“This is a personal website. All views and
information presented herein are my own and do not represent the views of the
Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.”
6. Many Faces of the U.S.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too
great a burden to bear.”
-
Martin Luther King, Jr.
America is
a huge country, composed of 50 states and over 320 million people. It is one of
the world´s most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations. Finland has a population
of 5.5 million people and about 5 % of them are other than Finns. Before
arriving here in August I had visited the U.S. for 4 times as a tourist: in New
York, San Diego, San Francisco, and different parts of Florida. I knew that
what I had seen, was just a tip of an iceberg - but still, I had this kind of
childish belief that life would be more alike in all over the U.S.
During the
past month I have had several different experiences of American life. I had an
opportunity to participate a Conference on Educational Leadership as a part of
Professional Development Grant, issued by IIE.
In this 3-day conference in San Diego teachers and educators from all over the
U.S. took part in sessions about coaching, feedback, leading change, bullying,
standards, school culture etc. Besides the sessions I had an opportunity to
have interesting discussions with teachers and principals about differences of
education in the U.S. and in Finland. I just can´t stop wondering how well
known Finland is because of it´s high PISA results.
The
conference was held in Hotel Sheraton, San Diego. I had a great view from my 10th
floor room to Marina. When I stepped in the elevator, I could smell a scent of
fragrance, people were friendly and well dressed. In the Halloween night I went
downtown with my Fulbright colleague Lynnette, and we had really fun watching thousands
of people wandering in the streets of Gaslamp Quarter dressed in the funniest
and gorgeous dresses. We were a part of minority wearing just ordinary clothes.
Thanksgiving
is another big reason to celebrate here. While many people travel away for
Thanksgiving, they give Thanksgiving dinners for their friends and family
beforehand. I joined two Thanksgiving dinners before Thanksgiving day, November
26th. Both of my hosts are part of Bloomington Worldwide Friends, an
organization that “adopts” students who come from oversees to Bloomington. The
organization was founded in 1950´s, during the time before Skypes, Facebook
etc. Being a part of “family” helped to cure student´s homesickness. My hosts
Cheryl and David have several students they host, and they are doing great job!
Visiting their home was a chance to see one part of American lifestyle. I was amazed
to see a sauna in their house!
The
educational and cultural part of my American experiences has formed of: attending
Project-based learning workshop organized by CIEDR, attending a lecture about
Maker Labs by Paulo Blikstein, listening to Soweto Gospel choir and the opera “Die
Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss Jr., seeing plays “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve
Jobs” and “Buyer and Cellar”, and experiencing my first TED talk in IU
Auditorium.
The latest,
very different and absolutely the most powerful experience during my stay in
the U.S. was travelling by Greyhound bus to Nashville, New Orleans and Memphis.
It was a journey to a world I had never experienced before. The scent of
fragrance I smelled in Hotel Sheraton changed to a smell of unwashed clothes in
the buses and Greyhound stations. Martin Luther King Jr. was strongly present
during this journey.
Lynnette
Brice has written a great blog of our journey, and with my limited English
skills I could never describe our experiences. So, thank you Lynnette J Here is a link to her blog:
