Week 7- Personal

As time here in Sweden continues to pass by rapidly I have found that I am becoming increasingly confident in my abilities, both personal and academic. I continue to enjoy writing papers which allow me to voice personal opinions and have become more confident in voicing these opinions within the class groups. I also continue to learn a little more Swedish as the weeks pass and have attended another parent meeting, this time at the school the boys attend.

The parent meeting was a humbling experience; as we, the parents, sat waiting for the meeting to start we were told that once the interpreters arrived we could begin. When a man walked in and asked who spoke English I suddenly realised that I was one of the parents who needed an interpreter. Until this experience I had not considered the fact that I was a non-native speaker, as so many people speak English in Sweden I had not been confronted with a situation where I could not understand what the other person was saying. I did understand more of the meeting than I had expected and this was commented on by the teacher although could not have understood enough without the help of the interpreter. Increasingly I am becoming aware of how the parents and children who are non-English speakers must feel when they come into our schools and I know this experience will affect the level of empathy I feel towards these pupils should any of them be a pupil in my class in the future.

I have also tasted more Swedish foods over the last couple of weeks and although there are a lot of differences to the foods at home there are also some similarities. Potatoes are eaten a lot in Sweden and I have discovered that there is also a bread made from potato but have not tasted this yet, I would be very happy if this tasted anything like potato bread at home because it is a food that I like to eat and as time passes I am starting to miss some of the things we can easily get at home.

I have also been missing my nieces and nephew over the last couple of weeks; they are all very young and are changing with every picture or video clip I see. My nephew is learning to say a lot of new words and when my sister sent a video clip of him with a message to us I wanted to reach into the computer and give him a cuddle. I never really anticipated how much I would miss them and can’t wait to see how they all have changed and grown when we get home.