Mowing
Tuesday, 7th July 2009 at 8:09 am | In IQ-, cross-cultural | Leave a CommentTags: Estonians, Germans, Konstanz, Sonnenbühl OST
Even the voice clips in the Song Festival mentioned the activity Estonian engage in during summer: mowing the grass from dusk till dawn.
The Germans however just took it to the next level. The Hausmeister is mowing the grass under my window since 7.30 am with a bloody TRACTOR!
To Breath as One
Monday, 6th July 2009 at 12:51 am | In all around, introspection, music | Leave a CommentTags: Estonia, laulupidu, photo, song festival
Even thou my this years Song Festival meant a blurry screen of my laptop, I feel as I have got home after a long day spent in the Song Festival Grounds.
And for the first time, I understand what we’re singing. I miss those things. “Kodus on sinine taevas, kodus on päike nii soe…”, of course the sky is blue here, too, and I bet the sun’s even warmer, but the images of fields, hay balls, fir-forests and seaside keep coming into my mind.. I’ve always enjoyed them, but I never thought I’d miss those. I know there are those things here, too. There are a lot of really nice things here. But home is home.
Rheinfail
Sunday, 5th July 2009 at 1:27 pm | In trip | Leave a CommentTags: bicycle
Me trying to have a trip to the Rheinfall by bikes ended with the following conclusions:
1. don’t put too much air in the tires on a hot day (aka both! of my tubes exploded, one ruining the casing, too).;
2. the tube explodes with quite a bang;
3. 2km is too much for me to c a r r y my bike;
4. I’m getting skilled in fixing flat tires;
5. the ferry to Meersburg is great fun;
6. the Weinfest in Meersburg was not that fun;
7. too much sun ends with a sunstroke.
OST
Tuesday, 30th June 2009 at 12:42 pm | In all around | Leave a CommentTags: Erasmus, Konstanz, Sonnenbühl OST
Well, the good news are, after more than a month, I have internet in my house again. So that will hopefully mean I don’t have to squat under house G, invade the quiet family-life of the kitchen of house N nor break into Ola’s house every time I need to check my mail.
The bad news are, cockroaches are taking over. Just found a nest. Yuck. Glad no-one lives here in a month…
An unpremediated Estonian evening
Monday, 29th June 2009 at 12:02 pm | In emakeel, rendez-vous, trip | Leave a CommentTags: Erasmus, Estonians, Konstanz
I had just come back from a nice bicycle tour with T to Switzerland, cleaned my room, had a shower and feeling really nice and tired. I decided to spend a quiet evening having baked my barley cookies, having a tea and studying German.
It was all going well, I was stowing the dough on the cooking plate talking to N for the first time, when D walked into my kitchen saying “Tere!” I froze stunned as he doesn’t live in my house and has very little reason to visit me. His hello was followed by two other teres from, one of the girls asking “kes teist veel eesti keelt räägib?”
So my quiet night was replaced by the 2 Estonians and one Ukrainian drinking tea in my kitchen, eating my freshly baked cookies and creme brule they brought from France, accompanied by a conversation in Estonian, German and English with short burst-outs in French, all that accompanied by a game of night-man (we never really explained what “sibi” means, thou).
And apparently the man I have seen in the hallway, who says “hallo” and then rushes on to his room or kitchen to avoid futher conversation is another compatriot of mine.
On the perceived importance of things
Saturday, 27th June 2009 at 3:22 pm | In all around, correspondence | Leave a CommentI get that he was important, he was a legend and there are not many people who don’t know him. But why did his death make google, twitter and many news portals crash, while so many other so much important things leave people so much colder? Air France crashing? Protests in Iran? Wars?
Seriously!
Grass is greener…
Saturday, 27th June 2009 at 12:13 pm | In LIFF, all around | 1 CommentYesterday I tried out what it would be to retire and live by the Bodensee. I would not complain. Doing water aerobics in the hot water in a cold evening and having a view on the Alps would not be the most darkest scenario at all..
Still, lately I’ve been missing Estonia. White nights, midsummersday, song festival. Meow.
A truly European experience
Thursday, 25th June 2009 at 10:19 pm | In Deutsch, Español, Français, cross-cultural, language, pусский, trip | Leave a CommentTags: France, photo, Straßburg, Strasbourg
Основанный в 1949 году, il Consiglio d’Europa, based in Strasbourg (France), regroupe aujourd’hui, avec ses 47 pays membres – casi todo del continente europeo – um in ganz Europa gemeinsame und demokratische Prinzipien zu entwickeln.
Listening to a session of the Council of Europe, having my headset on and fingers on the button to choose a translation between 6 different languages was awesome.
Ah, and did I mention I LOVE French!? Even thou the peak of mine is buying 2 stamps to Estonia and ordering a class of orange juice and understanding how much should I pay for that. Luckily I didn’t have to try my language skills to find the Council of Europe again later in the afternoon to get my wallet back. I managed to lose it there. How bright am I! For 5h I was very happy to know it’s Schengen and I will probably get back to Konstanz without having to spend the night in the police station for trying to illegally (with out an ID) smuggle myself into another country..
Bologna: errare humanum est
Monday, 22nd June 2009 at 10:09 pm | In ladder, the others, uni | Leave a CommentTags: Bologna system, Internet, Konstanz, photo, Sonnenbühl OST, strike
When they strike here, you notice! Unlike the public transport workers in Estonia, when everything kept on running smoothly.
I walked along, although I did not fully comprehend why would they regard paying 500€ of tuition fees high, when we pay 3 times as much and earn so much less… True, Bologna is still “gut gemeint – schlecht gemacht” (with good intentions, but bad outcome).
Well, so was me going along. I burnt myself completely in the sun.
PS: A word on internet. I’m writing this post in a friend’s houses corridor, supporting my laptop on the thing you’re supposed to dry your laundry on, the light keeps switching off (since it does so automatically). Why am I here? The only place with internet…
In the corner of 3 countries
Sunday, 21st June 2009 at 5:49 pm | In cross-cultural, language | Leave a CommentTags: Konstanz, radio
I love the tuning button on the radio in our kitchen.
Just by moving my finger slightly on it, I can hear news in High German, a fairy tale in Swiss German, sports news in Italian and a talk show in French… mmmmh! I have to learn more languages!
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