Evidence of great community...

So last weekend it was just my host and I so we decided to go and explore a park that is not too far away from where we live. This is a park with about a 2K trail for running, cross-country skiing and sledding on a few of the hills. But that is not why we came to the trail. This trail is known as Edvin's Path or Edvininpolu. Edvin Hevonkoski was a Finnish veteran would as a hobby after he stopped working made sculptures out of wood and then scrap metal. Eventually he started to install them at this park (without any official permission) and now it has become a major part of Vasa. Check out the pictures and the link below. The link will tell you a little bit more about his work and his connection to the veteran community and the Vasa community. His sculptures depict many things from past presidents to Finnish folk tales to military scenes and more. I hope you enjoy, we definitely did.

http://itenet.fi/en/ite-artists/edvin-hevonkoski/

 

 

A Wood Fired Sauna (it was closed for Winter)

Below is the biggest hill I have been on in Finland so far. 

Above: The former president of Finland- Tarja Halonen 

Finland's first female president was president from 2000 to 2012 (very well liked by the people. Finland also had female prime ministers during her time. She is widely known for her interest in human rights issues including but not limited to problems of globalization, LGBT rights organizations, and woman's rights. She is a member of the Council of Woman World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers who mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action issues of critical importance to women and equitable development. In 2009, Forbes named her one among the 100 Most Powerful women in the world. 

Below: Tarja Halonen's husband, Pentti Ilkka Olavi Arajärvi. The likeness on his statue is quite impressive.

Inside this structure the bottom was made of slats of wood that creaked like no other when I walked on them. It was slightly disconcerting. 

What I loved most about this park was that it represents a great sense of community. A man shared his gift with others, the city agreed to let it be and maintain it, and people young and old can be found getting out and enjoying the good weather in many different ways. I hope wherever you are in the world you can also find evidence of great communities. 

Hej Hej.

Some Quick Impressions/Lessons

Hej Hej (Hi in Swedish),

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I started teaching this week and that keeps you busy! I thought I would share with you some of my first impressions/lessons about school and life in Vasa.

School:

• Teachers and students in Vasa have a lot more freedom. Teachers have fewer classes that can be spread across the day with long (multiple hour) breaks in between. Students too! Students may also take only 1-3 classes at a time if they have other things to do and more classes later in the year. Classes meet 2 or 3 times a week. 
• Language is fluid at school. The classes are taught in Swedish or English (or Finnish of course for the Finnish language courses) and the students/teachers easily move between all three and others often as well.
• People trust more. Students hang their coats, hats, and scarves on racks around the school and trust that they will be there at the end of the day. And they are!
• The teacher-student relationship is more relaxed and informal. All teachers go by their first name and students are very comfortable talking to their teachers and feel like they can trust them (as described to me by the students).

Life Lessons for visiting/living in Vasa:

• Have a game plan when you enter a cafe or shop. When you want to go into a cafe make sure to find a table first, or at least take off your coat, hat, scarf, gloves, etc. before you go to the counter to buy/pick up food. Otherwise you will end up juggling your wallet, foreign coins, a hat, two gloves, and the scarf that just fell on the floor. 
• Enjoy the daylight to its fullest. Because you are not going to get a lot. Yes, the days are getting longer but it will still be very very dark when you leave in the morning and either getting dark or already dark when you return home in the afternoon. We are just now at 5 hours of light a day including the partial daylight at the end and beginning. So, use your time don't just stay inside.
• A good pair of warm boots will be your most important clothing item. The boots I brought are great and I have worn them every single day for most of the day. 
• You will wear a lot of clothes/warm things. Just accept it and move on. No one wants to be cold especially when it is 5 F outside with windchill making it feel like 0 F and you need to walk to school.
  
  
  
  
  

The Penguin Club among other things

So the moment you have all been waiting for... I bet you didn't think it would happen too soon right?

Penguin Club is a membership club with a site on a little island right in Vasa (about a 3 minute drive). Members come to the club get in their swim suits, go in the suana, and then go in the water (repeat as many times as desired). In The winter they break through the ice and keep one small area clear. You can walk (not jump) into 1 meter, 2 meters, or 3 meters deep water. The veterans will go in one staircase and then swim to the other staircase. Or you can just walk in and move around a bit and then come out. My host took me to the Penguin Club as her guest on Tuesday. The water was 32.9 degrees F and outside the water the temperature was 14 degrees F. We went to the suana, the water, the suana, and then the water. The first two videos are form my first trip into the water and the second is part of my second trip.

Enjoy some other pictures of my activites this week so far. Today was the first day in the classroom. I will have a blog post probably on Friday about my student teaching so stay tuned!

1. This is where we went in the water.

2. I pretty much laughed the entire time I was going in the water. It was so cold that I guess my body just didn't know how to react so I laughed. The other Finnish people there were really proud that I was doing this for the first time ever and excited for me.

3. Tuesday, Jan. 6 was a national holiday in Finland celebrating the 12th Day of Christmas. Since Finland has a national religion their government recognizes this as a holiday and everything is closed- stores, restaurants, all businesses and schools, etc. My host is Spanish and in Spain and other Latin American countries they also celebrate the 12th Day of Christmas but they call it the Wisemen's Day. In their tradition/Bible they believe that there were actually 4 wise men including one wise woman. However since the Catholic Church didn't want to recognize a woman as being a wise man they made her into a good witch or bruja character. On the 12th day of Christmas or Wisemen's Day she brings small gifts and candy to the children. Part of this tradition is to have a party with family and friends. At this party you eat a round sweet cake that is filled with cream. Hidden inside the cake is a small ceramic king figure and a bean. If you get the king you get to wear a crown and be the king or queen of the day. If you get the bean however you have pay the host for the cake. We had our own celebration with my host, her daughter, her daughter's father, and myself. My host's daughter got the king and got to be the queen and her father got the bean. We had a great dinner (Sister Sausage Soup- a traditional Finnish dish) and a great little party afterwards. Living with a Spanish-Swedish family has been great because I get to see a blending of two very different cultures. Happy Wisemen's Day!

4. After our "swim" my host took me on a tour of where we are living. It is sort of a mix between a townhouse and an apartment complex. Below the homes there is the parking garage, storage spaces for each tenant, the laundry room, a drying room (yup a whole room where you hang your clothes and then turn on a loud fan like machine and then shut the door and I guess your clothes will be dried?), a game room, and a fully equipped bunker. Yup, a bunker or bomb shelter sort of. As I learned in Finland pretty much all buildings have a fully equipped bunker. I haven't learned yet why exactly these spaces are still maintained but I image they are related to Finland's history as a part of Russia and the various World Wars in the 20th century. So suffice to say I am living in a space, prepared place. 

 5. This last set is just a couple pics of a class VW Bus I saw in the garage. As I learned from my host and her friends the Finnish people love classic cars especially American cars (yes I know VW is not an American company). In the summer when they have virtually 24 hours of daylight the Finns love to drive around in their classic cars, go to shows and parades. So here is a little bit of Finland for my dad and all the other classic cars fans. Sorry it was so dark. I forget to set my flash. Opps.

Thanks for enjoying my pictures, videos, and thoughts. I know this is a lot but I wanted to share these things with you. As I said I think I will have a student teaching experiences post on Friday and maybe one about food I have tried so far some time this weekend. 

God Kväll!

Good evening in Swedish

First Impressions

After one weekend in Vasa here are a few of my impressions/thoughts:

• Washington is not cold. Vasa is cold. Yesterday (Monday) the high was 10 degrees F with the windchill making it feel like 1-5 degrees F depending on the time of day. 

• While having the sun set by 3:15pm is strange and not my favorite part of Finland so far, the sunsets in Vasa are amazing. I am living about 200 meters away from the sea and the colors at sunset are spectacular. Pictures to come. 

• I can handle the cold as long as I wear lots of layers. Who knew I would be excited to go exploring/out on a walk on my own when the weather is in single digits? 

• Being multi-lingual is more the norm than the exception in Finland. Most people speak at least Finnish, Swedish, and English. I am constantly impressed by how easily people are able to switch between languages; especially the daughter of my host who is fluent in four languages and is not even a teenager herself yet. 

• Young cats are hilarious especially my host cat, Oliver. He is only 5 months old and he loves playing with your feet, your computer cable!, your pants, any string, and trying to chew on your laptop. 

Today is a national holiday to honor the 12th Day of Christmas so everything is closed. I am going with my host family to take a sea bath at their club today. So, wish me luck and look for a video either today or tomorrow. 

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is my first day of student teaching in Vasa so things are about to get busy. 

Have a wonderful week and I will talk to you again soon. 

Vasa skyline near sunset (about 3:30pm) on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015. Note the frozen parts of the sea near the shoreline. 

One more sleep...

The bags are all packed. The tickets printed. My next adventure is about to start. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of love and family. Best wishes for the new year. I pray that you all get to have your own adventures in 2015. Next post from Finland! 

Good night!!