Sweden - Day 2

The day couldn't have been more fun and amazing. After waking up and being a part of a swedish birthday celebration in the morning ( Sanna's younger brother) we left to the school and all of us met again. We were introduced in the teacher meeting to the whole school and to my surprise, I found this school bigger than i expected it to be - 150 teachers and around 1600 students - well, that was loads when I thought about the schools I saw and went to for my praksis in Norway. After a brief introduction, we were at work - preparing for presentations, doing the last minute works, etc. In all, I think we had 8-10 presentations which were divided amongst us. It was great, especially due to the response we got from the students. Inquisitive, questions, comments - all acted as a motivation for us to talk about our country, our host organisation and presenting different topics. We covered mainly India, CSA (our host organisation), religion in India, Indian politics ans economy, a brief importance of Mahatma Gandhi, gender roles in India and the concept of love and marriage. It was amazing standing their talking about your country, and it couldn't have felt better talking to groups who were interested in hearing you. We had different questions which made the sessions more interesting - about the caste system, what happens if you want to marry a person from a different religion, is pre-marital sex ok in India, culture shocks after being in a scandanavian country, etc., etc..

After a small discussion, conversation with Mattias about the differences in the cultures across the world, the level of tolerance, the economic development and also the economic segregation of countries on the basis of availability of resources, the education system in Sweden, India and Norway, we both decided to part ways meet at 7.30pm for a very Swedish concept of exercise, something called friske and svettis - and what is that - well, its one hour of vigorous training with music and some what like aerobics. It was funny and tiring and an experience which nearly all of us are bound to remember. It is a very swedish concept to get people together, and also at the same time concentrate on having a healthy body and life.
That was seriously fun.

And now I am waiting for tomorrow - overnight camp with students who plan to go to Bangalore this november..that should mean more fun, more discussions and more interesting perspectives.