Undervisning svenskarna om St Patrick dag

So, I've been slacking for a few days in the writing department, but it doesn't mean that I haven't been busy!  The remainder of last week was interesting, and I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm teaching High School students.   The school is different, and what I mean by that is that it's very, very relaxed.  Students are on a first name basis with their teachers, and there is no bell...class times vary depending on the class and the day, and overall, I do enjoy the casualness of it all.  My only problem is that one of my classes doesn't seem to see me as an authority figure, but I feel like that is my new challenge - to find a way to relate to them in what I guess I would call a more "Canadian" way.  I know I can do it, but it may take some juggling with different teaching approaches before it happens.

Friday is a planning day for me, as I don't have any classes to teach on Friday (although I did sign up to be in a different English class for this coming Friday).  I almost felt a bit lost having the full day to plan, but it was nice to know that I could focus all of my attention on creating lessons for the following week.  Friday was especially awesome because the Northern Lights were out, and it made me think of being in Labrador. Good times :)

Saturday Leila and I were invited to Caisa's house for supper, where we had a wonderful meal of Moose meat,  a veggie pie, salad, and potato salad, with dried reindeer meat and arctic char as appetizers...talk about delicious!  I think that I am biased and will forever say that caribou meat is better, but again...I'm biased.  We had a great time, and a few other teachers from the high school were over as well, and the night was pretty awesome.

Saturday night was also St. Patrick's Day, so we convinced our new Swedish friends in the residence to celebrate with us, and so we were all Irish on Saturday.  It was fun having a party the way we did when I first went to university, and I think that everyone had a great time...I've also discovered that beer is incredibly inexpensive on this side of the pond.

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day on account of St. Patrick's Day, but Leila and I ventured out around the lake trails that are just behind the school here.  It was a beautiful day, and we walked in the woods where it felt like a little fairy would jump out of the woodwork at any minute.  We came across a few Sami huts(?), and enjoyed sinking waist deep into snow.  From the sculptures that we saw scattered around the trails is appears that the Sami are an incredibly spiritual people, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about their history and traditions in the weeks to come.