Snow sculpting

Some of our students (all the fifth graders and the eight 
graders who have chosen art in their schedule) had a chance
to take part in a snow sculpture event in Kirintövaara in 
Posio. It is the same place where we went downhill skiing 
with our guests. The event lasted for two days and the 
whole thing started with planning and designing the 
sculptures beforehand. A designer called Esther Dorsman 
(from the Netherlands) led this project with the help of 
some of the school teachers. The goal was to develop the 
attraction of snowsculpturing mainly for the tourism here 
in Posio, with the help of our kids.
 
Well, the kids, even the older ones, had had a wonderful 
day playing with the snow. 
 

Ice skating tour

 

Every year we get a chance to take part in an ice skating tour 
here in Posio. It was held in our ice stadium. We had some loud 
music and  instructors leading the event. Here we have the ninth 
graders in action. The whole idea is to have fun together 
combined with the exercise part too.

Hiking in Iceland

Icelanders live in a country with amazing nature! Here you can hike on mountains and glaciers as well as in lava fields. You can see waterfalls, Geysir and cracks in the ground. The water from the glaciers is so clean that you can drink it and fill your water bottle. It is cool and refreshing. Be sure to bring clothes for all weather since you can experience all types of weather in one day!

Self service vegetable shop

In Iceland people live healthy with eating home grown vegetables. Icelanders grows their veggies in greenhouses out in the lava fields. There they get warm water from the ground to heat and water their crops as well as plenty of sun. The vegetables are friendly to the inviroment as the transports are not long. Icelanders are a honest people and therefore they can offer bypassers vegetables in a self service kiosk. Pick your veggies for the day and pay in the box!

Downhill skiing

I think downhill skiing with our 
visitors from Väsby was just so 
amazing! Almost every time when we 
got up to the hill we waited for 
all to get together so we could ski 
down the hill as a huge group. Some 
of us fell down during the ski but 
we survived the whole day without 
any accidents (I think)!
 
The cool weather didn't bother us 
but it would have been even better 
if the sun had popped out of the 
clouds earlier, not at the end of 
the day. But still I think all of us
enjoyed the time we spent together 
skiing and eating sausages round 
the campfire. Nothing couldn't slow 
down us! Except the teachers, of course :D - Tytti 

Here in Posio we 
have the privilege 
to have our own hill,
though it's small it 
is frequently used. 
The schoolchildren 
can go there anytime 
it's open and they 
don't have to pay for 
using it. Quite nice 
if you think about it.

Reindeer Travel

 

We were taken outside of  Posio with a  bus with the  students and teachers from Sweden and Finland. We visited a reindeer farm . We were divided into two groups and went on a reindeer sleigh. It was a great experience to be pulled in a sleidge by reindeer . Then we fed the animals.  It was most surprising how many reindeer were together and most of them were not afraid of us when we fed them .

Then we went into a dancing hall with open fire.  We  grilled sausages on the fire , drank hot tea and coffee and  had some bread that tasted good  After that  they who wanted to try to snare antlers before heading home did so. We from Iceland found that visit to be a great experience. We had the opportunity to try new things that we have not tried before.

 

Visit the Pre-School (Paivakoti) in Posio

  The schoolmaster greeted us and showed us the school , there were good facilities and space for the  children. We got to participate in singing lessons were they used visual clues as well as the children were actively involved in singing and games. After that we went to the outdoor activities which included skiing opportunity for the children . It was a cold day but everyone went out and the sun shone and most of the children wore sunglasses. The garden in the pre-school was big with lots of cool playground equipment as well as having a lot of trees and a great space for outdoor games . We enjoed the visit very much and appreciate how well everyone accepted us.

Family Health Promotion Program

To promote family health at Fifusalir we did develop an educational program to increase health literacy while having a good time and increasing parent communication at the same time.

 The main goal was to educate and support parents to select healthy lifestyle and go through the change process for holistic family wellness. With increased health literacy and knowledge about contributing factors on health families can prevent some illnesses and enjoy life to the fullest.

 The program was developed from valid long term health research outcomes and known facts about how lifestyle influences health. The knowledge was put in to user-friendly format and we did work from the strength of families and a positive perspective. The focus was on how and why the family needs to work together to select and serve healthy nutrition and meals, exercise and play together, evaluate environmental factors, prevent stress and get enough sleep and rest to name only few examples. Parents did set their own goals as well as a family goal to strive for over the period. They did get a handbook and were expected to set a plan, document in their book how they did follow their schedule and evaluate the outcome.

The course was 12 hours, three times in classes at the school room (6 hours) and three lectures were sent home electronically with follow up through email.

Farmers´day

The first day of the old Icelandic month called Thorri is called Bóndadagur (Farmers’ day) the children invite their fathers and grandfathers to a breakfast in the pre-school. The breakfast is porridge with Icelandic haggis. Bóndadagurinn is celebrated every year in the pre-school and the attendance is always very good. It is an old custom to celebrate Bóndadagur. It was the duty of the farmer (man of the house) to welcome Thorri by rising earlier than anyone else. He was to get up and go out clad only in a shirt, barefoot and partly barelegged, for he was to wear only one leg of his underpants, while the other was to be dragged behind. Thus attired, he was to jump on one foot all around the house, dragging his underpants on the other, and bid Thorri welcome to his home. These photos were taken on Bóndadaginn 20th of Januaray 2014.

Ice Fishing

During the trip to Posio I went ice fishing with some of my new friends, we had to make a hole in the ice and put disgusting maggots on our ice fishing rod. Even though the maggots freaked me out a little bit, I still had a nice time. Unfortunately,  we did not catch any fish. All our laughing probably scared them away.

The weather was nice even though there was snow everywhere, it was not cold and you could perfectly survive without a hat ;)I loved being outside in the snow with some of the lovely people that I met in Posio, I really hope that we can go ice fishing again sometime! /Emma