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Published: September 18th 2008
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Lea and I on the road to Saaremaa!
Here is Lea and I! Just as we got to the boat! This entry is long overdue and I apologize.
My birthday. Definitely adventurous. I went to the island of Saaremaa. Alright, before I get too much into detail, let me start at the beginning. Lea and I started off my day with giving me roses and a present (sounds like another mum I know *cough* MUM *cough*). We finally got out onto the road and were on it for about two and a half hours or so. After arriving at the harbor of Estonia and Muhu (the little island that you have to cross to get to Saaremaa), we had a small cup of coffee and a sandwich. Then we got back onto the boat and the weirdest thing happened when we did that. We didn’t LEAVE the car! It was crazy! I was so excited at the fact that I was on a car on a boat on the water! The ride was only about half an hour and then we got back on the car (I know!) and then drove through Muhu. Eventually we made it to Saaremaa and met up with a guy who was a Rotarian. He showed us where we were going for the evening.
When we
got to this forest-y area, we stopped and met up with even more Rotarians. The Rotarians sang happy birthday to me in English and it was so sweet! I didn’t know what to do except stand there and grin like an American dunce. During my time there at the forest area, I ate lamb that was cooked in the ground (I know!), caught crawfish and roasted them, received a new hat that has reindeer on it, and chocolates, and the most interesting of all, I talked with Rotarians. One of them seemed particularly interested in what I had done so far since I had been in Estonia, who I had met, how school was, did I have any friends, how were other activities going, and so on. For about a half hour I answered this mans questions, and it wasn’t until later that I found out that that man was my new host dad in Saaremaa. Huh. Oih. Wow. None of those words really fit the feelings that rushed through me at the moment that I found out that. Of course he didn’t tell me that, it was after our conversation and that was rather annoying. If I had only
Forest-y area
This is where I spent most of my birthday evening. known. It turns out that I will have three host brothers after Christmas when I move there. I KNOW! One of them is actually going to Tartu University so technically, I will only live with two and their ages are maybe six or seven and a sixteen, year, old, guy. I know! Oih. Of course I am going to live with a sixteen year old boy. OF COURSE I AM! How could I escape that in my year right?! This will be an adventure in itself.
When all my partying ended there, one of the Rotarians took Lea and I to this hotel of his where we stayed the rest of the weekend. I saw this castle that is quite famous in all the Baltic area in Kresklin. I enjoyed the old castle and it was truly fascinating to see that a castle that old had survived this long. Between bombings and other catastrophes, it was amazing.
At the hotel, I went on the beach (I know!) and had to wear a jacket. That was yet another first for me, wearing a jacket on the beach. Unheard of in my book. I couldn’t believe what I saw when I looked
Two rotarians.
The one on the left is wearing Lea's hat and the one on the right is my new host dad. at the ground. A jelly fish! Ha! How queer! Then I saw more and more! It surprised Lea too. I had a salt chamber treatment while I was there too and I just literally sat in a room where all the walls were covered in salt and the ceiling too. I just breathed in the salt and it was suppose to be great for your health so I just sat there. I just played with the salt with my feet at first, and then I got bored so I walked around drawing smiley faces in the salt. Then I decided that I was going to cover every inch of the floor with footprints just to make sure that they knew someone was there. It didn’t entertain me like I thought it would so I went back to sitting to try to get a nap although when I did, a woman walked in saying that my time was up and that I had to leave. Oih. At breakfast, there was only one guy in there because we were both kind of late. I sat down with him and tried to make some small conversation with him and I said hi and
This is the lamb
That was baked in the ground! we talked. I found out that he was Estonian that knew English very well and he was impressed that I knew where he was from in Estonian so I got brownie points for America! Yay! He was in Saaremaa for a golf thing and as we parted, I shook his hand and found out that he was thumb less on the left hand. This guy was good! He made conversation with an American, kept up with what we talked about, and was well off enough at gold that he could even be one thumb short than most!
Language. I know that some of you are wondering how it is going. Well, it is hard to say how it is going. There is something that all exchange students say: it just clicks one morning, you just wake up and you know it. I think that that day has already come. Oddly enough, that Friday, my birthday. How sweet is that?! I understood most of Lea’s phone conversations, and I still can keep up with some every now and then. Words are sticking a little better now yet I can’t have that long of a conversation and I now have Estonian classes
to help. One thing is official though. My English sucks. I can’t speak it anymore. I am typing this in word right now because it is so hard to remember what is Estonian and English and how to spell English. It is so annoying! I am really pleased at the fact that I am learning Estonian quicker now, yet English should still be at the tip of my tongue and it isn’t!
I leave for Helsinki tomorrow so I will have more next week. I know I just keep you loyal readers on edge so bide your time by thinking about me in massive amounts of time. HA! Just joking. Tsau!
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Rachel
non-member comment
YAY!!
AAHH I am so glad you are having so much fun and your birthday was so fun!!:):) k Change in plans, I am coming to visit you! You have way more things to do than I do haha:):)