The meeting with my instructor today was quite short, but fruitful nevertheless. She helped me clarify some ideas and we identified my research aim and some objectives. I think.

I am not quite ready to put it all into words, but I can say that my proposed research is influenced by the book Releasing the Imagination by Maxine Greene. This is the book I read at work with my coworkers. You all know how much I loved the book club, even though it was quite challenging at times. I still miss getting together to share our thoughts about education. Anyways, Maxine would argue that schools should be a place where all students have a voice.

This connects to You Can’t Say You Can’t Play Vivian Paley. One of my favorites for sure. She implements the rule “You Can’t Say You Can’t Play” in her kindergarten classroom after discussing with the children whether this rule could work or not. The children that get rejected the most were in favor of the new rule and the kids that did most of the rejecting thought it was crazy. The classroom being a public space (unlike your home where you can choose who you want to hang out with) I think that this rule could help all children develop a sense of belonging.

Now I just have to connect my ideas and write up the research proposal. Piece of cake.

I am leaving for Germany tomorrow morning! I will be in Bremen for the first few days and then my dad will come pick me up and I will spend some days in Hamburg before driving down to Paderborn to see the rest of my family. I am so excited.

I am getting just a little stressed now, because I’m only bringing a backpack. I have to figure out which readings & notes I need in order to prepare my projects for school. I have 2 assignments due when I get back from Germany… And clothes of course. But Kerstin will be able to give me something to wear.

These last few days I’ve been working on my research proposal that’s due in a month. The problem is that most of that month I will be spending in Germany (I anticipate many distractions!)!!! So, on Thursday this week I will be meeting with my Research Methodology instructor. I hope she can help me clarify my ideas.

Yesterday I went to Evan and Ainsley’s yard sale. It was hilarious.
Thanks to skype for making it possible.

In one week I will be in Germany. If I want to have enough time for friends and family there, I should really be doing a lot of homework this weekend… Let’s get started.

Reading week is definitely over… This week’s lectures have been quite a workout for my brain. It’s been very exciting. In fact, to give my poor head a break form thinking too much, I went to the gym to run for a while!

This afternoon some of us went to a lecture entitled Children and Migration at the Goethe Institute. The first presenter is a lecturer at the University of Hamburg, where my sister is studying as well. What a coincidence… I started thinking that my sister and I could do some amazing work together. As a linguist and early childhood educator we could work with newcomers to Canada. This could be a possibility.

I’m too sleepy.

I received an e-mail this week from one of the writers who is following up on the Best Practices report. I think it will be published soon…

I remembered that amazing week in Ottawa, and I just saw on their webpage that the video of the ceremony is available now. It’s just a couple of minutes, have a look.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/pmaece-ppmepe.nsf/eng/wy00448.html

We took a trip to Galway. From there we explored the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, and the Aran Islands. What great fun.

The young man at the hostel printed a letter for me, he laughed when he saw that it was addressed to my bank in Norway. He banks with them too and is actually Norwegian. The world is so small.

The Cliffs of Moher are amazing and a tourist magnet. I can’t imagine going there in the summer with hordes of tourists.

On the way to the Cliffs you pass through an area called The Burren, meaning “rocky place”. The burren would be the botanist’s and geologist’s heaven.

                                                       Blackhead Mountain 🙂

Connemara, Galways hinterland, was another lovely trip. It’s basically a combination of bogs, lakes, mountains, and magic. Absolutely beautiful also as well (one of the bus drivers liked saying both ‘also’ and ‘as well’). The bus driver surprised us with Irish music at this stop (picture below) and my eyes got a bit teary. I am really in Ireland!

Kylemore Abbey

I especially loved the day on Inishmore, the largest of the three islands that make up the Aran Islands. We had typical Irish weather, barely made the ferry ride (I’m getting sick just thinking about that), and loved every minute of it. At night time we went to a local pub and brought the German fellow that we met at the hostel. Soon enough one of the locals sat with us, one guy from Australia, and one from the U.S. Half of us were drying their shoes near the fireplace. It was just magical.

Esther and Monique