 8, I will make up for that. I stood up at 8, had a shower, made breakfast, looked through the material for Wednesday's lesson (which I'll be teaching) and went to school. 

I started by observing a lesson with Cecilia (a q&a session before a test) and then had a meeting with Lena to discuss my lesson ideas for her IB class (I'll teach them Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and possibly next week). Also, I bought lunch tickets today, so now I can enjoy 10 lunch meals (which are excellent) and save me the trouble of cooking dinner. 

In the afternoon I met up with Cecilia and another bio colleague to discuss next term's planning for their classes, I will be teaching one of her classes as well and now know what to prepare for Friday's lesson.

Having everything under controll and prepared, I left school again at around three. Winds are blowing tremendously over Malmö today, it was partly sunny and cloudy. I cycled home, but decided to keep on cycling and check out the coast. There is an amazing park close to the waterline stretching for kilometers. There are bike and walking lanes, there is a road for cars leading to a place with only parking places for disabled people. There are a couple of football fields, stretches of grassland and sand stretches for what I can only imagine to be dedicated for horseback riding. And then of course there are beaches. I took some pictures but the wind was blowing so uncomfortably hard that I quickly decided to go back home.

On returning, I remembered that when I had left this morning, the water was not working. I met Stella in the kitchen to tell me that it still was not working. They had found a major leak and were digging holes in the street to fix it, the whole street has got no water.

Stella and Soren went out to get some water later, actually, there is a pipe leaking fresh water in the streets and they were able to get some water there. For drinking we now have bottled water. Outside they are pulling an all-nighter to fix it, but nothing too quickly, as overtime is payed double. Let's see if we are able to have a shower in the morning.

Day 6

Well, apparently I was tired. I fell asleep at 23.15 last night and woke up at 11.11. Sleeping this long is very unusual for me, but today I didn't really mind. Half an hour passed before I was ready to get out of bed and fix some breakfast. Stella and Sören were already awake and we had an interesting chat about well.. a range of subjects actually.
The afternoon was spent browsing the web and walking through the neighbourhood, today's weather: sunshine & 17 degrees C, Swedes walking in T-shirts all over the place. I decided to go to Lidl, the one supermarket in the close proximity of the house that I did not yet visit. Ica, which is across the street, is like the Dutch Albert Heijn. Then there's Hemköp, which is more like Plus/Jumbo. And Coop, where I have not been this week, it's not too close to where I tend to come (Hemsköp is close to the school, Ica and Lidl are close to each other and close to the house).

Ica was the first grocery store I visited, the Monday night of my arrival. It was a rather fun experience. I walked into the store to find flowers, several fridges with dairy products, a back wall with butcher & cheese department and in the middle a couple of rows with freezers. Asking myself if this was really it, or if they closed down a part of the store because it was the second day of easter, I walked on to find a corridor with crisps and snacks. Deciding to take my chances and walk into the corridor, I found another department with non-food products (beauty stuff, postcards etc.) and another corridor. Following the path, another corridor, and another one, the fruits department, another corridor, holy.. another corridor.. rows and rows of packaged goods, pastas, rice, sauces, then came the bread, pastries, flour, this store did not come to an end.. Well ofcourse in the end it did. And then I had to walk the whole way back, as the pay desks were over at the fridge department.
On Tuesday and Friday I visited two different Hemsköp shops, both had a normal grocery build up. Lidl is not different from the ones in the Netherlands or Germany.

Price-wise I feel that I pay twice the amount in Ica and Hemsköp as what I would pay in the Netherlands. At Lidl I got more value for money so I guess they'll see me more often over there.

Tonight I worked on some study-stuff and when I pulled the plug, it rained! Apparently rain is also possible in Malmö! Now: another cup of tea and time to relax.