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.

Finnish Christmas

Winter break is coming! But first I've got to finish exam week...

My week started out with studying for the next day's test. Then on Monday I took my chemistry test (all in Finnish may I add). Since so many people had signed up for that class, it been divided into two groups. On testing day, we all took the test at the same time since it was the same class. The room had thirty people and was very full. This is very unusual in Finnish schools since classes sizes are never more then thirty people, unlike in America where they are always more than thirty students. Anyway, the test went okay even though it was all in Finnish. Then in the afternoon I had rehearsal for the middle school's Christmas performance.

On Tuesday, I was supposed to have an English test, but my English teacher said I didn't have to take it so I could go to the Christmas performance. He was going to so he got another teacher to supervise the test for him. The Christmas performance in the middle school started a little after eight in the morning and ended at nine thirty. We were one of the first groups to perform and I thought it went well. After it had ended, I helped clean up the instruments and chairs. Outside there were lots of people waiting for the buses since you can leave from your test at nine thirty in the high school. Because it was the last day of testing, that means no review and you can go home. The middle schoolers didn't have school after the Christmas performance, so many people were waiting for the buses to come and bring them home. After we finished cleaning, we had some coffee and deserts in the school cafeteria before we headed home for the day.

Wednesday was my first day of winter break! We went Christmas shopping for some last minute gifts, got some ice cream, went to my first host family's house where I gave them their school books that I had been borrowing for the grading period and grabbed the books for the new grading period as well as give my third host family some gifts I had from Minnesota. Lennu (my first host family's dog) has grown quite a lot and is now a very large dog, almost as big as my first host family's other dog Jalo.

Then on Thursday Christmas Eve came. Just to let the people that don't know know, Christmas Eve is when the Fins celebrate their Christmas. First we went to sauna at their cabin. Then we went to the cemetery and placed candles at their family member's graves. We returned home for a traditional Finnish Christmas dinner which consisted of a large ham, potatoes, salad and bread. They had started cooking the ham the night before it was so large. My first host family came over and then Santa did. He handed out presents from a sack to all of us and we took some pictures and talked with him for a little while before he headed out. Then we opened our presents. I got Finnish candy and American candy (which my grandma had sent me) as well as some Finnish things from my parents. My favorite gift was from my second host family saying that I can pick a professional hockey game and they will take me to it in January. Then we had some deserts and coffee. I taught my younger host sister how to make bracelets on her new bracelet maker since the instructions were all in English.

Yesterday, I started working on applications for PSEO in America as I need to complete them while I am here in Finland as well as make thank you cards for the Christmas presents I received.

Today I worked some more on things for America and I wrote thank you notes for all of my Christmas gifts. In the evening I made taco salad for dinner for my host family. They liked it.

Exam week #3

Sunday was a busy day. In the morning I wrapped presents for my hockey team and for my host family. After that, I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and M & M cookies for my hockey team and for my host family. Then in the evening we went to my host family's church where we listened to Christmas songs.

Monday was the last regular school day before exam week. In biology we taught our classmates things we had research and in English we did some practice exercises and talked about culture differences between Finland and other places (random note: my English teacher decided to wear red contacts for the fun of it. Everyone thought it looked so weird.) Then in math we worked on old tests for review for the test and did the same thing in chemistry. In the afternoon I had two free periods so I talked with my friends. I told them what I would be giving my teammates for presents that night at practice. One of my friends who used to play hockey and is a big fan of the NHL was very jealous.

That evening, I packed up my suitcase with all of the presents for my hockey team (yes I had that many). I went right to practice since I didn't have any Finnish lessons in the evening and wouldn't have them until January. I was early and waited for everyone to arrive. As they did, they were impressed by the number of presents I had and they kept saying I should give them a large present. Then my coach came and we decided that we would play some soccer and then open the gifts. We locked the locker room just in case. When we came back, I gave them their gifts. 

First I placed the large box for everyone in the middle of the locker room and said it was for all of them so open it. They did and they were very excited to get an American football. I gave out some Minnesota Wild Schedules (but I said they couldn't open them yet so they didn't know what they were). One of my coaches who was there opened the present I said he could open. It was a calendar I had made and he liked it.  Then I gave out the eight large presents to the people I thought deserved them the most (i.e., the ones who showed up to practice the most, etc). They didn't know what they were and I said they could pick the one they wanted. I said which Wild player they could pick and then they picked one. The people with the large presents guessed that maybe they were pictures. After that I gave the small gifts out to the rest and told them to open them. They were very happy and surprised to be getting t-shirts from the Minnesota Wild. One of my teammates gave me a gift that they said was from all of them. I opened it and saw a JPK hat and towel. I really liked it. Then my coach opened his present (which was a picture signed by Mikael Grandlund) and they were all very impressed that I had managed to get that. Then we took a picture since I said we needed to since I didn't pay for the stuff. I said that this picture would be going to the Minnesota Wild and possibly on to some of their social media and they were really surprised and some didn't even believe me. After practice I gave them cookies I had made and made them sign thank you cards for everyone involved. And after all of that, my host brother picked me up and he showed me how Finnish people drive (let's just say it was fast and furious).

After an exciting day, a new one started and I had to take my physics test. This was in English and I have no idea how I did. It was nice though because my teacher gave me one of the school's graphing calculators that I could use for the rest of the year (I hadn't had one since I didn't want to buy one). Then I went to my music teacher's room where the saxophone players (the trumpet players couldn't make it) practiced the song they had picked (joulupukki matkaan jo käy). It wasn't too hard and I played it well after a few times. I gave my music teacher a calendar as a present since he also helps out with my hockey team and I gave them all left over cookies from the night before. Then I went to Finnish lessons with one of the English teachers and I gave him some cookies too. Then we had biology review before I went back to the music room for more practice, this time with the trumpet players. Then at home I studied for biology and made some thank you cards for the Minnesota Wild Gifts.

Keskivikkona (on Wednesday) I had my biology test. It was also in English and it went okay. Then I had Finnish lessons before I didn't have any review because I didn't have a test the next day. I had music practice though and did that. In the evening I had practice as usual. We had practice and then after practice we kept our gear on and played football with the American football I had given them. It was pretty fun. Then I gave my other coach who was there (and wasn't at practice on Monday) his presents. He got a calendar and a puck signed by Mikko Koivu which they all thought was cool (I hadn't told my teammates what it was but they had been guessing that it was a signature/signatures from the Wild. We went shopping for food and I saw my third host dad and one of my third host brothers. Then we went home and made another batch of cookies for the music event the next day.

On Thursday I had two regular hours of gym where we did Zumba. I gave my teacher a cookie before I had Finnish lessons, but we didn't do anything related to Finnish. Instead I explained to my teacher what PSEO was and what I needed from the school so I could apply for it. Then I had math review and music practice. That evening I went to a music celebration. Basically students who were performing at the Christmas performance performed their song or songs and some people who were not coming to the Christmas performance performed some songs then since they were not coming on Tuesday. Then the parents left and we dumped the candy that everyone had brought on to the table (everyone had to bring candy by the way. I brought cookies). Then we dug in and no one really touched the cookies until I told some of the Finnish girls to try them. They did and they said they were very good. There ended up being a signing battle using only Christmas songs as well as some games before the night ended.

Perjantaina I had my math test which I thought went pretty well (mostly) and chemistry review in the afternoon. In the evening we cleaned up the house.

Tänään I made Christmas presents for my host families and helped decorate the Christmas tree before we went to sauna in the evening.

A Really Big Truck

The week started with a visit to an observation tower. Where I live, the landscape is pretty flat so we could see for kilometers out. I of course signed the guest book while I was there.

The next day was a normal school day. The afternoon was another story though.  As I biked away from school, there is crosswalk that I can cross or I can go a little further down the road and there is a crosswalk there. There were two cars coming and since I didn't want to wait, I turned left and turned at the next crosswalk. There is a little piece of sidewalk before a large driveway for entrances to the shops there. A truck came out of the driveway so I stopped on the piece of sidewalk. It was a large truck, as in it was twice the size of a normal truck, which of course makes it harder to turn with it being so large. It ended up digging in a little on the sidewalk and I could have reached out and touched it if I had wanted to. I didn't and it drove by and turned left and drove away. As it drove away, I heard a clank behind me. I turned and saw that the pedestrian crossing sign which had been on a pole above my head had been knocked off it's post by the truck. I ended up setting the sign by the base of the pole before I biked home. At Finnish lessons we went over the body parts and family members before I had hockey practice.

The circled sign is no longer there

Tiistaina there was frost. There was even some on my bike seat. School was school. Psychology was fun because we did a game with a partner where a sheet with numbers was colored in (one number had one color). They were randomized around the sheet and we had to find the number and then we had to say the number.

On Wednesday I worked on my paper for history class. I worked on my research paper about the Sami people (in English). It was very interesting. Then we drew something to do with perspective in art class before I had hockey. I learned about Girl's Hockey Day which will be on Saturday before we played soccer. As we did, jets flew over us. My coach said they were tour jets from Jyväskylä. Later that evening, we went outside and watched the northern lights. They were beautiful and they were the first time I had ever seen them. I was also in the newspaper!

Torstaina school was normal except at lunch... there were desserts. I don't know why but they were good. In history class we played African Star to learn about imperialism. It was very fun. I won once. In the evening I had hockey practice and my teammates tried to describe mämmi to me.

Then it was the last day before fall break! We had normal classes but our double period of art was cut short since we had homeroom where we got our grades.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog for this important news update:
Jim, the news reporter: We have breaking news coming into the newsroom just now: American people do not know how Finnish grades work. We go to our field reporter Diane for an update and see what information she can give us about the current situation
Diane: Well Jim from what I understand so far, it's that American people do not know how the Finnish grading system works. Well from the information we have learned so far, I can tell you that it is certainly not the same. Here is what we know so far: grades in Finland range from 4-10. A four is a fail and a ten is the highest grade someone can get. A ten is not like an A in America as it is extremely difficult to have all tens compared to America where it is difficult to get straight As but not impossible. As I said before, grades in Finland range from 4-10. These are the word representations of the possible grades in a Finnish high school:
10: Commendable
9: Excellent
8: Very good
7: Satisfactory
6: Moderate
5: Passable
4: Fail
S: Pass
We also know that students will always receive an S as a grade for a review class no matter if they got a 5 or a 10 on the final test
These are all of the details that we know so far Jim.
Jim: Thank you Diane. We promise to keep you viewers updated on this story as more information becomes available to us. We apologize for the interruption and we now return to your regularly scheduled programing.

As I was saying, we got our grades back during homeroom. Here's what I got:
Music: 9
Philosophy: 9
History: 9
Math (review class): S
Mother tong-

Breaking news:
Jim: We apologize again for the interruption, but we have just learned more information about this new and breaking news story. We have just learned more about the individual involved. Her name is Emma Mulhern and she attends Alajärven Lukio in Alajärvi Finland. We have learned more about this person's grade report. Because she is an exchange student, some of her teachers didn't want to give her a number for a grade, so they gave her an S. From what we understand so far, Emma did not receive a number in English class because her teacher did not want to grade her as it was her mother tongue. That is all we have for now.
What is that I'm hearing now?
We have just learned that Emma's mother tongue teacher did not want to give her a number because it is not her mother tongue. I repeat, Emma did not receive a number in English and mother tongue because English is her mother tongue and Finnish is not. We will keep you up to date on the latest information which I am hearing we will find out after the next exam week. We promise to give you another update then.

Well as you already heard, I received an S in mother tongue and in English class because my teachers didn't want to give me a number because I am an exchange student, basically. That afternoon, I went and bought a bunch of chocolate and salmiakki to send for the country fair.

http://www.torstai-lehti.fi/2015/10/07/girls-hockey-day-tulee-taas/

Tänään Girls Hockey Day tuli! (Today Girls Hockey Day came) Silja, Heidi (two girls who play on my hockey team) and myself went to the ice rink where we did different activities with the younger girls that had come. Did I mention I had been in the paper earlier in the week because of Girls Hockey Day? Then I did some packing when I returned home since I am changing host families soon. Then in the afternoon we had a hockey game. We didn't win, but it was fun to hang out with my teammates on the way back to Alajärvi. They are all really awesome. Then one of my coaches gave me the banner from the team we played against since he said they had plenty of them already and because I played well.