This summer eleven Finnish students are working abroad as trainees via PI. Pirita has started the blog. Thanks Pirita! We hope that also other trainees will comment / write about their experiences during the summer. Best regards, Taina

The last month of my training has now started in Klabin Monte Alegre in the city of Telemaco Borba, Parana state. I left to Brazil at 30th of June from Helsinki –Vantaa airport, after 20 hours of flying and changing airplanes, I arrived to Curitiba at around 9pm. Driver from Klabin was waiting me at the airport with a small sign that had Klabin written on it. My journey towards Telemaco Borba from Curitiba started in silence because he didn’t speak English and didn’t speak Portuguese, but mainly because I was sleeping almost the whole trip to Telemaco Borba.

After three or two hours of driving I arrived to Telemaco Borba. First I was accommodated to Hotel Ikape. This hotel is located in Harmonia the same area as the Mill site itself. Hotel Ikape for the two weeks that I stayed there was very good and the food was excellent, especially the meat that they served for dinner. From the hotel you can walk to the mill in ten minutes and to the wood yard in less than ten minutes. First four days I stayed at the hotel and did not move a lot because it was raining, and this rain was not the average few drops here and there, it was pouring. Monday 4th of July was actual first work day, which I spent signing papers and getting know the place.

First two weeks I spent in the R&D section which is my unit that I belong. After these two weeks I started my job which is to get to know the process, report my learning experience what I have learned and suggest improvements if noticed. So far I have been learning about operations in woodyard, CTMP, ESCO- digester, Bleaching/delignification and at the moment I’m learning about the Kamyr-digester. Some interesting methods and ways to handle the process have caught my attention and interest.

Some things have been surprise to me such as lack of English skill and just like Aleksi told before that it is winter. The lack of English skills is the biggest problem which I have encountered so far but you will find ways around it. My solution for this problem has been excessive use of Google Translate. So far I have learned a limited amount of Portuguese and it is not enough to make good a conversation. After moving out of the hotel to a house fact that it is winter hit me. After I bought an electric heater for my room, winter has not been a problem. Houses here does not have the same kind of heating and insulation systems which we have Finland. One thing worth mentioning is also that Brazilians seems to love rice and beans. Every lunch so far in the mill cafeteria has contained rice and beans in some form.

Telemaco Borba in Brazilian scale is a small town, only 70 thousand residents and it is divided by river Tibagi. My house and the mill are on the other side than the city. All the necessities for living can be found from the main avenue of the city. Easiest way to reach the city is to walk to a cable cart which takes over the river Tibagi. Walking along the roads the distance to the city would be around six kilometers one way. Cable cart is really interesting piece of equipment. It is like a Gondoli elevator in skiing centers but this can take up to 25 persons over the river at once. During my free time I have been a teaching assistant at English course and done some barbecues with my coworker and his family during the weekends. Barbecue is a great experience and is nothing like typical Finnish grilling. Recently I visited the Ecological Park which is maintained by Klabin its purpose is to give knowledge about the local flora and fauna. There were a lot of animals and plants which you won’t see in Finland, not even in Korkeasaari Zoo.

Kim Viitala
Klabin SA- Monte Alegre, Brazil