The Christmas season

Christmas time is here and I have to say that for some reason the snow does make it feel more like Christmas. Maybe it’s because of all those songs that sing about a white Christmas and the snow, those have never really made much sense to me as we are normally outside in the sun around Christmas time. But they fit perfectly here. I try to go into oldtown whenever I can because it is all decorated beautifully and has a very warm Christmas feeling even though its freezing outside. There is a little Christmas market in the main square. A large decorated tree standing in the square surrounded by little wooden huts selling different goods. Wooly gloves, hats and scarves, candles, jewelery made from amber, wooden objects, glass decorations, different souvenirs and so on. Lights hang all around the market above the little huts and on surrounding buildings. The market is always buzzing with people and there is constantly some music playing through the air. There are some small reindeer that people come to look at and pony rides around the square for kids as well as a little blue train that travels around oldtown. So imagine all of that topped off with the snow which falls over the town settling on top of everything. There is some warm food and drinks being sold on the cold evenings too. There is also an outdoor ice rink up now and its strange to see people ice skating outside with huge winter jackets and hats on, I’m surprised they don’t fall over. I’m hoping to go soon to get some pictures of this beautiful place at Christmas time.

We now also have a Christmas tree (kuusk) at home, a real one, straight from the forest! Sonja, our cat, lies under it in the evenings and plays with the decorations hanging near the bottom. 

The darkness isn’t that bad now that there is snow on the ground. I’ve decided though that I quite like the darkness at Christmas time because it means that in the mornings on my way to school, I can see streets and houses all shining with their decorative lights.

Although now the real cold is coming . . . we were at -9 degrees on the weekend and still during the week the temperature and dropped to now -18. There has also been a lot of wind which only makes it even more cold that my face stings. Yet still when I say it’s cold I get the response ‘It’ll get colder, just wait’ my big question is: How can it get any colder?! I guess I’ll find out soon . . 

Today was our last school day for the year. We had a secret Santa thing where each person got a name and had to buy a gift for someone else, so today we all got our presents. My schools hallways are all decorated and Christmas music is played during breaks. It seems strange though that we are only half way through the school year because i feel like it's the end because its Christmas time. Tomorrow we will be going to Kaarli Kirikus, a Church in old town. And then thats it for the year.

We also had the YFU jõulupidu (Christmas party) We met in a wooden house in a forest about an hours drive away. It was the first time I was in a forest since it had been snowing, and it looked beautiful. Soft snow all over the ground and all the tall trees coated in the whiteness too. We spent the day there playing different games and spending time with the other exchange students and their host families.

 Piret had her 20^th Birthday last Sunday! We had some family over again and enjoyed an afternoon together to celebrate her Birthday.

I was asked to make a promo video for my youth groups jõulupidu which is tomorrow evening. My host dad also asked if I could help with a Christmas video which gets sent out via email next week. So I have been working on different movie projects. My film lessons at school though are over for the moment but I will have them again near the end of the school year.