Back to home 02.11

Back home

The journey back home began after a turbulent night at 4.00 am. Fortunately, we flew straight from Kokkola to Helsinki this time. At Helsinki Airport we had a lot of time again, which we furnished by drinking coffee and visiting another Moomin shop. Then we had the excellent idea that there must be two teachers at the airport who go to Kokkola instead of us. We met them and shared impressions and words of instruction.

Finally, our plane came along, which took us to Tallinn. In Tallinn, we sat on a train and drove home.

That's how our great study ended. In conclusion, the trip proved to be very useful and meaningful. There were many new ideas to implement.

Fourth working day 01.11

Fourth working day at school

The fourth day of the Finnish school began in the morning with the integration of the different subjects:  Finnish language, environmental education, physics and chemistry were integrated. We watched a movie about the fashion industry and fast fashion in a large auditorium. The film was followed by discussion and group work on fast fashion, pollution and the third world problems. 

Next to the auditorium, we noticed a sign on the door that said entry in outdoor clothes was forbidden. Our hearts were filled with warmth.

After lunch, we visited the robots. Kokkola School has two robots. Tiny and big. Both are used in teaching, IT students are making programs for them. But robots are also used to advertise for the school on open-door days. Anyway, both robots charmed us. 

Robots

Even if I know, it's not a sane creature, but I still want to communicate with it. In short, with the robots, we spent a pleasant time and became much smarter in everything about robotics and artificial intelligence.

Friday was the last day to be in Finland for teachers Tintera and Ilus. In the early morning of Saturday, we were already starting for our way back to Estonia. But there was teacher Vetka and department manager Koido arriving in our place. The students were already in anticipation.

Teacher Ilus and I used the afternoon to take another final check on local cafes and trade.

We've concluded, we'll have to go back to Kokkola, but when the weather's a little warmer. The city is very sweet, especially the old-town part Neristan. Nor did we have time to assess all the cafes.

Third working day 31.10

Third day at school.

For the third day, everyone was already in school mood. The first lesson was the customer service. Finnish and Estonian students were divided into groups, and they had to figure out what their job would be in 20 years, what skills the profession would require, and what they would expect from their job. When answers to these questions were found, the work of the group had to be presented to others.

All in the work mood

Of course, there was a bit of arguing and layering about not being able to speak English, but in fact, everyone did very well.

The second lesson was also customer service but a bit from another angle. This class looked at how the customer should be approached and how the contact with the customer should be created.

After lunch, we visited a lesson where learned people who came to Finland not long ago. They were taught language and everyday skills. They were very excited and happy about our visit and were anxious to take pictures with us. 

Nations of the world :)

We also visited the prep class for those Finnish students who were not yet ready to continue their studies. They needed extra help in language and maths.

For the last class of the day was English in the language lab. Students had to listen to text, fill out journals and work in pairs. Everything came out nicely and the Finnish students (who, by the way, were from the electric area) working very nicely along.

In the evening, we had another concert. This time a tribute to Swedish singer Tomas Ledin. The concert was also in Swedish.

We used the time before the concert, as we always did, to familiarise ourselves with the culture of coffee. It appeared that the level is still very high.

Kokkola

Second working day 30.10

Second job day at school

Wednesday began briskly. It had rained in the night, and all the snow was frozen, so we had a great opportunity to skate to school in the morning. During the first hour, our students, along with Finnish students, had to build a tower of spaghetti the so-called marshmallow challenge. It has to be acknowledged that some of the teams worked very well and some not so much. The mono-ethnic team won.

Making marshmallow tower

Our students then presented their school and country. It came out very nicely, and the auditorium listened with interest.

Presentation about school

Presentation about Estonia

After lunch at the school canteen, we had a conversation with students who, in addition to vocational education, also receive secondary education. They have one whole floor of school complexes allocated to them, and they study for a year longer than students in only vocational training. Then we took part in the lessons where we learned how to make bills, the class was in a computer class, and the students had to be able to make bills in different office software programs. Our students, it appeared, fully understood what was being done and how it was being done. So they can go to work in Finland.

There was ice-hockey for Wednesday night's program! We trudged into the ice hall and held all the third and the extra time. Unfortunately, the home team lost. They just played down their success. With such slightly confused emotions, the evening ended.

First working day 29.10

First working day at school

On Tuesday morning, neatly rested and eaten, we set off for school. Our hostel was to school about 5 min way. The weather was crisp and sunny, with snow on the ground.

The schoolhouse was a large, maze-like building, but tidy and homely. The first lesson we visited was English for the first course of business speciality students.

This hour made us all feel a little bit uncomfortable. We are not yet accustomed to such an hour of free order. The whole day we spent with the first-year students, and we could see that they still had some adaptation difficulties. There was, however, an extraordinarily talkative young man among them, who kindly explained everything to us.

Entrepreneurship class

We had lunch at the school canteen, the food was delicious and affordable. At the dinner table, Ketlin and Elysabeth had a long conversation with a local teacher about robotics.

Teacher Ilus out of comfort zone

After lunch, we visited business lessons and we learned how the student cafeteria works. They have to order all the goods by themselves and to find people who will sell in cafeteria. As we saw afterwards, it wasn't so easy to find students to the cafeteria and the cafeteria was closed sometimes. 

Buissnes unit cafeteria

In the evening a concert was waiting for us in the hall of the local conservatory, before that it was free time. That free time we used with teacher Ilus acquaint ourself with the local cafe culture. Culture turned out to be high. We also made some purchases to support the Kokkola trade.

At 7:00 pm, had taken our seats in the conservatory hall and listened to a jazz concert for an hour and a half - a tribute to Herbie Hancock.

Jazz

Then we went home and made our last preparations for tomorrow's day and... sleep.

Arrival 28.10

Arrival

Our trip to Finland, Kokkola started at 4 a.m. in Tartu airport. Everyone was excited and looked forward to the tow weeks training. 

To my great surprise (and I have worked as a teacher for many years now) everyone had all the things they needed, and no one had any problems in the security checks.

Nicely on top of the plane, the ride began at Helsinig's direction. At Helsinki Airport we took some time to check out the local trade. With teacher Ilus and I picked our souvenirs from the Moomin  Shop, and we consumated a larger amount of coffee.  My dear student Ketlin was very displeased, that I had changed her excellent presentation about our school. I must admit that the criticism of my actions was entirely justified.

Anyway, after three hours of waiting, we went on a plane to Kokkola and began a long flight to the destination with a stopover. We reached Kokkola Airport at about 2.00 pm. A bus took us to the hotel.

Our home for the next week was a wonderful old villa from the nineteen twenties. The girls were distributed to 5 rooms, and teacher Ilus and I had a little room at our disposal.

All of us in front of our new home

Meeting our receiver, Anna-Maija, and getting instructions for the next day, came the time off. The girls went to the shops, and Ilus and I went looking for food. Our search ended with a pleasant dinner at a nice Italian restaurant. Then we walked back to the hostel, and after a long day, we fell asleep.

Neljapäeval- reedel töö kauplustes (7-8 nov)

Juba Eestis olles teadsime, et meie õpilastel on võimalus sooritada paaripäevast praktilist tööd erinavates kauplustes. Kohale jõudes saime teada ka kaupluste nimed ja õpilaste arvu, st.mitmekesi ollakse ühes kaupluses. Õpilaste paigutamine toimus valutult, püüdsime arvestada  nende soovidega paariliste ja kaupluste suhtes.  Lõplikuks seisuks kujunes välja nii, et Prismasse  läks neli õpilast - Laura, Ketlin, Anzelika ja Elysabeth; S-Market Kallentori Karolin ja Tiiu Madli; Minimanisse Liia ja Eleandra ning Veniz lattu Iris ja Brigitta.

Hommik algas vara, sest kaks kauplust ja ladu asus meie ööbimiskohast kaugemal ja seetõttu pakkus transporti Anne-Maija, et hommikul kiiremini kohale jõuda. Kauplus S-Market oli kõige lähemal ja need õpilased saatis kohale õp.Vaike.  Selleks, et oleks jõudu tööle minna, valmistasime õpilastele ülestõusmise ajaks kohvi ja hommikupudru. 

Üllatus oli aga see, et sellel hommikul näitas kraadiklaas õues -14 kraadi, puud olid härmas ja ilm karge. Lisame siia ka pildi sellest kaunist hommikust meie hostelist Villa Carleborg.

Õpilased jäid oma praktikaettevõtetega väga rahule, vastuvõtt oli sõbralik, juhendajad abivalmid. Põhitegevuseks kaupade väljapanek müügisaali. Iris ja Brigitta pakkisid laos väga suures koguses lipsusid, et neid saaks laost erinevatesse kauplustesse saata. Veel tegelesid kaubaga, mis oli tunnistatud praagiks.

Soome töökultuur kauplustes on väga töötajasõbralik. Ka meie õplastel oli iga kahe tunni möödudes kohvipaus koos suupistetega tööandja kulul. Ka lõunasöögi võisid nad kaupluseletilt võtta ja selle kompenseeris tööandja.

Reedel õnnestus meil külastada praktikaettevõtteid. Kuna ettevõtted asusid meie villast kaugemal, siis Anne-Maija pakkus meile transporti. Saime külastada Minimani kauplust, see oli väga suur ja silma hakkas eelkõige jõulukaupade rohkus. Ka meie neiud tegelesid just selle kaubagrupi väljapanekutega.
Liia oli seal kaupluses praktikal ka  selle aasta kevadel ja jälle kutsus kaupluse juhtkond  teda sinna tööle  tagasi.

Veniz ladu asus linna servas ning hoone ise kuulus sõjaväele. Töötajaid oli selles firmas 10, laos kohal oli 5. Põhitoodeteks, millega see ladu tegeles, olid meeste aksessuaarid ( erinevad lipsud, püksirihmad, traksid) ning ka naiste sallid. Kaup saabus lattu enamasti Aasia maadest. Laos kontrolliti tooted üle ning saadeti edasi kauplustesse. Põhiliseks tarnijaks on Prisma kett ning külastades seda kauplust, leidsime stangedelt ja riiulitelt Veniz kaubamärgiga tooteid. Kuna  ladu asus meie ööbimiskohast kaugel ( umbes 4 km), siis esimesel päeval toodi meie kaks neiut tagasi nendepoolse transpordiga. Kuna meie tüdrukud  ( Iris ja Brigitta) tegid kaks päeva usinasti tööd ning nendega  jäädi väga rahule,  oli neil võimalus valida endale ise kaunis sall preemiaks.

Tagasisidet saime läbi Anne-Maija ka S-Marketis ja Prismas olnud tüdrukute kohta. Nende tööga jäädi väga rahule. S-Maketis anti tüdrukutele tänutäheks väike maiustusete kotike.

Tore oli, et Anne-Maija tutvustas meile ka Kokkola sadama piirkonda ning tööstusrajooni. Need kõik asuvad linna piiril ning jalgsi ei oleks me kuidagi seda linna teistpoolt näinud. Sadama lähedusse on rajatud ka uus elamurajoon, kus korterite hinnad algavad poolest miljonist eurost. 

Tööstusettevõttes toodeti soola  teede hooldamiseks ning  nägime suuri nafta ja õlitankereid.

Kuna meie sooviks oli saada meeneks külmkapi magnetit, siis hakkas turnee mööda kaupluseid koos Anne-Maijaga. Kahjuks selgus, et kohalik I- punkt on likvideeritud ning üheski kaupluses polnud müügil Kokkola linnapildiga magnetit. Olime kurvad, kuid lohutuseks saime ühest käsitööpoest rinnamärgi  kirjaga Kokkola 400- see tähendas, et järgmisel aastal täitub sellel linnal 400-s aastapäev. Saime ka teada, et siis on oodata külla Rootsi kuningapaari koos printsessiga.