Haanja

Last week at school was style week. So each day we could dress for a different theme. Olden day, pajama day, cross gender dress, cartoons and office dress. So it was an interesting week seeing all the different outfits students came up with. 

This week at school we have had a lot of practice for out play box performance which was on Thursday evening. Our performance went really well, everyone was in a good mood and excited for the night. The hall was packed. We had gotten together different vampire, zombie and mummy costumes which looked really cool on stage as well as some props like a coffin which stood at the back. We came third overall so it was a good night. 

The 'black nights film festival' began at the beginning of last week, It takes place over two weeks and each day a whole lot of new films are shown. Sunday night after a long day of shopping for winter clothes, Mari, Epp and I went to see the movie ‘Death of a superhero’. Let me just say I really like Estonian cinema so much bigger than the ones in NZ. 

At the moment the shops are filled with Christmas decorations. It seems to be getting warmer though and that’s a bad thing for one simple reason. No snow. We’re hoping the snow will come in time for Christmas, FINGERS CROSSED. I’m now getting busier and busier. Next weekend I have the YFU trip to Helsinki. Most of the exchange students are going and I’m getting more and more excited as it gets closer. 

This weekend I was invited to stay with another exchange student from Belgium, Iris. She lives in Haanja which is right on the other side of Estonia, close to the Latvian border. So early Saturday morning I hoped on a bus and drove two and a half hours to Tartu where I met Iris and another exchange student from Mexico. The three of us went to a science center called ‘Ahhaa’ cool name. There were a lot of cool and interesting things there.

This is at Ahhaa

Later that afternoon Iris and I got on another bus for an hours ride to where she lives in Haanja. She lives in a beautiful big house surrounded by forest, and a lake which the family owns. Arriving at the house we were greeted by their big fluffy dog, Ben, who was quite excited to see they had a visitor. That night we went for a walk through the forest in the dark. Iris’s host dad told us many stories about the soviet union time and what it was like for his father and grandparents.

Iris and her host family

Sunday morning we went for a walk through a bog which has

wooden pathways running just above the water. The water though is hidden by plants but it deep so if you decided to take a step of the wooden boards you would find yourself sinking very quickly. Now that its winter though all the birds are gone. It was strange walking through the bog because everything was completely still. The water, the sky, the trees, even the silence seemed still because there were no birds singing. There was a part where the planks we were walking on were flooded. Iris asked me if my shoes were water proof, “I don’t know but I guess we will find out soon,’ I said . . . well yes as I found out, they were not water proof. We followed the path for a while (me with wet feet now) and it  eventually led to a little ‘bog island’ where to my surprise there was a small wooden cabin. So if you decide you want to spend the night on a little island in the middle of a bog, hey don't worry theres a little house for you to use free of charge. This cabin is for anyone to use and has everything you would need. Beds, chairs, a table, fireplace, a kettle, coffee, some cooking stuff, a book to read, you name it, it was all there. It was such a strange thing to see. Just anyone could decide to stay the night and they would be perfectly safe and warm. There was also a little guests book where you could leave a note. Paging through it Iris and I found that we knew one of the recent visitors. Aiden had been there too at some stage and written in the book. What can I say, Estonia is a small place! 

The path leading through the bog

The little cabin

That night back at the house we had sauna again. My second time since being here. Then Monday morning the family drove me back up to Tallinn where I caught a bus the rest of the way home.