We are an English family living in Rantsila (60km south of Oulu). We are looking for English speaking play mates for our 5 year old son. English speaking child owners greeted with open arms and lots of coffee!!! Desperation for English conversation is creeping in as we are rapidly running out of topics between the two of us!
Hope to hear from you soon and hoping to meet up VERY soon.
Sarah and Graham

Sarah and Graham, we also have a 5½ year old who speaks both Finnish and English and would love a good friend. My son's name is Jaspar and he was born in Boston but for the last five years he's been living here in Finland. We live in Ilmajoki which would be a little too far for a daily visit but maybe he and your son can have a distance friendship. What do you think?

Hi Donald,
Thanks for the welcome to IESAF message.
Long distance friendship would be a great idea particularly if it was made into a special day out/trip. Let me know when you are free to meet up..and we can come down to you or vice-versa. Hopefully if the weather is good then it will be an even nicer day out! Long distance friendships are a good idea as they force us out and about in the car to discover new places in Finland!

Sarah, we have an extra bed for the parents and the boys can sleep in Jaspar's room. We would love to come up your way, too. I work and live on campus at Etelä-Pohjanmaan Opisto in Ilmajoki. We have a small playground in front of our house. Two bicycles for the boys if they want to ride. A gymnasium, an outdoor vollyball area and plenty of wonderful scenic areas to walk and/or ride. We also have the latest DVD's Finding Nemo, the Incredibles and others, just in case it is a rainy day and they can't go out and play. There is also a wonderful public pool in Kurikka where we like to go would also be another good activity and place to go on a rainy day.

I will PM you with our details, ok? Jaspar is pretty excited and wanted to drive up today to meet your son...

Hi Donald,

Got your PM, journey doesn't look too bad! Your place sounds great. We live right out in the country, we too have plenty of space for overnight guests. We have two dogs -Charlie and Tara. Our house is surrounded by fields and there is a river at the end of the garden. We have a rowing boat which we row Indian style!!! In the village (5min drive) is an open air swimming pool with play equipment, we also have plenty of bikes, scooters and a whole variety of outdoor toys including kites. In case of bad weather we have lots of videos and DVDs, games etc to keep the boys occupied. Will send you PM with deatils.
Looking forward to meeting you guys soon.

Your place sounds great, too! We are all excited here and will talk over plans. I know we are driving up to Paltamo in the Kainuu area to see Minna's aunt and uncle there so that could be a good time for a detour to see you. Right now, I am having some back issues that needs to be addressed before a long drive in a car. We will know more soon. There are festivals coming up and you are welcome to come then which is always a good time to come, what do you think?

Donald,

Sounds great, let us know when you are visiting the family and we'll make plans. In the meantime perhaps we could come and see you all. Callum is getting excited at the possibilty of a whole range of different toys - kids! I am facing knee issues so long stretches of road are good, not so much clutch work!

Got your PM about possible times and I will get back to you as soon as I can, Ok?