Garbage bags for slip slides

Works like a charm! Practically felt like I was on The Cyclone again. The best was when we made a train of people to get pick on momentum for a sure bang at the bottom of the hill. It was Silver, Nelly, Remo and I taking turns to get shotgun. Garbage bags- you gotta try it. Butt boards aren't so bad either, but that really depends on how big your butt is.

Sleds for Fruit

This made me laugh. I wish I could learn how to use my head as a back pack more.

Смешарики

Where do desires lead to?

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

There is no better way to bring in the New Year than to make an ice sculpture of a tiger. Where's the chocolate fountain?! Stick coins on the tiger for good luck. Don't lick it. I didn't realize that there was going to be a celebration in the Main Square on Sunday so I missed a Chinese man playing the erhu. Hmm...how many Asians are there in all of Estonia, I wonder. I can count how many there are in Tartu using my hands. To be fair, I'm only half a finger. And now that I think of it I didn't catch any erhu shows in the subways while in NYC. Don't tell me they're a dying breed!

For all you Toy peeps in NYC!

My new backpack!

Just arrived in Tartu and was greeted with streets so thick with snow. My suitcase was practically a snow shovel for the roads. Paving the way for the slippery streets to freeze. And now my arms are feeling it. Missing everybody and my favorite backpack! Wish I could have taken it (him) with me, but I probably wouldn't have gotten much studying then. Sniff sniff...guess I'll just have cereal for dinner tonight in the silence of white, elves, and cabbage.

Я Edwardovna.

I learned in Russian class that my new name is Arlene Edwardovna (Aрлин Эдвардoвнa) meaning daughter of Edward (Aрлин, дочь Эдвард). Doesn't sound that cute, but if this doesn't have Ellis Island written all over it then I don't know what does. Just for fun when I googled to see what images would appear for Arlene Edwardovna the truth to our special existence appeared, "Your search - Arlene Edwardovna - did not match any documents". Dad, together we are one of a kind!

And when I googles images of Unique Tuckers this came up:

I think that's pretty spot on.

Italian necessary inventions!

I loved the taste, but the packaging even more. Teeny tiny pick me ups! I thought they were a joke the first time Ana gave me one for desert. Something from Ana's mom and Giovanni. Grazie!

Tartu Mänguasjamuuseum

Please tell me that these are the most amazing paper dolls you've ever seen. Estonian handbangers specialty. I found these in a massive book of other golden nuggets. Talent.





I'm honoured they included Taiwan, but is this really our national doll?



Go to Tartu Mänguasjamuuseum!!

Film Night / Filmiõhtu / Вечер фильмов

There are really no good movie theatres here in Tartu. Nil. Nada. Nooch. I suppose I'll just need to create my own! Well, there's Athena which shows foreign films, but unless they're silent or in English the subtitles are in Estonian and Russian. And Cinamon only gets the cream of Hollywood. And why do I only see Marley & Me in the movie rental houses?

Dang! I need to hurry up with these talkie talks. So while I'm brushing up on all the half languages that I speak I'm starting a film night at my school. Tomorrow will be the first. My friend Matt is providing all the films and helping me put this together. Here's our line up! What do you think?

1. E.T.A., directed by Henrik Bjerregaard Clausen
2. Destino, directed by Dominique Monfery
3. Demon, directed by Irina Yevteyeva
4. Dekalog, Part 2, directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski

Oh I hope people show up. See you there!

A no broke gift

Rest assure that packages will arrive neatly and ironed as they were packed! Andrew surprised me with a lovely letter, two paintings, and an Estonian-English Dictionary the other day. Yow!

He paid so much care to the design of the wrapping that a little bit of tape was forgotten.
Not to worry! My envelope was encased in an airtight plastic bag that the Eesti Post so kindly provided this wounded bear with. These water color paintings are beautiful and they fit perfectly in my room.
Thank you A ; )

My parents are the best.

Here's my first letter! Of course my Dad scanned it just in case pigeons failed to deliver. Gotta love him for double proofing life.
Sigh...
XOXO,
Arlene

Ahoj my Emajogi-Peipsi barge!

Yesterday Lilo wanted to show me the "beach" in Tartu and the organic market so off we went. We of course got lost and walked through a row of tall trees for a while, which magically led us to the beach. Here's the beach in it's glory of sort of sand, sort of brown, and sort of not really a beach at all.
The best part was we were just in time to welcome the Emajogi-Peipsi Barge back to it's home port of Jommu. It's a bulbous tank of a thing that reminds me of Popeye and Noah hanging out with beers, cards, and oriental spices. A one of a kind wooden hollowed out tulip that smells of Michael Landon. Seriously, this is the real deal. The only one of it's kind in today's existence.

In 2004 they recreated this trading vessel that was used in the 14th-16th centuries. Such boats didn't survive through the two World Wars, but now it's back! When you come visit me we can either hop on with the crowd or rent out the whole boat for ourselves! It's true.

You see we can travel in luxury with exotic sheepskin rugs under our heads and rise to the winds of rope hitting your face. Morning sunshine!

A view from my bedside.

Ross, don't you see all the things of you?
David, do you see your special blobby post?
Dad, thanks for taking me to target. I love my new watch!
Oh and Rena thanks for teaching me how to use it or else...
Andi, did you ever think your sticky pad would make it this far?
Jess, don't look to closely, but there's a present on this desk for you.
Eric & Pam, do you see the influence from the towel set you gave me cajillion years ago?

We Happy Sistas! Need I say more?

Lake Peipsi One

Had to get out of town and explore beyond the boundaries of Tartu so Lilo, Miriam, Miklos and I took the bus and headed for Kallaste! In Kallaste we visited Lake Peipsi. Oh water water! Was so happy to finger splash in running, crashing waves of sea shelled infested water. Just across the ways from Lake Peipsi is Russia staring right back at me. Then we walked along the highway for a really time to Alatskivi Loss. It's a castle constructed in 1876-1885 by the son of Baron Arved von Nolcken. He mimicked the Scottish baronial style of architecture. We had to share the castle with a bus full of oldies. Ok enough of that...here are my photos!

My Dinner

Here is the glory in the works- both in the feeding time and in the cooking time. With cabbage for some extra nutrients!

Russian Ramen Noodle Soup!

Here's my new Ramen! I will go through the beef, chicken, and mystery flavors with equal gusto. Same childhood memory flavoring and thin plastic case with even a similar color scheme. And of course, it also includes the same tiny packet of complementary oil. And the same needed length of time to make hard noodles turn soft. One less thing to adjust to. I heart you, Ramen.

Camping out like Animals in the Main Square

This morning I was surprised to find students camping out in the main square. They were cooking up a dozens of chicken breasts, there was a herring spread and firing up the stoves as if the cement were the woods. I asked a student where this idea came from and he said it was inspired from an Estonian writer, Mehis Heinsaar. I don't know so much about him, but from what I understood he wrote a story about his observation of people in the city. So he made a story comparing people to animals in the palce of concrete jungles. Later that night the students had an onion eating contest. Savages!