So far, we're doing pretty good on updating our blog every day.  Today was a PACKED day with the Somero Rotary Club and we had a great time!  Today was Ascension Day and a state holiday in Finland, so all businesses were closed, except for the those the Somero Rotary club arranged to meet with us :)

We started the day off with some shopping at Somero Pellavakeskus - The Linen Centre.  After shopping, we went to the forest to watch some forestry.  It was amazing to see this $1 million machine cut and process 20 year old trees in less than 15 seconds.  The hippie inside me almost started crying!  But the cool thing about Finland is that for every tree they cut down, they plant 3 more trees.  Trees are Finland's "Green Gold".

Next we were treated to the home of famous Finnish writer, Kaara Utrio.  Mrs. Utrio was a very gracious host and treated us a complete tour of her home and printing business, all complete with a glass of champagne!  At the end of our tour, she presented each of the GSE members with one of her books (in English, of course!). 

After the tour, we walked a few hundred yards to the Red Waterlily Resturant (Ravintola Punainen Lumme).  We were treated to another traditional Finnish dinner of boiled potatoes, smoked salmon, homemade sausage, salted Baltic herring, sweet potato casserole, lettuce salad with cucumbers and tomatos, fried Pike fish, salted ham and a few other delicious dishes I'm forgetting to mention.  The meal was completed with a sour cream dessert with fresh blueberries, cloudberries and lingenberries (my favorite!) and coffee and tea.

We took so much time for lunch (did we mention that we Oklahoma girls really like to eat?) that we weren't able to view the old wooden Lutheran church in Somerniemi until later that afternoon.  Instead, we went straight to Hiidenlinna.  Hiidenlinna is one man's dream home, take a look at the pictures to see for yourself.  The owner did not speak any English and from what our Rotary hosts relayed to us, he was fond of telling dirty jokes that "didn't translate from Finnish". We also saw our first critter after arriving...Robynn stepped on a small snake.  Amy also had her own scare with a snake...a small, crooked wooden snake

Our time at Hiidenlinna didn't take as long as planned so we went back to the old wooden church in Somerniemi.  This was a gorgeous church that was more than 200 years old.  It's crazy to think that this church was twice as old as the state of Oklahoma! 

Then as true Fins, we ended our day at the sauna by the lake at the Somero parish camping centre in Siikjarvella.  The sauna/locker rooms were split for males and females.  And in true Finnish tradition, we did sauna the proper way.  After you get nice and sweaty in the sauna, you walk into the lake for a quick dip in the frigid water (today is was around 40F) then go back to the sauna to warm up and repeat as you feel necessary.  I'm not gonna lie, that water was COLD! but the feeling you get when you return to the sauna is really great.  Every Finnish home has it's own sauna.  When the winters get so cold, it's one way they can stay extra warm.  Also, the mixing of hot and cold is one way to really relax your body.  As I felt the sweat droplets slide down my body, I realized that Americans could really take a lesson from the Fins and take an hour or so twice a week to de-stress and relax. 

I've already decided that if/when I can afford to build my own home, it won't be complete without a sauna.  You're more than welcome to come over and sauna with me, but please bring your own towel or use a disposable butt towel to keep your germs to yourself :)  Oh and traditionally, men and women do not sauna together and suits are optional in your own home sauna, hence the reason for separate sauna facilities!

Lynn

Forssa, our first city.
A city committed to a few important things, as we learned yesterday. We learned Finns pay taxes comparable to ours and benefit in Forssa by receiving free college, subsidized art education for all ages, subsidized daycare, subsidized medical care. Forssa, is known as the best medical system and most comprehensive in all of Finland. More about that to come.
First, our whole group met and toured the local polytechnic school, which is like a college level technical school where they learn trades like nursing or engineering. Next, we went to the art school next door and made some great screen printed bags. We had lots of fun and all of this is housed within a wonderful old building which was originally home to a textile factory and mill which was the first true industry of Forssa.
Then we split up into our professional visits.
Lynn and Aimee visited the nursing school and the Psychiatric Unit of the Hospital. We had a tour of the inpatient and outpatient unit as well as the detox for drugs and alchohol. You will all be happy to know that though smoking is outlawed in all public places of Finland you can still smoke if you are inpatient in the hospital. WOW! Additionally, we were able to sit with a doctor and some nurses and receive a presentation on the healthcare system here in Forssa and ask many questions. It was very interesting!

We left OKC yesterday, May 9 at 12:35 p.m.  The Iceland volcano erupted again earlier that day, leaving us with a slight uneasy feeling that we might be diverted around the volcanic ash, or like some unlucky travelers, be half way to our destination and be forced to turnaround.  Good thing for us, we didn't experience either of those situations. 

Lesson #1 compliments of Delta: "Do not put any unapproved materials in the back seat pockets."  Weird. We reached Atlanta around 3:45 p.m. and proceeded to find some grub at the airport Chili's. We should have known that we were off to a bad start, when our server, Swan, brought Jill the chicken enchilada soup instead of the potato soup.  That just started a whole chain of bad juju.  After a round celebratory "1st leg journey" drinks, we proceeded to our gate. 

Our flight from Atlanta to Copenhagen, Denmark, was delayed from 6:30 to 7:45.  We saw quite a few crazy characters waiting for the plane to Denmark.  Some dudes with crazy facial piercings and tattoos from Pain for Fun - Body Extremes were probably the most extreme.  When it was finally time to board, people were antsy, crowding the boarding line when it wasn't their turn to board!  Our plane was very big; our seats were five rows from the back of the plane (closest to the restrooms).  We enjoyed an onboard dinner of chicken and veggies, salad, roll, brownie and complimentary wine :)  The flight wasn't too bad, not too many turbulence.  The girls who took the good sleeping pills enjoyed a more restful sleep than the other girls who took the over the counter sleeping pills - note to self - take good sleeping pills next time!

We arrive in Copenhagen, Denmark, almost two hours late.  We missed our connecting flight to Turku.  After being corralled like cattle up the escalator to the customs agents, we learned that we had been standing in the wrong line.  We needed to be in the line for connecting flights.  We only had to pass our carry-on lugguage through the x-ray machine.  Poor Robynn had her bags entirely unpacked by the security gal.  After reaching the TransferCentre, the lady behind the counter had the audacity to tell us that it was our fault that we missed our flight to Turku.  Nevermind that Delta didn't leave Atlanta until two hours late!  We spent the next 3-4 hours trying to find an alternate method of transportation to Turku.  Amy called American Express and that lady rebooked us on a flight to Helsinki.  The catch was that all of us would be on the 3:15 flight except Robynn, she was booked on the 5:10 flight.  Those this was not an ideal situation, it was the best we could get so we went with it.  Go figure, our flight to Helsinki was delayed too.  The four of us (Lynn, Aimee, Amy, Jill) said our goodbyes to Robynn and boarded the Scandinavian Airlines plane for Helsinki.  The air steward walked through the cabin, counting the available seats.  We could see 3 empty seats and hoped that he would get on the phone to tell the lady at the gate to bring Robynn on the plane, but he didn't.  But then, to our amazement, Robynn walked on the plane!  We cried shouts of joy to have all our team members together again. 

Fast forward an hour flight and another timezone and we land in Helsinki at 6:00 p.m. Helsinki time (10:00 a.m. Oklahoma time).  While in Copenhagen, the agent made Jill aware that her baggage claim ticket didn't have Turku as her bag's final destination, but assured her that since getting a new ticket to Helsinki, that her bag would follow her there.  Wrong!  All of our luggage arrived but Jill's.  Our Rotarian host and driver were very kind and drove us back the 80 miles to Forassa where we met our host families.

Amy and Robynn went back to their host family's house to enjoy some baked goods.  Aimee and I went with our host families to Subway for some authentic American sandwiches.  Jill went with her host family, though I'm not sure what food was involved in her stay :)

Overall, it has been a great day (besides Delta losing Jill's luggage and not automatically booking us to another Turku flight).  I'm almost certain that all of my team members have showered and are probably in bed by now.  We are meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. OK time).  The locals assure us that we'll recover from our jet lag very soon :)
Lynn

Our team has spent the last few days at various district conference events.  We met the inbound Finland team (Tapani, team leader; Katja, Emmi, Jani, and Jyrki) on Thursday evening at the Rotary BBQ  and have truly enjoyed getting to know them.  They graciously sat with each one of us and helped us learn and speak our Finnish introductions (thank you!).  Friday was the club luncheon and Saturday evening was the International Cuisine Party (check out the Rotarian sing-a-long to Bohemian Rhapsody on our Flickr page!).

It's been great talking to the inbound team members about what Finland is like, what the weather is really doing and whether it's proper to decline pickled herring. The inbound team won't return home until May 29 and we've already started planning for a reunion in Finland during the last few weeks of our stay there.

In case you feel like picking up a second language, here are some important Finnish phrases that my new friend, Jyrki, has taught me:

thank you = kiitos
cheers = kippis!
beer = olut/bisse
where is the restroom = missa on wc/vessa/naisten huone
no = ei
yes = kylla/joo
can I have some water = saisinko vetta
can I have some beer = saisinko oluen/bissen/olutta
water = vesi
good morning = hyvaa huomenta
good night = hyvaa yota

Lynn