Read time: approximately 6 minutes

This week

• Monday, 16 March met with our Fulbright book club to discuss this month’s read, One of Us
• Tuesday, 17 March debriefed with a co-facilitator our teacher workshop on effective assessment design and planned for the next session
• Wednesday, 18 March flew to Stavanger! Where the Fulbright Rovers were to present at an annual Fulbright Rover conference. Had an amazing, Michelin-star meal at Bellies. 9 vegan courses. Wine pairings. Sat in a $900 Danish chair. Everything, from the company to the food and drink. was incredible.
• Thursday, 19 March ate and toured my way around Stavanger, Norway’s oil capital. Visited the National Oil Museum, Janas fish shop for a picnic, a cheese shop, Lervig brewery, had supper at Fisktorget, listened to an experimental jazz trio at the Stavanger Literature house, and capped the night with sauna time back at the hotel.
• Friday, 20 March had our Fulbright Rover Conference! I presented on “Using Art to Unpack and Discuss Complex Topics in the Classroom.” Flew to Oslo and took the train home to Halden. 

This week the Fulbright Rovers helped to host a teacher conference in Stavanger, Norway’s oil capital. I presented on using art in the classroom to unpack and discuss complex topics. The presentation went well and I got good feedback from teachers and colleagues on it. I used to be really nervous to present to practicing teachers: they can be so intimidating! When I was a teacher I remember the eye rolls I used to make for people who would come in and deliver professional learning to us; I felt like they were mostly a waste of our time. I have tried really hard to be a teacher who doesn’t waste other teachers’ time. I’m thankful for the feedback from teachers that the presentation was useful and “inspiring” to them. Also amazing because I have been looking all year for teachers who want to talk about topics like racism, sexism, xenophobia, classism, etc, and there were a lot of them in my session!

The conference also helped me reflect on the range of learners I have been able to work with this year, from 4th graders all the way up to practicing teachers. In between I have worked with elementary school kids, middle school kids, high schoolers, undergrads, masters students, and teacher educators. It’s been fun for me to think about the different audiences and the different ways I think and talk about teaching. Waiting at the airport to fly back to Oslo, another Rover and I got into a conversation with the conference organizers on how we introduce ourselves: we don’t introduce ourselves the same way for every Roving event we go to and only introduce a slice of ourselves as it overlaps with the topic of our presentations. I have been able to introduce a lot of slices of myself this year. 

It was also really fun to connect with teachers I had met throughout the year and welcome them to the conference. There were lots of hugs! I felt like a summer camp counselor in saying hello, helping registrants find their name tags, and directing them to where we were to have our opening session. I love playing host!

The day before the conference, Rover friend David and I ate and toured our way through Stavanger. I don’t usually take a whole day to explore where I’m roving, and this was an exception. It was fun to play tourist for a minute. I think I ate some of the best food I have eaten in my entire time in Norway: on Wednesday night I had a Michelin-star meal at Bellies, which included 9 vegan courses made with local ingredients. Wine pairings from around the world for each dish. Enjoyed with two Rover friends and a teacher one of the Rover friends met while roving. On Thursday, Janas fish shop for a picnic of salmon two ways: hot smoked and salmon salad in lefse. Eaten with homemade mustard (that the store makes). I bought some mustard to take home along with some hot smoked salmon, cold smoked salmon, and gravlaxed salmon. I had the smoked fish, gravlax, and mustard for lunch today. Followed by a cheese course of two Stavanger cheeses I bought at a cheese shop. So freaking good. 

After our Janas fish picnic and cheese shop stop on Thursday, we had a beer at Lervig brewery, followed by supper at Fisktorget. There, we shared a herring appetizer, then I had fish soup and a local cheese course for dessert (I like cheese and seafood). There was a German wine maker in town for the wine festival and so the restaurant was offering his wines on special. One of the winemakers from the family was even there to tell us about all the wines. He knew a lot about wines and cared very much for his vineyards! 

At every meal Wednesday and Thursday I told my dining mates that I felt like I was giving myself gout. These were some of the richest meals I have eaten in my time here. And I finished each day with a visit to the hotel sauna for a relaxing way to open up my pores and sweat out the day. I am living a very charmed life and am blessed to be doing so. 

Yet I’m still missing Colorado home. I think both things can be simultaneously true: I love my life at home here and I am missing my home there. This week, while I was gallivanting around Stavanger, my partner was dealing with a major plumbing issue at our house. He was supposed to be having a chill day, enjoying the first day of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament. But when he woke up, none of the toilets on the first floor of our house worked. $700 later, a plumber moved a clog from under the house and told my husband that there was more down there and that our insurance would probably cover a giant plunge. Awesome. 

But there’s happy things too. The NCAA Basketball Tournament started this week. One of my favorite times of the year. I filled out brackets for the men’s and women’s tourneys. It’s on my bucket list to attend the preliminary games for the women’s tournament and I think I’ll actually do that when it’s in Vegas next year. If anything, living in Norway for a limited period of time has taught me to take advantage of things and do them while I can instead of putting them off. 

This week is the end of week 12 (12th week of the year). My contract ends Week 25. I have about 13 weeks left here. Rover bookings have started to slow down and as of last count I actually only have 19 workshops left to give between now and the end of the year (and I’m doing 10 workshops next week). I’ll hit my goal of 100 workshops total for the year. So far, I’ve taught 1745 learners and that number will go up. I wonder what will be my total by the end?! Trying to soak up every minute of it these last few weeks while I look forward to going home.