Ups and Downs of the Day

I fell today while walking to church. My legs just went out from under me and there I was on the ground/ice. I hit my knees hard, but I really hurt my right arm. It is too painful to lift to brush my hair or even bring a glass up to my mouth. I have taken some advil and put some "arthritis" rub on it. Hopefully I can sleep okay.

Tonight we went to dinner with the missionaries who work at the temple and Elder and Sister Roberts. The Professor spoke for a few minutes about Mormons in America. They had asked him to talk about Romney but that was too political to talk about on Church property.

Welcome to our Family

Tek was born on Thursday, February 9th, 2012. I can hardly wait to meet. He was born at 6:54 am and weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 20.5 inches long.

He looks a lot like his big brother who is pretty much still a baby too. Two of the sweetest little ones.

Friday in February

The Professor and I walked to a meeting this morning to hear Thomas F Schaller talk about the upcoming US election. We were almost there and were concentrating on finding the house number when snow fell from the roof barely missing the Professor. I stopped him just before he walked under it. At least that is how I remember it.

The sidewalk was actually closed off, but someone had failed to put the tape and orange cone back. We were so busy looking for building numbers that we were not aware of what was going on around us. I would guess that there was enough snow to knock us over perhaps causing some injury. Our meeting was on the 5th floor of the building opposite the one with the roof being cleared of snow. That should explain the photographs. We are very grateful that neither of us was hit. The man on the ground quickly moved the cone back where it should have been.

We enjoyed the morning and had lunch with Markku and Jonathan who attended the lecture also. Someone new in the office saw Jo nathan's name written with a space between two key letters. For quite awhile Markku went around calling him "Joe Nathan" like the new member of the staff.

I don't think I learned a whole lot that was new. Schaller predicts that Obama will win against Romney in November. Needless to say, he predicts that Romney will get the Republican nomination.

Thomas Schaller

A Lunch for All Children

Last fall the Professor had the opportunity to work with a man who was a retired educator. He was a scientist who had worked to teach the next generation. Before retiring he was the president of a university in northern Finland. The two of them had been asked to interview Finnish applicants for Fulbright grants. The people they spoke with were hoping to go to the United States to study for the year 2012 to 2013.

As they worked together, the professor grew to admire and respect his fellow worker. He and Ossi met over three days. They would read and study a group of applications overnight and then talk to the applicants the next morning.

In Finnish society the meal in the middle of the day is the large or main meal of each day. As the two men talked, the professor learned that the school system of Finland feeds the children lunch every day. Making sure that the children are fed and nourished is part of the educators' mandate.

As with all nations in Europe during WW II, Finland suffered from lack of food. Even though there was little to eat, the schools continued to feed the children a meal during the day. Ossi remembers that frequently the only food to eat was a beet.

Keeping your Hands Warm

My father, Bob, grew up in a small town in southern Alberta, Canada. He was the eleventh child of fourteen born to his parents. He lived on a farm as many people did at that time. They worked hard and they ate what they grew.

Bobby was only ten years old the year that the stock market crashed in New York. Because they lived on a farm, they were fortunate that they were never hungry. He said of his mother that no one who wanted food was turned away hungry either.

During the summer time, the children went everywhere bare foot. It was only when the cold came in the fall, that they put on shoes. Probably those shoes got recycled through as many children as they could before being completely worn out.

Hill Spring was a little farm town. Bob's family had a barn and fields along side of the house. I assume that the town had the traditional one room school house where children of all ages were taught by one teacher in one classroom. Alberta gets extremely cold in the winter time. When Bobby left for school, he had a baked potato in each pocket. He would put his hands in his pockets and keep them warm. When lunch time came, he eat those same potatoes for his lunch.

I do not know how Bobby kept his hands warm on the way home from school. Probably there was warm bread waiting for him when he got home.

Ice Lantern Competition

Senate Square is not far from where we live and where the Professor teaches his classes. Yesterday when we walked by, there were cubes of ice set on platforms at one side of the square.

This afternoon we got to see some people still working on their "lanterns" and to see some finished products. I liked the light bulb. The toilet was unique.

We were interested in the man ironing the sides of their cube. Over at another lantern, a man had a house plant watering can and was watering their structure. There were only a few lanterns with lights inside. But like the wimps that we are, neither one of us was willing to bundle up and spend more than a half hour outdoors to see the final product.

Thank goodness my friend Ruth and her children had no problem going out into the cold to see the lanterns finished.

The Art of Teaching and Other Skills

At the beginning of the semester, the Professor discovered that the seminar he teaches on Tuesday overlaps with a class that some of his students are enrolled in. He talked to the professor teaching the other class. His colleague said that it didn't matter to him. His class that started at 2:15 was large enough that it didn't matter to him if three students were late every week. The Professor's class is apparently small enough that he cares whether his students will miss part of their next class every week. His class is now ending 1/2 hour early so that his three students can get the first half hour of the other class.

It didn't seem to occur to the other professor that he could make a concession and start his class 15 minutes later so that the students would benefit from the compromise.

I happened to be there when the two instructors were discussing the problem. The Professor's colleague was very off hand about the situation. It didn't affect him personally so he wasn't concerned.

I am very grateful the MY professor cares about his students.