Trust in Learning--The European Trip

The drive to Sevilla, Spain from Porto, Portugal was a bit long with changing terrain (lots of burned forests in Portugal from the recent fires) and we came into the City (against warnings) during the holiday weekend commemorating National Hispanic Day--and Christopher Columbus!  I could go into a long monologue about how Europeans view Columbus vs. how many of us in the U.S. are now challenging the traditional narrative, but I won't.  It's enough here to say that we were carried away (literally) with the crowd in the center of beautiful Seville during a music festival--a few blocks where we were staying with a friend, his wife originally from Seattle, and two lovely children.  Suffice it to say that our stay in Seville--with tiny, winding streets, and almost impossible Google maps to get around--made us vow to come back but without a car and without a time constraint (four days)! A few photos for you all to enjoy...love Spain and this city, in particular!  Beautif...

This week, my work took a turn towards a professional conference in Porto, Portugal, which entailed a flight into Madrid from Bordeaux and a drive through urban sprawl and arid and brown countryside--not unlike what is Los Angeles.  The farther west we drove, the more desert-like the landscape became; until there was an roll of hills and an almost oasis in front of us:  Salamanca! If I were to retire today, this is where I would like to live.  An old university (the oldest in the country), a small and cultured city, beautiful buildings and people.  Nestled on a clear and quiet river. I was enchanted and hope to return!  The University of Salamanca has a very large program for the teaching of Spanish and the largest international population of students in the region. Salamanca Side Street Plaza Mayor, Salamanca Yours truly at the University Market street in Salamanca Porto was quite a jolt in comparison, situated within a fairly mou...

So the travel to France from the Netherlands was quite a jolt for us, flying into Bordeaux to visit schools that I was able to contact through Nicole Rudolph (thank you, Nicole!).  We decided to stay the night there as we were due in a school the next day. We were to stay during the week with my long-time friend (who is an immigrant attorney in Paris) on Orléon Island several hours away.  In any event, I had several years of studying French in college but had lost a fair amount of fluency.  We found a place to stay where the contact with the host was through texts (in French), directions to get into the apartment (in French), and with little to go on.  The drive there was harrowing with roundabouts and a GPS that was inoperable.  I was hopelessly lost!   Some of you may know how to use a key that is sensed and unlocks a door but it was a mystery to us...and ended up being an hour-long attempt to get in on a dark street late at night, hungry...

As I begin this adventure, I am both excited and nervous.  I guess anyone would be, traveling to a dozen countries in as many months.  But I know that everyone I have encountered for the planning has been supportive, given the topic:  trust in schools among students, teachers, administrators and families.  The topic is a universal one, I think, but my hunch is that it is interpreted and manifested in different ways, depending on the school, the culture, the history, and politics.  We shall see! My first stop has been the Netherlands.  I started there because it is known to me with people in schools who are friends and patient with my fumbling with tape recorders, stammering out questions, and figuring out Dutch words and phrases (although English is a chosen second language for the majority of Dutch people).  We stayed in Haarlem, a wonderfully well laid-out city north of Amsterdam (it was cheaper there; Amsterdam is as expensive as New York now). ...