The morning started with a difficult dragging of a jet-lagged body out of bed to give an exam for the end of the Introduction to the Old Testament course that I’ve been co-teaching.
The Swedish educational system is a bit different. Students have 5 opportunities to take and pass the exam. So, there were students there today who did not take the mid-term, so I had to have a revised mid-term available. Also, there were some students who did not pass the mid-term, so they retook all or portions of the mid-term. However, one was feeling bad with a cold, so he opted to not finish the course now but to resit the mid-term later. I have to figure out how the publishing of the re-sit examination dates get to these students. The school gets paid when students finish the course with a passing grade, so it is incumbent upon the school to get students completed.
In the USA, you must complete the coursework, arrange for an incomplete, or take the course again. There is a financial cost to paying for a course and not passing or completing it. Here, there is no tuition and no fees to pay for a resit of an exam. The financial consequences of not passing or completing are born by the institution. However, students can graduate–or in our case–get ordained without completing their course requirements. So, there is still an important goal.
I spent the afternoon studying for my final exam for my Swedish for Academics course. I studied a little too long, and with my jet-lagged brain reading military time, I missed the first hour of the exam–the listening comprehension part! Well, I don’t think I would have done well on that part anyway, and it ended up leaving me actually less stressed for the last two hours of writing.
I think I did reasonably well on the grammar parts and the reading comprehension. The written essay was more challenging, because we didn’t have access to a dictionary. I had to use words that I could pull out of my head and spell fairly accurately. I think I actually used avslut (“close”) when I should have used beslut (“decision”). When I write for my homework, I also use my computer, which has a spell and grammar checker. Perhaps the essay is passable, but barely.
In retrospect, I should have been in level 2, but I made the best beslut with what I knew, trusting the teacher’s evaluation of my placement test.
I have 4 more tries to pass the exam (!)–if I want to make the effort. There is nothing binding for me with the grade, so I may not even try to complete the listening comprehension part.
I biked home and stopped to take a picture of the Epiphany lights still in the windows here. The lights are displayed through Epiphany. I understand Epiphany, but that was Dec. 12. I have to learn why the lights continue to be lit. There is something about January 20 on the calendar … humm.
I celebrated the end of the term with an opening of part of my Christmas present from Anya.
If you don’t know what a baobab tree looks like, here a beautiful sunset from our travels to Tanzania this summer.
I’m wide awake but need to sleep. Anya meant to have an hour nap this afternoon but woke up about 6 hours later! Jet lag does strange things!
With blessings,
Beth