IFYE Program Newsletter

This word sums up the experience as a whole. It was wonderful, delightful and lovely. It is now time for my trip to end. I have left my friends and families in Finland and have returned to the states.

Let me tell you a little about my final family. They live in a small town called Outukumpu. When this is translated it means "the strange hill." At the farm the mother (Sirkka-Lisa) and Father (Unto) milk cows and tend to their forests. They have 3 children. Ulla, the youngest, attends both high school and music school. The middle child (Pasi) is the only boy and he is studying at a university. The oldest daughter (Heidi) is studying also, and lives in one of the larger towns near Outukumpu.

Arriving by train I came into Finland's winter wonderland. From there on the rest of my stay was a snowy one. Still, work goes on and it doesn't stop anyone from going outside. I spent some days working in the forests with the father. We were thinning trees. The larger ones are sold to the paper factory while the smaller ones are used for firewood. It seems that as for trees, very little is wasted.

There has been one subject that I will touch briefly on, and that is Finland's induction to the European Union (EU). For those of you who don't know what that is, many of the European countries are coming together to make a sort of United Europe. This allows businesses to easily move through each other's countries. Students have equal opportunity to study at schools in any of the countries, No passports are needed to cross borders. A single currency called the Euro will be used, and prices will become relatively similar.

Not everyone is totally happy with this. Farming is now heavily regulated, with much paper work required for record keeping. Many younger farmers are adapting quickly, but for the older farmers it is a little more difficult. Also, some of the smaller farms are either having to come to an end or be expanded to larger operations.

The EU also does a lot to support culture. Grants can be obtained by submitting the right forms and at this last family they have helped get a local theater built through EU grant money. This is where I made my Finnish acting debut. Heidi is very active with the local theater and one afternoon at one of their presentations they were a little short of actors and asked if I could play a part. My part was as a bodyguard to a Sultan. I merely had to escort a few people off the stage. But I was in costume, sword and all.

Some other things that I did were: attend a speech and talk to a presidential candidate; bake some of the traditional breads, and pastries; and also, visit an old mine.

The visit to the old mine was an interesting experience. Normally at this time of the year the place was shut down unless a large group came to visit. It was just my luck that a group of Italian students were visiting a local school and they had arranged a visit and I was able to tag along. It was a group of about 15 students and most spoke English very well. They had no problem with bringing me right into their group. It was funny for me because they were all enjoying the fresh falling snow. Being from Southern Italy they don't get snow.

The mine was very important to the town. It later took the name of the mining company and came to also be called Outukumpu. The mine had the highest percentage of copper in all of Europe. But also had other metals such as silver and gold. The mine started in the early 1900's and continued until 1989.

Another experience that I had was ice swimming. I did it a few times and it is not as bad as it seems. After sitting in Sauna for a while you walk down to the lake where either a hole has been cut or a pump is keeping the water from freezing, and then you dip yourself into the water and swim around. Most people stay in for only a few seconds but some go much longer, even up to five minutes.

After swimming for five minutes, some of them head back to the sauna to warm up and do it again. I am not sure how anyone can do this.

My last day with this family happened to be the Finnish Independence Day (December 6, 1917). It is much different from how we celebrate. There are many formal ceremonies at towns with speeches and bands playing. Then in the evening there are not so many parties. The holiday is usually spent with the family and at 6:00 p.m. two candles are lit and placed in the window in remembrance of all those who have died fighting for Finland. Then many Finns turn on the TV to watch the Presidential Ball. Anyone who is anyone is there and the people watch to see what types of dresses all the ladies are wearing. It kind of reminds me of us watching everyone arrive at the Oscars.

The next day I went off to Helsinki where I met with the two other IFYEs that were in Finland along with the two who were in Estonia. We had that evening and the entire next day to spend touring the Capital city. Then it was off to Washington, D.C. for evaluations and winding down.

I would like to thank all the friends and all my families in Finland for all that they did for me and to all of you throughout the state who have been supportive of the 4-H program. It wouldn't be possible to have this experience without all of you. I hope I will see you as I begin the next part of the journey touring around the state telling about Finland.

Näkemiin(goodbye),

Dave