Terve-
You have now had your first Finnish lesson ( trans. Hi !)
This is me, Mary. Let me tell you what has happened so far.
We are in Forsa tonight, a beautiful town of 18000 people in SW Finland. Today was a classic Group Study Exchange day, a meeting with the communications director of a recycling plant, tour of the "old town" of Forsa, lunch with Rotary members, an interview with the local press, a tour of an art school, individual professional visits ( me to a bank, Kari to a police station, Patti to e-commerce marketing company and Julie to an ad agency). Then, a little shopping and dinner with our host Maija.
When we arrived in Helsinki on Saturday, we were met by Kyosti, Jaakko, Tuula and a cold bottle of champagne. They were a welcome sight. We drove to Jaakko and his wife Seija's house for a light dinner and our first sauna. Seija likes to take a quick swim after a sauna and I thought if not now, when, so I followed her in. Kari, Patti and Julie had to follow to save face! It was stunning and fabulous! We slept well that night. The next day, Sunday, we were given a tour by our guide Risto of a national park. We planned to fly over the region in Jaakko's plane, but the weather was bad, rainy and cold. So instead, we had went to a sky diving club and preceded to fawn over the dive master. ( See picture.) At 3 we had lunch, which included several courses and much alcohol. It was at the hunting club of Major Mannerheim, a distinguished general of the WWI. We presented our gift to the District Govenor of district 1410, which is our host district.
By the way, Group Study Exchange is a program of Rotary International that arranges annual opportunities for thousands of young people to learn about the customs and culture of other countries. Our team was choosen from a group of applicants last fall for this years exhange with Finland.
Tomorrow we give our first presentation to the Forsa Rotary Club. Wish us luck.
Mary
You have now had your first Finnish lesson ( trans. Hi !)
This is me, Mary. Let me tell you what has happened so far.
We are in Forsa tonight, a beautiful town of 18000 people in SW Finland. Today was a classic Group Study Exchange day, a meeting with the communications director of a recycling plant, tour of the "old town" of Forsa, lunch with Rotary members, an interview with the local press, a tour of an art school, individual professional visits ( me to a bank, Kari to a police station, Patti to e-commerce marketing company and Julie to an ad agency). Then, a little shopping and dinner with our host Maija.
When we arrived in Helsinki on Saturday, we were met by Kyosti, Jaakko, Tuula and a cold bottle of champagne. They were a welcome sight. We drove to Jaakko and his wife Seija's house for a light dinner and our first sauna. Seija likes to take a quick swim after a sauna and I thought if not now, when, so I followed her in. Kari, Patti and Julie had to follow to save face! It was stunning and fabulous! We slept well that night. The next day, Sunday, we were given a tour by our guide Risto of a national park. We planned to fly over the region in Jaakko's plane, but the weather was bad, rainy and cold. So instead, we had went to a sky diving club and preceded to fawn over the dive master. ( See picture.) At 3 we had lunch, which included several courses and much alcohol. It was at the hunting club of Major Mannerheim, a distinguished general of the WWI. We presented our gift to the District Govenor of district 1410, which is our host district.
By the way, Group Study Exchange is a program of Rotary International that arranges annual opportunities for thousands of young people to learn about the customs and culture of other countries. Our team was choosen from a group of applicants last fall for this years exhange with Finland.
Tomorrow we give our first presentation to the Forsa Rotary Club. Wish us luck.
Mary
2 comments:
Now that you have all bathed together, do the natives really have finns ?
good luck!!
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