Finland from a Teacher's Perspective: Finnish Springtime

It has been a whirlwind month and I now stop to catch my breath, open the windows to the "warm" spring air, and enjoy Finland for its new effervescence.

Truly, as spring arrives, the Finnish people come "alive" and awaken, just like the natural environment around them. In the winter, people stay inside, talk little, and have very little energy - at least it seems so in the rural areas. (Helsinki didn't slow down one bit, I observed!) But now that it is spring there is true happiness on the faces of people walking down the street; they are smiling, conversing, and they have a lot more energy.

I've been filming most things for the last month and I have rapidly run out of space, over and over, on my computer for all the media. I have a back-up, and I have DVD back-ups of my back-up. I have hours and hours and hours of interviews of teachers, and now students, as well as B-roll that isn't always well-shot. Sometimes, I'm on the run, or students are doing something interesting, and it's all I can do to take out my small video camera and shoot it and hold it as steady as possible. Sometimes I film it on my iPhone because that's all I have handy. Most interviews are shot on my Canon 5D with nice lighting, but my B-roll... my students will have to forgive me for capturing things on the run the best I can.

Here are a few faces of the people I've have the good fortune to meet and interview this week at Joensuun Normallikoulu and Pielisojoen Koulu. They were open and generous, and they shared their warmth, their perceptions, and their ideas with me. To these new friends, thank you. I am impressed. (I will be sharing their ideas with you, too, in the near future.)