Tekijä: Kontula Antti

 

Torstai aamulla heräsimme 7.30 ja aloitimme valmistumisen aamupalalle ja päivän tuleviin rientoihin. Syötyämme lähdimme paikalliseen K-marketin eli Tescon kautta asemaa kohti, odottamaan Victoria Stationin suuntaan kulkevaa ruuhkaista metroa. Siellä saimme tunnin ajan kierrellä kauppoja ja kuppiloita. Myöhemmin saimmekin tietää, että hieman ennen saapumistamme asema oli evakuoitu epäilyttävän laukun takia. Laukku osouttautui kuitenkin turvatoimien jälkeen vaarattomaksi.

Tämän jälkeen lähdimme metrolla London Towerille. Pääsimme näkemään ikivanhojen kuninkaiden ja kuningattarien kruunuja ja valtikoita sekä vaatekappaleitakin. Myös muutama korppi lenteli Towerin pihamailla tuomassa onnea. Kävelimme tämän lisäksi entisen kidutuskammion läpi. Tämä nostatti jokaisessa kylmät väreet pintaan.

Käväisimme Buckinghamin palatsin pihalla tarkistamassa josko itse kuningatar sattuisi olemaan paikalla, mutta se ei onnistunutkaan Manchesterin iskun suruliputuksen takia. Nautimme siitä huolimatta kauniista ja erittäin kalliin näköisestä maisemasta. Vietimme palatsin lähellä sijaitsevilla nurmikkoalueilla hieman lepoaikaa.

Kävimme myös Tower Bridgen vieressä olevassa todennäköisesti viiden tähden hotellissa nauttimassa meille varatut iltapäiväteet. Tarjolla oli monenlaisia teitä sekä suolaista että makeaa pientä purtavaa.

Valloittavan tee-hetken jälkeen matkamme jatkui Tower Bridgen yli kohti Shardia eli lontoon korkeinta pilvenpiirtäjää. Rakennuksen aula oli jo itsessään henkeäsalpaava. Hissi nousi noin seitsemässä sekunnissa kolmanteenkymmeneen kerrokseen. Hissin vaihto ja loput matkasta samalla vauhdilla seitsemäänkymmenenteen kahteen kerrokseen saakka. Matka oli niin nopea ja meni korkealle joten monien korvat menivät lukkoonkin. Kun päästiin 72. kerrokseen loksahti jokaisella leuka siitä uskomattomasta maisemasta. Näköala oli peräti 60 kilometriä joka suuntaan. Vietimme tovin siellä ylhäällä ihaillen maisemia ja kaupunkia. Matkaa oli kuitenkin jatkettava takaisin hostellille pakkaamaan perjantaiaamuista lähtöä varten.

Päivä sisälsi paljon aurinkoa ja askelia, mutta jaksoimme silti illalla vielä nauttia toistemme seurasta siinä porukassa.

 

 

 

 

24.5.17 Keskiviikko

Lähdimme hostellista 8.30 reippain mielin metrolla kohti Baker Streettiä. Siellä me saimme käydä  matkamuistoliikkeissä, jonka jälkeen menimme Madame Tussaudsiin, jossa näimme monia julkisuudesta tuttuja henkilöitä ja hahmoja vahanukkejen muodossa. Vahanukkejen jälkeen menimme Natural History Museumiin, jossa oli esimerkiksi dinosauruksien luita ja monenlaisia täytettyjä eläimiä. Suuntasimme museon jälkeen Piccadilly Circukseen, missä ei valitettavasti ollut sen kuuluisia valokuvakylttejä remontin takia. Loppuilta kului Oxford Streetillä shoppaillen.

 

Heräsimme tänään hostellin kolinoihin, jonka jälkeen laittauduimme ja menimme syömään aamupalaa. Aamupalalla oli muroja sekä paahtoleipää nutellan, marmeladin tai voin kanssa.
Sitten lähdimme metrolla katsomaan Big Beniä ja ottamaan kuvia siitä sekä Houses of Parlamentista. Sitten menimme siltaa pitkin Sea life akvaarioon, jossa oli erilaisia mereneläviä mm. haita, meduusoja, meritähtiä, rauskuja, merihevosia, kilpikonnia, rapuja sekä erilaisia merikasveja. Kiertelyn jälkeen menimme 4D elokuvaan joka esitteli London Eye:n ja sitten menimme itse maailmanpyörään. Sen kierros kesti n. 30 min ja sieltä näimme hulppeita maisemia.
Sitten menimme jokiristeilylle Thames joelle. Se oli opastettu kierros joten saimme myös tietoa kaikenlaisista nähtävyyksistä.

Jokiajelun jälkeen suuntasimme metrolla Hyde Parkkiin, jossa kävimme katselemassa prinsessa Dianan muistomerkkiä jossa saimme mm. kylvettää jalkojamme. Hyde Park oli todella iso ja viihtyisä alue joten vietimme siellä hyvän tovin.
Lopuksi kävelimme Harold:siin, jossa shoppailimme paljon ja söimme illallista. Tämän jälkeen menimme takaisin hostellille ja nukkumaan.

 

Englannin jatkokurssilaiset ovat opintomatkalla Lontoossa ja ovat kertovat tunnelmistaan reissulta.

Päivä 1. (Gmt +3)

3:50 lähdimme koululta lentokentälle ja pääsimme ongelmitta läpi tarkastuksista

7:50 Nousimme lentoon. Joitain jännitti

Saavutaan lontoon alueelle (gmt +1)

9.05 saavuimme lontooseen ja lähdimme metroa kohti. Suunnistimme hostellille

10.00 saavuimme ja jätimme tavaramme hostelliin

12:00 lähdimme kiertelemään britti museota

14:00 tulimme takaisin hostellin kirjautumaan sisään.

15:00-18:00 shoppailimme ja söimme camden marketissa

18:00 -> shoppailimme oxford streetissä (ainakin jotkut)

21:00 lähdemme hostelliin ja jäämme sinne yöksi

An Interview with Our English Teacher, Päivi Riihelä

We interviewed our teacher Päivi Riihelä and we asked a few questions about her past life and her working life.

She plays Pokemon Go with her five-year-old son and she follows blogs. Päivi also said that if she had more free time, she would like to learn new languages.

Päivi is a language teacher and she teaches English, Swedish and Italian.

She holds a Master’s degree in Arts.

Before going to university she studied Foreign Trade in a Commercial college.

She grew up in the countryside with her brothers. Päivi says she was a nice teenager and she wasn’t really interested in school but later she realized that it’s important to study.

She said that her dream job as a teenager was to be a travel guide or a flight attendant.

In Päivi’s opinion the positive sides about her job are her students, colleagues, and that she can teach subjects that she likes.

The negative sides about her work are the early mornings, when she worries about work-related problems at home, and when she has to give grades to the students.

She uses English when she teaches her students and when she has foreign visitors.

Her piece of advice to our students: Never give up, everything that happens in life has a meaning if you want to find out what it is.

Her plans for the summer are to clean her home, to read, and meet her friends and family.

An Interview with Our Student Counselor, Kirsi Jarkia

Kirsi is one of our student counselors and she has worked in Rieskalähde for six years. Before she started to work as a teacher she worked on a cruise ship.

Her hobbies include gardening and doing handicrafts.

She has studied to be a physical education instructor and a teacher but currently she works as a student counselor. Kirsi has also studied catering business.

As a teenager she was very good in school and liked to go there. She also enjoyed being with her friends. At first she wanted to become a lawyer but later on she realized that it wasn´t her dream job. In high school she used to organize schools events.

We asked her what the best thing about being a teacher is and she answered that the students are the best part of her work. The worst thing is that she might sometimes be very strict when the students don´t do as she asks them to.

Kirsi doesn´t get to use English at all at work. However, she can speak English. She can also speak fluent Swedish, and she knows some German and French.

An Interview with Our Head Chef, Kari Kaivola.

-interviewer: What is your name?

-Kari: My name is Kari Kaivola.

-interviewer: Do you have hobbies, and if so, what kind of hobbies?

-Kari: Yes. I do fishing, I like to go to our summer cottage, and I train my daughter’s dogs.

-interviewer: What is your occupation?

-Kari: Well, I’m a chef and I make food

-interviewer: What’s your educational background?

-Kari: I went to school in Rieskalähde and after it I studied catering.

-interviewer: What were you like as a teenager.

-Kari: When I was a teenager we didn’t have mobile phones. I lived in the countryside with my family. We had to have our own mopeds to get around, even to school. What comes to English we had a contest with my friends; the one who got the best grade won. It helped me with learning English.

-interviewer: What was your dream job as a teenager?

-Kari: My dream job had something to do with fishing, like being a fishing assistant.

-interviewer: What are the three positive sides of your work? What about negative sides?

-Kari: Well, I like to work with my customers (=students), I get to advice the students how to behave well, and I get off work the same time as students do. The negative sides are that this job isn’t that “cool” in summer when it’s hot, we also make really big quantities of food, and our salary is low. We don’t get paid like the famous chefs do.

-interviewer: Do you ever use English at work?

-Kari: Yes, I do. Usually with our customers and in free time.

-interviewer: Could you give a piece of advice to our students?

-Kari: Sure. Study hard, especially languages.

-interviewer: What are your plans for the summer?

-Kari: My summer plans are to train my daughter’s dogs, go to Norway and, of course, I’m going to fish a lot.

An Interview with Our School Social Worker,  Kaarina  Jaakkola

What are your hobbies?

• Reading, gardening and solving crosswords.

What is your job?

• I´m a school social worker.

What is your educational background?

• I hold a Master´s Degree in Political Science and Social Work.

What kind of person were you when you were a teen?

• I don´t remember, it´s so long time ago. Maybe the same as now.

What was you dream job when you were a teen?

• I didn´t have a dream job after school. First I worked as a librarian, but then I decided to study in university. I studied Social Politics and Political Science and at some point I thought that it would be interesting to work as a school social worker. So that´s how I became a school social worker.

Name three positive and three negative sides about your job.

• I´ll start with the negative ones. I have three schools to work at and a lot of student´s to help so it´s hard to find time for every student. Also, the holidays could be a little bit longer and the salary could be a little bit better.
• The positive sides are that it´s nice to work with children and teens, and I have nice workmates.

How much English do you use at work?

• Not that much. Very seldom. I try to start by speaking English but, usually, if we aren´t able to communicate in Finnish with my clients we get a translator.

What kind of advice would you give to our students?

• Take care of your health, don´t give up on your studies, do your homework regularly and have fun, too.

What are your plans for the summer holiday?

• I will go to my cottage and do some gardening.

An Interview with Our Principal

Q: What’s your name?

A: Arto Jokinen.

Q: Do you have any hobbies?

A: Many. I go to the gym many times a week. I read books, literature is of special interest to me. And of course I’m interested in culture. I can play all kinds of instruments.

Q: What’s your profession?

A: I’m a principal.

Q: What did you study to become a principal?

A: First I worked as a history teacher for ten years. Then in order to be able to work as a principal I completed a Certificate in Educational Administration and specialized in Management.

Q: What were you like as a teenager?

A: I was good at running because I was fast. I also did my best at school.

Q: What was your dream job as a teenager?

A: First I thought that I would become a lawyer. Someone said that I could be a good writer. But then I somehow drifted into teaching.

Q: Name three positive and negative things about your job?

A: One positive thing is that I can be with you, the students. Secondly, I can also be with the teachers, to be part of their life. The third thing is, absolutely, that I can develop teaching, this school, and the whole civilization.

A: The negative things are that you have to be quiet about many things, sometimes you can have many things to do at the same time, and the workdays can get very long.

Q: Do you use English in your work?

A: Always when it’s possible. For example, when we get international visitors.

Q: Can you give some advice to our students concerning studies, life?

A: Always do your job as well as you can.

Q: What are your plans for the summer?

A: I have to work until Midsummer Day, and then I start my vacation.

An Interview with Our School Psychologist

1. Q: What is your name? M: ”Marika Fagerström”

2. Q: What are your hobbies? M: ”I exercise.”

3. Q: What is your profession? M: “I´m a school psychologist.”

4. Q: What have you studied? M: “I have gone to comprehensive school, high school and university.”

5. Q: What were you like when you were a teenager? M: “I was a good girl, nice and conscientious.”

6. Q: What was your dream job as a teenager?
M: “My dream job was to be a translator.”

7. Q: Name three positive things and three negative things in your job. M: “Positive things are that I get to work with children and youngsters, I like the schools I work in and I think that psychology and science are interesting. Negative things are the lack of resources, that I have to do everything alone and that I work in so many schools.”

8. Q: How much do you use English in your job? M: “Very little.”

9. Q: What advice would you give to our students? M: “Trust yourself, don´t be afraid to stand out from the crowd and don´t care what other people think about you.”

10. Q: Do you have any summer plans? M: “Yes I do. I am going to go sailing with my family.”