After flying over to Calgary, I had two hours of unpacking and coffee in my hotel room before meeting with my colleagues for dinner. During that dinner I learned more about the latest developments due to the provincial government, the new curriculum and the potential political reasons behind it. After this eventful Tuesday I got ready for the next day.
Wednesday was a fully packed day at the University of Calgary. I first visited the library to figure out that the books I wanted to review were not available. In preparation of my trip I was in touch with a staff member who send me a list of textbooks that should be in stock. I was supposed to speak to the employees at the help desk because the person I was in touch with was not available for me. So, I did what he suggested, but it turned out the help desk people were not very eager to help! They told me I have to do the research on my own and all they can offer is a guest access.
I definitely had no time for spending hours to get the books. I found it also very disappointing that my entire preparation in advance did not lead to anything. Since I had a fully packed schedule that I day, I decided not to spend my time searching for books I ordered already 6 weeks before, but will come back end of the week.
After that I followed the class of my dear friend and distinguished colleague David. David is a military historian but his expertise and interest is not limited to that.
David is one of Canada's most respected historians https://hist.ucalgary.ca/profiles/david-j-bercuson Professor of history and longterm director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, he has provided insightful commentary on many facets of contemporary Canadian history. He has written numerous books and has been active within several professional organizations. He has also served as a consultant to the Minister of National Defence and to filmmakers. 2003 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. David wrote an important book https://books.google.de/books/about/A_Trust_Betrayed.html?id=j79tAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y about an Albertan teacher who denied the Holocaust and taught lies to his students over years. The Supreme Court of Canada held that the prosecution of the high school teacher for anti-Semitic statements in his class was a reasonable and justifiable limitation on freedom of expression. The teacher was charged with willfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group, which he objected on the grounds of freedom of expression. Davids book was extremely helpful for my own work. Especially when I was working on my former study about Holocaust Education in Alberta. That Wednesday he gave a lecture on the Second World War and the air bombing of Germany. As always, I learned a lot and I can only hope his students know about the privilege to listen to such an distinguished academic.
After lunch I met my dear friend and former colleague Laurie. Laurie is an education expert and a retired professor of St. Maries University https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laurie-Hill.
Laurie worked on questions about learning, teaching and women in academia. We had a nice conversation over coffee. She helped with some names of colleagues I can reach out to get my project going. Laurie and I know each other since I wanted to speak at a conference she organized. It did not work out in the end, but we stayed in touch. Some years later she invited me to St. Maries University in Calgary to give an evening lecture about the growing antisemitism and the impact of Holocaust Education. I met lots of her students that evening who attended my talk. It was a pleasure to hear them talking about their respected professor Laurie.
Another coffee and more names later, after I met with my colleague, Roswita from Werklund School of Education, UofC, me and my project got enough support for one day. Actually, my idea seems to be a good one. The planned study is needed - that’s for sure!
I took some time off from saving the world and did shopping downtown. The CTrain was not running properly and so I was pretty much in a rush to return on time at the hotel for another meeting and more coffee. More brainstorming and problem solving about the study during the afternoon. In the evening meeting with my dear friend and proofreader Nancy. Nancy and I met when I came to Calgary for the first time for my lecture tour in 2015. She organized my entire stay and helped me with all my issues. We met each time when I was in town. She always took care of me, drove me to my talks or just to the next supermarket. We are in touch via messenger constantly and I am happy to found a true friend. Nancy also proof reads my English texts whenever I need help and she published me in her journal several times. Please figure more about here https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jmss
Friday I had a lunch meet with Frank https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/frank-w-stahnisch. Frank is German but lives in Calgary for about 18 years now. He works at the interface of medicine and history. Frank invited me a few years ago to speak at the history colloquium about Holocaust Education in Germany and Canada.
During our lunch we figured out that we both come from the very same area in Northern Germany. The world is such a small place!
The evening I spent with writing for the blog, uploading pictures, eating cold leftover pizza and packing. Not very glamours and certainly not what one expect when researchers talk about research tours!