Wonderful Weather and the Midnight Sun

Picture 1 Mats's boat docked across the street from his house
Picture 2 Austin after his dunk in the water for his sauna
Picture 3 Mats and Brit at Valhalla
Picture 4 Lunch!

Since we have arrived in Finland, the weather has been wonderful. Though a little cool on Friday and Saturday, today, Sunday has been hot! Around 22 to 25 degrees Celsius...see if you can figure out Fahrenheit for that!

Yesterday and today we have been in my cousin, Mats's, new 31 foot cabin cruiser in the bays of the Baltic Sea. Yesterday we went to his company's bay retreat area they call Valhalla (heaven of the gods in Norse mythology). It has a large 2 bedroom cabin which looks like it was made of Lincoln logs, a large grilling area, an outhouse(!), and a sauna (bastu). We grilled barbeque chicken on a stick and two types of sausages with salad, potato salad, and bread and fruit. All was delicious. Then we took a sauna which almost every home and summer villa has. It has a wood burning fireplace with large rocks on top which get very hot. There are 3levels of benches (bottom is hot, top is HOT) and you sit there and get very hot and sweaty then run out to the bay and jump in 55 F water to freeze off, then run back into the sauna again. All the kids did the water dunk, but I cooled off by running back and forth in the cool breezy air to take pictures of everyone else jumping in! Then you bathe out of a dishpan of water and get dressed. When you come out, you feel very refreshed and clean!

Then we took a ride out in the Gulf which had some good swells and waves, made a few tourist stops along the way home and got home about 9 p.m. As we were pulling into the inlet where Mats lives, Mom said 'How many times have you had to wear sunglasses at 9 p.m. at night?' The sky was still bright blue, not even evening grey, and the sun was about as high as 4 p.m. in the afternoon. We went to bed at 11 p.m. and they sky was just beginning to grey, but by 2 p.m. it was beginning to get bright again. When we get up in the mornings around 8 or 9 a.m., it looks like it is noon! After not being able to go back to sleep on Friday morning at 4 a.m. when Davis, Austin, and I woke up because it was already very bright, Mats found some dark cloth to hang over the window to help darken it. The wonderful 'Land of the Midnight Sun'.

Today, we went again for a boatride at lunch time to a bayside boatclub because when the weather is so beautiful as it is today, you must be out in it! It was very nice with a buffet lunch of salads and salmon and potatoes. Davis, Austin and Jessica are doing very well in trying new things. We did have a little shock when Austin's napkin floated over the votive candles on the table and caught on fire which I panicked over, but Mats had to come beat it out with his hands, thank goodness, because it had begun to catch the table cover on fire as well. (Can't take these Americans anywhere!) The next shock came when I bought cold Cokes for everyone on the ride back--8 cokes at 2.50 Euros each come out to about $4 per coke, but like Davis said, it felt good going down! (Just don't tell David!)

School In Finland

Picture 1 Ivar takes Davis for a ride in his own boat
Picture 2 Lagmans School, William's school
Picture 3 Davis and William rode bike to school and Isak wanted to!

On Friday, Davis, Jessica, and I went to Lagmans School with our cousin William who is the same age as Davis. Because of the age they begin school, William is in level 5. As in America, the last few days are not typical so we didn't see a normal school day, but it was normal for the end of school. The headmaster greeted us and showed us to William's classroom which looked like regular classroom! Then he took us outside to show us the new grounds for which they received a grant to develop and now have received an award for them. He, as well as the teachers and children, were very proud of the new design with large green spaces and new plantings, play areas, geometric designs, a dry moat with stones and a bridge, and different types of ground cover.

I met William's teacher and all of the students lined up outside for a quick walk to the local church for the end of the school year chapel time. A chorus sang, a girl played a flute solo, and the minister spoke about Zaccheus. We didn't understand much but caught the idea of Zaccheus, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. They sang several hymns but none that we recognized. (The school's are attached to the local government and students receive a grade in religion on their report card. Those students who are not Christian, do not have to participate in these activities.)

After returning to school, students ate an early lunch of meat and pasta and two different salads. My kids were suprised to see them add ketchup on top as 'tomato sauce'. I visited with the teacher during lunch and learned that teacher training in a university takes 5 years to complete and that very little standardized testing is done with students, then mostly in math, until they reach late middle school age.

After lunch, we had an opportunity to talk with William's class about Eufaula and Atlanta and they were most interested in the alligators in Lake Eufaula and were quite suprised about the heat and humidity we have in the summer. I brought some alligator jerky to Finland to give as 'gifts' so on the next day, I cut some strips up and sent to school for the class with William who reported back that it was 'a hit'...some of the parents who were there wanted to try it, too!

Then William's class, which is changing schools for the next year, had graduation practice. It was to be held the next day, Saturday, so parents would be off work to come. However, since the space was small, only parents of the graduating students could come so we did not ask to go. Graduation Day was full of presentations by the students of work they have done such as writings and poems, songs they have learned, etc. Then they receive their second report card of the year and school is over for the summer. They begin again around the same time in August as we do.

Some of the big differences we noticed were that students take off their shoes when they come in to school and walk around in sock feet; students take a wood working class each week and a sewing class each week; school starts at 9 a.m. and ends around 2 p.m.; almost all the students walk or ride their bikes to school as did Davis and William that day; preschool is what we call kindergarten and their kindergarten is what we call preschool.

The funniest thing was that as Davis and I watched the students in William's class, we could easily pick out students whose actions and personalities matched kids from Lakeside. I guess that means that kids are kids world round!

Finally Here!

We left Eufaula for Finland on Wednesday, May 27, around 7 a.m. checked in at Atlanta airport and left there around 12:30 and arrived in NYC about 3 p.m. After a last dinner at McDonald's we took off at 5 p.m. and arrived in Helsinki at 8:30 a.m. local time which was 12:30 a.m. Eufaula time so that part of the flight was 7 1\2 hours. The Finnair jet was new--the back of each headrest had a TV screen which showed a big selection of movies and a variety of TV shows and had a game controller for different games.

After a 4 hour layover in Helsinki, we took a short flight across Finland to the west side of the country to a town called Jakobstäd where my cousin lives. He has 3 boys around my boys' age so they have been playing since we arrived.

Ivar, the oldest boy, took Davis for a ride in his own boat. They both enjoyed that. William, the middle, had soccer practice in the afternoon so the kids went to that and got to kick the ball around some. I went with my cousin's wife, Britt, to the grocery store which turned out to be a Finnish version of Wal-Mart! They have all the current brands and a wide variety as well. This is a big change over the last time I was here--30 years ago!

After a delicious dinner of grilled chicken, Uncle Ben's Wild rice, and salad (sounds like home) we decided to go to bed at 8:30 because now we have been up for about 30 hours since no one slept on the plane. The only problem was with the sun. At 8:30 last night, it looked like 4 p.m. in Eufaula. Thankfully, we were so tired going to sleep was no problem. But at 4 a.m. trying to go back to sleep was since it looked like 9 a.m. So today, Davis, Austin, and I have been up since 4 a.m. Tonight we will try to find something to cover the windows!

Time to Go!

It's almost time to go! How much luggage can three people need? (see picture) This is only for Davis, Austin, and me. My mom and niece have lots of bags, too! We may need a U-haul to get all of our stuff there!

Speaking of time, just a little info about our itinerary tomorrow. We leave Atlanta at 12:30 p.m. and arrive in NYC at 3:05. Then we leave NYC at 5:40 p.m. EDT and fly to Helsinki, Finland's capital, at 9:00 a.m. local time.

So how long is our flight from NYC to Helsinki? Helsinki is 7 hours ahead of NYC (8 hours ahead of Central time)so our flight is about 8 1/2 to 9 hours. Then we have to wait for a 2:00 p.m. commuter flight to the west coast of Finland where my family lives.

So when we're sleeping at 12 midnight, it will be 4 p.m. in Alabama and when we're eating lunch at noon, it will be 4 a.m. in Alabama! Crazy!

Funny Money

Since Finland is a member of the European Union, instead of using "marks" for money which used to be the main denomination for Finnish money, they now use Euros which are accepted in countries that are members of the EU. For example, if I exchange 500 US dollars I will receive 325 Euros which is an exchange rate of 1.503 dollars per Euro.

Austin (my youngest son) figured it out quite quickly: If things cost more in Finland than they do in the US and if it takes 1 and 1/2 dollars to equal a Euro, then we are going to need a lot of spending money for our trip! Or as my mom said, we're going to have to watch our Euros carefully!

Here are some pictures of Euros in 5, 20, and 50 denominations. Like US dollars, the fronts and backs are different. But unlike US dollars, all the denominations are different colors and different sizes from each other, the 5 being the smallest.

Johnstons in Finland

Why are we going to Finland? My maternal grandmother immigrated from Finland to the US in 1939 at the age of 17 leaving behind parents and four brothers and sisters. My maternal grandfather's parents immigrated to the US from Finland (the same area as my grandmother) in 1901 (great grandfather)and 1903 (great grandmother) leaving many family members behind, too.



As I was growing up, my grandparents and mother took my brother, sister, and me to Finland in 1976 and my sister and me in 1980. We met many cousins, aunts, and uncles. I saw the places my grandmother grew up around as a girl and saw the churches and cemeteries where both my grandparents' families worshipped and died. These were life-changing trips for me as I look back at them now.



Now it is time to take my children (Davis and Austin) to see these places, meet many more family members, and gain a bigger sense of who they are in this world. My mom, Janice McDonald (Mama Janice) and my niece, Jessica Brookins who is 13, is also going with us or maybe I should say we are going with her! We will stay with my grandmother's niece and nephew, Lena Andersson and Mats Holti, but will visit many other relatives.



I hope you will read and keep up with us. My students at school are interested in the midnight sun so I will be adding pictures along the way. We leave May 27 and will return June 30.