IFYE Program Newsletter

I have now begun my IFYE experience and would like to first say, "THANKS" to everyone who made this possible. Kitos! (THANK YOU).

After 12 hours of flying and a few more hours of layover, I finally made it to Finland. We arrived Helsinki. It is the capitol as well as the largest city. Finland is the 7th largest country in Europe (130,500 square miles).

It is 721 miles from north to south and 336 from east to west.

Finland is full of lakes (180,000). In fact, 10% of the country's area is covered by water. The lakes were created by glaciers during the Ice Age and are usually fairly shallow, only about 3 or 4 meters (9-12 feet).

The population of Finland is about 5,147,000 but most of these people live in the southern half; the northern half has short, cool summers and long, dark, cold winters. The rest of Finland has a very nice climate. The Gulf Stream and the many lakes help regulate Finland's temperature. The average summer temperature is about 70 degrees F, but since I've been here, we have had many days in the 80 os. All this plus their beautiful scenery make Finland an ideal place to ski, hunt, boat, fish, snowmobile, and just relax.

My first home is in a town called Kuhmo. It has about 12,000 people and an area of 5,500 kilometers (km). One kilometer equals 1.6 miles. Kuhmo takes pride in saying that it is one of the largest towns in the world. It is more than twice the size of Tokyo, Japan. The town is about 50 km from the Russian border. This area is rich in history, having been the site of the Winter War between Russia and Finland in 1939-1940. Some of the memorials of the war are a thirty-minute drive from town.

Many years ago this area made a name for itself by making tar. It is mostly used for covering the hulls of boats. I visited a tar pit just a kilometer up the road to see how it was made. A pit is dug and boards are laid to make a drain. The pinewood is set on fire and peat from the forest floor is added. It is covered with dirt and smolders for a week or more, and tar comes out of the drain. They also use tar (terra) to make marmalade substances for ice cream. It is mixed with berries, but still has a tar taste.

My first family has been great – Mirja (mother), Matti (father), daughters Tarja (19), Tuvla (17) and Maijo (8), and son Juha-Matti (15). They live on a small farm with about 12 acres of strawberries, and 2 acre of potatoes. The strawberries are now beginning to ripen and have become a daily snack. They pick and freeze many of the berries, but they also put an ad in the paper and people come to pick their own. One of my first experiences with the family was the mid-summer festival (Juhannus). This celebration is second

only to Christmas in size. The locals gathered in a nearby park and celebrated. They danced, socialized, and ate. A large bonfire was lit to signify the beginning of summer and then the festivities began. The traditional meal for the occasion is makkara (sausage). We also ate fire-baked salmon. We were up late, but still there was light in the sky.

Here, we have 24 hours of daylight. The sun sets about 11:30 p.m., but goes just below the horizon and lights up the land all night long, enough so that one could read a book outside or drive without headlights all night long. During the days I help with chores around the house while the mother and father are at work.

Matti is a gardener for the town of Kuhmo; his work group takes care of parks, the war memorials, schools and much more. Mirja works in a hen house on various days and at various times. Tarja works at a craft store and she makes many crafts, like rugs, tablecloths, and flowers. Tuvla also works three days a week. Juha-Matti, Maijo and I stay home and do chores and play. I help stack wood and mow grass. We also do lots of swimming, biking, hiking, and play pesăpallo. Pesăpallo is Finland's national pastime. It is slightly similar to American baseball. It is a very fun game that young and old, male and female all play together. We usually play 2 or 3 times a week.

The Kuhmo 4-Hers went to a forestry competition, and I went along. Here, children from 11 to 19 compete in their age groups at various skill levels. They identify plants, judge forest type from the types of plants that grow, estimate tree age and height, determine trees per hectare (~2.2 acres), wood per hectare, and much more. They get to use a tool that helps with sizing trees; it is basically a meter stick with a special tip so they can look through it. The kids from Kuhmo did very well. In fact, the winner of the youngest age group was from Kuhmo and finished about 10 points below the oldest group winner.

I have saved the best for last – sauna! There is one sauna for every three people in Finland. Every day Finns go to a sauna, whether it is at their regular or summer home. Here, I go with Juha-Matti. You sit in a room and throw a small amount of water onto fire-heated rocks. The burst of steam releases all the tensions of the day. The temperature can go above 200 oF, which sounds uncomfortable, but is actually quite relaxing for 15 minutes or so. Once you've had enough, you can either step out, cool off, and repeat, or bathe yourself. The water heated in the sauna is mixed with cold water so you can wash yourself with a sponge and soap. It is quite refreshing.

When I talk to you next, I will be with my second family, and will have spent a week at the Finnish camp in Nurmes. About 1000 people will attend, including 450 Norwegians and a variety of Swedes, Russians and Danes.

I hope everything went well at the state camps.

Having a HOW-HOW time!

Terve (later),

Dave