Week 13: 29th March – 4th April

Personal and Cultural Development

I started this fantastic week in true Finnish style: sauna! There is a sauna at my apartment block that has a free session set aside every week, but I have missed it the past couple of weeks with being so busy! So, when I returned, I had the most relaxing and beneficial sauna that I have experienced so far. It occurred to me that this is why the Finnish have sauna so deeply embedded into their culture. I also met a girl from Finland in sauna, which was bizarre for two reasons: (1) Finnish people are normally very quiet and reserved and don’t openly talk to strangers unless under the influence of alcohol, and (2) it is not an everyday occurrence for me to meet people in a situation that involves complete nudity. As a result, this was a culturally defining moment!

The sauna enjoyment continued at Emmi’s parents’ house, where we were invited for dinner and sauna on Good Friday. It was a great experience, and I was thrilled to see Emmi’s parents again. The food we had was to-die-for too! For starter, there was reindeer and smoked salmon nibbles that I thoroughly enjoyed. As much as it seems a sin for fans of Christmas, I love reindeer meat; so much so that I had it again in the form of ‘Rudolph pizza’ two days later. For the main course at Emmi’s, we had a beautiful roast beef dinner that reminded me so much of home. After the main course, Emmi informed us that we would be having cake for dessert. Mine and Travis’s ears perked up at this, and the two of us immediately responded in unison, ‘Cake?!’ with eyes lit up! Sensing our excitement, Emmi tried to describe what type of cake we would be served, but this didn’t exactly go to plan. We established, before overcoming a slight language barrier, that it was pig skin and baby food flavoured cheesecake. Turns out, Emmi was trying to find out if her vegetarian friend ate gelatine (pig skin), while telling us that the cake was made with cheese and mango baby food. Surprisingly, it was delicious!

Pig skin and baby food flavoured cheesecake.

My first day in Finland at Emmi's^^      ^^ Good Friday at Emmi's                                                               (Spring is coming!!)

Because it was Easter, my parents decided to pay me a small visit in Turku. I had a wonderful time with them, albeit short. I was worried that my mum would hate it because she is not a fan of cold weather, but only in the last week has it got a lot milder and signs of spring have even been appearing, luckily for us! I even got a Terry’s chocolate orange and a Lindt chocolate bunny for Easter. :)

The river - half ice/ half water - with baby daffodils >>

Professional Development

I was invited back to a CLIL class this week in the school beside TIS to a baking session with first graders (seven year olds). They were making hot cross buns for Easter, and it was very encouraging to see such young children being given so much responsibility in such an activity. They made them with great pride, because the next morning at 8am, the parents were invited to see the children’s Easter performance and eat the hot cross buns they had made. I also attended the parents’ morning, and was heartened to see so many parents appear to support their children and risk giving themselves food poisoning.

The professional highlight of this week, though, was a four-hour seminar for the module I’m studying, called Learning, Motivation and Learning Environments. I was dreading this seminar because I had never been faced with such a demanding length of time. I was even more discouraged upon entering the seminar room, as the tutor immediately intimidated us by revealing that that seminar we would be worked harder than we have ever been worked before. And she was right. First, we were split into groups of four that purposefully consisted of people we had never met. We were then given two long articles and told to ‘deep read’ them, plan a 90-minute lecture and be ready to deliver it to a lecture hall of 90 students in less than two hours. She offered a voluntary 15 minute break after one hour that I didn’t even take. The task was so overwhelming; none of us felt we could manage it. Nevertheless, we did, and were told two hours later that we could relax. We didn’t have to give the lecture after all. Instead, we talked about how we dealt with the task in our groups and focused on the issue of motivation. Ironically, I walked away from the seminar, after spending four hours intensively working, feeling completely inspired and motivated, and was welcomed by the sauna!

My response to the experience:

I couldn't believe I just lasted a four-hour seminar on motivation that involved a voluntary 15 minute break that I didn't take ... and I left feeling more motivated than ever! That teacher is a genius!