Jippii :D

Hei!

Wow! Guess who sucks at keeping a blog...
I figured a blog would be less taxing than keeping a diary and also less laborious than recounting every single detail of my experience to family and friends, but, apparently, I seem to have managed to find a way to bollocks it all up. Jippii! Go me!

Well, well, well. There has been SO much happening in my life since my last post. I have to say, I really cannot believe that it has been three months already. Mistä kaikki aika menee?

Easter was so much fun. Hyvää Pääsiäistä! Sorry that my wishes are belated, but, due to my evident lack of keeping-a-blog ability, it's just going to have to suffice. Easter in Finland involved eating chocolate, painting eggs, playing SingStar and meeting my baby host-niece for the first time. Jippii... minä olen vaihto-täti nyt! Yippee... I am an exchange aunty now!

I was also invited to my host niece's christening, or kaste, which was lovely. I didn't really expect to be invited, because I am a guest, so it really meant a lot to me that I was asked to go. I was practising my virsit (hymns) with my host Mum for days, so that I would be able to sing along. It was a very special occasion and Frida Elsa Viilinen, my host niece, as she shall now be known, was so beautiful. She didn't even cry. What a little champion!

Last weekend was the Rotary District Conference for my district in Finland. It was really great to meet all of the other exchange students and get to know everyone. All of our 'oldies' were very accommodating, especially when I brought ANZAC biscuits into play, ha ha. We all had so much fun with our tutors, who were really lovely. Lotta, one of our tutors who went to Newcastle, actually turned out to be the former host sister of a guy from my hometown, so she actually knew of my hometown (which is pretty amazing, when you consider the fact that it has an astonishingly thriving population of 5,000). On the weekend, we also enjoyed "Nordic walking" through the Finnish forest, which pretty much is identical to ordinary walking, just with sticks. We also attempted to conquer an extreme forest obstacle course, which proved entertaining. I had a great time playing melkkö, a traditional Finnish throwing game. The only fault of the weekend was the fact that there seemed to be so little time. I tried to get to know all of the oldies and socialise, but it was difficult to spend time with everyone. It seems so unfair that I have only just met these fantastic people, only to find that they will be returning home soon.

In other news, my life is only becoming increasingly superb, at the moment. I met up with two of the older exchange students in my area yesterday and another girl from AFS, which was so fun. It was great to hang out and I just felt so happy to be with people who can assimilate with me and understand my position. School is great... I have made more new friends and am trying hard to be more sociable. I feel like everyone has been so accepting of me and I really could not be more grateful for all the kindness that everyone has bestowed upon me. I have been speaking more and more Finnish, wherever possible, which is genuinely appreciated by my peers. It is so nice to have their encouragement and support... it really helps me to keep motivated to continue learning the language. Yesterday, there was a music concert performed by students at our school and a girl from my class sang. She had the most amazingly beautiful voice... it just made me see how there is so much much to people that you'll never know unless you take the time to get to know them. In less profound news, the Power Rangers theme song was performed by some guys from my year level. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the day. Go, go Power Rangers!

Well, I can't really think of all that much else. I will try and update this more regularly, so that there's not such a visual assualt.

Until then, I look forward to visiting the Fazer headquarters in Helsinki and celebrating my eighteenth birthday in Russia! Jippii!

Heippa!

Hiihto Loma

Moi :)
Phwar... well, I must say, right now I am feeling rather chuffed with myself, having survived one week skiing in Finland without becoming incapacitated... hurrah! This past week, I spent skiing in Vuokatti with my host family, during Hiihto Loma, or 'Ski Holiday'.

I must admit, my first time skiing on the slopes was quite disastrous. I am insanely scared of heights, almost to a vomitous extent, so looking down a mountain whilst having my legs strapped to moving planks of wood/whatever skis are made of was not exactly an enjoyable experience for me. I kept falling over and managed to slide down an entire hill sideways, because I fell at the top and couldn't quite manage to bring an end to the momentum driving me towards the base. I can remember fighting back tears, at one point, because I was so scared, which was quite humiliating, especially when I was surrounded by three-year-olds that could pratically do handstands on their snowboards. Despite this, after a day or so, I eventually worked out how to use skis, with much support and encouragement from my lovely and all-too-patient host family. At first, I manage to ski down the beginners' slope without falling. I also managed to exit the ski lift without falling. The only major peak left to conquer was the Hill Of Doom: the only slope leading back to our cottage, upon which I managed to fall... Every. Single. Time!

By the end of the week, I successfully accomplished skiing down almighty slopes, practically sculling searing hot chocolates and not falling over every thirty seconds. A highlight, off the slopes, was making my first ever snowman! During the four-ish weeks that I have been here, I was yet to experience positive temperatures. Yet, as fate would have it, on the first day of Hiihto Loma, the thermometer's mecury rose to a whopping 2 degrees! And on that fateful day, Bertie, my first snowman/baby arrived into the world! P.S... [Just in case you didn't know, without positive temperatures, you cannot make snowmen: the snow is too cold and can't condense enough... it's pretty much just white fluff. ] It might sound pathetic, but that was one of the best days I have had here... I had so much fun playing with the snow and acting like a child at Christmas :)

Another mind-blowing experience was visiting the spa at a local hotel. Not only did I see more penises than ever, but was largely outnumbered by greying, middle-aged men with more ample busoms than mine. Still, it was a fun night and I really liked experiencing the different varieties of sauna [menthol, wood, steam, stone and floral-toilet-spray-scented]. I also had a great time bonding with my host sisters and my host brother and his fiance, while we were away. We played multiple games of Uno [intense!!], very complicated medieval boardgames, roasted Wilhelm makkara [sausages] on the fire, had Minttu jaatelo for breakfast and went Ten-Pin Bowling. On our final day, I am proud to say that I managed not to fall over for an entire day and even successfully defeated the Hill of Doom! I was radiant with triumph! I even learnt a new Finnish word to embody my newfound glory... helpponakki, which literally means "easy sausage", but is the equivalent of "piece of cake" :D

And that's the end of that adventure :D
Heippa :D

Life and other adventures...

Moi :)

It's been a while, I guess. I am really bad at remembering... it's one of my many skills, such as looking bad in all photographs and failing at riding bicyles in the snow, so I apologise for my tardiness :D

So much has happened since my last post. School is pretty normal now, I feel comfortable in most of my classes and I seem to be able to follow what's going on most of the time. The students at our school have been so nice to me and in all of my classes someone is normally kind enough to translate difficult concepts and texts, so most of the time school is quite fun.

I really love living with my host family and I feel right at home now... it's going to be really hard to leave here, when the time comes. I get along really well with everyone and I actually do feel like a family member, not just an outsider, so I always look forward to coming home after school each day.

I have been going to aerobics and step classes with my host Mum, Päivi, as I think it's important to spend time with family, which, to me, means showing an interest in their life and what interests them. It's also a fun way of keeping fit and improving my Finnish. The pain associated with abdominal crunches has helped me to remember 'alas' and 'ylös' [down and up] quite well, so I think it's been successful on all counts :D Another Finnish activity I've been doing with my host family is 'avanto' [hole in the ice], which is where you have a hot sauna by a lake somewhere and then swim in a hole in the ice... ha ha...minulla on sisu :)It sounds cold, which it is, but I think it's really quite refreshing once you've warmed up on your walk back to the sauna. I've gone twice now and last time I went five times, for ten seconds each [although I did count in Finnish, so it was probably more like twenty, ha ha].

Right now I am excited, because after school tomorrow, I am going swimming with one of my friends from school and then on Saturday, I leave for Vuokatti with my host family, to go skiing for a week. Although I am slightly nervous about falling over heaps and embarrassing myself, I am looking forward to having a break from early morning starts and experiencing my first positive temperature... Saturday's forecast is 1 degree! Yipee! I can't wait! Even though we're leaving early, I am setting my alarm for five a.m. and running outisde to make a snow man! I can't wait!

So, to synopsise, everything is wonderful. I love my host family, I love school [if only more boys would talk to me :P ] and I love living in Finland!

School O'Clock

Moi from Suomi :)

What a week! My first week at school turned out to be one of the best I have had in Finland so far, to my surprise. School itself was something I had perpetually dreaded since my arrival in Finland, as all of my rather ominous premonitions somehow seemed to share the recurring image of me sitting in the cafeteria alone, eating by myself and fighting back tears. Thankfully, this was not the case at all :D

While everyone seemed to avert my attention to the fact that the Finnish are shy people, before I even left Australia, I found that not everyone was as reserved as I had anticipated. Most people were pretty friendly and smiled or nodded in my general direction. In general, everyone was really sweet to me and a few people even approached me and introduced themselves, which was so nice. I managed to make a few friends, so I always seemed to have people to talk to, which was good. One of my friends and I were walking together after school and we ended up having a hot chocolate and talking for ages, which was just so good.

Although some subjects have been quite difficult, it has not been completely insurmountable and the little Finnish I know has served me well. People seem genuinely appreciative that I have been making such an effort to learn their lanuage and are always very impressed when I am able to speak a few words here and there. Of course, other students are naturally curious and equally as excited to hear an Australian accent live for the first time!

I have chosen beginners Russian, History, Psychology, Geography, English 2 and English 6 as my subjects for this period and am really enjoying them so far. Everyone is always really helpful in class and the people I sit next to have become my friends and are always eager to translate confusing texts. My teachers all seem nice and are happy to include me in class, to get the 'Australian perspective' on things.

So, in a nutshell, I couldn't have asked for a better first week at school. I have made new friends, had so many new and exciting experiences and I can't wait to see what the rest of the school year will bring!

Skiing in the land of the Finns and other adventures...

Terve :D

Aah! I can't believe that I have been in Finland for two weeks already! Last week, after language camp, I met my host family. They are soo kind and impossibly nice, which has made the transition into their family as easy as it could ever be.

My host sister, Sini, is so nice. She has quite similar taste in music to me, which I love, in addition to her amazing style :D Sini's older sister, Anna, also came from university in Helsinki to stay at home for the weekend, when I arrived. Anna went to Australia on an exchange in 2006/ 2007, so she has been really good to talk to and has been really welcoming. My host Mum, Päivi is so sweet and has been so kind to me: I have never felt uncomfortable in the whole time I have been in her company. Osmo, my host Dad, is absolutely lovely. He always educates me about the Finnish way of life and tries so hard to explain things, so I don't feel left out.

Although my high school had exams this week, I went in for a few days, once to talk about subject selection and another time to take an English exam. The other days I went with my host Mum, Päivi, to the school where she teaches and I talked about my life in Australia and shared some Australian music with her classes and helped during the English classes, which was fun. The students were quite shy, initially, but I could see their confidence grow after I amused them with my limited Finnish and they soon warmed to me and asked me soo many questions. I had the best time :)

I also went food shopping with my host family, which was fun. They have an entire isle of the supermarket dedicated to cheese and they have eleven different kinds of milk... they even have one type where the cows have been milked at night, which supposedly helps you sleep better :D I love Finnish food. I have just been trying absolutely everything and that way it has been very easy to work out what I do and don't like. One night we had warm berry soup for dinner, which was delicious. I also have been helping Päivi cook. On Thursday we made Runeburgin cakes, which are a traditional dessert to eat on Runeburgin Day, which celebrates Runeburgin, a famous Finnish poet. The cakes are made from old bread and have jam and white icing on top. The homemade ones we made were soo good!

I have also been riding a bike to school, which has been amusing. It's soo different riding on ice. It can get quite slippery in some places and in others, where the snow is too thick, it can become difficult to pedal. My first time cycling was okay, but I managed to take almost every corner too wide, which resulted in me ploughing into the metre-high piles of snow surrounding the road :)

My Finnish is actually going pretty well... I have been doing homework and I went to a beginner's Finnish course last week, which I will be attending every Wednesday. I have also learnt useful phrases such as "Sun tyttökaveri on söpö" and "Sinulla on kaunis nenä", which translate in English to "Your girlfriend is cute and "You have a pretty nose" :D'

I had my first skiing experience in Suomi last night, which was pretty hilarious and equally fun! One thing people should generally know about me is that I am ridiculously uncoordinated, so I was quite excited, but also vomitously nervous when my host parents suggested that I go skiing for the first time.

The first thing I learnt is that skiing is not as easy as it looks. As I struggled to prevent myself from sliding down the rapid decline, four-year-olds breezily snowboarded past me. I felt so guilty for my host parents!

I don't know whether it was the uplifting Star Wars music blaring in the background, or the entire Finnishness of it all, but after about three hours, I eventually made it all the way to the bottom without stacking it. I had soo much fun!

Moi Moi from Suomi:)

My First Week...

Moikka!

Wow! I am finally here... after months of enduring the entire rollercoaster journey that is Year Twelve, the searing heat of Waikerian summer temperatures and the herculean task of packing a suitcase for a year, I have made it to the land of the Finns :D

Last week was my first week in Finland, where I went to language camp in Karkku. Driving off in the bus and bonding with the other students was so much fun and seeing the sparkling snow for the first time was absolutely breath-taking. The entire landscape is just so different, it is hard to describe how magical everything is here, for those who cannot be here to witness it.

After experiencing the thrills of playing in the snow, going ice-fishing in an igloo, using snow shoes for the first time, jumping in the avaanto (hole in the ice) after the sauna, making snow angels and going sledding, I have had the best possible start to what I hope will be the best year of a lifetime. I have made so many new friends, learnt so many new words and done so many activities that I never would have had the confidence to do back home.

Anyway, I'll hopefully post something every week or so when I get the time, but until then, hei hei from Finland :)