These are the days it never rains but it pours

I've never been the kind of person, who lays her head down on the pillow and falls soundly asleep. No, I usually have to wait and wait for Mr Sandman to come and during that time, I start to think about things.
So last night I got an idea and that's usually a bad sign. It's actually a very innocent and raw thought that I developed and I have no idea whatsoever, what to do with it.


The world has gone crazy and I have no idea how to fight against it. So, last night I thought what if after I've received my degree as a teacher, I work a little over here and then find a way how to volunteer to Africa.

I know, this sounds insane for many justified reasons beginning with me being only (almost) second year student and I have 4 (!!) years till I get the degree. Who knows, I might even change my mind and end up studying something else. Or.. at the moment, it is hard to believe, but maybe I have a family by then and don't wish to go anywhere. Everything is possible, look at my dear friend A., mother of a baby girl!!


But why I'm writing it down? For remembrance. I've always talked about doing volunteer work, but I've also always thought it wasn't really for me. Till now. I think I could really do this. I have no idea how, where or what, but I want to do this and I don't want to do it NOW but when I can actually offer something to the people in need.

I know people to that know me, especially my family, will consider this as a stupid idea and I agree to some extent, but what if someday somehow I managed to do it? What if this is really something to me?

Silence before the storm?

It is a well-known and rather obvious fact that I haven't been an active blogger lately. It must be due to my inability to turn my emotions, thoughts and experiences into words, sentences and paragraphs that would make later sense to myself and to whoever happens to stop in this place. So therefore it has been a quiet place with tumbleweed rolling between the posts.

What has happened in between? A lot and not much. I've travelled around Estonia, visiting people, spent time at home, had my share of laughs and moments of distress... The usual stuff. I've also participated in wonderful events and intriguing discussions, read a bit (but clearly not enough) and made a lot of promises for the starting new year in university. I'd write them down here but I don't wish to look at them in a few months time only to admit that I've managed to avoid each and every one of those. No hidden catch, no strings attached, just free love, in the words of DM.

But what does lie in the very near future is my "pilgrimage" to Israel and I can't wait for it. This is going to be adventurous for sure. I'm not even scared at the moment because I don't know what to fear. Surely, I won't be intimidated by the fact that it is not the most stable place in the world, but have you notice? The whole fucking world has gone mad!!

This brings me to my point of concern - Russia and Georgia... There's a fucking war going on and I'm scared as hell! If President Medvedjev's reasoning for the bombing is the message of peace then we are all screwed!! I know, Georgia is not totally innocent herself, the truth lies somewhere in between but if Russia is so ready to attack a sovereign country as Georgia... who will be next? Bringing in troops to Eastern Estonia to "protect" Russian citizens here, because God knows we are all nazis and facists over here? I'm scared... I'm only 19 and I want to live my life in a happy bubble without witnessing a war! But right now, I'm not sure if this will be my future vision. Watching the desperate people on TV in front of destroyed and burning houses, holding their loved ones who had not been lucky bring tears in my eyes!! How can you kill innocent people who are just like me or you??

My heart and my thoughts are with the Georgian nation... Every hour I pray for peace to come because war is not a solution to any problem! I hope whoever happens to read this joins me in my prayers and understands how fragile is peace and quiet...

Perfection.

Usually the simplest things bring you the greatest joy. Today I had a moment of perfection. I'm not good with words, but I will try an "paint" you the picture.

Imagine an averagely bad Estonian summer day. It's round 18 or 19 degrees and it has just stopped raining. The sun is peeking behind the clouds but the sky is full of dark clouds. You decide to go for a swim, regardless the cool weather.

You get on your bike, packed with towel and a sweater for coming back and race to the lake. Somewhere in the back of your mind there's a thought: I don't have to do this to myself, it's cold! But you are already by the lake.

You undress quickly because the more you think, the less you are willing to take off your clothes. And to the water you go. Surprisingly it is not cold at all because the water and air temperature is the same. You wade trough the clear water, fish swimming around your feel and quickly make sure that you navel is wet because it's the place in your body that fears the most of the water. You breathe in and dive underwater.

You feel freshness from the first second and when you stick your head on the surface again, you start swimming. You go slowly through the clean water, there's no one else around you here, only the two guys about 20 metres away. You feel how the water is clearing your mind from all the negative things and you only enjoy this moment in the water.

You turn around to swim back and you notice a rainbow in the sky. It is only partial but it shines so bright in the background of dark threatening clouds. You absorb this moment and as you swim in the calm lake, you see the reflection of the sky on the surface of the lake. Two rainbows, one in the sky and one in the lake. And the water feels so good around you. You could swim forever in that perfect moment. It's just you and the lake with the green surroundings that edge the blue clouds upon which shines the magnificent rainbow.

The whole day of gruesome and negative thoughts are behind you and this one moment for yourself was all worth it.

I know I'm a romanticist but that was my moment. My summer.

Echoes and Silence, Patience and Grace

I guess that I can say now that my fears have been more or less unnecessary because the magic 7 is once again in action. More or less. It seems that we have enough to laugh over and although we have all changed, it does not bother us to enjoy each other's company. Thanks to that I have some sort of peace of mind. The girls have a lot to tell us about their experience, they'll keep on talking about it for the rest of their lives, I'm sure. I just hope that my simple life (no pun intended!) does not bore them and they are still willing to hear from me every now and then.

I must admit, I envy Liina and Jo. In a good way of course. The experience they had is indescribable and the whole adventure is just fabulous. Instead of waiting in the safe comfort of home for the time when I'm going to do all those big things, they went out and did it. And that's just perfect. I'm glad to have friends who are like that. I guess I keep waiting and waiting and maybe if I'm good enough, my time will come.

I've been in a relatively good mood ever since last Thursday evening when I was helping out at a bike race once again. I guess I've learnt to take things more easily and try not to worry about small things. I even haven't let the weather get me down nor anything else. I just sometimes feel a bit imprisoned here in this town... you know, depressive Estonian small-town. I know I have the chance to escape to Tartu whenever I feel like it but then again, as I have no official business there (as I am unemployed so to say), I feel the obligation to be here at my parents' place. So far I haven't had any major clashes with them, so let's hope for the best. And I have invited people over, my dear Viljandi-girls know that they are always welcomed here, but I understand why they don't have the will to come, the drive and everything!

And just a small note to some people who want to help others. On the right hand corner, there is a small banner and this takes you to the HopeBuilders home site. This is a part of Habitat For Humanity that is an oranisation helping those in need, people who have nowhere to live and builds them a house. As we do not have this programme in Estonia and we cannot actually put our hands to the building process itself, but there is a chance to make a donation. Just click the link, then on the right hand side there is "Find friend's place", click that and choose the letter E and you will see ECHELON on the list (the chief of this group is Lily) and if any of you wishes to join us, there you can make a donation. No pressure and no hard feelings. I just wanted to spread the information...

We were merely freshmen...

We tried to wash our hands of all of this; We never talked of the lacking relationships; And now we're guilt-stricken, sobbing with our heads on the floor; We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip... (http://youtube.com/watch?v=sVNAp1C8LIw)

My first year in the university is over. It's even a bit sad how quickly this has past, because I believe that the university days are the best ones in your life. Never again will there be days, when you can only live for yourself, the frontiers are made only by you. And I think I'm enjoying it quite fully.

What will I remember from this first year?
1) My new and absolutely awesome friends. I've met with so many wonderful and interesting people, who all have their own way of thinking and it's incredible how we all manage to complement each other and have so much fun together. You are really wonderful!
2) Some what clarity concerning my future plans. I mean, the only certain thing is that there's no certain things. But still, this first year opened my eyes a bit and made me set some of my goals, that I might or might not wish to achieve.
3) Some adventures and fun times spent together with friends. All those Wednesday-night parties, cooking eve's with Kätlin, playing pool with guys, vodka-coctail nights in our room...
4) Return to belly dance. Who would have ever guess that I actually plug my courage and step in a studio and start over again. Moreover, I even maneged to dance at the concert! This was quite an achievement for me.

Hopefully the next years will be as memorable as this one.
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L. and J. are back. The reunion was emotional. I'm still a bit intimidated about the future relationship...

Dream a little dream of...

... 30 Seconds To Mars.
Surprised? Probably not. But what a lovely dream it was...

It was spring time in my hometown Türi, which is generally known for being Estonia's capital of spring. So usually when the spring starts, we have a little thing on the central square. And there we were: me, my mother and my father. I had looked in the paper that 30 Seconds To Mars was supposed to perform there and I was sure it was a mistake. So we were just waiting outside the department store, just across the street from the square.

At first there were some rap artists performing and I was extremely bored. There was so many people and the stages was far away as well. I thought I heard the sound of EOTB but it was just a teaser. Instead of that, it turned into Limp Bizkit's Rollin' (at least I think it's the name of the song). Anyway, not good.

As I was looking for the newspaper where I had found the adverb for this event, to see if I was correct about this certain band. And I didn't find it anymore. As I was going through the pages, I suddenly hear The Kill! I just ran to the direction of the stage, which was actually a catwalk. I was already singing along while I was running through people and jumping over those who were sitting on the ground. Everyone looked at me like a loon. There were a lot of people at the end of the catwalk (because Mr. Frontman happened to be there), so I made my way passed them, my heart was beating so fast, my hand were shaking... I made it exactly to the side of the catwalk. To the place were it turned and the actual stage was.

The song was almost over and I did see Jared pass by a few times and then Tomo jumped off the stage for some reason, and he couldn't get back up. So I helped him. Now this is an embarrassing part: he pulled me on the catwalk as well and we both bowed. So after that everyone went behind the corner to discuss something. I was so hoping that they'd do another song! And I overheard Jared speaking that they can't play on this kind of a stage.

The strange thing is, that I don't remember seeing Tim anywhere, just Jared, Shannon and Tomo. And as I was waiting there (I was alone, because obviously I don't have many acquaintances left in my hometown) and there was Tomo beside the stage and he started talking to me, asking me what had happened to my thumb (for some reason it was bleeding) and I told him it was my cat (very logical answer, because that is usually the reason why my hands are all torn). And then he asked me if it was my first concert, and how I'm enjoying it so far... And I was just there talking to him like it was nothing! So I asked him do they have this stage-thing often and he said, yeah.

Then he was called aside and I quickly reached for my phone to call Elerin to tell her that 30 is performing in my hometown and that I had talked to Tomo and how I was in the first row! But I had to end the call, because the band was going back on stage and I rushed to my spot again. Before that I managed to play the staring game with Shannon, which I obviously lost and Tomo said that it's okay, Shannon is the champion of that! (yeah, this is the weird part) They started playing another song but I can't remember what it was.

And this is how much I remember of my dream. I also remember that I knew that they were performing in Tallinn on June 16 (Elerin's birthday, how convenient). And that's all...

And if anyone dares to question it, the answer is yes: I'm totally and utterly insane! But happy about it :)

Semper eadem.

Once again it has been a while since I've written down anything. So much and yet so little has happened.

The end of my first year in university is almost here and the fact that I have been lazy through out the seminar has left its mark on my progress. But I am actually doing best not to stress about it all and take it with calm and reason, this saves so much more energy. And the fact that I signed up to make a fool out of myself on May 31 in public does not exactly contribute to my school work. I mean, nothing serious is happening. I have all the nessecary thing done and I'm not desperate in any of the subject, yet there are some that I'm not so sure about. Like English literature. This one requires a lot of reading and I really hope I can manage with it all. But then again, I'm taking the exam on June 9th, so there's no point in panicking at the moment. And I'm not worried about my essay for the Writing Course, because I know my subject and I have my sources, I just now have to read an dput it all together. Oh, and by the way, I'm writing about Elizabeth I. A person from English history who has made me love her era. And when my mother asked me watching the Millionaire show who had been on the throne before Elizabeth, I immediately answerd: "Mary I. Bloody Mary". And then looking at the question ("Which of those Europan countries had only female monarchs in the 20th century?") I looked at her with a dumb face and asking why would she as me about Elizabeth who lived in the 16th century. My mother kindly reminded me that England has Elizabeth sitting on the throne at the moment as well. And of course her predecessor had been George VI.

Anyway, I'm concentraiting on the symbology of Elizabeth I and their presence in her portraits. Seems interesting. At least for me.

But translation is not probabaly not my thing. At least not now, when I haven't had any courses on translation theory. I spent the last week desperately translating Capote, Austen and Wilde, all together 150 pages. Oh, the sleepless nights when I finally started to read everything in English the way that I transleted it into Estonian. And when I thought, what the hell am I doing, I realised, this is too much. But I got a lovely passage from Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and although I probably invented some of the words, the lecturer seemed to be satisfied.. One down, a lot more to go.

L. & J. are coming back to Estonia. Sometimes I wonder if we ever have the same kind of relation ship again that we had in secondary school. And I'm afraid that the answer is no. It's not me or them or anyone. In fact, it's everyone. Each and every one of us has grown in our own direction a bit. The fact that we are not spending every day together, but counted hours once in two month does change the relationship. I know that I'm not the same person. Sure, our jokes are still funny and all my girls are very-very special to me. I was just looking at some photos tonight. Of my birthday. Of St. John's Day. Graduation. I love you to death. I hope that if you are reading this, you understand where I'm coming from. Maybe you have felt the same.

But one thing is sure, when our Aussies arrive, we'll have a proper party, you hear me, sweethearts!?

Well, I guess that's all for now. If I survive the next two weeks, you might hear more of me :)