So, Estonia, its cold here. very cold. I am glad that i brought my lined pants. I have been wearing almost everything that i brought with me when i go outside. Over the weekend, we went to winter days, a celebration of the winter solstice, out in the woods, where we drank and hung out in sauna, there were bands and games and it was great. This is what the school here does to start out the semester. Pretty cool. Also the band that played, told me that fugazi was their favorite group, very cool. the real highlight of the evening for me was that i was assigned a bunk with a choir, they sang songs in Estonian as I fell asleep. It may have been the most relaxing thing I have ever experienced. It was a beautiful mix of feminine voices, good food, and the right amount of liquor. I felt like i was being dipped in chocolate
Here is a list of things that Estonians are doing better than we are.
The bathroom floors are heated. I cannot begin to tell you how great this is. the floor is warm all the time, also by the way, so are the towel racks, so when you get out of the shower you have a warm, dry towel.
Beer. first it comes in huge half liter bottles, second, it is cheap, and third, even crappy beer is better than Budweiser in the US.
Water. so you cannot drink the tap water in some places, that sucks. But the bottled water is usually carbonated (which makes it taste surprisingly like a light beer) and sometimes flavored. This makes the transition from sleep to hangover to recovery much more rapid and smooth.
Trains, and buses, everywhere. I can ride transport everywhere.
Meat and bread. That is how it has been described to me, but there is way more to it than that. its a loaf of bread with all kinds of stuff baked into it. you buy these at groceries, for like 75 cents.
Its not all peaches and cream though. The language is nuts. I don't understand very much, my favorite word is still Piim. (milk) its pronounce peam or peem, just say it with a long iiii sound its great. Not speaking the language makes me a lot quieter, i could talk but why bother? Now no one cares what i say ( not that they do in the US) and they may or may not understand me.
Right now I am living with another sculptor named Edith. Edith was supposed to come to the United States, but she couldn't get her visa together. what a drag. hopefully she will arrive this fall and i can return the hospitality she has shown me.
soap commercials are the same everywhere. I think that even though i don't speak Estonian, i can imagine what the commercial for "pure cashmere" body wash is about.
In closing, I am watching Kassid, a show that I believe to be an Estonian sitcom, the basic plot is that there is a man named artur, who lives with a image obsessed lady permanently in a mud mask, her goth daughter and a 40 something year old man who is dressed like a cross between pippi longstocking, Raggedy anne and Heidi flies. The main plot seems to be the tranny causes Artur trouble while the goth and mud mask cause trouble for each other.
the Pippi manstockings just cut up arturs jacket and then smashed his car remote keys, while artur stood by and cried Eii ! eii ! (noo! noo!) I say put some pants on there artur and feed that weirdo a shiner maker. remember dude, pimpin ain't easy, and tranny pimpin is downright difficult.
PS, not that he reads it, but a big shoutout to my cousin Ian, over at Try everything once. He has provided me with weekly entertainment, both through his comic and his scouring youtube for things like like Holy Diver and Adventure Time.
to that i say Pi
