God Jul! Merry Christmas! Häid Jõule!

Today is Christmas Eve, the day that swedes celebrate Christmas. And estonians too, I believe! Eating their verivorst (blood sausage) with sauerkraut, performing a dance or reading a poem when receiving a gift from santa. Such funny traditions we don't have in Sweden!

So what does a Swede do in Tallinn without family or friends or any of the traditional christmas foods or tv programs?
Well this one started the day with a lovely vanilla/lavender bath. Then I had breakfast, toasted bread with butter and Nutella (sshhh don't tell anyone! :D) and browsed some forums.

About half an hour before one of the most important TV events of the year in Sweden, Kalle Ankas Jul I decided to go for a walk. I wanted to go to Toompea, a beautiful place part of Old town, where you find old buildings, churches and Alexander Nevskij cathedral, The place is great for a view over Tallinn. When I got up, I noticed people moving in to an old church, Tallinna Piiskoplik Toomkirik, This church was built in the early 13th century.
It turned out I was just in time for a Christmas concert! It was a beautiful concert with a very good choir and a sopran giving me goosebumps all over. The songs were all in Estonian, of course, and I loved it! :)
As I was sitting there, I looked at the interior, it was all very different from the churches I've seen in Sweden. And I also thought that they really need to renovate this church. On the way out after the concert, there was a wooden box where you could donate money for the renovating of the church. Awesome, just the perfect christmas gift for them and also as a "thank you" for the beautiful concert.

There was going to be a service after the concert, but I decided to leave. Maybe some other time, when I understand more of the language, I'll attend a service too. Now I wanted to go home, but through Oldtown with the Raekoja plats (town square) too. There were actually quite many people out, I didn't expect that! Pople of all ages. But it was nice of course.

I found some favourites among Estonian christmas songs and I kept thinking during the concert, how lucky I am to be here. It was my dream and now I am here. I honestly thought that I would miss the swedish christmas terribly. Maybe I will miss it next year or in five years, if I'm still not back in Sweden! But this year, I'm still enjoying Estonia.

Have a wonderful Christmas time!

The missing fish

Finally, after a month of looking, I found frozen salmon fillet! Words cannot describe the happiness I feel right now. I love salmon dishes and I never thought I'd have to miss it or look for it. I was close to giving up, thinking that frozen salmon does not exist in Estonia.
I'm so happy I was wrong!
Now I can cook yummy food again :D

My funny bathroom

So here's a video of my bathroom. Enjoy ;)

Kadri day and beautiful people

They often say that Estonian people are very beautiful. I agree, they are! They've got a certain "Estonian look" and I would say in general, these are attractive people. 

Anyway, speaking of appearance.... I'm surprised that the Estonians are not fat! There are so many delicious looking cakes and pastries in the stores! And I keep thinking, they shouldn't be there unless people actually buy them. So I'm wondering... how do they do it? Eat just a tiny bit? Pretend to eat? :)

So... tonight was funny. There is a phone next to my door, that rings when someone outside the building presses the number of my apartment. When I picked up to let them in, I heard kids voices saying kadriiii... and I was like oh... they don't know..!

Kadri is the name of the woman I'm renting the apartment from, and I thought they don't know that she doesn't live here now.

I open the door and there are two girls, of which one looks a bit like a "påskkärring" as we say in Sweden. And they say tere! (hi) and something about Kadri. I'm just saying that I am renting this place from her and asks if they speak English. One of them does. A tiny bit. 

I spoke to Kadri after this visit, and was informed that today is Kadri day (St Catherine's Day) in Estonia. Kids dress up like old ladies or kadrimonsters and ask for candy. They are dancing or singing and throwing some "happiness" or good luck inside peoples homes. 

This is a really cool tradition! But I googled it and according to Wikipedia, it's also got a strong (?) feminine aspect to it. This is nothing I knew about. Perhaps not surprising since I don't really read newspapers yet. And nobody at work mentioned it :D

And.. there is actually a monastery here in Tallinn named St Catherine's Monastery. It's located in Old town. I really should have posted a picture of it, but unfortunately I don't have any yet.

Instead, I've got a picture of a beautiful church not far from here, that I saw the other night when I was out walking. As I was heading to a bus stop, I didn't have time to go and find its name, so I can't tell you which one it is. But it's beautiful, right? :) 

Tallinn has so many churches! 

Now off to relax and go to bed! Good night Estonia ♥

The challenges of navigation

So when you are getting to know a new city, you kinda have to learn to make your way around not only once, but several times.
You need to learn to navigate in clear weather. At daytime. Then you have to learn it during night time (or just in the afternoon if it's up north). And then you have to do it all over again if it happens to be as foggy as in the Silent Hill games.
Ok, but that's it, right? Umm, no. Don't forget there are different seasons during the year. A place can look completely different in winter time compared to summer time.

So I have been doing a lot of walking since I moved here a little more than a week ago :D
But I enjoy it! It's a great way to get to know the city and to discover places and details.

They say tomorrow it will be snowing... We'll see what adventures I'm in for then..

Ciao! :D

What you find in Estonian cofee machines

Today and had my first day at work, starting with introduction and training. I was nervous and excited and luckily, everyone I met was nice and friendly :)

In the department kitchen, I encountered some fascinating Estonian phenomenon... Chicken soup (kanasupp) in the coffe machine!

There was so much information going on all day, trying to make its way into my head, and I felt as if I would need a bigger hard drive!

But I've had a fun day and I'm glad to be here. Spent a few hours in town tonight and now I'm exhausted and I think I will go to bed already!
Good night Tallinn! Head ööd! <3

It's real

About 2.5 hours ago, I said goodbye to my parents down at the Tallink Silja terminal. I am on my own now! It is exciting and super scary! :D

I must say that I am so happy to have such wonderful parents who believe in me and supports me in this adventure that only a year ago, I had no idea that I was heading for. <3

After the goodbye, I went through some shopping malls and I got some bath stuff from LUSH since I now have a BATH TUB for the first time in ten years!!! Yay!

Now I am on my way home and I thought, what better way to celebrate the move to Tallinn and my new place than... Cake!
And I am actually not eating it at my place, but in the cafe at the hotel where I stayed four months ago, Radisson Hotel Blu Olümpia :)

Oh and... Loving this! I can sit and listen to people speaking Russian and Estonian! <3

And yes, that is a chocolate brownie cake and a latte. And that other thingy is my house! <3