Weekly posts mean a lot of news to review. We’ll start with the highlights!
Anya scored a goal, the only goal at Tuesday’s home game that ended with a tie. Her school is wonderful, and she’s learning lots with wonderful teachers. Thursday night was curriculum night, so I met all but her IB/AP physics teacher who was sick. I got a peak at her first stained glass project:
This year, the Bellevue school district has provided laptops to all their high school students. This “1 to 1” initiative will give equal access to computer and filtered Internet resources for ALL. It also makes standardized testing less complicated, as students can remain in their classroom and take the tests on their laptops. This enables more instruction time and probably less stress for those with test anxiety.
This week, Anya’s AP World History class had an assignment that helped to make history “real” for each student. After thinking about historical events that have influenced each student’s heritage, they were to make a “culture box” about it to share with the class. Anya selected the Norwegian Constitution Day. This is a great way to engage students in history, especially Anya, as she enjoys creative projects.
This week I gave up on my attempts to unclog the drain in the bathroom sink and called Roto Rooter. After a $50 off coupon and $219, the serviceman was unable to clog the drain. He was unable, by company policy, to try snaking from the roof, so his advice was to cut the wall behind the cabinet to see where the pipes were going. Fortunately, Marv came by and was willing to look at it with me. With some fiddling and his $5 hand crank snake, we unclogged the drain. I’m so glad I didn’t follow the serviceman’s advice and make an invasive diagnostic process to determine it was a simple clog, but it was in a location that sent his snake up the vent instead of into the clog.
I am also now a patron of the University of Washington Library and took in a tour on Friday. The Suzzallo Library reading room is beautiful! Now, I have access to 8 million books now!
While I won’t be taking the time to enroll in the Swedish course at UW (completing my dissertation is priority), I continue to do a bit of Swedish online most every day and think about Sweden. A recent study has the cost of living in many global cities. (https://www.ubs.com/microsites/prices-earnings/edition-2015.html) So, I discovered that the cost of living in Stockholm is not too different from Los Angeles. Uppsala should be a bit cheaper. However, the taxes in Sweden are almost double while incomes are a bit lower overall. But, this study doesn’t take into account health care and educational costs. That’s where socialized health care and education makes a huge difference with access for all. Most in the Nordic countries believe this is a better system as they see the results of their taxes.
We welcome Eric’s parents this week, so you’ll hear updates next time.
With blessings,
Beth
Well, I’ve wondered if the drain stayed open but was smart enough not to ask just in case it had sealed up again. It was still an odd clog.