One of our students writes:
On Monday, 5 October, I took part in showing our school to the German guests. During the tour, the teachers had a lot of questions. One question that stuck in my mind was when someone asked whether everything in the school cafeteria was free. I believe that they knew that the food was free, but the question made me wonder whether they knew or believed that it was completely free and that there were no restrictions. The sauna in the changing room was also a pleasant surprise. After the tour, we returned to the classroom and told them about our school. At the end, they had the opportunity to ask questions. They were very interested in our school.
Both during the tour and later at Pilpa cabin, we talked about how Finns tend to eat dinner very early and then have an evening snack as well. I asked two divers about their culture shocks while we were sitting around the campfire. I also remember them saying that we drink a lot of milk. They told us that they had visited at least Matkus shopping centre and the Puijo Tower.
At the cabin, they got to taste some Finnish treats, and I had the chance to explain to some of them what mämmi is. They asked what it was made of, and when I told them it was made from rye, they seemed surprised. They said it tasted a little like salmiakki and had thought that it was made of that.
At the cabin, we also played a few games, such as Uno. We went through the rules at the beginning because we had very different rules. We mostly played according to the guests' rules, with a few exceptions. They also played Avista, and I got to translate the categories into Finnish. At the same time, I learned some English, and we tried to come up with German equivalents for the “Finnish categories”.
One teacher and two students visited our German lessons during the week. We also had the opportunity to teach them some Finnish, which went really well. I really liked their visit and look forward to same kind of experiences.
Written by a Klassikka student