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Published: September 27th 2007
Windmill
This windmill is near my house. I just think it looks cool.So, I decided I need to write another entry before I go to Espoo/Helsinki/Vantaa this weekend. Sorry the entries have been a little more spaced out lately. I guess I've just been a bit too busy to be writing all the time. Anyway, where did I leave off?
So, last Saturday, the 15th I didn't really do anything. The next week was test week so all my friends were busy studying for their tests. And all my friends who weren't studying for their tests were hanging out with their boyfriends so...I pretty much just sat around the house all day. Oh well, some days it just goes like that.
Sunday was slightly more interesting. I worked on my presentation that I had to give to my Rotary club on Tuesday. It was all in Finnish so I had Jari help me with it a bit. I hung out with my friend Mira for a bit while she was taking a break from her studying. We hung out for about an hour and talked in Swedish almost the whole time. I thought that was pretty cool. Later that night we had a pancake for dinner. At first, when my host
Car
Another cool old car. Old Beetles are really popular here for some reason. Although, this might not actually be a beetle, but it kind of looks like one. mom said we were having a pancake, I thought she meant pancakes, as in what a person eats for breakfast. I thought that was really bizarre since they don't really eat pancakes in Finland. However, I later found out, that we were literally having a pancake or a cake made in a pan. It actually wasn't too bad.
On Monday I made my new schedule for the next school period. This time we were able to schedule around my Japanese and Finnish lessons so I won't have to skip my other classes so often. I will be taking history, biology, and textiles along with the Japanese and Finnish courses I am already taking. I'm not totally sure what textiles is, but I think it will probably be sewing or something. After school I went to the store and I bought a candy bar. It said on the front that it was filled with toffee, but when I looked at the back it said in English that it was filled with caramel. So, I guess in Finland or Sweden or wherever the candy bar was made toffee and caramel really are the same thing. Who knew?
Tuesday was the
Flower Boxes
The flower boxes that my host mom and I updated for a more wintry feel. beginning of test week so I didn't have any classes, but I still had to go to the Rotary meeting and give my presentation about me. I had to take the bus into the city later than usual. Since we live kind of far from the main road I actually had to call the bus to come pick me up. That was kind of scary. The bus driver is pretty old and doesn't know English so I had to talk to him in Swedish. It all worked out ok though. My speech went really well and everyone said that I spoke really great Finnish. I didn't really think it was that good, but I think it just goes along with the whole "Finns don't expect anyone to be able to speak any Finnish whatsoever" thing. After school I hung out with Christine again. Then, Tuesday night, I had to go to Härmä for a Rotary thing. I was expecting, since all the inbounds were required to come to this Rotary meeting and it would be several hours long, that they had some sort of activity for us to do. I was sadly mistaken. I got there and met the other
Flower Box
Here is a close-up of one. I think they actually look kind of cool. inbounds in my district. I had met all of them before except for one girl who is from Australia who has been here for 8 months already (countries like Australia and South Africa do their exchanges from January to January). So the meeting started at 6 and we all sat down. It was us inbounds and the YEOs from all the clubs in the district. The head guy, I'm not sure what his position is, started talking in Finnish. I figured he was just starting the meeting and eventually we'd go do something. However, after about 30 minutes of this I started to realize that maybe THIS was what we were doing. It was kind of funny because all of us inbounds were just kind of sitting there looking around like, "Is this really what we came here for? to just sit here and listen to this guy talk in Finnish?" At 7:00 we had a break and after break they told us that we could go to another room if we wanted and just talk and stuff. We all practically ran from the room before they could change their minds. So we sat and talked for a while. It
Harry Potter!
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Finnish! I am currently reading this. I think I like their covers better than ours. was interesting comparing our different experiences so far.
On Wednesday I went to the train station with Christine after school to get my student card. I had forgotten to take my passport with me so I just gave the lady my drivers license when she asked for my ID and it worked. I was really happy because I really didn't want to have to go back again to get it. A student card for the train is a must have. It cuts the ticket price in half. For example, for my trip to Helsinki this weekend it would normally cost € 100, but with a student card it only costs € 50.
On Thursday afternoon I had to watch a video with the rest of the kids going on the trip to Germany and Poland. Originally I was told that we would be watching Hotel Rwanda. However, apparently that was changed. Instead we watched this movie from like the 80s or 90s called The Wave. The acting was horrible, but the movie itself was really pretty interesting. On Thursday night I was at home flipping through the tv channels. There was some show on about real-life crime stories
My House
I don't know if I've put up any pictures of the outside of my house. So, here's one. and I paused on it for a second. They were talking about the Donna Winger murder which happened in Springfield, IL. I was like "Oh my God! I'm in Finland and they're talking about my town!" I started shouting to my host mom that she had to come watch because they were talking about my town. We then both watched the whole show. Now that I think about it, it's kind of funny that I got really excited about this. But it was kind of cool.
On Friday I hung out with my friends Sandra and Mira at Mira's house. We played Wii games and chatted and stuff. It was fun. Oh also, I found out who my next host family is. I'm staying with the club president and his wife. They live a little bit closer to town and closer to my basketball practices, so that will be nice. On Friday after basketball practice we drove by their house. It looked really big!
On Saturday morning I had to go to an informational meeting about my trip to Germany and Poland at the school. I had to call the bus again, but I wasn't sure if it
Sanna
Sanna is the robotic lawn mower. She can't do the whole lawn though, only part of it. would be able to come since it was the first bus that morning and I wasn't sure if it would come to where I live. When I called the driver I again had to speak in Swedish. After I told him I needed the bus to come he said some big long sentence in Swedish that I didn't understand at all. I was like, "Oh no, what am I going to do?" Then I heard him say that the bus would come in 25 minutes and I practically celebrated, I was so relieved. I still have no idea what he said before that, but it doesn't really matter. After the meeting I was supposed to go meet this girl, Susu, and her friends at the bowling alley. Susu's father is in the Rotary Club and she had said she wanted to meet me. However, when we were leaving I got a message from her saying that there were no lanes left in the bowling alley, so we couldn't go. So, instead, Jari and I drove around Vaasa a bit and we visited the family that I am staying with next. We went inside their house and it was huge!!! They
Jani Doing Work
This is Jani doing yard work. Fascinating, I know. are definitely rich. The mom speaks really good English so that will be really nice. After we got home my host mom and I went into the woods and picked new plants and things to fill the flower boxes to give them a more wintry feel. We used things such as lingon berries, pinecones, pinetree branches, various types of moss, and my personal favorite, dead tree branches. They actually turned out pretty nice I think. Saturday night, at about 9 o'clock, we all went out for dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant called Amarillo. The food was good, but I was absolutely shocked when they brought it out. I had always thought that portion sizes in other countries were supposed to be smaller than those in America, but apparently that isn't true in Finland. There was so much food!!! I ordered a burrito and it was seriously big enough to feed three people. I only ate half of it and took the other half home. I just couldn't believe it though. All that portion size stuff is a bunch of crap.
On Sunday I hung out with my friend Mira again. Sunday evening I was really bored so
Sunflower
I just noticed the other day that there is this random sunflower in the middle of our lawn. Weird! Jani and I jumped on the trampoline. Then Jari made us do yard work. I had to rake up the grass that had already been cut, one of my least favorite jobs in the whole world. Oh well, it can't always be fun. Sunday night I bought my tickets to Helsinki for this weekend, so I'm all ready to go!
On Monday I didn't have any school since it was the last day of test week. I got to sleep in!! During the day all of my friends were at school taking tests, so my host mom and I baked. We made these sort of sweet bread roll things called pulla in Finnish. Well, actually, we made three different things. We made pulla which are the plain ones. Then we also made ones with cinnamon and ones with vanilla. Those have a different name which I can't remember. But, my host mom was telling me, that their name in Swedish is the same word as slap. So, they have this joke where you ask someone if they want one with their coffee and then you slap them. I thought that was kind of funny.
Tuesday was the start
Trees
The trees are already so colorful here. Is it like that already in Illinois too? I can't remember. of the second period at school. I had biology class in Swedish. That was pretty interesting. It's kind of funny because the names of almost everything are almost exactly the same as English so it's really quite easy. I went to my Rotary meeting as usual. The District Governor was speaking today. Near the end of the meeting his wife started talking about the Rotary Youth Exchange. Then she called me up to the front. I had no clue what was going on. She told me to take off my shoes and made me sit on this stool. Then she put these like knitted socks on my feet and said something to the effect of "If your feet are warm, your heart is warm." I was so confused, I had no clue what was going on. I don't know if this is some sort of tradition here or what. It was all very strange though. After the Rotary meeting I had textile class. It involves sewing as I suspected. We worked on making pencil cases out of pieces of old jeans. I haven't really sewn anything in a really long time, and it definitely showed. I practically broke the sewing
Bowling
The bowling alley. I'm not sure why it's in English. Although, bowling might be the same in Swedish, so maybe it's actually Swedish. machine I was using and I had to start over several times. It was pretty bad. I guess I would never make a very good housewife. After school I finally met Susu and her friends at the bowling alley. The bowling alley here is really small. There were only about 12 lanes. I had to walk there from my school and I wasn't sure how long it would take so I left really early. I got to the bowling alley early so I sat and watched the other people bowl for awhile. It was very strange, almost everyone that was there was bowling alone. I don't think I have ever seen anyone bowl alone before. It was really bizarre. Anyway I met Susu and her friends there. It was Susu, and her friends Tina, Mikko, and Henri. They were all really nice and we had fun. We bowled for an hour. Here, you pay by the hour instead of by the game. Tuesday night my family and I looked at some pictures that Jonna sent back from her stay in America. I had to explain to my family what a baby shower is. I guess you just don't think about it sometimes that they don't have those things in other countries.
Today, Thursday, I am going to some event at the University of Vaasa with one of the Rotary members and her family. I have been told that it will be really fun. Tomorrow I don't have Japanese class in the morning so I don't start school until 11:40 and then I only have one class! After school tomorrow I am going to lunch with Christine and then I am off to Helsinki. Well, I hope everyone is doing well and I will probably update again pretty soon about my trip to Helsinki.
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Mom
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Fall
It is fall in IL but the leaves have not started to change as of yet. The temperature is finally down to the 70s. Glad you are having fun. Make good choices!