5-22-13 Flying to Estonia

Hello there!

We just got back from a trip to Europe (don't we sound so ritzy...we were just in Europe, Dahlink.) I emailed the kids several times and thought I'd just use those as my blog. In case you care...

When Loy first mentioned the possibility of traveling to Estonia my first reaction was "Where is that, exactly?" So I'm including a map of Europe to show you. Former Soviet Union. Got their independence in 1991 or 1992. 

So, your next question is probably, "Why, exactly, would you choose to go there?" Wesleyan has a sister university in Tartu, Estonia. NWU sends a few students over there to study abroad and they send a few over here. The problem has been that when NWU students go over there for a semester their courses do not count for credit. The mission of our trip was for Loy and Thom (the other professor) to meet with their business department and talk about what each of their business classes covers and see if credits could be granted.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Frankfort, Germany, Airport

Well, this trip is turning into a l-o-n-g one, that's for sure. First the flight from Lincoln was delayed by 90 minutes, which made us miss our connecting flight to Frankfort which made us miss our connecting flight to Estonia (Taillin). And each flight has just barely been missed--just by 30 minutes or so. It's disheartening. 

We finally got on a plane to Frankfort (well, three of the five in our party did) and left at 10:15 last night. It was a 9 hour flight. Sarah is the director of the study abroad program at NWU. She's traveled quite a bit and has been SOO helpful throughout the whole trip! I just can relax figuring Sarah will take care of it all. Wonder if she knows how much we are leaning on her!! I hope we can make it home without her...she leaves earlier than we do.

The other couple traveling with us, the Jackman's, didn't get on our flight. They were told it was booked full. So they went to stay overnight with his brother in Chicago and will fly from Chicago to Philadelphia to Frankfort to Taillin, but get to our hotel a whole day late. The big kicker to this was that it ended up Loy ahd two empty seats right next to him. But, they had thought that being standby would be futile and didn't want to waste 4 hours sitting in an airport to be told they couldn't get on the plane. Bummer. 

Now we sit and wait for our 8:15 p.m. flight to Taillin. Not many flights go there, evidently. After we arrive there we have a 2-1/2 hour bus ride to Tartu, where we camp out until Wednesday. (Well, not literally camp.) 

I'm done with 1 of my many books I brought along and well into the 2nd book. Have't even broken out the crossword puzzles yet. And my supply of snacks is still holding out. My carryon bag is so darned heavy, though. I was overweight in my suitcase (and my body, I guess) and had to stuff 4 pounds of M & M's (in case you think this explains the overweight body, they are thank you gifts for our hosts in England!) and all the books in my carryon to get my suitcase light enough. Therefore I sit here and make Loy go do things like get our boardidng passes and drinks. 

That crazy boy came straight from work, so he's still wearing a tie. I think that'd kill me!! At least loosen it up, Loy!!

Airports here are much more accommodating to English than we are to any other language. I'm glad, but it does make us Americans seem like jerks. 

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Tartu, Estonia

On the flight from Frankfort to Tartu we had maybe the worst parents ever behind us. They had one kid--little Maxey. The Dad spoke English, the wife, Estonian. Sweet little Maxey (about 3-years-old) spoke Estonian but could understand English.

First off, he would talk loudly. Saying the same thing over and over and over--in increasing volumes. "Olen natuke eesti kiuslik. Goble-de-gook." Then again,  "Olen natuke eesti kiuslik. Goble-de-gook." And, finally, finishing up with,  "Olen natuke eesti kiuslik. Goble-de-gook." Each one louder than the last.

At one point the Dad told the little cherub to put his tray table up. Maxey did not like that. So the dad, in all his wisdom, said, "You have to put the table up or I'll talk to the captain and he will tell you what a naughty boy Maxey is being." The dad then proceeded to have a "talk" with the imaginary captain who was just out of Maxey's line of sight, saying how naughty the boy was. Geesh. Just make the kid put the tray table up.

We finally made it to Tallin, about 11:30, knowing we had to rush to make it to the 12:30 last but to Tartu. We stood by the carousel, waiting and waiting. Yep. You guessed it. Our luggage was nowhere to be found. Finally we made it to the bus, with just moments to spare (Thank you, Lord!) and endured the long ride. 

The bus ride was 2-1/2 hours, so it was about 3:15 a.m. by the time that we got to the hotel. Our hotel is pretty much right downtown, so when we got here we saw the streets just full of people sitting out eating and drinking. Our room doesn't have a/c, just a radiator, so I opened the window to let some air in. It was so loud!! I finally got up and closed it, and am hoping that was just a Saturday night thing and that tonight is quiet. 

Today we went out first thing to buy a new outfit each. We found a store that was sort of Younkers-esque and got some things. Tonight Loy's suitcase made it here, but mine has not shown up yet. They said tomorrow. The Jackman's didn't get here until just now and neither of their suitcases made it either. Thom's is supposed to be here late, late tonight. But Caitlyn's is lost. They have no idea where it is. Of course she had gone out and bought some new clothes for the trip, so she's wanting to shop tomorrow right away. The guys have meetings all day long, so it'll just be the two of us for the whole day and until after supper. 

Most people speak English here, but there have been some that don't. The town center is really clean and kind of cool--lots of outdoor seating for the cafes. They even have blankets over the chairs so that you can wrap up while you eat outside. We did that today for our lunch--lunch that consisted of dessert. The desserts are really yummy here!!

The Leaning House--right on the Town Center

Monday, May 13, 2013

Tartu

Letter to the Kids:

Dear Kids Whom I Have Always Lectured Against the Evils of Drug Usage and Being Around Things that are Bad Influences:

I have forwarded this picture to you guys to get your opinion. Kaylyn and I went to a restaurant and sat down and then noticed two different tables that had these at them. IS THIS DRUG RELATED???? We started laughing and I took this picture very surrepticiously and then walked out before even ordering. We're wild women!! In retrospect we realized we were both sort of coughing on our way up the stairs to this place. Now we wonder if something was in the air. I didn't smell anything bad, though. Maybe this is not a drug thing...but it seemed suspicious to me. 

So we went to a steak house instead and got the meat plate and split it. It was just that. A carving board of meat. But I thought it was going to be warm sizzling meat. They had some beef with carmelized onions (cold), some bear meat sausage (cold), some canned chicken mediterranean (cold), some ham (cold, two slices of brown bread that had fruit in it, and some pickles and olives. Kind of a disappointment. 

Afterwards we went to this sumptuous dessert place and had tea and dessert. Mine had raspberries and whipped cream and meringue and was wonderful. Kaylyn had something with strawberry and cream and chocolate. Both were extremely good. The men were busy all day and evening (back at the hotel for a couple hours this afternoon is all) so we occupied ourselves.

Dad's suitcase showed up last night and mine showed up by morning, so I'm good. The Jackmans didn't get either of their suitcases either, so today we went out and I shopped with Kaylyn. For a long time. I feel like I really know the Tartu-ian malls. I had bought one outfit yesterday and then I found another today I liked, so have a couple new things. 

It gets light here around 4:00 a.m. and right now it is 10:11 and just starting dusk. Lots of people have been out on the streets both nights, sitting at the outdoor cafes.

Tartu

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Tartu

We had fun the last days in Tartu. Kaylyn and I took a long walk around Tartu and saw the town. We climbed up into the old ruins of a 14th or so century church. With both of us being afraid of heights, it was kind of comical! But we goaded each other into going. I kept singing in my mind, "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" from "Finding Nemo." Kaylyn wore her very high wedge shoes, I was amazed she could even walk. I was worried she'd trip and fall on the narrow stone steps. I think she only brought two pairs--flip flops and these wedges. She kept up, though. I would've thought her feet would be killing her!!

We started going to the little "Antik" shops we came across. Sometimes we would have to go down a short flight of stairs to get to the basement. But you really felt like you were discovering something. In one store we went in there was an old lady (the owner or clerk) sitting there while we looked around. It was a rather nice antique store, so I was not too interested. I like my antique shops to be more like junk shops. If it's under glass, I'm not interested. Anyhow, we were about the leave and the lady looked up and said, "I het you." We both sort of paused in our exit and said, "What?????" We both thought she had just told us that she hated us.  She repeated it, but this time we heard "I hep you." For a minute there we thought she had real problems!! No wonder no one else was in the store!!!

That day we went to the open market and bought some strawberries, the indoor meat market and bought some cheese, the grocery store to buy some bread (the fresh bread is on this lazy suzan thing and you pick out which loaf you want and then bag it. Then you have to enter the bread number into a machine and it prints out the price. We were partial to number 55. We also got a few slices of roast beef and some lemonades and had ourselves a lovely picnic. There was even a sidewalk musician playing the accordion near. It was very European. We were so proud of ourselves.

As we were sitting there Kaylyn had just mentioned how no one must feed the birds in this park because they were not coming anywhere near us. Then one showed up. Kaylyn was a wonderful traveling partner, but she is a germophobe and a birdophobe. So one bird was creepy to her. Then came another. And another. Soon we had our own little entourage!! She would take one of our plastic sacks and shake it at the birds to try and get them to leave. They might back off a little, but not too much. 

That night we went out to dinner with the Tartu University faculty (finally!) The men had taken a tour with a guy named Mark who was a young, really entertaining guy. We went to a very nice restaurant. They asked if we wanted any appetizers. I had asked Mark what was Estonian on the menu and he had pointed out this one appetizer...sprats. So we got a couple orders of that and shared. It was basically a sardine on little black bread with a quail egg and their spicy mustard. Not bad. Mark said this was something they would have at home when he was growing up.

Another Estonian appetizer we got was brown rye bread (no caraway seeds, very molasses-y). It had been fried (not toasted, fried) and then you would take a big clove of garlic and rub it on the bread, then eat. It was delicious!! 

This is me in the ruins I mentioned. 

I find this statue really creepy. The Estonians are so proud of it. It is the sculptor and his son, both naked and both made the same size. I don't know why, but I hate it. And, interestingly enough, there are specific body parts on these guys that are very bright shiny brass--guess they've been rubbed. 

Here is the hookah. What would YOU have thought?? I am very naive and was sure we'd come across an opium parlor or some drug house.

Loy loves bacon.

I like to take pictures of funny signs. As near as I can tell from this one, you need to beware of beds in the road. That can spell trouble.

This one is kids running to get their sunglasses. Must be really bright there.

First, this is important because it has an exclamation point. Very graphic. Cars kissing.

I'll talk about the Tallin part of our trip in a couple days. Right now I need to do some more laundry!

Kitt.