03 Helmikuu 2011
Tried rye bread with breakfast - it was good :P
Went to Rotary meeting for the club of Hamina-Vehkalahti. Didn't understand 1/2 of what was being said but caught a few words here and there. Met Merritt who is the exchange student for the Hamina-Vehkalahti club, hopefully she, Nadja, Madii and I can all catch up soon in Kotka. I also said a few words in Finnish.
'Hyvää Huomenta, nimeni on Anastasia Nixon. Olen 18 vuotta vanha ja Australialinen. Kiitos kutsuneet minut.' which hopefully I said 'Good morning, my name is Anastasia Nixon. I am 18 years old and Australian. Thankyou for inviting me.' I gave them one of my 4 sponsor club banners and I now have one of theirs :)
After the meeting Madii and I got dropped off at Pasaati. I bought a handbag because I didn't bring one with me and I didn't want to be using my host sister's ones all year. Pluuus... I really liked the one I got when I saw it :P We met up with Nadja (exchange student in Kotka from Germany) after she'd finished school and we had kahvi and pulla, she is super nice :)
Met my host club counsellor in the evening, she was really helpful and importantly I get along with her :) She let me know about all the basic things exchange students need to know about, bank accounts, school books, Finnish lessons (possibly solo becuase the night classes started in autumn and have already done 3 units but apparently I am 'a fast learner' so may be able join the class and learn the 3 unit externally from the class), District meetings and so on.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Thinking of Queensland
02 Helmikuu 2011
Today was when Cyclone Yasi finally hit Queensland, they are really not having a good year, first the floods now a cyclone. I have been watching the news to keep up to date with what is happening with Yasi.
Spent this morning finishing orgnising my room and putting stuff away. Found out I am invited to a Rotary meeting tomorrow in Hamina (next town over from Kotka) because Madii's host grandfather is a member of the club (Madii is another Aussie exchange student in Kotka). Went with Hellu and Sara to Citymarket shopping centre - Hellu bought me a pair of ice skates! That was so nice of her. Now I just have to be able to skate haha Skating and skiing are school sport though so I will definitely get plenty of opportunity to use them :)
AAANNNDDD... I got accepted to be a tutor at the English through Drama/Language Support Summer Camp!!! Yay! I am so excited for it :)
Today was when Cyclone Yasi finally hit Queensland, they are really not having a good year, first the floods now a cyclone. I have been watching the news to keep up to date with what is happening with Yasi.
Spent this morning finishing orgnising my room and putting stuff away. Found out I am invited to a Rotary meeting tomorrow in Hamina (next town over from Kotka) because Madii's host grandfather is a member of the club (Madii is another Aussie exchange student in Kotka). Went with Hellu and Sara to Citymarket shopping centre - Hellu bought me a pair of ice skates! That was so nice of her. Now I just have to be able to skate haha Skating and skiing are school sport though so I will definitely get plenty of opportunity to use them :)
AAANNNDDD... I got accepted to be a tutor at the English through Drama/Language Support Summer Camp!!! Yay! I am so excited for it :)
Getting Organised
01 Helmikuu 2011
Today was my meeting with the school counsellor. We organised my subjects:
My Timetable is:
Other than the counsellor I met the principal, my art teacher, my english teacher (also my contact person at the school) and a few administration people. What will take some getting used to is calling teachers by their first names, it's rude to use their last name or call them 'sir/miss' because it is impersonal and creates a barrier between you so it means more resistant to learning from them - not sure if I expained that right, but that's the general idea.
Went to the library with Hellu and Sara, I now have a library card, does this equal initiation into the community? let's hope so :) I also got a Finnish sim card, a nokia phone feels so much more legit when used in Finland :P (F.Y.I for those who don't know Nokia is a Finnish company which started out making rubber products such as car tyres and gumboots (which you can still get). Nokia is also a town :))
Helped with dinner, we made hot sandwiches -along the same idea as pizza - with bread, garlic or pepper cheese spread then a tiny bit of mustard, pickled cucumber, salami, ham and cheese then put in the oven for about 10 mins. They were really nice.
Today was my meeting with the school counsellor. We organised my subjects:
My Timetable is:
Kello (Time) | maanantai (Mon.) | tiistai (Tues.) | keskiviikko (Wed.) | torstai (Thurs.) | perjantai (Fri.) |
8-9 | English | English | P.E | English | |
9-10 | English | English | P.E | Arts | |
10-11 | Maths | History | |||
11-12 | Arts | Arts | History | ||
12-13 | Maths | History | Maths | ||
13-14 | Maths | History | Arts | ||
14-15 | Maths | History | Arts |
Other than the counsellor I met the principal, my art teacher, my english teacher (also my contact person at the school) and a few administration people. What will take some getting used to is calling teachers by their first names, it's rude to use their last name or call them 'sir/miss' because it is impersonal and creates a barrier between you so it means more resistant to learning from them - not sure if I expained that right, but that's the general idea.
Went to the library with Hellu and Sara, I now have a library card, does this equal initiation into the community? let's hope so :) I also got a Finnish sim card, a nokia phone feels so much more legit when used in Finland :P (F.Y.I for those who don't know Nokia is a Finnish company which started out making rubber products such as car tyres and gumboots (which you can still get). Nokia is also a town :))
Helped with dinner, we made hot sandwiches -along the same idea as pizza - with bread, garlic or pepper cheese spread then a tiny bit of mustard, pickled cucumber, salami, ham and cheese then put in the oven for about 10 mins. They were really nice.
Wow! Free Time!
31 Tammikuu 2011
Today not much happened, but in a good way, it was relaxing. I spent most of the day learning Finnish, I also sent in my application to be a tutor at the English Through Drama/Language Support Summer Camp, I hope I get picked it looks really good. I also filled out my visa etc for the St. Petersburg trip, exciting!
Other than that I found out when my 1st Rotary meeting is - 14th Helmikuu (Feb.) - I get 20 minutes to talk about myself, Australia, and why I wanted to be an exchange student. Also I am meeting my Host club counsellor, Sanna, on the 4th and have a meeting at the school to organise my subjects and have a tour.
We had makkara cooked on the fireplace and fajitas for dinner.
Today not much happened, but in a good way, it was relaxing. I spent most of the day learning Finnish, I also sent in my application to be a tutor at the English Through Drama/Language Support Summer Camp, I hope I get picked it looks really good. I also filled out my visa etc for the St. Petersburg trip, exciting!
Other than that I found out when my 1st Rotary meeting is - 14th Helmikuu (Feb.) - I get 20 minutes to talk about myself, Australia, and why I wanted to be an exchange student. Also I am meeting my Host club counsellor, Sanna, on the 4th and have a meeting at the school to organise my subjects and have a tour.
We had makkara cooked on the fireplace and fajitas for dinner.
First Day with Host Family
30 Tammikuu 2011
Asked the first night questions over breakfast, then we went on a tour of Kotka. It is a ‘small town’ of 55 000 people, what size does that make my home town of 1 000?? Kotka is a very beautiful city, lots of parks, snow and I love the architecture of the buildings. Also the sea was frozen! How cool (no pun intended) is that? Well, for me it is haha
So I’m not starting school until the 10th but I am so excited for it. We went to Pasaati (the big shopping centre) and I got some pens, books etc for school. I also got a Moomin Suomi-Englanti Dictionary for Finnish kids first experiencing the English language (or 18 year old Australian exchange students hoping to learn Finnish :P) from my host family as a welcoming present, I also got a scarf and mittens from them and 2 pairs of knitted socks and a knitted mittens from Leila (who I also met when they were all in Sydney – see previous post 'Meeting in Sydney').
We then had lunch in a French-style restaurant, I tried escargot – once I got over the fact I had just put a snail in my mouth it didn’t taste that bad haha.
Took Vilma and Vera for a walk with Sara, on the way back all the neighbourhood kids were out playing, one was laying on his back in the snow being held at (plastic) sword point by another kid yelling something in Finnish – of course they went quiet as we walked past though. Then there was another group climbing in boulders and trees, seemed like fun J
The Mighty Ducks was on t.v so we watched that and in the breaks I would read a page from my Moomi dictionary, I feel like a little kid again! It’s fun :P
Friday, February 4, 2011
Moving In
29 Tammikku 2011
Today's the day that the true exchange experience starts, kind of sad because now everyone at camp is going there seperate ways but exciting becuase we will now be living in 'real' Finland < don't know how else to discribe it haha
We did the banana dance one more time (some Aussies reading may remember this from Outward Bound, except there is a few more steps in this one :P but there was no 'Bananas of the world unite!' at the beginning)
Host families arrive (I was getting a ride to Kotka with Paavo [District chairman] so two of the tutors, Linda and Marianne, where my host family for lunch :P
Goodbye Speeches
Lunch
Left Karkku :(
During the car trip I learnt a lot about Finland, it's culture and history from Paavo. We stopped at his sister-in-law's house for a break. She lives roughly 1/2 way between Karkku and Kotka, she was really nice.
I arrived at my host family's house at about 6pm. The house is so beautiful and homely as well. I love my room too! There are 4 pets, Venla, Vera and Vilma who are dogs and Vivi who is a cat, they're all so adorable :)
Today's the day that the true exchange experience starts, kind of sad because now everyone at camp is going there seperate ways but exciting becuase we will now be living in 'real' Finland < don't know how else to discribe it haha
We did the banana dance one more time (some Aussies reading may remember this from Outward Bound, except there is a few more steps in this one :P but there was no 'Bananas of the world unite!' at the beginning)
- Go bananas
- Pick bananas
- chop bananas
- eat bananas
- digest bananas
- poop bananas
- flush bananas
- swim bananas
- go bananas
Host families arrive (I was getting a ride to Kotka with Paavo [District chairman] so two of the tutors, Linda and Marianne, where my host family for lunch :P
Goodbye Speeches
Lunch
Left Karkku :(
During the car trip I learnt a lot about Finland, it's culture and history from Paavo. We stopped at his sister-in-law's house for a break. She lives roughly 1/2 way between Karkku and Kotka, she was really nice.
I arrived at my host family's house at about 6pm. The house is so beautiful and homely as well. I love my room too! There are 4 pets, Venla, Vera and Vilma who are dogs and Vivi who is a cat, they're all so adorable :)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Karrku 28.01.2011
28 Jan 2011
- Breakfast
- Info and first Finnish lessson for the day (3 hours)
- Lunch
- Final Finnish lesson :'(
- recieved diploma in Finnish (for doing 22 hours of lessons and covering basic Finnish)
- watched highlights from the ice hockey championships 1995 - I have a feeling this year Suomi wins again! You heard it here 1st
- Played floorball (kind of like slide hockey) in sleds. There was 5 pairs to a team in each pair one person was pulling the sled the other sat in it with the hockey stick and only they were allowed to hit the ball. I was on team Poro, we won 4-0, so, uh.. Go Team!
- Had a talk from Rotary about rules for the year, travelling outside your host district means you have to get a crazy amount of permission (from several different people) so basically you have to plan a trip weeks in advance.
- Cozy Night!!
- so many talented people :) Kim you are my idol... Now when I say Aussie, you say Oui! - Aussie! I'll be asking for an encore :P
- Played 'Honey I Love You' aah the memories of this game haha
- Loved every single performance.
- Going to host family tomorrow !! Exciting!
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