THE NEWS OF THE WEEKWhat is a Comenius project?

It’s a two-year-long co-operation project between different European schools. This week 90 students from Spain, Belgium, Wales, Hungary and Finland are working together on the theme “From welfare to wellbeing”. And they are doing everything from dancing and singing to exploring the Finnish culture and finding some new friends.

Why be a part of the Comenius project?

It is an opportunity to get to know different cultures and at the same time learn to know yourself and your own culture. You compare your values and traditions with the other participants and you find both similarities and differences.

What can be done during the Comenius project?

During the week when the countries are gathered they will experience a lot. The project work in accordance with the theme of well-being is, of course, a big part of the week. In addition the students get to know the culture and the habits of the country they are visiting. The Comenius project should also be a great experience that the students will always remember, therefore we have cool activities and a lot of evening programs.

Why live in a host family?

When you live in a host family you get to know and take part in the everyday life of the country you are visiting. We think that the best way to get to know a new culture is to be a part of it. The host families also offer you the home-feeling and you have someone that takes care of you. And who knows after the week you may even have got a second “family”.

Describe the week with one word!

Fun Cold

White Fantastic

BusyThe-greatest-week-ever

InterestingEnjoyable

ExtremeCommunication

Relaxing

When you stepped into the school a lot of unknown faces popped up in front of your eyes and then you actually understood that it was now when the extreme week was going to start. The workshop was opened with a song performance by the music choir from our school. After that two welcome speeches were given. The first one by the Head of Vasa övningsskola, Mrs Gun Jakobsson, and the second one by the principal of the upper secondary school, Mrs Ulla Granfors. An introduction to our Comenius Project week was then given by the co-ordinator Diane-Christine Blusi. The teachers responsible for the week were also introduced (Elisabeth Norrmén, Joachim Hofman, Hans-Olof Lithén, Tom Granfors, Karl-David Långbacka, Ulla Granfors and Jockum von Wright)

The guests presented their own school and country, and it was interesting to see their power-point presentations. Before lunch our guests were taken on a guided tour of the school and in the afternoon on a guided tour of the town. Everything was very interesting and the guided tour of the town was very COLD at least if you ask the guest students. After a long day in school everybody went home for eating and maybe resting before our exciting evening program.

The Evening program started with Letka-Jenkka and a long queue of all the participants were formed in the gymnastic hall. Everybody was excited and it didn’t take long until laughter was shared in the whole room.

After the social dancing with Maria Myllylä we had some snacks that were continued by workshops. The workshops consisted of more dancing, some word-games, floorhockey and painting. Everybody seemed to enjoy the activities and you got to know each other a little bit better and a few more names started to fall on their places. The 20 minutes that were spent for each workshop first sounded as a quite long time, but while you were there and enjoying the activity you figured out that the time actually was a bit too short.

At around 21.30 we all finished up with our workshops and then it was time to go home for a good night’s sleep.

During the day we paid a visit to the elementary school of VÖS where we were able to make some typical Finnish food (Karelian pastries) and also a healthy snack (a berry smoothie), we

had a crash-course in Swedish with Diane-Christine and also the possibility to make some nametags with different fabrics and free decoration. We were separated into three different groups and every group went to two different workshops. First we were a bit skeptical to the food since it was made of rye-flour but after one person had tasted the pastries the rest also dared to try. We all enjoyed the workshops and we walked back to the upper secondary school for some choir-singing with Jani. We sang some Finnish-Swedish songs “Plocka vill jag skogsviol” and “Vem kan segla förutan vind” and it really sounded great with all kinds of different dialects.

“Vem kan segla förutan vind?Vem kan ro utan åror?Vem kan skiljas från vännen sinUtan att fälla tårar?

Jag kan segla förutan vindJag kan ro utan årorMen ej skiljas från vännen minUtan att fälla tårar....”

“Who can sail without any wind at all?Who can row without any oars?Who can say farewell to his best friendWithout shedding a tear

I can sail without any wind at allI can row without any oarsBut I cannot say farewell Without shedding a tear.”

(by Ida and Sofia)

Adventure on the ice

After lunch on Tuesday we went outside to go playing some funny and typical Finnish winter sports. We walked on the frozen sea and then we needed to do some hard exercise because we got the coldest day of this winter. So we did the game called princess and the wolf and then we got warm enough and we could choose to do whatever we wanted to do, so some of us went tobogganing, others went ice fishing but unfortunately nobody got any fish… When students wanted to practice to drive the snow mobile they could do this and last but not least, if you had lots of energy left you could play soccer on the snow with the team. Even the teachers were on the ice. To get warm we got some grilled sausages with hot cocoa!

Social evening

The same day in the evening after we went home and changed our clothes to get warm, we came back to school and we could listen to the school choir and school band for about an hour. The students from Vaasa sang some traditional songs all together and played some modern rock music with different line-ups, for example: Cat scratch fever, Èxcited, Africa,…. It was really great, the songs sounded just like the original ones, it’s a shame that not every school does this kind of ‘music project’. The Spanish girls also danced a song called zazpi-jauzi and zortzitko with typical long dresses. Everybody was very enthusiastic and we think we could say that we all enjoyed the night.

First impressions of Vaasa

Daniel (HUN): I arrived in Vaasa on the 13th of February. Emma, my host, was waiting with her mother at the airport and she started to show me her hometown, first I think this city is a white, clean and safe city. And at the weekend we were skiing, skating and slalom skiing as well, I really enjoyed all sports, because before that I never tried.

Elise (BEL): I arrived in Vaasa on the 15th of February after a long trip. Sofia and her sister Mia were waiting for me. They showed me around in their house and my week in Finland was about to begin. I think Vaasa has a lot of ‘concrete’ buildings, but it is very nice. The people here are friendly, too, and you surely can trust them. I also think it is pretty in the winter because of all the snow and I noticed that people here are really used to driving in this weather. We don’t have such winters in Belgium, so it’s really fun to be able to play in snow or walk on a lake or something.

Urko and Amaia (SP): It’s very cold, there’s a lot of snow and it’s flat but it is very beautiful as well.

Csilla (HUN): I appreciate the nature, forests and the clean air, people are very friendly.

Alexander, Lore and Thibault (BEL): It’s nice, with a lot of snow, a big city and very cozy, but all the buildings are like blocks.

A COMPARISON OF SCHOOLS

SPORTS

They have different school teams of different sports: volleyball, basketball, soccer, relay race (that’s a sport where you run, also in teams, and pass a stick when you arrive with someone else) and floor hockey.In their PE lessons they do all kinds of sports: summer sports (football on the grass, swimming…), winter sports (ice skating, country cross skiing,…) and aerobics.

In Hungary we’ve got weightlifting, football, table tennis, volleyball, handball, basketball, roller skating, swimming, fitness and aerobics as well. We don’t really have school teams, but students can play with each other on several locations. For example, we’ve got a Santa-cup for football.

In Belgium we can do a lot of sports too and we’ve got some school teams, like a rugby team, a football team, a basketball team, a chess team… In our gymnastic classes we also practise badminton, handball or running too. For example, each year we have to run a certain distance (1,5km, 3km, 5km long distance or 100m, 200m, 400m or 800m sprint). Students from boarding school can practise horseback riding, squash, swimming, table tennis, athletics and some more.

MUSIC

In VÖS students practice actually a lot of music and students are really good at it. They can play different instruments, for example: piano, drums, guitar, bass guitar and they sing very pretty too. So we can say their knowledge about music is very big.In Hungary we haven’t got music class, but actually every student has a music lesson and on this lesson we learn music history, we listen to different kind of music.In Belgium, we have music lessons for 2 years (1 hour in a week), where we only learn the basics, like reading notes, recognise different instruments, do a little bit of singing, listen to film music and learn some music history too.

(By Daniel and Elise)

There are many differences between the Finnish and the Belgian schools. I think the Belgian students are more disciplined than those in Finland. For example, on Monday we had to follow a course and so there was a girl who just left the class to go home because she wanted to change clothes before she go to her sports training and the teacher didn’t say anything about it… Was that normal? In Belgium it doesn’t go that easy, we need a permission from the principal to go away and I can say to you that he doesn’t give you the permission for changing clothes at home.

Why is everybody sitting inside between the different courses, go outside to get a fresh nose, some change after these boring courses, but no... The pupils just want to stay inside sweating in the too hot corridors and classes. And why is everybody eating at 11 o’clock, when you are just awake you have to eat again, and what a strange habit to drink milk the whole day long.

But the whole thing is not that negative. Your teachers are almost friends since you can call them just with their first name, you don’t have to call them by mister or miss, you can even call them by nickname. You may also have days when you just have to be at school at 12 o’clock, we have day in day out the whole year long courses from 8 till 16 hour. This is such a nice school to eat, because there is more room and the round tables and upstanding lights really make the difference. So I think there are many good and bad aspects between our schools, maybe if we put all the positive aspects in one school we get a perfect school (and maybe too with some cool courses).

(Thibault)

?!Tobogganing!?

A strange word which means a lot of fun. Wednesday evening at seven o’clock we gathered at Fiskarstranden in -15ºC for some tobogganing.

Tobogganing is when you slide down from a hill sitting on a plastic “sledge”, trying to come up to a high speed. And, of course, you do it in the snow. In Finland we call this Pulka and we usually bring some hot chocolate with us and maybe some cookies.

Even if it was very cold outside everybody had a lot of fun and we were sliding in all kinds of directions, some tried to slide on the plastic bags and some just used the normal Pulka. With red cheeks and cold toes but still a smile on our faces we all went home happily but tired.

TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NATIONS

By Urko and Amaia.

After being in Finland for few days we can say that Finland and Spain are very different countries.

The climate is really different, although we have been in Finland for the coldest week of the whole winter, the weather is much colder than in our country, so cold that the sea was frozen. Here is a lot of snow however, in Spain we only have a couple of days snowing. In the Basque country, where we live, it usually rains because we live in a very mountainous and wet area. This year the lowest temperature we have had has been -4C . We live near the coast and the weather is warmer than in the inside of the country. We haven’t got as cold temperatures in winter and neither as hot in the summer like in the centre of the peninsula. A quarter of the Finnish territory is beyond the Arctic Circle. As a result the sun shines for 73 days in summer and is hidden for 51 days each winter in Lapland.

What we have also seen here in Finland is that the surface is really flat, its highest point, the Haltitunturi (1,328 m) is located in the extreme north of Lapland. It also has a vast number of lakes (about 190,000) and islands (about 180,000). Because of the climate, the type of trees is different, too. Here there are evergreen trees as we have observed unlike in Spain the leaves of the trees are deciduous. Most of the islands are scattered throughout the archipelago of

Turku and the islands of Åland in the southwest and along the south coast in the Gulf of Finland.

As you can see in the picture Spain is a very mountainous country. There are many mountain ranges. These are the most important ones: The Pyrenees which divide Spain and France (here it’s common to find mountains over 3000 metres high), Cantabria mountain range, Guadarraman mountain range, Sierra Morena and Sierra Nevada. The center of the Peninsula is higher at about 800 metres.The highest Spanish mountain (3718 m) is out of the peninsula, in the Canarian archipelago, it is a volcano and it name is Teide.

Now we are going to talk about the Basque Geography.The three highest mountains are Onamendi (1508m), Hiru errege mahaia (the three kings table, 2428 m), and Ori (2017m). Three of them are in the Pyrenees. Mountain ranges: Urbasa and Aralar, both of them at around 1000 m.Even the north of the Basque country is very wet in the south of it there is a desert called Bardenas Reales. There is a very famous sand castle there called castil de tierra

Times and food is really different from Spain too. We have five meals like here but at different times. The first one just when we get up its breakfast. Then at about 11 o’clockwe have a light meal (a sandwich or fruit) to hang on until lunch time at 3 o’clock when we have the most plentiful meal of the day. During the evening we have another light meal and then at night, at about 10 we have dinner.

In our country we eat much more meat (pork, veal…) and bread. We have the habit of eating different courses in the same meal instead of an abundant plate.

In this photo we can see different kinds of Spanish bread. We cut it in slices and we use it to pull the food instead of using the knife.

Now we are going to talk a bit about folk music and dance. We have some instruments that are only from the Basque country.

The trikitixa is an accordion, which usually is accompanied by the tambourine. The trikitixa is undoubtedly the most popular music rooted in Euskal Herria.. sound tambourine: trikiti trikiti trikiti

TRIKITIXA

The alboka is composed of two ox horns, joined by two bamboo tubes, which have several Openings. One horn is used nozzle and contains a double reed. The other tube is used as resonant

ALBOKA

The txistu one of the oldest instruments. It has the peculiarity of being able to be played with one hand, leaving the other free to perform a drum. It is in the early twentieth century when the trio of txistus and the drum became popular.

TXISTU

Percussion instrument that is usually played to accompany the txistu. The txistu-drums duo is an instrumental characteristic used in most regions of the Basque Country

SMALL DRUM

The tambourine is a percussion instrument belonging to the group of frame drums. This instrument is of Arab origin, like the tambourine, but has no rattles or bells and usually is larger.

The txalaparta is a specialized Basque music device of wood or stone. Originally, the txalaparta was a communication device used for funeral (hileta), celebration (jai) or the making of slaked lime (kare), or cider (sagardo).

INSTRUMENTS OF FINLAND

Here are some typical Finnish kanteles: modern kantele, Round-ended box kantele, Square-ended box kanele, 10-string carved kantele, 5-string kanteles.

The Kantele is a traditional string instrument of Finland. It is, in fact, the most important musical symbol of the country although it’s more popular in the East.

Another typical instrument from Finland is the accordion.

1. How many people live with you in your home? 3. Me, Mum & Dad

2. How far away do you live from school? Around 7km

3. How do you get to school? By car

4. How long does it take you to get to school? It takes 8 mins

5. What are you favourite lessons? Music, singing. Psychology

6. What would you like to do when you grow up? Dancer is my dream job

7. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? I do a lot of dancing

8. Do you play any sports? Only dancing, if that is classed as a sport

9. What is there to do in your spare time, in this area? With friends , shopping, or go to the movies

10. Do you watch a lot of telly? Not really

11. When you watch telly, what do you watch? Friends and movies

12. Do you have a computer at home?

An interview with Satu from Vasa, aged 17

Yes, I do13. What type of music do you listen to?

Everything really, but no heavy metal14. Do you have an iPod or mp3 player?

Yes, an IPod15. How old do you have to be to drive in Finland?

You have to be 1816. Do you smoke?

No

17. Where do you go on holidays? This year I am going to Sweden, but in general I go to places in Europe

18. What time of year do you go on holidays? Summer and winter we have long breaks, and short ones in the autumn

19. What do your mother and father work as? My mum teaches Finish and my Dad teaches Media

20. Do you have a job? No

21. Does your school give a lot of homework? Yes

22. Do you enjoy school? Yes I do

23. What would you like to change about your school? I think the school has very long days, so if I could change anything it would have shorter

days.24. Do you have a mobile phone?

Yes25. Does your school do any after school activities?

If so, what are they? Yes, they do basketball & football but I do not take part

26. Do you like living in Finland?Why?

Yes, I like it that we have four seasons. Really cold in the winter and warm in the summer27. Have you lived anywhere else apart from Finland?

No28. If you could live anywhere in the world, were would it be?

USA or Europe. That is hard, there are so many places I would like to live29. Where do you shop for your clothes?

H & M30. What is your favourite food?

Rice & chicken

(Isabella Jones)

A crash course

English Dutch Swedish Hungarian Basque

Hello, my name is ...

Hallo, mijn naam is ...

Hej, jag heter... Szia, a nevem… Kaixo, … dut izena

How are you today

Hoe gaat het met jouw vandaag

Hur mår du idag?

Hogy vagy? Zer moduz zaude gaur?

I’m fine, and you?

Met mij gaat alles goed en met u?

Tack jag mår bra. Och du?

Jol vagyok, es te?

Ongi, ta zu?

Nice to meet you.

Leuk je te ontmoeten.

Trevligt att träffas!

Örülök, hogy làthatlak.

Pozten naiz zu ezagutzeaz.

Good night. Goede nacht. God natt Jo èjszakàt! GabonIt’s cold outside. Het is koud

buiten.Det är kallt ute. Hideg van kint. Hotza egiten du

kanpoanYes Ja Ja Igen. BaiNo Nee Nej Nem. EzI like you. Ik vind jou leuk. Jag tycker om

dig.Tetszel. Gustokoa dut.

Participants and special or strange hobbies/ habits.

Name Age Special strange hobbiesMaxim Duponselle 18 Rallysports

Amaia Arrubla 15 Tennis

Urko Longais 15 Hockey

Orsolya Garai 31 Cycling and reading

Daniel Tajmel 20 Swimming

Elise Persyn 17 Drumming

Isabella Jones 14 Ballet

Martxelo Sotés 33 Folkdancing and Pilota

Itxaso Anso 15 Plays flute

Csilla Németh 17 Kangoo jumping

Satu Väre 17 Show and street dance

Andreas Holm 17 Go-kart and heavy music

Lewis Price 14 Guitar, art and Rugby

Ara Arza 15 Kayaking

Viktoria Bordan 17 Basketball, Tennis and swimming

Dora Szabo 16 Swimming and cycling

Megan Lewis 14 Dancing, acting and singing

Maarten Kesteloot 18 Basketball

Anna-Karin Åkers 18 Swimming, horseback riding and gym

Sara Greskovits 17 Handball, spinning, volleyball and rock

climbing

Leyre Vritz 15 Gymnastics and music

Matthias Van den Buerie 17 DJ’ing

Mani Sedighi 17 Football, gym, innebandy and poker

Iñigo Garzia 17 Playing guitar, singing and music

Amy Ann Nicholls 15 Netball, music, spinning, acting and singing

Michiel Baetens 18 Basketball, knows everything about reptiles and youth movement

Laura Fisher 14 Art

Afrika Aizpuu 15 Dancing and music

Ida Ahlbom 17 Gymnastics and dancing

Hannah Hermans 17 Listen and exercise music and kickboxing

Jessica Myllykangas 17 Dancing, acting and gym

Sofia Kamila 17 Group gymnastics and dancing

Mathias Jylhä 17 Enjoying life

Bidane Ligarraga 15 Play tennis

Valentin Hick 17 Theatre and break dancing

Pearl Debeurne 17 Music and theatre

Olivier Vansteenhuyse 18 Dj’ing and knows everything about cars

Amaia Iturgaiz 15 Play basketball and music

Jessica West 17 Playing piano

Ffion Lewis 14 Athletics

Jonna Ojà 18 Figure skating and soccer

Aiton Sauca 15 Football

Heidi Watts 14 Singing

Diana Pohl 16 Music

Thibaut Ingelaere 18 Playing Rugby and youth movement

Nia Greenslade 14 All kind of water sports

Leire Anaut 15 Basketball

Petra Neyman 17 Dance

Alexander Pappijn 18 Snowboarding and rugby

Lore Deviaene 17 Snowboarding

Jolien Van Looveren 18 Volleyball

Norman Velghe 17 Hunting and riding with a moped

Sofie Synhaeve 17 Water sports

Leuan Hicks 14 Snowboarding

Izaskun Markinez 15 Basketball

Maitane Erro 15 Snowboarding

Jonas Söderlund 17 Mixed marshal arts and kickboxing

Maisa Lintala 18 Dance

Ella Mattbäck 19 Basketball and gym

(Thibault)

All our nice participants:

BUDAPEST:

Lucia KákonyiDezsö Nagy-SzaböOrsolya Garai SzaboViktória BordánSara GreskovitsDaniel TájmelCsilla NémethDiana PohlDóra Szabó

LLANHARI, WALES:

Liz ThomasPaul MasonFisher, Laura ElisabethGreenslade, Nia ElenaJones, Isabella BethanLewis, Ffion HafLewis, Megan graceNicholls, Amy AnnPrice, Lewis PaulWatts, HeidiWestwood-Hicks, Leuan

PAMPLONA:

Martxelo SotesEgiarte Garin

Afrika Aizpun ArmendárizLeire Anaut EgeaItxaso Ansó MiqueleizAmaia Arrubla GamboaMaitane Erro BarberenaIñigo Garxia-Abarzuza PerezAmaia Iturgaiz UrretaBidane Lizarraga MozoUrko Longás BebiaIzaskun Marquinez BlascoLeyre Uriz MarturetAra Arza CiaAitor Sauca Rodriguez

WAREGEM:

Dirk Van der CruyssenÉtienne GoemaereThibault IngelaereMaarten KestelootMaxim DuponselleValentin HickElise PersynJolien Van LooverenMichiel BaetensAlexander pappjinOlivire VansteenhuyseSofie SynhaeveNorman VelgheMatthias Van den Buerie

Lore DeviaenePeral Debeurme

VAASA:

Diane-Christine BlusiTom Granfors Ulla Granfors Elisabeth NorrménHans-Olof LithénKarl-David LångbackaJockum Von WrightJoachim HofmanSofia KamilaIda AhlbomJosefineTräskPetra NymanAndreas HolmMadelen NymanMalin OlkkolaEmma LagerströmEvelina AnderssénJessica TurunenMari JohnsonAnna MöutsMia NorrgrannSandra HomlqvistMatilda StåhlStephanie FriskMaarit NummiKatri SuominenJennifer HartmanEmelia Holm

Jessica MyllykangasSatu VäreIda BlåfieldEmilia KuulaCamilla WahlbergDorrit NäsiLinda SvartsjöJanina OhlsAnna-Karin ÅkersYuan QiqiKasper HinderssonHannah HermansMathias JylhäMaisa LintalaElla MattbäckJonna OjaIisa TräskbäckMani SedighiJonas SöderlundJessica West