IN FINLAND...
...AND IN CZECH REBUBLIC
Oh, it´s hot, it´s Granny´s summer!
Arriving at Prague Ruzyne Airport after mere two hours of flight one would expect the weather wouldn´t be that much different from the Finnish fall we left behind. But it sure was. I certainly thought for a moment that we had come to a totally wrong country, Spain or Cyprus or something. Come to think of it, it wouldn´t be too surprising, given that Juri was in the cockpit during the descent of the flight...
In Žďár nad Africa the temperatures were even higher than in Prague, but the air was much clearer and fresher. Sometimes the wind carries an earthly scent of countryside into the lively town. Overlooking the town and it´s surroundings stands the Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk. The church can be seen from quite far away, and from the windows of our hotelrooms in U Labutě -hotel. I think it´s a beautiful sight especially in the evening when it´s lit by the light of the sundown. It looks like some fairytale castle or a space ship ready to fly.
Of course it´s amazing that in Žďár alone with it´s c. 25 000 inhabitants there are about 70 different restaurants or bars. As a teacher of mother tongue and literature I´m even more amazed and very glad to see how Czech people seem to be reading books everywhere, in bus stations, in railway stations, in cafés and bars, even while walking in traffic lights! There seems to be a bookstore in every other corner of both Prague and Brno. In Žďár I found a little catholic bookstore from where I bought a nice rose-scented rosary for my wife. The shopkeeper was an elderly lady who spoke neither English nor German. Yet we managed to do business.
Czech people are friendly and eager to help a foreigner even when they don´t share a common language. The young people are exemplary polite and well mannered. The streets are clean, and especially the thousands of culturally valuable buildings and sites are seemingly high respected and well taken care of.
A true sign of an old Central European civilization in my mind is the condition of WCs. In this respect Czech republic hasn´t failed me once: restrooms for men have been very clean and fully equipped. If one gets locked inside a house while visiting a restroom, it´s quite comforting that it isn´t like a scene from Dante´s Hell and smell like a Norwegian fishfactory.
I´ve enjoyed my stay and hope to come back some time soon!
Jari Juutinen
Prague – Been out of sight but not out of mind
I can’t describe how excited and impatient I felt when I suddenly realized that after one week we would already be in Prague. Like you hadn’t seen your teenage crush in ages. It has been almost ten years since the last time we met. Honestly, I almost lost my appetite and if you knew me like my friends do, you’d be sure it’s something serious.
In the airplane the excitement just grew and I can assure you, I wasn’t the only one. It was easy to read it from everyone’s faces. Because of a very lucky chance, the captain of the plane invited me to the cockpit. Not sure which was more thrilling: to follow the pilots at work or to be able to see how we were approaching my sweetheart. A pretty cool start for our adventure, I must say.
From the very first beginning, she showed us only her good sides: interesting, fascinating, kind and intellectual. And oh boy, she sure is gorgeous! When I saw all the familiar streets, squares and buildings, I felt like I was back home again. Even her scent was exactly the same, just like I remembered. Strange but true, I have never experienced such feeling anywhere else no matter where I have roamed. This is where I belong.
The hospitality of Prague astounded me again. Even if there is this massive language barrier, the locals are always smiling and willing to help. Body language and good old pen & paper –combo are a great way to communicate without a common language. After you’ve learnt some basic phrases like thank you, please and hello, you’ll be just fine!
At the end it’s hard to say where the very beauty of Prague lives. Is it in the breathtaking architecture? Can you find it from their amazing culture? Maybe from lively pubs and beautiful cafes? Or does it simply dwell in the hearts of the inhabitants?
I once heard someone say: ”God is well, He’s feeling fine and He lives in Prague.” I agree.
See you soon, my love. I will miss you.
Juri Pietiläinen
Ensimmäiset päivät / The first days
Aamulla 5. syyskuuta aamu alkoi hostellin hyvällä aamiaisella. Se ei tosin ollut yhtään tyypillinen aamiainen meille suomalaisille, sillä se oli makea niin kuin täällä lähes kaikki ruoat.
The morning of the 5th of September started with a great hostel breakfast, even though it wasn't a typical breakfast for us. We aren´t used to eat as sweet a breakfast as it was.
Hostellilta lähdimme hyvissä ajoin nähtävyyskierrokselle. Otimme raitoivaunun kohti Hradčanya ja Prahan linnaa, jonne suuntasimme ensimmäisenä.
After breakfast we took a tram towards Hradčany and the Prague castle where we went first.
Prahan linna oli todella iso, kuulemma suurin muinaislinna maailmassa. Se oli 100 metriä leveä ja puoli kilometriä pitkä. Sen perustaja oli prinssi Bořivoj 800-luvulla.
The castle was huge, we heard that it is the biggest ancient castle in the world. Its length is 100 meters and it is 500 meters wide. Prince Bořivoj founded it in 9th century.
Linnasta matkamme jatkuin Pyhän Vituksen katedraalille, joka oli kaunis kaikkine monivärisine mosaikki-ikkuinoineen ja yksityiskohtineen. Mietimmekin, että mahtaisi mennä muutaman vuoden kuvistunnit samankaltaisen ikkunan tekemiseen.
Then our trip continued to St. Vitus cathedral, which was beautiful sight with those many colorful windows made of mosaic. We thought that it will take pretty many hours to make window like that.
Pyhän Vituksen katedraali, jonka toinen puoli oli remontissa.
St.Vitus cathedral´s other side was under repairment.
Kiertelemisen jälkeen lähdimme kävelemään Vltava-jokea kohti, jonka yli kulkee Kaarlen silta. Se on goottityylinen kivisilta, joka on täynnä turisteja ja kauppiaita myymässä erilaisia matkamuistoja. Silta on massiivinen, minkä ansiosta se onkin kestänyt monet tulvat ja katastrofit. Sillalta on heitetty alas pappi Jan Nepomukilainen vuonna 1393, sillä uskollinen pappi ei suostunut kertomaan kuningattaren rippisalaisuuksia. Jan Nepomukilainen on meille tärkeä henkilö projektin kannalta, sillä tutkimme papin maailmanperintökirkkoa.
After sightseeing we started walking towards river Vltava and Charles bridge which crosses the river.
It is a massive bridge made of rocks in the Gothic style. It´s made of rock so it lasted many floods and other disasters. Loyal Jan Nepomuk was thrown from this bridge in 1393, because he didn't tell the Queen's confessions. Jan Nepomuk is an important man for us because he is the founder of the Green hill church.
Otettuamme yhteiskuvan oli vuorossa omatoiminen ruokailu ja shoppailuaikaa Prahan keskustassa.
After pictures we had time to go shopping and have lunch in Prague.
Keskusta oli täynnä kojuja ja erilaisia näytöksiä.
There were many kind of shows and marketplaces.
Kävelyä oli kertynyt jo paljon päivän aikana mutta mäkkäriruoan ja shoppailun ansiosta fiilikset olivat taas energiset kaikilla, jotta jaksoimme vielä illalla mennä Petřinin kukkulalle. Kukkulalla oli 299 rappusen pienoismalli Eiffel-tornista.
We walked a lot but after McDonald's food and shopping everybody had lots of energy. Next top was Peter's Hill where was a copy of the Eiffel tower. There are 299 stairs in the tower.
Petřínin kukkulalle mentiin raitiovaunun tyylisellä kulkuneuvolla. Korkealla ylhäällä oli upeat maisemat, josta näki koko Prahan.
We took a tram to get to the top. The views were breathtaking. You can see the whole Prague from there.
Růžový sad
Vierailun jälkeen kaikki oli väsyneitä, joten otimme ratikan hostellille ja menimme kaikki yhdessä illalliselle hostellin lähellä sijaitsevaan ravintolaan, joka oli mahtava loppu koko päivälle. Paras ryhmä, mahtava päivä!
After visiting the Petřin tower everybody was quite tired so we took a tram to our hostel and we all went to a restaurant together. The best group ever, it was a great day!
- Eve
Visitation Brno
On Saturday 9 September we were in Brno. It was realy funny experience. We were there all day, we visited Villa Tugendhat and so on. Then we went to the concert at the monastery. It was quite nice trip.
David and Henri
St. Zdislava
While wandering in the Nové město we visited a center for handicapped people St. Zdislava. People who regularly visit this center can't go to church because for their disability. Therefore, at least sing religious songs in the lounge. For us It was a good experience.
We could make a little present here.
Daniel and Topias
Our trip to Pernštejn
After our work at school we got a present from one of our sponsors - the trip to one of the most famous and beautiful castles in the Czech Republic Pernštejn castle. It was rainy Wednesday afternoon, but it couldn't stop us to go there. Students and teachers visited the castle from the Middle Ages and after a guided tour we visited the town of Bystřice nad Pernštejnem which is near the castle. Everybody enjoyed quite a cold day full of history.
Náš výlet na Pernštejn
Po práci na našem projektu jsme dostali jako dárek od sponzora výlet na jeden z nejznámějších a nejkrásnějších českých hradů v České republice. Byla deštivá středa odpoledne, ale počasí nás nemohlo odradit. Studenti a učitelé navštívili středověký hrad a poté Bystřici nad Pernštejnem, město blízko hradu. Všichni si užili chladný den plný historie.
Radka, Stina
Visits in lessons
We visited lessons at our school yesterday. We made groups of four people and every group visited two lessons. We tried to visit each class at school. Our Finnish partners introduced themselves and said something about Finland and their school and our common project of EU.
They could see English, German, Czech or music lessons, also religion, biology, mathematics, history or chemistry. Teachers were very nice and wanted to know something about Finland.
Míša
Well when I first entered the class, my first thought was that the class was different. Different in a good way too, because it is always good to try something new. I didn't understand anything about the class or anything like that. But I know it was good, and when I asked my other Finnish friends they said even though they didn't understand anything about the classes that they enjoyed the atmosphere there. When we went to the class we introduced ourselves to the students and the teacher. After that some of the students asked us some questions about Finland, our project and our school and we answered them as best as we could. So altogether it was really good and nice.
Mariama
Funny dancing lesson
Move your body! said Mr. Pleva to us. Do you know why? Because we had a country dancing course on Sunday afternoon. At first time nobody wanted to dance, but after a few minutes we all were on the dancing floor.
The first dance was in pairs and every girl wanted to have the best dancer. Unfortunately there were more girls than boys, so some girls had to pretend that they are boys. The dance was hard, but we did
not give it up! In the end we all were dancing the country dance and everyone was laughing very much. Parents and relatives were amusingly watching our dance and listening to the exciting instructions in English, Czech and Finnish language.
Then came the second dance. We were in a circle and we were changing our partners. This dance was more difficult but we managed it!
Natálie and Inka
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