We have a dog. Actually we've had a dog since March. Her name is Hilla. One weekend we just decided that it would be good time to get a dog while Juha was studying at home and he would have time for the new dog. Well we found Hilla through internet. The previous owner couldn't keep her anymore and she was looking for a good home for her. I'm glad she trusted Hilla to us.
Hilla is very kind, obedient and well-behaving dog. She is also easy and she adjusted very well to her new home with us. I've never been a dog person. Actually I couldn't stand most of the dogs. While Juha was home alone a lot with the distressing graduation work to do I decided that he deserves the long wanted dog. I don't regret my decision. I've learned to like Hilla. Yet she's still more the dog of the rest of the family, especially Juha's.
I enjoy the joy Hilla has brought to our family. I also like the fact that she gets me out much more often than I used to go. I'm not a morning person but somehow those morning walks with other dog people are precious to me. I wouldn't want to do it every morning and fortunately my turn is maybe once a week. I also like the fact that Hilla likes me even tough I don't spend so much time with her. But she greets me with glee everytime I come home.
The best thing with Hilla is that she takes us out and into new places. Very often we take Hilla out together with Juha, my husband. Sometimes girls or at least one of them comes with us. One of our favourite places is Haltiala. That's where we were today. It's an area right beside the Vantaa river. We walk along the river bank and enjoy the country idyll. Every now and then we go down to the river, sit for a while and then go on again. The view is amazing and Hilla gets to run free. This is the path on a river bank:
down by the river:
the view:
The oat field:
Once again thank you Hilla for taking us their!
down by the river: the view: The oat field: Once again thank you Hilla for taking us their!
As you can see from the name label (TYKKYLÄINEN) Jonna is a tiny girl compared to the others in the team and she is also new. I must admit that she has surprised me how well she's learned the game. There's still lot to learn but I didn't know that she has sportive talent at all. I'm sad that she didn't fall in love with the violin but Finnish baseball is a good one too. Actually I think it's the best sports in the world!
It's been estimated that 12 000 Boers (farmers in Afrikaans, the trekkers) migrated from Cape Colony because they weren't happy with British rulers, they wanted to find more fertile land to farm and avoid border wars with xhosa-speaking groups. It's called 
The Monument is huge: 40 metres high, with a base of 40 metres by 40 metres. It's situated on a beautiful place right outside of Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. The view from the Monument is amazing. 
After passing through the gate one finds oneself inside a big 
Monument was massive also from inside. I only had hard time with our pupils while I tried to translate at least something to them of the presentation to keep them not to die of boredom. Of course I couldn't do it - listen and try to understand and translate at the same time. Well, I enjoyed all I could see and rest I can always study afterwards...
I am little pit scared of hights so I didn't feel very comfortable up on the Monument but as I mentioned earlier the view was beautiful. Just don't look straight down! And it also helps that the Monument is built of granite and made very steady and strong. Go and experience it yourself!
Animals on the reserve include buffalo, rhino, hippo, giraffe, eland, springbuck, impala, zebra, various wildebeest species and others. There is also a 25 Ha dam with a variety of birdlife on the reserve. We didn't see all the animals that was there but we enjoyed very much of the game drives (a jeep ride among animals), bush walks and a boat ride on a dam. It was amazing. We got very near to the animals.
Jack was a quide on game drives, bush walk and a boat ride. He did great job with us...
The boat ride was very special! I loved every second of it. The beauty of the river, sun set, bird sounds, view and everything...
Not only that we enjoyed the animals on the reserve area we also liked the lodge area where were the bungalows and houses for accomodation. It was peaceful, no souvenir shops, just relaxed athmosphere and calmness.
This is the house where we lived.
A little peek into our home in Mongena. Tuuli is one of our teachers and was in South Africa second time as I.
There were also some animals on the lodge area. It was fun to get so close to them!
So if you ever go to South Africa and don't have enough time or money to go to Kruger national park or you want to avoid malaria go to Mongena to see animals. I strongly recommend! For us it was a unique experience.
Another new thing was that we were able to take two of my pupils to South Africa. Most of my pupils wanted to go so it was hard to decide who to take with us. We had funding for only two and it also would have been too risky to take more children with us. We decided to take a boy and a girl and drew lots among them. So Eeva and Vili came with us. 
Eeva and Vili got lot of attention at once they got to the school yard. They spent most of their time with the learners who were making the films for the project. They had had their own films already made in Finland.
They both really enjoyed being at the school and told after the trip that times spent at school were the best in trip. They also told that it was rather demanding to have so much attention. Everyone wanted to talk with them, play with them, have them take pictures of them etc. I was happy to see that children from different sides from the globe could get along so easily and enjoy each other's company.
As for me I enjoyed the morning assemblies the most. The songs, the dances, the prayers - everything. This time we had prepared ourselves better for the assemblies. We had learned some Finnish folk songs and brought Finnish national instrument, 
Helping Hanna in movie making workshop was interesting. The workshop was held in English because we can't talk Sotho. Children understood us very well but we couldn't understand them when they talked together in Sotho. If they talked about yesterdays football match we wouldn't have known. We didn't hear if they had misunderstandings etc. All in all kids concentrated very well and were amazing. Once in a while I saw them writing letters or talking with Eeva and Vili but they got the work done.
Here you can see one example of difference in resources in Finnish schools and in South African schools. When my pupils told their three-picture-stories they showed their pictures on a screen with video projector which we have in every classroom. In Arethabeng electricity was off that day as in many days. Life isn't fair.
Here are pictures of the pupils of Arethabeng. Many of the children live in very poor conditions nevertheless you can see them smile. I used to think that poor means sad but I've learned that when you are rich you can be poor in you heart. Money can't buy happiness and joy.
I feel priviledged that I've had the opportunity to get to know the Arethabeng school, its learners and its staff. It's been an eyeopening experience to me. I've got so much love and care from the people there that I can never give back. I've fell in love with South Africa because of those people.