Today I had a interview with a teacher from the Dutch team and one of the Finnish team,
Interview Dick Sleeuwenhoek (Dutch team)
Sam: Hello, what’s your name?
Dick: Hello my name is Dick Sleeuwenhoek. I am the director’s assistant for the Dutch team.
Sam: I am going to ask you some questions about the Finnish national presentation. Question number one: How did you like the Finnish national presentation?
Dick: I must say I thought they were really creative. It was fun how they implemented Finnish stereotypes, it was funny that they showed how much Finnish people love personal space.
Sam: What did you learn from the presentation?
Dick: I love how they showed the Finnish history. They explained it slowly and simply so that there was space for jokes, the jokes weren’t rushed and the timing was perfect. I also liked how they implemented Finnish mythology and how the Finnish people believed how the earth was created.
Sam: What did you learn about the Finnish culture?
Dick: Well, primarily the personal space thing. I also learned that Finnish people are really quiet. In the bus or while walking Finnish people don’t talk that much. They don’t particularly like small talk.
Sam: Okay that was the end of the interview, you can go back to work now.
Dick: Okay, thank you.
Interview Hanna Hautala (Finnish team)
Sam: Hello, what’s your name?
Hanna: Hi! my name is Hanna Hautala, I am the director for the Finnish team.
Sam: What did you think of the Dutch National Presentation?
Hanna: I loved it! I loved to see all of the students there and to see the life of a typical Dutch teenager, school day and all that. It was cool that the bicycle video came up multiple times in different places. It`s really different for people who have been to Holland because we understand because we were the ones who rode the bicycles so it hit very close to our hearts.
Sam: What have you learned from our National Presentation?
Hanna: I learned that the life of Dutch teenagers are pretty similar to the life of Finnish teenagers. I also learned about the hobbies that you guys have, like the most common ones. I also loved the part about the Dutch language and sayings, that was really cool.
Sam: What are some of the most popular places in Oulu?
Hanna: The market place is quite popular with the tourists, mainly because it´s close to the mall and near the sea.
Sam: Okay thank you for you time.
Hanna: No problem!
Text and Pictures: Sam van der Plas
