Friday, April 30, 2010

1 week down!

I have successfully finished the first week of my työharjoittelu (internship). It was exhausting but I have fallen in love with all 9 of the kiddies that I am working with. They are too cute. And somehow they understand me when I speak. Of course I speak on their level, but I still think I deserve brownie pts. for being understandable to children!! I definitely need to take pictures of these little munchkins and post them. I'm taking my flute, as per request, to the päiväkoti on Monday to play for them during their music time. I think it is going to be really fun. They LOVE music and dance anytime someone sings, hums, whistles, or plays a cd. They really are awesome and I get to spend 5 more weeks with them.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Työharjoittelu

Tomorrow I begin my työharjoittelu (internship) at Päiväkoti Virkkula (Daycare/Playschool Virkkula). I will be with eight children, the youngest being 1.5 years and the oldest being 3.5 years. This is somehow supposed to help me speak the language better and give me experience working here in Finland. I REALLY hope that things go well. The guy that I will be working with speaks some English, and he says that he understands everything I say but doesn't speak very well. Of course that is more than I can say for myself, not only do I speak poorly, I also do not understand everything that I hear. I'm sure I will learn something valuable from this experience and I am halfway looking forward to it. I'm sure I will be posting plenty of updates since this is what I will be doing until June 4th!! That's right, six whole weeks of being immersed in children's Finnish! Good luck me!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Watch out for that bird!!

I have to walk about half a mile to my class every morning. I walk through a park that is between the baltic and some apartments. This morning I was making my trek to class when some birds flew out of a bush, and one of them flew right into my chest. I was more than a little surprised and it took me a minute to get over the shock of what had happened. I mean it's not everyday that a bird flies right into a person. The little bird (it looked a bit like a sparrow) did not get hurt. It fell to the ground, stood there for a minute (probably trying to get over its shock), then hopped off back to the bush. So from now on I am going to be on the lookout for rogue birds!