The Adventure of Feeling Like an Ignorant American

   Since coming to Norway I have become aware of how lacking the American education system can sometimes be.  I have learned so much more about the Refugee Crisis and Apartheid and that hasn't even been main focus of my learning here in Norway. There are so many things that American students are missing out on.

• Apartheid
• Apartheid was the system of racial segregation in 1948 through 1991 in South Africa
• Apartheid is something big that I think American students can benefit from learning about, because, there are so many striking similarities between apartheid and the american civil rights movement in the 60's especially. In both instances the colored people were severely oppressed and decided to rise up against the government to express their opinion
• In both movements there were prominent black leaders such as; Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie Mandela in South Africa and Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X in the civil rights movement.
• Unlike the U.S racial segregation is still very prominent in South Africa, while some may argue the fact that there is still racial segregation in the U.S it is way less prominent than in South Africa.  You can fact check me here. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/craig-and-marc-kielburger/post-apartheid-south-africa_b_4460819.html
• Refugee Crisis
• A Refugee is someone who is forced to leave their home due to persecution or environmental changes.
• According to UNHCR or The UN Refugee Agency there are 65.3 million forcibly displaced people in the world today.  http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html
• A large number of those people are fleeing to Europe in the hopes of a better life for them and their family. An even larger number still are stuck in refugee camps.
• There are also a large number of environmental refugees, these refugees leave their home because the environment has changed so much to where they can not live in their home any longer because the weather has become too extreme. These people usually do not achieve refugee status because they were not forced to leave there because of conflict.

Why am I telling you all this? It is important to be updated on current events and the state of the world. While Apartheid may not be a current event, it did happen and it is an important thing to learn about not only because of the parallels that can be drawn to the U.S but also because The U.S is a part of the world. I have often felt like The U.S has chosen to become withdrawn from the world. I have never really known too much about what has been happening in the world. I have often only heard about the things that happen to directly affect The U.S. Well guess what, the world does not revolve around The U.S! The U.S is in the world and it is important to realize that and learn about other conflicts.

I would strongly recommend my readers to explore and learn about things on your own. It is fun to learn and you guys can benefit greatly from that. I have felt like an ignorant American for too long so I have decided to learn about the world through reliable youtube videos, my own research and documentaries. I have also made a pledge with amnesty international to speak  out for refugees and the atrocities they have faced. It is not easy to move to another country when you CAN speak the language and CAN speak English and have family in the country. I can only imagine how hard it must be to be forcibly displaced from a country, very possibly move away from your whole family, come to a country, where you don’t know the language and can’t speak English and be expected to function in an entirely new world. One of my roommates is a refugee from Eritrea, Eritrea is one of the most violent countries in the world. She is at my school to learn Norwegian, that is her primary concern. She has been in Norway for two years and she speaks very little Norwegian. I knitted her a scarf for Christmas and she was so happy!

I would challenge you guys this Christmas to pray for these refugees and if you know anybody who may not be a refugee but didn’t get to go home for Christmas give them an extra long hug, because they are probably not looking forward to Christmas as much as they usually might. If you are feeling the call to pledge to speak out for refugee rights you can sign that pledge here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/speak-out-for-refugees-rights/

This is Miriam signing off

The Adventure of Internship

    Part of the learning experience of my class is to have a short internship period. We got to choose all from working with drug abusers, to working with the elderly, to working with preschoolers. I chose to work at a preschool along with two other girls. I chose this because I like kids and I thought it would be interesting to see the parallels between American preschools and Norwegian ones.

     I worked at a private preschool which has an interesting philosophy. This philosophy is called the Reggio Emilia approach. The Reggio Emilia approach is based on the fact that children should be independent and decide on their own what activities they would like to do. So everything from finger paints to blocks are on low shelves where all the children can reach and almost nothing is off limits.
     I chose to work with the one year olds. This was an interesting experience because I got to see the different personalities of all the different children, even through they are small and can't speak there are still certain things that stand out about their personalities. For example, one little girl loved clothes, another little boy was obsessed with cows, and yet another little boy was quite angsty and didn't really like much of anything
     I have made a few comparisons between Norwegian and American preschools. Norwegian preschools spend hours outside everyday rain or shine. American preschoolers don't spend nearly as much time outside especially if it is raining outside. Also in Norway nap time is outside in strollers. In America it is seen as child abuse to allow your child to sleep outside on the porch. In Norway it is seen as very healthy and is part of the culture.
     This has been a a useful experience I have reestablished the fact that, though I love kids I couldn't work in a preschool long term. I have also learned a lot about how children are treated differently in different cultures even if there are not very many noticeable cultural differences to the outside eye.
This is Miriam signing off!