Ruotsi ja Syysloma (Sweden and Autumn Vacation)

Our ship, the Silja Serenade

Last week was syysloma, autumn vacation. It was a week long holiday to do whatever. As I mentioned in my last post, my family went to Stockholm, Sweden.

Monday morning we drove to Helsinki. We stopped twice: to have coffee with Jarmo’s aunt and then a bit later for lunch. I passed the car ride by reading The Life of Pi. It’s not the first time I have read it, but it was so good that I decided to bring it here to Finland so that I could read it again. It was refreshing to see more than a handful of traffic lights when we entered the city. We drove to the cruise ship terminal, parked in a reserved parking spot (reserved for us!...because Jaana booked it in advance).

A Muumin and me!

Many people referred to the ship as a ferry, but when I think ferry I think I am on the boat for two hours to Vancouver Island. This was definitely a cruise ship, although there were two decks for drive on passengers. Once checked in with our boarding pass/room key (one card served as both), we loaded. I was expecting to show some identification of some sort; I came prepared with my passport, but it wasn’t necessary. When we boarded, the first crew members we saw were some photographers, but then there was a giant Muumin. The Muumins are a huge children’s franchise in Finland; it started out as books, then television, and now they even have a theme park! Apparently we were on the official Muumin Cruise Line, so of course I posed for a picture!

The main promenade.

Once on board we quickly found our cabin and deposited our bags. It was the smallest “hotel” room I have ever slept in; when we looked it the bathroom (1 m x 1.5 m) my host mom exclaimed it was pretty big compared to their last cruise. Next we explored. The boat had 13 decks and among them included: a main promenade, several restaurants with varied cuisines, perfume and clothing shops, a few bars, a large duty free store (it basically had only candy and alcohol for sale), a theatre, a casino, a large buffet, a lounge, and several hundred private cabins. There was a very talented string quartet who gave several concerts on the promenade. Later, we ate dinner at the buffet and watched the midnight show: a magic/dance show (which was way too much dance and not enough good magic).

Royal Palace of Sweden. Princess Victoria (the
crown princess) recently got married. It was a big
deal in Finland and all of Scandinavia

The next day, we ate breakfast at the buffet and signed up for a bus tour of Stockholm. We also exchanged some currency. In Sweden they use the Swedish Krona. One krona is about 10 euro cents or 15 Canadian cents. The bus tour was on a double decker bus, we were upstairs, and entirely in Finnish. I didn’t pay attention at all to the tour guide. Along the tour we saw the major sites of Stockholm: the Royal Palace, the Royal Opera, the Swedish National Museum, and the House of Parliament just to name of few. I realized from both the tour and my map that Stockholm is made up of several islands; needless to say there are many bridges. At the end of the tour the bus stopped at the Vasa Museet (Vasa Museum). The Vasa was a bridge built in Sweden and named after the king in the 1600s. On her maiden voyage in 1628, she sunk in the waterways of Stockholm. The ship was salvaged in 1961 and was rebuilt using 95% original material. After we ate lunch at the museum, we walked backed to the cruise ship terminal and reboarded the vessel. Total time on land in Sweden: maybe 5 hours. Although we spent little time in Sweden, I was surprised how much Swedish (at least the written language) that I recognized. Swedish and English are both Germanic languages, so they have many similarities. Many more than English and Finnish.

In the afternoon, my host family did their tax free shopping on the ship. My host brother Iiro bought lots of candy and my host parents refilled their liquor cabinet. For dinner we went to El Capitán, a steakhouse, courtesy of my parents back home. When the bill came, I was shocked to see such a high price. Then I realized that the price was in both euros and in kronor, the kronor price approximately 10 times that of the euros price. That evening we spent some time in the karaoke lounge (I am embarrassed to say that I sang… my host mom did too). Afterwards, we caught the tail end of the magic show (a different one than the night before) and went to bed. The ship docked in Helsinki the next morning just before 10 am. It was a great trip and I am thankful to my host family for taking me. I just wish it had been a bit longer.

Me at the Hämeenlinna castle. It had a moat!

We got into the car and started driving. My host mom wanted to drive to Turku, the former capital city of Finland, but the family decided to go home…not without stops, however. We stopped at a glass museum which gave plenty of information about the glass industry and artwork in Finland. It was in an old glass factory where, according to my host mom, my host father’s mother and grandfather had both worked. The other stop we made was at the Hämeenlinna castle in the town of Hämeenlinna. The city of Hämeenlinna is to be the birthplace of world renowned and Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius. Jaana and I both explored the castle which is from the era of Swedish rule of Finland. It was pretty interesting and I enjoyed it. We ate lunch in the city and then continued back to Kauhava.

I didn’t really do anything very exciting during the autumn break. I tried to study Finnish, but I wasn’t very productive. On Sunday, after eating lunch at Rolls, I went to Kalle’s house and helped him prepare metso. I have been informed that metso is “wood grouse”; Kalle went hunting when he was at his cabin in Lapland during the break and he came home with this 2 kg bird. I helped make the meal by washing, peeling, and dicing several root vegetables. It was a very nice meal and I am grateful that I was invited to join.

Now for a bit of Finnish:Viime viikko oli syysloma. Minä menin Tukholmaan perheen kanssa. Se oli lyhyt matka Ruotsiin, mutta se oli hyvä. Sunnuntaina, minä söin metsoa Kallen taloon. Pidin siitä.

In English: Last week was autumn break. I went to Stockholm with the family. It was a short trip to Sweden, but it was good. Sunday I ate wood grouse at Kalle’s house. I liked it.

This is Elvis, the King.

On a more melancholic note, my cat Elvis who has been a good and faithful friend for many years has wandered off from my house in Canada. Unfortunately, the circumstances do not look promising and he may not return home. Please think of happy thoughts for him.

Enough about me, remember that I want to hear from you: my family, my friends, my acquantences, and even the people I haven’t met.

Mokupäivä ja Vaihto-Opiskelijoiden Vikkonloppu (Freshman Day and Exchange Students’ Weekend)

On Thursday morning I didn’t ride my bicycle to school. Instead I rode to the cinema. All of the first and second graders were going to see a Finnish drama called “Prinsessa” (I’m guessing you don’t need that translation. The third graders went the day before. The film is about a mentally handicapped woman who thinks that she is a princess. It follows her for quite a few years of her life after being admitted to a mental institution. I didn’t need to know Finnish to understand most of the movie, but I was very happy when I understood a little. (I found out later that there was actually some Swedish dialogues too, but apparently they were so easy the Finns didn’t need subtitles). 

The Smurfs with their Second Graders




Friday was a very exciting day at school! It was “Freshman Day”. This is a day when the kakkoset (2^nd grade) humiliates the ykköset (1^st graders). It is a long standing tradition at my school and is done with good intentions, and not to great extremes. While you read this, keep in mind I was just a spectator; I was neither being made fun of nor making fun of anyone (well, I did laugh a lot). The second graders plan the day in advance but keep it very “hush hush”. What happens is the second graders break into groups and each group is assigned a group of first graders which they plan for in advance. On the day of, the older students dress up in very authoritative outfits (suits, stilettos, and police hats) and abduct the first graders from class (all of the teachers are aware of the day in advance). Then the younger students are dressed up in funny outfits (and often some type of make-up). Some of my favourite groups included cowboys, chimneysweeps, and athletes (basketball and hockey) but my absolute favourite group was the Smurfs. After all dressed-up, the first graders congregate in the main room of the school (lobby/atrium/multi-purpose-ish room) and do some sort of demonstration like dancing or singing, which was really just chanting. Then they as a class draw from their childhood songbook and sing Finnish songs such as “If your Happy and You Know It”, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, etcetera. I joined in singing their version of Head & Shoulders because it was the first Finnish song I learned at language camp back in August. Next, the first graders were marched

All of the Freshmen.

 throughout the school and in military fashion required to answer questions like “Who’s the best?” with “The Second Graders are the best!” At lunch time, the freshmen were “slaves” to their respective second graders. After lunch, there were team competitions amongst the groups of younger students. These competitions included music trivia, “three-legged” dancing contest (the entire group (3-6 people) had their legs tied together), and several amusing relays. At the end of the day, the first graders were required to get down on one knee and repeat the pledge of loyalty to the second graders. I was excited because I understood some funny parts of this pledge like “the first graders will always be second and the second graders will always be first”. It was a very amusing day of school. 




Sydney from Utah & Me at the Zoo (We are lynx)

This weekend all of the exchange students from Rotary Districts 1380 (my region, central west) and 1400 (Lapland, the north) were invited to Ähtäri. This was the first time that most of us, the August arrivals, would meet some January arrivals, most of whom came from Australia. Everyone gathered at the Train/Bus station in Seinäjoki. I only had a short 35 minute drive, some people traveled for hours by train to meet us. Anyway, we caught a bus to a forestry school in the town of Ähtäri. This is a post-secondary school were you can obtain either a university degree or vocational certification in the field of forestry. We, the exchange students, stayed in the “dorms” which were little 4 bed/1.5 bath apartments with kitchenette. There were only six guys in attendance, so we got an apartment to ourselves. There were approximately 22 girls. We were chaperoned by the District Chairperson for Youth Exchange, Antti, and his wife. Friday night we just chilled with the other exchange students and enjoyed the sauna (however we weren’t allowed to go swimming because the lake was a little far and wasn’t lit up at all). On Saturday morning, we had a photo scavenger hunt of the campus. We were provided with 24 photos and some clues which lead us to places around the school, each place had a letter and in the end we needed to translate the phrase from Finnish to English. I was in a group with Cindy from California and Sydney from Utah. We were the first group to finish to hunt and I knew 3 of 4 words so I texted my friend just to realize I knew the last word, I just forgot it. In the afternoon, we went to the Ähtäri Zoo where we

Fun Fact: Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
is named Petteri (Peter) in Finnish

 saw animals native to Finland. I saw my first Finnish Reindeer! . I felt a bit patriotic when I saw the beaver, a.k.a. the national animal of Canada. My favourite animals at the zoo were the big cats: the snow leopard, and the lynx. At the zoo, one of the Rotex (Rebound) students and I found out that not only did we both go to the World Scout Jamboree in England in 2007, but we were both part of a group who played hand drums for His Royal Highness Prince William, the heir to the British Throne. When we got back to the school, a big group of us played a card game from France called “Jungle Speed” which was very exciting. In the evening, there was more hanging out and sauna-ing. This morning (Sunday) we were lucky* enough to watch a movie about the forests of Europe (*extreme sarcasm). The bus ride back to Seinäjoki was a great end to the weekend of exchange student bonding. There were lots of hugs for everyone from everyone at the train/bus station.

So, I had a request to write some information about myself in Finnish by one of my readers. All of you Finns who are reading this, please don’t rip my spelling and grammar apart! (It was almost completely without a translator, only to check the spellings of some words)

Terve! Minun nimeni on Peter ja olen kanadalainen. Minä tulin Suomelle seitsemäs elokuu. Minä pidan minun kaupingista: nimensa on Kauhava. Minun lukiolle on satakahdeksankymmentä opiskeljaa ja jokainen on mukava. Suomenkieli on tosi vaikea mutta minä opiskelan. Kun minä yritän kuunella, minä voin ymmärtää vain vähän.

Englanniksi (In English): Hey! My name is Peter and I am Canadian. I came to Finland on the 7^th of August. I like my town; its name is Kauhava. My school has one hundred eighty students and everyone is nice. The Finnish language is really difficult, but I learn. When I try to listen, I understand only a little bit.

So I have some pretty exciting news! Tomorrow I depart for – wait for it – Sweden! This coming week is syysloma (autumn break) and my host family decided that they would take a round-trip cruise to Stockholm, Sweden. We will leave Monday from Helsinki and arrive back Wednesday morning, so we get all of Tuesday in Stockholm. My decision to not learn any Swedish may turn around to bite me in the “peppu” (derriere).

So, just like always, please feel free to leave some comments, questions, or anything!

Kaksi Kuukautta Suomessa (Two Months in Finland)

So, it has been a while, about 2 weeks, since I updated my blog, so I am going to do it somewhat in short form.. In general, I am having a great time. It is definitely autumn here. It is rainy. The days are getting noticeably shorter. I need to wear my toque, mitts and jacket whenever I ride my bike... and I ride my bicycle a lot. I think I might have "legs of steel" by the time I leave Finland.

These are some key events

Thursday the 29^th: At Partio I taught the “key game” for lack of a better name. You put a set of keys underneath a chair in the center of the circle. Someone who is blindfolded sits on the chair and tries to point at any culprit who tries to steal the keys.For our Rotary meeting, we went on a tour of the Unico factory; Unico is a mattress company. I took pictures throughout the tour, but at the end was told that it is all “top secret” and no photos were supposed to have been taken. I want to put a picture up, but I don't think I should.



My "bed", the hammock was occupied when I wanted
to go to sleep.



Friday the 30^th of September: I went camping with Partio at their cabin (Partiomöki). Even though there was a cabin, which would have been warm if we slept inside it, we slept outside on the ground. We hung a tarp, but there wasn’t enough room for Juha (the leader) and me in addition to the scouts, so we just slept on our little foam mattresses outside on a chilly night. I liked when we went on a little walk at night and looked at the stars and after Juha pointed out a constellation, I would be able to say what it was in English.

Saturday the 1^st of October: I went to an awesome concert in Seinäjoki with my host mom, her friend (Kimmo’s mom) and her significant other. When we got to the concert hall, I met up with some of my friends from school. The group was called Semmarit (which is short for Seminaarinmäen Mieslaulajat) and they are a Finnish a cappella men’s choir. I really enjoyed the concert even though I didn’t understand most of the lyrics. But they are a very entertaining group with physical comedy and stellar harmonies which cross languages. Even thought they didn’t sing it at the concert, check out this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK_JZJGmnPk&feature=related.

The super awesome choir!

Tuesday the 4^th of October: After school we went to a café and I brought a deck of cards. I taught the group how to play Go Fish (menet kalaan)

Wednesday the 5^th of October: I brought my cribbage (crib) board to school with a deck of cards, just in case an opportunity pops up during which I could teach one of my favourite card games. After school my friends in second grade math had a calculator tutorial (side note: I brought my Ti-83+ here just in case I might need it. I think I have the most “ghetto” calculator in the class, everyone has super fancy graphing calculators) anyways, my friends who are in short math were just hanging out, so I whipped out the crib board and taught them how to play. I won, of course, but they were fast learners.

Still the 5^th: At the knife course, I shaped the handle of my knife using the belt sander and sandpaper. Now I need to decide how to finish it off. I also started making the sheath that my knife will go in when complete.

Thursday the 6^th of October: the scouts are working on their detective badge. They have already done fingerprinting and smell identifications. This week we used lemon juice as secret ink (the words appear when held to a candle). Unfortunately this meant that several pieces of paper caught flame, but they were quickly extinguished.

Friday the 7^th of October: TWO MONTH-iversary! I made a guest appearance via skype at my sponsor’s (Rotary Club of Kelowna Sunrise) weekly meeting. They meet at breakfast time so it was the early evening for me. The president and I had been emailing for a few days and he requested that I give a ten minute presentation on my time here so far. My host family spoke with them for a little bit too. Later that evening, I went to the papilla (sort of like a youth group hang out place with billiards, videogames, food, etc.) with some of my friends. Sect

Sunday the 9^th of October: I went to Church. Iiro, my younger host brother, is in the process of confirmation so he needs to attend church every so often. Jaana and I attended with him. The Kauhavan kirkko (Kauhavan Church) has a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran denomination, which is what many Finns practise. I got goosebumps when I heard the chorus singing from upstairs and the beginning of the service. I really made me miss the choirs from my high school back in Kelowna. Anyways, I tried to sing the hymns in the books, but it was difficult to both sight read the music and try to correctly pronounce the words. I enjoyed the service though, and I understood some of the priest’s sermon which made it even better.

My host mom insisted on getting this shot.
The gun has absolutely no ammo, but we
both got a stern disapproval from Jarmo.

Still the 9^th: In the afternoon we went mushroom picking. Then we when to the shooting range where everyone practiced target shooting with a hand pistol. I was better than I expected on my first try. I got a score of 85 out of 100 (not quite an A, but still pretty good for the first try)

Monday the 10^th of October: Thanksgiving! The first “big” holiday I’ve missed since being in Finland. I might not have had turkey dinner, but I got my host family to recognize the date by going around the table and saying what each person was thankful for. I said that I am thankful for great family and friends on both sides of the world. That evening I talked with my family for what must have been two hours or more via skype. I had good conversations with my parents, both sets of grandparents, and my sister.

Tuesday the 11^th of October: I got a haircut! The barber was a family friend; Jaana and Ilari (host mom and brother) both got haircuts as well.

Remember, I always want to hear your questions, comments, concerns, news from home, really anything you want to share I would like to hear it!

Cookies, Crabs, and Coursework



The Chefs (Kalle and Me) & Cookies

On Friday during English class we played board game (I won in our group!)…however don’t judge me just yet because I started trying to answer some of the questions in Finnish. But they were very difficult because the game was meant for students who have been studying English for over ten years, and I haven’t studied Finnish for even 8 weeks. During Spanish class I understood almost the whole class again. I am glad I am taking it because it is the first Spanish class these students (and I) have taken, and because it is a new language they are learning basic things, so when the teacher says them in Finnish, I know exactly what he is saying because he says basic things. Spanish, for anyone unaware, is very much like French in the fact that even if there is only one guy in a group of girls, the group is masculine. The teacher and I are the only guys in the classroom, so he always references it like: “And what would it be if Peter and I left the room?” After lunch there was no art class because teacher was away, but because of that we had to get an idea for our project…I think I am going to take one of the pictures I took in Ecuador last summer and modify it to fit my personality. Later that afternoon I made some cheesecake at the request and with the translation of my host mother. (She was already going to make it, but she asked me if I would like to.) In the evening I went to the pappila which is where youth go on Friday nights to play pool, or videogames, or just hang out. After a couple of hours there we walked to Rolls (the fast food restaurant) and back.

On Saturday morning, I had to wake up early because I had Finnish for Foreigners class. I think the teacher is starting to understand that I am more advanced then the beginners, but I don’t understand as much speech as the advanced group. We talked about weather: it has rained almost every day in my town for the last 2 weeks! In the afternoon I made cookies! And not just any cookies: Grandma’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies! I had mentioned it the night before, and Kalle asked if he could come over to help, so he did. “Cups”, “teaspoons”, and “tablespoons” are not common measurements here, so I needed to convert everything into decilitres and millilitres, just to find out that butter is measured in grams! (I think we put way too much butter into the cookies). But the cookies were delicious as they always are. Even those in the house who don’t like peanut butter (or chocolate chips for that matter) liked them. And I was able to experience a long awaited scent from back home.



The crab party.



That evening some friends from Seinäjoki (the same one who came to the kesämöki) came to our house for a “Crab” Party. The starter was mushroom soup; with the mushrooms that I picked! The main course was, contrary to my presumptions, lobster. They were sort of mini-lobsters but definitely not crab. We played some cards, had a sauna, and spoke with Ilkka (my brother in Alaska) via Skype. At about 10:30 I was invited to a get together of friends at someone’s house so I accepted (with parental consent of course) and I stayed the night at the house of Kimmo (the red head).
 On Sunday I came home just before lunch. All of the guests were still there and were just about to start playing a game of Alias. It is similar to “Taboo”, however the only word that you can’t say is the word your partner is trying to guess. I was partnered with Ilari (my older host brother) and his girlfriend Tanja helped out. I had my laptop on my lap to be able to search definitions on the internet. We didn’t get last! Afterwards, I went back to the house where our get together was the night before for a brief stay to eat some apple pie. I went back home and had a two hour nap. I blogged. I did my homework. I went to bed.

Monday, I had Pitka Matematikka as my first class, during which I realized that we learn different topics in different orders. For example: . For anyone who knows what I am talking about….: students here always write out and solve the quadratic equation when factoring a polynomial. Even when it is really easy to see that x²-2x-3 = (x-3)(x+1) they aren’t taught to recognize that the “b” term is the sum and the “c” term is the product of the 2 roots. In Spanish I have my first word test next class! I have to study the Finnish words more than the Spanish words (thanks, sis!) During English class I marked my listening activity from last class: I got 1.5 wrong out of 30! (which is still the best in the class). I think it is because I get bored when I am listening so I zone out. Watch some TV and learned Finnish card games. I was victorious at one new game, but I very rusty at a “slaps” type game (which includes slapping doubles, tens, sandwiched doubles, the top 2 cards add up to 10, and the 1^st and 3^rd cards add up to ten)  

My books.



On Tuesday in art class I am working with a picture I took in Equator making it capture the essence of my personality and interests. In Pitka Matikka 7, as soon as I finish the questions assigned, I whip out my Finnish books because this class is (although more advanced than the one I took last jakso) still pretty easy. At lunch I re-established my firm belief that I really don’t like porridge. During my second math class of the day, there was an announcement that came on that I didn’t understand. I was informed immediately after by a classmate that the police had come to the school to check mo-ped and motorcycle drivers’ licences and registrations. I am pretty sure quite a few people got tickets and warnings. Still during math, I had a personal victory when I correctly assumed the meaning of the word jatkuva (continuous) and taught the teacher how to spell both continuous and differentiable in English. After school I went to a café and bought a “birthday cupcake” to celebrate my sister Roslyn’s 21^st birthday. At Finnish for Foreigners I thought we had a pretty good class. I am partnering with a girl from Estonia who moved to Ylihärmä (technically still in Kauhava) with her mom. She speaks English quite well and wants to learn Finnish so she can get a job here. When I got home I suffered a little bit of Glee withdrawal, so I found a site on the internet that allows me to watch the latest episodes the day after they air on TV in North America.

Thanks for reading. Remember to leave a comment, question or concern.



Pickin' Mushrooms and Courses

I've been told these are some
of the best mushrooms to eat.

Last Monday I slept in because it was still test week. Sometime between 10 and 11 I went to school to choose my courses for the next jakso (term, period, semester…whatever you want to call it). I met up with some friends who had finished their test for the day and we ate lunch and chatted. Then I went to see the counsellor who said come back tomorrow because he was invigilating a matriculation exam. So I chatted with more people before heading home to finish my paper on pesäpallo. In the evening, my host parents and I went mushroom picking. Siiri the dog came along with us, and she had a bright orange collar with a tracking device in it, so when we were picking, she could roam the woods freely and we would be able to track her down with some electronic device. We went to a side road on the outskirts of town that Jarmo knew had some moist, swampy areas…ideal mushroom growing conditions. We walked into the woods for only a few minutes before we stopped and started searching. 

Me with the 'shrooms.

Jarmo is the “mushroom man” in our family; he quickly found the first ones and there were more and more. I was sworn to secrecy about the patch: there were so many of what is apparently the best type of mushroom and “only family” is allowed to know where we went. After we picked fifteen litres, we had to leave the rest behind because we had no more container space. We went to mummi ja pappa’s house (grandma and grandpa) for coffee.

On Tuesday I went to school to get my schedule figured out. I had pretty much already choosen all of the classes that I wanted to take, I just needed the counsellor’s approval. He told me I was the first exchange student in ten years to plan my own schedule without his assistance. These are my classes for this jakso:

Sept. 21 – Nov. 8	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8 – 9:45	Math 13	Art	Math 7	Art	English
10 – 11:45	Spanish	Math 7	English	Math 13	Spanish
12:20-1:50	English	Math 13	Spanish	Math 7	Art

Because I had my courses picked, the next place to go was the book store to order my books. The shopkeeper spoke little to no English so I succeed in ordering my books by speaking only Finnish! Huge success! I went back to school for lunch and chatting. When eating, I felt some pride when my friend said, “I don’t know whether to speak to you in Finnish or English,” because she thought I have learned enough to carry on the conversation in Finnish. I asked her to speak Finnish, but everyone seems to be starting to talk to me in Finglish: a combination of words/phrases/sentences switching both languages. I went home and did something I am very experienced at, procrastinating. To this point, I still have not finished my pesäpallo report, but no one from the school administration has mentioned anything about it…. That evening I had Finnish for Foreigners. Because I have had the textbook for about a month before the course, I have already done lots of the exercises, so I just study on my own.

Drilling a block of wood for the handle of my knife

Wednesday was the1^st day of the 2^nd jakso. My second grade math class was pretty easy. In English we have a “permanent substitute”; our last teacher moved away so we have a brand new teacher (who won’t have completed university until the spring). She is very young and timid, but she has a nice, subtle, British accent. In Spanish class I can understand Spanish to English translations, and English to Finnish translations, so I understood most of what the teacher said. After school I went to a friend’s house to watch a television show he has trying to get me to see for a couple of weeks. I went home and made the salad for dinner and I was asked by my little brother if I wanted to learn the Finnish way to cut vegetables… just because I am not a good slicer and dicer doesn’t mean everyone in Canada cuts peppers like me. That evening I had my puukkokurssi (knife making class) during which I started making the handle: I drilled wood and cut up pieces of bark. Afterwards I stayed up very late tweaking presentation for Rotary Club. Thursday morning my alarm went off at 6:20, I thought I put it on snooze for 10 minutes… I woke up at 7:53 (class starts at eight) so I basically threw on clothes, grabbed my bag, rode bicycle as fast as possible with a piece of bread in hand. My first class was art. I have not taken art class since elementary school…this course is a free course where I decide what to do… should be interesting…Grandma (watercolour painter for those of you who don’t know), don’t be surprised if you get a phone call asking for art advice! I had 3^rd grade math next; they are about where I am in math. Their last test was on integrals and they are starting with lots of stuff to do with infinity. I also got back my test from the last math class I had: I got a 10 (I wanted a 10+ because I did the 2 extra questions correctly and I did all of the homeword which he counts as bonus marks). In 2^nd grade math I was a bit embarrassed; I didn’t do the homework because I slept in… At partio that afternoon we talked about schedule until joulukuu (December) and played games. Afterwards at Rotary, I gave a big presentation on Canada, Kelowna, my life, my family, and me. 

This is the picture of "äiti" that the man
thought was my "sisko". I miss you mom & dad!

When I introduced äiti ja isa (mom & dad) I had 3 pictures: 1 of them together, and a picture of me with each of them. I said “these are my äiti ja isa” and one of the Rotarians said “ja sisko!” (and sister)… “no, that is my mom”, “well she looks so young!”. Some more comments I received were “I like you because you had a white German short-haired pointer” (Abby, the dog we used to have) as well as “I like you because of your leadership in scouts and that you want to become an engineer”.

I really am enjoying my time here. Finnish, however, is a very frustrating language because of: the many different cases of nouns and adjectives (there are no prepositions, you add different endings for “to”, or “of”, etc.), the many types of verbs (although they all end in either –a or –ä, there are seven different conjugation patterns), and just generally not having a very large vocabulary.

FYI – I have been in Finland for 49 days!

Viikonloppu Kesämökillä (Weekend at the Summer Cottage)

Because it was still test week, I didn’t have to go to school on Friday. Among much “lollygagging” and procrastination, I researched for my paper on pesäpallo (Finnish baseball) that I am writing (in English) instead of writing the tests. Then I starting packing to go to the kesämökki, summer cottage; I brought way too much stuff, but had to prepare for the worst.

This is the kesämökki we stayed in.

It was a pretty short drive to the cabin and I was greeted by a nice log cabin which was on the tip of a peninsula on island near the city of Vaasa. There were five buildings: the main cabin, the storage shed and outhouse, the sauna, the eating room, and a bunkhouse. The main cabin had a kitchen (complete) the smallest stove/oven combo I have ever seen), a living room with a couch and cable TV, a dinning room, a bedroom, and a loft upstairs with some mattresses. For anyone who has visited my cabin (“The Shack”) in Sicamous, it was slightly smaller in footprint, had a lower ceiling, and was much more modern. The storage shed and outhouse building was naturally divided in two: a bathroom with plumbing, and a storage room. The sauna building was the original cabin on the property but it is now two rooms: the sauna with a wood burning kisua (the hot place with rocks), and a “powder room”. Behind the main cabin, a large terrace was built on top of some very large rocks which were almost the height of the cabin itself. On another larger rock right beside, there was a building with a single room which we utilized as the dinning room.

 

Me fishing with Siiri.

Iiro had been telling me for weeks how excited he was to be going fishing, so naturally that was one of the first things we did, as soon as Jarmo checked out the boat and put it in the water. It has been a long time since I have been fishing so it took a little time to get back into the swing of it. I actually caught a fish! A small pike! But as soon as I could see my prey, it jiggled loose of the hook. When we got back to shore, Jarmo’s brother Petteri and his family arrived. As soon as they were unpacked what did we do? We went fishing again. Later, when we were getting cozy, I walked up to the terrace and noticed Jaana having trouble lighting a fire, which would be used to cook our dinner. So being the scout that I am, I quickly got the fire lit (and it was probably a little bit bigger then what it should have been). We ate dinner, which was kebab (donair-ish meat) heated over my fire, very late, even for Canadian standards, at 9 o’clock. We cleared the table around 11 and then went to the sauna just before midnight. During and after saunas, Petteri and I cooled off by swimming in the sea. Because the Baltic Sea was once a huge fresh water lake, the salinity of the water was very low so I didn’t feel icky from the salt. After sauna, the adults and I played cards. I taught them how to play president (scum, a**hole) right after they taught me the Finnish version. 

This was the view from the dock at the cabin on Friday night.
(the little white dots are the moon and it's reflection)



The terrace and the "dining room".

I slept in on Saturday, as much as I could with 4 year old cousin Saila that is. After I had something to eat for breakfast, I read my book (Catch Me if you Can) in the sun on the terrace. Later in the day we went berry and mushroom picking in the woods near the cabin. For our late lunch, I made a salad after pestering for something to do. My salad had tommatti (tomato), paprika (bell pepper), kurkku (cucumber), ja omena (apple). After lunch we said goodbye to Petteri, his wife Sanna, and their daughter Saila, because their other son Sampo would soon arrive home from a hockey event. Konsta, their other son, stayed the next night with us. I had a long nap. When I awoke, the next guests, who were my host family’s friends from Seinäjoki, had arrived. We had our sauna before dinner. No swimming this time, it was really cold. After sauna we ate makkara for a late dinner and I went straight to bed.

Konsta and his catch.

Sunday morning, after sleeping in again, I resumed my position on the sunny terrace and finished my book. After the Seinäjokians (I don’t think that’s actually a word) left, we went fishing again. Jarmo caught one fish, which he released, and Konsta the cousin [ten years old, third grade, got his first cell phone when he was 7 which is normal by Finnish standards] caught three fish! But two of them released themselves before reaching the boat and he released the third after posing for pictures. When we docked, we did our final clean up and packing then left for home. I slept the whole drive home and had yet another sauna before going to bed.

It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend and I am very gracious I had the opportunity to experience yet another experience on this year long experience of a life time!

More blogs to come soon! I am still not getting any questions.... or mail for that matter, if you want to mail me something, let me know and I will forward you my address. (PS- make sure you make it clear who you are so I don't send my address to a random stranger)

Week Five and Staying Alive

Sorry I have been falling behind on blog entries!



Ilari cutting his cake, with his aunt and
little cousin across the table

On September 7, Ilari had a birthday party, even though his birthday was on the 4^th. Family came over to the house and we had a cake which was covered in candy. The littlest cousin had a hissy fit when she wasn’t served the right piece of cake. This party was a little personal celebration because it marked one month of being in Finland

The next day at scouts we took measurements of everyone: height, mass, and pulse before and after vigorous exercise. I am starting to learn their closing song. I had Julien, one of the scouts, wrote it out for me before I left. After scouts I went to Rotary. I presented my club with the Kelowna Sunrise Rotary banner.

On Friday I went to Rolls, the only fast food restaurant in town, with some friends. Then we went to the fall market at the marketplace. I bought some fruity flavoured liquorice. Later I played squash again. My partner, Kalle, says that I am improving but I know that we can’t play a real game with each other because I am still so bad. Kalle also says that I am better than any girl he has played with.

One of the bridges we paddled under.

Saturday was a long day of canoeing. A church youth group was canoeing down the Kauhavanjoki and Lapuanjoki and my friends and host mother encouraged me to go. I was canoe partners with Kalle. Another friend, Kimmo (who is the only red head in Kauhava… well probably not the only one) was partners with the other exchange student Martin. These rivers for the most part are flat and slow moving. We did have to portage (take the boat out of the water) on two occasions. The first one was planned, however the second one came as a surprise to the group leader and we had to carry the boat quite a distance before we could re-launch. The trip took about eight hours including breaks and we paddled about 22 km. We paddled from right beside the church in Kauhava to the Lukio (high school) in Alahärmä which is one of the smaller communities within the municipality of Kauhava. After the trip we were all soaking wet, with shoes covered in mud, and aching muscles. Later that evening, Kalle drove me to Kimmo’s house on the back of his motorcycle so that we could try to relax in his sauna. Kimmo’s sauna is basically a wood burning stove with rocks on top; every other one I have seen here is electric.

On Sunday I woke up after a horrible sleep. My body ached all over. I got frustrated with the Finnish language. It was not good. My day was brightened, however, after I talked to my sister Roslyn back in Canada for almost an hour. She told me about some of her adventures in Argentina this past summer and her first week of third year university.

Tuesday night, I had my first “Finnish for Foreigners” class. I don’t feel I have a firm grip of the Finnish language, but I knew more than most of my class. We, the beginners, went over how to pronounce the alphabet and introduce ourselves while the advanced group conjugated verbs (in exactly the same manner I had early that day during English class). Most of the students are Ukrainian, but there were some Polish and Russian people in addition to the two exchanges students (me & Martin).

Me using the metal grinding machine.

On Wednesday nights I am taking a knife making course with my host mom. Kauhava is infamous for their knives and my host mom’s friend is teaching the course so we signed up together. That night, we bought the blade and shaped the metal shaft to prepare it for the handle we will make. I also cut some pieces of wood down to the right size. However when I was using the electric sander, my piece of wood flew out from under my fingers and I ended up sanding off the tip of my index finger, but it is by no means serious.

Yesterday, Thursday, I had my first test! After every semester there is test week; it started on Wednesday. You are only required to go to school if you have a test that day. I have the option of attempting to write three tests or a 3-5 page report on something. This time I have opted to write the report (it will be about pesäpallo) but I still wanted to try the math test because the course was so easy for me. It was a 3 hour test but you could leave after 90 minutes if you had finished. The test had only 7 questions, no multiple choice questions. I realized after that you only needed to do 5 of the questions, but I did them all and I left after 105 minutes (I finished in less than an hour but I checked over my answers no less than three times). I hope I get at least a 10 on the test (out of ten), but I am sort of expecting a 10+.

All the inbound students who came to Vöyri.

Also yesterday, I had an orientation for inbound students, rebound students, and Youth Exchange Officers of district 1380 in Vöyri (40 minute drive from Kauhava). There are 14 students in my district, 9 “newbies” arrived in August and the other 5 are “oldies” from Australia and arrived in January. At the meeting there were 6 inbounds (5 “newbies” and 1 “oldie”), and 3 rebounds… not very good attendance. But for us inbounds we just talked about our experiences of the exchange so far. I think I have it easier than some of the others; many of them are having a problem getting shy Finnish people to talk to them but I don’t feel like I have that problem.

This is my latest Q&A: What is the dollar in Finland?

Finland is a member of the European Union (EU) and is currently the only Nordic country to use the EURO (€). In case you have never held euros, each bill’s size is dependant on its denomination. For example, the five euro bill is the smallest bill (in height and width) and as the value increases so does the size. Coins come in the values of 2, 1, 0.50, 0.20, 0.10, 0.02, and although they aren’t producing them any more 0.01.

If you have a question about Finland or my time here, please comment or send me a message or email and I will do my best to answer it.