There has been a head cold going around the town since the start of February. Unfortunately, I caught it this Thursday, two days before my first swim meet here in Jyvaskyla! One of the boys on the team is going to compete in the 1.5 kilometer race, the first one in our team. During the practice beforehand we worked on starting and also turning. I learned a lot from that session and I talked with my new friend, Onni.
Yesterday my dad and I went for a walk to a new lake that he found. When we were in sight of the lake I spotted a fuzzy little squirrel with huge ears. I later learned that it was an Eurasian Red Squirrel. My dad spotted many different animals and birds. You wouldn’t even notice all of the wildlife unless you really looked for it.
This morning (Saturday) I went for a run in 25 degree fahrenheit weather. It was a beautiful day with the sun was reflecting off of the snow and the town wasn’t quite awake yet. The trails were not iced over, but if you stepped off of them you’d be in knee deep snow. I also had a look for some new trails and explored a whole other side of the park. It has been warmer this week and the snow has melted off the trees, so they are extremely green and vibrant. It was truly exciting.
It was not the best getting sick, but the silver lining was that I was able to explore the park near my house rather than going to a swim meet.
Trust in Finland is a prominent word utilized by educators, researchers, professors, and parents when describing their educational system. Trying to understand the depth behind the meaning of this word is perseverating in my brain, turning it around again and again in an attempt to make a connection. I reflect on our own teaching practice and question why this important component of trust is so difficult to come by at home. When exactly did it leave our profession and most importantly how can we bring it back?
As an educator for over twenty-two years, I still remember in the beginning how my students’ families and administrators trusted the work we did. The thanks and the appreciation that came with the hard work, dedication, and love was poured back into our teaching practice. Yet at some point trust began to wan. Did it start at that one IEP back in the days when it was handwritten when I made a simple date error? Obviously, I had spent hours collaborating with colleagues and advisors spending valuable time preparing this IEP draft collating all of the collected data and was excited to share the progress that had been made. I had always met with parents on a regular basis, but this family were not available to meet with me prior to the meeting. Their daughter had such significant needs that the family had made the difficult decision to have her live in a home that provided her with continual care. When the family came to the meeting they took the time to visit with their daughter and I so enjoyed observing their interactions. At the IEP I remember so clearly the dad getting mad and threatening litigation because one of the dates was written incorrectly. An innocent mistake on my part for which I had profusely apologized, but there was no trust, this one small mistake had turned into something much bigger. I think back to that time now and wish the more experienced Robyn could have been aware of how vital trust was and made subtle changes based upon this concept so that trust was not missing from what is always a collaborative experience.
Over the past 8 years, I have treasured my decision to return back to the classroom. After over a decade working in a class for students with disabilities and then a move to the University setting for five years, I had missed the connections with my students and their families and decided to come back to my students. I relish advocating for children, educating parents and colleagues on best practices, and pouring my heart and soul into being a team member for our students.
Despite this passion and dedication I do this work like so many of my hard-working colleagues without trust. Is it the distrust of the parents of the programs we are providing for their children? Or perhaps it’s the lack of trust from the hierarchy that is so ingrained in our educational system? Previously I had attributed my frustrations to others having an absence of knowledge on what is truly involved when working with students with such intensive disabilities. However, maybe it’s our deep-rooted cultural norms where those in charge who have never been, or who are no longer in the classroom, dictating steps to be taken in terms of educating our children. Does this mean, as teachers we can’t be trusted?
In Finland the teachers are trusted. They are trusted to take the knowledge they learned in graduate school and implement it. They are highly respected professionals allowed and expected to be autonomous in their actions. They are trusted to follow through and provide the education necessary for children to learn. Parents trust their teachers as valued professionals and when the teachers make a suggestion or recommendation parents trust that the teachers know that they are doing everything possible to support their child. Trust: the Finns have this while we have multiple barriers that roadblock this pathway of trust.
Changing our fixed culture is an undertaking that this redhead, though incredibly stubborn, recognizes is not realistic. So small steps must be taken to bring trust back into our practice. For me, it’s going to have to be subtle changes in my practice to bring trust to our programs because even though I want to make bigger changes, hypocritically I do not trust that more significant shifts are capable of being implemented within our current educational system. As I write this, I find myself deleting my own personal “trust action plan” because I am concerned that the part of our educational hierarchy that doesn’t understand our work will balk at what I want to do, due perhaps to their limited experience on this global perspective of trust. So I am asking you to trust me. Trust that I know what I am doing when it comes to the education of students with special needs. I wonder, what do you think trust could look like for you?
As a kid, I remember my dad asserting that every time he washed the car or even put on sunglasses, the heavens would open and there would be rain. It was if the gods were watching and waiting to pull a prank. In Finland, right now I kind of feel that the same thing is happening since I bought us all cross country skis. Literally, the next day after the last set was purchased, the temperatures rose 20 degrees and the snow (on the pavements at least) turned to 6 inches of non-skiable slush. I’ve heard that the weather in Jyväskylä this past month or so has been the highest and lowest people have seen in decades. Our family is checking the weather daily as you’re never really sure if it will be just above freezing which now feels relatively sweltering, or double digits below zero which is, well, you can imagine…
Cross country skiing is hugely popular here in Jyväskylä-a town where one in three adults consistently participates in sport or exercise 4-6 times per week. There are even 240 km of hiking, biking, and ski trails within city limits. We all decided that this would be a good low-impact form of outdoor exercise everyone could enjoy as the snow is still a few feet deep off the paths. With that in mind I took the kids to Laajis, the local ski and outdoor park on Tuesday so that they could begin to learn how it’s done. The first thing that was startling for us when we arrived was how many school kids were there. The slopes were busy with young people of all ages snowboarding or downhill skiing, while the trails and flat areas had kids as small as first and second graders tooling around on their cross country skis. Teachers had their students either in groups or doing their own thing for hours. Some of the elementary school-aged kids even left the park by themselves and returned without adult supervision. I’d learned that students spend a good couple of hours at a time each day playing some kind of sport or enjoying an outdoor activity during school hours, and here it was being demonstrated. For a teacher from the U.S. it’s all very confusing at times. Still, my guys did well and we only had a few run-away situations on some short downhills. We will spend more time honing our skills for sure.
After another cold snap, Robyn and I decided to enjoy the flat snow on Jyväskylä’s main lake on skis. There are some long groomed trails for skiers as well as a smoother snow-free ice skating loop that is still about a mile in length. The warm weather had brought some doubts to our minds as to the integrity of the ice strength, and it was with a little trepidation that we took to the nearest trail to the shore. Robyn and I both ventured out only after watching other skiers, skaters and walkers enjoy the ice without disappearing suddenly into a patch of cold water. It was great, and for a beginner nice to have miles of smooth open snow to practice technique (by technique I mean staying upright and moving faster than a shuffle). I’ve gotten used to septuagenarians zooming past effortlessly, but I’m getting incrementally faster and smoother. I also had the opportunity to explore how deep the ice actually was when I found a recently abandoned ice fishing hole from that morning. I rolled up my sleeves and reached down as far as I could, but could not feel the end of the ice. In fact, it was already beginning to freeze up even though the air temperature was above freezing. Another clue regarding ice safety was that the snow plough had been out smoothing the ice the day before, and even with all the starchy and wintry foods I’ve been consuming, the thing still had to be heavier than I am. All good fun, yet the warmer weather has increased the number of times I’ve heard this particular phrase that seems laden with promise: You should see it here in the Spring…
Still, don’t take my word for it. Here’s a link to the official tourist website that shares some great background information, photos and events here in town and the surrounding area:
So we’ve already established that there is no special magic that makes the Finnish educational system successful. But perhaps maybe the concept of trust has the subtle hint of otherworldliness that definitely requires further exploration. I continue to come across this word with every encounter, observation, discussion, lecture, and conversation I have had with educators throughout Finland. I have yet to synthesize my findings on trust, but I will confidently weave this into my inquiry project. This project continues to become more and more important as it fills my thoughts throughout every moment while I am here. The time to focus on this specific area of study is just plain and simply awesome. It’s not all easy, yet the highs are incredible. In fact, this week I gave a lecture to a room full of graduate students from around the world on Special Education in America and for two hours I was on, passionately sharing about how we best meet our students’ needs.
My Fulbright colleagues have been a wonderful sounding board as we continue to have intellectual conversations finding connections with our various projects. It’s all very inspiring. Sharing resources, articles, people of interest, and strategies is remarkable. I wonder how can we weave these stimulating conversations into our life on a regular basis at home. One month in and five more to go- I can’t even imagine we get all of this time to make even more of this opportunity. Feeling so lucky!
Shabbat in Finland- our family moved to Finland a few weeks ago and the newness of everything can at times be overwhelming. With so much being new we crave the familiar. Before we left we wanted to make sure we did our best to make sure our Friday evenings continued with our Shabbat traditions. It’s what we are used to from home and it’s what we look forward to and are trying to protect this special time now. The four of us sitting together for dinner. Salmon, salad, challah and the traveling Shabbat candles we brought from home. So the challah is actually Pulla- a favorite Finnish sweet bread that is braided and has subtle reminders of challah from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf with a bit of added cardamom. And it’s dark so early out. In fact, our first Shabbat in Finland the sunset was at 2:30 pm. We emailed our go-to’s at CBB (Rabbi, Cantor, Jen, Laurie, and Ben) and they provided some great suggestions for our family’s time of observance. After reading a few articles with follow up discussions we opted to give a nod to our home in Goleta and light candles at what would be sunset back home (i.e sunset is 5:38 pm in Goleta then we would aim for 17:38 in Finland). The thousands of miles we are away hasn’t been easy. However, this experience is amazing and we are taking advantage of every opportunity possible. Shabbat has grounded us. The traditions, the prayers, the conversations, and the foods, this one time each week feels like home. Shabbat Shalom.
Another interesting week in Finland began with Runebergin Päivää and Penkkarit (a candy-throwing parade of some 1,000 high school seniors celebrating the end of their studies before studying 3-4 months for matriculation exams) and continued on Thursday with an evening with Tom Dodd, the British ambassador to Finland who was to help clarify the current Brexit situation for Brits living and working in Finland. Hosted by the city of Jyväskylä and the Anglo Guild, Tom Dodd was to be present in a small and up-close venue at the Alba Hotelli which is located on the University of Jyväskylä campus. Meggie and I decided to pay a visit and see if there was any new information to be had in this unpredictable and often confusing situation.
We got to the hotel a little early and had a great time chatting in the bar overlooking the lake while we waited. We entered a short while later to find ourselves with the ambassador and a few business leaders-only about 10 people in all (including us). The room looked ready to host a UN peace summit, but we decided to stay even though we felt a little out of place. Graham Burns, a likeable British businessman who runs the Anglo Guild made us feel at home as we introduced ourselves and chatted about our respective ties to Finland. It turns out he runs an English management team and has been living in town for the past fourteen years. The ambassador came over and we shook hands and made introductions again.
The conference began with a presentation by two representatives of the City of Jyväskylä who are leading the new Hippos Center project the city has committed to. The center will be a huge sports and well-being facility housing three major arenas in an area 160,000 square meters (sixteen football fields). It will employ about 1,000 individuals and will increase the numbers of visitors at the current much smaller facility from 1.5 million to 3.5 million per year. As you would expect, the budget for this project is huge; 220-250 million euros and will take five years to complete. The city is having a rally for foreign investors this summer and are very eager to have British support. Thankfully, I didn’t have to break open the checkbook. I was intrigued though because the emphasis of the facility is not only on sports and sports medicine, but also the balance of well-being for people: “brain and heart” as they so eloquently put it. The whole presentation was very down to earth and I for one wish them well.
After a light dinner, Tom Dodd took the floor to talk about Brexit. He did a very good job in my opinion detailing the overall timeline of Brexit from the referendum to where we are now trying to work out a new deal. He also included the three different types of deal including the least desirable no-deal and how this could possibly impact Brits living in Finland and Finns living in the U.K. Although there wasn’t too much in the way of new information, the ambassador explained some of the options and possible changes the Finnish government is considering for Brits as well as his own personal views. The Brits were justifiably nervous about their living situations especially as becoming a Finnish citizen is notoriously difficult (the language test is 5 hours long by all accounts). Basically, the Brits were advised to check in with the Finnish authorities as it is down to them and if you want to live here, you have to play by their rules.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom though. Tom Dodd reminded everyone that the annual garden party will go ahead in June, and that other community events such as the open bar at the British Embassy will continue once per month. Brits just need to show up with their passport. Wait…what?!
Meg and I had a lot to mull over on our walk home. Things will be very different from the open EU I’d imagined for her years ago. Still, you never really know what may happen, and there’s always the open bar night at the embassy…
It’s so funny how popular you become in a group of girls the moment you mention you’re from the famous, “Kaliforniassa!” I started dance this week, trying out two types: Katu (hip-hop/street) and Nyky (contemporary). I’m so glad that I chose dance as my main physical activity because not only is it a great opportunity to socialize and make friends with people my age, but also because I love dance anyways and that’s what I did back home.
My dad took me to a meeting concerning Brexit. I got to meet the English ambassador stationed in Finland. There are some very unfortunate problems politically that are occurring right now and while it didn’t take this meeting for me to notice or realize this, it felt more real to have a knowledgeable important person explaining it right to me instead of little snippets that roam around on social media.
And while we are all in a bit of a difficult time, my parents reminded me that hey-right at this moment, I’m living in a really wonderful place full of wonderful people. It’s good to remember to step back and focus and appreciated the now rather than worrying about something that may never happen.
My trip in Finland has been filled with all sorts different things. For example, my family and I were told about this parade were the seniors of the local high schools in costume throw candy at the people watching. There were about one thousand kids in trucks going about the town. It was kind of chaotic with candy flying every which way. The kids were quiet, but a little rebellious. It was a very different experience for the whole family.
I have also seen some very different sports. Today I went to see rugby played in the snow. Near us in California they have a rugby team, but this was very different. First off, the teams are considerably smaller. Also, they wore long pants and long-ts. When you walk to the field they give out free sausages that are made out of elk! It was the best sausage that I have ever had. They had cheese in it too, all of that from elk which is totally strange.
All in all this week has been filled with new experiences and there are for sure more to come.
The first few days upon returning ‘home’ from Tallinn and Helsinki were all about settling back in and getting the kids set up with some kind of physical activity (preferably one where they can also meet some of the local kids, too). Robyn had done a lot of research for different activities and we settled on a local swim team for Liam and dance classes for Meggie. We took Meg out to view the two different options and she liked the one through the local Gradia (vocational high school). Liam tried the swim class and even though it was initially very hard due to the long training periods and mileage (up to 3 miles per session) he decided that he enjoyed it. There was even a boy his age who had spent almost a year in the states, so his English is pretty good!
The first time we visited the pool and recreation center, I was stopped by the lifeguard soon after entering the pool area due to my swim shorts. Apparently, even my European style small shorts were not acceptable for Finland as all males have to wear either racing speedos or tight trunks that are a little smaller than boxer briefs, but thankfully a tad bigger than the infamous (at least at my age) speedos. I thought that I was going to have to leave the pool due to being inappropriately attired. Thankfully, they have loaners (yikes) that they keep for just such occasions. I suspect that every non-Finnish male who enters the pool needs such help. Then it was simply a matter of trying to decipher all the signs on doors, walls, and even swimming lanes of which there were many and none in English. We soon understood that such places even though they don’t have many rules, are highly organized and it is very easy to cause problems by not following along. For example, there are no bathing suits to be worn in the sauna, although bringing in a towel is okay as I eventually found out. I was the only one who brought something in to sit on it should be noted. That being said the rec. center here is extremely clean, modern, multi-faceted, and enjoyed by all.
I started to teach myself how to cross-country ski around the park across the street this week. I bought an entire set of second hand skis, poles, and boots for 30 euros (just over $30). Let me say that I was very surprised that I could pretzel myself into some remarkable positions while thrusting my head into a snow drift up to my shoulders. This usually occurred only when locals were nearby to witness my achievements. I was amazed at how many dog walkers there suddenly were late in the evening. Perhaps it was a bad T.V. night. I persevered, however, and am making some real gains. My favorite place to work on technique (other than snow banks) is the lake which has now had about a 2 mile track groomed on its snow covered icy surface. It’s amazing how big the lake is and the wonderful views it offers of the town, especially at night when everything is lit up. It’s also possible to ski across town on surface streets as there’s been so much snow. This is not so good for me at this point as I can’t really steer that well going downhill.
The weekend saw us visiting the local ski resort as well as the Alvar Aalto museum. The ski resort was hosting the Redbull Crashed Ice competition which tours many different countries and is, I believe, part of the X-games circuit. The racers look like hockey players in their pads and hurtle down ice shutes similar to bob sledding runs, but are wider and have gnarly jumps and drop-offs. It is a lot of fun to watch the athletes fly past and the event is very popular. It was brutally cold that day and we all made it home mildly hypothermic and in need of some high calorie comfort food to revive us. Well, that and something for the adults to spike the hot chocolate with 😉 Friends stopped by on their way home and I was relieved to see that we weren’t the only ones who were tinged a little blue around the edges. In fact, one of Robyn’s Fulbright colleagues reported that her son had PTSD the next day and wouldn’t leave the house! All good fun and character building.
Sunday was the anniversary of Alvar Aalto’s birthday. This beloved Finnish architect and designer from Jyväskylä made huge contributions worldwide to how living spaces were conceptualized, built, and used in the 20th Century. He even designed glassware and other household items that would be very familiar to you if you’ve spent any time in Europe. I’m sure many furniture items in Ikea give more than a nod to Alvar’s genius. The museum here which bears his name had a few design workshops as well as birthday cake and refreshments for visitors who braved the driving snow. It is a lovely place full of original illustrations, models, and household items designed by Alvar as well as other architects and designers inspired by him. While we were making our own art, Robyn took the opportunity to talk to the education leader about the school groups that visit, and what the learning opportunities look like there. Being Finland, there is apparently much discussion how architects use space and items to help people’s wellbeing while including nature. This is followed by hands-on projects and presentations. Good stuff. Happy Birthday Alvar!
Lastly, today (February 5th) is Runebergin Päivää, or Runeberg Day. Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finno-Sweddish poet whose first poem in his very first publication became the popular Finnish National Anthem. Born in 1804, Runeberg went on to write many poems that are often sung rather than spoken. People celebrate by eating a special delicious Runebergin Torttu that replicates his favorite that his wife used to prepare for him. Available in shops only for a limited time, the torttu tastes mildly of almonds and resemble a 3 inch tall honey cake with a dollop of icing and jam on top. Sounds like a good excuse to read some poetry and eat some treats to me.
Johan Ludvig RunebergDelicious Runeberg Torttus-I’d save you one, but it probably wouldn’t last…
