You never know how much you use (and need) internet access until you don't have it. Our little netbook stopped getting wireless access a few days ago, and while we thankfully had access to the 'outside world' via our itouch (thank you brother Nate and sister in law Paige!) it still had me feeling a little on edge that I couldn't do everything I wanted to do in an instant, with a quick touch of a real keyboard. It just makes one wonder...how did people do anything before the internet???
The past few days have been good- the family is feeling better, getting more sleep and feeling more settled. While things still are new, and "foreign," it feels a bit more familiar. We know what busses to take to get places (like the doctor, which Marieka and I did on Sunday...), the fast backroad to use to get to the grocery store, and the place to buy good looking vegetables on the weekend (love that the local outdoor market has veggies, fruit (including Finnish apples..yum!) as well as cross country skiis for sale!) Still know little to no Finnish...unless you count "hi," "thanks" and that I know what restaurant is ("Ravintola") and "Welcome" ("Tervetola"). My dad asked if signs were in 2 languages...I said yes, Finnish and Swedish...so we do a lot of looking and checking stuff out to figure out what we need, especially at the store. I thought I bought some yummy looking fresh sauerkraut...only to discover I had purchased a slightly icky cold cabbage salad. Oh well. Could have been worse.
Buying vegetables here is more complicated than in the states. You need to put your selection in a bag, and then weigh it, and press the right number code (from the sign by the veggies) and a machine spits out a price and barcode. It is quite logical, and saves the checker tons of time and mind space in terms of memorizing codes. The prices are more expensive than we are used to in Olympia, but they aren't as outrageous as one would imagine. And the salty licorice selection is amazing. Which I love, but Rob has already grown tired of. Oh well, more for me.
I continued to observe classes at the Teacher Training School early in the week. I got to see a distance learning English class that the school does with a school in the far north of Finland (3 hours by car from the nearest airport). It was a great example of how they can support students around the country. I also got to listen to and participate in a final English speaking test for 16 year olds. They have an amazing command of English. One thing I am sure of after being here for just 10 days...we are shortchanging our students by not providing them 2nd and 3rd language instruction starting at an early age. I met with a number of international students at the University of Helsinki today, and countries require proficiency with 1 and 2 languages to graduate high school, and even through college. Yes, much of the world speaks English, however that doesn't meet that we should be so snooty to assume we shouldn't learn other languages to be able to get along in the world more effectively.
I also was invited to a meeting of the School Librarian Association of Finland. Here is what I know:
- there are only 10 school librarians in Finland!
- most are not trained as teachers, but are trained as librarians either at the University of Tampere (Masters) or at Turkku (more of a librarian technician school I think).
- most school libraries here (if they exist) are run by teachers (often Finnish/"Mother Tongue") teachers.
- they want more school libraries and school librarians, and they are working together to build support and provide models for what is possible
Here are some photos of Marieka and I on a snowy walk yesterday...
A beautiful old building down the hill from our place.
A beautiful old building down the hill from our place.
On the bike/walking path along the water down from the apartment.
Swinging at the local little park. 
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