Nativity Welcomes Torkinmaki School
from
Kokkola, Finland

April 14
The Finnish Delegation touched down in Cincinnati on a Delta flight from Frankfurt. Tired, hungary and happy to be in America, the Finnish students and their teachers were met at the airport by their host families.

After a chance to eat and rest a bit, the Finnish students and their American host families meet for a Pot Luck Dessert - a chance to meet and greet.

We arrived at Cincinnati airport on Monday at 3.30 pm. We had traveled for 22 hours, so we were quite tired. The Shaw family had invited us for Pot Luck dessert. We had delicious cakes and biscuits. We felt ourselves really welcome. All the parents seem to be very committed to our visit. Many thanks to Shaw family!!

April 15
Welcome Ceremony for the Delegation from Torkinmaki School took place today. The Nativity students introduced their visiting student from Torkinmaki. The Finns sang their national anthem. They made class visits in the afternoon. The teachers and some of the Finnish students attended Family Science Night at Nativity.

Today we visited in four classes. And especially the smaller kids seem very enthusiastic. We answered the questions about Finland and ourselves. Some of the questions were quite difficult, for example one boy in the first class asked: “What do you have in Finland?”

When we left from Kokkola, Finland, we had some snow on the ground. So it is nice to be here because it is warm and leaves are coming to trees. Spring has sprung!!

April 16
During the morning lessons we visited Grades 5 and 6, telling Nativity students some facts abut Finland and ourselves. The movie we saw in the Planetarium was very interesting. In the afternoon we visited 7th and 2nd Grades. The younger ones seemed more interested about Finland than the older.

April 17
In the morning we visited the 4th Grade class. They learned how to count from 1 to 10 in Finnish. After that Mrs. Morgan taught us how to play kickball. We made our first bus trip to Kenwood Mall. In the afternoon we visited Grades 4 and 5, teaching them counting and Finnish rhyme.

Soccer Game at Morgan's

April 18
The Delegation from Long Cheng Middle School in Liuzhou, China arrives. Nativity's Annual Walk-a-Thon.
Today has been full of nice experiences. In the morning we got to meet the Chinese friends and talk with them. We learned that their school is very different from ours. We in Torkinmaki have only about 350 pupils and thy have more than 3000! In every class they have at least 60 pupils.

The Welcome Assembly was a very beautiful event. Principal Mr. Herring and Fr. Paul spoke very wise words about our connections, friendship and our chances to make this world a little better place. The Walk-a-Thon reminded us of our own walking event in Torkinmaki. Every year we walk to raise money for UNICEF.

Walk-a-Thon at Nativity	The Finns and the Chinese Students

April 19
On Saturday some of us were watching the Reds game. In spite of our cheering, Reds lost the game. On Sunday there were more of us, so they won! There are some differences between Finnish and American baseball: the shape of the field is different, the pitcher stands opposite to the hitter and throws the ball straight up. When running from base one to base two you have to cross the field and the same when running from second to third base.

April 20
The Delegations from Finland and China are introduced to the Nativity Community.
The Sunday mass was the first time for us to attend a catholic mass. It was almost the same as our Lutheran mass. We enjoyed the baptism ceremony when all the people gathered around the children.

April 21
A bus ride and walk across the bridge to the Newport Aquarium
Today we took the local bus to downtown with Mr. Herring and the Chinese students. We visited the Aquarium and saw many sharks and other fish. At the end of the tour the penguins put up a show for us chasing one another.

A Day at the Aquarium

April 22      A trip to the Cincinnati Museum Center
The students with their teachers took the bus to the Museum Center where they visited the Cincinnati History Museum and say a movie on the human body. After lunch they visited the Natural History Museum. There is a man-made cave that depicts how water flowing through limestone creates the cave. There is also a glacier that you can walk through to understand how the landscape of Cincinnati was formed at the end of the last Ice Age.

The Museum Center if housed in the former Union Terminal which served as Cincinnati's main train station from 1933 through the early 1970s. Now only 3 trains per week pass through Cincinnati. You can board the trains to Chicago and Washington DC at the Museum Center

We found the Museum Center an interesting place to visit. The architecture of the building itself is great. If only we could have had a little more time to consentrate on the exhibitions... The movie about the human body was great.
April 23
The 4th Memorandum of Understanding between Nativity and Torkinmaki is signed by the Finns and the Americans.

The students from Torkinmaki School in Kokkola, Finland and their America hosts sign the Memorandum.		The Opening of the Assembly Students with flags of Finland and China To the a trumpet fanfair the Delegations processed into the gym at Nativity.
Nativity's Pastor Fr. Paul leads the assembly in prayer.		Steve Sunderland, University of Cincinnati, addresses the assembly.

The signing seremony was a very beautiful event. We really felt proud to be the ones who got to sign the new memorandum between our schools.

April 24      A trip to the Freedom Center in downtown Cincinnati
The Delegations from China and Finland spent the day at Cincinnati's Freedom Center, a museum that tells the story of the Underground Railroad that operated prior to America's Civil War (1861-1865) as well as the struggle for freedom and equality around the world. They ate lunch at the Tower Place Food Court and had some time for souvenir shopping!
This visit was also very educational. We learned many new facts, almost unbelievable for us, about this, may I say dark part of the history of USA. Thank Good, that is history!

Square Dancing

April 25     A day at the Zoo and International Game Night at Nativity with the Finns, Chinese and Americans
There were no classes at Nativity due to a professional day for the instructional staff. The visiting students and their hosts headed for the Cincinnati Zoo on this beautiful spring day.

Nativity's Physical Education Teacher, Dave Arbogast, organized the International Game Night with volleyball, corn hole, and Square Dancing as well as a variety of card and board games. For some the highlight was the Sundae Bar - ice cream with all the toppings!

For us finnish teachers it was nice to see so many Nativity students join the square dancing. To our surprise also some of our boys joined the dance.


April 26
The weekend with the host families was full of different activities. Most of us went shopping, trying to get rid of the dollars. Some boys and girls had an opportunity to pedalboating on a lake. Tiia-Maria spent some time riding a horse and Jasu visited his host family’s ranch in Kentucky. Some kids tried to catch the goldfish in the Valentine-family’s pool. Teachers saw the musical West Side Story by St. Ursula High School at Aronoff Center.

April 27
Farewell Dinner for the Finns
On Sunday evening all the finnish students and their families got together at the Stegman-family. Almost all of our kids swam in the pool and they really seemed to have a good time. We also had a delicious dinner and a good time together with the host parents.

Once again we would like to thank all the families for everything they have done to make these two weeks so unforgettable for us.

Final Dinner for the Finns

April 28
Farewell Assembly at Nativity and on to the airport for the flight home.