Month: January 2017

The morning was spent together at Johannelund. While I met with a student, Elenn did some professional development.

After lunch, we walked to the Gamla (Old) Uppsala church and viking-era grave mounds. I’ve mentioned this place before, which is one of the most important historic sites in Sweden. We walked there in the cold, with temperatures right around freezing.

Yes, Kathi, 6 km of visibility!

Can you guess Elenn’s favorite color?

On the walk home, we coordinated a previously planned fika with Ingela. I will travel with Ingela to Ethiopia on Feb. 11, so this was a little getting to know you and for me to ask some questions. Ingela and Staffan (my colleague at JTH who left for Ethiopia last week) have lived and worked in Ethiopia for a few years at different times, going back to the Marxist era. She is warm and a great conversationalist. We spoke English for Elenn’s sake–which is wonderful for me.

Homemade pizza and great conversations at dinner was followed by my doing the dishes (I offered), while Elenn and Anya played ping pong.

It was a good day with about 6.5 miles of walking. I hope we can find a bike for Elenn.

Oh, and here’s the fika picture from yesterday!

With blessings,

Beth

Elenn arrived today. It will be a good time. We already had Swedish fika!

However, things will be very full too. I’ll try to get some pictures of our visits posted.

Somehow, I need to work more on my paper for the presentation on the 6th! Oh my!

With blessings,

Beth

Here are recent glimpses:

Anya was quoted as saying (and gave me permission to post): “I’m finally seeing how matrices can be exciting!” I never did matrices, much less at 16 years old! The Hanson math gene is evident.

At the end of my Bible school class on the Psalms of reorientation (back to our grounding in God), I closed with the spiritual exercise, “praying with color.” One student said that he really enjoyed it, and he hoped we would do it again often. He asked where I got my colored pencils. I replied, “Clas Ohlson,” but then I grabbed a handful and gave them to him. I’ll see about getting some more in the prayer room.

Next, I had 3 hours of tutoring with 3 students who are doing their bachelor’s thesis. My sense was that these folks are very thoughtful and serious students. It was good to walk through their ideas that they have begun to clarify with a research question, thesis statement, and draft outline, as well as identification of primary and secondary sources. All have studied a year of Hebrew, and one also has a year of Greek. One is a woman, a mother of three who lives in the northern part of Sweden. It takes 9 hours by train, with sleeping overnight on board, to get to the tutorial today. I joined her for lunch and heard more of her story. She’s also working part-time teaching Swedish to refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Eritrea. They are fortunate to have this bright and engaging young woman.

Then I met with a young man who is joining my 2nd year (shorter) thesis tutoring group. Another student switched disciplines, so I could bring him into my group. We had time for me to get to know him a bit and hear some of his story. He is another thoughtful young adult, and with his interests, it should be an intriguing essay.

I passed my listening comprehension exam with 74%! I am sure that I did not get 74% of the conversation in yesterday’s 3-hour faculty meeting. I picked up a bit more than I did at my first faculty meeting, but it doesn’t seem like much more. Everyone talks rather fast to try to get their words in without taking too much time, as it wouldn’t be Swedish to take more than a fair share of time.

Anya was one of 3 students in a physics Olympiad today. The questions are in Swedish, so prior to the exam, she was hoping there were a lot of cognates. Indeed, a lot of the measuring units are the same. The top 2 students from each school go to Gothenburg for the next level of competition, so with only 3 students, she may have a chance! However, she isn’t as strong in physics (or Swedish), so she doesn’t feel that it will be a very good chance. At least she can be the alternate!

Finally, I found out my sister, Elenn, will be arriving on 30 January instead of 4 February! I must really work to get my paper done this weekend, before she arrives, so we can enjoy our time together! (It is due 6 February.) Ugh!

With blessings,

Beth

Prior to my listening comprehension exam, I stopped by the Nordic African Institute and got a library card (the librarian was capable but had no personality or sense of welcome!). I did about an hour of reading in the book, African-Centered Knowledges, and checked out this book with three others of a similar theme. The introduction of the book was very thoughtful. When I type up some notes, I’ll share some that may be understandable out of context.

Then off to my exam in the part of the university (The English Park!) in the next block. I was on time, but she was finishing up an exam with another student. So, I waited outside just a few minutes on a bench across from the copy room.

I might have answered enough questions to pass. I didn’t get them all, but fortunately, it was about rune stones. I had done a reading on this in our reading book, so at least some of the terms I knew. I also knew some of the history that appeared in the questions. Christianity came about AD 1000. Books weren’t printed in the 1200s, because I knew that Gutenberg’s printing revolution came out just before the Reformation (1517), so 1500 was the right answer for printing books in the multiple choice.

My response on the student evaluation somehow got back to my teacher, as I had mentioned about taking the placement exam and being place in a level that was very difficult and stressful. Today, she initiated the conversation which mentioned (in Swedish), that level 2 would have been to easy for me. So, she figured out it was me and my concern on the student evaluation. Yes, I did work hard, but I still didn’t pass at least one component of the course (and we’ll see about the comprehension).

Even though I do not have to, I will retake the essay some time to be determined in April, which will give me time to keep strengthening my Swedish. However, my teacher will be out on maternity leave, so there will be a substitute.

Afterwards, I went to the University of Uppsala library, in the next block, and got another library card.

This library had a more friendly librarian but a less friendly building. This is the reality of a old building that has been expanded in different ways over 200 years.

There is a wonderful reading room.

I was trying to get to the theology section by following signs, and I ended up on this balcony. After going the wrong direction and making a big loop, I found a very dim and dreary room with the theology books. At least it was very quiet, and I sat at a table next to a window for some natural light.

On the way home, I picked up a few things at Clas Ohlson. I was in a little funk. What was the reason? Tiredness? Disappointment in my Swedish progress? The reality that I’m working on a paper that has me caught, and no one to really talk it through with? Perhaps, all of the above? I’m trying to ride several horses at one time, to use an analogy that my PhD adviser, Knut, used once. I’m integrating other disciplines that only know enough of to be dangerous. But if I have something that comes together into something somewhat solid, I sense that it is important to say. The challenge is integrating some systematic theology (Luther’s law-gospel distinction with an understanding of the 3 uses of the law, and yes, according to my JTH colleague, Luther did utilize a 3rd use even if he didn’t call it that), and philosophy relating to different epistemologies (or ways of knowing), and then adding an intercultural/African aspect. And this paper will be presented Feb. 6! I worked on it until Anya came home at about 5 PM.

Fortunately, Anya and I had a fun evening playing ping pong. We did our own mash-up version of a riff off (from the movie Pitch Perfect). I would sing a hymn, Christmas carol, or Bible camp song, and Anya would find a word that I sang, and then match it to a lyric in a musical in order to steal the singing. Then, I would try to take it back. It was hilarious!

I close with the sunset from last night as I left my Talk Time at church. At the bottom of the light pole on the right, you can just see the cathedral spires far on the horizon. The distance is actually 1.5 miles (2.42 km) to the cathedral. (Yes, it is that flat.)

With blessings,

Beth

Tomorrow, I make up my listening comprehension (hörförståelse) exam that I spaced out on January 10. The final exam had 3 parts: grammar, writing an essay without any dictionary or other resources, and the listening comprehension. I believe the listening is my weakest skill, but I did not pass the essay portion. The spoken recording will be way faster than what I am comfortable with. I don’t know the subject, but the vocabulary can really make a difference if it has some key words that I can’t make an educated guess from the context.

In Sweden, one is supposed to be in control and manage their life. It isn’t socially acceptable to admit weakness, struggles, or needing help. However, it is socially acceptable to be stressed. I am stressed!

I have been practicing and studying everyday, and today I got in a little talk time at the church. I’ll review more in the morning. I will just do the best I can.

Åsa, my new priest friend, stopped by today. I got to hear stories of her amazing day yesterday. How wonderful to see a 5.5 year journey, after a major step of faith (leaving a well-paid university teaching position), come to fruition as an ordained priest.

With blessings,

Beth

Sweden’s Lutheranism is high church. When defining themselves after the Reformation, they took positions which wouldn’t alienate the Roman Catholic-sympathizers as well as keep the power away from the radical reformers. (This is my beginning and oversimplified understanding from a book I read last year.) The Church of Sweden prides itself with an historic episcopate, which means they can trace (in theory) the laying on of hands for each ordination back to St. Peter, the first pope. The Church of Sweden formalized its theology and practices in well-defined statements, and set the course for almost 500 years. Since 2000, the Church of Sweden is no longer a state church, though the king of Sweden still must be a Lutheran.

Lutherans who come from other lands are amazed how much Lutheranism here feels like Roman Catholicism. I’m fairly low church–not very formal. So, today, I had a high church experience.

One of my Swedish language learning conversation partners, Åsa (OH-sah), was ordained today as a priest in the Church of Sweden. I went to celebrate with her and her family.

As an Old Testament teacher, I’m a bit miffed that the Gospel accounts are elevated this way, almost as if the other parts of the Bible aren’t Scripture.

I was joined by two older students from Johannelund. I put my coat back on to stay warm in the cold cathedral. No wonder the priests had all those layers of insulating cloth.

The cathedral is big and beautiful. It is the central cathedral, as Uppsala is the headquarters of the church with the archbishop’s office located here. “The cathedral dates to the late 13th century and at a height of 118.7 metres (389 ft), it is the tallest church in the Nordic countries” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppsala_Cathedral).

The afternoon was filled with friends, food, and fun. We were invited over to our German friends’ home, along with a Swedish/American couple. Steffi teaches in the engineering department at the University of Uppsala. I keep learning more about the Swedish university regulations from her. We also had fun playing games–in English! However, their daughter is tri-lingual, English, Swedish, and German, and can easily switch between the three!

With blessings,

Beth

After Anya left for school this morning, I reviewed some Swedish to prepare for my new tutoring session at 10:00 am. Lennart is a retired Greek teacher, who has taught Greek in 4 languages besides Swedish! I know that my ability to speak Swedish is related to my sense of comfort with my conversation partner. Right away, I felt comfortable with Lennart, so I sensed a bit of growth in my speaking today.

He is a widower, but he keeps busy with committees and things. One of his sons lives in Stockholm with his family, including two of his six grandchildren.

He has a collection of over 300 elephants from around the world. He lived over 15 years in India and 5 years in Thailand, as well as a few years in Indonesia. These homes and lots of international travels, including gifts from friends, have built the collection.

Lennart prepared tea and coffee served with some saffron cake and ginger cookies! He is so gracious. I did bring some Seattle Theo chocolate, in good Swedish cultural form.

We spent 1.5 hours today, and we will continue to meet regularly on Fridays. What a great blessing! (J & M, he is a friend of Jim Bergquist.)

After my tutorial, I biked over to the vaccination center, which was actually in that neighborhood. There was no line at 10:45 am on a Friday morning. I went right in after filling in a form (in Swedish). I started my session in Swedish, but eventually, we ended up in English. Whew! (When it relates to medical issues and banking, I really appreciate English!) I had my yellow immunization card, so it was good to know that all I needed to prepare for Ethiopian travels in February was an oral cholera vaccine. This is new to me and isn’t done in the USA in my recent visits. The cost of about $50 for a travel vaccine is not covered by the socialized medicine, but it is work-related, so JTH will reimburse me, I’m told.

Then, following the river, I could find my way to the city center.

There are no mountains here to give a sense of direction in a very flat land, but the cathedral spires are the landmark to help get around. Uppsala’s population is over 130,000, the fourth largest city in Sweden, but the law is that no building can be higher than the cathedral spires.

I met Anya at the tax office. We are getting her an official Swedish ID card. Then she doesn’t need her passport to get a package at the post-stop in the neighborhood grocery store. There may be other reasons too, but it just seemed prudent to have in advance of any potential need.

The tax office was in the Swedish news today, because today Sweden is estimated to have reached 10 million inhabitants, including me. It isn’t just citizens that the tax office counts, but anyone living in the country.

On the way home, I stopped by Clas Ohlson, (like Fred Meyer without food or clothes, i.e. a basic collection of home, kitchen, bath, electronics, art supplies, luggage, camping, hardware, etc.). I left the store to discover that while I thought I had parked in a bicycle parking area–due to the dozen bikes there–it wasn’t.

This is not a ticket, just a friendly reminder! So, I looked for the closest bike racks for the next time.

My afternoon was spent streaming “How It’s Made” on YouTube while working on resoling some shoes.

The evening included some more Swedish. I found a newscast in easy Swedish today.

http://www.svtplay.se/video/12031130/svt-nyheter-pa-latt-svenska/svt-nyheter-pa-latt-svenska-20-jan-19-00?start=auto

However, I think the radio newscast with online transcriptions of the Swedish is more effective for my learning. I can cut and paste the unknown words (which slowly seem to be decreasing in number) into an online dictionary. In enter some words into my Anki intelligent flashcard system on my computer, which syncs in the cloud. Then, I can practice these words anytime on my phone (like when I was waiting for Anya to show up at the tax office during her break in the school day).

It is great to have lots of good resources. I will need to get a couple more conversation partners set up for weekly times for me to practicing speaking. All the technology doesn’t help me learn the the speaking part, but it helps with all the building blocks: vocabulary, grammar, writing, and listening comprehension.

With blessings,

Beth (one in 10 million!)

Swedish in chapel. Swedish in staff meeting. Swedish in a theological presentation. How much did I comprehend? Perhaps 5 to 25 percent. The rate of speech and some special vocabulary makes it difficult.

I did arrange to take the listening comprehension exam (that I missed) next Tuesday. I know that the rate of speech will be difficult for me, based on our practice in class. While the listening to all the Swedish at work may help a bit, I sense that my daily listening to Radio på lätt svenska ׁ(Radio in easy Swedish) is better for training my ear. I can listen on a pod cast while I prepare the evening meal, and then later, I go to the website and read the text. I can pop the text into Google translate to work on building my vocabulary with the words that I don’t know. It would be good to do this more.

After I’ve mastered this pace and the simplified vocabulary, I can move up to the next level, Klartext, which is a faster—but not quite normal—rate of speech and a little broader vocabulary. Sweden really has some good resources for language learning. One of my students just also got a part-time job teaching Swedish to the immigrants.

There is a lot of English spoken, and many musicians realize that if they want a broader audience, they produce their music in Swedish. Here’s a creative new YouTube video that is quickly going around about Swedish fika.

The pastries shown are classic Swedish pastries!

I do think that there is something about sitting down and having fika together. I feel more connected to the community here after just a few months than in my 7 years at Trinity. I think fika has a lot to do with it!

So, enjoy more fika today!

With blessings,

Beth

How can it be the 17th all ready!?! I have too much to do before some deadlines early next month! Grading, a research paper to present at a conference on Feb. 6, a ton of reading for new courses, etc. This doesn’t even count the Swedish I plan to do every day.  And there are still some smoldering questions with some Swedish-language mail that I hope don’t burn me! Ugh! I just have to keep on keeping on.

With Anya going to bed very early, I have more evening time to work. However, I did get her to stay up until 7:00 pm tonight to help with the dishes. I’m slowly moving the clock back for her. She has pole vault practice tomorrow at 6:00 pm, so that should help too.

Today, I’ve been thinking of the hand motions people use when they talk. Why do we do this? Does it really help us communicate? Since at times I have little tracking of the Swedish, the hand motions seem the main means of expression. However, they don’t communicate much if you don’t know the language.

My boss gave the message in chapel today. Only on Tuesdays is it this formal — when communion is part of this longer service. Sometimes, his Swedish is a bit hard for me to understand. Sometimes, I’m tired and my mind shuts off. Sometimes, my mind just wanders. I started pondering what his hand motions did to help him express what he was saying. There is definitely stronger action when he emphasizes his words.

One of the retired Swedish conversation partners often rolls his two pointer fingers around each other in a circle when he is explaining something. I’ve been wondering if there is a pattern of when he used this rolling motion. He was a physicist/radiologist by profession, and the rolling seems to be more prevalent with the more precise explanations — perhaps.

I’m overseeing three bachelor’s theses this term (and 5 smaller 2nd year theses). Of the bachelor thesis students, all have studied Hebrew, and one has both Greek and Hebrew. He’s writing in English (whew!) as part of an application to a master’s program in Scotland. He stopped by today to talk over some things to focus his research question and start to shape a thesis. He’s a bright guy. Actually, all the 6 who are writing in exegetical theology are really sharp. However, one older student jokingly offered to write my Swedish exam essay retake when he heard at fika that I didn’t earn an satisfactory mark, but then I would write his bachelor’s thesis for him! It does seem practical. I’ve often thought that a soccer (oh, “football” in Sweden) would be much easier if one showed up when no one else was on the field. Why do we put so many difficult things in our paths? Alright, I realize this is silly. The challenges excite us and cause us to grow. And there are great views at the top of the mountains, and they are cherished even more after a long and hard hike. (Oh, that’s right, there are no real mountains around here, but I still have my Swedish language mountain.)

Off to grading and Swedish language learning.

With blessings,

Beth

Thursday: I have never failed a final exam before. While I did pass the grammar section of the final exam for my Swedish for Academics course, the essay was unsatisfactory. So, part of me feels a little like I was set up to fail, because I took the placement exam in August and was put into level 3. I questioned the instructor thinking it was too hard after the first class, but she thought I would do OK, but with the challenge of learning quite a bit of vocabulary. She has way more experience in evaluating beginning Swedish, so I trusted her. I worked hard. My instructor noted that I was probably the most diligent in turning in the homework. I worked through the extra pages in the exercise book and repeated the ones we did for class. I added my own vocabulary regimen. I added my own talk time practice sessions. I added my own routine of listening to the podcasts of Swedish new in easy Swedish and reading the text on the Internet. Still, I did not pass.

In retrospect, I should have trusted my gut and worked through level 2. There would have been way less stress and a better match to my level. Hindsight… I’m beginning to realize that I need to trust my intuition a little more, but cross-culturally, one never knows how to intuit the new context.

Since I don’t NEED the grade, I might not bother to retake the exam. I’ll think about it.

At the afternoon fika, I asked if my colleagues knew of someone who knew Swedish grammar. Now that the course was finished, I wanted to have someone to ask my grammar questions. I can still have conversation partners, but most don’t know how to respond to why one uses vilken/t/a instead of som in certain contexts. A retired Greek teacher, Lennart, who knows several languages was mentioned. One colleague, Staffan, offered to call him.

Friday: I am working at 75% this first year while I learn Swedish and my co-teacher in Old Testament gradually retires. So, I have worked it out so that I don’t go to campus on Fridays. However, earlier in the week, I was asked by the student body president, Martin, if I was going to be in the chapel service on Friday morning, and invited me to attend. I went.

Martin is a very funny guy with a what I understand is a kind of funny commentary on the way things are done. However, I don’t understand the much of Swedish and humor is even harder to get. It is amazing how many laughs he gets. I know that I never want to be a speaker that has to follow him.

At one point, Martin switched to English and talked about how LarsOlov (my Old Testament co-teacher) was talking about retirement for years but never did. But now Johannelund has found an excellent match in me, so now he doesn’t have to worry any more; he can retire. Then he presented me with two books from the students, Bible commentaries (one written by LarsOlov and the other by my New Testament colleague). It was a nice affirmation that in spite of the Swedish, I am in the right place.

This affirmation was followed by fika with a few of the women students in their late 20s and early 30s. They are all very comfortable in English, so we have a great time together. There is a great community here. I will just need to continue to work on the Swedish competency.

I stayed and prepared for some new term things. While this is my day off, I was previously given time off later when Anya has winter and spring breaks–without any concern.

Later, Staffan dropped by and said that Lennart was willing to meet with me to discuss Swedish grammar! Great!

Anya was asleep when I got home at 5:30 pm. She needs to get on this time zone! I worked on some Swedish, checked emails, streamed some Stephen Colbert to keep up on things in the USA, and went to bed.

Saturday: Most of the day I started seriously writing on a paper that I will present on Feb. 6. The process is always slower than I would hope, but it is important to clarify the issues as they come up.

In the evening, we were invited over for dinner to the home of one of my conversation partners. Åsa left her teaching position at the agricultural university in Uppsala 4.5 years ago to become a priest. She was one of the ones sent off with blessings this week. She will stay living in Uppsala and serve a congregation about 20 minutes from town. We had a nice evening with good laughter (yes, in English) in this tri-lingual family (the father is German and speaks German to their 3 kids).

Anya stayed up until almost 9:00 pm, with the help of a rather cold night to bicycle home.

Sunday: This morning at church, I didn’t take the earphone to hear the sermon translated into English. Then I discovered it was going to be one of my colleagues who is probably the hardest for me to understand. He has a Finnish-Swedish dialect with a deep, grovely voice. I got some of it, but the translation would have been good.

After church, Staffan introduced me to Lennart, my new Swedish grammar tutor. We had fika together after church where we talked over this arrangement. He grew up in India, so Swedish and Hindi are his first languages. He has taught Greek in Hindi, Indonesian, English, and Thai, and recently added in Swedish. He also knows some Russian from his military service. We discovered we were at the same global mission conference in Tacoma, WA, in 1984, where he was a speaker and I ran the youth program. So, I will meet on Fridays mornings for an hour each week. What a gift!

Anya and I were finally awake together and were able to start our new ping pong streak!

With blessings,

Beth