Week 4: A busy one

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This past week was a busy one.  Michael had his orientation with the Fulbright Center this week.  Lots of good fun.  Lots of good information.  Lots of amazing people.  And a reception at the US Embassy in Helsinki for the Fulbright Scholars and Students.  Way cool.  

Steph was able to come to some of the events.  We also got a tour of the National Art Gallery, had a dance/music recital at a local music high school, and were hosted by the Finnish Foreign Ministry by their chief spokesman.  The picture at right is taken in front of the Sibelius monument in Helsinki during our bus tour of some of the sights.  Jean Sibelius is a Finnish composer who wrote Finlandia.

Steph has been a little stir crazy so she wanted to head out of Helsinki this past weekend.  We rented a car and Saturday we drove to Nagu (probably the Swedish name for the town) just to the southeast of Turku which is in Southwestern Finland. (See the screenshot at left to get a sense of where Nagu is.)  It is part of a series of islands that borders the Archipelago National Park.  We were not able to get into the park because the last weekend in August is past the end of the summer season.  

We did get to go to Nagu and stay at a lovely B&B (all of us in one room).  However, the kids loved the breakfast.  Fresh bread, oatmeal, corn flakes (sugar and cinnamon - thanks Pop Pop).  The video above is of Michael and the kids taking the plunge into the Baltic Sea.  Another women who was swimming around the same time said the temperature was 18 C, about 64 F(but there was no way it was that warm).   The air temperature might have been 18C.   It is very important to note that Steph (honest to God!) went in for a dip after the rest of us had come up.  Her words were 'Why didn't you tell me it was like this.' 

This next picture is for Uncle Chris.  We were eating dinner in Nagu and this ferry pulled up.  (Gab and Christo tried some clams and liked them, Woo Hoo!) The front of the ship lifted up and some cars got out and this van got on.  It's for Uncle Chris since it was powered by Caterpillar.  We didn't get a picture of the CAT symbol, but trust us it was on the back of the ferry.   Also, all of the ferries were free as the Finnish government has decided that having ferries that run free is cheaper than building and maintaining bridges.  

Sunday the forecast didn't look to good but we decided to explore some more of the local islands.  We were hoping to rent kayaks or something like that.  Instead we ended up at Korpostrom for lunch.  After a great lunch of beef that was really pork and salmon that was really delicious, the boys got their poles, Gab and Steph went for a hike and Michael took a nap.  The sun came out and the boys caught three fish.  We have not yet identified them but here are pictures of two of them.