Residency Cards

No visa is required to visit Estonia for up to 90 days, which is great for vacations and business trips. But we are staying longer than that, and since no visa is required, you have to do the paperwork here, under a deadline. The problem we have is that there are 4 of us, only 1 of us is working here, and 1 of us is 19, therefore an adult, but neither working nor a full-time student.

So here's our tale so far (but keep in mind I generally require 2 or 3 trips to renew my drivers license in the USA):

All four of us went to the migration office to do the initial paperwork (1 working, 3 dependents).

The next day, three of us went back to finish up some loose ends.

Then I went on one followup trip to police for more paperwork for my own (working) permit.

Then Nathan and I went once to police to submit different (student) paperwork for Nathan.

I went to the migration office after getting a notice that my card was ready (it wasn't yet, the notice said it would be ready later, not it is ready).

So I had to make another trip to pick it up.

Lucas, Nathan and I went to pickup Lucas's card (the office was closed).

Lucas went back to pickup his card.

Nathan still didn't have the right application filed, so he and I went again to the police station (the "independently wealthy" option).

Polly went to pickup her card and got it on the first try.

I think that's 10 visits to various offices so far, sometimes we all go, sometimes we go individually. We are hoping that with just one more trip to get Nathan's card we'll be done.

Bread

For some reason, the Estonians have mastered baked goods. Even the most "wonderbread-like" bread is whole wheat and has some body to it. But there's no reason to eat the pre-sliced sandwich loaf anyway. For 7 kroon, about $0.63, you can buy a loaf of whole grain or rye or pumpernickel or something else wonderful. See the photo. It's really good stuff.

A person that is only here a few days might not realize how cheap breads are. Everything is priced by the kilogram. A loaf marked 18kr seems a bit steep. Then you find out that a kilogram is close to 3 loaves.

March 25th, Tallinn Estonia

On the way home from work I walked through Freedom Square. People were lighting candles. Lots of candles. I went home, got a camera and came back. They were still unloading boxes and boxes of candles. I ask a woman next to me "what's the occasion?" She said 61 years ago the Soviets deported 20,000 Estonians to Siberia.

20,000 candles for 20,000 people.

Speaking Estonian

Vabandage. I am sorry.
Ma ei räägi eesti keelt. I don't speak Estonian.

But I am trying. Every week I have over 2 full hours of eesti keel. It's enjoyable, but I don't think I'll ever really be able to do much beyond say hello and goodbye, please and thank you, and perhaps use the correct change in the market when the clerk says "kakssada viiskümmend seitse." That's two-hundred fifty-seven. Kaks (2) sada (hundred) viis (5) kümmend (turns the word for 5 into 50) seitse (7).
I struggle mightily to understand the differences between me, you, them (no he or she) in both plural and singular form, and how every verb changes depending on who I am talking about. For example, "I study Estonian language" is:
Ma õpin eesti keelt.
You (singular, specifically you) study Estonian is:
Sa õpib eesti keelt.
They study (specifically them, those people right there):
Ta õpib
and of course, the plurals of the above, in the same order are:
Me õpime
Te õpite
Nad õpivad

So far the verb "study" has 6 forms. Don't even ask about studied or studying. In fact, there is no continuous tense, so you can't say studying exactly.

Another fun fact to know and share: unlike English, the object in an Estonian sentence is a different form. In English, "Tom killed the tiger" is not the same at all as "the tiger killed Tom." However, in Estonian, "Tom tappis tigri" is exactly the same as "tiigri tappis Tom," because tiigri is the object form of the noun for tiger.

Vabandage.

Maritime Museum

Estonia has a long maritime history. In fact, it's always relied on the sea, so it has a maritime prehistory as well. The Maritime Museum covers the earliest to the most recent history. Almost everything has an explanation in English along with Estonian and Russian, a first among the museums we've been to. It's located in "Fat Margaret," the old cannon tower next to the gate facing the sea.

I really liked the copper deep sea divers claustrophobia inducer. It was never actually used, but it looks like a prop from a horror movie. The home made, open, 13-foot boat that was rowed from one of the islands to Sweden was memorable to say the least.

Museum of the Occupations

We went to the Museum of the Occupations. I liked it. I think it gives you a feel for life in a Soviet occupied country.

Most of it is everyday life, a phone booth, Soviet automobiles, clothing, kitchen utensils. The descriptions tell about how hard it was to get an auto, and how the owner toweled it dry if it ever got wet. It also tells how the designs for many things like automobiles were "liberated" from factories in East Germany.

There are videos, you

can choose your language to hear a translation and see people talk about the occupation.

There are 2 things that stick out in my mind. The first is a display of prison doors in the middle of the museum. Just a long line of steel doors with peep holes and slots for food. The other is in the basement. Next to the toilets there are 7 or 8 larger than life statues of Soviet heros. Now they just sit in the basement, sort of guarding or perhaps welcoming you to the restrooms.