Barbara Pleasant: Madison in Finland

I’m posting this page for family and friends who want a glimpse of Madison’s summer travels. She is teaching English as a second language to Russian kids at summer language camps run by Nordic School. All of the camps are located in the Finnish Lake District, which borders with Russia.

This month (July 2011) Madison is in Ruokolahti, Finland, which is about as far east as you can travel in Finland before you get to Russia.

“We're in the official border zone of Russia and Finland here so the rules are a bit weird, I kind of like it though -- you can really see the Russian influence in some of the buildings and the houses, even the way the rooms are decorated with cute little Russian touches.”

“I'm sharing a room/apartment thing with the other female teacher. She’s a medical student from Zimbabwe, my age, and we're getting along great and have had fun nesting up the apartment.”

This is their back door. The windows above are a classroom. The shared rooms have a commode and sink, with showers and kitchen down the hall.

Located on a peninsula, the Jaakkima Christian Folk High School is where the camp is held. Click here for beautiful aerial photos. Madison teaches one group of students for 3 hours in the morning, then switches to an older group in the afternoon. In addition to teaching her students English, she’s asking them to help her learn one new Russian phrase each day. I like this one: “bolshe spasipa moya mama.” It means “thank you so much, mom.”