A Couple More Days in the Life of Peter the Canadian Finn

One of many pictures of Kelowna in my presentation.

On Monday, my host brother brought my attention to what was on TV that night, the season premiere for “Glee”. (He knows that I like watching glee). I sat down to watch the episode and said to myself, I watched this a year ago. Most programs here in Finland are made in the United States, but a couple seasons behind North America. And, it was in English with Finnish subtitles…

Tuesday was a day of presentations. My English course is specifically aimed towards eco-friendly topics. So, as may have already mentioned, I did a presentation on Kelowna with a focus of environmental stuff; I talked about our garbage system, public transit, and parks among other things. It went really well, except Finnish people are very quiet: no laughs or even chuckles, and no questions even though I asked repeatedly.

The one and only traffic
light in Kauhava.

My teacher liked it so much that after our break she asked me if I would do the presentation for her other class in the afternoon. She also said she raved about in the staff room and some teachers from the middle school would like to have me present too! The afternoon group was better: a couple of laughs, and one question.

School photos were Wednesday. I decided that since I had so many pictures taken last year I didn’t need personal headshots (though buying them on stamps did look pretty interesting). There were also pictures of each homeroom. I don’t know what homeroom I am in so when everyone who was in my class left for the picture, I went with them. Just before lunch there was a photo of the entire lukeo (high school). Someone asked me if I brought a flag to school for the photo, but I didn’t know we had a casual school photo. So casual that the senior year students brought out couches and comfy chairs, from the student lounge, to pose in. Advice for other exchange students: always keep a flag with you, no matter what.

Pekko, the newspaper reporter

Thursday was a day of learning Finnish. In every class today, I got out my notebook, textbooks, and dictionary to start using repition to drill words into my brain. During English I studied verbs in their infinitive (I haven’t quite got the conjugation patterns yet) and during Math and Physics I studied different types of food. During lunch time, the counsellor found me in the cafeteria to inform me there was a news reporter who wanted an interview after my meal. So, I and the other exchange student talked with Pekko from the Komiat newspaper here in Kauhava. The interview was all in English; Pekko the reporter and Martin from Germany both speak English practically fluently, so that was the language the interview was in. In the afternoon I went to a scout meeting. There were six boys (10 & 11 years old) and we made white chocolate cake, because they requested it last week. After Partio (scouts) I went to my Rotary Club’s meeting where they discussed their schedule for next year. Good thing I studied months during geography on Tuesday; that meant I understood a least the general time frame they were discussing. I got home and had a very late supper (7:00 pm) and had a nice long Skype with my friend Hannah, back home in Kelowna.

Salmiakki, Finnish black
licorice, much stronger taste
and saltier than at home

Last week I asked if anybody had any requests about stuff they’d like to know. So…Food in Finland. I haven’t been shocked with any outrageous meals or types of food. The food is quite simple with very few spices or seasonings. Milk and water are the beverages of choice at every meal. Here is a general breakdown of meals.

Breakfast is a ham or sausage and cheese sandwich, either cold or grilled. There is often fruit or yogurt and always coffee. I normally stick with my ways of the past and have only a mug of hot chocolate.

Lunch is served at school. Every school in Finland has free, hot lunch every day for students and staff. Well, really it is not free, it is paid for by tax payers. For lunch there is often a salad (lettuce with any combination of cucumbers, carrots, and peppers), some form of potatoes (boiled, steamed, scalloped, mashed), a main course (fish sticks, chicken nuggets, meat balls, lasagne, spaghetti), and crackers with butter.

Really good chocolate cake,
baked by Jaana on her day off.

Dinner is very early in the afternoon (at least with my current host family). It consists of bread and butter, a salad, normally cooked vegetables (especially potatoes), and some sort of main course (pasta, meat sauce, sausage, soup).

Evening snack is served half an hour to an hour before bed. It is regularly the same as the breakfast sandwich but there can be sausages or baked goods.

If you have anything you want to learn about Finland, message me, email me, leave a comment… send a messenger pigeon.