Day 90 (recap)-95: Wait, I'm Where, again...?

Recap: 

Saturday with Melissa and Kyle, I went to Waterloo.   As in Napoleon.  As in “Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war.”  As in, it’s pouring down rain, but we’re going to go and brave the Brussels weather (Melissa and I decided on the weather reports, instead of making up something about how it might or might not rain, they should just say, “It’s Brussels. Get over yourself.”).  We went and learned a lot about the battle that happened there in various movies, starring Captain von Trapp, who strangely enough survived this war apparently well enough to turn over to the Austrians in WWII and fight for them.  Weird.  Anyway, it was very fun, and we quite enjoyed ourselves, despite the rainy conditions. 

We went home and dried off, and then finally got back up and out and over to the base where Kyle works, called SHAPE, and went to the Christmas market, which was a ton of fun to just be around.  Many of the things were a bit kitschy, but there were a lot of things that were cool too, and it was fun to be in a place decorated and ready for Christmas, with Christmas music playing and the whole holiday spirit ready to go.  It was great fun.  We went to the Commissary as well, and bought some Belgian beers to sample, as well as different kinds of chocolate… the Belgian basics: beer and chocolate. 

Before sampling beers though, we had TACO NIGHT.  WHAT A DELIGHT, TACO NIGHT.  See what I did there?  But seriously, so good, and really appreciated… Melissa came up with things that I might not have been able to have in the last few months, and tacos were DEFINITELY on the list… I loved it.  We had tacos and chips and salsa and it was fantastic.  And to top off an already good evening, I got to Skype in for 80’s Trivia night in Estonia at Erin and Eric’s place.  It was so great to see lots of friends… Tim and Michelle, Matt and Megan, Eric and Erin, Don and Maureen, and Veiko and Kadri…  it was fun. 

We then had beer tasting… I had wanted to try one that I’d seen in Estonia actually, since Drink Baar was having Belgian beers month in November, and I’d seen the Delirium Tremens there.  It. Was. AWFUL.  GOD it was so terrible.  BLAAAAA.  Not recommended.  The Timmerman’s Pěche was the favorite for Melissa and I, while Kyle preferred the Leffe, a true Belgian beer.  An interesting sampling, but nevertheless lots of fun. 

Sunday I was off to Bordeaux to meet up with Laura.  I had paid previously for two bags, a very smart idea, so baggage weight was not a problem, which is always nice to hear and preferable to deal with.  Got to Bordeaux with little issue, and my bags were some of the first off the carousel so I was a happy lady.  Laura found me, and we headed into Bordeaux, rainy, but lovely.  We got my stuff to her apartment, and then headed out to an Irish pub called Sweeney Todd’s (hilarious) for their Sunday brunch.  They serve a full English breakfast, including 2 sausages, 2 pieces of Canadian bacon, 2 eggs, Heinz baked beans, chips, toast, and mushrooms.  It was fantastic.  I was really hungry, as was Laura, so we were quite happy to have such a great meal.  We walked around Bordeaux and saw some of the fantastic sights… Laura’s town is much bigger than mine, and has a plethora of really old/cool places.  The churches are very interesting actually, because their bell towers are really massive, but reach from the ground up because they are separated from the churches, and actually are a separate structure next to the churches themselves.  Bordeaux also has a few different castle like structures, Cinderella style, and many arcs and statues.  I even found a turtle statue!  (Clearly I took pictures)  We walked around a long time, saw many of the interesting animal sculptures around the city (cows like the Cow Parade that happens in America), turtles (clearly important), and even an ALLIGATOR.  WHAT!?  Haha…but it was there!  I saw it with my own eyes. 

That evening, we made an Arrabiata type sauce with eggplants, zucchini, onions, herbs de Provence, and tomatoes that was quite delectable.  We hung out and watched “How I Met Your Mother,” a COMPLETE necessity, and then just chilled out a bit.  What a great day!

Monday, Laura had school in the afternoon, which was okay, because I had been hoping to go on one of the half day wine tour excursions through the Office of Tourism (Highly recommended, if you find yourself in Bordeaux).  She and I walked around a bit in the morning, when it was sunny (A GIFT FROM THE GODS) and saw some shops and such.  She went off to school, and I continued looking around in central Bordeaux until it was time for my tour.  We got on a bus, and went about an hour outside of the city, through beautiful countrysides filled with vineyards… everywhere  had grape vines and plants and all the interesting buildings of a place that is incredibly old.  There were fantastic churches and buildings that looked like mini castles, and while I didn’t get to snap a picture of it, there was even an old walled city, similar to Tallinn that was about 30 minutes outside of Bordeaux.  It was very interesting.  When I was with Melissa, I kept saying, “These buildings are older than Christopher Columbus’ great-grandparents…”  We think our country is so cool and old, and yet there are places that were built and have now been preserved from even before our country was even heard of or thought of.  It’s fantastic to see this architecture that is from 1100 AD, you know?  It’s just stunning.

Anyway, winery touring.  We went to the first one, and they taught us about the process of growing grapes, and how each wine is blended, there’s not actually only one kind of grape in each kind of wine, and how they put them in barrels and then put them to age and all these interesting things.  It was very cool.  I preferred the first tour over the second… they gave us more information, were more pleasant and easy to talk to, and they seemed to do more of the process organically, whereas the second chateaux did a lot of the fermenting and aging in the big metal tankards.  It was very interesting, and we had a nice, small group, so it wasn’t too much to handle either.  It made me really crave seafood, so… Laura and I made Seafood Piccata (think Chicken Piccata that I make with my dad, but only with scallops :D)  It was SO yummy, and we had a great time making it.  We stayed up chatting, and ate yummy desserts that we had gotten at a local patisserie, and then went to bed.

Today, I was quite the sight to be seen lugging two bags through the sidewalks of Bordeaux on streets made just barely for one person.  It was, I’m sure, humorous to the people watching, but I was unamused, in fact.  I finally did make it to the airport, and after having pre-purchased a bit of extra weight on one bag, instead of dealing with multiple other hassles, I had NO problem with checking my bags, which was great, and flew right through security and such.  I got into London, and got the Gatwick Express train to central London, where I got a taxi to take me to Gill’s theatre.  During my ride, I saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, and many other cool things.  It was astonishing… each place I saw, I thought, “Yep, I’m in London.”  Very cool.  Found Gill and got situated at the theater, and finally went to get something to eat.  I got my fish and chips!!!  Yummer.   Saw Gill’s show, with a PRODUCER BADGE :D, and the show was great, and very intriguing.  It’s about the sort of less glamorous side of the Kennedy/Onassis clan and how they actually all had affairs, sort of inter twined and such.  Very interesting look at that whole family and situation.  I got to chat with the girls Gill works with for a bit, and drink champagne since it was someone’s birthday, and we’ve just gotten home and settled in for the night… as it’s 12:40 am here, and I’m used to this being between 1:40 and 2:40 am, I’m quite sleepy, so I’m off, but I’ve only got TWO MORE DAYS TOTAL in my European adventure.  Ridiculous.  

Day 85-92: Sadness and Waffles

Well, I'm no longer in Estonia.  It's very sad and devastating but it's true, and not changing anytime soon.  


My last few days in Eesti were great, but really sad too... everyone was asking how I felt about leaving and the answer was always the same... "Bittersweet... sad to leave this fantastic place, but glad to be done with school and be able to be home for the holidays too."  I didn't know how to react really to the fact that I was leaving... it wasn't real until I was on the plane the next morning.  Leaving Karolina was the hardest, and we didn't bother saying goodbye until it was the absolute last minute of the last day we were going to see each other.  It was so sad, and there were a few tears on each side, but I couldn't really cry and get it out, because I had so much packing to do.   So, I packed, and couldn't sleep so I kept packing and then tried to sleep and ended up watching tv on the computer for a while.  In the morning, I finally got the last few things in my bag, and got to the airport, about 10 minutes later than we'd wanted to.  It was the same basic scene as coming to the country, except this time, only half in my language, and all of the stuff had to come on 5 flights again, instead of 1.  So we took enough stuff out that I didn't have to pay as much for it (it would have been close to $500 if I hadn't taken anything out) and finally rushed through paying, security, and getting onto the plane.  As soon as I got into my seat, I lost it.  I just silently cried and cried and cried until I got so many sideways glances from my seat partner that I couldn't keep going, and I was done anyway.  The flight attendant thought I was afraid of flying, I think.  


Anyway, I had a six or seven hour layover in Riga, but got food, knitted, read, and napped.  I got to Brussels in good time, and after an amusing series of trips up and down halls and stairs, I finally found my train platform and made it to the Dunlap's house.  It's been fantastic being here, but weird to be in a country that speaks French again and reverting back to French only, instead of Estonian.  I keep mixing them together.  But anyway, Melissa and I went to downtown Brussels the first day I was here, and saw the Grand Place which was GORGEOUS, the Manneken Pis which was TINY, a few other cool sites, and had a REAL Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce.  YUM.  But the BEST thing we did was go to the MIM (Musical Instruments Museum), which has really amazing displays of all different kinds of musical instruments.  The coolest part is they give you headphones and then in front of each case, there's a sound clip that accompanies the instruments you're looking at.  VERY COOL.  It was a lot of fun.  


Today we went to Waterloo and learned about the battle that happened there.  It was a really cool place, but was really really rainy, so we were drenched.  Afterwards, we came back and got some food and then went to the SHAPE base where Kyle works and looked at a Christmas market that was there.  It was a lot of fun, and they had Christmas music playing and lots of cool things.  I got a cute little thing that cannot be disclosed as someone shall receive it soon, but it was an overall very fun thing to go to.  We went shopping on base, and then came home and had TACOS.  GLORIOUS TACOS.  YUMMMMM.  It was great.


I got to Skype in and give the quiz for 80's quiz night at Erin & Eric's tonight, which was great, and I got to see some of my teacher friends.  We're now tasting different Belgian beers and hanging out!  Tomorrow, I'm off to Bordeaux to see Laura again!


Talk to you soon.
Maintain,
Virginia

Day 71-84: Reader's Digest Version

So, I know I have been away from blogging for a bit, but after Laura was here, I got really busy with this final push to get everything done and see everyone etc. before I leave.  So here's a quick recap to catch up to where we are now.

We went to Riga, obviously.  It was not my favorite place I've ever been, and it was cold and rainy and therefore sort of unwelcoming and dreary.  We didn't love it, although we did have great food and fun with some of the people at the hostel.  The hostel itself was phenomenal... it was clean, and well kept, and there was a lot of room to hang out in the hostel, and they had everything you could need to cook if you wanted to, and it was just really great.  In Riga, most everything closes on Mondays, though, so we spent part of Monday going on a tour the hostel offers where you can go shoot AK-47 assault rifles :)  We went on this tour, and part of the way there, the guy from the hostel said, "I'm really hoping we can all get into shoot today... they had a police raid last week, and they took most of their bullets, but they said they had a secret stash of them, so we should be okay, I think."  Laura and I were questioning the legality of this particular operation, and he said, "It's as legal as possible..."  Nice.  We got into this underground Russian bunker, and there were NO women except for us, and there were quite a few massively large Russian men.  But, we did it and we were brave!  We shot a Glock, an AK-47, and a Pump Action rifle.  I was so nervous by the end of the rounds of the Pump Action that the Russian teacher guy standing next to me who was helping us said gruffly, "Only one more."  Anyway, it was really cool, and I got to keep some bullets and my target!

Proud.  So that was the highlight of our time in Riga.  We came back to Tallinn, and did the tourist-y Tallinn things again, which was fun, and then we had a typical Estonian Christmas dinner with Karolina and Toomas.  It was so much fun to just have a great meal and company, but we also were having the typical foods, like the blood sausage and meat in a jelly.  Neither of these particular things are ones I'd probably try again, but I did try them once, and that's all the mantra says.  It was a great night, and I had so much fun.

After Laura left, I've been in the final throws of trying to get all these papers done for ONU classes, as well as my final lesson plans and getting things slowly packed, and it's just been a crazy time.  I'm really busy, and don't have enough time for all the things I'm doing anymore!!!  It's good though bittersweet... I'm not ready to leave, and I'm sadder every day that I go to bed because another day is over. 

Last night, I had a great surprise... the teachers from my school threw a surprise party for me.  I thought it was just going to be me and Tiiu, and then we went with Kadri to this place in town, and we sat at a really small table and weren't really in a rush or anything, and then Karolina showed up.  She said she had to meet someone, but it was funny running into us, and I was just amused that we ended up in the same place.  But then she told me it was actually ME she was meeting, and it was really funny.  Slowly, other teachers that I've gotten really close with showed up also, and all my closest teacher friends were there, and it was just a fantastic evening.  They got me lots of different presents and I was so flattered and moved, and it was wonderful.  MOST ESPECIALLY, though, they all chipped in and bought me the rain boots I've been wanting all this time with the Muhu Estonian National Pattern... Muhu saar is one of the islands, and this pattern is yellow with horizontal striped patterns, and I love it... it's my favorite one.  I'll post pictures soon.

Anyway, I'm off to pack a bit, and then meet one of my other teacher friends in town to see Due Date... hahah.  I could use a good mindless laugh, and that looks to be promising.  So, that's my brief update for now.  My last day of school is this Wednesday, and I leave Thursday to go to Brussels. 

Maintain,
Virginia