I spent Thanksgiving in Tamsweg this year and prepared a meal for a few colleagues and friends of mine. We planned for 9 people total, one person was ill and one person had to help a friend, so there was entirely too much food.
Here are some photos from the cooking in the days before and then finally the actual celebration (and continuing cooking) on Friday, when the dinner was hosted:
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
No cliques in Austrian high schools?
Any American Teaching Assistant will be able to name scores of differences between Austrian and American secondary schools, but one of the most pronounced lies in how students and teachers change subjects between periods.
While in the US, teachers stay in their own rooms (usually) and welcome a new class each period, in Austria, students stay while teachers swap around. The system divides pupils into different grades, and these grades into different groups (if there are too many for one class).
This, my students said, coupled with the fact that there are few school-organized extracurricular activities, means that they usually make friends with the folks in their class/grade. Instead of the band geeks, or the jocks, or the cheerleaders hanging together, the students in this particular class said they form bonds with their classmates and those who are usually the same age.
Could this be part of the reason there are no real cliques to speak of at the school?
Right of the bat, I must mention that this school is relatively small, that there are larger schools across Austria, and that this may be an exception. Tamsweg is small, as well--everyone knows most everyone here.
Based on my limited observations thus far, students staying in their own classroom means they seem to respect and to take care of the equipment, including the whiteboard, better than students would in the US (where such things would be guaranteed to be used by other students throughout the day).
They also seem to have a group mentality for their studies--almost a "we're all in this together" attitude when it comes to how they perform. Although there are some courses the students can choose to take (an extra English course, or Athletics, for example), they generally don't part ways from each other after each class. From my own experience in high school, I remember feeling camaraderie with my classmates, but I was also on my own--my schedule, my different friends, my choices.
While I don't think that this setup alone--the teachers swapping rather than the students--prevents cliques from forming, and I also believe it limits students in their options to choose courses, it seems to on the other hand allow them to work closely together with those in their same grade, to feel a sense of belonging and responsibility, and to form open, rather than exclusive, friendship groups.
While in the US, teachers stay in their own rooms (usually) and welcome a new class each period, in Austria, students stay while teachers swap around. The system divides pupils into different grades, and these grades into different groups (if there are too many for one class).
This, my students said, coupled with the fact that there are few school-organized extracurricular activities, means that they usually make friends with the folks in their class/grade. Instead of the band geeks, or the jocks, or the cheerleaders hanging together, the students in this particular class said they form bonds with their classmates and those who are usually the same age.
Could this be part of the reason there are no real cliques to speak of at the school?
Right of the bat, I must mention that this school is relatively small, that there are larger schools across Austria, and that this may be an exception. Tamsweg is small, as well--everyone knows most everyone here.
Based on my limited observations thus far, students staying in their own classroom means they seem to respect and to take care of the equipment, including the whiteboard, better than students would in the US (where such things would be guaranteed to be used by other students throughout the day).
They also seem to have a group mentality for their studies--almost a "we're all in this together" attitude when it comes to how they perform. Although there are some courses the students can choose to take (an extra English course, or Athletics, for example), they generally don't part ways from each other after each class. From my own experience in high school, I remember feeling camaraderie with my classmates, but I was also on my own--my schedule, my different friends, my choices.
While I don't think that this setup alone--the teachers swapping rather than the students--prevents cliques from forming, and I also believe it limits students in their options to choose courses, it seems to on the other hand allow them to work closely together with those in their same grade, to feel a sense of belonging and responsibility, and to form open, rather than exclusive, friendship groups.
Thanksgiving Madness: Day 1
Top Reasons Thanksgiving in Austria can be daunting, yet highly rewarding:
1. Limited food options in Austria (although most things can be had, cranberries are AWOL. Turkey will be absolutely fresh, though--I ordered him myself! I even got to pick a "him" or "her.")
2. Decidedly different appliance proportions (I'm not sure my 11 pound turkey will fit into the economical oven I have available.)
3. No one knows why it's important, no one celebrates it here (which can also be seen as a plus: not only in that I get to share interesting and important cultural moments, like stories about how I used to stick the black olives on my fingertips, but only a few could potentially boast they've had tastier Thanksgiving eats).
4. In addition, no one wants to hear about the absolutely horrific behavior of the settlers (at the root of the original Thanksgiving story), but I feel obliged to tell them this of this beloved holiday's sordid origin (would you like some tales of woe, misery, and racism with your mashed potatoes, Herr Schmidt?)
5. I have never cooked this meal alone, nor do I have a sous chef (which is why I spent the last half hour chopping veggies on top of my mini-fridge. This gives me ample opportunity for adventure and experimentation in the kitchen, to my hearty delight.)
The daily mental meltdown moment is brought to you by these vegetables: While chopping, I shot one over the edge, back to the dusty, dank, and unexplored crevice behind the fridge. Feeling this wasn't one of those moments where ignoring it would make the problem go away, I scooted the fridge out from the wall, only to have the machine suddenly shut off.
Assuming it was broken, I waited about 15 minutes for it to come back on, and when it did not, I of course evacuated my fragile perishables to the neighbor's fridge and texted the landlord. As you can probably guess, I was greeted moments afterward by the friendly whirr of a fully functional fridge.
Chopped and unchopped root veggies on top of decorative chopping mat from Ikea (which I draw your attention to only because I am so fond of it).
Take two.
And to prove I was there, the obligatory celery root shot.
1. Limited food options in Austria (although most things can be had, cranberries are AWOL. Turkey will be absolutely fresh, though--I ordered him myself! I even got to pick a "him" or "her.")
2. Decidedly different appliance proportions (I'm not sure my 11 pound turkey will fit into the economical oven I have available.)
3. No one knows why it's important, no one celebrates it here (which can also be seen as a plus: not only in that I get to share interesting and important cultural moments, like stories about how I used to stick the black olives on my fingertips, but only a few could potentially boast they've had tastier Thanksgiving eats).
4. In addition, no one wants to hear about the absolutely horrific behavior of the settlers (at the root of the original Thanksgiving story), but I feel obliged to tell them this of this beloved holiday's sordid origin (would you like some tales of woe, misery, and racism with your mashed potatoes, Herr Schmidt?)
5. I have never cooked this meal alone, nor do I have a sous chef (which is why I spent the last half hour chopping veggies on top of my mini-fridge. This gives me ample opportunity for adventure and experimentation in the kitchen, to my hearty delight.)
The daily mental meltdown moment is brought to you by these vegetables: While chopping, I shot one over the edge, back to the dusty, dank, and unexplored crevice behind the fridge. Feeling this wasn't one of those moments where ignoring it would make the problem go away, I scooted the fridge out from the wall, only to have the machine suddenly shut off.
Assuming it was broken, I waited about 15 minutes for it to come back on, and when it did not, I of course evacuated my fragile perishables to the neighbor's fridge and texted the landlord. As you can probably guess, I was greeted moments afterward by the friendly whirr of a fully functional fridge.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
A quick word on Eve Ensler's hijacking of "Occupy-"
Eve Ensler's Huffington Post call to action lives on in circulation on Facebook. While I support her call to fight our culture's light attitude toward rape, and I believe that she will accomplish much with her campaign, her topical-but-yet-somehow-stale hijacking of "Occupy-" to title her call to action left a bitter taste in my mouth.
The Occupy movement proper riddled by indecision, disorganization, and general unproductive chaos. Taking "Occupy-" into your name now only signals a devotion to unfocused anger and retaliation. This is perhaps the fuel a cause can burn in the early days, but unfocused anger accomplishes little for the cause in the long term.
In addition, don't cheapen your efforts by adopting trendy buzz words. These buzz words are exactly what allow someone to "support" the movement without upholding its values. I'm thinking the Livestrong trend of my high school years. Of course such campaigns create awareness, but I think Ensler is after something more than that, perhaps the deeper understanding that can come when someone begins to see behind cultural constructs and assumptions about the way society "should" be, which frees he/she to see how society could be if attitudes were different.
Taking on a cheap, trendy name will only open the door to posers and allow most people to skirt the real issue once again.
The Occupy movement proper riddled by indecision, disorganization, and general unproductive chaos. Taking "Occupy-" into your name now only signals a devotion to unfocused anger and retaliation. This is perhaps the fuel a cause can burn in the early days, but unfocused anger accomplishes little for the cause in the long term.
In addition, don't cheapen your efforts by adopting trendy buzz words. These buzz words are exactly what allow someone to "support" the movement without upholding its values. I'm thinking the Livestrong trend of my high school years. Of course such campaigns create awareness, but I think Ensler is after something more than that, perhaps the deeper understanding that can come when someone begins to see behind cultural constructs and assumptions about the way society "should" be, which frees he/she to see how society could be if attitudes were different.
Taking on a cheap, trendy name will only open the door to posers and allow most people to skirt the real issue once again.
An assortment of happenings
1. Yes, I love videogames, and yes, I did spend most of the weekend playing my newest fav, Skyrim. Unlike the other open-ended games that Bethesda makes, I don't find the scope or freedom of this one paralyzing: instead, the snowy peaks and frosted hills beckon, then entrap me.
2. Facilitated by a teacher from my school in St. Margarethen, I set up a Scottish Country Dancing course in the Volkshochschule in Tamsweg. Starting at the end of February, I will lead a weekly SCD practice with people from the community. I can't wait.
3. Shortly after arriving, I discovered that other assistants (in French and Italian) are here only every other year. So I've thought I was alone--until now! I met up today with another English language assistant in Tamsweg, who is from Poland. I look forward to getting to know her better. (Interestingly enough, she randomly met another Polish person in the Chinese restaurant we were in! I enjoyed sitting back in my chair, letting the sounds of an undecipherable foreign language wash over me.)
4. I also held my first private tutoring session today. My student is a 12-year-old girl whose biggest issue is not trusting herself. She has ability and can learn, so I look forward to this year.
2. Facilitated by a teacher from my school in St. Margarethen, I set up a Scottish Country Dancing course in the Volkshochschule in Tamsweg. Starting at the end of February, I will lead a weekly SCD practice with people from the community. I can't wait.
3. Shortly after arriving, I discovered that other assistants (in French and Italian) are here only every other year. So I've thought I was alone--until now! I met up today with another English language assistant in Tamsweg, who is from Poland. I look forward to getting to know her better. (Interestingly enough, she randomly met another Polish person in the Chinese restaurant we were in! I enjoyed sitting back in my chair, letting the sounds of an undecipherable foreign language wash over me.)
4. I also held my first private tutoring session today. My student is a 12-year-old girl whose biggest issue is not trusting herself. She has ability and can learn, so I look forward to this year.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Oath broken: I forgot what it's like to be a teen
Teaching teenagers every day reminds me that I've forgotten what it's like to be one.
This is of course despite all sacred oaths to myself that I would not, could not commit this atrocity and inflict upon future pupils what I (then) experienced at the hands of other forgetful instructors. (Also known as "fogies," or simply "out of touch oafs.")
Did I get lazy?
Or is it the same as many things--the passage of time blurs the transitions of age until the borders between "what is now" and "what was once" must be spoken of in black and white contrast. Times of personal struggle, contention, debate, and pondering meld into one obscure mass, so that the nuances of these times of turmoil and joy are lost in the grey soup of memory.
(On a side note, I think the best writers know how to pluck moments and feelings from this soup and put them to the page.)
Whenever I sit down to the computer to plan a lesson for the next day, I find 80% of my time is spent in pedagogical rumination on making the lesson relevant and interesting to young people, but at the same time somehow informative and important.
For example, do tweens really want to discuss the plight of Maria, the Mexican immigrant, or the wage gap between men and women around the globe? Probably not--but these topics are important: They teach us tough realities of our world while also opening our eyes, then minds, to solutions to discrimination.
Would that I could set myself into the minds and hearts of my students, or access the mindset of my teenage self once again! With a simple cocktail of relevant, interesting, inspiring, and enlightening info...well, that's a recipe I'll continue to search for.
In the end, the general "recipe" is engagement and activity: No matter how important a lesson, students won't gain much unless the teacher and/or material engages them. It seems students will forget a lot of the details of lessons anyway: I did some some reading up, like here, here, and here, and they support my own experience that lesson details often fade, while memorable moments of engagement, activity, and enlightenment remain.
This is of course despite all sacred oaths to myself that I would not, could not commit this atrocity and inflict upon future pupils what I (then) experienced at the hands of other forgetful instructors. (Also known as "fogies," or simply "out of touch oafs.")
Did I get lazy?
Or is it the same as many things--the passage of time blurs the transitions of age until the borders between "what is now" and "what was once" must be spoken of in black and white contrast. Times of personal struggle, contention, debate, and pondering meld into one obscure mass, so that the nuances of these times of turmoil and joy are lost in the grey soup of memory.
(On a side note, I think the best writers know how to pluck moments and feelings from this soup and put them to the page.)
Whenever I sit down to the computer to plan a lesson for the next day, I find 80% of my time is spent in pedagogical rumination on making the lesson relevant and interesting to young people, but at the same time somehow informative and important.
For example, do tweens really want to discuss the plight of Maria, the Mexican immigrant, or the wage gap between men and women around the globe? Probably not--but these topics are important: They teach us tough realities of our world while also opening our eyes, then minds, to solutions to discrimination.
Would that I could set myself into the minds and hearts of my students, or access the mindset of my teenage self once again! With a simple cocktail of relevant, interesting, inspiring, and enlightening info...well, that's a recipe I'll continue to search for.
In the end, the general "recipe" is engagement and activity: No matter how important a lesson, students won't gain much unless the teacher and/or material engages them. It seems students will forget a lot of the details of lessons anyway: I did some some reading up, like here, here, and here, and they support my own experience that lesson details often fade, while memorable moments of engagement, activity, and enlightenment remain.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Cooking adventures, Part 1
I don't have an oven in Tamsweg, so it's nice to be able to bake when I come back to Salzburg. I took advantage of that this weekend in being able to bake two different kinds of cookies (Vanillehörchen, but from a box, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, at the recommendation of Jill). Both turned out quite delicious (although without chocolate chips and a measuring cup, the latter cookies turned out a bit to oat-mealy and not very chocolatey).
I also tried my hand at a simple recipe for Indian frybread tacos from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.
(Just as a note of clarification, these are Native American. I researched a bit on the origin of this "staple" and found out a Native American tribe, I believe the Navaho, created them when they were forced out of their land. On the march, they didn't have any of their staple ingredients, so they simply macguyvered this frybread from the ingredients the government provided.)
I read about this chef in another blog and have since fallen in love with the ease and deliciousness of her recipes. To get some further use out of the oven, I also made the baked root veggies she calls "candy"-- Here's an image of the finished tacos with side dish of root veggies:
As my final cooking adventure before the long weekend ends, I'm going to go make some pancakes!
UPDATE: Pancakes have officially failed. Not sure if it was the wrong flour or what, but they are greasy, wet, and uncooked in the pan. Feeling really bad about it, but it happens.
I also tried my hand at a simple recipe for Indian frybread tacos from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.
(Just as a note of clarification, these are Native American. I researched a bit on the origin of this "staple" and found out a Native American tribe, I believe the Navaho, created them when they were forced out of their land. On the march, they didn't have any of their staple ingredients, so they simply macguyvered this frybread from the ingredients the government provided.)
I read about this chef in another blog and have since fallen in love with the ease and deliciousness of her recipes. To get some further use out of the oven, I also made the baked root veggies she calls "candy"-- Here's an image of the finished tacos with side dish of root veggies:
As my final cooking adventure before the long weekend ends, I'm going to go make some pancakes!
UPDATE: Pancakes have officially failed. Not sure if it was the wrong flour or what, but they are greasy, wet, and uncooked in the pan. Feeling really bad about it, but it happens.
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