Jaguar Flat Stanley plays in the snow and visits the town of Hamina

  

Hello Jaguar and the rest of the class!

We have a lot of snow here in Southern Finland. Today Flat Stanley climbed up a huge snow mountain and see how happy he looked as he finally reached the top! He enjoyed the views, although the only thing he could see around him was white snow... To get down again he needed some help from the family but his voice was so little that nobody first heard him calling. He had to wait there for a while and the snow was pretty cold... 

... finally Eelis, the 3rd grader heard Stanley calling and he helped the little man. Eelis got a sleigh and the problem was solved. Stanley also learned two new Finnish words: The snow is "lumi" and the sleigh is "pulkka". Stanley was really really cold so he went inside for a while before some new adventures. His clothing isn't very suitable for the Finnish winter. You can see in the picture what kind of a clothing would be warmer if you want to play outside.

After Stanley got his flat body warmed again he wanted to try some winter sports. He wanted to go cross-country skiing. Here you can see that even though he had never tried it before, he seemed to be a real champion. He thought that maybe he could take part in the next winter Olympic games. He hasn't decided if he wants to join the Finnish of the American team. I'm sure he would be welcome to both of them, he was so good. And look how he enjoys skiing!

In the afternoon Flat Stanley got to see a little bit of Hamina, the town he's living in at the moment. First the family showed him the Town Hall, "Raatihuone" in Finnish. It's an old building in the centre of Hamina. People gather there to make decisions about different issues of the town. They decide about schooling, libraries, health care and so on. Flat Stanley noticed that there is a clock in the top of the building.

Next to the Town Hall there is a church. It's not a very typical Finnish church because it's an Orthodox church. In the first building you can see the gate where you go in to the church yard. High up are the church bells and on the top is the cross. The church is the building behind the tower. The church is round from the outside but from the inside it has a shape of a cross. The Orthodox religion has come from Russia, Hamina used to be a part of Russia in the 19th century. There are not so many Orthodox people in Hamina because most of the Finns belong to the Lutheran Church.

Stanley had seen enough, he's only a little boy and he's more interested in playing legos with the other children than seeing all the sights. He wanted to go back home again and eat Finnish buns. He sends his best wishes to Jaguar and wants to tell that he isn't homesick at all even though he's so far away from South Dakota. Bye Bye!