Starest Tartu

... for 10+ hours. Definitely worth it. I figure I'll write my travel blogs from last weekend during those rides. I don't know what my Internet situation is going to be like over the next 3 weeks, so here's a rough itinerary of my travels, which I'll then maybe do some updates for as I can.<br><br>Saturday, 6 June: fly Riga - Stockholm<br>Sunday, 7 June: fly Stockholm - Malta<br>Thursday, 11 June: fly Malta - Pisa<br>Friday, 12 June: fly Pisa ...

... body president, who then shared the fire with people who did various dancing/twirling things with flaming objects (pretty awesome effect at dusk). After awhile the fireworks started, and then the student president used his torch to light a big pile of wood on a barge in the river. I'm not 100% sure what it all symbolizes for modern times, but I know Volbriöö is an old ritual of lighting fire to keep spirits away, and then May Day is a time to celebrate the sun and light. After ...

Just wanted to give a quick notice on recent happenings here in Tartu. Last night (Sunday night) I was lucky enough to hang out with a few Estonians, including another history major here at the university. We chilled in a dorm for a while and then went for a walk to a district of Tartu that I hadn't seen before, and it was really pretty cool. Eventually we went to see one of their friends who lived in that area. Of course, since my Estonian is not very good at all, they all spoke ...

... the temperature at all. It's been snowing fairly constantly for about 2 days now, slowing to a flurry during most of the day but consistent enough to build up a few inches. I went grocery shopping today to take advantage of the amazing prices of Estonian food...as long as we don't go out to eat every night, we'll be fine. Picking up about 3 hours later, we just bought our tickets for the 19-hour bus trip to and from ...

... him about our Tartu stay and he says that he'll be happy to take me anywhere and help out with the things we do. Unusual (the helping part, at least). He gives me his cell number and name. His name is German. That's pronounced "Herrmon." So we have German the Russian Estonian cab driver. No problem. And, he's friendly and helpful. He gives us both rides back and helps pack all the copying from the copy shop into the ...

... Toomas is the voice of the Estonian commercials, a Sabbatarian pastor in Portland, Oregon does the Russian version and I do the Ukrainian ones. You can hear one of my commercials in Ukrainian by clicking here. The Russian pastor's wife does the contact information part of the ad. They are one minute long, tell a little about some of what people will be learning about subjects such as life after death, the Kingdom of God, and God's Instruction ...

... dismal day to bring cheer to one of our inmates!" sound. She shoves a form for me to fill out which is all in Estonian. I ask her to translate it into Russian for me and she warms a bit, but not much. Johnnie one time filled in his name where they asked for the prisoner. I found that time I thought was to be there for the visit was for the first visitor processing stage. The Vangla prison is the second largest prison in Estonia with 1000 inmates. There is a larger one ...

... place we were imagining, it did serve some very cheap Russian styled soup which made do for dinner. By this stage Cath and I had decided that this leg of the journey would be done on the cheap and were determined to see just how tight we could get. We knew of a hostel here that we thought we would check out (the only one in town). We went in to ask about the cost of staying the night and upon finding out that it would be 170EEK each we decided we would be just fine sleeping in ...

... seeking. It is an apartment building! (and a nice little lady will try to explain all this to you in Estonian) At the actual museum, nowhere in front does it say "Estonian National Museum" in English, so if you get to a place without a sign, you'll know you're there! The museum itself entirely lives up to LP's description, giving a very interesting look at peasant life (as interesting as peasants can be) from the start of peasant-ness to the modern day - though ...

... copies of the articles that Toomas Schvaak translated. We had to make sure that they understand how we wanted them printed and collated and stapled ready for insertion. Coming here and spending this extended time with Johnny has helped me appreciate the effort that people like Toomas Schvaak and Imbi Kuusksalu put into getting translations and mailings out. I need to really express my extra gratitude ...