고1 동아 이 8과 본문 Minho’s Travel Journal: A Fine Land of Wonder

Lesson 8 Bon Voyage

Minho’s Travel Journal: A Fine Land of Wonder

 

My family and I just got back from our trip to Finland.

 

This trip was really special because it was for my parents' 20th wedding anniversary.

 

My family had been planning and saving up for this trip for almost five years.

 

Instead of a package tour, we planned the entire trip on our own.

 

We had such a wonderful time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helsinki

 

It took about ten hours to fly from Incheon to Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

 

As soon as we arrived, we decided to take public transportation to the hotel in order to really experience Finland.

 

But when we got off the bus downtown, we got hopelessly lost.

 

After several unsuccessful attempts to make sense of a map of Helsinki,

 

we asked a Finnish man passing by for directions.

 

He was really nice and walked us to the hotel.

 

His name was Niko and we were really impressed with how well he spoke English.

 

He told us that most Finnish people spoke English like him.

 

My sister and I vowed to study English hard when we got back to Korea.

 

Right in front of the hotel was Market Square, which is the most famous market in Helsinki.

 

It is made up of many little shops selling traditional market foods, handicrafts and souvenirs.

 

We took a brief look around the market and had some authentic Finnish street food.

 

While walking around the city, we noticed that there were many signs for saunas.

 

My know-it-all sister, Minji asked,

 

"Did you know that the word 'sauna' comes from Finland?"

 

She went on to explain that there are over two million saunas in Finland.

 

This is one hot country!

 

 

 

Ivalo

 

Seeing the Northern Lights has been at the top of our family's bucket list for a long time.

 

Finland is one of the best places on Earth to spot them.

 

Seeing them requires clear skies and a bit of luck.

 

Artificial light prevents viewing the Northern Lights in cities and villages.

 

In the hope of seeing them, we headed a little north to go farther into the Arctic wilderness.

 

We found a place where we could sleep in an igloo,

 

and if we were lucky, under the Northern Lights.

 

So, did we see them? Yes!

 

Words cannot express how beautiful they were.

 

It was well worth putting up with the cold weather.

 

Had we known the Northern Lights were this beautiful,

 

we would have planned to stay here for a few more days.

 

 

Rovaniemi

 

Do you know where Santa Claus lives?

 

He lives right here in Rovaniemi.

 

Entering the village, we heard Christmas music.

 

Every day was Christmas in the village.

 

In front of the Santa Claus Office, there was a huge snowman and a sign that read, Santa is here!

 

We took photographs with Santa.

 

My father was wearing a red jacket and Santa joked,

 

"I didn't know I had a brother in Korea."

 

My father was really embarrassed and promised to lay off the midnight snacks and lose some weight.

 

We also went to see the Santa Claus Main Post Office.

 

Letters from children all over the world come here.

 

Each letter gets a reply with a special Santa Claus postmark.

 

I remember how happy I was when I got my first reply from Santa.

 

Someday, I hope to bring my own children to this marvelous place.

 

 

Sinettä

 

After saying goodbye to Santa, we headed to the Snow Hotel in Sinettä.

 

The hotel was made of snow and ice, and looked like something out of a Disney movie.

 

The Snow Hotel is built from scratch every year in November.

 

Even the beds in the rooms were made of ice!

 

We sat on ice chairs and had dinner on an ice table.

 

The chairs were covered with fur to keep us warm.

 

The plates were also made of ice.

 

When we finished our meal, the waiter came to clear the table and asked, "Are you finished?"

 

To this, my sister replied, "No, I'm Korean."

 

She thought the waiter had asked, "Are you Finnish?"

 

We all had a good laugh.

 

On the flight back to Korea, my family couldn't stop talking about our trip.

 

One day, I hope to be a person

 

who has a heart as warm as a Finnish sauna, a head as cool as the Snow Hotel,

 

hands that give as much as Santa Claus and eyes that brighten others' lives like the Northern Lights.

 

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