We have arrived! Scotland, day 1

Outside Innerwick centre

At Cove, where we had a barbecue together.

Temperature, 17C, sea warm, who wants to swim?

Discussing football with the bus driver!

Penpals reunited!





Great to see you again!

Fresh mackerel tasted good!

In the park at Innerwick.

We arrived at Edinburgh at 12 noon, after a two hour flight from Tampere. When we left the airport there was a big surprise- there was no bus waiting to take us to our accommodation- there were three Mercedes limousines! The pupils thought this was great- they felt like they were very rich as they were whisked off to their accommodation in East Lothian.

When we arrived, we were met by some of the penpals, and some parents, who had prepared Scottish soup and sandwiches for us. After that, we left by bus to visit the nearby beach at Cove, where all the penpals and parents joined us for a barbecue. Cove was a beautiful beach and the penpals had fun playing on the rocks.

Vapaasti suomennettuna ja vahan saadettyna. Herasimme aikaisin ja bussissa meno oli reipasta johtuen jannityksesta ja lennon odotuksesta. Lento sujui hienosti ja olimme perilla hieman etuajassa. Saavuimme siis Edinburghiin hieman puolen paivan jalkeen. Siella meita odotti suuri yllatys. Meita ei odottanutkaan bussi, vaan Michael oli jarjestanyt kolme Mersu-limusiinia. Oppilaista se oli todella mahtavaa ja he kuiskailivatkin tuntevansa itsensa todella rikkaiksi. Lopulta saavuimme majapaikkaamme East Lothianiin.

Kun saavuimme perille, meita odotti muutama kirjekaveri ja muutama heidan vanhempansa. Majapaikka on todella hyva ja saimme heti herkullista keittoa ja leipaa kaikkine lisukkeineen. Sen jalkeen menimme bussilla laheiselle rannalle , jonka nimi on Cove. Siella saimme herkutella grilliruualla ja saimme syoda tuoretta makrillia, jota harva on saanut aikaisemmin edes maistaa. Cove-ranta on aivan mahtavan erikoinen jyrkkine kallioineen ja kivineen. Aava meri aukeaa mahtavasti eika maata nay meren takaa. Oppilaan pelailivat kivien ja kallioiden paalla yhdessa ja heilla naytti olevan oikein hauskaa. Oli mukava jutella jalkapallosta, silla taalla siita tuntuvat puhuvan lahes kaikki. Skotlantilaiset ystavat olivat nahneet paljon vaivaa meidan ensimmaisen paivan jarjestelyhin. Paiva oli lievasti sanottuna ihan FANTSU.

Innerwick- where you will stay!

This is your accommodation in Innerwick village. If you look at Google street view here, you can scroll about and investigate Innerwick village!



View Larger Map

Jyrki asked me if I could post some pictures to let you all see what it's like here at the moment, so here are a few that I took from the accommodation last week.

The green windows at the front of the building show the dining room.




Behind the dining room, there is a large living room, and the rooms to the right and left of the dining room are bedrooms!



This was taken on the edge of Innerwick village, looking back down to the sea.
We hope the weather will be good next week- we are looking forward to meeting you all again!

The trip to Scotland

We are looking forward to travel to Scotland. It is only less than 2 weeks to go. Hopefully, there will be beautiful weather.

Video from Kuvansi!

5 fantastic days in Finland! from Michael Purves on Vimeo.

While we were enjoying all the fantastic activities in Finland, Jyrki was busy with his camcorder, making recordings of all we were doing...

Now, here is the final version of the film that Jyrki created, for everyone to enjoy!

Once again, we would like to thank Jyrki, Jari, all the staff at Kuvansi Primary School, and all the parents of Jyrki's class, along with the pupils too, for making sure that our trip was so very enjoyable.

We hope to welcome you here to Scotland soon...

Mr Purves and all the children in Yester's P7 class

Video Trailer

Scottish Trailer from Jyrki Ikonen on Vimeo.

Some words of thanks!

Yester says "Kiitos!"
Today, we made some short videos, as each of the class wanted to say "Thank you" to their own penpal. We hope that you can understand everything we have said ;-)
Let's kirjoitellaan!

Thank you to our Scottish penpals!

THANK YOU OUR PENPALS!
We want to thank our friends for your visit. As you see you took the sun with you.

Thank you for your visit!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR VISIT!

We had a nice assembly this morning at school. Jari and George (Jyrki) talked how happy we were about your visit. And we watched all the photos as a slideshow. All the teachers and our pupils enjoyed those days so much. Mr Ikonen`s pupils told they had fantastic events with their penpals. They told they learnt English a little bit more, too. They told they have many new friends now.

We are grateful for your many presents. Mr Ikonen cycled home from school today and it was so balmy weather, only -18C. So he went outside after shower to try his new towelkilt. It felt very nice. Thank you once again!

THANK YOU FINLAND!

We are back to school this morning, after our wonderful trip to Finland. Over the next few days, I hope to add more photos to the individual posts already here, so look out for them- but in the meantime, we all want to say a HUGE "Thank you!" once again to everyone in Kuvansi and Varkaus for their superb hospitality while we were away.
To Jari and Jyrki, and the other teachers in Kuvansi school, thank you so much for your fantastic timetable of events, to the parents of the penpals, thanks again for your help in making this trip so memorable! And, of course, to the pupils, both Finnish and Scottish- many, many thanks for working so well together throughout the week!

Mr Purves and the P7 children here in Yester Primary.

Saturday 19th February

Is this the right way to go?

Walking to the lake at Sami and Annika's homes.
The sun through the trees.
A welcome at Annika's house.
The view to the lake. It's a truly beautiful place!
The ice hole!

The block of ice from the ice hole.... 67cm thick!
Now, we try to drill another hole!

Happy girls, on the way to Sami's home.

Getting ready for the snowmobile.

George ja Mikko :-)
An experience of a lifetime!
Mr Purves, about to set out on his own!

The final full day of activities proved to be another outstanding one!

We started by having a lie in, until around 9am, when we had breakfast. Jyrki arrived soon afterwards at Seurakuntakoti, our accommodation, and we got ready to spend the day outside with the penpals and parents at the lake where Sami and Annika live. To get there, we went again on the coach, around 3km past Kuvansi. It wasn't so cold today- in fact it seemed almost balmy at 10am as it was only around -20C!

Once we arrived at the lake and were welcomed by Anne (Sami's mum) we walked down onto the frozen lake and were shown a hole that had been drilled by Mika (Annika's dad). Mika explained how this winter has been very cold and how the ice is much thicker than normal. We measured the ice that had been brought out from the drilled hole and found that it was 67cm thick! Truly amazing! Then we had a go at drilling our own holes, which was great fun.

After this we walked from one lake to another, and through some forest. We arrived at Sami's house, and the scene that greeted us was amazing. There was a roaring fire, next to the lake, with reindeer soup being cooked by Kari, Sami's dad. He is from Lapland- and it was as if we were all in Lapland. The scenery was truly outstanding. As we sledged down through the trees to the lake, Mika showed the class three different snowmobiles, and explained that the children could all be taken for rides on them, in groups of four, sitting in a trailer being towed by the snowmobiles. We then all had a series of brilliant rides on the snowmobiles, across the lake and through the forest. Although I don't have individual quotes from the children, I can say that each and everyone of them thought that this was one of the true highlights of this wonderful week. Many came off the snowmobile saying how much they had enjoyed their rides. I was then allowed to drive two of them myself, which was a highlight for me too! :-)

We ate, drank, ate more and drank more, and each and every one of the children was catered for individually. It was amazing! (Just like everything else this week, to be honest!)

At around 2.30pm, we left for the spa hotel in Varkaus, after saying goodbye to the penpals, and we spent the afternoon swimming and enjoying the flume rides and the jacuzzis.

At 6pm, after getting ready, we were then treated to a really fantastic meal at a restaurant in Varkaus, where Jari the headteacher from Kuvansi, along with Jyrki and Marjo the teachers, joined us. Everyone learned to sing Auld Lang Syne in Finnish and enjoyed the meal and the great atmosphere. Jari gave out gifts to each of the children, and we then finished off with a quiz, set by Jari and Jyrki. A really wonderful end to a most amazing week. I have never experienced such hospitality, and I know that the children have all been overwhelmed by the experience.

Tomorrow morning, we leave for home. It has been a great experience for everyone. And, an experience that I am sure they will recall for the rest of their lives. I want to thank each and every one of the hosts for their wonderful friendliness during the whole week. Hopefully we will be able to repay this in Scotland soon!!

Friday 18th February

This "tandem skiing" isn't always easy!

Tandem skiing.
Getting ready to tandem ski.
This keeps you warm!
The teachers did it too. Even Mr Purves, but as I took the photos, there are none of me..yet. Jyrki took pictures too, so perhaps next week...
It was so cold, that even the hair became icy!
Assembly.
Floorball.
Lunch at Kuvansi.
Jari the Headteacher gives a present to one of our pupils.
The Old Dance show in Joroinen
We visited the cookery class in the Junior High School.
Ice skating, back at Kuvansi.
Sledging.

Playing together in the evening.



Today has been such an amazing and busy day that I am sorry to report that I have not had any time to gather comments from each of the children. I hope you can forgive me therefore, if I just give a rundown of what we have done, and then include some photos to tell the story of the day!

We started early with breakfast, then left on the bus (in temperatures of -35C) for Kuvansi school at 8.40am. As it was so cold, the original plan to have outside activities all morning was changed. We did some tandem skiing- which was hugely enjoyable- then we went indoors and were treated to a wonderful assembly. At the end of the assembly, we were presented with a lovely large card, signed by the Finnish children. Then, we played floorball (like our indoor hockey). After floorball, we had salmon for lunch, then we left on the bus to travel to the nearby town of Joroinen, where we were visiting the annual "Old Dance Show". This was a fantastic display of dancing, put on by the oldest secondary school pupils, in special costumes.

After this, we walked to the junior secondary school, where we gave a presentation about Scotland, by powerpoint. Then we were shown around the school, and we visited the technical classes and a cookery class.

Then we returned to Kuvansi school, where we spent an hour and a half outside, skiing and ice skating. We then returned home, had dinner, and then were joined by all the penfriends and also parents at our accommodation. Everyone played games and had fun together.