Karkku

I haven’t posted since I arrived in Finland so I will do a rundown of everyday at Karkku:

-I’m keeping a journal as well so if anyone wants  any more detail on some things just let me know =)

23 Jan. 2011

·         Woke up at 6am – talked with Miki (my roomie) until everyone else got up.

·         Breakfast

·         Went exploring in the grounds with Miki, Julia and Sophie

·         Internet time to talk e-mail people back home

·         Tour of the grounds including avanto, kota and sauna

·         Sledding – never done sledding on snow, was so much fun (parts of my hair froze!)

·         Dinner

·         Sauna – how have I lived for 18 years without sauna?? Went in avanto (ice hole) and rolled in snow, the extremes from sauna to frozen lake/snow is so exhilarating. We also sang and had a snow fight whilst in sauna.

·         Supper and a few games in sauna house

·         Went to bed

24 Jan. 2011

·         Woke up at 4 am so was fairly tired by the end of the day

·         Breakfast

·         First Finnish lesson – such a beautiful language

·         Snow soccer – couldn’t really get into it coz I was slipping everywhere in UGGs but it was amazing to watch, I felt so unco on the snow in comparison

·         Snow started to fall when we got back inside

·         Sauna etiquette talk

·         Sauna

·         Watched people verse each other in speed – mostly people versing Beth because no one could beat her

25 Jan. 2011

·         Considering taking up guitar again – played a few things I remember on Miki’s guitar and am keen to start up again

·         Breakfast

·         5 hours of Finnish lessons today (with breaks for kahvi [coffee])

·         Lunch

·         Talk on ‘A Year in Finland’

·         Dinner

·         Really awesome night with nature guides

o   ice fishing – watched fishermen drag net out of large hole in the ice then a small hole was drilled and I got to try with the small fishing rod, tried salmon that had been cooked by fire, best tasting fish I’ve ever eaten! There were also some ice- sculptures that were really gorgeous as well

o   later on cooked makkara (sausage – but not the same as aussie ones) on an open fire and cooked lettu (pancakes) in the kota.

o   Then went into a snow cave (it was so cool!) it was warm and nice which was a bit surprising considering it is made out if snow, we were told how to build one (took 3 skilled people 4 hours to build) and all sorts of information like how to make sure the oxygen hole doesn’t freeze up etc

o   Tried a traditional Aboriginal throwing spear – the one with the piece of wood used to push the arrow further (yeah, I just did a brilliant job of describing it =P). Let me just say that being Australian doesn’t automatically give you earth shattering talent in areas such as this

o   Then tried snow shoes – I’m considering going pro haha

o   On the walk back to the main building we saw a bear! ... and by that I mean a guy in a (very believable) bear suit pretending he was a bear, very convincingly as well until he started hugging and high fiving people haha

o   When we got back to the main building we were all presented with a certificate for surviving the night. GO TEAM! =)

26 Jan. 2011

Happy Australia Day!

·         It was Eugenia‘s birthday so after we’d had 3 hours of Finnish and lunch we had a cake sent to her by her host family, it was so sweet of them =)

·         At 1pm we got on the bus and drove to Tampere, when we got there we had a tour of the city for about 2 hours, we went into a cathedral, went to a park with a brilliant view and visited another church which was built entirely out of cement. I loved the architecture; it is so different to anything I’d seen before.

·         After the tour we had 2 hours for shopping. I bought a jacket and a scarf and saw some albums from Finnish artists we’d listed too in Finnish class, I didn’t buy them though.

·         When we got back to Karkku we spent time with people from the school, they played music for us and we all played games between songs.

·         We had a later curfew because of Eugenia’s birthday and we all hung out in the main building, I attempted to read a Finnish text book on, I’m guessing, English literature or history, I picked up a few things but mostly worked out pronunciation in my head (mostly had no clue what I was reading haha).

27 Jan. 2011

•      Today we mostly had Finnish lessons, I got 16/16 for a recognition test =D so proud! I am really enjoying learning

•      Talk about school in Finland, I have never been so excited about school haha It sounds really good.

•      We had a talk about being tutors at a language camp in Turku, it’s for Finnish people to learn English and they get exchange students to help, they’re trying a new method ‘English through drama’ this year so I’m really interested in that, I also means I have the chance to do for someone what the tutors at Karkku have done for me =)

•      We walked to Karkku church and had a candle church, sang the Finnish songs as well as the English ones, don’t know what I was saying but by about the 2^nd repetition I had the pronunciation right =D

•      Sauna again