Chapter One : Team Work... [1/3]

We met at 5:00 pm in the school and we were in Öja almost at 5:30 pm. We toured and took some photos on the little harbour at the lake and we had dinner at 6:00 pm. After that, we learnt something about writing diary and reflection. Then, we were told in which groups we were and some surprises were announced, such as : like floor ball, sauna and swimming in the lake.

picture above : taken from Öja’s harbour

After the dinner, we played floor ball and it was very exciting. We played three matches and last of them was the final match. Esko had explained us the rules of the game. For instance, floor ball is played in a court by five players per side. A floor ball team consist of 4 field players and one goalkeeper. The players should use a stick to put the ball into the other side’s net. And the goalkeeper should keep the ball out of the net. Once we knew the rules, we could start to play. During the match, if someone hit somebody imprudently, he or she would say sorry to him. I think it is very polite. And also, all the team members were very absorbed and united. Everyone cooperated very well, and did their best. Of course, everyone joined the match, even Peter and Jonna. I think the result of the match is not very important, but the process of the match and the teamwork are. That is because at first, some people were very shy; but later, all of us were active. Finally, whether success or failure, everyone was very happy, no one complained, because we had known each others by these matches. The final match was lengthened two times and we lost at the end. We won our first match 1-0 and our second match ended a draw 1-1. Thus we came first in our group and qualified for the final match. In the last match, normal time ended 2-2 and we played two minutes more twice. Although we lost the Final match 4-2, we displayed good example of teamwork. In deed, teamwork is working together cooperatively. Before we met for the first time in the trip, we had not known each other. Owing to the fact that we had determined the area of everybody in the ground before the matches started and everybody tried one’s best in the matches. Teamwork is walking together towards the same goal and helping each other : that is what we did.
These matches helped to know each other at an accelerated speed: starting from our names, as we didn’t know each other before sitting around the same table.


An other example of teamwork, when we cleared the mattresses from the gymnasium on the Saturday morning - some people pilled them up in the corridor and then other people carried them out, it was nearly production-line work.

However, there has been teamwork with the other people since we arrived. Of course, it is easier to go first towards people of the same nationality if one has a problem. But cohesion started to build itself slowly among the international students and that it a other form of teamwork.

picture above : match between teams One and Two – with Liu on the left.