Merenojan Meets Maakalla

I couldn’t resist writing a blog post about Monday’s visit to Maakalla which is all things stunning and rustic.

Makkalla from a distance

A group of of students from the Merenojan are part of the International Club which is now focused upon an Erasmus+ project called: “Keep on shining: a project on lighthouses”. The students have visited and are continuing to visit: Italy, Germany, Crete and Spain as a result. Their aim is to explore local lighthouses in different ways with a focus upon history, literature, art, science, and digital techniques.

It only seemed right that we should visit two old islands, including one with a lighthouse, for inspiration: Maakalla and Ukkokala. After taking one large boat to Maakalla, we boarded a smaller one in order to wander around Ukkokala first. This was lots of fun as we got drenched in water! When we arrived, the first thing that caught our eye was the lighthouse of course! The island was full of rugged beauty as well...

On the boat to Maakalla!

The lighthouse!

Ukkokala

After this wonderful first visit, we returned to Maakalla. The church looked like something out of a fairytale while the museum exhibited interesting artefacts from seal hunters. Inside the old vicar’s cottage was an array of books available for borrowing…

The Church

Inside the church

We climbed this ladder to get a better look of the island and (despite my fear of heights) I must say that it was definitely worth it. There was something incredibly peaceful about the place.

It was soon time to go home, however. Following a boat ride back to the mainland, there were plenty of smiles. This had been one very adventurous day!

The Marmite Returns...

These past couple of weeks in the lukio have seen the return of the Marmite, some Japanese visitors, and a lot of play doh.

Last week we welcomed our new batch of International Studies (IS1) first years. It only seemed right that we shared some incredible* Marmite with them. This has become a tradition of mine whenever meeting new students. They couldn’t quite believe it when I exclaimed that I could easily eat Marmite sandwiches three times a day!

*Unfortunately, my opinion on its taste was not shared by too many students :(

This served an important lesson though: that this class is all about exposing ourselves to different things from around the world. Our lessons so far have focused upon getting to know one another. Cue all sorts of crazy games, from making newspaper clothes to acting like Batman to trying to figure out where different songs come from. It was an honour to introduce them to the likes of The Proclaimers, a Scottish band, and Shania Twain. Of course, Ed Sheeran proved to be a popular musician.

Newspaper Kimono

Here's a bit of The Proclaimers! 

It’s always exciting getting new students. However, revisiting last year’s IS1 students (who are now in their second year) has been awesome. We’re currently planning a big project for the school this year while preparing for next year’s Dublin visit - an annual course trip which never fails to impress.

Oscar Wilde in Dublin

We have plenty of travel projects taking place in the school. For example, the Nordplus Junior project is still in progress. Last year’s Iceland trip was amazing and we’re now looking forward to Malmö, Sweden, in October.

Iceland Throwback

Last week, we had some wonderful Japanese visitors who explored the school and the area. The teachers enjoyed a sauna evening where the conversation was broad and the lingonberry cake was delicious. Seriously. In a couple of months, some incredibly lucky Merenojan students will have the opportunity to travel to Japan. Having heard about previous visits, it sounds like they are in for an absolute treat.

Speaking of Merenojan, that is where I spend a lot of my time now. I’m teaching small groups of students English every day and it’s a lot of fun. We’re busy molding words out of play doh, kicking around my precious football to practice translations, and playing with some beauuuuutiful unicorn cards. In fact, all of the students are now acquainted with Sebastian the Unicorn who we like to throw around when asking and answering questions.

Today ended on a fun note with a lukio football competition! The crazy English football fan in me was screaming. 15C were victorious but all of the students played so well - a big congratulations to all involved. Overall, it's been an excellent start to the year...

A New Teacher...

Meet Ahren. He's a new native-English teacher in the area. He'll mainly be working with kindergarten and elementary school children but you might see him around the lukio every now and then! Let's see what he has to say...

Hi, everyone, I'm Ahren. I’m proud to come from the beautiful city of Leicester in England. It’s famous for its pork pies, stilton cheese, gorgeous countryside and amazing sports teams. I could probably spend this entire blog post talking about how Leicester City Football Club and the Leicester Tigers are the greatest teams in the world.

This is a pork pie in case you were wondering:

I'm a keen fan of baking too. In fact, you probably tasted some of my cakes if you attended last year's British tea party and summer fete.

I also love the United States so much - I’ll even be hosting an American themed party in the lukio this Autumn! I’ve visited the USA over fifteen times. As a huge fan of ice hockey and American football, I support the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills. I’m still looking for a Finnish ice hockey team to support so feel free to make any suggestions! My love of the USA has also influenced my love of rap and country music (yes, I am a huge fan of Taylor Swift!)

I’ve even worked in some American summer camps. I worked in Texas and High-Rock, Massachusetts, with children of all ages. I taught activities like Outdoors Skills and...you’ve got it...American football. Fun Fact: Lady Gaga went to Hi-Rock before she became famous.

I do have to say that I can’t wait to finally teach in Finland. It’s going to be so much fun and I’m so grateful to be here! See you all soon.

Fun Facts:

Scariest thing I’ve ever done: Skydiving - the part when we were hanging outside the plane and waiting to jump was kind of terrifying!

Favourite book: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It’s a science-fiction book in which the Earth ends and one human called Arthur Dent travels around the universe with a cast of quirky characters. It's a lot of fun to read.

Role-models (people who inspire me): My parents. They have done so much for me and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them.

Weirdest moment: When I was visiting the Kiasma. I walked into a room with a wooden hut in it and spent two hours talking to Shia LeBouf.

HELLO AGAIN!!!

There are certainly lots of new, intriguing and impressive things happening in the school this year! We have so many projects to prepare for with many students getting ready to visit some very beautiful countries. We also have our special morning activities, International Studies and one big American party this Autumn...

Heypa! It's me, Chloe from England in Great Britain. I'm here for another year of teaching, exciting international stuff and pulla (yassss).

Channeling my inner Harry Potter

When I was last in Kalajoki it was graduation time! We don't have anything like this in England, at least not in the city that I'm from. When I finished school, we just had a "prom" (an American-style excuse to wear fancy dresses and ride in a limousine if you're really lucky).

It was awesome to see this Finnish tradition, with all of the students enjoying a very well-deserved day. I especially like the hats that graduates receive. After the graduation ceremony, I attended a couple of houses belonging to the graduates whose parents are teachers here. Again, this was a new concept to me. It was lovely to catch up with everyone and THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS. I REPEAT: THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS. I'd never even seen a cake with salmon in it before that day - I'm a fan!

I spent another week in Kalajoki before hopping on a plane for some travelling in Rhodes and Amsterdam. Both are extremely beautiful places.

Some photos from Rhodes:

The Acropolis in Lindos

Some photos from Amsterdam:

The Royal Palace:

Rembrandt Statue:

On a cat boat! It's a boat where an organisation gives help and homes to stray cats. Visitors are free to stroke and adopt them.

The best part was probably when we visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam where they showcase lots of his famous paintings including my favourite: Almond Blossoms.

The rest of my summer was spent in sunny England (no sarcasm, it was actually sunny)! Before I knew it, I was on a flight back to Finland. This time, however, I am not the only native English teacher in the area... More on that later...

Sunshine, cakes and a rat called Gilbert

Last week was sunny, crazy and rather British! After plenty of planning, baking and painting it was soon time for our British summer fete (party) to take place.

Summer fetes are a big thing in Britain and you'll often find them in lots of villages all over the place. At any summer fete you can expect to encounter two very important things: cakes and games. The Merenojan and lukio students soon found out that these games are far from ordinary...

Firstly, we had "Splat the Rat". The game is simple: a toy rat is dropped down a tube and the player has to try to hit (or splat) it! We decided to name the rat Gilbert and, oh boy, he had a pretty rough day. 

Next, we had "Balance the Coin on the Lemon". Many people became quite frustrated with trying to balance a 20 pence coin on the lemon without it falling into the water.

We also had some "Welly Wanging". This game comes from Yorkshire in England (during a time when they didn't really have Netflix to occupy themselves with). We adapted the game so that the players had to try to throw the welly (boot) to hit the target...

We also had games called "Feed the Clown" and "Bell Tower" which challenged the throwing skills of the players. 

During our International Studies 1 course, we decided that we would like to add a charitable aspect to the event - especially after learning about the hardships of refugees. As a result, we challenged players to guess how many sweets were in our jar with all money given paid to the Finnish Red Cross which helps refugees. 

Finally, we included all sorts of cakes including chocolate and lemon drizzle (which is a special kind of lemon cake we make in Britain)!

The IS1 (as well as a few of the lovely IS2) students did a fantastic job in helping to organise and set up this event. Afterwards, we were all quite tired and so decided to relax by the river. Overall, it was one beautiful day!

I can't believe that there is only one day left at school before the summer. Stay tuned for all of the graduation fun!

Icelandic Magic

It was like walking through a scene from The Lord of the Rings. I half-expected to see Bilbo Baggins hopping his way across the jagged rocks. Magical.

Last week, our Nordplus project students headed towards Reykjavik and the Westman islands in Iceland. Four countries are taking part in the project, including: Finland, Iceland, Latvia and Sweden. The theme is tourism.

Now let me guide you through one of the greatest project weeks EVER…                                                                                                                                                              

Saturday:

After a four hour flight, we arrived in Reykjavik. We quickly decided that we deserved some pizza and a wander around...

Sunday: 

Team Finland (along with a fabulous Finnish flag) roamed around Reykjavik for the day. Check out the beautiful scenery:

We also couldn't resist posing with the famous Sun Voyager sculpture:

Finally, we caught the ferry to the Westman islands (Heimaey in particular). The journey was a little rocky because of the wind which made for a fun ride! We were also treated to some incredible sights.

                                       

Monday:

The students started to work on their project. They had to choose an aspect of the island that they could sell to tourists. We visited the Eldheimer museum for some inspiration and more information about Heimaey. In 1973, the island was changed forever after a volcanic eruption in the town of Vestmannaeyjar. Everyone (over 5000 people) in Heimaey was evacuated and the eruption lasted for five months! The island rebuilt itself but the museum serves as a strong reminder of what happened.

That evening, we also had the "Bring a Dish" night where participants from each country provided food for those involved in the project and the local community to try.

Tuesday:

Tuesday was another busy day again though one big highlight was seeing a real-life puffin at the aquarium!

This is Toti and he is cared for by the aquarium after breaking his leg. Don't be fooled by his cuteness though - he can be very sassy when he wants to be.

Wednesday:

We started the day by enjoying an Icelandic language class before the students shared myths and legends from their native countries. Afterwards, we visited the local fish factory (which is extremely important business on the island). It was soon time for more project work to be done for the big presentation day looming around the corner...

Thursday: 

PROJECT PRESENTATION DAY!

All of the groups presented their work to the teachers and the manager of the Eldheimer Museum, who selected her two favourites. Needless to say, we were all hugely impressed with the results.

Friday: 

Our last full day in Iceland ended on the mainland. Our wonderful hosts provided all of the project participants a bus tour around Southern Iceland. We gasped at the waterfalls:



We squealed in excitement at the hot springs:

Thank you for the photo, Suvi!

And we said some very heartfelt goodbyes.

Saturday:

Up at 3:30am, we braced ourselves for the long journey home. The early start was definitely worth it though because we all agreed that it had been one SPECTACULAR week...