Day 70: Riga

So I am in Latvia currently, in Riga, waiting for Laura to come join me here and it's a very cool place that we're staying... www.thenaughtysquirrel.com baha.  Having to tell the taxi driver I was staying at The Naughty Squirrel was quite amusing, especially since he didn't understand that I wasn't staying at the "Steak and Fish Hostel" ... I had written the information above an ad for a steak and fish restaurant so he thought I was staying there, and I'm thinking... you drive here... you work here... have you EVER heard of a place like that EVER BEFORE EVER?! 

But anyway, being on the bus yesterday was pretty nice... the seats were comfy and there was a decent amount of room, and I met a nice Latvian couple that had been to America and saw a shirt I was wearing that said "Cape Cod" so he decided he liked me :)  We saw some awful wrecks and nasty things on the road while we drove, but thankfully it was dark so I couldn't really tell how snowy it was outside. 

Getting from the bus stop to the hostel was a bit of a nightmare, and I mastered getting TO the Old Town, but then trying to navigate the streets with: a foreign language, a suitcase, drunk screaming men everywhere, and poor lighting was a bit out of my league.  I ended up caving and getting a taxi, hence the aforementioned steak and fish hostel story, but I found it and got settled in here... it's great, very modern and fun, and they have lots of cool things to do here, and the people are all very nice.  I met one of my roommates this morning (Weird to wake up in a room of people you don't know, but amusing to wake up to a room of people you don't know and already have one thing in common: you all loathe the dude snoring SO LOUDLY).

Anyway, LAURA IS HERE.  So I'm out.

Maintain,
Virginia

Days 53-69: Sorry I suck at blogging

So, since we last spoke, my parents have come and gone, and we did lots of amazing things.  I’m now 3 days away from Fall Break, and it could NOT come faster/slower… it’s come up so fast until now, and now it’s like it’s never actually going to arrive.

So, last week I was sick, and then exactly 48 hours later, I was magically cured.  I don’t know how/why but… anyway.  We had some major issues with students… I had a student have a legitimate temper tantrum in my class, and felt so completely defeated… the kid flung himself on the floor, screaming and kicking and punching the ground, and it was so aggravating.  Neither Karolina nor I could really get him to get himself together, and it was annoying.  But anyway, enough about that.

My parents came to visit!!!  Friday, I picked them up from the ferry, and brought them home, and after a race to get stuff taken out at home and eat (required in my Estonian household at any/every given moment of the day) we got back to school, and they got to see my school a bit.  Later, after school, Karolina walked with us around the city, and we ended up having dinner at a cool place called Olde Hansa where they pretend to be from the 1500’s and talk to you like olde tymie people J  It was quite humorous.  The dishes are all with old names too, and they have a little ensemble where people play recorder and the drum and stuff… It was very good.  I’m taking Laura there when she comes, because I think she’ll love it too. 

Friday night, we had to get home early because I had an interview on the phone with the Vera Bradley store at Tysons to work for them when I get home over the holidays.  It went really well, and since I’m writing this so much later, I’ll tell you I did end up getting the job!  Yay.  So, I’m not OFFICIALLY unemployed, but I’m also not officially teaching anywhere yet either.  Hah.

Then Saturday, we went to town and got Tallinn cards, a TOTALLY useful thing that apparently they have in many European cities, so that M&D could get on/off transportation and we could all get into museums free and stuff like that.  I called and made a reservation for us to go to the tours of the tunnels underneath the city too, and so that afternoon we were off to Kiek in de kök, a hilariously named place in English that in Estonian means “Peek in the kitchen” not grievously injure your fellow man.  The tours of the tunnels were fascinating, and we really enjoyed them.  They show you what these tunnels were used for starting from today in 2010 and going back to the 1400’s.  Then, they take you forward and project what civilizations might be like in the future.  The most interesting part of these tunnels though was looking at what they were used for recently, like in the last 50 years.  People lived in these tunnels until 2005, when the last homeless man was kicked out so they could restore them.  They also were used for shelter from the Russians, and teenagers hid there when they were running away from troops during Soviet times.  It was very interesting.  The other half of Kiek in de kök is a large tower that was used as part of the wall that used to protect the city.  You can still go up into the tower and see the different exhibits they have, but also see out and get a gorgeous view of the city from up high.  We really enjoyed it, especially since after climbing up six tiny, cramped, cold stone sets of stairs, there’s a lovely coffee bar to rejuvenate you before you begin your descent.

After that, we went into the Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral, which is right near the tower, and were looking around in this gorgeous Russian Orthodox church when they started to actually have a service.  The priest and his minions (not clear on what they’re called, sorry) came out with the smells and bells, blessing the old little Russian ladies and the icons on the walls.  There was a choir singing behind us, in a high loft that had sun beams streaming down over it, and it was such a sacred moment… it was quite cool.  We walked around a bit after that, and went to some of the scenic look out places that I had been when we came here before.  As we were walking away from that area of town, wandering a bit as I so love to do here, I FOUND MY SHOP.  MY LONG LOST SHOP THAT I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR SINCE DAY ONE, LOOKING IN EVERY DARK ALLEY AND CORNER OF THIS CITY, I FOUND ITTTTTTTTT.  To my dismay, they were closing 10 minutes later (Side note: this was not to the dismay of my “shopped-out” father) but I found it anyway and the lady marked it on my map so I can find it again and ohhhhh my shop, I have found you.  I bought a little mouse to put on my piano when I get home, and it made me really miss Rosie a lot… I’ve been thinking about her often here, for different reasons, and what a great lady she was.  Sigh.

Anyway, we went to Vapiano’s for dinner that night, a TOTAL yummer of a place to eat, and went home, since we were pooped.  A great day, all in all, though.

Sunday, we got up pretty early and went to Viru Keskus to the handicraft shop there, to look at things for M&D to get that are hand made things from Eesti.  We found lots of cool stuff, and it was very neat… I love love LOVE knitted things, and I want to find a pretty handmade sweater before I leave in red and green…duh.  After that, we headed to Kadriorg, a nearby town, to go to the KUMU Art museum and to see the President’s Palace that is there also.  It was chilly and grey, but also was okay to be outside, and we enjoyed walking through the gardens and seeing all the pretty flowers that are still up at this time of year.  It was gorgeous.  Inside the museum, we saw a John Constabile exhibit and I got yelled at for taking pictures…go figure.  We ALSO saw an exhibit of photographs that a family friend of ours, Linda Halstead, was in, since she is Estonian and was part of a gymnastics group from Estonia that performed in the States.  It was really cool. 

Sunday night we went to a dance workshop with Tiina and Asko, and I had so much fun… we were learning the different folk dances, and to just be whirled around and dance for 2 straight hours was a blast… I wish we had a rich heritage like Estonia that we could be so proud of… they have all these amazing national patterns and different costumes and stuff and these dances, and it’s all so intriguing and amazing to look at.  They also have a much more violent, unhappy history, so they’re much more proud of the things they have now like these patterns and dances, and I just wish I could stay here forever.  Anyway, dancing was a lot of fun, and I was exhausted by the time it was over, but it was a good exhaustion.

Monday, Monday.  Back to the grind for me, but M&D went to the Rocca al mare (Estonian Open Air Museum) and saw some great things and then went to a Russian market with Irina (dear God… to the market, not to Irina.  THANK God Irina was there, but Mom said it was crazy and totally a scene, and I don’t doubt it for a single second).  We met up and went to the Kalev Marzipan Museum and Shop, and then went and got super delectable pancakes for dinner… they were delicious.  I was so exhausted from school that day, so we went home fairly early, and I did work while M&D chatted with Irina and Karl… Dad and Karl broke open the large bottle of Jack Daniels that he brought for Karl, so they were instantly besties.

Tuesday, I went to school again, but a bit begrudgingly because I really wanted to spend time with my parents their last day here.  It went so fast!  They went to the Occupation Museum while I was at school, and then they came to have lunch with me at the school.  After school, we walked around town a bit and then went home to have dinner with Karl and Irina.  Heather Scholl was in town to visit for a few days on her European adventure, so she met up with us also and we all went to the Alfredi Pub for dinner, where we all had very yummy food.  It was a great last night with them in town.  We went home and they packed while I finished stuff for school the next day (and while they packed up all my junk that they were taking home tee hee), I had appx. 235 panic attacks about getting home, and finally we all turned in for the night. 

Wednesday, they were off… sadly, I had to go to school that morning, and I really wished they could stay longer… it was so nice to have them here, and to have someone here who all the time I could speak English to at home, who understood me and knew what I was thinking as often only parents do, and to just have the comforts of home here for a little bit.  But anyway, I went to school and roamed a bit that afternoon, since that’s what we would’ve done if they were here.  I met up with Heather later for dinner and we went to the Peppersack, similar to the Olde Hansa in that they pretend to be old also and they have occasional sword fighting etc., but then after we got served dessert (it was 50% off everything on the menu night) the waitress legitimately took an HOUR to come back to us, which was annoying.  Whatever.  We had a good time chatting and such, so that’s what matters.

Thursday happened.

Friday… Haha just kidding.  Thursday was pretty awful because there are like twelve different shitstorms (pardon my French) a-brewin’ here at the school in various forms, and so there was that, and then I sat down to read and grade papers with Karolina and we discovered that in fact many of them were just copied and pasted from the internet (STRIKE ONE) and from Wikipedia, a site specifically not allowed for the assignment (STRIKE TWO) and had just spent ten minutes earlier in the day telling me, “I should just get a 7 [our top score] in music because it should just be easy, like PE.”  Strike THREE LADY FRIEND.  I was so annoyed.  So I left livid that day and sat down with the class the next day and had a major chat about the problem, and how frustrated I was.  UGH.

Friday night was good though.  A bunch of the teachers went out after school and just ate and drank and it was really fun… Quite amusing to see people outside of a school setting.  But, instead of going bar-hopping like we’d originally planned, we all were really tired and by 9:30 or 10 we were going home.  I guess that showed us.  Hahah.  Anyway, it was fun.

Saturday I woke up with a headache (not from drinking, but from stress) and proceeded to spend a decent amount of my morning either sleeping or watching tv and sleeping.  It was really great, actually, and really what I needed.  I wanted to go to the market in Nõmme but by the time I got there it was too late, so I just went to Selver, and ran into Karolina, who was shopping for the upcoming week.  I told her and her husband Toomas that I was alone for the evening, since both my host-parents were away at work, so she invited me over for dinner.  We had really yummy chicken and rice and a PHENOMENAL salad that was so so so great.  We started watching Eesti Talent (Estonia’s Got Talent, basically) and then ended up watching a movie and drinking wine, and since it was so late and we’d been drinking and there were no more buses, I ended up just staying there with them.  It was really fun, and totally spontaneous and just really a fantastic time. 

In the morning on Sunday, we had breakfast and then took a walk to the central part of Nõmme where they have the big market, but we took a very extended long way, so we walked for an hour on a crisp, fall day, and got to see lots of beautiful leaves and a gorgeous panorama of the Old Town straight over the horizon and saw lots of Tallinn and it’s outer lying cities.  Gorgeous.  Then, I went home and got ready to go see Karl in a concert at the Estonian concert hall, where he and many other groups from Nõmme were performing to celebrate the 65th birthday of the Nõmme Kulturekeskus (The Nõmme Culture Center).  It was so cool, and I really enjoyed it a lot… besides which, Karl loved that I came and we had a great time celebrating afterwards also. 

This week has been spirit week, so we’ve dressed wacky almost every day, and had lots of good classes.  School just finished for today, which means it’s Fall Break for us, but it has snowed ALL DAY LONG so it really feels like we’re actually leaving for Christmas haha.  I’m hopping on a bus in two hours to go to Riga in Latvia with Laura for a few days, and then we’ll come back and see Tallinn before she jets off to Copenhagen and I prepare to start school again.  I’m excited, but nervous too since it’s my first real trip since I’ve gotten here and I’ve only just gotten comfortable here with getting places.  But anyway, that’s my massively long update… we had grades due today and such for the end of the quarter, so I’ve been swamped with trying to get that stuff taken care of.  Thanks for reading this far (if you did) and if you didn’t, I understand anyway.

More soon.

Maintain,

Virginia

Days 49-52: The 48 Hour Flu Bug is just that.

Soooo... I did get verrrry sick this weekend, which was really unfortunate and uncomfortable, but thankfully happened over a weekend, so I didn't waste much school time mending.

Saturday, I went to see Eat, Pray, Love (I guess that's not underlined if it's the movie, not the book, hm?  Whatever, I'm leaving it.) with one of the other teachers, and I started feeling about halfway through like I was really chilly, and kind of like I was getting a fever.  In my infinite wisdom after the show, I went to look for a book, and then I was looking for another shop I wanted to look into, when I stumbled into TJ Maxx of Estonia, and bought a winter coat!!  It's a nice walker length wool coat, that I bought for half price, which was nice also.

Anyway, after the coat was purchased, I wanted to stay out longer, but knew the signs of impending illness well enough to go home, so I did... and I ended up being essentially in bed until yesterday in the afternoon. My temperature went up and down, between 99.5 and 101, for two days, and I was so uncomfortable, because I had this terrible aching in my body, especially my sides.  But, literally the same time 2 days later, I felt my last fever break and I felt so much better.  It was unbelievable.

School today was pretty good too... we had a teacher appreciation breakfast, and I had a pretty good day of teaching overall.  Feeling better made today good overall too.  It also feels really good to have most of my travel plans nailed down too... Laura and I got lots of travel plans made, and it was quite therapeutic :)

My parents are coming soon!  I'm so excited.

More soon.

Maintain,

Virginia

Day 46: I am an IDIOT. Day 48: Blech

So in my last post, I said I couldn't remember Tuesday and that it was unremarkable or something...

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?!  TUESDAY WAS MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK.

Tuesday afternoon, after school, Karolina and I went to see a fantastic concert.  We saw the Ellerhein choir, a girl's choir from Estonia.  They were doing a tribute concert to Veljo Tormis, an Estonian composer whose 80th birthday was this year, so there have been many concerts for him.  They. Were. FABULOUS.  I loved it... although, their director was CRAZY.  She seemed to have no idea that there was a concert going on behind her, which drove me absolutely insane, but the girls sounded so good that it was okay... It reminded me a lot of SWE in high school, and singing in a huge women's choir... so amazing.

That evening after the concert, I ran home and changed into all the warm clothes I have, and met Erin (3rd grade teacher at the school) and her husband Eric in town for a yummy dinner and then we went to Kadriorg, where they had an evening of lights in the park.  Kadriorg is where the president's house (palace) is and there's a huge park there and such, and they had candles and lights everywhere, and it was so so SO gorgeous.  It was a perfect crisp evening, and we walked around the park, and it was just so beautiful.  We saw Tiina and even got to see fireworks at the end of the night which was very cool too.  It was so fantastic.

Sorry I forgot about all that... I guess I had a MASSIVE brain fart.

In other news,  today has pretty much sucked and to top it off, I don't feel very good, so I'm having a quiet night in.  Classes sucked, feeling bad sucked, suck suck suck.  So.  No more on today.

Maintain,
Virginia