Journey North Mystery Class Spring 2004

Introducing Mystery Class #3
Espoo, Finland (60.217 N, 24.667 E)

Terve!
Mikkela School is located in Espoo, Finland, the second largest city in Finland.
(This is Sports Day)

Our student population is about 175 students in grades 1-6. One of our teachers is Janet Cohen, a teacher on a Fulbright Exchange from California. We have science club with her once a week and we planted our tulips as part of our club.

A Finnish School Lunch--does it look like yours?

Espoo is one of the cities included in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The population of the town is 221,000 people. Espoo has a long history but the city itself was only incorporated in 1972. Espoo is comprised of several urban centers, without having a downtown.

The centers are surrounded by the forest which covers much of Finland.	In this photo of Espoo, you can see the urban area and rail system, and also the forest in the background.

Sauna
The sauna is a very important aspect of the Finnish life. There are about 2 million saunas in Finland, for a population of 5 million. Traditional saunas are heated by wood, burned either in a stove with a chimney, or by a stove with no chimney. The latter - a smoke-sauna - is the original sauna and believed by most Finns to be the best. The door is closed after the wood has burned down (and most of the smoke has escaped), leaving the embers to heat the sauna to the proper temperature, but giving a soft heat and the aroma of woodsmoke.

A Finnish Sauna

All saunas have a basket of rocks heated by the stove on which to throw water to increase the humidity. Called the "löyly" in Finnish, it increases the feeling of heat and makes you sweat. A sauna on Christmas morning is one of the season’s traditions.

Finland
Finland is the land of the sauna, reindeer, and sausage. There are 5,126,000 people that live in the 338,145 square kilometers, which means that there are 17 inhabitants per square kilometer. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages, but most people speak Finnish. English and Swedish are taught as second languages beginning in third grade. 85% of the Finns are Lutherans.

Helsinki Landmark
Luthern Church

Lakes are abundant in Finland, 187,888. Many of the people have summer cabins near one of the many lakes, always with a sauna. There are 179,584 islands in the archipelago, which is the largest in Europe.

Finland was part of Sweden from 1155 to 1809 when it became part of Russia. In 1917, Finland gained its independence. Finland joined the European Union in 1995 and is the eastern border of the EU. Finland’s neighbors are Sweden on the west and Russia on the east.

Finland is home to Nokia, telecommunications. Almost everyone in Finland, including children, have a cell phone. Cruise ships are built in Finland, also. The climate in Finland is cold in the winter, between -20ºC and -4ºC with short days and long nights. Summer can be warm, between 20ºC and 30ºC with very long days and short nights.

In Finland, we eat a lot of herring--its an important food source for us.

Herring is a big part of our national diet.

Famous Finns
Paavo Nurmi, winner of 9 Olympic medals between 1920-1928
Jean Sibelius – composer of 7 symphonies
Kalle Palander – Nine time World Cup Alpine Ski Champion
Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Hakkinen – Formula One Race Car Drivers
Santa Claus – The real Santa Claus lives in Lapland, Finland