Graduated! Matura Done! Next Chapter…

I am a proud mother of a young man who has graduated from the Gynamisum in Solothurn, Switzerland. That’s pre-uni level for our family and friends in other parts of the world.

So he has breezed through 2 years of kindergarten, found his feet during 6 years in primary school, survived 2 years of secondary school and put in the hard work for his 4 years of Gymi (pre-uni); a total of 14 years of formal education!

There was a lovely graduation ceremony at the end of June. I really liked it. It was filled with speeches, music and dance. One of the more moving and inspiring speeches was by this well-known singer/poet who has Iranian heritage (I have sadly forgotten her name) and she spoke so movingly about how women in Iran have no movement in all aspects of their lives, thus have little choice in their direction in life. The ceremony’s theme was Movement – so she encouraged the graduates to take hold of their options to have choices and to move forwards in life.

Here are a few photos from that lovely ceremony, which took place in a redevelopment of an old cement factory:

Next chapter for my boy – National Service in Singapore. While he has deferment pending renunciation of citizenship, he has chosen to serve. We fully support his decision. It would be good for him to experience life in Singapore and have some time to consider what he might want to do for further studies or a career.

syc

Tweet, Tweet… I’m on Twitter…

Can you believe it? I signed up for Twitter!

I have been thinking about joining Twitter for quite a while now. The thought first popped into my head that it might be a good idea to get on Twitter was a couple of years ago when I attended my second SCBWI Europolitian Conference and lots of people there talked about being on Twitter and keeping up with industry news – the industry of children’s books.

But being on social media takes time and I have this blog, Facebook, Instagram (with 2 accounts, one for me and one for Lexi, our Schnauzer), and even Goodreads, plus a couple of email accounts, isn’t that enough? Oh, and also a very-little-used Pinterest account.

What tipped the scales is that I volunteered to help manage the SCBWI Switzerland‘s Twitter account so I thought I had better get an account and learn more about Twitter.

So to that end, seasoned Twitter users, any tips? What are Lists, Topics and Moments? Help?

Follow me on Twitter @sycwrites

syc