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Greetings from snowy Finland......our travel blog (Mrs Morgan, Mrs Boyd & Mr mcVeigh)
Monday 24th March 2014
After meeting in Newry at the very unearthly hour of 2:30AM, we set off for our very long day of travel ( 3 flights later) we eventually arrived in Oulu, Finland).
Tuesday 25th March
Today we visited our partner school in Kiiminki, Oulu. The children and staff gave us a very warm welcome. The morning began with an amazing concert, the children filled the sports hall with beautiful singing and dancing from each country. The school staff surprised us by singing and performing, 'In Dublin's Fair City.'
In the afternoon we had our Comenius meeting, the aim of the School partnership is to enhance the European dimension of education by promoting joint co-operation activities between schools in Europe. We are linked with schools in Finland, Hungary, Italy and Turkey. The project gives both pupils and teachers in different countries an opportunity to work together on one or more topics of mutual interest. The focus for this years project is 'traditional food and traditional games.' School partnerships help pupils and teachers to acquire and improve skills not only in the topic or subject area on which the project is focussed, but also in terms of teamwork, social relations, planning and undertaking project activities and using ICT. The children in our school have been busy preparing recipes and information on games they play at home/school. Today we presented this information to the other partners using photos, videos, etc and they presented information on recipes, games, etc that are traditional to their countries. When we return our children will have the opportunity to learn to play some games from other countries and to attempt to make some recipes.
After a lovely evening meal with our comenius friends Mrs Boyd and I were quite happy to go to sleep......however Mr McVEIGH has dragged us to a sports bar to watch Man City play Man Utd..... :-(
Goodnight to you all......PS sorry for the upside down pics, I cant work out how to rotate them.
Wednesday 26th March
Another bright, cold morning in Oulu and a nice early start :-( We departed to go to our partners school at 8-30am. Today we took part in some workshops, learning how to play Finnsh traditional games And how to make arts/crafts. Off course the ever competitive Mr McV wanted to win the game of 'Moullky' ......but with Mrs Boyd and myself in the team his chances were limited! The italians narrowly defeated us, but Mr Mc V managed to win the individual game, so that kept him happy for the rest of the day.
For Lunch we ate Reindeer pie (sorry Ruldoplh, we ate your cousin!), it was quite nice. we then spent the afternoon with the children sledging (Mr McV crashed into a tree on his first attempt!), it was great fun, but I don't think 'St.Joseph's Team Ireland' would win much in the Winter Olympics!!
In the evening we spent more time with the children making arts and crafts, we will be able to use these ideas and lessons In our own classes. The day ended with a meal in a traditional Finnish restaurant......reindeer soup ( was very tasty!), followed by Salmon, and then cheese cake. Yum,,yum! No football for Mr. Mc v tonight as we have a very exciting day tomorrow.....we are going to the Artic Circle and to visit Santa.....#3veryexcitedteachers!
Night, night ....more upside down pictures to follow....
Day 3 - Thursday 27th March 2014
Shiver me timbers the Saint Joseph's Finnish adventure continued Today with the three musketeers/stooges heading further north in Finland, two hundred kilometres north, right into the Arctic circle. This journey excited Mr Mc Veigh as this is where he thought they made the dessert "Arctic Roll" sadly he was disappointed but not for long as the final destination of this epic northern journey was to Lapland! And we all know who lives in Lapland don't we? SANTA CLAUS!!!!!!..
The teachers got to explore around Santa's own village, visit the Santa post office and meet the special man himself. Although Santa is having a well earned break he had time to chat about the good children of Tyrella and tell us a few secrets about Lapland. Mrs Morgan, who obviously has been a good girl thanked Santa for her Christmas gifts whilst Mrs Boyd could not believe the amount of letters he had received. The trip finished off with a sledge ride. The teachers were pulled in their sledge by two reindeer, one of which noses looked rather red....could it have been? Alex Ferguson....nah ....Rudolph.. ...I suppose if it had of been a donkey it could have been David Moyes.... On that note we must go Moi Moi...and see you soon.
