I moved to my 4th and final host family this morning. They have one daughter but she is a lot older than me so I'm living as an only child until the end of the year - this is the first time I've been without a sibling in my life so far. I guess it's only fair, I left my sister sibling-less for the whole year (although maybe that's not a problem for her!).
I've had another very busy week. One highlight was the Drum Festival I went to yesterday (Saturday, April 18th) with my friend, Pauli. It was a small festival, spanning a few days but on Saturday there were 2 drum clinics. A drum clinic is where experienced, sometimes famous drummers perform, answer questions and give advice to the audience. The first clinic was done by 2 Finnish metal drummers. I enjoyed the second clinic much more: 3 Finnish drummers playing some with fantastic co-ordination! (below)
Although, the metal drummers had more impressive drum kits.
I got the chance to play a "Kumu" drum kit. Kumu drums are Handmade in Finland, and they were celebrating their 25th Anniversary at this festival. The drums were great to play! Thanks to Pauli for this picture, and for bringing me to the festival!
Immediately after the festival, I had to run home and get dressed up to perform Finlandia at a biology teacher's conference at my school. The biology teacher from my school, Mrs. Heino, was organizing the conference and asked me to perform. There was about 30 teachers from all across Finland. I spoke excellent Finnish as I introduced myself and played a very good performance of Finlandia. I then answered questions in front of everyone about piano and my exchange, all in Finnish, all without any problems! I felt really good about that.
After Finlandia, I played background music for about half an hour while the teachers socialized (I assume this was before the real 'conferencing' began!). They then held a toast for me, my piano playing and my Finnish skills. I've been told that I speak better than most foreigners who have been in Finland for 3 or 4 years, but the teacher giving the toast said I spoke better than people who have been learning Finnish for 6 or 7 years!
As a thank you gift, Mrs. Heino gave me a beautiful book of Finnish landscape pictures, with the photographer's signature on the inside - thank you again!
Now, on to the family, The Seesvaara's. I now live within walking distance from my school and the downtown of Lahti, which comes as a great relief, since I've been riding buses everyday since I came to Finland. I don't mind the bus ride so much, but now I will be able to meet friends, stay in the city and drop by home with ease.
And, as always, here are some pictures from my last host family's house (no host family picture, I hope it's coming soon though!) Below is my room (messy yeah, but it was right before I started packing) *note the electric drums on the right!
The kitchen.
The dining room/living room.
The cat, Lilli. (we also have a cat in my new host family as well)
That's all for now! Next weekend I'll be in Jyväskylä (city 3 hours from Lahti) for a big Rotary district conference, so expect some pictures from that next Sunday!
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