Marja-Leena's Birthday Challenge

This week at the Somero English Club we celebrated Marja-Leena's 60th birthday. I asked the class to help me write something about her by asking questions about her life. The first response when I asked them to help me describe her was "she is a very nice woman."  She is. But there is a lot more to her than that.

Marja-Leena was born in Häntälä village and lives near the Häntälän "notkot" (hills). She has never moved far from her childhood home. For fifteen years she moved to live in Terttilä and then came back to live in Häntälä where she was originally from.  She is married to Kari. When I asked her to say something about her husband her immediate reply was "miten sanotaan ihana englanniksi?" (How do you say wonderful in English?) They have two daughters, Tiina, who will soon qualify as a maths teacher, and Terhi who works as a music teacher. Both are musical and play the accordian.

Marja-Leena has many hobbies. She speaks Estonian, goes bowling and likes listening to many kinds of music. She loves nature and enjoys simple pleasures such as picking berries and going for walks. She especially enjoys eating blackberries and strawberries picked direct from her own garden.

In 2009 Marja-Leena was diagnosed with breast cancer which obviously left a huge impact on her. Thankfully she has made a full recovery, but she said that the experience has made her think hard about what is important in life, and she has learnt to enjoy each moment as it happens and live in the here and now. She also said how it made her realise how much time we spend worrying about trivial things that really have no importance at all when you are faced with a serious illness, as she was.

Marja-Leena previously worked for seven years in the village shop in Pitkäjärvi, so will be a familiar face to many. I have only known her since we started the Somero English Club, but she is someone who radiates positivity and energy and clearly enjoys giving to others whenever she can. She has also made incredible progress in English in only a short space of time and has much more talent than she realises!

We enjoyed a delicious cake that Marja-Leena had brought to share with the class.  Before she left, she gave us all a challenge which I promised to publish on the blog. I hope you will take part, wherever you are.Here it is.

 "Take some time this week" she said, "to visit someone who may be feeling lonely. It could be someone old, or sick...or anyone at all. But take some time out of your busy schedules and make an effort to go and see someone who would appreciate it. Just think what a huge difference it would make if we all did this from time to time. We could transform Somero.  Not only that, but when you go and visit someone who needs it, you always end up receiving more that you give." 

And of course this doesn't just apply to us here. This applies all over the world. I think this is an important challenge and one which would have a positive effect on everyone who takes part. Happy birthday once again Marja-Leena and thank you for the challenge.... I hope it will inspire many people into action!

Happy Birthday Marja-Leena!

Just a quick note to say happy birthday to Marja-Leena who is celebrating her 60th birthday today!

I can't write more at this moment as I am on my way to Kurikka...but I will post the rest of the story and a photo of our celebrations last night as soon as I get the chance.  Hope you have a lovely day today with your family and friends!  With love from us all at the English Club....

Somero English Club - Men vs Women

The men agreeing to avoid diagrams

At the last meeting of the Somero English Club I split the groups so that the men were in one group and the women in another. Then I gave the two groups some topics for discussion  so that we could see the difference in views between the sexes. At one point I overheard the following comments from the men's group.  "I don't think we should say that" (followed by a lot of laughing), "I'll take responsibility for that one!" and then "no...don't draw it!" ????

We plan to take part in the Nice Run in Forssa in June

The men were accused of not listening, not being able to do more than one thing at a time and leaving their dirty underwear on the floor.

The women were told that they talk too much, gossip, nag and make things too complicated, but they themselves admitted that women are not perfect, and many spend too much money on fashion, make up, shoes and bags!

In terms of the perfect weekend, the women generally agreed that they would like to attend art exhibitions, go to a spa, see a play at the theatre and eat food together with friends. A group of us also agreed to take part in the Nice Run in Forssa in June to raise money for breast cancer. The men chose to go to the Keppana Kellari in Tammela, have a few beers and then go bowling.

The women plan their perfect weekend

When the groups were asked to consider the perfect present for the opposite sex, the men assumed that ladies would like to receive flowers and candles whereas the women were sure that most men would be happy to receive tools, machines, gadgets and tractors. In fact the ladies assumed the men would be happy with anything technical and expensive, whereas all the women wanted was diamonds. Not technical but certainly expensive...

We also had a debate as to whether the ideal man should have a hairy chest or not (most of us agreed that he should...), but it was Kirsti who summed it up on this point when she said "In my opinion we should let all the flowers bloom!"

I have found that each week at the club there is some sort of obscure word which manages to creep into the conversation.  One week I was asked the word for woodpecker, another week it was incubator. Last week the prize for obscure word of the week goes to "exhaust fumes."  Whatever.

In any event, we had a lot of fun in both groups and thankfully nobody ended up fighting, at least not yet!  I look forward to seeing what tomorrow evening will bring.