War and Lunch

Imagine the following scenario...

You are an employee at an engineering company. Each department in the company wears different colored uniforms. Administration wears yellow. Engineering wears red. Accounting wears blue, etc. One day, you open the refrigerator in the company kitchen to find that someone has taken your lunch, which was clearly marked with your name. You're upset, as you were very much looking forward to eating that lovely lunch, and you would like to demand compensation from whomever took it. So you ask around to see if anyone saw something. A co-worker that you trust tells you they saw the thief take your lunch. However, your trusted co-worker didn't see the thief's face, only that they were definitely wearing blue, so they must be from accounting. Furious, you storm over to accounting and demand that each person there pays you $10 for your lunch.

Wait...what? Every person from accounting has to pay you? You don't bother finding out which person actually did it? No. No, you do not. Every person in accounting must be punished for that transgression by someone in their department. They are clearly all total d-bags.

Now, I want you to ask yourself a few questions: 1) Will the people in accounting like you more or less after you make all of them pay $10? 2) Will your response make it more or less likely that your lunch will be stolen in the future? Why or why not? 3) Do you think the people in accounting will be angrier with the lunch thief or with you?

You see, it wasn't nice or fair to punish the entire accounting department for the actions of a single asshat. Now, the entire accounting department hates you, and takes turns stealing your lunch and throwing it in the garbage out of spite. But they're sneaky about it. They change their shirt or do it when no one is watching so the crime can't be traced back to them. And you've begun watching their every move, even planting fake lunches and hiding behind the door, trying to catch them in the act. It is all out department warfare. When will the lunchtime horrors end so you can eat in peace?!

At times it is difficult to trace the origins of war but in this case, it's quite simple. No, it wasn't the stolen lunch. After all, you never found out the motive behind it. Perhaps it was a mistake, or maybe that poor accountant hadn't eaten in three days. No, my friend, it was your overblown revenge that sparked this nightmarish world you live in. Even though it would have required a bit more communication and time, it would have been better to figure out who that singular asshat was and punch him in the throat directly. Or, you know, ask him why he took the lunch, and then figure out a rational response. Then, you could have maintained your friendly relations with the rest of the accounting department who are all perfectly nice people (remember Janice who made you brownies for your birthday?). Unfortunately, you did not. YOU BECAME AN ASSHAT YOURSELF by demanding $10 from all accounting personnel. Congratulations.

You might be asking yourself, "Emily, why are you making me think about a situation that sounds like it's out of an HR training manual?" Well, dear reader, this is my attempt to get you to connect to the much larger problem of discrimination. Hopefully, you've already made the connections in your mind as to how our scenario reflects discrimination in the real world (replace "company" with "world", and "departments" with "religion/race/people who are different from you", and ... screw this, figure it out yourself). We can especially see this played out in the very real problem of Islamaphobia that is sweeping across the nation, fueled by some very hateful rhetoric from a certain political party. In response to the rise of ISIS, Donald Trump (and many other people) has called for a ban on all Muslims entering the US. This ban would not do anything to curb terrorist attacks. It is a knee-jerk reaction that is fueled by fear and hate. There is no logic in this reaction. There is no fairness in this reaction. There is no good that could ever possibly come out of this reaction.

Now, before you say "That's total bullshit, Emily. A ban on Muslims is for our own safety," let's compare this with our lunchtime scenario. Let's say 1 out of 10 accountants steals your lunch, so 10%. However, last week someone in engineering stole your friend's lunch. So not all accountants are lunch thieves, and not all lunch thefts are committed by accountants. In fact, less than 2% of all lunch thefts were carried out by accountants during the past five years. Every department has at least one d-bag that steals lunches. So I think it's safe to say, punishing all accountants for the actions of one nimrod is a gross overreaction and completely unwarranted. Furthermore, it's not going to prevent future lunch thefts from happening. In fact, as we can see from the example, it may actually increase lunch thefts, and turn everyone into a grumpy asshole. Do you see where I'm going with this? Because I could go on and on... If you can see that making everyone in accounting pay you $10 is wrong, then why can't you see that a total ban on Muslims is wrong?! It's the same thing!!

This is not the first time 'Murica has tried to do something stupid, nor will it be the last. In fact, the whole reason I'm writing this is because someone on FB posted that sending Japanese-Americans to internment camps during WWII was the right thing to do, and that's what we need to do now. When I read that, my head figuratively exploded. Mind=blown. This was a human that I knew, that I trusted, that I thought was good and kind. How could this be? I began furiously typing a response, even posted it, but then promptly deleted it because I felt that there was nothing I could say to get past the wall that he had built around his mind. Sure I could have listed a million facts about the interment camps and their effects, but it suddenly became clear to me that it wouldn't matter. Facts would not matter... Appealing to his personal life and connections would not matter. He is an adult with a brain, and a wealth of experience in this world. If he could not come to the conclusion on his own that discrimination is wrong, what difference would I make?

Instead, this is my response. This is my catharsis because I cannot bring myself to have another meaningless cyber argument where nothing is gained. Both sides say it is like talking to a wall. Both sides are steadfast in their convictions, convinced that the other is crazy or ignorant or both. If the answer is so clear in my lunchtime situation, why is not clear in every discriminatory situation? Am I missing something? Is there some vague grey area that I can't see? Perhaps it is because the lunchtime situation is personal and affects our daily lives. We get to know our co-workers on a daily basis. At the end of the day, you work for the same company, with the same goal, and nobody wants to get fired. It is in your best interests to operate with the best interests of the company in mind, and that means maintaining friendly working relations. Well, we just need to expand that! Get to know your neighbor. Get to know the people who are different from you. Make a Muslim friend! Because at the end of the day, we are part of the same world, with the same goals, and everybody just wants to live their life. We have far more in common than you can imagine. And at the very least, please, just don't be an asshat.

The Sexual Violence in the Upstairs Apartment

I live in an old apartment building with many quirks and charms. One of the less fortunate aspects is that you can hear everything from the apartment above you; walking, vacuuming, TV voices, blowing their nose, EVERYTHING. The new couple that moved in recently has been a bit rowdy. In addition to the normal everyday noises we hear, they also have bumpin’ parties any day of the week (usually 3 or more nights of the week and not always on weekends). I’m pretty sure that during the parties they have one of those dance video games or really hilarious break dancing competitions…hard to tell which. These social gatherings are extremely annoying, particularly if I have to wake up in the morning for work. That being said, I don’t like to be a nosy neighbor, and as long as it’s on a weekend, I’m not going to try to stop them. I figure it’s all part of living in an old apartment building, no big deal.

 But last night, shit got real. When I say we can hear everything, I do mean everything, including activities in the bedroom, which they probably would not want other people to hear. I was laying bed, trying to sleep, when I could hear them begin to argue. It didn’t seem like anything unusual but then I started to hear the woman cry. The boyfriend started telling her to “shut up” and “open your mouth”. This was followed by more crying and sounds of gagging/choking/vomiting(?). Not cool. It continued on like that for quite a while and at one point it sounded like she was trying to stop, saying she needed to use the bathroom, but he wouldn’t let her. More things were said that I would rather not repeat. I didn’t want to get involved. I was scared, shaking with anger. I felt so completely unsure and helpless, and tried to make excuses for the situation happening above me. Maybe they do this sort of thing a lot and she’s ok with it? Maybe my imagination is getting the better of me and it’s not as bad as it sounds? Maybe she’s not really crying and he didn’t really say those things? What could I do? Knock on their door and risk my own personal safety? Bang on the ceiling to let them know I could hear?

I called 911. I couldn’t lie there in bed, pretending that everything was ok and perfectly normal. It was not normal. It was not ok. Those were not sounds of pleasure. The police arrived maybe 5 or 10 minutes later. The noises stopped, nobody was arrested, the woman did not leave or ask for help. The police drove away a minute later. Later in the hour, they resumed their activities in a quieter, more normal sounding manner (from what I could tell). No one was rescued. No one was punished. Life went on. But what else could I expect to happen? I don’t know these people, I don’t know their situation. I don’t know the woman. Does she want to be rescued? Does she know how to save herself? Will things get worse for her because I intervened? I don’t know.

The only thing I know is that if it were me, I would hope that someone would call the police. And I know that if I had done nothing, I would live with that guilt forever. What if that were the chance she had needed to get away but I did not give it her? I am constantly posting on Facebook about women’s rights and the culture of violence and harassment against women. If I had not called 911, I would be part of that problem. Silence and apathy do not equal neutrality. They perpetuate and give power to the violence in a way that is nearly equal to the crime itself. I did not want to be a part of that crime. I may not have made much of a difference with my call to 911 but at least I did SOMETHING. And the girl upstairs may not leave her boyfriend but at least she can know that someone is looking out for her, and maybe eventually, that will make all the difference.

I'm a terrible student

So, I'm sitting in my Multimedia Literacy class and he told us we have 15 minutes to explore how Google uses blogs and what you can do with it, blah, blah, blah. What a convenient time to update my Google blog! So here's the dealio, I'm a mere 6 weeks away from receiving my masters degree in TESOL. Wahooo!!! And in just three months we'll be moving back across the country, leaving our stuff at Ma and Pa's, then heading to Bolivia for a couple of months. After that, we'll be moving to Dayton, OH (or at least Camilo will be). Hopefully I'll get an ESL job there and if not, I'll be searching in other cities too. My real priority at this point is finding a full time job in my field and paying back my 60k in student loans (Holy Mary Mother of God, I'm dead).

Other than that, I love my job here still, my GPA is an awesome-o 3.95/4.0 (yes, I'm a smarty pants), and I love my man. Oh! And I finally made a friend in this random little town! She's only here temporarily also. Anywho, nothing else to update really. Life for the past year has been busy, steady, and quiet. The next several months will not be.

Happy 2012!!!

I have a job and stuff!

Well, happy news, I am employed. A lot has changed since my last posting. Where to begin?

First of all, my life was stagnant until December. I'm still in Paonia, and Paonia is, well...Paonia. After long months of being bored to tears, I decided it was time to do something with my life and go to grad school. So, I found the University of Southern California's Master of Arts in Teaching, specializing in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), and applied. The program is also offered completely online so I get to stay in this delightful little town (dripping with sarcasm there). So yeah, I am now a full time grad student, overwhelmed with homework. Woo! This first semester is nearly over and then I'll be a quarter of the way through the program. If all goes as planned, I'll have my masters at the beginning of next March, one year from now.

Also (as previously mentioned), I have a job! While finding a place to do ESL observations for school, I was offered a job to actually teach an ESL class through Delta County Libraries. I now teach a small class of Mexican immigrants, two nights per week at the library in Cedaredge. So my life is pretty much back on track to where I was originally headed. Yay! I am now so busy that I don't even really have time to write this blog, I'm just procrastinating on writing a paper that's due today :)

In not so great news, my trip to Bolivia for Christmas was basically disastrous. First, our plane was delayed in Gunnison because of snow flurries. FLURRIES! The pilot was clearly inexperienced and didn't have the balls to take off in less than perfect weather. Because of this, we had to take a different flight in an attempt to make it to Miami in time for the flight to La Paz. We were in Gunnison for 8 hours so as you might imagine, we didn't make that flight. When we did take off out of Gunnison, the visibility was EXACTLY the same as it had been earlier, and our new pilot had no problem whatsoever. So, because of all that, we were stuck in Miami for 4 DAYS waiting for the next available flight to La Paz. Total waste of our time. Miami smells like a sewer and being December, there was no way I was going swimming in the ocean (December has the highest rate of shark attacks). When we finally got to La Paz, all was well in the world for about a week while we celebrated the holidays, visited family, and went to a resort near Coroico. Then, on New Year's Day, the WHOLE family came down with salmonella poisoning. That's right, not just me the weak-stomached-American, the whole family. Aaaaaand on top of that, I got a kidney infection and kidney stones...all at once! Imagine having salmonella poisoning, a kidney infection, and passing kidney stones all at the same time, at 12,000ft above sea level. And btw, the kidney stuff was unrelated to the food poisoning. I just have the worst luck in the world, that's all. By the time I was feeling alive again, it was time for our flight back. Interestingly enough, the altitude didn't bother me other than magnifying a hangover, and no other foods made me feel sick like I expected, just the food tainted with salmonella that affected the whole resort.

To summarize, my trip to Bolivia was NOT enjoyable and seriously made me question my future life there. It's sad. I know it was mostly bad luck but still, it was the worst trip of my entire life. Not exactly a great first impression to be left with. And because we were so busy visiting friends and family during the week that we felt good, I didn't even get to do fun touristy things and site-seeing. AND it put my relationship on the rocks for about a month. Turns out not wanting to live in the same place someday presents a serious problem.

Whatever, my life is in turmoil but also getting back on track. I'm beginning to regain confidence in my decision to live in Bolivia someday, depending on how the next trip goes. The boyfriend refuses to live in the US forever. However, it also sort of hit that Bolivia only has two CT scan machines in the whole country, and when I came back to the States, that's one of the first things they put me through at the nearest hospital to check if I had kidney stones. I'm beginning to think of things like health care for my future children, and their education as well. Even if La Paz is a totally modern city, it's still a third-world country that's thousands of miles away from my own family. How do I deal with that? And at what point am I making too many compromises?

I hate being a grown-up and making grown-up decisions. Life would be easier if he were French (but still the same person). I miss France.

I'm bored...story of my new life

I have nothing better to do so I guess I'll update this thing. I hate writing blogs.

Anyway, no job as of yet. And the only openings are at the coal mines for things like "Underground coal miner" and scary things like that which I am NOT about to do (even though they get paid something like $24/hr). When there are regular job openings, everyone within a 60 mile radius applies and there's always someone who has a better connection than you. I graduated with a 3.5 GPA with my B.A. dammit!!!! How can you not hire me for a position that only requires a GED?!?!? Not to mention I'm totally charming and lovable...right?

Whatev, I'm in the process of getting my Colorado certification to be a substitute teacher. That may take 10 more weeks to process, and then I can apply to the county. This takes forever! But it's not like I have anything else going for me so I might as well do it. Plus, I think subbing could be at least mildly enjoyable with decent pay, and taking vacation days won't be an issue.

Besides the job search my life is a complete waste of time at the moment. I've been exercising and cleaning like a madwoman, 5 days a week. That's all I have in this town. My highlights of the day include checking our mailbox (which is usually empty, but sometimes not!), and having lunch with Camilo for a measly 30 minutes. Weekends are not much better but at least then I have some company.

I am SO incredibly excited for my brother's wedding in 2 weeks. I'll get to see the WHOLE family in Michigan (a rare treat). Then my parents should be coming here with the rest of my stuff. I miss my couch!! After that I don't think I'll have anything to look forward to until December when we should be going to Bolivia for Christmas. Yay! I'm super excited for that but it will be a little sad to miss my family's Christmas for the first time ever. Ah well...

Ok, I'm done :)

Some good things

Here's a little update for you. As far as internet goes, this town sucks. Some people came out to install it today only to let me know that it wouldn't be possible because there are too many tall trees around our apartment to receive the satellite signal. Damn it!! So now we have to go with this other company to get DSL but they also force you to get a land line phone as well for additional $30/mo. F-you internet companies!!!

Other than that it was a lovely week. We went rafting down the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs, sat in actual hot springs along the river, and saw a family of 3 mountain lions on the way home. Absolutely amazing!! Camilo's company (SEI) and his co-workers are all turning out to be fantastic so that's good. The weather is slightly less hot this week, and this weekend we will consider purchasing a real bed. Hooray!!! No more air mattress!!!

And now I'm being kicked out of the library because it's closing. I hate internet companies!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have arrived.

Alright, quick update. I have to use the internet at the library because we've yet to figure out where to go to actually get internet at our apartment. My cell phone barely works here so don't bother calling. I'm pretty much dead to the world right now.

Anyway, Paonia is chock full of real hippies, poser rastafarians, mexican immigrants, and organic "farmers" (although I suppose they could be counted in with the hippies). It's super hot and sunny here everyday. Occasionally it will sprinkle for 5 minutes and then be hot and sunny again. The town is small and strange. Yesterday they had the World Cup Final playing at the local movie theater for free so we were able to watch that with a strange mix of people and their children. This town is also full of very small children.

I'm not sure what to think of this place yet. The locals seem eager to meet us and very friendly. People keep telling us that we'll love it here and that's it's an amazing place to live. I think they have a different perspective and a different way of life than us though... Well, at least this place is cheerful. I just need to find some new hobbies.

Change in Plans!!

Yes, Camilo got an official job offer today with Solar Energy International in Paonia, Colorado. We are officially moving to the Wild West in about 3 weeks which doesn't leave much time for finding a place to live, figuring out how to get our stuff there, etc. Holy wow! I love spontaneous major life changes.

What am I going to be doing in that podunk little town you may be wondering? Well, I'm not exactly sure but hopefully it will involve making money in an at least somewhat pleasant manner. The big question of the day is, can my little Pontiac Vibe pull a smallish (but still 850 lb when empty) UHaul trailer through the Rocky Mountains? I don't know. And I'm not sure I want to try and find out. So I have no idea how we're going to get our stuff there beyond what can be crammed into my vehicle. We may live with nothing but my clothes & shoes, kitchen stuff, and maybe a few things for Camilo :) Okay, okay...maybe I could limit the number of shoes I take with me to fit his stuff in. But other than that I'm afraid we won't have room. So no furniture I guess. We'll have to buy a bed anyway but perhaps my gracious parents will bring stuff out in their ginormous white van eventually? I don't know. I guess we'll live like hippies for a few months without any possessions. We'll totally fit in there! Awesome-o.

I don't feel like titles.

Today it got up to 92 degrees here. Crazy warm! This has been the most unusual spring/summer. It feels normal! I didn't even get a snow storm in April, and May has been totally gorgeous. I had to break out my hot weather clothing that's been wasting away in the bottom of my drawer for two years. It's not nearly as fun though without anyone here to enjoy it with me. Damn it boyfriend! Why do you have to be in Colorado when we actually have summer weather?

Well, the good/interesting news of Camilo being out there is that he has a potential job offer from the Solar Energy International place in Paonia, CO. Which is amazing! They told him to apply because they love him so much. At first when he told me I was totally disappointed about not moving to Dayton. I mean, yes, I kind of hate Ohio but I'd really pumped myself up about all the positive aspects of moving there like proximity to family (relative to here anyway), less snow, more job opportunities, potential for grad school, nearby dance companies and studios...all kinds of stuff. So when I heard that we may have to move to a town that's smaller and more isolated sounding than Houghton, well...I wasn't exactly overcome with joy. I'm getting used to the idea though. It would be really great for Camilo, and I will figure out something to do. It would probably only be for a year anyway, and it looks like a very beautiful, adventurous kind of place. I'll feel like I'm in the Wild West!

Life with my Bolivian is unpredictable to say the least, and I kind of love that, even though it often drives me insane :)

Blue Peeps?!?!

The weather has been so gorgeous here. Puts me in a good mood and makes all the job searching seem really unimportant for the time being. Yesterday as I was out on the patio, enjoying the sunshine, something shiny caught my (as shiny objects often do). It was a blue peep, sugar glistening in the sun (yes, those disgusting little marshmallow chicks you get for Easter). My first thought was "Wow, I didn't know they made blue peeps." My second thought was "Why in hell is there a blue peep on my patio?" Upon further inspection of the surrounding area, I found an additional 8 peeps lounging around on my patio, in the yard, and next to the back door. Where did they come from? I have no idea. I'm inclined to think that our neighbors found it easier to throw their uneaten peeps into our backyard rather than the trash. I have a suspicion that they called the cops on one of our previous parties so why not throw their trash in our yard too?

In other news, one of my best friends, Kaye, is leaving to study abroad in Jordan for the summer. I know she reads this so Kaye, darling, I love you and I wish you the absolute most amazing time while you're there. I miss you so much already!

Meanwhile Camilo has also abandoned me for two weeks for a photovoltaics workshop in Colorado and I'm stuck here in Houghton alone, bored out of my mind, with no one to play with. Thankfully I still have work to keep me somewhat occupied, and the Canterbury House (which I'll actually be getting paid for now!). Today I met with three of my students: Neila from Italy, Sahar from Iran, and Lina from Colombia. They're all really sweet girls and speak English pretty well already so it's more fun than work to help them out with conversation skills. Tomorrow I'll be meeting with a new student, Dimh(?), from Ukraine and I'm a bit worried about that. His English is probably intermediate which is fine but I think he actually has some mental issues. I'm not sure what's wrong with him exactly but he picked me as his coach because I'm a "pretty girl." Yes, a little creepy. I've never dealt with anyone like this before so we'll see how it goes.

The Joys of Job Searching

Alright, I've decided to start blogging again. I'm not doing anything particularly exciting at this point in my life but, I don't know, it's something to do. And what better place to voice my complaints about the world than to random people on the internet?

Anyway, at this point in my life I'm a college graduate with a BA in Communication and Culture Studies. What does that get me? Apparently a minimum wage job at the front desk of the Ramada. Not quite what I had envisioned for my future. However, living in Michigan (and Houghton, MI at that) I suppose I'm lucky to even have a job. Hopefully mine and my boyfriend's move to Dayton, Ohio this summer will bring me some new opportunities. What I would really love is to find a job at a university or somewhere, working with international and/or study abroad students. I found some jobs about a month ago that would have been great but a couple of weeks later when I went to apply for them, they were already gone. Needless to say I was sorely disappointed.

Since then I've been sifting through the endless search results of what comes up when I type in "international programs." It's kind of ridiculous how many companies unnecessarily add the word international to their name. Out of those results, it's extremely rare that I actually find what I'm looking for. Yesterday I finally found the type of job I want, only to discover that it was at an evangelical community college (who knew those even existed?), and all of their staff had to be "born again Christians." Furthermore, in addition to the regular application and resume, you also had to submit a letter of reference from a pastor, and a copy of the doctrine of the church you currently attend. I briefly thought about applying anyway and trying to explain that I really was a good person, despite my absence of faith, but then I realized that I don't really want to work in a place where I would most likely be forced to attend church, and where my colleagues would alternate between trying to "save" me and telling me that I'm going straight to hell. No thanks.

Today I happened across a position called Administrative Assistant/Receptionist. I could totally do that! In fact, I think I'm overly qualified to do such work. As I read through the requirements I found "Must have strong work ethic, sense of urgency and a high energy level." This I read as I sat at work, head resting sideways on top of my desk, looking like I was either mostly dead or really hung over (but I was mostly just really tired and starving). Kind of made me smile anyway.

Last Day!!

July 21 2009

We’ve finally arrived to our last full day in Estonia. Looking back on it, time has passed relatively quickly. The first week here was a little slow and tiring but once we got used to everything, time went by a little faster. Estonia has been nice but at the same time, I am definitely ready and excited to go home. I think this is the first trip of my entire life that I’ve gotten a little homesick on…and I’ve only been gone for 3 weeks! But mostly, I think it’s probably me going through Camilo withdrawals. I have tried my very best to enjoy the time I’ve had here though. I’ve been relatively social and up for trying lots of new things, I’ve had conversations with locals, learned tons through the lectures, picked up a little of the language, and I’m pretty satisfied with the trip overall. I actually feel like I know more about Estonia than I do about Michigan at this point. I’m sure I’ll miss it when I finally get settled back into life at home. I always miss Europe in general when I’m at home.

But here are some things I’ll miss in particular about Estonia: pirukas, pelmeenid, canoeing in Sooma, the giant spongy bog with it’s Coke-colored ponds, Baltic Sea beaches, freestyle Estonian rap, real Russian food, the smell of Juniper wood, Russian street singers, barley cake, that crazy water slide at the Terevis Spa, thatched roof cottages, people with noses like me, cloud berries, the giant dance festival, the giant song festival, daylight until midnight

Here are also some things that I will not miss: daylight at 3am, ginormous seagulls on the roof top across the street waking me up with their cawing in the middle of the night, Finnish tourists, meat market clubs, soviet style architecture, boiled potatoes, dill in everything, showers that make the entire bathroom floor soaking wet, the city of Tallinn, 4 hour lectures

So yeah, I guess I’ll be happy to be heading back home but there are things that are uniquely Estonian that I will definitely miss. Every country has it’s own special flavor even if it is as small as this one.

Today we had a simple excursion to the open air museum. It was basically a set up of what a rural town would have been like in the 1400-1800’s. It would have been really nice except for the schizophrenic weather. First it was pouring rain, then it would be sunny and warm for 5 minutes, then it would thunder, then it would be cold and downpour for another 5 minutes, and repeat the whole cycle over and over again. Now, it’s just overcast and depressing looking outside but at least it’s stable. I’m so glad we had such nice weather while we were in our beach town.  The weather in Pärnu couldn’t have been better. Really I liked every place we went a lot except for Tallin. My favorites were Pärnu and Tartu; good manageable sizes, a little safer feeling, less expensive, and better food and weather.

Tomorrow we’re catching the taxi to the airport at 6am and I’ll arrive in Detroit around 6:30pm (EST). So I’ll be traveling for around 14 hours….ewww. Wish me luck and hope that I arrive home alive! See you all State side. 

Untitled.

July 20 2009

Monday we had our very last lecture of the program. Thankfully, it was one of the best. The professor was a funny little man who was an economist. He talked about whether or not Estonia is doing well or not economically. When it comes down to it, how a country is doing can really only be measured in comparison with how well other countries are doing, especially your neighbors. So Estonia is doing quite well in many things and they are pretty much better in everything compared with their southern neighbors of Latvia and Lithuania. It is pretty impressive how quickly Estonia took off after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, it seems that now, through this global recession, they’re sort of coming down from their high of having grown so much in so little time and they are now finally realizing some of the mistakes they have made, and how to manage themselves a little better in the future in order to be prepared for another recession.

For dinner, we finally got to go to a Russian restaurant which I’ve been wanting to do this whole time, although apparently a lot of the food we’ve had on this trip is Russian, like the Seljanka soup and pelmeenid (little meat filled dumplings…mmm). Anyway, I ordered a sort of pot roast with bread cooked over the top and it was probably the most deliciously fattening thing I’ve ever eaten. I’ve never had gravy so thick, so greasy, and so salty. I could feel all of my arteries instantaneously clogging but it was one of the better things I’ve eaten here.

But yeah, that’s pretty much my day. Things are really winding down here as we come to the end of our trip. I don’t feel like doing much of anything at this point except sleeping and eating. I know, I’m worthless J

Back to Tallinn

July 19 2009

Today we moved from Pärnu back to Tallinn. Goodbye sunshiney beaches!!! :(  I can’t believe we’ve only got 3 nights left in this country. The hotel we’re staying at now is not nearly as nice as I was hoping. Their website was totally misleading. Unfortunately we don’t even have internet so when I post this, it will be thanks to the wi-fi at a nearby McD’s. The rooms have no kitchenettes so for lunch we ate all of the food that would have needed to be refrigerated (leftover stuff from Pärnu). After that, we went into town to find internet and something to do. Since it’s Sunday, most things were closed except for a bookstore. I managed to find some books to keep me busy and help me not think about how much I miss the internet. Thankfully I’m rather fond of reading so I bought One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (that one’s in honor of you darling), and I also managed to find a copy of The Little Prince in Spanish!!! (El Principito…that one is also in honor of mi amor). So those books plus my French book, should keep me busy until it’s time to leave.

At this point in the trip I think everyone is VERY ready to go home and be as far away from each other as possible. It isn’t that we don’t like each other, it’s just that spending every single day together for hours on end during 3 weeks, well, it’s enough to drive any sweet person to snide side comments. Dinner together tonight was probably a bad idea as we were all very grouchy but we managed to keep things civilized.

On the walk home it poured rain on us. You would think this would add to my grumpiness but it was really exactly what I needed. Everyone needs to walk through the pouring rain without an umbrella once in a while. I think it’s good for your soul. All I can hope at this point is that we make it through these next few days without saying things we might come to regret. I just keep reminding myself that I only have to deal with these people for 3 weeks and then, if I really feel like it, I never have to spend time with them again. So I’ve done my best to let things go, and encourage others to do the same. There’s no point in making things even worse by laying into someone about the way they chew or other stupid things like that. Unfortunately, not everyone possesses such philosophies of patience.

Tallinn somehow has a way of putting everyone into a bad mood…seriously. Maybe it’s a poorly planned city or the air pressure is different here. Who knows? All I can do is try my best to stay positive, and enjoy the rest of my stay here.

Beach Day 2

July 18 2009

Second free day. Yay!! Guess what we did? Yup, went to the beach again, and improved my tan some more. I didn’t stay quite as long as the day before but it was still fantastic; the sun just as bright, the water just as warm.

Later in the day we had a group dinner at a medievalish looking restaurant since it was our last day with Matt. I had a fantastic meal of pork roast with a port wine sauce, some vegetables, and a potato/spinach puree which was super delicious and I’ll have to make at home. The food I’ve had seems to be getting better but mostly, I think I’m getting really good at picking items on the menu that sound like flavor combinations I’ll enjoy (no more random pickles or pickled herring in things!).

After dinner I didn’t feel much like going out again so I just spent a nice evening in, conversing with the roomie. I’m just not really the type of person who enjoys going out two nights in a row.

I guess I’m kind of boring sometimes but, meh, I don’t really care. I enjoy my style.

Beach Day 1

July 17 2009

Friday was our first of two free days in Pärnu so of course, we went to the beach!! My day started out beautifully by skipping breakfast and sleeping in, then heading to the beach around 1pm and staying until 6pm. We were accompanied for part of the time by some the Estonian guys we had met the night before. One of them had brought their guitar along so it was a fun experience laying on the shores of the Baltic, listening to Estonian songs on the guitar (along with some Lady Gaga…).

Now many of you readers back at home may be wondering how cold the water is, being so far north. The Baltic Sea (at least in the little bay at Pärnu) is amazingly warm; probably far warmer than I’ve ever felt Lake Michigan be. Also, it stays shallow forever. You have to walk out in the water for probably a quarter of a mile before it’s over your waist. I don’t even know how far you’d have to go for it to be over your head. I imagine that contributes a lot to the warmness. Luckily, we had great weather and sunshine all day so I could work on my tan.

After the beach and dinner, we went to a place called the Bravo Club which was a decent place. Typical European club with creepy men standing at the edges of the dance floor, trying to decide who will be next to experience their expert dance moves. Did I ever mention that European men (at least most of them) CANNOT dance? I mean, I’m not saying American guys are any better, actually American guys don’t even attempt to dance but in a way I guess I prefer that to some random hotshot thinking he’s all smooth trying to sneak up behind me and dance with me. Ugh, I just don’t like dancing with guys anyway…they just mess up my groove. I like the Latin and ballroom dances of course but when I’m dancing to hip-hop or techno, I really prefer to do my own thing.

Anyway it was a fantastic free day. The beach and dancing can always brighten my mood, no matter how many overly flirtatious and unattractive men there are in the world.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

July 16 2009

On Thursday we had a lecture about God know’s what, and a lovely tour of the city dump and recycling center. I would have to say that it was the most painful 2 hours of my lectured life thus far. I’m not even sure what this guy was talking about but the title was something about urban development in Estonia. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what was going on so we all got to gripe about it afterward together.

Our tour of the recycling center was better. It’s great how well they recycle everything here. Their goal is to be like Germany where nearly everything is recyclable and there’s hardly any waste. I suppose things like that are easier on a smaller scale. I would love it so much if the States made recycling mandatory or at least more accessible. It’s rare to see public recycling bins except for paper bins in most offices and university buildings. I don’t even know how to recycle in Houghton. I think you have to take it to a special place that I don’t know how to get to. The Estonian landfill however, was very much like any landfill in the US, except a billion times smaller but still smelly and really gross, covered with dirt and seagulls.

At night, Brittany, Amber and I went to have a drink and watch a local rock band play at a café. We of course were joined by three random Estonian guys, one who ended up being the son of the lead band member and has a band of his own. As usual, we were all pretty creeped out (since up to then, we had not had good luck with random guys talking to us at bars and clubs) but they turned out to be pretty normal and not too creepy. I managed to get a good deal of information out of them about Estonian culture. For example, male homosexuality is very unaccepted here. I was somewhat not surprised to learn that but it still makes me sad that there are still people in this world who will act violently towards someone just because of their sexual preference.

Anyway, after the café we attended a jazz concert at the local high priced venue for classy events.  My dad would have loved it. It was the kind of jazz you hear on NPR in the middle of the night when no one is listening. Not really my style but to each his own. Nevertheless it was fun to watch Estonians play American improvisational jazz at this beautiful villa. With something like that, it kind of doesn’t matter if you don’t like what’s being performed. I enjoyed the atmosphere so much it really didn’t matter.

Vipers and Giant Sponges

July 15, 2009

I’m pretty sure the hugest bug in the world bit me today. It felt like someone stabbed me in the back of the leg. We had a little excursion to the Sooma nature reserve to see the bogs and go canoeing. The canoe trip was great. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy doing that. I think we went 7km or something like that. Once we made it to our destination we hiked out to see the bogs, which actually form hills. It’s so crazy looking. It’s kind of like a giant sponge attached to the earth. Usually when I think of bogs, I guess I kind of think of swamps, which are in low grounds but that certainly wasn’t the case for these. It was also interesting to learn that these bog-hills are growing every year, just absorbing more and more water I guess (they seriously are like giant sponges). Nothing really lived there, just some insects, small lizards and apparently vipers, as in the venomous snake kind of viper (yipes!).  I actually thought for a moment that that’s what bit me (yes, it was that painful). It didn’t help that at that moment I was running because the mosquitoes were so ridiculously bad, and I heard a big splash in the water next to me right after it happened. I don’t feel like I’ve been poisoned and my leg hasn’t fallen off yet so I’m assuming it was just a very large, hungry, evil fly.

There were also these really cool little lakes or ponds in the bog, which people enjoy swimming in. They’re really really deep and dark looking, and they don’t get deep gradually; there are just sudden deep pools in some spots. But they had little docks and ladders off of some of them for swimming. The water was a really interesting color. It looked a lot like Coke. It was a really cool area to see though, and I’m glad we got to do that. I’d much rather go on an adventure than sit in a 3 hour lecture.

After our hike into the bog, we sat by the river and ate the most delicious meal I’ve had in this country. There was a soup that reminded me of Italian Wedding Soup, some kind of sweet barley bread, pirukas (little meat and rice filled rolls), cake, and something sort of like kinderbeer. It was absolutely delicious. I’m sure my ravenous hunger after skipping breakfast, canoeing a few miles, and then hiking a mile or so also helped.

Now all I want to do for the rest of the day is shower and sleep forever.

I'm going to live in a spa someday.

July 14 2009

On Tuesday we had our tour of Pärnu, and a company visit to Tervise Paradiis, which is this ginormous spa and hotel. The tour of the city was nice. Pärnu is a small and very old city. We saw where Estonia’s independence was first declared in 1918, some old haunted music school, the old city gates, and some other 14^th century buildings that have managed to survive.

The ghost story about the old music and dance school is great. Apparently one night, a very young, talented violin player was practicing all by himself, late at night in the building. Suddenly he could hear an entire orchestra accompanying him but no one was there. He got frightened and of course ran out but the ghost orchestra continued to play throughout the entire night, and it was heard by all the nearby inhabitants of the town. The story goes that perhaps someday another very talented musician will again be able to experience the ghost orchestra’s accompaniment. If  I were a student there, I would be sure to avoid playing alone at night.

The tour to the spa was pretty interesting. They offer all kinds of different therapeutic treatments. One of them, called a Salt Treatment, consisted of sitting in a room entirely surrounded by salt. You just sit there, in a beach chair, relaxing in the salty atmosphere. The oddest treatment they had (in my opinion) was the one they called a “shower”. This consisted of the client standing against a wall, holding onto a railing, while being sprayed from about 10 feet away with powerful jets of water. I thought that sounded more like torture than a relaxing spa treatment but hey, whatever floats your boat.

After our tour we were able to use the pool facilities, which included Estonia’s largest water park. The water slides were pretty fun, and they also had different temperature pools, saunas, steam rooms, and a platform to jump off of. I don’t think I’ve ever jumped from that high before and it was pretty intimidating (yes, I’m a huge girl and I screamed on the way down). I really wanted to get a massage while I was there but they were pretty full up and the services closed before our tour was over. Oh well, I suppose being in a beach resort town in Europe will have to suffice for my well-being. Life is so difficult sometimes.

At night I relaxed with the girls and indulged in some guilty pleasures of Cabernet Sauvignon, Camembert cheese, good bread, and Nutella. So yeah, it was a pretty fantastic day.  

Rain hates umbrellas

July 13 2009

The week here started rainy. Well, at least I thought it was going to be rainy. We were supposed to have our city tour on Monday but it was raining so much that we changed it to Tuesday and had a lecture on human rights instead. I still went to buy an umbrella though after breakfast because I didn’t want to be totally soaked. But of course, the moment I came out of the store with my newly purchased umbrella, the sun decided to start peeping through the clouds and 5 minutes later voilá, no rain.

So we went to our lecture, which was quite interesting. In a way, I think I actually learned more about Europe’s many different courts and legal systems instead of human rights issues. It seems that, as with any organization, there’s a lot of politics and bureaucracy involved in such things. It’s a wonder that people ever want to take their case to court when it takes so much effort.

After the lecture we had a company tour of Ruuki products. They make various steel products, mainly construction oriented things. It was kind of neat to walk around on the floor during their work day. It surprised me how few people really need to work to make that place run. Apparently, during an average shift, there are about 40 people working on the factory floor, running the machines and what not. But so much of it is automated now, it seems that most of the workers are there just to supervise and make sure everything is working properly. I can definitely see how a lot of lower paying jobs will no longer exist in the future thanks to these developments. I think there will always be some human supervision in such places though. As efficient as machines can be, they still aren’t without error.

Other than those things, I didn’t do much on Monday. Well, I suppose I did go shopping and bought a few things. My heart really isn’t in it anymore though. I just can’t think of anything else I need to buy. Maybe just one more pair of shoes?