not so smooth going...

What a turbulent week we have had! Our stuff finally arrived on Tuesday. Everything came but many items were damaged, among them our beautiful red chinese cabinet. I think this must have been the worst condition I have ever received our stuff. Luckily the moving guys here were very good and careful and did all the assembling and unpacking. As a typical Estonian "warm" welcome a downstairs neighbor came up in the afternoon complaining agitatedly about the empty boxes in the hall etc... Welcome home!
I am far from sorted as the rest of the week got a bit crazy. Raoul got sick and hasn't been to kindy since Wed. On Wednesday I went to pick Karl up by car which I usually don't do but as it was -22C, thought I'd drop Beatrice to swimming class by car instead of driving. Then on the way home from kindy we were nearly home when a truck rammed our right side. He started driving from a parking position when we were just next to it. Our Picasso was no match and the front part of the right side is basically gone including mirror, side distance sensors etc. Luckily both were moving low speed and the windows were not damaged. So there went my Thursday sorting out insurance and repairs and getting a rental car. We have had this car less than 1 month!
Mum and dad have been helping to look after Raoul while I have been dashing around to sort this stuff out and drive te other kids around. Beatrice had a little concert with her choir on Thursday afternoon. Then on Friday we had a meeting at school to decide if she will stay in grade 1 or move a year up. They recommended to leave her where she is basically because that will make her more confident if she is doing well and being afraid that she would struggle one year up. Agewise she should be here in gr 1. The tests show that this is where she should be. I am just still having sleepless nights being frustrated that compared to her classmates in Dover Court she has taken 2 steps back! In maths numberwise she could do easily in gr 2 but they have lots of text problems to solve that she still struggles with and also the pace in class is quite fast. Estonian writing is at very good level for gr 1 but would only give her low marks in gr 2. I am a bit upset actually about Dover court in a way - if she was in the top group in her class there then how could she be just average among children here who only started school in September!
Raoul still has fever today, so no football... And it is snowing again.

New job - hockey mom

We have more or less settled into our new routine, for now. Boys enjoy their kindergarten, have nice naps there, discover "new" Estonian foods, make friends. Grandma has been coming over in the mornings while I drop Beatrice off at school and then I walk the boys to kindy. We all need this little morning exercise to explore the new heapes of snow and ice in the way and get the blood going in -15 Celsius as it is today. And all week long they ask if football is "tomorrow". Unfortunatley only once a week on Sundays so far. Both really eager. We tried a Taekwondo school last week but both of them behaved like real clowns and it is definitely not for them - serious training, not fun as it used to be in Singapore's Hyun TKD. So football it is! Raoul has even adopted his ball as his "cuddly toy" and keeps it in bed.
Beatrice has settled in school well and seems to regain her confidence. She was very worried that she won't be able to understand what to do because her Estonian is not good enough. But she is catching up quickly. In fact I will try to get her moved one year up especially because the level of maths right now is 2 years behind her level not to mention English. She enjoys ballet at school and has lot's of music and art lessons. Has made friends in her class and doesn't want to change class of course. They have separate girls and boys classes, so a new situation in that way as well. The school is in the old town and a it of a maze as it has rooms in different buildings, some of them connected, some not. I think it is quite nice for the kids to get the feel of the old town when they move between the buildings - PE is across the street in the main building, music house on a different street altogether. She goes swimming 3 times a week, which is a bit too much but all swimming schools seem to follow the same schedule.
I have taken up a gym membership and have tryed out some new classes - like bosu (balancing on "half" of a fitness ball), pilates. I also tryed a yoga class with my sister and another one on my own. Will have to see which one to stick with. There is no Bikram studio here although these two teachers I talked to were keen about it. I miss it a lot.
On Sunday we went skiing - cross country. Raoul did amazingly well although it is very different from alpine. He was just so determined. Karl on the other hand just screemed for ages as he kept falling down and was so angry abut it. By the end of the trail he was doing better and calmed down. Beatrice did so and so. Not too bad but she is not very keen. So it seems I will just have to go with Raoul next time. Good exercise if you get to do it full speed. Must have been some 20 years since I did cross country skiing last time.
Yesterday had a night out for the first time - my sister's new film had the premiere together with 3 other documentaries of the same series. Enjoyed it a lot, also the after-party. So a bit tired today...

Robert has gone back to Croatia and we have started our "normal" life here in Tallinn. Snow keeps falling and it is so pretty, alas a bit tricky driving and it seems the caretaker of our house has gone into hibernation together with the brown bears. No threats have helped so far. I guess I will have to suggest to the committe to change the maintenance company or maybe to try and hire a new caretaker. Have found an excellent replacement already - on the way to the boys kindergarten we see an old lady every morning ploughing snow. She must be over 80 years old, completely bent over like the old Korean ladies I remember working the fields. The bit of the street in front of her house is the best kept of all. Raoul is convinced that all the people showeling snow in huge heapes do it so that children can play in the snow. The caretakers might disagree. It just makes me laugh to think of the snow chaos in England with a few cm-s of snow. Here it seems like we have a meter and life still goes on as normal.
Boys started kindergarten on Monday and inspite of my apprehension have enjoyed it from day 1. A big change as the kindy is whole day, they eat and sleep there. Even Karl has been napping and unfortunately that has a bad influence on his evenings - has been falling asleep around 11 pm! Raoul more or less the same. I will just have to change my habits - no "me-time" in the evening, just the whole day instead! They go outside to play in the snow every day at kindy and the walk home is quite wild as well. Our freezer is filling up fast with icicles. So far the novelty of snow has not worn off. And I must say I enjoy it as well. It makes the days lighter and the whole area cozier. I am starting to like the place more and more. Walked to town center yesterday - just 15 minutes. And yet it is very quiet and layed back here in Kadriorg. Just small corner shops, neighborhood coffee shops, park.
Beatrice has been playing with her friend who lives in our street and she started a swimming course together with her. Yes, now she wants to do a course when we need to get dressed and walk 15 minutes to get there and after get dressed and hair dryed and wade back home through the snow. Not in Singapore where it ment just to get slippers on and go outside to the pool. And it's 3 times a week! Boys will start football on Sunday - Estonia's premier club FC Flora.

Snow trapped

The weather here has been absolutely magical! It has been snowing all week and the last few days even more. So that this morning Tallinn was 2 cm short of the last century's snow record - surely topped it by this afternoon with at least 10 cms. There is nearly 1 meter fresh snow! Which means we are trapped in. Our garage driveway hasn't been cleaned and it took us 6 attempts this morning to get through there on the way to the airport. During the day I haven't even dared to try.
Yesterday we drove to Rakvere - 100 km east - to save our wines that were left in the summer house and to see my cousin and her family. The trip was really beautiful. Such winter wonderland you normally see just on photos. Thick snow on the pinetrees, sunshine over glistening white fields. Kids were completeley mad when we got to the house - we had to wade through waist deep snow, so soft and fluffy like it used to be when I was a child. They just were diving into it like in the sea.
Today we walked to the park and went sledging downhill. The park is so beautiful with all the pure white snow and icicles hanging from the roofs.
Still hope that they will manage to clear the driveway soon. Have to get out with the car tomorrow...

White Christmas

The Christmas Eve in Kyhtai was absolutely magical. We skied until the school finished - one very very steep slope so that I doubted I'd ever get down there. And then on the other side we met the boys with their teacher - they had gone up the high Kaiserbahn and were on their way down the red nr 1 slope. So proud! They finally made it to the "high mountain". All kids were disappointed when we had to give our ski gear back to the rental shop.
The village skischools and hotels had arranged a Christmas party outside for that afternoon with "Glyhwein", Kinderpunsch, Christmas bisquits and music. When it started to get dark they gave out torches and lit some on the sides of a ski slope in village center. Everyone was waiting for the "Weihnachtsmann" - finally he came skiing down the hill followed by 4 beautiful white angels. It was a fantastic atmosphere and all the kids so excited. Father Christmas gave presents to all kids - bag of nuts and sweets. And the best - on the way down hill Father Christmas had made a short stop in our room and left some presents!
Back at the hotel there was another cocktail reception with live brass performance of Christmas songs, a real proper Christmas tree with live candles and even sparklers just as we used to have as kids. Dinner was spectacular as we were getting used to by then - 8 courses, truffles and all! We had a nice evening - boys played with the young son of the owner who had dinner at the table next to us. Had a nice chat with him as well. it turned out he spoke Swedish as he had had a Swedish girlfriend in the seventies! But he looked confusingly young - his son being about 4 or 5.
Christmas day morning we had to leave Kyhtai and only then found out how lucky we had been - the next village down the valley had green grass! 2000 meters had been snow border for the last few days and we were just above that.
Back to Munich and we went to see Helene, Alfons and their children who had come to spend Christmas with their families. 10 years and 6 children later we all look just the same - incredible! We had a lovely afternoon - boys had a playmate their age and Beatrice had 2 girls just 1 and 2 years older than her to play with. They all spoke well English after having spent a year in Oxford (dad is economics professor).
Then later wandered through downtown Munich and went for a proper Bavarian dinner in the Weisse Brauhaus. It's been 10 years since I last was there and really it took a while to remember all the places and streets. Had a bit of a shock as the waitresses were extremely grumpy. According to Helene that is part of the experience! And we were quite spoiled by our Hungarian waiters at hotel Tyrol - all very friendly, very good sense of humour, able to predict our wishes from the second day. In Munich they made customers feel like real trouble. But food was great and beer top class.
Used the valuable trick learned from corina and Pat to smuggle one child into a hotel room instead of booking two rooms and managed to stay all in one tiny room in the Holiday Inn at the airport. Good value.
Then back to Tallinn on the 26th. Almost straight from the airport we headed to my sister's for a family Christmas. Father Christmas had left presents here as well and we were forced to give quite a performance of song and dance numbers in order to get these.
Since then we have been furniture and car shopping. Really a fantastic season for buying a car - have been wading in deep snow and trying to dig cars out in order to see what type they are at all. Finally we bought an UFO today! The decision was between a reliable boring Volvo and a totally freaked out Citroen Picasso that speaks French and has a brain like a human. And we went for the latter - only problem - will need a dictionary to drive it! (Well hopefully will managed to hunt down the disk and change the language of the computer at some point.)
Meanwhile it has been snowing every day and it is quite cold now - by the time we headed home it was about -7C, now surely even more.
We have not managed to make any plans for tonight with the car hunt and everything. The kids went to the movies this morning with my sister and have been spending time with my parents most days. If the weather is not too crazy, we will try to drive to Rakvere tomorrow to save some of our wines from freezing in the house and to see my cousin and her family. Provided of course that the driveway out of the garage is still passable - it is already full of snow, not cleaned today and not likely to be cleaned tomorrow. Then Robert will go back to Croatia on the 2nd and I will wait for our 107 boxes to arrive from Singapore.