Hilla

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!

Finnish baseball

I used to play Finnish baseball for twelve years in my past. I started when I was eight years old and gave it up when I became pregnant for Jonna (14 years ago, already). Finnish baseball was very important for me then and it wasn't easy to give up. In my youth I played and also coached a team so my free time was pretty much taken by baseball, but I loved it.

Last fall Jonna asked if she could start playing Finnish baseball. At first I wasn't very willing for her to do that. I tought she was too old to start it (already 12 then) and it would demand too much of her. I also doubted her skills. I'm glad she was persistance and kept asking that. So in November she started training with the local Finnish baseball team. Soon I found myself back in coaching too...

We just spend a week in baseball camp in Kajaani with Jonna and her team. There were 115 teams from all over Finland there. I've been on those camps at least eight times in my childhood and the week was such a memory lane to me. I enjoyed every moment of it! It was definately the best week of this summer. Other parents kept thanking me for being there with their daughters but I was thinking: Wow, I got to experience this for free!

I hadn't realized how much I love the game before this. I'm so happy I can share it with my daughter but the game has me in hook even without my daughter now. I'm planning on starting to play myself again if I can find a team that accept old ladies like me.

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!

Voortrekker Monument

On our visit to our friendship school we also visited several places after school, one was Voortrekker Monument. It was a very impressive place to visit. It was also interesting to hear some history of the whites in South Africa while we were most of our time with blacks and we didn't have any contact to white population. The Monument was built in honour of the Voortrekkers (Pioneers), who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854.

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 Great Trek. During their trek Voortrekkers got in conflict with Zulus. On December 16, 1838, Voortrekkers were able to defeat the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River. The Boers attributed their victory to a vow they made to God before the battle: if victorious, they and future generations would commemorate the day as a Sabbath. Cenotaph, the central focus of the Monument, is there to remind people of that vow. Through an opening in this dome the sun shines at twelve o'clock on 16 December each year onto the middle of the Cenotaph.

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 laager consisting of 64 ox-wagons made out of decorative granite. The same number of wagons were used at the Battle of Blood River to form the laager. There is also

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...



There is a beautiful frieze inside the Monument. It's made of marble. The frieze consists of 27 bas-relief panels depicting the history of the Great Trek as well as the every day life, work methods, religious beliefs and way of life of the Voortrekkers.
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!

Mongena Game Lodge

A group from Mikkola school (including me) visited our friendship school in South Africa in April. During our visit we also got to spend two days in Mongena Game Lodge. It's a little reserve area about 50 km Pretoria. So as our friendship school situates in Soshanguve one of the townships of Pretoria it was a good place for us to go to see African animals.

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.