Sorry, I know it's late

I'll start simply by saying sorry for the late post.

 

So last Thursday I received my Estonian ID card and I am now officially a somebody in Estonia. That same day we took a walk through one of the parks in Tallinn. It’s autumn now so you can just imagine what a small country filled with forest would look like at this time of year. If not let me paint a picture for you. The leaves on the trees look as if they have been dipped in gold paint and everywhere you go the ground is covered with large golden leaves, along the footpaths and on the roads. The other day I saw a car parked along the side of the road that obviously hadn't been driven in a little while because it was drowning in all the yellow leaves. 

That weekend we went to visit my host moms mom who lives in a town called Kose. I got to meet more of the family and see a bit more of the countryside in Estonia, which is mostly flat with with a few forests scattered around. 

Kose is a peaceful town where my host mom grew up. Mari gave me a little tour around, and walking down the deserted streets I noticed how quiet it was with the exception of dogs barking as we passed. The trees here were also dotted with yellow and red. It was quite a windy day so we (me, Mari, Piret and their cousins) decide to go out and fly a kite. While we were flying the kite, large flocks of migrating birds flew by, heading South for the cold winter to come.  

This is us flying the kite

The autumn colours reflected in a lake

Kose Church

After lunch and some delicious cake we headed off to Kose Church for a private tour. The Church looks like many of the Churches in Estonia do, with a cross sitting at the top of a large spire. We had a look around the inside and went up the tower where we got a good view of the surrounding area. My host moms great grandfather had been the Pastor at Kose Church.

On the way back to our house in Laagri we stopped at one of the few hills in Estonia. In the winter time when the snow comes it's a popular place for skiing. There we climbed a sort of metal viewing tower, we were surrounded by forest here so again we saw the autumn colours splattered across the treetops.

Rain heading our way, taken from the viewing tower

This weekend we had a sort of fun run thing. It’s a 6km run around a track through the forest. The girls five year old cousin joined us. I tried keeping up with Mari and her dad but I lost my energy after about 3km and slowed down a bit finishing in 37.27minutes. After the run we handed in a piece of paper with our name and age on it and were then each given a sort of ribbon thing for participation. This run takes place twice a year, in autumn and spring so I've made it my goal to beat my time in the Spring run. 

I also had a meeting with the YFU exchange organization, so I got to see some of the other exchange students that I met at the camp. We spoke about our experiences so far, about our families, friends, school, travels and of course the language. Everyone had a different story to tell. It was good catching up with them and hearing how their time in Estonia is going. At the end of the discussion we were given two pictures and to test our Estonian we had to write down any words we could to describe the pictures. I’m sure I made a lot of spelling mistakes but I did my best and was happy with what I knew. We were told about an Estonian language test which takes place in May so thats what I'm working towards now. In other words I have 8 months to learn a new language. 

In more recent news I have joined a tennis club in Hiiu (a nearby area) There are only 5 people altogether in my group. It’s quite different from what I’m used to, here there is only one indoor court. But it’s good to get back into tennis and get some exercise and because there are not that many people it means we get more time on the court. I have tennis every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons so I can get my fitness up.

Well the darkness is slowly creeping in. Monday  morning as I was leaving for school at 7.30 it was still dark outside, I have been told to expect worse though. So I'm waiting, apparently November is the worst month because there is no snow, just darkness and cold. 

On Monday it was Maris' birthday! She turned 14, so we decided to have a little princess theme. We decorated with pink paper chains and pink princess balloons. She got a waffle machine and a WHOLE lot of chocolate!