GSE-journey was one of my dreams and I´m so grateful and happy for this experience. It was amazing and wonderful and so much more than I expected. Warm hugs and thank yàll for making my dream come true. Take care!

"Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake." -Thorean

Back home... It is time to start living "normal" life again. Our month in North Carolina was unbelievable, almost like a dream. None of us could expect that we would experience so much and meet so many great people.

Our new friends, once again, I just want to say THANK YOU so much. We will never forget your kindness. And as Stan Cutts said, never say goodbye, say see y'all later!

Welcome to Finland! At least I can assure you that I'll be back in United States, sooner or later!

Perfect ending of the journey

Thank yáll in Lenoir for arranging the most neat last night for us! We enjoyed excellent Mexican food, good atmosphere, beautiful live music and moonshine (the moon was brighter and bigger than usually...). That was really perfect ending for our amazing trip. We are happy happy!

On our way to Finland... Or then not! Our flight from Charlotte was cancelled. Now we stay here for the night and hope that everything will work out tomorrow. Luckily Bill Parker arranged hotel rooms for us very quickly, thanks Bill!

Today was almost perfect! In the morning we had individual vocational visits and after that presentation in Lenoir Rotary Club.

Then we went bowling...

...and playing minigolf!

After that our great hosts organized us a visit to the fire station - something we had hoped for! And what a tour we had there: we went around the station and got lifted up to 100 feet hight with a fire truck's ladder. Neat!

Fire truck took us to down town, where we had a great dinner with Rotarians. After that me, Ilmo and Sari went to a motor cycle ride. It was an amazing feeling to sit on Harley Davidson, enjoying the ride, full moon and warm Southern evening....

Erikka was very happy after the Harley ride!

Photos - Morganton & Valdese

Historical Valdese people... Or are they?

Dollar smile American Style! Look at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWoJCY58xXs

Sari on a jet ski ride with Ronnie. Lake James is beautiful!

Cigar Club in Hickory. Johanna and Niina making their own pizza...

...This is Ilmo's way. Everything should be big in America, shouldn't it? 

Proof to Dr. Ismo! Here we are: Sari, Ismo Kääriäinen and Erikka in Cigar Club!

Yesterday we had so much fun! After our presentation in Morganton Rotary Club we jumped to a boat and spent the day at Lake James swimming, driving jet ski and playing tennis. In the evening we went to cigar club  in Hickory. Actually none of us smoked any cigars but we had lots of fun eating pizza and chatting with people. We met there a guy from Finland. Ismo Kääriäinen has lived in Hickory over 20 years now. It was so nice to talk with him. Greetings if you read the blog as you promised, Ismo!

Today the sun was shining again from the bright blue sky. It was time to pack our stuff again. Now we are in Lenoir. First we went to town hall and met the mayor Joseph L. Gibbons and Bill Griffin, the chairman of Caldwell county.

We spent the warm day by a beautiful riverside and also did a small hike there. We never found the waterfall that we were looking for but we saw something else: a rattle snake. Luckily it wanted to get away from us as much we wanted to get away from it! Otherwise the trip was great, beautiful sceneries and good company!

Today we had a museum day. Our team visited Waldensian Heritage Museum, Trail of Faith, Waldensian winery and railroad museum at the Old Rock School. It has been interesting to note that many American stories have the roots in the Europe. For example that story of the Italian village where the Waldenians lived until they moved to North Carolina.

The sun has been shining and I think today was the warmest day of our trip. Other team members sunbathe whenever it is possible, but I have to seek shady places: five minutes in the sunshine and I am red like a boiled crayfish.

In the afternoon we were exceptionally creative and decided (surprise surprise) to go to a mall for shopping.

In the evening we had a nice dinner with our hosts and other Rotarians and after the dinner we listened a guitar player: Schubert and other beautiful melodies (I think Ilmo knows better).

 On the top of Grandfather Mountain

 Run Forest, run!

She carries the 1996 Olympic Torch!

Protecting the GSE-team with a rifle.

Sari shooting a pistol

Yesterday we had a rest day. It meant that we had the chance to plan our days just the way we wanted to. First we did something together, something that everyone had really looking forward to. We took part in a baptism. A beautiful baby girl got a name and we were really fortunate to see that. Thank you Threlfall family for inviting us!

Afterwards Ilmo, Sari and Niina went shopping, Johanna jogging and me - of course - riding! The weather was awsome, sun shining from a clear blue sky, temperature about + 30 celcius.

In the evening I had the chance to see some places from my favourite movie The Last of the Mohicans. We went to Chimney Rock with my hosts Gail and Dave and admired the beautiful scenery. We ate dinner in a beautiful Italian restaurant, enjoying great pasta, good company and magnificent views to Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.

This morning it was again time to move on. Now we are in Morganton. We drove straight to Grandfather Mountain, where we spent the day admiring the breathtaking views and enjoying the warm weather. 

It is already 1st of May in Finland. So happy mayday to Finland! - Hauskaa vappua kaikille sinne Suomeen!

Column in Citizen Times

Asheville Citizen Times reporter Carol Motsinger wrote a column about my visit! Also for me meeting her was a great experience both professionally and personally.

Read the article

We started our Polk County day in House of Flags - and how many flags did they have! Our tour included dozens of them and we learned a lot about the history of United States. Of  course our professional shoppers Ilmo and Sari also bought some flags - and I had my Bonnie Blue flag that I've always wanted!

Next we visited Green Creek Winery, a place that makes RED Chardonnay wine. Very interesting. There was also wine ice cream that you can't eat if you're under 21 years old!

Saluda is a small town with many historic buildings and nice little shops. We - again - bought quite many souvenirs. After shopping we were already hungry and so we had a Southern style barbeque: delicious sandwiches and fried pickles (surprisingly good!), hush puppies (fried corn bread), sweet potato fries, fried okra... I bet no one was hungry after that lunch!

Eating feast continued in the evening at Laurel Hurst, local elderly care center. Food was so good and also included lots of fruits and vegetables. After dinner we gave a presentation, also sang something and even Yo-Yo-Mo was seen during the entertaining evening.

After a couple of great days we said goodbye to Highlands today. Now we are in Tryon!

Yesterday in Highlands we spent a wonderful evening with the Rotarians and ate so much it was hard even to roll ourselves to beds after dinner!

We heard that a bear is visiting our Bed and breakfast place almost every evening, but we didn't see it during our days in Highlands. Well, this morning I went jogging very early and thought I heard something moving in the bushes. After that my jogging was more like serious running!

Yesterday it was thundering but today the weather here in Tryon was really nice, over 80 and mostly sunny. After a very very big lunch we visited some art galleries and town's own newspaper, known as the smallest daily newspaper in the world!

As a horse fan I fell in love with Tryon right away. It seems there are horses everywhere here. Also on town's logo

http://tryon-nc.com/

Even in the evening the weather stayed nice and quite warm when we enjoyed a very good dinner in an italian restaurant. Grazie!

Hei kaikille!

Matkamme on jatkunut suotuisissa merkeissä. Olemme nyt Highlandissa, johon tulimme Franklinistä. Molemmat ovat pieniä kaupunkeja, viihtyisä paikkoja asua ja elää. Ensimmäistä kertaa olemme majoittuneet bed and breakfast-paikkaan. Tähän asti olemme asuneet perheissä.

Eilen illalla kuulimme bluegrassia paikallisessa public housessa nimeltään Ugly Dog. Ei kovinkaan mairitteleva nimi, mutta viihtyisä paikka. Omistaja istui kanssamme ja kertoi paikan historiasta.

Yhtyeessä oli kitara, viulu, mandoliini, basso ja tietysti banjo. Banjon soitaja on kaksinkertainen USA:n mestari, joten hänen soittoaan oli ilo kuunnella. Countrya, muutama populaarikappale ja grassia. Nuorella innolla ja valtaisalla energialla. Ei voi kuin ihailla amerikkalaisten esiintymistaitoa ja ilmaisun välittömyyttä. Tietysti meidät esiteltiin erikseen hurrausten kannustamana.

Tänään ohjelma on ollut tiivis. Vierailukohteina koulu, poliisiasema, taidekeskus, kirkko ja vanha historiallinen hotelli. Koulun fasiliteetit hämmästyttävät joka kerta. Musiikkiluokassa uskomaton määrä mm. lyömäsoittimia patarummuista alkaen. Koululla on kaksi voimistelusalia, toinen aivan uusi. Jokainen opettaja saa älytaulun, jos sellaisen haluaa.

Rotary-kokoukset ovat menneet erinomaisesti. Meidät on aina otettu lämpimästi vastaan. Tunnelma on välitön ja Suomen asiat kiinnostavat. Suomen verotus, EU, koulutus, suhde Venäjään ja bensan hinta ovat keskustelujen aiheina. Jopa hirvenlihan käytöstä on esitetty kysymys.

Keskiviikkona aamulla varhain sain tutustua kalkkunan metsästykseen. Laji on meille tuntematon ja vaikea sellainen. Kaksi naamioitunutta miestä hiipi metsään kello kuusi. Minä näin vilauksen naaraskalkunasta ja saldo oli siinä. Mutta uusi kokemus.

Illalla on jälleen pieni illanvietto, joita on ollut kiitettävän usein. Tyhjänpanttina ei ole tarvinnut olla. Olisiko jälleen pienen jojo-hetken paikka. Saapa nähdä.

Ilmo

American GSE-team's blog

It was fun to read American GSE-team's blog about what they have been doing in Finland. Pictures and some faces were familiar and you can see that the GSE-team is also enjoying a lot as we do here. Greeting to all Rotarians in Mikkeli and other places in our district-you are doing also a great job!
The other interesting thing in their blog was that there were some pictures taken before their journey... and we saw those also before our trip here, but NOW we personally know a few people from those pictures: Bill Parker, Michael Greene and Oscar Wong. That's neat!

Mountain View Intermediate

Today I had my vocational visit to Mountain View Intermediate. It's a school for 5th and 6th graders. I met very lovely and kind students and their delightful teachers. School was built two years ago so they had Active Boards in every classroom. I was very pleased, because I got some good tips how to use my Active Board back home. And I also left some ideas for them. As a schoolmeal I ate a hotdog, salad and a potato cooked in oven, and a dessert with chocolate chips. That was quite differend! I think my students would like to move here...
I showed Urpola School presentation three times and students were guite enthusiastic about it. They said that they wanted to move to Finland :) Main reasons were that we have 15 minutes breiks after every lesson when students have to go out and that we don't have demanding testings in the end of the schoolyear. Students were interested to have Finnish friends, so I got many new addresses to give students in Mikkeli. Thank ya'll for very interesting schoolday!

At this stage of the trip the team members start to think how to get all the stuff to Finland. All those bags, jewelry, clothes and hats. It has been nice to buy them, but when you have to jump on top of your suitcase to close it, there may be a little thought in your mind that one bag instead of three could have been enough. But, as Ilmo has said, we have done our best to support the economic growth of America! Different packing strategies have already been developed: sending some baggage in advance to Finland, wearing as much clothes as it is possible when boardig a plane, leaving cosmetics bottles and other extra stuff here etc. Luggage starts to be pretty heavy, but the trip is not yet over - we still have many things to see and to do.

Today we had vocational visits in our program. I think the day was very rewarding. Erikka spent the whole day in the editorial office of the local newspaper and Sari at the local elementary school. Hopefully also Ilmo and Niina enjoyed their visits! I visited the Department of social services, Kid's place, day center for senior citizens and was following a meeting in Angel medical center. The therapy dog of the center participated in the meeting and sat very kindly in the lap of its' owner. You American seem to have very effective negotiation culture. In my job we speculate too much.

Erikka and I are in flu and Sari just sneezed in the neighbour room so let's hope that the other team members are not getting sick. C-vitamin is right now highly appreciated!

Johanna  

Hi y'all we met at the district conference!!! It was so nice to see so many familiar faces there. Unfortunately we didn't have time to really catch up with everyone but I hope you saw our presentation on Saturday morning! Let's keep in touch!

Yesterday we arrived at Franklin and had a nice, relaxing evening with our host families. Today we visited Smoky Mountain national park. The weather was very chilly even/at least for Finnish people. but the views were very beautiful!

We had lunch in Cherokee casino at Paula Deen's restaurant. Afterwards we did a little gambling and the result was as bad as we thought it would be. But loosing a couple of dollars was so much fun this way!

In the evening we had a nice dinner in Franklin with Rotarians. We also sang to the people and our 50 persons audience went wild when Yo-Yo-Mo showed his moves on the stage! Ilmo and his jojotricks are getting famous here in WNC for sure!