As most of you may know, I will be doing volunteer work in Sänna, Estonia this summer. I left Holland on the 26th of June and flew over Helsinki to Tallinn, where I would spend a few days before going to Sänna, where I would stay for two weeks to renovate an old manor that is being used to host artists from all over the world. Since I have internet here in Sänna, I will be able to keep you guys updated on my adventures by means of this weblog. So here is my story about the first days of my trip.
Day 1
The adventure started when my plane landed at TallinnAirport. My Estonian penpal Laura would come to pick me up from the airport. I had never met her before, but in the small arrivals-hall it was very easy to find eachother. In advance we had already agreed to walk to the nearby supermarket together, which was not at all necessary after the delicious cheeseburger I got from FinnAir, but I still bought myself a nice pizza-snack there. What better way would there be to start your journey? After having done that, we rushed (as far as one can rush with a suitcase behind him) to the tram. That tram would take us to Rahvusraamatukogu, the national library of Estonia, where I met Jens: my Belgian Couchsurfing host.
After saying goodbye to Laura, I went to Jens’ place to drop off my luggage. To be honest, I was amazed by the state his house was in: it was old, wooden and very messy. Luckily his appartment looked normal from the inside, as do most interiors of crappy houses.
After dropping off my luggage, we went to the city, did a small tour of Tallinn (I was doing the grand tour the next day) and went to an Irish Pub, where we watched the World Cup game between USAGhana until the end. Because of the time difference and the extra time that was needed to find a winner, the game finished only shortly before midnight, so we didn’t stay long after that. We went home and where I was a bit afraid at first of a long, light and sleepless night (it will never get as dark at night as I’m used to in Estonia at this time of year), I was really tired and fell asleep quite soon.
Day 2
The next morning I met Laura again, who was going to be my tourguide for the day. During the tour, she took me everywhere: we saw the old town, some great viewing points, the large shopping center, sat down for two hours in the park of Kadriorg (where I burnt the entire left side but not the right side of my face according to Laura), went to some kind of palace and back to the old town again, where we sat down again to have a drink, because we were quite tired. But at least I had seen almost everything of Tallinn in just one day!
At half past six I met Jens again, who was still full of energy after a long boring day of studying for his drivers’ license. He wanted to take me for a walk on the beach just outside Tallinn. That sounded like a good idea, so I agreed on that. The walk was quite nice, it’s really nice to walk on the beach, being able to see the towers of a beautiful city like Tallinn on the other side of the water. However, the walk was more than just a short walk near the seaside. We walked all the way to the town of Viimsi, the richest town of Estonia according to Jens. And indeed, the houses and the views on Tallinn were beautiful, but my feet were killing me now! Luckily for me Jens had to work the next day, so at around 10 we both decided enough is enough and took the bus home. When we got home, I discovered a blister of the size of a small toe on my left foot. Always nice when you have another day of walking planned for the next day…
Day 3
Monday was the day that I would go to Sänna, but since my bus to Voru (where I would be picked up) left only at 16:00, I would still have to find something to keep me busy for the day. So I decided to also meet my other Estonian penpal Mariam, who took me to Kopli, the worst and most dangerous area of Tallinn, where a lot of Russians live. It was really amazing to see all those old abandoned houses there and even though it was safe by daytime, I could really see that this would be a dangerous area at night.
After our trip to Kopli, we had lunch in the park and then Mariam took me to her place, because she wanted to make me cake. The cakes she made (broccoli-paprika-salmon and chocolate) were delicious, although the first cake was a bit too wet. This lead to an interesting situation, during which she tried to get out all the water of the cake. This was quite a comical situation, because I was filming her every move with my camera, resulting in a very interesting video, which may or may not appear on YouTube someday.
Just before 16:00, we left for the main bus station. There I was supposed to meet my 4 other group members, but the 2 Spanish girls didn’t show up. I will not say there is a causal link between the fact that they were Spanish and the fact that they didn’t show up, but it is interesting that last year someone of the same nationality didn’t show up for the volunteer work in Serbia. Anyway, together with Pekka from Finland and Ondine from France I took the bus to Voru, where I met one local guy from Sänna of who I didn’t get the name yet and Elena from Spain. She no speak English so much, she said, but she was understandable most of the times. With 110 km/h we drove over small countryside roads, which sounds more dangerous than it actually is, because there is absolutely no traffic here. At around nine we arrived at the Sänna Culture Manor, where we met the other long-term volunteer Ieva from Latvia and the one of the camp leaders. That night we talked and had some drinks together with all the mosquitos that live in Sänna. This would be a normal first night of a workcamp in Southern Estonia I guess.
So today I also did a lot of interesting things, including swimming in a very cold lake, but you will hear more of that next time. For now I will say to you: head aega (goodbye in Estonian), and näeme hiljem (see you later)!
They are easy to recognize An expensive, flashy ring on their finger A pearl necklace around their neck These forests seem to be their playground These castles seem to be their home They can't help being like this It is their nature They act strong, independent, self-assured But why does their heart have to be so cold? They look at me Like I am some other species Like I don't belong in such a place A haughtiness that finds its origin in their childhood When it was their daddy who told: You are a priviliged little girl And I will give you anything you want There is only one condition You must stay forever in this land The young girls listened They grew up, Became women Conquered the world But they never want to mingle with the normal people Because deep inside They will always remain daddy's little girl
It all started like a fairytale… Once upon a time there was a guy named Lurens, who needed a new passport for his trip to a beautiful little country called Estopia. There was only one problem: he did not own a picture of himself yet that meet all the requirements. Soon he found out that there was a cabin at the train station where he could get his picture taken. So full of good mood Lurens went the train station and after taking three photos, the machine urged him to select one out of these three photos. However, since his head looked weird in all three photos, Lurens wasn’t sure which one to pick. In the end, after careful consideration, he randomly selected one photo to become his official photo, and armed with his freshly made pictures he rushed to the city hall, to get in line for a new passport. Luckily for him the city hall in Tilburg had a nice and cosy waiting room, where all the people would sit that were waiting on a civil servant to serve them. He even found a newspaper that reported about a certain upcoming World Championship, so he didn’t even notice that he had to wait for half an hour. Then, all of a sudden, a big screen announced that it was his turn to go to the counter. Full of excitement Lurens walked to the counter. It was the nearest one to the waiting room, how convenient! He showed the friendly-looking woman behind the counter his old passport and his beautiful new photos and sat down. The woman scanned the old passport and looked at her computer for a few seconds. When she opened her mouth again, she said: “The computer says that you still have an old ID-card, I’m gonna need that one.” Lurens replied: “Yes, but that ID-card expired three years ago, why would I bring that with me when I get a new passport?” The woman said: “Because those are the rules, I need all old passports and ID-cards before I can give you a new one.” Lurens replied: “Isn’t there anything you can do for me right now? My old ID-card is at home, in Houten, so if I need to go get that, this would mean I would have to travel all the way back to Houten tonight and then come back to Tilburg tomorrow morning!” The woman, who started to look a lot less friendly now, said: “I’m sorry, I can’t help you, the rules are the rules.” And Lurens left the community center.
So the fairytale didn’t end well for our hero Lurens, because of the civil servant who wanted to stick to the rules. Now this blog is not going to be to complain about how government officials always want to stick to the rules. I consider myself to be a liberal, so if these people want to live and act in such a way, they should be allowed to do so. No, my main problem are these rules themselves. Why would it be necessary for a person to bring all of his old ID-cards and passports when applying for a new passport? As long as a person can identify himself, why would you need him to bring all of his old ID-documents? To see how that person evolved over time? Ridiculous! And would this rule imply that in 50 years from now I would have to bring a whole backpack of old ID-documents when applying for a new passport? I would love to see the face of the civil servant when I throw all those documents on his desk, wishing him good luck with all those documents. Another problem I have with this rule is that nobody told me in advance that I would have to bring all of my expired ID-cards. The least a government can do is explain properly which documents a citizen needs to bring when applying for a new passport.
So yesterday night Lurens went back to his home in Houten to get his old ID-card, and while I am writing this weblog he is on the train back to Tilburg. Lurens may be the hero in his own fairytale, but even he has to stick to the rules. Whether I like it or not.
...for a new start of my blog! In English this time, to reach a broader public. Probably I will stop writing after about five blogs, but that doesn't matter. I hear you wonder. What is he gonna write about? Well, again I'm not gonna restrict myself to just one topic. Anything that is of interest to me. Anything I have to get out of my system. I hope you will keep on following my blog and I promise to update it regularly. If not, you are allowed to come visit me and hit me with a shovel, deal?
