Posted By Patti Keillor
Today we woke up to breakfast with our individual host families. My host mother is very kind. Her name is Ansa and her husband's name is Heikki. I was feeling sick yesterday and she took very good care of me, gave me vitamins and slippers and a hug goodnight. I told her that my mother would appreciate someone taking care of me. We went first to a factory called Vexve where they manufacture water valves of all sizes. We were very interested to learn more about the process of making a product and about the employer benefits that the Finnish people receive.
After the factory tour we went to Vammala's City Hall for lunch. We met a very nice man named Ashton who lived in the US until he was 10 and then moved back to Finland because his mother is from this area. We talked about the different economies in Minnesota and Finland and Ashton said he would like to visit Minnesota someday, and had heard about the Mall of America.
Kari and Mauno then took us an a boat ride. It was a gorgeous sunny day right until the moment that we got to the boat and then it started to downpour! We got on the boat anyway, and it had a cabin to keep us dry. We took the boat to a resort where they have skiing in the winter and summer cabins. We had our raincoats on as we hiked through the woods and then it got very sunny and wonderful again. It was probably about 50 degrees F. We hiked through the woods to a stone cottage of a famous Finnish painter Emil Danielson. We then hiked futher up to a gorgeous lookout view. We loved to have some good excersize and and some clean, crisp Finland air. The trees and rocks and lakes remind us all of Northern Minnesota..sometimes I wonder if I actually left! The difference here is that the forest floors are draped in a beautiful soft moss.
After our hike the Skipper, Kari and Mauno brought us to a Finnish church that was 800 years old. I took lots of pictures so I could show my Dad (he is an architect who designs churches). It was an A frame building with wooden shingles and the structure is mostly stone. The facility is still used today and they have many music concerts there. (And by the way Dad, they said the acoustics are fantastic!)
After this we went to Kari's summer cottage to sauna and have dinner with our Vammala friends. We will be leaving to the next town tomorrow morning, so we will all be sad to say goodbye to our new, good friends in Vammala.
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