Living in Lappeenranta

So we have moved. This move wasn't easy to me. Normally I kind of enjoy the packing and I'm excited about the new. This time was different. I really enjoyed living in Vantaa close to my friends and family and working in Mikkola school. During those five years I worked in Mikkola school I learned A LOT and grew a lot too. That school represented me everything I wanted from a school: Multicultural, warm and caring with values I appreciate, children from 6 to 16, motivated and high quality staff, excellent music education, creative place where one could express oneself, there was room for ideas and encourament to go for it. I also got many kinds of challenges during the time spent there and I have to admit that it was a pity that I couldn't do the substitute of the vice principal to the end of the due date.

Most of all the move came too quickly to me. While packing I had to process the fact that I have to give it all up and I didn't have time to say good bye to my collagues and friends. At the same time with my personal sorrow I had to listen many people complaning that why we have to go so far. I also had to act strong and positive in order to make the move easier to our daughters.

Well, now that we've lived here for 10 days I don't regret the move at all. I got work as a special teacher in a small school (in my eyes after the second biggest school in Finland) five minutes bycicle ride from our home. And on that route I can enjoy lake Saimaa! That's such a treat to me who grew up on a lake and most of all I've missed a lake close to me. Our daughters got into the music class and to the music academy for violin lessons here too. I've been amazed that studying in music academy is here free for the kids on music class while we had to pay 1200 euros a year for the violin lessons in Vantaa and on top of that our children get a free snack at school when they have long school days including violin lessons.

What I enjoy the most is the five minute walk to the beach. Let me take you there with these pictures:

This is the closest beach but not good for swimming for possibility to step on broken glass.

So let's continue...

Next beach. There's a bench in here for resting and for admiring the view. But still a little to walk...

Pass the little harbour and here we are!

Needless to say that we've been swimming every day since the hardest unpacking has stopped. It's been such a warm summer here in Finland that the water is still very warm. Let's see when we have to give up swimming. Hopefully not soon.

Tour of Homes

I found a great blog through Amy's blog. BooMama invites all the bloggers show their homes with pictures to all the blog readers. There are already over 200 hundred links to people's homes. I love peeping into homes! You find this blog here. Have fun!

We are in the middle of move to Lappeenranta so I won't show my home yet. Now I'm concentrating on packing...

In Taivalmaja

(Last post of camp school in Ilomantsi to find out more read 5 previous posts)

During the camp school we also spent time in the camping center called Taivalmaja. In the evenings we had sauna and because we had the opportunity we also swam. The first day we were in Taivalmaja there was still little pit of ice on the lake so the water was freezing! It didn't stop us. We also enjoyed the lake just watching it, canoeing etc. The weather was beautiful and I could have stayed on the dock hours. I love watching how the sun sets on a calm lake.

We also ate a lot! And the food was good! Simpel, tasty, ordinary home food with local specialities like carelian pies which are nowadays very common all over Finland but the real good ones you get in Ilomantsi, vatruska which is a pastry made of potatoes and inside of it is rice (I love vatruskas and will buy them whenever I find them but the best place to eat them is in the Parppeinpirtti restaurant where you can actually see ladies making them) and the unique speciality sultsina! See how we ate it:

Voilá! I can assure it's good! I remember when I was a child how I ate them one after one in one wedding. And I was a very light eater. I especially asked if we could have them one evening. I really appriciate how our camp school leaders wanted to have all our wishes filled so we also had sultsinas even tough they had to have an extra person in kitchen that night because it's hard job to brown these crusts on a cooker. The crust is made of rye flour and the inside is plain rice borridge.

Well, on a camp one must have pancakes made on campfire!

We really had a perfect camp school! I would do it again and maybe with the next class I get to do it again after few years. I also hope that my pupils had lifelong memories from the camp school. It's time to say goodbye for Ilomantsi - at least for now!

Around Ilomantsi

(Post number 5 of camp school in Ilomantsi, to find out more read 4 previous posts)

Ilomantsi is known to be the eastest place in mainland of EU, the place of many war historic events, Kalevala community which cherishes carelian culture, the most orthodox municipality in Finland and the place with lots of wilderness and wild animals. On our tours in Ilomantsi we got to see all of that.

We visited game research department in Ahvenjärvi. I had never visited there before and it was very interesting. I enjoyed learning of they our government takes care of our game animals. In this map you can see where in Finland we've got these research centers. I think my pupils also enjoyed getting in touch with something so out of their world.

Visit in game research department was very educating our next stop was too but mostly it was an experience. We got to go to the frontier zone. We had to get permissions from the local border guards. We went to see the actual point which is the eastest in mainland EU in Virmajärvi. WE had to drive there 50 minutes or maybe more from the downtown of Ilomantsi. There we heard how our frontier guarding operates but kids were more interested in looking to the Russian side. We could also see the parts that used to belong to Finland! Ilomantsi has 100 kilometers common borderline with Russia. So being just a stone throw away from Russian side can be very exotic!

Here you can see the boundary marks of Finlan and Russia.



We had lunch in a laplander's hut in frontier zone. I am a fire watcher so havig lunch on campfire is so awesome!

On our way back from the frontier zone we visited Taistelijan talo Fighter's house in English. Basically it's an war museum but there is also an restaurant. The short movie of war in Ilomantsi made me cry. It was very well made! Boys loved the cannons!

In this kind of sleihgs people used when they had to evacue from their homes because of the war.

We heard stories of many fights of wars on our bus drive when we passed some fighting area. Our quide from Erämantsi was very good. Get to know the War History of Ilomantsi here.

Maybe the most wanted thing on our camp school was to get to the downtown of Ilomantsi shopping. Children had the time for themselves. While we camped in the middle of nowhere they had already started to miss sivilication! In my opinion the downtown of Ilomantsi is a little bit boring and of course it's very small but kids enjoyed their freedom!

Together we visited the crafts center of Ilomantsi, company called Mantsin Makie which makes jellys and juices of the gifts of the wilderness of Ilomantsi (very good) and the local rehabilitation center were we went swimming.

In a crafts center I've used a lot of time when I was a little girl. My mom would go there to weave and I spend time under the rug loom with my brother. I have good memories of those visits and I could recall the smell of that place. One day I'm going to weave my own rug too like my mom did.

The rehabilitation center Pääskynpesä is very familiar to me too. It was built in Ilomantsi when I was in senior high school. I had always loved swimming and worked as a swim teacher on lakes two summers in Ilomantsi. So it was very natural that I started coathcing the little swimmers of Ilomantsi. I already had been coaching Finnish baseball (pesäpallo) several years and had liked doing it. Pääskynpesä also situated very close to my home so I went swimming on my own a lot. Later on I even worked as a life-guard over there for a little while.

After swimming we had a snack on the back yard of the Pääskynpesä. Look how beautiful is the scenery:

Because of the high rate of members of the orthodox church I took my class to the orthodox church. It's also situated close to my childhood home so even though I never belonged to the orthodox church it became very familiar to me. Every summer I would go to the summer camp arrenged by the orthodox church (never went to the lutheran one -funny) and very many of my friends were orthodox. Even now at the church I met several acquaintance. Well, boys in my class couldn't help laughing at the church because of the constant singing and reciting. I wasn't prepared for that because the orthodox church is so familiar to me. here is the orthodox church of Ilomantsi:

If you are in Ilomantsi you can't miss the oportunity to listen Kantele, our national instrument! When I was a child I played it. Unfortunately I can't do it anymore, at least not very well. I really wish I could! I love the sound of it. And the second time on this camp school I cried in the concert but this time I cried hard! Listening songs like Iltakaste Ilomantsissa, Konevitsan kirkonkellot and Karjalan kunnailla made me realize that my roots really are in Ilomantsi.

Möhkö

(post number 4 of camp school in Ilomantsi, to find out more read 3 previous posts)

If you ever go to Ilomantsi you must visit Möhkö! And that's what we did. In Möhkö is a unique Pytinki Iron Mill Museum. The museum shows how the iron was processed from lake ore in Möhkö since 1849. It's a large area in where are indoors museums showing the life at that age and outdoors you can see renewed canals, locks, blast furnace and other buildings etc. See the map of the area here.

At the top is the picture of the rapids of Möhkö. Here is a Picture of the main building of the museum called Pytinki. The factory owners used to live in there. Other pictures are from inside the Pytinki.

In the side buolding there is a museum which shows the life of the living in logging site cabins. I really liked the museum a lot. Somehow the hard living at those times is very interesting and I can't stop wondering how on earth did people survive on those days. Must admire them! I have hard time if I loose my cell phone...

I really love these handcrafts made by men in their logging cabins. I should by something like that home to remind me of the works of my ancesters.

Outside you can see canals, locks (still operating) and factory buildings, but the loveliest thing is the love path. One factory owner had it made for her wife while living for a rich lady in a factory area can be very boring. As a child walking on the path set my imagination to fly. I imagined how the people had arrenged secret meetings on the path, walked there hand in hand and maybe changed a kiss. The truth is more boring while it was only to the rich lady who very seldom had her busy husband with her there. Anyway I would even imagine that someday I will go to the love path with my loved one. For some reason I haven't done that yet. One more reason to go back to Ilomantsi one day!!

















There is a Manta cafe boat in the area too. Manta used to inhabit men that where on logging business in the middle of nowhere. It was a convienent thing while you could move the cabin when the logging business changed place. In Manta there are also museum rooms. And I heard that it has a rental sauna! Well, where in Finland isn't a sauna? They also have large variety of other services including tours to the middle of wildlife (even with wheel chairs).

















Lastly I want to share a very special moment that I had on the bridge you can see above. When I listened the sounds of the rapids I understood very deeply a song called Suomen laulu. It tells us to listen how Finland sings or sounds and I could here it in the rapids. I remember first hearing this song when I was a little child. My father was a member of a men's choir and they performed it. It impressed me already then and has been one of my top favourite songs ever since. I taught it to my pupils and had them fall in love with it too. Well, not all but many. When we were asked to performe they many times suggested the very same Suomen laulu. So we have song it several times. One of the finest moments was when we got to sing it in Olavin linna on our way back from camp school. The echo was something very different and so was the setting!

So if you visit Möhkö you might end up experiencing Finland very deeply. In the meantime go and listen Suomen laulu composed by Fredric Pacius the same man who composed our national hymn.