No stories, just pictures! [View Full Entry]

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Well, I have spent some time over the past few days compiling my next blog, and I went to publish it tonight and POOF! it disappeared. I am not sure what happened, but all of my observations about camp and Estonian life have been erased. I am not going to try to recreate it because it is late and I am tired. And b/c you probably just look at the pictures anyway. But, I will try to hit some highlights and let you know what's up. Today was the last day of camp. A lot of kids have already left, but [View Full Entry]

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Greetings again from Turisalu, Estonia. I am just going into the third week of camp (one left to go!), and things are, well, pretty much the same. We started camp with about 85 kids and 50 of them left last Thursday. 25 new ones came in their place, so now there are about 60 kids here. It feels empty without all of the old kids around. I have to say, even in just the 2 weeks I knew the students and they knew each other, everyone got pretty close. You know camp -- a day is like a week. The relationships [View Full Entry]

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Hello all -- I have had kind of a three-day weekend, so I have seen a lot of the main city, Tallinn, and some other parts of Estonia the past few days. Wouldnt quite call myself a native or anything, but it is all a bit more familiar! On Friday, Olga (one of the Russian teachers) and I went into Tallinn to explore. Being with another person while exploring reminded me that the right travel partner is essential. I had a couple of things on my agenda--- including sitting down at an internet cafe and uploading some pictures, and finding the [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Estonia, where it is midnight, and the sun still shines. I think, above all else, that is the thing that freaks me out the most about this place, more than anywhere I have ever been. How does your body know when to go to sleep? It doesn't. You have to psyche yourself out and pretend that it's dark outside. I actually wear night-shades to bed to help do that, but it's still very strange! What can I say -- I have been here almost a week, but in true "camp time" it, of course, seems more like a month. [View Full Entry]

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*Disclaimer* THis entry is not the way I wanted it to go -- I have other pics to add and some other stuff happened (including my mother and I getting left behind on the track as my dad made it into the train-- I am still, literally, peeing in my pants from laughing when I think about it). However, I MUST leave VERY soon (like, in 30 minutes) for the airport, and I wanted to get this out.***** Arrived in NYC on Saturday afternoon and my luggage and I headed straight to cousin Becca's apartment on the Very Upper West Side. [View Full Entry]

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***People keep asking me, with good reason, why I am going to Estonia. Good question. I knew I wanted to go to Europe this summer, but I didn't want to be just a tourist. I like going places and making connections with people and places that "regular" tourists don't usually make. I think this comes from the huge amount of time I spent in Israel -- I really got to know the place in a different way. Anyway, I searched on the internet for teaching programs and summer camps, and I found Bridges for Education. I really have no idea what [View Full Entry]

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The weather is hot and steamy in Detroit -- what did you think I was talking about? You can see by the picture that the main focus of my visit to Detroit was to see my newest Midwestern friend, Evrett, son of my good friends, Merrily and Kenny. I've known Merrily since we worked together at Greene Family Camp during the summer of 1991. We got to live together in Austin for a few years, and things haven't quite been the same since Merrily and Kenny left town. Now I can see why they moved back home -- they are surrounded [View Full Entry]

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(Why Crabs and Cubs? Well, because I DID see the CRABS! exhibit at the aquarium and I DIDN'T see the Cubs play b/c I was having way too good of a time with Chicago friends and family to schlep up to Wrigley Field.) Got to Chi-town on Monday and was picked up by Native Chicagoan Cha-Cha, Lisa H. (AKA, Lisa Chaver). She lives in a sweet Gold Coast apartment just off Lakeshore Drive and it feels like just yesterday that I was freezing my butt off here in the city with all of the other Cha-Chas, eating my face off. (Really, [View Full Entry]

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The summer has officially started with my first trip. A short one, yes, but a trip nonetheless. I think it's the one trip I am taking by car only. Houston is but a 3-hour (or so) drive from Austin, and it goes quickly, especially when stopping in La Grange at Weikel's Bon Ton Bakery . The best kolaches this side of the Mississippi. Or, at least, the best kolaches on the way to Houston. :) I am staying with my dear friend, Jennifer V. and her fiance, Evan. They live in a fabulous duplex in a very cool neighborhood -- by [View Full Entry]

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