In no particular order my memorable times in Estonia:
- Had a traditional sauna yesterday with Silver, Ester, Anna and Martin (Anna's partner). Before, I felt that people have no business in putting themselves into a room that is 100 degrees celsius or even warmer (and then jumping into a water bath of 10 deg), but after yesterday I think I understand. Because it is awesome. I really enjoyed the extreme hot and cold, and it was so good after an entire day of hitchhiking to sweat all the grime and dust away, and then have deep conversations with Anna and Silver till the sun rose (days are very long - the sun rose around 3:30-4am I think).
- Silver and I stole some wheat from a field, and with primitive methods separated the chuff from the grains. We had wheat porridge the second day, which wasn't very good, but we were so proud of the grain-processing (95% pure stuff) that we didn't mind. And there is so much the forest can offer you, if you know where to look and what to eat - we picked blueberries and wild strawberries, some fern-like plant (I can't remember what it was called - have to ask Silver later) for tea, and there were also wild mushrooms that we added into our soup. Seriously tasty stuff.
- Hitchhiking with Silver - having some crazy people picking us up - our first ride begun with a stocky man telling Silver that he hated picking up hitchhikers, but since he was in a good mood he had to; and the two men who picked us up and I later found out that one of them had actually stabbed his wrist (unintentionally) with a screwdriver and "some yellow stuff popped out" and on the way to the emergency room they picked us up; a really nice couple who were the only ones who spoke in English to me (usually they just speak Estonian to Silver)... I think for the whole week that we were hitchhiking we must have had more than 20 rides, and I've covered so much of Estonia by hitching, to the central to the south and to the west, where I am now. Silver is a really good hitching partner, always super positive, while I am the lesser partner always sleeping in cars and sometimes even snoring =P since I rarely need to talk! But yes, I love hitching with a partner, walking long distances on roads that have virtually no cars, when summer days are long and having the firm belief that people would pick us up, for however long we wait - and also perfecting the act of channeling desperation through one's eyes (it works!)
- Learning Estonian. Silver is a really good teacher, and we had so much time to learn that up till now I already know two Estonian songs (one by heart, and one in principle because I know the tune and have the lyrics written down), how to count from one to 999, how to ask the price of mash potatoes (and a variety of other vegetables), to say happy birthday, and of course the obligatory bad word, the textbook conversation of "How are you?" "I am fine, and you?" and a variety of other useful stuff. I don't think I learnt anything useless this time haha!
- Viljandi Folk Music Festival. Had so much fun dancing and found some music that I think I can drown happily in, it was really good and really worth the trip. Saw the Estonian president who was casually taking a picture with a band (wtf like that also can - it was so casual that it was hilarious) and there were like 5 Asian people out of maybe 20,000 people who were there, I got so excited when I saw them! And Silver and I went for a boating competition which ended up quite disastrously, we even rented a boat and practised the day before the race, but we didn't expect that one had to row blindfolded while the other had to direct! So Silver rowed and I directed and we ended up going towards an entirely wrong direction while all the people on the pier were pointing and laughing haha. I think we had the worst record, we were rowing with Kerttu and Martin, and they finished with less than half of what we took. But it was really good fun!
- Chilling out with Silver and Ester in Tallinn in their apartment, listening to music and eating blueberries with ice-cream and watching a documentary about Estonian history and how the Estonian people fought to get independence, forming a human chain that was so long that it spanned across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and also by demonstration through singing... it was a very touching movie.
- Estonian swings. 'Nuff said.
- Harvesting peas in Silver's country home
I think my experience in Estonia has taught me so much about life, of how one should live - to stay in Silver's country home and now in Anna's place, where they grow their own stuff and build their own houses and process their own waste, I realized that in being a city kid as I am, I am so detached from all the fundamentals, where everything is as easy as a snap of fingers, and you don't think about where your food comes from, how to make a comfortable and practical home, etc. etc... And while camping, it really makes you realize how precious resources like clean drinking water is, and how little you can actually use, instead of a gushing water tap that comes from places that are so far away that you don't care. And showers are such a luxury!
All in all - I learnt so much, I have only got a glimpse of all the knowledge of living that I don't possess, I really want to stay and learn some more but the current of travelling is pulling me away and I have to go soon... and I am so glad that I hosted Silver and made such a great friend and hence such a wonderful experience in Estonia. Speaking of which I should wake them up somehow so we can have breakfast and leave quite soon to catch my ferry.
