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

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