Tampere Maja Tartu

... a couple of days, and then we finally get back to Seymour somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd of July. Looooong travels, but definitely worth it. Assuming we are able to find the right bus for Slovenia, I will have spent significant time in 13 countries this semester, and a few hours worth of layovers in 2 others. <br><br>Well, it's dinnertime for me, and bed is definitely going to follow shortly after. Tomorrow is going to be quite busy as well.<br>

... AM. Everyone seems to have caught up on their sleep by now, though, but Estonians sure like to party when they put their minds to it. May Day in Tartu certainly didn't disappoint, as the weather turned up in fine form (mid 60s, no clouds, light breeze) and all the street vendors showed up as well. The downtown/Old Town area was transformed into one giant open-air market selling knitted pieces, fruits, vegetables, honey, bread, cheese, stonework, woodwork, flowers, and all sorts ...

... college kids hanging out. So once my Estonian gets better - and I'm assuming it will - I have people to practice on who probably won't make fun of me, at least to my face :) But here's the most exciting news of late: my travel plans for the end of the semester are finally starting to come together! Here's the current (rough) plan. I'll have my last class on June 1st and write a paper about that course as quickly as possible, completing it by June 6th. On that day, I'll fly to ...

... think one of the most entertaining experiences was "Fiesta Night" at the Gunpowder Cellar, where an Estonian band played Mexican songs and sang them in Estonian. It was fascinating and we actually stayed there for about 6 or 7 hours until the workers started taking the decorations down. Classes actually start today, or at least most of them. In Tartu (and most of Europe, I think) students don't register for classes before going to them; they have a 2 ...

... evening of discussion that covered everything from our families, the Church, the Economic Crisis, Katrin's job as a nurse. She works in surgery and is getting a higher degree in her nursing work. We also covered subjects that ranged from the Mormon Church to the Flat Earth Society. At our table there was no one common language, unless is the lowest denominator would be English. So with the four of us we had three ...

... have been there, though. But our delegation got a look at the premier Christian radio station for Estonia. A young lady was finishing up a live morning broadcast that she does daily. The station also streams its programming on the Internet. Besides FM they have an AM frequency which has wide nighttime coverage, especially in the winter when it can be heard from Western Europe to way east of Moscow. It's this propagation that we want to take ...

... His English is very good and he has translated two booklets for the United Church of God. One was "Who is God" and the other is "Why Does God Allow Suffering?" We talked about life, living with mistakes and private thoughts. My heart really goes out to him. Mistakes have destroyed his life and family. He has nothing, but he finds joy in changing his spirit to what is right. Our visit ends and I go through the getting out of prison process. I see the same "welcoming" guard ...

... corridors. After our dinner in the pub, we sat with the owner of the hostel and chatted, he was a really nice guy and heavily involved in conservation work in the national park. We still froze despite our sleepingbags during the night, thankfully we wer'nt in the car! the next morning we gave the guy a little money to cover our accomadation as we really appreciated the hot shower and use of the kitchen. Life on the road when living cheap always started with a breakfast of ...

... family. Additionally, the museum owns over 3000 beer tankards, representative of traditional beer holders across the country. After the museum, I wandered several of Tartu's beautiful parks, saw it's most famous site, the kissing students fountain, and checked out the old town, which really isn't that old. Like Tallinn, Tartu once had a medieval old town, mostly buildings made of wood within the city walls. However, a great number of these were destroyed in the ...

... carry it about 3/4 of a mile back to the apartment. Johnny was going to do some grocery shopping. We were both discussing the need to buy food that's good for us. I enjoyed calling Bev on Skype as she was getting out of bed back in Indianapolis. A birthday celebration is being held for Sue Peine back home and she's really looking forward to. As much as I love all that's going on here, I'm getting anxious ...