This past week, I finally did my presentation on America.  I thought it was a fitting week to pay tribute to all the things that make America great.  I began the presentation by asking the kids what they knew about America.  Not surprisingly, most of what they knew pertained to sports.  It seems that America has quite the reputation of honoring sports stars like heroes.

I shared with them my photo book from the past year.  They enjoyed seeing pictures from our family vacations to the beach, Disney World, and Universal Studios as well as day to day things like school, sports and activities.  We discussed the similarities and differences between the two countries.  I shared with them that I felt Finland was an easy place to transition to for an American, especially, since most Finns know English.  In fact, many Finns know 3-5 languages. I guess, since Finnish is such a difficult language, learning another language is simple.

Although, I thought it would be easy for an American to live in Finland, they did not feel it would be easy for them to live in America.  They did not like the idea of going to school from 8-3 every day or having 4 or more tests a week.  They also didn't realize that most American kids aren't able to ride their bikes to school or around town as they please.  I can tell you that my kids are enjoying the short school days and not having many tests.  They are beginning to enjoy riding their bikes around by themselves, especially, since they have their own cell phone.  Most school-age Finnish kids have a cell phone since they are allowed to go places on their own.

This week, the kids and I began Finnish classes.  We are trying to memorize the sound of the letters, days of the week and months of the year.  We will have lessons one time a week.  The kids seem excited to learn Finnish.  Mike has also started Russian classes.  He's got his work cut out for him.

We took advantage of another good weekend and went to a town about 1 1/2 hours away.  Salvonlinna is a town in Finland with a Medieval castle.  The town hosts a world famous opera festival in July.  It is pretty quiet now in the off season.  The castle, although mostly empty, is nicely restored and maintained. We enjoyed are self-guided tour since the only tour in the off season is in Finnish.