Санкт-Петербург

On Sunday, I made cookies and brownies in the morning and celebrated my birthday in the afternoon. We ate lots of great cake and I got lots of presents including four chocolate bars, some shirts and shoes and more. It was nice to see everyone.

Syntämäpäivänäni I received "lots of luck" in school because it was my birthday. In other words, they don't usually say happy birthday in Finland, but rather, lots of luck. Then in the evening I quickly said goodbye to my Finnish teacher who said it was nice having me in her class and how it was fun for her to see how quickly I learned Finnish. Then I headed to my hockey game. I tried to score a goal throughout the entire game, as it was our last game of the season. I played as a wing because of that. We took a timeout with three minutes left in the game and my teammates asked why. My coach said because it was time to get Emma a goal. I was close a lot of times, but I didn't get a goal before the buzzer went off. The puck may not have ended up in the net, but I did. Earlier in the game, I almost got a goal as I took the puck away from a defender coming out from behind the net and I kept poking the goalie to try and get it in. They pushed me into the net and my teammates all said I did a good job when I did that.

After the game, I said I had an announcement to make and I held up my backpack which that hadn't really noticed I had since I hid it under the bench. They saw that and they got quite pretty fast. I told them although I didn't get a goal, I had had a great time playing on JPK, so I made them some cookies. They each took one and decided they had to sing. They sang "Paljon Onnea" to me before they took some more cookies and brownies. Overall, it had been a pretty awesome birthday.

The Hermitage

The throne room

On Tuesday, I tried mämmi with vanilla sauce and I thought it was pretty good. In the afternoon, I had my hockey class and some women from the for fun women's team came by. It was fun to talk to them, and it especially fun when they realized I wasn't Finnish (well, we kind of told them). They said they didn't realize I wasn't Finnish because of my accent and said that I spoke better Finnish than some Finnish people do. After that, I got some nail polish, lipstick and hair binders from my host aunt and some muumi measuring spoons and a cooking scraper from my neighbor/hockey teammate since I am known for baking cookies and they will help me bake more. :)

Statue of Peter the Great

Keskiviikkona, I had a pretty normal school day. Then, in the evening, we headed to Seinäjoki. There, I stayed the night with one of my newbies and another exchange student from the district. It was really funny because in my newbies host family, there are two boys in elementary school and the youngest was really confused because he thought I was a Finnish person and not the second American girl he heard was coming. After I finally convinced him, he ended up asking a few hours later if I was an American because he just couldn't believe it with my great Finnish accent.


On Thursday, we left from Seinäjoki by bus at 4:30 am and we headed to Tampere. There, many of my friends got on and it was fun to talk with them about what has happened since we last met. I even spoke Finnish with my friend from Wisconsin as he spoke it pretty well, although he had a pretty strong American accent. It took us five more hours before we reached the border and we picked up lots of people along the way, including a few newbies. A newbie from Australia spoke Japanese which was cool. Then we had lunch and met up with the other bus at the border Crossing the border went smoothly and then we took the long drive to the hotel.

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Perjantaina, we stopped by the Hermitage where we were given a guided tour through some of the rooms. Because the tour was in English, I helped translate into Finnish what was being said for a Japanese girl who doesn't speak much English.

It was very interesting to see all of the different things that were on display at the museum such as paintings by famous artists and a vase that was so big and weighed so much that they built the room around it. The architecture and designs of the different rooms and the throne room were very beautiful.

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

In the afternoon, we stopped by the Kunstkamera. The Kunstkamera was the first museum completed in Russia and now holds the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. It was fun to learn about all of the ancient civilizations from around the world. Again, I was a translator for the Japanese girl, but it was fun, especially when we got to the Japanese ancient dolls and she said they still have dolls like that at her house. We also saw collections of body parts and dead human siamese twins preserved in fluid and on display, as Peter the Great wanted people to learn more about humans.

The inside of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

Then on Saturday we had a city tour where we visited many great sites, such as the statue of Peter the Great, St. Isaac's Cathedral, a church during service and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.

We had a few hours in the city on our own, so we went shopping on the streets and my newbie managed to bargain for the first time without knowing it and it was really funny to watch her. We ate in an Russian restaurant and visited the inside of Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, which was very beautiful.

In short: a pretty fantastic week. :)

Are y'all sure I'm American?

On Sunday we had another game in Kurikka (an hour and a half away from Alajärvi) where a Japanese exchange student lives. I invited him to come but his parents were skiing so he couldn't which is too bad. We played a pretty good game. We got the first goal but also a four minute penalty. A ten minute penalty was called for a player on the other team. However, the referees were not very good. Kurikka got a goal when they should have gotten a penalty and they let them hit our goalie and it wasn't that great. I got some of their players mad though so I was at least satisfied with that. We ended up losing the game 3-2. We will play them again in a tournament coming up at the end of the month. Hopefully we will have some better referees and I think we can beat them. One of my hockey skate laces also broke but I tied them in a knot to keep them together.

Maanataina I brought my Rotary jacket to school. I showed it to my friends who were impressed by the 94 pins and hopefully more to come. English and history were normal but Finnish class was fun. We spoke in Finnish about our weekends and my teacher was impressed that I could even be sarcastic in Finnish. After that, instead of going to English I went to the junior high with Emma (she was an exchange student in Hong Kong last year) where we did presentations for an English class about being an exchange student. It was fun. After class, we talked with the teacher and she said she hoped to recruit lots of future exchange students as she was an exchange student in Ohio and it changed her life. She also gave us some presents. I got some Finnish candy as well as a laser pointer and a pen with the school's name on it since the principal wanted me to be able to remember their school when I got back and since they are small and can go in my suitcase when I go back. I had Finnish lessons in the evening where we learned about the i plural before hockey practice. I had new laces since my others were broken. They are the same color as my dress for the dance... :)

Tiistaina I had dance in the morning. I finally remembered to bring my shoes in and I practiced in those. My partner his shoes also (I told him he needed to buy some over the weekend or else). We learned how to dance the grand square dance. In history we answered some questions about the Romans, in English we went over grammar and in math class we went over the homework and did some more. 

On Wednesday my host dad decided it was a chocolate day. What does that mean? It means he bought me chocolate in the morning on the way to school. I did some listening comprehension in English class (side note: listening comprehension for English is pretty hard here, especially because you have to interpret what they are saying and not just pick the answer that says exactly what they said. It's hard man). Then I had history, math and English before I had free periods. My host dad's work doesn't end until three so I stay at school.My friends and I discussed the fact that kinder eggs are banned in the US. They were very surprised. In the evening I went to a Rotary meeting where I found out the meeting I would attend in the next few months that involve ice fishing and bowling, for example.

Torstaina we had dance where we practiced everything we had learned so far. It was fun but hard for everyone to remember everything. In the evening I had hockey practice before I returned home to find a letter- a letter about EuroTour. I was very excited and sent an email to my parents right away asking if I could go.

On Friday, I received an email from my mom saying I couldn't go on EuroTour. I was determined to go on EuroTour so I talked to my host dad about it and he called some people and said that I might be able to earn some money translating websites so I could pay for EuroTour. Then I had a normal school day and I gave another presentation. Before my presentation, one of the students in my English class asked me about my jacket as class was ending. He asked if I had been all of those places which I said no and explained about all the pins and he said it was a nice jacket. At lunch we saw the foreigners eat their last Finnish lunch before they return. I suppose I haven't mentioned them already, have I? Well, basically a bunch of foreign teachers from around the world came to Alajärvi to participate in some program in the junior high school before the return home. It was funny to watch them throughout the week and how some of them reacted to the cold (some were very bundled up for winter as they were not used to it). I gave my presentation in the afternoon and one of them asked at the end if I really was American if I spoke Finnish so well. He wanted to know how they could be sure. After that we had dance practice where we had time to practice our own dances and it was pretty fun and the dances the boys were doing were pretty funny.

In the evening my host mom, host sister, my music teacher (his son plays on my team) and I worked at the ice rink's concession stand. Basically we just had to make a bunch of coffee and sell it for the people who came for it. Finnish people drink a lot of coffee, so we sold quite a lot as well as some candy to some kids. I saw one of my friends come in, so I went and said hi to her. She had a women's/girl's hockey practice so that's why she was there. I watched from above, that's where the concessions stand is, and I found out that my coach helps out with it. Then we had to clean up the upstairs area of the arena where the concessions stand is. We vacuumed and moped and cleaned off the tables. I was the boss and I probably did most of the work, but it was fine since we were there for three hours and I was bored. After that, I found out from my dad that it was all a joke and that I could go on EuroTour and to Russia. My mom was joking and she had just wanted to see my reaction. Tough love, huh? ;)

Today we got to watch my host dad and his team race. Basically there is a car racing simulator and people have teams and they practice racing before they compete today. All I know is that my host dad's team did well and I think there is another round tomorrow. In the evening, I made my host dad clean his work room with my help and it turned out quite lovely, as can be seen in the above four pictures. (It's too bad I don't have a before picture- you should've seen this place.)

Grades and Olli

My week started with a trip to the observation tower located just up the hill from where I live now. It was -30C but we went anyways because I have no time on the weekends since I have so many games and it is too dark to take pictures when I get back from school #blackfriday #everyfriday. It was cold (the mouth piece on my water bottle that I had brought with me froze and my hands were really cold when I took off my mittens to take pictures) but I got some cool pictures out of it.

Then on Monday I was back to school. First I had English 2 (English with my class) before history and then my Finnish lessons. Then in my English class (not English 2, the other English class with the third class) we went over the meanings of idioms. In the afternoon I had two free periods so I worked on Finnish. In the evening I went back to Finnish lessons after a long break where we went over how to say dates and discussed when the course would end. It ends on my birthday, so Vera, the Russian girl said we should throw a party. We'll see. Hockey practice after that.

The next day I had my dance class. We did a large circle dance and some waltzing. In history we learned about Ancient Greek architecture and art. English was English and math was math (well, geometry to be more specific).

Wednesday was interesting. In English 2 we compared American and Finnish cultures since there was text about it. It was interesting to see what the book said and what I said and what my classmates thought. Before history class the mother tongue walked by me talking to my friends. She told me she walked by and then walked back after she heard me speaking Finnish. She said I spoke very well. +5 points for Emma. History was just Greek to me, math was math, English was English and hockey was hockey.

Torstaina we worked on the entrance to the gym for our dances and talked about the dances we were planning to do. In English we translated a chapter and a new student joined our class from Vimpeli. The rest of the day was pretty ordinary: school and hockey. In the evening though, I found out that my third host mom (who I will be moving to soon) has schedules me an appointment for the hairdresser the day of the dance.

On Friday I had English where we went over grammar and gym where we played floor ball. We got our grades back from the third grading period. Just a reminder: in the third grading period I had English, math, biology, chemistry and physics. (I had gym too but we don't get the grade for that yet since the class is still going on during this grading period.) This was definitely the hardest jakso I've had (and will have) this year. English and math were fine and I got an S and a 9 but the others were hard. I was taking the second chemistry and physics classes, meaning they were advanced classes and I have never taking physics and hadn't know anything about what we learning already and they were learning many things I hadn't learned before in chemistry class. I had biology and that was okay but there was still a lot there were learning that I hadn't learned before. Remember, this is Finland, you know, the place with one of the best education systems in the world. So anyways, I got a 7 in biology and in chemistry while in physics I got a 5. Of course it isn't that great, but remember that I am only human (and that I've never learned any of it before and that it was all in Finnish). I am just happy I passed that course. :)

In English class we had a disagreement about adverbs and what their test says and what we say in America. In dance we did the fireman's dance and in the evening my host dad worked on putting two more computer screens on his computer car racing simulator since the big races are coming up next week. Stayed tuned for more.

Lauantaina we had a hockey game near Jyväskylä. We didn't win (11-1 was the score) and my teammates invented me an imaginary boyfriend named Olli on the bus ride. Why? Hyvää kysymys.

School returns

On Sunday I put the rest of my pins of my jacket. I wonder if I'll have any space for the newbies' pins... ;) My first host family also came over and got pieces of an old bed from my second host family for their youngest daughter Malla.

On Monday, we watched Finland play against Sweden game. Finland won! Why? Because Finland is awesome and better than Sweden of course! After hockey practice we watched the Russia versus USA game and USA lost sadly...

Tiistaina we watched the bronze medal game of USA versus Sweden. USA won the bronze! USA! USA! After that came the Finland versus Russia game. It was very close and the game went into overtime after the Russian tied up the game in the last ten second (after their captain got a pretty bad penalty may I add). But then in overtime Finland scored the final goal!! SUOMI! SUOMI! It was funny to watch the replay too because after the goal had been scored, all the Finns took their helmets off and one slid in front of the Russian goalie. You know, just a happy accident that rubbed it in their face even more. The interviews with the Finns were also pretty great because they were just so happy and so energetic about it. They sprayed a bottle of champagne at each other and were taking selfies and gave their head coach a quick shower.

Keskivikkona my host mom made some pancakes in the morning using a "Minnesota" pancake mix they found in the store (no really, it said Minnesota on it) along with some Minnesota syrup on it. It was good, but she hadn't asked to use some of my vanilla extract and that would have made it even better. At hockey practice we had practice of course, but then one of my coaches gave me a book called "Sights in Finland" which has a bunch of picture of Finland and descriptions in English. He said he found it (I don't know where) and that I could have it although the pictures may be old since it was published in 2006. We also had a discussion about all of the different uses of the word okay in English (it started since I kept saying it in response to my coach giving me the book). I figured out three uses of the word okay: as a question/to show confusion, as an another word for sure and as another word for yes.

Then back to school I went on Thursday. First I had my dance class and we learned how to dance the waltz. My partner wasn't there since he was at home with food poisoning his friend told me so I danced with his friend since his friends' partner wasn't there. Then I had English class with my class (first years) and geometry class. English was English and math was math.  Then I had my English class with the third years (my class is taking Swedish and I am not at their level of Swedish so I am taking this class) before I had my European history class. My history teacher talked to me and she heard I understood a decent amount of Finnish so I can do whatever I feel comfortable with in Finnish (I answered questions in English before in history class. Hockey practice that night but this time with the younger kids and the goalies since our practice time got changed.

Perjantaina was an easy day. First I had a double period of English with my class and we learned the passive tense. Then I had a double period of gym with the first year girls and we played hand ball. After that was my English class with the third years  where we reviewed grammer before I had a double period of dance class. My partner was there and we danced some circle dance thing.

Today we had a game. We lost but we got two goals and I knocked some people over so it was okay. :)

2016

The week started out meeting up with my first and third host families who I will be moving to in February. My first and third families came to my second host family's house where we had coffee and talked. It was nice to get to see everyone. I had already met everyone before, but I had only interacted with my third host family one or two times before. Side note: earlier that day I had been working on writing thank you cards to the Finnish hockey players on the Minnesota Wild for their signatures and gifts. I was reading what my teammates had written and it was funny because one of my teammates wrote to Mikko Koivu that if they win the Stanley cup, then come to sauna with us at Laineentie 5. Well, my third host family lives on the same street just a few houses up. When they were over they mentioned how one of my teammates lives on their street which I had just learned earlier that day. We talked about hockey and the dance coming up in February.

Wanhat dance picture from last year

All of my first host families were very excited for the dance since it is a big deal and since I am like their daughter and I am the first daughter in each of the host families to do the dance. In my first host family, their oldest daughter will do the dance next year, in my second host family, their daughter is nine so she still has a few years to go if she decides to go to the high school and my third host family doesn't have any daughters.

For you Americans, that don't know what I am talking about, let me tell you. Basically this dance is the Finnish version of prom, only it's not. People are assigned partners and they have to take a class for it to learn the dance. Then of course everyone gets all fancied up and then they have the dance... only it is in front of the parents and teachers. I asked if I could join and they said yes. One of the English teachers helped me get a partner and I will start the class on Thursday.

Then that evening, after everyone had left, we figured out when we could do shopping for my dress and when I can change host families. I have a very busy schedule this month as I have eight hockey games this month. Hopefully I can get a goal!

Then on Monday I finally pinned most of the pins to my Rotary jacket. I had been too lazy to sit down and do it all before but I finally put most of them on. I needed a few safety pins, so I didn't put them all on yet, but I got most of them on. It took about four/five hours. In the evening I had hockey practice and I told my teammate that I will be his neighbor soon. He was happy and said that I could make him lots of American cookies which he really liked (he didn't want to try the peanut butter ones though since he doesn't like peanut butter).

Tiistaina I did some chores and chilled.

Keskivikkona we went to Seinäjoki and found me a dress for the dance. My host dad was saying that I'll have to try on fifty dresses, but it only ended up being three. I'm renting a dress and you can find out more about it as the dance approaches. That evening I had hockey practice and we scrimmaged. My coach was our second goalie. It was fun.

Torstaina we ran some errands and visited my first host family. I have got to say: their little puppy from a few months ago is almost as big as their other dog. We bought some fireworks an went home and watched Sweden play against Canada in the U20 world championships. We melted tin horseshoes we bought and dumped them in water to see what shape we got. Then we looked up what the shapes meant and I got boat twice which means happy and lots of travel. Then we lit some fireworks as the new year came. Happy New Years everyone!

Perjantaina I helped my host dad clean up his garage. To give you some perspective, he races and fixes cars, so he has a lot of stuff and it was really messy. I helped him clean it up for a few hours and it was still messy in there but it was better.

Tänään we went to Alavus to the large shopping mall there and we got me some shoes to match with my dress as well as some safety pins for my jacket. That evening we watched the Finland versus Canada game. It was very close but in the end Finland won. After that it was USA versus the Czech Republic and USA crushed them.