Tammikuu/ January Par

Karkku Continued - Host Family Antics

On the Wednesday of that week, we went on a trip to Tampere, the nearest city to Karkku. Some parts of it were very beautiful, including the river and the view of the lake from the ridge, but the city centre was very industrial and not quite as nice. It was still a very interesting trip. We visited the old cathedral as well as another church, ate at the Finnish version of MacDonald’s (which is much nicer), and danced to someone’s iPod by the river.

The Canal in Tampere

The last two nights were very musically orientated, with a concert at Karkku’s church and a night in the school’s assembly hall. I played piano at both events, the tutors sang and danced, one of the South African students sang, and everybody danced after the ‘official’ performances.

The Tutors Singing 'Wonderwall'

My learning group :)

Not much else happened for the next week. I got quite sick and spent a lot of time sleeping it off, but luckily it was exam block at school so I didn’t end up missing out on anything in that respect. I watched quite a lot of Finnish television as well, in the hopes that it would help with me learning the language.

The last weekend of the month was devoted to my host family’s cousins. On Saturday, Olli (my host brother), Susanna (my host mum) and I spent the day looking after Jussi, Lauri, and Nelli, as their parents were both travelling. We played video games most of the afternoon, with breaks in between for food, Lego and memory games with Nelli.

Lauri, Jussi and Olli playing Super Smash Bros.

On Sunday, Susanna and I took Jussi and Lauri to their ice hockey matches. Having never seen ice hockey live before, it was an interesting experience. There were some similarities to field hockey, but a lot of differences, and it was very fun learning about the game and watching the boys play. Unfortunately Jussi lost his match, but he still played very well, holding the rest of his team up as goalie. Lauri actually played two matches, the first of which he drew 4-4, and the second he won 7-2.

Afterwards, we took the boys home. Susanna gave Jussi a guitar lesson while Lauri played more video games, and then Jussi and I had a play game of football in the living room. Even though it’s been a bit busy and hectic this month, I’ve been having the most amazing time, and am so grateful to Rotary and my parents and everybody else who has made it possible for me to have this wonderful experience.

Here’s to a great Helmikuu! :)

Tammikuu/ January Part 1

The plane journey over here was very tough. It took almost a full day of flying to get to Heathrow in London, and then another two hours to Helsinki, but my host family and a group of Oldies met us at the airport, which was lovely. While most of the arriving students went to a hostel in Helsinki, I went to stay the night with my wonderful host family, the Mesiäs. I was given a tour of the house and introduced to Eetu, the cutest dog I have ever met.

The next evening, all of the inbounders were off to Karkku for an introductory camp. However, before that, my host mother Susanna took me to a local school’s production of The Three Witches of Eastwick, which was outstanding. Although I couldn’t follow a lot of it because the production was in Finnish, I can still appreciate the talent of the singers, ensemble and orchestra.

The Three Witches of Eastwick's Leading Cast

Afterwards, it was straight to the bus and on to Karkku. The purpose of the camp was to get us all acquainted with each other and the Finnish culture, as well as helping us learn the basics of the language. It was a lot of fun, and included several side trips and other activities. The first night was very uneventful, as everyone was tired from travelling. 

After lessons the next day, we played around in the snow. As we all came from Australia, Chile, South Africa or Brazil, it was a very new experience for most of us! We ended the day with a snowball fight, and it was altogether a lot of fun.

The Karkku Family!

Introduction: EXCHANGE!

It's mid February/ Helmikuu now but I've finally got around to creating a blog. It's the thing to do, apparently, so I've decided to cave and begin posting about my exchange adventures on here.

So, the basic facts: I am lucky enough to be partaking in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program this year, and am currently on exchange to Helsinki in Finland. Thus far it has been a lot of fun, and I'm hoping the rest of the year will be as great as this first month. 

Let's see if I actually remember to update this more than once every six months... ^_^