July 26-27

     Tuesday morning me and Lina left for camping (1 night since Lina had to leave for Denmark Thursday morning). The camp was for kids 10-14, and there were a couple of leaders that were around my age. When we first arrived to the camp site, we had to set up our tents and help the younger kids.After that there was a lot of free time, so I spent most of my time sitting, talking to the other leaders, or listening to them speak Finnish. We also rowed a boat in the lake. In the evening, there was a scavenger game set up for the kids where they had to find various items as well as answer questions. One of the questions was: find out where Natalie is from and ask in English; extra points if you know what state. It was pretty funny, since most kids just began learning English in school and the thought of asking an American `where are you from`must of been terrifying. You could tell which kids were about to approach me to ask, since they had this nervous serious look on their face and walked hesitantly towards me as if I was their doom. Kids also had to ask Lina for a piece of candy and she told each one that she would only give it to them if they came back with a phone # of the opposite sex, which was pretty funny too. In the evening, we made sausages over a fire. Although I was excited to eat sausages, after I ate mine, it struck me as rather gross since it had a weird texture and  a flavor of little resemblance to meat (later I found out that it was 39 % meat). Anyways, soon after that we went to sleep into our little tent (there were 4 f us). I have never liked the feeling of being in a tent, and the tree roots in my back the whole night did not help me fall asleep either. In fact it was a long night.
     The next morning we woke up before 8 and went down to eat breakfast. After that, we looked for different pieces of wood in the woods to carve so that we could later attach it to our scouting scarf (kind of like a pendent for a necklace). I didn't make a pendant, just something that would stand up on my shelf which said ´Finland 07/27/2011. I was rather amused that all the kids were able to carve out smooth pendents, as I don't believe anyone in America would give a 10 year old scout a knife. Later, the kids had a competition: which team could row through the different obstacle courses the fastest. I was excited to watch that since I thought that there would be much excitement and energy within the kids as it was a competition. However, it was after the competition started that I remember them mentioning at the Finnish embassy in DC that Finns were not as competitive as Americans, and judging from this competition, it appeared to be true. The kids that were watching were sitting silently or talking with friends, while the ones rowing looked as if they were just peacefully rowing the boat. Only a few boys had the American competeviness spirit. After that, we ate a snack and while the kids were in the sauna, I carved a butter knife; it was quite nice if only there wasn't a split in the middle (now I can't use it for my butter since it is a place for bacteria to grow). Soon after, around 6pm, Anita came to pick us up.

House in Ruovesi (July 16 - July 20)

July 16

We arrive to Ruovesi late. I think I ate 10 pounds worth of strawberries.

July 17

• picked blueberries and made blueberry pie (yummo)
• went out rowing with Sandra in the evening: we rowed to this little island called maggot´s island in the center of the lake and explored it (it was maybe 7 feet long, 3 feet wide). But let me assure you that this was no easy task as when we were nearing to the island, birds began to squack loudy and fly above us (I sappose that they were feeling that we were trespassing in their territory). Anyways, I am 100% sure that if we stayed just a minute longer, they would have dove in and ate us alive. Then we rowed around this fairly large island close to maggot´s island and then went on it cause there was an old cottage that we wanted to explore. Unfortunately it was locked and we couldn´t find the key(jk we werent planning to go in), so we decided to get off the island and row back.
• made a fire and grilled sausages and bread at night, I also had this delicious fish, common whitefish, that Esko caught in the lake and smoked. It tasted similar to salmon, and had the flakes like salmon, but they were thinner, and was white.

July 18

• finished reading the Kite Runner
• went to see Sandra´s cousin´s baseball game (quite different than American baseball, for one, the pitcher stands next to the home base and throws the ball up for the batter to hit it)
• ate ice cream (2x)
• made a fire again but this time grilled chicken and then for dessert crepes filled with whipped cream and strawberries
• went moose hunting (drove around in a car through the woods and fields) -> saw a baby moose

July 19

• watched Sherlock Holmes
• picked blueberries -> made blueberry muffins
• went out to eat at a little port 
• watched the Pianist