Daniela sent me a gingerbread heart for my birthday. Usually it takes me weeks to decide whether I should eat these things or not, but the decision was easy this time!

No space in my suitcase = a full and happy belly.

When I was at the store today I spent a lot of time in the toilet paper isle. Since I will be leaving Oslo in the middle of December I really had to think about how many rolls to buy… I decided on 8, thinking it would be fun to see if 8 rolls are enough for 8 more weeks in Oslo.

When I looked at my calendar just now, I realized that I will have to save this game for my last 8 weeks in Dublin, because I will be leaving Oslo in exactly 7 weeks. WHAT? How did that happen?

Today there was a survey for ECE teachers at the university. We were eager to participate, but couldn’t because we are not Norwegian. As usual the survey involved some free stuff, and I decided to ask if we could have one card game anyways. Then everyone wanted a card game and before we knew it we got some paper and stickies as well. We left regretting not getting one of those nice backpacks (to carry all of our free stuff). One probably has to participate in the study to receive a backpack.

1. I love mail (& male)!
2. I love my mom!
3. I love autumn!
4. I love tea!
5. I love cake!
6. I love my birthday week!

Today I received a lovely package in the mail from my mom. I was on my way to school and saved reading the card until I reached the nice park that surrounds the castle. Its just beautiful there at this time of year with yellow leaves everywhere.

She sent the most thoughtful gift. Tea that tastes like cake. It was my long-distance birthday cake… One black tea that tastes like carrot cake & one green tea that’s called “Mom’s Apple Pie”.

What a nice day. All the things I love in life I have right here (except perhaps the male).

I didn’t bring my camera today to take a picture of the park, this photo was taken a few days ago on our walk along the river.

One thing I really like about the university here is that we have scheduled supervision with the visiting scholars and instructors. It’s so helpful to have some time with them. I don’t know why I didn’t really make use of the office hours at Capilano University.

My birthday in OSLO!

Kristel introduced me to the Estonian tradition of eating ice cream for breakfast (even if it wasn’t a tradition, I hope she remembers next year when we’ll be in Malta…)

Everyone got up early on a Sunday morning to celebrate my birthday. We had a BIG pancake breakfast, with real Maple Syrup from my mother-in-law. It was so much fun. They got me a Winnieh the Pooh card which was very sweet.

In the afternoon I went on a lovely fall walk, which is one of my favorite things to do. Imagine our delight when we went to have tea in a cafe after the long walk along the river.

The evening I spent on skype talking to the people that are closest to me (though far away in distance…).

Many week’s ago our teacher suggested that we should present our project work during the International week at our University. He was so excited that we practically had to agree to his proposal and he signed us up as visiting scholars to the “Window to the World”.

Ola (Poland), Adriana (Mexico), Monique (the Philippines), and I presented

The Role and Responsibilities of a Preschool Teacher: A Comparative Study of Canada, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, and Norway.

We had a fairly big audience (DID NOT EXPECT THAT!) and for a minute I thought Ola ran away under the pretence that she had to use the washroom.  But she came back, we overcame the initial butterflies in our stomachs, and gave a good presentation. I really enjoyed making our work public and advocating for the field of Early Childhood Education on an international level.

Yes, we had a campfire in the forest today. These children are so lucky! One little girl made a hot dog for me, it was totally burned and delicious.

One highlight of the IMEC program are the times we get to visit the Norwegian Barnehager. The last one I went to was fabulous. Every Tuesday they arrange to go to the forest for a few hours – we felt really lucky that our observations are scheduled for that time! (I had just come back from Ottawa the night before and really wasn’t ready for school, so this was perfect!)

It was so much fun to go for a hike in the forest with a bunch of kids. It was like a hike on the North Shore and at points it was quite challenging. The kids didn’t seem to mind. They were busy collecting stones, sticks, and leaves, and feeding pinecones to the alligators… Once we arrived at their usual spot they got to play in the forest for a while and then they had a picnic lunch with hot tea. It was amazing!

From a teacher’s perspective, the field trip wasn’t stressful at all (maybe because I am not responsible…). The children knew where to play and they even had a designated area (away form where they would play) in case anyone had to pee.

They made forts with huge branches and slid down rocks. Some also just relaxed. I’m looking forward to next Tuesday!!!

Back in Germany we lived across the street from our daycare. Over the years we always stayed in touch and I just talked to my kindergarten teacher “Kaisi” to share the excitement with her. I am so happy to have her in my life.