4H is participating in a video contest for the rural youth project competition. The video is about the Lemin music festival of the summer 2018. The rural youth project is a project where young people have worked together towards a common goal on a voluntary basis.

Let the best win!

Do you want to know what kind of activities the children in Lemi did during their winter holidays? We organised some daycamps with outdoor activities, games, and every day a different handcraft and pastry. Check out the result here:

Tuesday: berries muffin and landscape painting

Wednesday: banana bread and pearl lizard

Thursday: cinnamon buns with fruit smoothies and dream catchers

 

Work in progress with our cooking club. In January we already cooked a “galette des rois”, a traditional french pie made out of almonds. We also cooked some sweet potatoes fries, a pancake in the oven (very Finnish meal). The recipe of yesterday was a crumble with apples, bananas and berries. Very tasty!

To be continued…

 

Last wednesday we attended a meeting in Helsinki, in which we reflected about the first half of the projects and also about the future. We met the same people again, who we met in Kokkola in the first training. It was interesting to share the experience with them and spend time all together.

We also talked about the history, values and the goal of European programs for young people, such as the EVS. We all are convinced, that this program is not only meaningful and important for us, but has also an impact in the communities we belong to.

We shared a lot of beautiful moments during these 3 days, so it wasn´t so easy to say goodbye at the end, but we already planed to meet some of them again during the second half of their project.

Last week we have been invited to Paukkala University in Mikkeli. The idea was to meet the students there and to share our cultures. We have been welcomed by some students, who took care of us during the whole week and prepared the program of the week. We have attended a course of each grade, to introduce our own countries, the European Solidarity Corps program and to answer their questions. It was nice to share those moments all together!

We also spent our spare time together. We ice skated, we discovered the city center and we also prepared a cooking evening with Liechtenstein and French recipes. Those informal times were  good opportunities for them to continue the conversations.

We would like to thank all the people, who made our visit happen, who took care of us during this week and who shared their experience with us!

Liechtenstein is a principality, which means that we have a prince who is ruling our country. On the picture you can see the castle in which our prince is living. What else is important is that Liechtenstein is a very small country. It is the 4th smallest country in the Europe and the 6th smallest country in the world.

In the front we can see Switzerland and in the middle we see the river “Rhein”, which is the boundary between Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In the middle where you can see the mountains, that´s where Liechtenstein is. On this picture you can almost see the whole country.

Here you can see where Liechtenstein is located in Europe and we also have a bigger map of Liechtenstein on the right.

Often when I go abroad these are the things I hear about Liechtenstein, even if they are not true.

On the picture you can see the currency of Liechtenstein. We are not paying in Euros, but in Swiss Francs, because we are not part of the European Union.

In the upper corner you can see the national flag of Liechtenstein. The colors don´t have a special meaning but the crown symbolize that Liechtenstein is a principality.

Our national anthem has the same melody as the national anthem of the United Kingdom, we just have a different text.

Here you can find some words in my dialect.

Part of Europe and the European Union, France is located at the west part of the continent. I come from Paris – noticed by the blue point – the capital of the country.

Some explanations about our national symbols:

As a true French person, I have to show you the large variety of food and special meals we have, typical and different in every part of the country. So good!

Speakig about France, we can´t miss to talk about cheese, bread baguette and red wine. We are also kown to be the lucky owners of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and to hold the title of champion of the Football World Cup since July 2018.

If we our proud of this culture, we also are aware that we have to improve our way to speak foreign languages. It is one of the most ongoing cliché you may heard of when you are a French person abroad, after which you should find the stinky cheese, snails and frogs.

 

Check out those few words than can help you pretend to speak perfectly French!

We are now living in Finland for a few months. We experienced the Finish way of life. We were aware of some aspects, which are different from our own countries but today let´s speak about our discovery.

 In Finland we experienced the coldest weather ever! It´s quite challenging but we “start” to get used to it. It´s also nice to know that we are capable of surviving extreme temperatures and we will definitely never be cold again in our own countries during winter.

Pauline is missing her dessert to end the meal so much, and I miss sour, colorful gummy bears!

We learnt in Finland everything is about the sauna, even the jokes and family gatherings. We also saw some saunas in some places we never would have thought about. (at a metal music festival and in a big wheel in Helsinki)

We survived the winter depression everyone was talking about, especially during November. We also survived the Christmas mood and Christmas songs at the end of the year!

We understood that you can´t live without reflectors in Finland. Furthermore, it´s not only about reflectors, but wearing the yellow vests in everyday life. For a French person, and especially nowadays, it has a totally different meaning in my country…

Back in Liechtenstein, I would have never driven 3 hours by car just to hang around in a city. But since I am in Finland, I have got a new perspective on distances and time. When I was driving 3 hours from the place I was living, I could cross 4 different countries, but, here in Finland I can even fly 1 hour and a half and stay in the same country!

As you have understood, we are making fun of all these differences. It´s because we actually really enjoy our stay here: Kiitos paljon!

If you want to know more about the European Solidarity Corps we invite you to go through this presentation.

Join a European Program like us!

On saturday, November 17th, we celebrated the 90th birthday of Luumäki 4H. It was a convivial moment and a good occasion to gather and share the history of Luumäki 4H. We would like to thank all the people who came and all the participants.