Last volunteers of the Here we go again project!

In these couple of weeks you guyes have been able to read the post of Ola's and Ewan's period here in Lahti. Couple of minutes ago we got a WhatsApp message, that boys have safely landed back home, Ireland. They had an early morning with their flight :)

So yeasterday was the boys last day here in Lahti and we had their farewell party! Youngters from the Sisustamo and Reppupaja workshops gave them thank you gifts for their time here with us :) They will be missed!

Some finnish sweets, FIS Nordic world ski Championships backpack, pocketbook etc. for remember us by

We all!

Thank you Ola and Ewan! You are awesome dudes!

-Terhi, Coordinator

Ola Seriki

Where am i from
I am from Ireland


Age: 27


What I have experience my time in Finland?
I have experience alot of positive vibe and good friendship. I have also experinece the culture and how to be a people person and to be more understanding.

Is there something that I find exciting?
I found everything new very exciting but the most stand out thing is the level of engagement with the people of Finland when you communicate with them


What are my hobbies? what kind of stuff am I interested in?
My hobbies are listening to music, dancing and going for walk, cycling and cooking.  I also interested in going to gym and playing football.


What is the most important thing I am going to take with me?
What I like to take back to Ireland with me will be the experience and the different lifestyle I have gain and the understand that not everything I know is right but there is more to life to what I already know.


What would I like tell about  Ireland to people of Finland?
 Ireland is just as beautiful as Finland but much cheaper with same level of quality.  Ireland is also peaceful and very calm and is a place  that you would feel like home regards of where you are from.

What do I wish for my future? What is my dream?
I hope and plan to be a youth worker and my dream is to be able to assist and support young people and their family in the coming years.

Ewan Reid

Name:  Ewan Reid

Age: 20

Why I'm went to Finland? I’m going to Finland because I want too have new experiences.
I haven’t been in Finland or worked in another country. I want to see the world, so Finland is a good start!!

What are you expecting for your time in a foreign country? I was expecting people to be afraid to talk to me because I am a foreigner... But it was'nt so bad i met some really good people and got to see most of Lahti, but i would like to see more of Finland, like the nature and the countryside.

Is there something you find exciting? I found the idea of being in a different country exciting and this meant everyday would be different and not the same, this made everything interesting.

What are your hobbies? What kind of stuff are you interested in?
I like to go out in the evenings and see the nightlife, I also love to cycle as I do it everyday at home, in my spare time I like to hike, which i have'nt done in Finland as there is only little hills!

What is the most important thing you're going to stow with you? 
My phone.

What would you like to tell about your homeland to people you'll meet in your destination?
I want to learn about the finnish people's ways and how they are different from irish people, I told them about Irish culture and how different it is from finnish culture, and it what ways it is the same.

What do you wish for your future? What is your dream? I really want to travel the world and see the most interesting places in it and now Finland is off my list!!

Hyvää iltaa mitä kuuluu?

For my 23th week in Finland, I had a change of scenery and a change of work station for the first three days.  I was with my mate I came here with Ewan, and his group of colleagues whom participate in the Rappapuja workshop (Environmental Workshop).  The experience with this group of people has been really beneficial in participating using different tool and learning more about the use heavy mechanical.

The most inspiration aspect of this week as to be the view of the environment we were working at. It was beautiful and peaceful and I would recommend to everybody.  Here is a picture of the peaceful place I was at and I hope you like it too.

I participated in different activities during my time with the Rappapuja group. I did some wall printing, cutting off dead wood part, sanding and I also had the opportunity to use a riding lawn mower. Here are some pictures to the work did.

In mid week, one of my mentor invited me to attend a yoga class which I did and I enjoyed it.. It was hot yoga class and it was my first time participating in hot yoga. I am a big fan of yoga because I like create peace from within and also I like to be able to have control of my body and balance myself and yoga is one the best way I know it can be achieve and I achieved my goal on the day :). Here are some picture to some the yoga pose I was able to do.

The rest of the week has been quite and relaxing. I attended my Finnish lesson this week and the process if going nicely and I also attended the 100 years of Finland Freedom on Saturday. The music were nice and most of the display were very interesting.

Overall I have enjoy everyday and every min of this week and I am looking forward to the coming week. Wishing everybody a nice evening.

Peace,
Ola

Hyvää iltaa,

How are we all doing this peaceful evening? I hope everybody had a productive and fulfilling weekend. Starting off, I had my second Finnish language lesson this past Friday with the assistance teacher. I am growing in confidence in speaking the Finnish languge but the only challenge I still encounter til date is the pronunciation of some words but I believe with more practice and lessons, I should get it down. Here is a picture of me and my assistance teacher.

After the Finnish language lesson on Friday, I attended Arman Alizad conference speech where he spoke about his life and he also shared words of motivation and encouragement to some people of Lathi. He spoke in Finnish so I was not able to understand everything he said but luckily I had a mate who translate some of Arman Alizad speech to me and i was able to use google translation for some words I wanted to know the meaning to. I really enjoyed it and I believe everybody that were there took one or two positive message home with them. Here is a picture of me and Ewan after the conference speech.

Here is a picture of me and Ewan at one of the local bar developing our singing skills during the weekend. We sang Beat It, by Michael Jackson. Well, we tried to anyway ha.

And for today, Sunday. I decided to go exploring so I went cycling until I saw came across an exciting. I went up to the old ski jump track I believe it called. It was very high and I am not very good with heights but then encourage myself just as Arman Alizad said not to fear (Pelko) so I went to the top and it was the best view I have seen in a long time!. I was glad that I did not give up and that I made it to the top which really gives me a new perspective to things.

Wishing everybody a good and exciting week ahead Peace, Ola

Moi :)

The start of this week which was the 29th of May, Ewan and I spent some quality time with some local people at Multi-Culti (Monikulttuurikeskus).  We had a cuppa (Tea) before we went off to be park where we create a sense of positive vibe around us where other local people felt at ease and came to join us and interact with us.  I learn a new game call Molkky.  Here is a picture of me practicing out the Multi-Culti before we head to the park.

I have been very busy in the interior design workshop (Sisustussuunnittelupalvelu) for couple of days. There have been a lot of self development in the area of discovering more around the culture and lifestyle of the Finnish people, learning and improving my interior design skills and interaction with others within my workshop and outside of it too.

In the interior design workshop where I have been placed, I have learned alot and also be able to craft a prefect chair. The first chair took me about two days and an half to build but after that, I was able to manage to build two chairs within a day and an half. Witness the work of good communication and explanation of my supervisor and the support of my colleagues.

I was promoted to a new project that I welcome with new challenge and experience.  Here is a clip of the new project and hopefully I will have it completed in prefect condition by mid next week.

I am enjoying my week so far and I hope everybody is too. Long weekend ahead so expect more picture and interesting development. Thanks for reading and peace :)

Ola :D.