The blog goes on...

Hi guys! I'm sorry it took me so long to write another update, but I just didn't feel like writing the past few days. :) So I left you at the weekend. Let's start there.

Day 8
Today it's Saturday so we don't have to work. Instead, we will use some of the bicycles to cycle to Rõuge, where there was going to be some kind of festival. Rõuge itself is only a very small place (less than 500 inhabitants), but it was still quite crowded when the first activity started: a boat race with all kinds of home-made boats:


Really crazy. So before and after that we had swum in the lake and at the end of the afternoon we were joined by some drunk locals, who wanted to share their Estonian vodka and longdrinks with us. Probably just to get Ieva drunk, because one of those guys (the ugliest one) kept on yelling "I love you", probably the only line he knew in English. Anyway, we had a good time there and some of us may have gotten a bit drunk, which made the cycle home more fun. But not for me, since I had left my sweater at home. It was quite cold (but still quite ok actually), but I was very happy that Elena was willing to cycle home a bit faster than the rest of the group.

Day 9

Today we did not do so much. We went for a swim in a lake nearby, talked a bit and that would be about it. Only in the evening we did a quiz about Estonia and watched a movie about the singing revolution in Estonia. This is hard to explain in a few lines to a non-Estonian, so I won't even try, but at least now I understand the culture and traditions of Estonia better.

Day 10

Today we had to work again, and Pekka and me were going to the treehouses to cover the empty spaces next to the wooden floor. So we were busy all day with the saws and hammers. Really hard work, considering the fact that the weather was still good today and it may well have been the hottest day so far. But it was very satisfying to see the difference afterwards: the treehouses were really ready to use now. Here's a picture of the view out of one of the treehouses:

Amazing, isn't it? A really inspirational place!

When we came back to the manor, a new volunteer had arrived. Her name was Anna and she was from Italy. She worked as a long term volunteer in another part of Estonia and was invited by the organisation to come help us for this week, to replace the two Spanish girls. Always nice to have extra help and more people to talk to.
So in the evening we watched a movie called Paha maa. As you may see from the title, the movie was Finnish. It was a really great movie. Also we decided that after today's Finnish night, it would be Dutch night the next day. Very convenient, because that day was also the day was also the day of the semi-final of Holland against Uruguay.

Day 11

So today we worked in the carpentry workshop again, where the guys had to paint the ceiling of two smaller rooms. This was quite complicated, since one of the rooms was far from empty. But like a true athlete I used every muscle in my body to make sure every bit of the ceiling got painted without having to remove too much objects from the room. Camp leader Kadi took a picture of me doing that, but I don't have that picture yet, so maybe you will see it later.

In the evening I did a quiz about Holland, which was fun. After the quiz, I played some Dutch music (including Wij houden van oranje and Viva Hollandia) to get in the mood for the soccer game. So we continued the Dutch night watching the first half of the soccer, and this time even some of the girls stayed to watch, which lead to some interesting questions like how they would make sure the grass looked the way it looked, with those stripes. None of us knew the answer, so if you do, please make a comment here and enlighten us. The second half it was only Hendrik, Pekka and me again, but we really enjoyed the great game of soccer! And I enjoyed the great result of course, I still cannot believe we are in the final. And I also can't wait to watch the final in a crowded bar in Tallinn next Sunday. Or maybe I will go to the main square. We'll see how it goes.

Day 12

Not that many special things have happened today. Maybe the fact that Pekka and I moved to another place to sleep is worth mentioning, but it's not really interesting to you guys as a reader. Why did we move? Well, tomorrow some more guests are coming to stay here, and we had to make room for those people. Not really interesting. So in the evening we had French night, which started with a quiz/game about France and ended with a French movie, which was stopped halfway because the subtitles stopped working. Maybe tomorrow we'll find a way to watch the ending. I wasn't that sorry for the subtitles going missing, because it allowed us to watch the last 15 minutes of the other semi-final between Germany and Spain. So now I know we will have to beat Spain in the final. It will be tough, but I think we have a chance of beating them. Will the 11th of July be one of the days in my life that I will never forget? It could be, it could be...