Rajamäki Swimming Hall

“Feeling good since 1976”

Rajamäki Swimming Hall was built by Alko, the local alcohol factory. The swimming hall was built  in 1974 and its major overhaul was in 2013-2014. This is the only swimming hall in the municipality.

Opening hours in autumn 2015: 

Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri                           6.00 am – 9.30 pm

Thu                                                   11.00 am – 9.30 pm

Sat, Sun                                            10.00 am – 7.00 pm

In the Swimming Hall you can swim, take swimming lessons, go to  the gym, do water aerobics, take lessons like deep stretching, dance, gymnastics exercises and eat something in the cafeteria.

25-meter pool

Price list in autumn 2015: 

SWIMMING 

Entry fee:

adults                                  6,00 euros

children 0 to 6-year-olds    1,00 euro

7 to 15-year-olds               4,00 euros

Monthly season ticket:

adults                                 45,00 euros

7 to 15-year-olds             30,00 euros

SWIMMING AND GYM

Entry fee:

adults                             8,50 euros

children                           6,00 euros

Monthly season ticket:

adults                              60,00 euros

children                            50,00 euros

When you buy a monthly season ticket, you have to get a bracelet. You load more times on your bracelet when the month is over. The bracelet costs 6,00 euros, and you only have to buy it once.

There are 6 different swimming pools in the swimming hall:

Competition pool

Warm pool

Multi function pool

Kiddie pool

Diving pool

Cold pool (8 C)

There are dressing rooms for women and men. The showering rooms include showers and two different saunas, the normal one and a steam sauna. There are about 20 000 visitors monthly.

Review

We go to the Swimming Hall sometimes to swim and work out at the  gym, and we think it is diverse and cool. We like the bracelet system and the steam bath! We usually go there in the evening.

Text and photos: Iiris ja Johanna, 8th grade 

We are publishing a series of posts written by English Workshop students. (English Workshop is an elective course for 8th graders.) The theme of the posts is “Local”. We try to explain everyday Finnish phenomena which we find obvious but others might find interesting.

Special Things at School

Textile works 

We both studied textile work in primary school and in the seventh grade. Now we are in eighth grade and one of us will be studying it this year and next year, too. In seventh grade we made wool socks and shorts or a skirt. In eighth grade we will make at least a t-shirt or a long sleeve shirt.

Sewing machine

Overlocker

Loom

Breakfast 

A special thing at our school is breakfast. It’s served in the school cafeteria  at 9.15 am –  9.30 am. Breakfast isn’t free, but you get if for breakfast tickets. You have to buy tickets online and bring the receipt to the school cafeteria. For 20 euros you get 40 tickets.

    SCHOOL BREAKFAST MENU 

(August 2015, week 36) 

Every day: coffee, cocoa, bread, butter, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber

 Monday: Bread roll, cheese, pepper

Tuesday: cheese croissant

 Wednesday: blueberry pie, vanilla gravy

 Thursday: Åland style pancake, strawberry jam

 Friday: hamburger

Text and photos: Kaisa and Jasmiina

Everyman’s Rights in Finland

By Everyman’s Rights we mean the permission to use the forest without thinking to whom it belongs to. But doesn’t mean you can go to the forest and make a mess and wreck every thing that belongs to the owner of the forest. Everyman’s Rights allows you to do the following things:

-Walk, ski, and ride a bicycle in the nature, like in the forests, in meadows and on frozen lakes.
-You can ride a horse
-You can hangout and sleep over temporarily in areas, that are free to move on.
-You can Pick wild berry’s, mushroom and plants.
-You can go fishing and angling.
-Go on a boating trip, swim and clean your self up in the water and walk on ice.
 But you can not:
-Interfere with the landowner’s land use.
-Walk in the garden of the landlord.
-Hurt growing trees.
-Take a tree that has fallen down.
-Take moss.
-Make a open fire .
-Disturb the landowner.
-Make a mess.
-Drive a motor vehicle.
-Disturb or destroy bird nests.
-Disturb animals.
-Fish or hunt without landowners permission.
-Release a dog to a play field or to a public swimming area.
-Keep a dog unleashed between 1.3. – 19.8 because of the hunting law.

This makes life easier for me because if I go to forest and want to camp out in the forest I don’t have to think about things like who does the land belong to or can I do this. And if I want to eat berries I can just take them. And I can go hiking with my dog but only if I keep it on a leash.

Text:Jerkko, Raimo and Niko

We are publishing a series of posts written by English Workshop students. (English Workshop is an elective course for 8th graders.) The theme of the posts is “Local”. We try to explain everyday Finnish phenomena which we find obvious but others might find interesting

The pictures are from Lake Iso-Haiskari, a nice 15 km bicycle ride from our school. There are lots of hiking and cycling routes in the area, berries, mushrooms, places to make a fire or eat your packed lunches along the trails. You may even pitch a tent or hang a hammock from the trees and sleep in the forest if you like sleeping outdoors and don’t mind the mosquitoes. (Photos Ulla)

Finnish Forests

The Finnish forest is a place where you can pick berries and mushrooms –  the  forest is full of berries. The most common berry is blueberry. Very many people pick lingonberries, raspberries and wild strawberries in addition to blueberries. Almost every family goes to pick berries. Especially older people like to pick lots of berries. My grandmother has collected tons of berries (=dozens of liters). You can pick berries from summer to spring.

We also pick mushrooms like yellow foot, chanterelle and penny bun. You must be careful not pick mushrooms that are poisonous, like the destroying angel or the fly agaric. The turban fungus must not be eaten straight away. You need to parboil mushrooms like the turban fungus in order to remove the poison from them before eating.

The color of lingonberry is red.

In Finland we often go to forests with kindergarten and preschool to explore and pick samples like moss and flowers. There are lots of pathways that you can follow in the forests. There are also tracks in forests  where you can go jogging and run, but dogs are not allowed on the tracks. Some times in biology class we go to the forest to get some plants and leaves and we examine them. We had to make a herbarium for biology class this autumn. Forests are a part of everyday life for Finnish people.

Texts and photos: Raimo, Jerkko and Niko

We are publishing a series of posts written by English Workshop students. (English Workshop is an elective course for 8th graders.) The theme of the posts is “Local”. We try to explain everyday Finnish phenomena which we find obvious but others might find interesting

The color of blueberry is blue.

School Food

In Finland they serve food in schools and it´s free. Lunch includes meat, fish or chicken and potatoes, rice or pasta. Available drinks are fat free milk and tap water. Salad, vegetables or fruit (apples, oranges, carrots etc.)  are served with the meal, also crispbread and butter. Sometimes we have soup or porridge. A couple of  times a year (for example at Christmas, on Independence Day etc.) we have special food in our canteen. Food is always fresh and delicious.  Our favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs.

We can also have breakfast in our school. We have to pay for breakfast but it´s not necessary if you do not want to have breakfast at school. When you buy breakfast tickets for 20 euros, you get 40 tickets that are worth 50 cents. Usually the food costs one ticket. You can get a cup of  coffee, juice, a croissant, a yogurt, pizza, a banana, some watermelon, cereal bars etc.

LUNCH MENU FOR A WEEK:

Monday: Lemon flavored  chicken sauce and rice. Red cabbage salad.

Tuesday: Mixed meat soup, rye bread and plums.

Wednesday: Pork, potatoes and American salad.

Thursday: Fish fingers with potatoes and tartar sauce. Tomato and chive salad.

Friday: Spinach pancakes. Cowberry mash.

LUNCH SCHEDULE :

Breakfast: 9.15-19.30

7th grade 11.10-11.40

8th grade 11.30-12.00

9th grade 11.50-12.20

High school 12.00 -12.30

CAFETERIA RULES 

• Wash your hands before lunch!
• Leave your jacket and backpack to the hanger outside the cafeteria
• Wait peacefully in line
• Don´t cut in the line

Text and photos: Jere & Liis 8F

We are publishing a series of posts written by English Workshop students. (English Workshop is an elective course for 8th graders.) The theme of the posts is “Local”. We try to explain everyday Finnish phenomena which we find obvious but others might find interesting.

Good bye, Finland!

Our Japanese intern, Shuko, has stayed with us for nine months. This is the speech she gave at the graduation ceremony on the last day of school.  She wrote and gave the speech in Finnish (great job!), but here you can read also the English and Japanese translations. Thank you Shuko, for spending the school year with us!ORIGINAL SPEECH IN FINNISH:

Minun 9 kuukauttani Suomessa loppuvat ihan kohta. Kun minä tulin tänne Suomeen, oli alkusyksy, lehdet olivat punaisia, keltaisia ja oransseja. Se oli tosi ihanaa. Sitten kohta talvi tuli. Se oli kylmä, kylmempi kun japanissa mutta sisällä oli aina lämmin. Ja talvi meni jo, nyt tuli kevät. Minä ajattelin , että nämä  9 kuukautta ovat ehkä tosi pitkä aika. Joskus minusta tuntui siltä, mutta nyt minä tunnen että aika oli ihan lyhyt. 9 kuukauden aikana minä opin miten luistella, hiihtää ja neuloa lapaset. Ja suomen kieltäkin.Ensinmäisenä päivänä minä en ymmärtänyt yhtään suomea. Mutta nyt minä ymmärrän helppoa suomea ja puhun näin. Suomen kieli on varmasti tosi vaikea mutta se on mielenkiintoinen kieli.

Minä koin monta asiaa ensimmäistä kertaa suomessa.. Joka päivä törmäsin näihin juttuihin. Suomen kieli, miten käydä kaupassa, miten ajaa bussilla, suomen kylmä talvi ja salmiakki. Aina joku autoi minua. Teidän ansiostanne selvisin tuosta kylmästä talvesta. Minä selvisin koska tällä on paljon ystävällistä ihmisiä. Suomalaiset ovat aina ystävällisiä.

Minä ajattelen että Suomen koulu antaa teille paljon mahdollisuuksia. Esimerkiksi sinulla on mahdollisuus opiskella useita ulkomaalaisia kieliä,  ei vain englantia. Suomen koulu on tosi mielenkiintoinen ja se oli hauska kokemus minulle.

Minä menen takaisin japaniin. Mutta tulen Suomeen taas joku päivä. Hyvää kesälomaa. Kiitos.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

My 9 months stay in Finland will end soon. When I came to Finland, it was the beginning of autumn. Leaves were red, yellow and orange. They were so beautiful. And then winter came soon. It was cold, colder than in Japan. But it was always warm inside the buildings. Now winter has gone and it’s spring. I thought these 9 months would be so long. Sometimes I felt so. But now I feel it was so short. During this term I learned how to skate, ski and knit mittens. And also Finnish language. At first, I couldn’t understand Finnish at all. But now I can understand if it’s easy and I speak Finnish like this. I think Finnish is surely very difficult but also very interesting.

I faced new things every day in Finland: the Finnish language, how to shop in supermarkets, how to ride the buses, the Finnish cold winter and salmiakki. And someone helped me every time. I was able to survive through the cold  Finnish winter because there were such kind people around me. All people that I met here have been kind.

I think there are so many opportunities in Finnish schools. For example, you can study not only English but also the other languages, too. Finnish school is interesting and I’m glad to have been here.

I will go back to Japan. But I will come back here again some day. Have a nice summer vacation. Thank you.

JAPANESE TRANSLATION:

私の9ヶ月のフィンランドでの日々がもうすぐ終わります。私がフィンランドに来た頃は秋の始まりで、とっても紅葉がきれいでした。それから、寒い寒い冬が過ぎ(部屋の中はいつも暖かかったですが)、春がやってきました。9ヶ月はとても長いようで、とても短かったです。この9ヶ月の間に、私は、スケートとスキーの仕方を覚え、編み物の仕方も覚えました。最初はまったくわからなかったフィンランド語も、ちょっとはわかるようになりました。こんな風に。フィンランド語は、確かにすごく難しいけど、興味深い言語だと思います。

フィンランドに来てからは、毎日、初めての連続でした。フィンランド語も、スーパーの使い方も、バスの乗り方も、フィンランドの冬も、それからサルミアッキも。だけど、いつもたくさんの方々に助けていただきました。おかげで、無事に冬を越すこともできました。私のフィンランドでの日々は、皆さんの助けなしでは成り立たなかったと思います。本当に皆さん、ありがとうございました。私がフィンランドで出会った人々はいつも親切でした。

フィンランドの学校は、たくさんのチャンスにあふれている場所だと思います。知らない世界を知るヒントとなる言語を学べる機会が多くて、学校を離れて、街に繰り出す機会もある。フィンランドの学校はとても興味深くて、ここに１年間いることができて、良かったなと思います。

また、いつかフィンランドに戻ってきます。それでは、良い夏休みをお過ごしください。ありがとうございました。(Shuko, Japanese university student, intern at our school)

My Dog

PATE

We have a dog. He is called Pate.  He is seven and a half years old. His mother is a golden retriever and his father is a Norwegian elkhound. As a puppy he was furry and calm. He wasn´t home-trained, so my mother had to clean a lot. We hadn´t had any thoughts to get  dog, but when we saw him, we just fell in love with him. We bought him from a farm near by our summer cottage.    Pate is cheerful and friendly. He is big, soft and furry. He barks  loud. He is also very loyal. He knows how to play dead and gives high fives.  He likes gingerbread, and he is afraid of hot air balloons.   

Text and photo:  Pippa (13)

NINJA

My pet is a dog. It´s a borderterrier called Ninja. It came to our family in the summer. We have always loved it. It´s black and brown. I love it because it´s so sweet, little and well behaved. It doesn´t bark at anything unless it isn´t something very dangerous, like a paperbag.

Mum has trained Ninja a lot. Ninja behaves very very well…unlike Lysti. Lysti is my grandmother´s dog. It´s same breed but different colour. Lysti doesn´t behave well but is still a lovely, little dog, whom I love. Mum has started agility with Lysti and Ninja a little time ago. I think Lysti is going to be pretty good at it because it jumps so much. I maybe will start agility with Lysti. Ninja is two months older than Lysti. They play together outside every day. I play with them too. They chase me and I run away and hide behind a tree. It´s fun. I also go for a walk with them but that´s not so fun. Usually we go for a walk in the forest because I don´t want to keep them on a leash. They don´t bite people but everybody doesn´t like dogs. Ninja and Lysti are very good friends and almost the same age.

My best memory with Ninja is when we were swimming and Ninja came too. That was  the summer when we were in Oulu. Another memory is when Lysti and Ninja saw snow for the  first time . They got crazy about it. They played and barked together in the snow.  Sometimes Lysti is so scared of something that she bites my grand mother.  And now my mom is training Lysti and Lysti is meeting other dogs so she would behave better.

(Text and photo: Lotta, 13)

Hosting Japanese Students

We had four Japanese students from Morioka Chuo High School visiting our school for a week in December 2014. The Japanese students stayed in homes of our students. Our students tell about their experiences as hosts. Why did you decide to take a Japanese student to your home for a week?

Sanna:  I and my sister are studying Japanese, and we are interested in Japan. So when we first  heard that there was opportunity to host a Japanese student for a week, we were really excited.

Okko: You can’t waste such a great opportunity as having a Japanese person living in your house, can you?

Otto: Mother asked me and my brother if it would be okay that a Japanese student  moved in to live with us for a week. I was initially a bit sceptic because I would have to move in to my little brother’s room for that time. But I was really curious how a week would go with him.

What did you do together?

Sanna: We did a lot of different things. We ate different Finnish foods and tasted some japanese foods too, went shopping, had a big snowball fight, watched a movie, and talked lots and lots about all kinds of things.

Okko: All kinds of things. We discussed a lot about cultures and traditions in Japan and Finland. We went to Porvoo for a Christmas market. We built a snowman. And of course ate a traditional Finnish Christmas dinner: ham and carrot casserole.

Otto: Well we went to the shooting range, shopping in the Willa mall, a pizzeria and kebab restaurant and tasted some Finnish candy. We also sat around a campfire frying sausages. We built a huge snowman. Akihisa made a Japanese dinner for my family.

What kinds of things did your Japanese guest find interesting or different here in Finland?

Sanna: She was surprised, that it was so dark in Finland in fall. And there were a lot of differences between the Japanese and Finnish school system. For example we study more languages here than in Japan.

Okko: Celebrating Christmas was one of her favourite topics. But she could find something interesting and/or different from almost everything. For example, solving math equations is different in Finland and Japan. And of course food was really strange for a Japanese. She found interesting to see churches everywhere.

Otto: Pizzas… The pizzas here in Finland weren’t the size of your hand. And food in general was different. And he loved mulled wine and snow. He had never heard of kebab before.

Did you learn something new about Japan or Japanese?

Sanna: I learned some new Japanese words that young Japanese use. And I was very surprised to hear that in Japan girls can marry at the age of 16 and boys at 18. And there were many other new things that I learned about Japan and its culture.

Okko: I learned lots of things about Japanese culture. For example holidays are surprisingly short and school day is  the same length everyday, except for Saturday which is shorter. I also learned some new words.

Otto: I learned that the Japanese were very polite and disciplined. He always asked me is it OK to go to the shower.

What was the best thing about the visit?

Sanna: Meeting new people and making friends with them.

Okko: I’d say talking with a foreigner from as far away as Japan.

Otto: I think it was the difference of our cultures and behavior.

(Text: Sanna 15, Otto 15, Okko 15   – Photo: Ulla)

フインランドの冬 Winter in Finland

フインランドの 冬はとてもうつくしいです。十二月はくらいですが、一月はあかるいです。ゆきがふえるから、もっとあかるくなります。ゆきがふらない冬はぞうそうできません。冬の初雪はいつもふしぎです。冬がはじまるまえにとりが南へひっこします。小いさい動物も、くまも、ねむりにおちて、春をまっています。（リーナ　18才）

Winter is very beautiful in Finland. December  dark, but snow makes the rest of the winter brighter. Imagining winter without snow is impossible for me. The first snow of the year is always a bit mysterious. The birds fly south before  winter starts. Small animals and bears fall asleep and wait for the spring.  (Riina, 18) Pics Ulla

Landmarks of our Village

There are a couple of landmarks or “interesting sights” in Rajamäki, the village where I live and go to school. Here they are  🙂There are train tracks in Rajamäki. Trains do some times travel on the tracks and they make a lot of noise, if you are near the tracks. There are beams at the railroad crossings and they go down if a train is coming. The trains usually carry a lot of wood, but never people.There is a big alcohol factory in Rajamäki and it has been a reason for a lot of happenings in the past. Actually the whole village developed around the factory about 100 years ago. The factory was built here, because the water was especially good. The Factory was owned by Alko, but now it´s owned by Altia. This factory funded the building of the church, the swimming pool and the secondary school. The factory has been extended in a modern way and the old original factory buildings are used as storage. In Rajamäki, there is a white Lutheran church. The church was built by the alcohol factory and designed by Erkki Huttunen. Like in many other churches, there is an organ. Many weddings, funerals and other Christian ceremonies are performed there. There is also a grave yard in front of the church.There are mysterious abandoned towers standing in the forest on the hill by the alcohol factory. These towers were used in the Second World War to defend the factory, because at that time the factory manufactured about 500,000 Molotov cocktails to be used against the enemy. Nowadays both towers are victims of spray paint 😀 This is Lake Sääksi which is actually Finland´s biggest spring. Many locals go swimming there in the summer, because the water is clean and there is a sand beach. The water of Lake Sääksi is quite cold, because it´s a spring. It´s not near the center of Rajamäki, but close enough that you can go there by bike pretty fast. In summer there are many families there and at winter you can go there to ski and fish through a hole in the ice.

Text: Aino (13)

Photos: Aino and Ulla