http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Finland , Southwest Finland , Naantali en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:43:36 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:43:36 UTC Today all the second graders met at school at 9.00 am and carpooled over to one of the beaches on Merimasku island I went with Aikka Maiju Jori Anssi and Henkka and we got a little lost getting there but it fabulous We were on the dock the entire day eating snacks and hanging out some kids even went swimming i got a sunburn first...and hopefully last of this summer It was great bein http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-281689.html At 4.30 today Joonas and I walked down to the harbor and met up with at least 30 of my rotary men boarding two big yachts We got on the smaller blue one with Jappa driving and boated or would you say sailed..even if we didnt have a sail out to Omena Saari literally apple island for my rotary meeting We had makkara sausage and all the rotary guys drank a lot of beer and we went to s http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-281688.html After a LONG day of shopping for summer clothes in Turku with Doro germany I rode my bike town to lonasluoto where Joonas was in charge of teaching some sea scouts how to sail in those little one man boats I was taught also and raced the little scouts around the bay http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-281687.html Today Joonas came over around 12 and we went picnic shopping together then he went home to grab some supplies and I ate a special fish lunch with the family. At 1 Joonas drove Anette and I to Turku where we met Markus at the Lily on the river where he works and sailed out to Veps island for the day http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-281686.html Today I went into school at 11 then at 1130 met up with ten American 1417 year old guys Basketball players from New England With two volenteer coaches and Scott the man in charge. I introduced myself then guided them to lunch. We all ate together until the other students started arriving then they all split up and we put one at each table They gave some presentations in a couple of our http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-273925.html Today I woke up early and made french toast for breakfast for everyone here are some pics...of me..looking like a total disaster cooking. in finland http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-273921.html Last weekend I changed host families Now I live with the Fagerlund family Tom Hanna yes tom and hanna are my host parents names AGAIN Nea my 14 year old sister and Anette my 18 year old sister Today we went to the Caribia spa in Turku to watch a Salibandi game It was great even though Naantali lost a couple of my friends from school played on the team too http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-273917.html Tomorrow I switch families so tonight we went out for dinner then had a jolly good time playing with my moving away gifts..which inclueded a classic...black rubber rat...some awesome lady bug hair ties...which i use almost every day a couple beautiful scrap book pages and a finnish cook book We went out to dinner at the Kylpyla Pizza restaurant in the spa hotel It was a TON OF FUN Defini http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-273867.html This past weekend was our rotary district conference in Turku We have 23 exchange students in our district but Ellen was in Germany so we had 22 of us Rick came over from Aland Friday night and stayed over with me at the Ahti's house. The next morning Lapa our treasure and Ossi picked us up and drove us over to the ICT building in Turku for breakfast and a meeting at 9am All the exchange http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-271442.html Ama and I walked around A LOT this past week and visited Muumiworld We also went all around the harbor and Hanna Aiti found a guided tour for us around the harbor and old town It was a lot of fun and I LEARNED A LOT http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-269692.html Today Ama and I spent from 1030 am 3pm cooking at the summer pizza kitchen at KalaTrappi my rotary restaurant. Ama had brought an ENTIRE suitcase full of tortillas cans of whole green chilies red chilie powder green chili powder guac and lots of herbs. As she cooked I was her sue chef running outside in the crazy blizzard to the main restaurant and getting whatever she needed They pr http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-268212.html easter was crazy. so many easter eggs and so much family fun and love ama was with me she was visiting me in finland from March 20 throught April 2 she experienced it all So on Easter Sunday we went to Iska Tom 's mothers house my mummi who speaks swedish and finnish and inserts some funny random english words she is such a character and had a true easter meal. It was HUGE and mummi a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-266023.html It has been snowing the last couple of days so today we finally had enough to go out and play in it Matsku and I sledded down the big hill next to our house a couple times then I built an igloo in the pile of snow the neighbors had shoveled off the street. Matsku was helping...haha NOT more like throwing snow down my shirt and on my head its a brother thing. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-255852.html Today was the Abi show and Ystavan Paivaa Valentines day Today was the Abi seniors last day at school so they put on a play making jokes about the past year and all the teachers It was very funny Then after lunch all the abis wearing their abi outfit thingys got on this big trucks and threw candy to us as they left for Turku centrum Oh yes and I wore a big heart around my neck and col http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-255798.html What a place. The most Finns i have ever seen together We went to the game tonight It was a lot of fun even though TPS wasnt playing very well at all But I got my TRIP yes i was TRIPPING during the game the juice boxes in finland are called TRIP haha We visited Bedrock from the flinstones between periods and had some snacks and watched TPS the Turku team play the Ilves....w http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-254592.html What a day. I can honestly say that this has been one of the most exciting days here I woke up early and got into the car in my pj's and boots with Iska h.dad. He dropped me over at Leena's where we ate some eggs together for breakfast then I went upstairs to put the curlers in my hair Today was the big day finally All these hours of practicing and it was here February 15 2008 T http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-246908.html So this was a very long weekend so Im definitely not going to write everything that happened but Ellen came to visit me again from Kankaanpaa Friday night we went to my host aunt's dogs birthday she has no children but she has little NELSON it was pirate themed and we had a lot of fun...well everyone attacked me with those little popper things it was a blast uncontrolable laughing. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-242368.html So actually TONIGHT is the start of a VERY long week We went to the Tuto ice hockey game tonight in Turku Tuto is like the AAA team for TPS My first ADULT hockey game It was fun and I was hyper the entire game talking dancing singing...you know the usual. I ate some yummy makkara and juice too Then between the periods Maddie's synchro team performed It was such a fun ni http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-239949.html So today I worked at kindie with Hanna aiti She teaches at the Paivakoti daycare and kindie Its not to far from home so Iska Tom drove me over around 8 so I could make it for breakfast. Yum yogurt and pourage. I met the adorable little Finns as they ran away from me to hide. Suvi Veera and Sanni made me a little picture of me with some jewels glued onto it. It was very sweet. We baked http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-239935.html So today I got a little tour of Turku and my new host dad's office while we wated for Matias' game to start Matias plays soccer for the VG Naantali team also my German friend Eric also plays on their team So they had a game tonight and we had a lot of fun watching them run back and forth and up and down the freezing field. I was dancing and moving uncontrollably sp trying to stay war http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-236547.html So I don't really know if I mentioned this already but at my last host family I decided to cook some AmericanNew Mexican style breakfast every Sunday or so. It all started that day I had the finnish pancake fiasco The next weekend I made american style pancakes but then we also had a little problem because my wonderful host aiti told me that the flour was baking powder so I ended up addin http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-236543.html Today we kiddies sat down and ate our gingerbread house showing the end of Christmas time YUMMY michelle check out those yopuku pj's http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-236541.html So today was the day.....I tried the famous finnish BLOOD PANCAKES. made of what you ask REINDEER BLOOD YIPPIE Thank goodness I am so open minded. It was funny having my entire host family around me with aprehensive gazes and the camera ready to laugh at my reaction..................which to tell you the truth...was not bad at all...it was kind of like that food that you eat and enjoy u http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-236538.html New years is HUGE in Finland So Marru's brother and his fiance were visiting from Jyvaskyla spelling for new year Marru's brother made us some sushi and we had it for our nighttime snack wasabi and all It was great I hadnt had sushi in FOREVER and it was really good Then a couple hours and many pool games later mostly...if not always me losing to Henkka we drank some strawberry http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-235187.html Wonderful loud amazing entertaining considerate NONQABA and thats the last time youre going to hear the click Non was one of our oldies an oldie is an exchange student that came from the southern hemisphere so their exchange year was from January to January. She was fabulous to be around. She made us laugh with her funny stories about South African boys and pine apples and she's http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-235182.html So todays the day WE DIDDLE THE CUSTOMERS...ok inside joke...mom seany haha alright well today I spent the day packing. It was rather sad seeing my side of the once oh so crowded room now so empty.... I wasnt homesick I was nervous. Very. This really seemed like my frist move because I dont know my new family really well as I did when I moved into the Ailio's and my new house is furth http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-234352.html Gingerbread. Chocolate. Ham. Glogi. Champane. Gingerbread. Chocolate. Silli. Ham. Gingerbread. HAM Ok so it IS FINALLY CHRISTMAS EVE IN FINLAND I MADE IT and there was much rejoicing Alright so I have to admit it was SO MUCH better then I could have ever imagined. I was incandescently happy the entire day We woke up late and dressed in our warm comf http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-230281.html Tonight was our Christmas Orchestra Performance It was at the Raisio Library I performed in a clarinet sextet and then with the entire group We played some great songs A few Christmas ones too When we played our last Christmas song we had to wear our santa hats My finnish family came to watch Marru Henkka and Leena lt3 them http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-230280.html Today was the last day of school before CHRISTMAS BREAK WOO HOO Christmas break this year in Finland is the same as Rio Rancho High in NM How crazy is that Alright so Henkka and I finished school early today at 2pm walked home and met up with Heini My host sister who just returned from Paris. Heini took us to pick up Eveliina Heini's friend who went on exchange to Mexico a couple year http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-230275.html Today I layed around. haha...yes...well kind of ....it was a resting day says my host mother Heini Henkka and I went over to Mummi's and put together her tree and put the lights on it. I read many pages of the OFFICIAL SAT STUDY GUIDE. Henkka had some friends over I watched Aladdin then talked with the family online yay for Merry Christmas Family TIME oh yes then I helped Henkka http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Naantali/blog-230259.html