Hyvää Pääsiäisiä

Happy Late Easter! We had a long weekend, and just before the break I took my fifth period tests. So I got Thursday and Friday off with that, and Monday off as well, which was nice. Kauhajoki right now is still in a bit of a winter phase - there's the occasional light snow - but spring is just starting to pop up!

This is what the field looked like in the morning after a night snowstorm. In the afternoon, there was no snow! 

I took a day trip to Vaasa with a few of my friends, and we went shopping. Which was fun, even if I didn't buy much. My legs got a workout, at the very least. Vaasa (or Vasa, the Swedish name) is one of Finland's biggest cities (around 60,000 people in the main city). The city is bilingual, with almost a third of the population having Swedish as their first language. A bit of history: Vaasa was the capitol of the White side during the Finnish civil war, in 1918. Helsinki was the base of the Red side. As the reign of the Russian czar fell, the Finns used the chance to escape Russian rule. But the country was divided, particularly between the wealthy upper class and the industrial working class. The rift caused a short but terrible divide between the new country, lasting from January until May. Most still know what side their family was on. The Whites promoted capitalism, and were assisted by Germany, whereas the Reds wanted socialism and were assisted by the newly formed Russia. Long story made short, the Whites won the war, and now on display in Vaasa's city square is a statue of a White soldier holding the heart of the nation, over the defeated Red man. Finnish history is really quite captivating if you look into it! 

The main shopping mall we went to, it's quite big inside. Also, notice the yellow truck in the background. Yes, that is what you think it is - it's a Spongebob van. 

To get to Vaasa it takes an hour and a half bus from Kauhajoki to Seinäjoki, then another hour by train to Vaasa. But the sunset was worth it. 

And now onto Easter. Ha. Many go to church on Easter, although my family did not. It's more or less celebrated similarly to the US, visiting family and friends, lamb as the traditional meat, and decorating eggs. But Finland has mämmi. Similarly to salmiakki (salted black licorice) it is something that is not seen much outside of Finland, and is a love-it-or-hate-it type of food. Or so I've been told. Mämmi is a pudding dessert  made of rye flour and malt. (Personally, I think it's fine, and it tastes a bit like raisins. But beware that opinions may vary!) It has an intimidating and slightly unfortunate look to it. Luckily, it is consumed with sugar and cream, or vanilla sauce, which makes it a decently good treat.

Did I forget to mention on the Saturday before Easter Sunday the Finns also have Halloween? Well, not exactly, but pretty similar. It involves more sticks and sightly less candy. It is held during the day and it really is practiced only by children (and exchange students), parents, and older siblings who help out. There are more crones as well. And money. Anyways, you decorate pajunkissa (pussy willow) branches beforehand, with feathers, painted hollow eggs, glitter (lots of it) and the like. You then dress up (the traditional design is that of a crone, or a witch, but anything goes) go around to the houses of those you know (particularly grandparents) offering them the sticks you have made in exchange for candy (usually chocolate of some sort) or small change ( I managed to get 5 euros!) . Instead of saying trick or treat, you say these lines of poetry:

Virvon, varvon, 

tuoreeks, terveeks, 

tulevaks vuodeks.

Vitsa sulle,

Palkka mulle.

I virvon, I varvon*
As fresh, as healthy,
For the next year.
A stick for you,
A treat for me.

*It's a play on words, basically think something like I trick, I treat, except with made-up words.

Bonfires are a very common tradition at Easter as well. Finnish tongue twister! 

Kokko, kokoo kokoon koko kokko! - Koko kokkoko? - Koko kokko.

Kokko (a surname), gather up the whole bonfire! - The entire bonfire? -

 The entire bonfire.

Vanhojen Tanssit

There is one dance (structured ballroom dancing) in the three years of the Finnish lukio. It's known as the Vanhojen Tanssit, or the "Old People's Dance." This is because it is held just after the third years leave the school for a period of studying for their matriculation exams (the exams include graduating the lukio as well as getting into universities). As the second year students were the new seniors, the original tradition was to dress up in your parents' or grandparents' old clothes, and to act as, well, an old person. But somewhere along the way, girls started dressing up as princesses, in all their finery. Instead of a joke to dress up in fancy old clothes, they took the incentive to make it formal and as a way to assert themselves as the new heads of the school. Of course, this doesn't work quite as well when you still have lipstick smears left over from the third years scribbling all over your face (long story, I'll explain down below)*, but that's besides the point (Although I still had a visible light pink heart on my cheek, though it more or less disappeared under makeup).

*The day before the dance, the third years leave the school, vandalizing lower underclassmen/women's faces with lipstick, dressing up in flamboyant costumes, singing and play acting, and generally enjoying themselves. They make their departure on the back of open trucks, going around to  nearby schools to throw out candy. (Remember that this takes place in mid-February, possibly the coldest time of the year. Average temperatures are in the -20 to -30 degrees Celsius range, if not colder. 0 to -25 degrees Fahrenheit or so.) It's usual for them to then go on a cruise to Sweden, Russia, or Estonia, or a class trip of some sorts.

In my lukio, there is more girls than boys,which means two things happen: first, many girls start asking for dance partners more than a year in advance, and second, boys from the first and (less commonly) third year are asked out, as well as students in the ammatti koulu (vocational school) in order to have a date. One of my friends, Bence (first year), graciously asked me to dance back in September. There is three other exchange students at my school ( Anna, a German girl, Kai Mook, a Thai girl, and Götz, a German boy), and Götz was asked out on the first day of school! Due to the lack of boys* it's not uncommon to have girl-girl pairs, especially during dance practice. Oh, and speaking of dance practice, during the fourth period (it lasted from the start of school after winter break until mid February. I'm in the start of my sixth period now) the second year gym class consisted of only this. We all had practice every Monday in the gym, until the week before in which we had practice everyday, excluding Friday (the day of the dance). During Thursday afternoon, some students stayed after classes to decorate the gym. Although the lukio does have a gym, we used the elementary gym because it's new and quite a bit bigger. It's the one the professional basketball team uses as well.

*This is flexible, as it really just depends on the school, as it can be a gender-flipped issue or not come into play at all. There are also different ways to remedy the situation, and fellow exchange student blogger Christina choose not to look for a partner at all because Navy boys filled in for girls without dance partners. 

I got up early, six or so, to go to the beauty parlor. My host mom Päivi got me the reservation at the last minute, which I am very grateful for. Competition is fierce among the girls, similar to the issue of dance partners. After finishing up my hair, at around 7:30 or so (the appointment started at 6:45), I went home and did my makeup. By the time I finished up and got dressed for the day, it was almost 8:30 and time to go to school. Over my dress I wore  a big dress coat (from Päivi), a silvery scarf I bought to look cool, and high heels borrowed from Bence's mother. ( I have dress shoes, but they're flat.) I actually wore snow boots unless I was inside, due to the the snow and general wetness outside.

This picture was taken just before heading out to school. 

We met for practice just before nine. Everyone was fancied up, the girls in their dresses* and the boys in their suits. Most of the boys came out before the girls, who were busy with last minute makeup checks. It was the first time anyone had been in their dancing clothes, so everyone got good remarks on their attire. So well, we did our dress rehearsal. It was the second or third time we had the live orchestra there, so we were finally getting used to that instead of the CD music, which was good.

*Like many other things involved with the only dance in lukio, most girls are in-advance with purchasing or renting dresses as well. The average price for a Vanhojen Tanssit is somewhere in between 100 - 400 Euros (200 - 600 plus US dollars). Luckily I had bought a dress that fit this need a few years ago thrift shopping. I has by far the shortest dress among everyone, but it wasn't an issue. I was told that this meant the audience used my legs as a visual for the girls' leg movements. All I can hope is that I did a decent job of it.

Our first showing was at 11:30, and we presented to the elementary, middle, and high schools - both the lukio and the ammattikoulu. I was happy because all my first year friends were there, and Iida was the one who took most of the pictures in this blog.  And while I'm at it, here's the list of the dances:

1. Avaustanssi - Opening Dance

2. Pompadour - (the dance, not the hairstyle)

3. Mignon - (again, the dance, not other references)

4. Cicapo - A Spanish Dance

5. Wengerka 


6. Pas D'Espagne


7. Short Cake - An American Dance


8. Wieninvalssi - The Vienna Waltz

Extra: We also had our own dance, Which took place right before the Wieninvalssi. It was... definitely not closely related to ballroom dancing. Here's a link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDFsHspjVpE

This was the only clip of our dance I could find, but you can get your fill of Vanhojen Tanssit by clicking on other school's videos! :)

After this everyone hung out for a bit, walking (or driving) over to a food school where lunch was. Except for Bence and me, and three other couples, along with our teachers. Instead, we went over to an elderly nursing home and performed a few of our dances for them. It was a bit odd to suddenly be in a new position while dancing, but it was fun to help out. I was told that they don't get too many visitors, so they really look forward to events like these. Really, it's a shame. When we were asked to volunteer, there was 40 couples there, but so few volunteered. Ah well.

After that we got a ride over to the cooking school (this is also where my host mom Päivi works as a teacher!). It was a very fancy, nice lunch, and all the teachers were invited too, so really, only the first years were left at the lukio. The students prepared it and brought us each course, ending with coffee and the like. My only regret is that I didn't really know anyone else who sat at the table (aside from Bence, most of the other students were older or from the ammatti koulu) so it was rather quiet. Also, the fact that I forgot my snow boots back in the auditorium. Because it is not fun walking around in borrowed high heels with a foot of snow on the ground. But I did find five euros in my pocket, which was a happy occurrence. Päivi was working that day, but she came by to see how we were doing, which was sweet of her.

We walked across the street to the camera shop, where it seems everyone had gone to get pictures. So of course Bence and I got some too!  We took a picture together and (I took) an individual one, and they turned out pretty well. The owner and store photographer was happy because usually the store tends to be in not so much of a rush, and because of the Vanhojen Tanssit he got to take lots of glamour shots of everyone. From there Bence's father took us back to the school, where I picked up my things I had left earlier. Päivi then drove me back home, and I hug out for a couple hours in my dress, eating dinner and lounging around.

Here's a bit about Bence:
He has dual citizenship, Finnish and Hungarian. He speaks at least three languages fluently (Finnish, Hungarian, English, and possibly Swedish- he says he isn't, but he's not bad at it) and has studied at least five (above mentioned, plus Japanese plus possible others). His parents came from Hungary to Finland, and he has four siblings - one older brother, and a younger sister and brother. Bence is a good student, and all around nice guy.He's good at drawing, writing, and video games. And he's really tall. At least in comparison to me. But then again, most of my friends are. That's all. Back to the main text.

At six in the evening we had our second performance, for all the parents, friends, relatives, neighbors, etc. Everyone was a bit more confident, and all went well. It was a bit bittersweet, what with it already being over and all. I keep feeling like it should have lasted longer. Especially after all the practice we went through to learn all the dances. The day itself was a wonderful experience. I only wish it could have lasted longer (and without the pain in my feet).

I am definitely glad I was able to participate in this event. I love dancing, so it was a really nice opportunity to learns some new steps as well as to hang out with my friends. Although we do have more dances in the US, they are much more like parties, and I don't believe most high schools require any kind of dance practice at all. It may be more formal, but you feel so proud that the outcome is totally worth all the work you put into learning everything.

Take notice of the live orchestra! 

Everyone all lined (queued) up! 

During our own dance, we decided that our dance teachers should join in on the fun as well. 

To the song "I'm sexy and I know it".

Ida looking like a princess, along with Götz (the only boy exchange student currently at our school). She's my closest second year friend, so I really wanted to show her off. We went to the after party together, which (for us, at least) consisted of eating chocolate, dancing, and talking. It was fun. <3

Anna looking fabulous. :) Anna's date was her host brother, who attends the kauppa oppilas (business school).
She and I, as well as Kai Mook, are attending a week-long hair dressing course.This is because we are having a vaihto viikko (exchange week) where many students go traveling (ex: Germany, Sweden, and France) while the students who don't go take an extra class of their choosing.  

Last minute prep in the dressing room ( the girl pictured, Anna Lotta, is a former exchange student who went to California last year) 

Kai Mook looking cute in her pink dress. :)
Before she left from Thailand, she was specifically told by AFS (another exchange program) to purchase a dress for this dance. It was quite long, and she kept worrying that she was going to fall over in it. She managed not to.
Her partner was a first year, Miska, who will be going on exchange to Australia through Rotary this autumn.

Villikelkka

Outside the weather is fantastic. Well, currently the sky is blue and everything is melting, but it still looks wonderful and snowy. In order to celebrate this fact, Reetta had her birthday a few weeks ago. So Stella, Iida, and I decided to go over to her house and have a party. While at her birthday, besides sledding on the river and tromping around in snow (or eating cake), we did this really cool spinning chair thing, called villikelkka (wild sled) or vipukelkka (lever sled). Either way, it's fantastic, and one of the better uses for a river. Hopefully these show you what I mean.  

Trivia: Here in Finland, turning 16 isn't actually that big of a deal. Since you gain no new rights (no driver's license until 18, along with drinking) it isn't that important. Of course, this varies person to person, but in comparison to the USA, it's nothing much. 

On another note, fellow (Canadian) exchange student Peter lives in the same part of Finland as I do, and if you are into reading blogs, his is an excellent one to read. He updates weekly and talks in-depth about tons of subjects! Also, he has a bright red jacket! His Finnish is terrific, and he's a nice guy. 

http://acrossthefinnishline.blogspot.com/ 

I plan on doing lots of short blogs for the time being, to make up for my lack of activity recently. 

The Winter's Harvest

Right now, I can feel change in the air. While the nights are still cold, the days grow warmer - and longer. It's a nice feeling, something I'd like to keep with me. I've changed host families yet again ( I have four, which is a bit more than average, but means I change families every three months) and I've also met my fourth (almost for sure) family. The third years (seniors) left at the end of fourth period, and have the rest of the school year to study for their final exams. I had a formal dance with the second class (juniors), had a week long ski holiday, and am now in my fifth period. Lots of everything, coming all at once! It's a bit intimidating, but exciting, and I'm loving it here!

That sums up what I've been doing in the past few weeks. February was a bit of a stressful month. I've already started to fill up all my free time until July, when I leave, so I'm feeling lots of emotions at the moment. I've been hanging out lots with my friends here, making the most of the time I have with them. Of course, there's still plenty of time left, but I might as well be with them as much as I can.

So, as a way to leave all of those who read this unsatisfied, I'm going to post a few pictures of my friend at a cafe we went to last weekend.

Cake, tea, and cocoa mustaches. With help from Reetta. 

Winter Vacation and Other

Hey everyone. Sorry, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated. I’d like to say that I’ve been too busy to update, but while I have been occupied, I should have made more of an effort to update sooner. So, even though most of you may not be in much of a Christmas mood, here’s how my Finnish winter break went.

In comparison to the US, Finland’s way of celebrating seems much more subdued. Christmas usually only involves close family, and there’s not so many big sales or gaudy lights on houses. In fact, most households put up only a few lights in the windows. There is two lights you can see in practically every household though; a candle arch, which is reminiscent of a menorah, except without the tall base, and a stand with four candles, which represent the four Sundays before Christmas. Although it looked a bit lonely and dark in some places, for the most part the lights created a lovely effect, and it was much more orderly and matched than the Christmas lights in the USA are. I was happy to have some nice snowflake lights from my window, and was pretty sad when they had to go.

School ended late, just on the Friday before Christmas, so everyone was in a rush to get the house prepared for family coming over on Saturday and Sunday. It felt a bit crammed, and I wish school had ended earlier, but the two weeks coming after it were nice, and looking back, I think it was fine.  This also leads me into possibly the biggest difference between Christmases in the US and Finland – Christmas Day isn’t all that big a deal in Finland, it’s Christmas Eve’s Day. You open the presents the presents in the evening, extended family comes over, and you have Christmas dinner. All my friends here complained about how there was no snow on Christmas, but from my point of view there was, seeing as there was snow on Christmas Day, just not Christmas Eve. Santa actually comes over to hand out the presents, which is a bit awkward at first, hugging a complete stranger, even if he is Santa Claus, but it’s fun. It was so funny seeing Santa give even the grown-ups their presents.

Surprisingly, I got quite a few gifts. These mostly fall into the categories of books, chocolate, socks, and other. Also cups. The reason for the chocolate (besides the obvious) is because it actually is tradition to give chocolate; whenever there is a gift giving opportunity, chocolate things (and cups) are often the most common item to receive. Woolen socks are important in Finland, as you need to keep your feet warm, and homemade socks are about the best way to keep warm. (I got four pairs!) Besides, it’s just plain cool to have rainbow socks that are perfect for sliding the floor in. I got four books, two in Finnish and two in English. In Finnish, there was a children’s book (but still very educational and interesting) on Finland, and a really big book done by multiple photographers throughout the decades about Finland.  In English, I got a fashion magazine and a fantasy book called Mastiff by Tamora Pierce. The other category includes drawings, phone charms, a calligraphy pen, a necklace, and gingerbread cookies. And cups. (I like The Moomins, which is something of a favorite series here in Finland and Japan, and among the tremendous amount of merchandise they have, cups are one of the collectibles.)

We set up the tree on the second to last day before Christmas, which again was quite late by my standards, but we kept the tree until the middle of January, so that was all good. Our tree had fewer branches, but the ones that it had were sturdier, so that was good. Heikki (my host dad) brought it himself from the nearby forest.  It was really pretty, and besides lights, Annuka (host sister) and I put up a line of European flags. One of the older ladies at Christmas (I believe she would be a great aunt, or a cousin’s grandmother) said that when she was little, they put real candles over the tree!

Christmas dinner consisted of ham, deer, pickled fish, vegetable casseroles, fish eggs, pickled vegetables, beets, and potatoes. It was pretty good. We got lots of gingerbread and ice cream after dinner, which was even better. It surprised me that much of the food was served cold, as I think of Christmas time being when you need lots of hot food to keep warm! But then again, some of the dishes would just taste plain weird if they were served warm. One of my favorite things about Christmas food was glogi, a mulled fruit cider drink served hot with raisins and nuts added in. It may sound a bit weird, but it’s highly addictive, and delicious. Oh, and before I forget, there’s also Christmas porridge. It’s a rice porridge eaten on Christmas Day, and you can basically coat it with whatever you like (cinnamon sugar, fruit toppings and sauces, etc.) but there is one almond hidden among the batch, and the one who gets said almond is supposed to have a lucky next year. My older host brother from Helsinki sort of got it, but he actually put the almond back in the pot because he saw it when he stirred around and felt that taking it would be cheating. So, I think it’s still up for grabs.

The rest of the next two weeks was mainly spent lazing around, playing video games and reading books. It was a really nice break. Despite this, I did three notable things after Christmas. I went to Vaasa for the New Year, I hung out at a friend’s house, and I was lucky enough to have the chance to go to Stockholm. I shall explain:

At the New Year, along with my host mother, sister, and cousin (he was staying with us for the week after Christmas), we drove up to Vaasa. Vaasa (Vasa in Swedish) is one of the bigger Finnish towns, full of history and quite pretty. It’s notable because a third of the population is Swedish speaking. After Christmas, the snow had finally decided to settle in for the winter until sometime in March. So even though it was still dark for a majority of the time, at least it was white darkness. (Now, because it’s light, there are no more clouds in the sky, and there’s snow, it’s sparkly light!) We walked around, explored history, and went to a wonderful play. It was a British play (from Britain, but in Finnish) with only six actors, who used acrobatics and all sorts of interesting stunts to show the life of a horrible man, and to treasure every moment you have. It was nice. Then we went out to the port and saw fireworks and Elvis singing from his apartment. The next day, we visited the port again, and after a nice walk, headed back home. We stopped on the way back to Kauhajoki to see Heikki’s mother, who lives about thirty minutes driving away from Vaasa.

 Watching television with the dog

 Hanging out next to the sea (sea not pictured, it's behind me)

The balloon bounce game! 

The second thing I did was go to my friend Reetta’s house. Along with Iida, we hung out. We took a five kilometer walk in the snow, and made delicious macaroni. And watched Ponyo. It was fun. Heh. While this might seem a bit boring, it actually leads up to something important that the three of us ended up doing later on in January. When at her house, we planned a weekend trip to Lahti, a city in southern Finland, for an anime convention. It was a rather big moment, because we travelled quite far by train and were totally on our own for two days and a night at a hotel. (The hotel was called Musta Kissa – Black Cat) Iida and Reetta had never gone to an anime convention before, and it was really fun to see how they planned for it. The event itself was really pleasant and enjoyable. While we were there, we met up with my fellow Rotary exchange friend, Yukako, from Japan. A Bit of a pun in Finnish, her name. Uksi, kaksi, kolme; one, two, three. Shorten the words and add a Y at the beginning, and you get Yu(ksi)ka(ksi)ko(lme)!

 Walking across town to the anime convention (the glass building)

 people!

Yukako in her Japanese school uniform, and me in a skirt and Zelda shirt

Sweden. Mm. Where to start… It was actually a pretty short trip, and the travelling probably took twice as much time as the actual trip. But it was fun, and really pretty. We started out with a five hour drive from Kauhajoki to Turku, and went onto a ferry. Of course, this should probably be referred to as a cruise boat rather than a ferry, but either way works. Anyways, this was a night boat, so we leave at about eight at night and arrive in Stockholm at seven in the morning. Most everything remained closed until about ten am, so we were just walking around the outside of castles and the old part of town until everyone decided to wake up. After that, the sun decided to come up, and it was GLORIOUS. From October to December, the sky was filled with bleak grey skies, and little light; In Stockholm, it was a clear blue sky, and the sun rose an hour earlier due to how much farther down it is from Kauhajoki. We took a tour bus, and walk around, going shopping and to museums and such. The best was probably the Vasa Ship Museum; it’s a giant ship that sunk in Stockholm during the 1600s, and the entire museum is dedicated to it. Because of the brackish water the Baltic Sea consists of, it’s in great condition, considering. The whole city is nice to look at, made up of pretty-looking buildings and various bridges holding the islands together. We also stopped at a bookshop, and I read a book about the philosophical meanings of society through the toilet. A bit peculiar, but well worth reading. After stopping at a café, we had to head back to the port, for another overnight boat trip. The boats are ginormous, filled with tax free shopping goods and food, as well as a very lovely view of island archipelagos in the summer.

After we arrived in Turku, I was able to meet up with fellow Coloradoan and Rotary exchange student Christina Montgomery, who is one of my closest friends here. Just a day before I had arrived in Turku, they had their first snow, which was cool for me and super gratifying for Christina, who’s from Summit County. We saw the Church of Turku, which is one of the older Finnish buildings, and ran into a presidential debate.* Soon after this, we parted ways, and Annu, Heikki, Marja, and I headed back home. We chose a beautiful time to do it, as Finland had also decided to have wonderful, cold, blue-sky weather. Driving past snow-covered farms as a slight wind blows and mist blurs the brilliant orange sky has never looked so beautiful.

*They have presidential elections every six years, and Tarja Halonen has been president since 2000. This year, eight parties ran for presidency. During the first election, it’s a free for all. If the top candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, she/he automatically becomes president. But this is usually not the case, and then there is another election in which the top two candidates are in the running. Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party and Pekka Haavisto   of the Green League were said people, getting 36 and 18 percent of the votes the first time around. As of the second voting session, Sauli Niinstö is the president of Finland, with the final results being 62 % for him and 37% going to Pekka Haavisto.