Today we left Kauhava and we are now in Lapua for one night. Tomorrow we are leaving for Seinajoki. $5 to the first student who can pronounce Seinajoki correctly.
During my stay in Kauhava my host took me to visit his glider. A glider is a plane that is towed off the ground and into the air with another plane. Once you are 500 metres in the air, the glider is disconnected from the other plane and it can now fly on its own. We took many pictures of the glider. It looked very new even though it was 30 years old. One of the reasons it looked so good is because my host had refurbished it. He had purchased it from a pilot who had crashed it in the forest. He said that when he bought it, the left wing was almost destroyed. Now a days we takes about 20 trips a year in his glider. His trips are usually 8 hours long and he travels about 500 kilometres and back which is roughly a day trip to Moose Jaw if you travel through Regina.
Naturally I wanted to sit in the glider so my hosts suited me up with a parachute and in I went. What do you think? Do I look like a good pilot? Perhaps I should retire as a glider pilot as opposed to a test pilot at a hammock factory!
Of course I have been visiting more schools. We visited a Grade 7 to 9 school and a highschool in Kauhava. We arrived at lunch time. All students in Finland receive a free hot lunch. This sounds great but today was porridge day. We better thank Mrs. Boulet for her good cooking!
After lunch we toured the school. Students as young as grade 1 do home economics and industrial arts in Finland. That means that they learn about sewing, craft making, cooking, mechanics, and building. Students in Canada usually don´t learn about these things until highschool. We toured the classrooms where students were learning these things. They sure were doing some interesting projects. We also visited an art class. Here is a student´s picture of a famous Finnish cartoon character called Moomin. He is like the Finland Mickey Mouse.
As we left the school it was interesting to take a picture of the parking lot. Students in Finland are allowed to drive scooters, Smart Cars, and even TRACTORS to school at age 15 without a license! Don't tell the Grade 8's!
Today we visited the church in Lapua. This church has the largest pipe organ in Finland with over 6 000 pipes. Here you can hear what this organ sounds like.
Well I better be off for now. We have a supper and presentation tonight. Last night we ate reindeer stew. My hosts assured me that it wasn't Rudolph! By the way, everyone keeps asking me where Santa Claus lives. This is a trick question becuase we think that the North Pole is in northern Canada but it is actually in northern Finland. They are testing me!
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