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Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
We had +18 degrees yesterday! Feels really weird after this long and cold winter. Today back to below 10.
Have not managed to write about our day out on Sunday yet. Some of you hopefully received the link to my Picasa album from that day. It's a small place called Keila-Joa maybe 20 km out of town along the coast. There is one of the few waterfalls we have here and now after this massive amount of snow the river is of course huge and the waterfall spectacular. There is even a small hydro-electric plant. We had my parents with us and took a great walk almost all the way to the sea - we could see it but then were cut off by a house and would have had to walk at least one extra km. Beautiful, along the river that runs really fast now, wild birds there and all. The trees are not green yet so the first spring flowers get even more attention. I haven't been in Estonia in the springtime for so many years now so these childhood memories of picking the spring flowers came rushing back. So glad that I could share this early spring experience with the kids. Including the ants trick! The small blue flowers (on the photo below) change their color when put into the ants nest from blue to pink! And the smell - obviously it's the ants pee that causes it, so after the treatment the flowers smell like strong vinegar. Lots of fun doing it! You have to tickle the ants to make them treat the flower.
On Monday went to the movies to see the last part of the Millenium trilogy - the Swedish film. It didn't get better than the previous episodes and a movie is almost always a disappointment compared to the book. Will be interesting to see what Hollywood makes out of it. This was a bit confusing and I don't like it when they change the storyline. Liked Noomi Rapace as Lisbet but really not Michael Nyquist as Michael Blomquist. The book character leaves the impression of being a really handsome guy, a heartbreaker but a tough cookie at the same time. In the film he is not that good-looking and a bit fake, even pathetic.
Have not managed to write about our day out on Sunday yet. Some of you hopefully received the link to my Picasa album from that day. It's a small place called Keila-Joa maybe 20 km out of town along the coast. There is one of the few waterfalls we have here and now after this massive amount of snow the river is of course huge and the waterfall spectacular. There is even a small hydro-electric plant. We had my parents with us and took a great walk almost all the way to the sea - we could see it but then were cut off by a house and would have had to walk at least one extra km. Beautiful, along the river that runs really fast now, wild birds there and all. The trees are not green yet so the first spring flowers get even more attention. I haven't been in Estonia in the springtime for so many years now so these childhood memories of picking the spring flowers came rushing back. So glad that I could share this early spring experience with the kids. Including the ants trick! The small blue flowers (on the photo below) change their color when put into the ants nest from blue to pink! And the smell - obviously it's the ants pee that causes it, so after the treatment the flowers smell like strong vinegar. Lots of fun doing it! You have to tickle the ants to make them treat the flower.
On Monday went to the movies to see the last part of the Millenium trilogy - the Swedish film. It didn't get better than the previous episodes and a movie is almost always a disappointment compared to the book. Will be interesting to see what Hollywood makes out of it. This was a bit confusing and I don't like it when they change the storyline. Liked Noomi Rapace as Lisbet but really not Michael Nyquist as Michael Blomquist. The book character leaves the impression of being a really handsome guy, a heartbreaker but a tough cookie at the same time. In the film he is not that good-looking and a bit fake, even pathetic.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Spring has finally arrived in Estonia
Finally finally the snow is gone and we have a beautiful spring here. Have had fab blue sky for a few weeks now with the exeption of the days when the ash cloud was here. Days are long now, well after 9 pm it is still light.
Last week was a bit crazy in town with the ash cloud forcing air traffic to standstill and NATO foreign ministers meeting due here. But as mirracles go for this meeting to go ahead the sky was free by Wednesday and half city centre blocked off for normal people and all traffic.
Anyway with warmer weather and sunshine we really want to get out of town more. We took a spa minibreak last weekend in Haapsalu - a small town on the coast about 100 km from Tallinn. We keep driving through Haapsalu on our way to Hiiumaa, the island, but haven't been in the town for years. It has developed quite nicely with lovely small coffe shops and they are just reconstructing the coastal promenade. The Fra Mare Spa is a bit outside just on the beach - sand and pine trees and "ionized" air as they say. We used the different saunas and pools. They even have an outdoor heated pool. And then the famous mud treatment. Have to lay down on a plastic sheet and then get a bucket of fresh warm and smelly mud poured over you. The mud-lady spreads it all over except face and wraps you in plastic sheets and blankets for 20 minutes. Very nice! It is supposed to cure all sorts of ailments and remove toxins. However, even after shower and sauna the smell is still there. Took a few days to fade.
Last week was a bit crazy in town with the ash cloud forcing air traffic to standstill and NATO foreign ministers meeting due here. But as mirracles go for this meeting to go ahead the sky was free by Wednesday and half city centre blocked off for normal people and all traffic.
Anyway with warmer weather and sunshine we really want to get out of town more. We took a spa minibreak last weekend in Haapsalu - a small town on the coast about 100 km from Tallinn. We keep driving through Haapsalu on our way to Hiiumaa, the island, but haven't been in the town for years. It has developed quite nicely with lovely small coffe shops and they are just reconstructing the coastal promenade. The Fra Mare Spa is a bit outside just on the beach - sand and pine trees and "ionized" air as they say. We used the different saunas and pools. They even have an outdoor heated pool. And then the famous mud treatment. Have to lay down on a plastic sheet and then get a bucket of fresh warm and smelly mud poured over you. The mud-lady spreads it all over except face and wraps you in plastic sheets and blankets for 20 minutes. Very nice! It is supposed to cure all sorts of ailments and remove toxins. However, even after shower and sauna the smell is still there. Took a few days to fade.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Back from the sunny Egypt
Arrived back here late Sunday night after a week of sunshine and warmth. The good thing here - most of the snow is gone now and the worst slosh was here while we were away!
Egypt was fab. Similar temperatures to Singapore (+28C) but very dry, so it doesn't make you sweat at all. And it cools down quite a bit in the evenings, so really pleasant. The sea was +26C - still warmer than the unheated swimming pools at the hotel. And we loved it! Just on the beach of the hotel was a beautiful reef, dropping down 10 meters or so just some 10 meters from the shore. They had their own jetty, so you could walk to the drop-off point. We usually swam but on the last days the water got very shallow, so couldn't swim from the shore. Beautiful coral and fish life! We spotted a giant puffer - about 1 m long and nice fat in a kind of cave on the shallow bit and it was sitting there and blinking its big dark blue eyes for several days. Then Robert scared him away unfortunately and on our last day the water was to shallow to get to it (him,her?). But a very funny fish it was indeed.
We also made a small half day trip to the Ras Mohammed nature reserve - more snorkelling and some other sites. It was more open sea so the water was too cold for the kids to swim. Beatrice swam out at one spot. Robert saw a barracuda, I didn't see anything that I didn't see at the hotel reef as well. They showed us the cracks in the desert that happened during 1981 earthquake. Now filled with water and up to 15 meters deep. First time for all of us to see anything like it, very interesting. And there is a small mangrove forest as well. Rather different from S-E Asian mangroves and a bit of a surprize there right next to the desert. Then we had a "buffet lunch" with a difference - sitting on rugs by the beach. Men had been cooking on charcole there and then. We were the first ones there but then groups started to arrive one after another dominated by Russians and it got very busy and noisy. Food was tasty though and nobody got sick.
The rest of the time we just stayed at our hotel - with the beach, several pools, gym and kids club there was enough to do for us. Beatrice probably liked the kids club best - a bit of a homecoming really with an Indonesian nanny Resa, who was the sweetest person you can imagine. Just like they are - happy and playful. It was in fact always a struggle to make them leave the club to come to the beach.
Food was great but we tryed to stick to a certain exercise routine and with all these stairs to go up and down to get to the beach and back managed to balance it quite well.
Would definitely do that again - such an easy break to take from here with direct flight and no time difference. There had to be a hickup at the end of course. Were on the plane already (that was delayed by half a day that we spent at the hotel)as they were calling for a passanger. She arrived finally. Then the captain announces that because of her delay we had lost our slot for take-off and the next one available is in 2 hours 30 minutes. I was sure there would be an announcement after a few minutes that this was a joke but there wasn't and it wasn't a joke. So we sat there for 2 hours! And with the Estonians being so calm and patient nobody even tryed to lynch the lady (who was in check-in before us!).
Meanwhile here - as I had expected my article was published in the beginning of last week and it had caused a real storm - 400 comments on the website within the first day, official replies from the ministry of education, teacher's association, student's association etc. However the only people who shared my views seem to be the ones who live or have lived abroad and have had kids in school in UK or other places. Everyone here seems to think 3 months summer break is fine because the kids are so tired of school and work so hard and there is so little sunlight most of the year! Well, I give up. But a great experiment in a way that one comment can stir such an upheaval!
Egypt was fab. Similar temperatures to Singapore (+28C) but very dry, so it doesn't make you sweat at all. And it cools down quite a bit in the evenings, so really pleasant. The sea was +26C - still warmer than the unheated swimming pools at the hotel. And we loved it! Just on the beach of the hotel was a beautiful reef, dropping down 10 meters or so just some 10 meters from the shore. They had their own jetty, so you could walk to the drop-off point. We usually swam but on the last days the water got very shallow, so couldn't swim from the shore. Beautiful coral and fish life! We spotted a giant puffer - about 1 m long and nice fat in a kind of cave on the shallow bit and it was sitting there and blinking its big dark blue eyes for several days. Then Robert scared him away unfortunately and on our last day the water was to shallow to get to it (him,her?). But a very funny fish it was indeed.
We also made a small half day trip to the Ras Mohammed nature reserve - more snorkelling and some other sites. It was more open sea so the water was too cold for the kids to swim. Beatrice swam out at one spot. Robert saw a barracuda, I didn't see anything that I didn't see at the hotel reef as well. They showed us the cracks in the desert that happened during 1981 earthquake. Now filled with water and up to 15 meters deep. First time for all of us to see anything like it, very interesting. And there is a small mangrove forest as well. Rather different from S-E Asian mangroves and a bit of a surprize there right next to the desert. Then we had a "buffet lunch" with a difference - sitting on rugs by the beach. Men had been cooking on charcole there and then. We were the first ones there but then groups started to arrive one after another dominated by Russians and it got very busy and noisy. Food was tasty though and nobody got sick.
The rest of the time we just stayed at our hotel - with the beach, several pools, gym and kids club there was enough to do for us. Beatrice probably liked the kids club best - a bit of a homecoming really with an Indonesian nanny Resa, who was the sweetest person you can imagine. Just like they are - happy and playful. It was in fact always a struggle to make them leave the club to come to the beach.
Food was great but we tryed to stick to a certain exercise routine and with all these stairs to go up and down to get to the beach and back managed to balance it quite well.
Would definitely do that again - such an easy break to take from here with direct flight and no time difference. There had to be a hickup at the end of course. Were on the plane already (that was delayed by half a day that we spent at the hotel)as they were calling for a passanger. She arrived finally. Then the captain announces that because of her delay we had lost our slot for take-off and the next one available is in 2 hours 30 minutes. I was sure there would be an announcement after a few minutes that this was a joke but there wasn't and it wasn't a joke. So we sat there for 2 hours! And with the Estonians being so calm and patient nobody even tryed to lynch the lady (who was in check-in before us!).
Meanwhile here - as I had expected my article was published in the beginning of last week and it had caused a real storm - 400 comments on the website within the first day, official replies from the ministry of education, teacher's association, student's association etc. However the only people who shared my views seem to be the ones who live or have lived abroad and have had kids in school in UK or other places. Everyone here seems to think 3 months summer break is fine because the kids are so tired of school and work so hard and there is so little sunlight most of the year! Well, I give up. But a great experiment in a way that one comment can stir such an upheaval!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Just sitting at the airport and waiting for our flight to Sharm-el-sheikh that has been delayed by an hour. Can't wait to get some sun and warmth on the skin! We have had more snow this week and even went skiing on Wednesday - Robert and the boys and me. After that it has started to melt and the streets don't look pretty. I wish it would be really warm while we are away and all this terrible stuff will be gone when we come back.
Beatrice has tryed the 2nd grade this week at school. She struggles of course with the Estonian at this level but I think we could work on it and get there in the end. However we have a much bigger hurdle to overcome - she has really grown fond of the girls in her grade 1 class and misses them badly, also she says the gr 2 teacher is mean. She is really kind of rough and it probably doesn't fit into her plan to have an extra student in class. So will have to see what we will do after the break. In a way I want her to work at the top of her abilities but on the other hand if she is so unhappy with the social side of it it does not make much sense. Quite tricky. Estonian school system doesn't apply individual attention that she is used to so it is a long uphill struggle. In fact I have started my quest in the education policy and written an article about school holidays. Probably they will publish while we are away and all kids will be expelled from school anyway! It's just that the 3-month long summer holiday has no more economical reason like it used to and only means that kids have less time in school than in other countries and the schedule is so tight to get all the curriculum done in a shorter time. More on that later.
Beatrice has tryed the 2nd grade this week at school. She struggles of course with the Estonian at this level but I think we could work on it and get there in the end. However we have a much bigger hurdle to overcome - she has really grown fond of the girls in her grade 1 class and misses them badly, also she says the gr 2 teacher is mean. She is really kind of rough and it probably doesn't fit into her plan to have an extra student in class. So will have to see what we will do after the break. In a way I want her to work at the top of her abilities but on the other hand if she is so unhappy with the social side of it it does not make much sense. Quite tricky. Estonian school system doesn't apply individual attention that she is used to so it is a long uphill struggle. In fact I have started my quest in the education policy and written an article about school holidays. Probably they will publish while we are away and all kids will be expelled from school anyway! It's just that the 3-month long summer holiday has no more economical reason like it used to and only means that kids have less time in school than in other countries and the schedule is so tight to get all the curriculum done in a shorter time. More on that later.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Have had a bit of a change to our usual routine now! Robert is back from Croatia since 1 week. The last weeks there were a bit of a wild west atmosphere - subcontractors requesting their pay from the shipyard with Kalashnikovs in the car boot, fights and police investigations. It seems the Croatians are still a bit influenced by the recent war and more easily ready to draw a gun to resolve issues... The project team was removed from the island for the last week for safety reasons! But Robert got back safe and sound.
We also had our Swedish grandma here last weekend. She came while Beatrice was still down with a bad tummy bug that has been going around. The only ones in the family to be spared were Grandma Heli and me, everyone else got it - kids, Robert, my parents. Then last week the boy's kindergarten had 2 cases of scarlet fever so we have kept them out of there, don't want to take the risk before the holiday! Will have to check the situation on that tomorrow and decide what to do for this week. They are too bored staying at home of course.
Luckily last week the movie "Girl with the dragon tattoo" was still on and we managed to go and see it. Don't know if they have shown it in Singapore or UK, Swedish movie by Norwegian director. I liked most of it but they had changed some details compared with the book. Partly understandable but there was one particular scene that I found annoying - when Martin Vanger drives away after his horrors were discovered, in the book he just drives into the oncoming truck and Lisbet turns around - in the film his car makes a few turns and Lisbet stands next to the car while he begs her to help him and she just walk away after the car blows up. I fought this scene made Lisbet appear ruthless and mean which she isn't in the same way in the book. Now the second part is showing, looking forward to go and see it.
Spring is still not coming - we have days with lovely sunshine and +3 temp but the next night it might snow again. More of the same forcast for the starting week. If it goes on like that it will take until July for all the snow to melt. Of course it has given us a chance to do more ice-skating and outdoor snow fun.
We also had our Swedish grandma here last weekend. She came while Beatrice was still down with a bad tummy bug that has been going around. The only ones in the family to be spared were Grandma Heli and me, everyone else got it - kids, Robert, my parents. Then last week the boy's kindergarten had 2 cases of scarlet fever so we have kept them out of there, don't want to take the risk before the holiday! Will have to check the situation on that tomorrow and decide what to do for this week. They are too bored staying at home of course.
Luckily last week the movie "Girl with the dragon tattoo" was still on and we managed to go and see it. Don't know if they have shown it in Singapore or UK, Swedish movie by Norwegian director. I liked most of it but they had changed some details compared with the book. Partly understandable but there was one particular scene that I found annoying - when Martin Vanger drives away after his horrors were discovered, in the book he just drives into the oncoming truck and Lisbet turns around - in the film his car makes a few turns and Lisbet stands next to the car while he begs her to help him and she just walk away after the car blows up. I fought this scene made Lisbet appear ruthless and mean which she isn't in the same way in the book. Now the second part is showing, looking forward to go and see it.
Spring is still not coming - we have days with lovely sunshine and +3 temp but the next night it might snow again. More of the same forcast for the starting week. If it goes on like that it will take until July for all the snow to melt. Of course it has given us a chance to do more ice-skating and outdoor snow fun.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
This week we have become big fans of ice-skating. Beatrice went with her school on Monday and she liked it so much that we all went on Tuesday again and then again on Thursday. There is this lovely ice-rink in the old town just next to the Niguliste church with views towards the old town center with snowy rooftops and old church towers. Surprizingly Raoul and Karl absolutely love ice-skating as well and are amazingly good at it considering Tue was their first try. They didn't even want to use the frames to help with the balance, just off at full speed. This ice-rink attracts interesting crowds as well, lots of tourists just passing by and deciding to go spontaneously, young romantic couples, kids having fun, some grown-up first time on the ice - that's a fun site! The kids just keep asking every day if we can go ice-skating again. They are supposed to have a live camera on the web but last time we tryed it didn't work. www.uisuplats.ee
It has been a sort of holiday week anyway. 24th of Feb is the Estonian national holiday with military parade, president's reception for the 900 VIPs on TV etc. we went to see the parade for the first time. It was a lovely day -9 degrees, sunshine, light snowfall, just perfect. Waded through knee-deep snow to get high up on the hill-side of Harjumagi to have a good view. Was quite cool to see all this, Raoul especially liked it, kept asking "When are they going to shoot at the enemies?" Hope not in our lifetime (although they are in Afghanistan). After the parade kids could go and climb into the military vehicles, touch the canons etc. To my big surprize there were a lot of Russian-speakers around, waving Estonian flags. Found this a big difference compared to 12 years ago.
Mum and dad and sis and b-in-law came over for dinner and to watch the reception - the main past-time for the "commoners" that day, commenting the dresses etc...
Yesterday Beatrice had no school as well and we did a small winter olympics in the park with a Canadian girl from her class and her family. It has become milder and the snow is melting now. Everyone was quite wet after 1.5 hours and we really enjoyed the hot chocolate at their house. Also a good opportunity for the kids not to forget their English.
Today we are off to ballett - Snow-White and the seven dwarfs. Boys will go to the movies with my sis.
It has been a sort of holiday week anyway. 24th of Feb is the Estonian national holiday with military parade, president's reception for the 900 VIPs on TV etc. we went to see the parade for the first time. It was a lovely day -9 degrees, sunshine, light snowfall, just perfect. Waded through knee-deep snow to get high up on the hill-side of Harjumagi to have a good view. Was quite cool to see all this, Raoul especially liked it, kept asking "When are they going to shoot at the enemies?" Hope not in our lifetime (although they are in Afghanistan). After the parade kids could go and climb into the military vehicles, touch the canons etc. To my big surprize there were a lot of Russian-speakers around, waving Estonian flags. Found this a big difference compared to 12 years ago.
Mum and dad and sis and b-in-law came over for dinner and to watch the reception - the main past-time for the "commoners" that day, commenting the dresses etc...
Yesterday Beatrice had no school as well and we did a small winter olympics in the park with a Canadian girl from her class and her family. It has become milder and the snow is melting now. Everyone was quite wet after 1.5 hours and we really enjoyed the hot chocolate at their house. Also a good opportunity for the kids not to forget their English.
Today we are off to ballett - Snow-White and the seven dwarfs. Boys will go to the movies with my sis.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Happy New Year!
Who would have imagined it but we did end up celebrating Chinese New Year here last Sunday. We had tickets for a children's play that was really funny especially seen from the first row. Rushed back to the car afterwards to find the square near the carpark covered in smoke and fire - they had set off real chinese style fire crackers to welcome the year of Tiger. Also there were artists making snow sculptures of the 12 animal signs. Good fun. And then I got back to make my pineapple tarts. Just as expected the assembling part turned out too tricky so I gave up after a while and just made circles of pastry with the pineapple filling on top. Worked for us.
On Monday had my CNY class at B's school. Lots of preparations in fact - bought some forsythia branches, sheets of red paper, sweets, tangerines, collected all sorts of chinese nicknacks at home, decorations that the boys had made previously. Dressed up in our chong sams (both B and me). I gave them a short overview about the customs and traditions and then we made the ang pow envelopes. Think it worked really quite well. Was a good opportunity for me to meet the girls as well.
Karl has been at home with a virus for the rest of the week - ears and tummy! Luckily the others have been healthy. Today we are kind of snow-trapped again. It has been snowing more and more and today there is fierce wind and temperature around -15. B has a friend over to play and it is actually quite nice to have a Saturday without having all these activities. Was planning to go out in the evening to a concert with my sis but am getting quite doubtful in this blizzard.
Found this book in google about third culture kids. I have been feeling quite torn about bringing my kids here. In a way they need an identity and after having read parts of the book I feel assured that this is a good idea. On the other hand I keep asking if it is right not to give them an English language base education. Anyway, for all of you my expat friends, this is a great input. Have a look! Can't get the print version here, Amazon doesn't deliver to Estonia1
Hopefully a slightly milder temperature tomorrow - we need our weekly skiing exercise!
On Monday had my CNY class at B's school. Lots of preparations in fact - bought some forsythia branches, sheets of red paper, sweets, tangerines, collected all sorts of chinese nicknacks at home, decorations that the boys had made previously. Dressed up in our chong sams (both B and me). I gave them a short overview about the customs and traditions and then we made the ang pow envelopes. Think it worked really quite well. Was a good opportunity for me to meet the girls as well.
Karl has been at home with a virus for the rest of the week - ears and tummy! Luckily the others have been healthy. Today we are kind of snow-trapped again. It has been snowing more and more and today there is fierce wind and temperature around -15. B has a friend over to play and it is actually quite nice to have a Saturday without having all these activities. Was planning to go out in the evening to a concert with my sis but am getting quite doubtful in this blizzard.
Found this book in google about third culture kids. I have been feeling quite torn about bringing my kids here. In a way they need an identity and after having read parts of the book I feel assured that this is a good idea. On the other hand I keep asking if it is right not to give them an English language base education. Anyway, for all of you my expat friends, this is a great input. Have a look! Can't get the print version here, Amazon doesn't deliver to Estonia1
Hopefully a slightly milder temperature tomorrow - we need our weekly skiing exercise!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Finally got my car back yesterday in the worst snow storm so traffic was moving at 10km/h. With our rental car friend managed to figure out a few more buttons but still so much more to "unlock".
Have been preparing for the Chinese New Year! I always seem to adjust to the customs of places we live with a slight delay - best after we have moved to the next place. I suggestewd to Beatrice's teacher to do an hour for her class about the customs of CNY celebrations in Singapore and of course it has grown into a mini-project. First it took ages to find the right tone and thickness of red paper - will make some lanterns and ang pao's. Then of course searched the net for pineapple tarts. Corina thankfully sent a recipy but that seemed to require at least a degree from Larousse! So found a much simpler version and have prepared filling and pastry but putting them together still seems a bit daunting. Pastry keeps crumbling away so I might end up just cutting out round shapes and splashing some filling on top.
Last weekend we did another attempt of cross country skiing. Karl started askind "when are we there" after 10 meters skiing and was a total whimp even though his skiing was so much better than first time. Beatrice and Raoul however enjoyed it very much and after we were back at the start after the first round the wanted to do another one! And then one more. Just left Karl behind to play in the snow at the start. Will go again today. Beatrice's school does lessons for them and hopefully she will catch up some technique.
Also went to see a kids musical which was very very good - based on a few books of one of today's best Estonian kids authors (who happens to be a uni friend of mine). All kids know these stories by heart. The music was lovely, catchy tunes and dances, crazy costumes.
Boys went to an English playhour at the International School. Unfortunately there was only one other boy this week but hopefully normal group next time. This is probably the best I can do to keep their English going (apart from watching CN). They have had a great week at kindy as well - went to a trip to the old town by tram. And the "snow city". Also had a puppet theatre at kindy.
Beatrice and me went to a Mandarin lesson on Thursday. Mainly with the aim that she could keep some of what she has learned in Singapore. For me it sounds like Chinese! We'll see if we can keep it up. Either it is the age or total lack of reference to another language but it does not look very promising for me. As was to expected - after nearly 2 years in Singapore my Mandarin consists of less than 10 words. Will have to spent the next 1000 years learning in that pace.
Have been preparing for the Chinese New Year! I always seem to adjust to the customs of places we live with a slight delay - best after we have moved to the next place. I suggestewd to Beatrice's teacher to do an hour for her class about the customs of CNY celebrations in Singapore and of course it has grown into a mini-project. First it took ages to find the right tone and thickness of red paper - will make some lanterns and ang pao's. Then of course searched the net for pineapple tarts. Corina thankfully sent a recipy but that seemed to require at least a degree from Larousse! So found a much simpler version and have prepared filling and pastry but putting them together still seems a bit daunting. Pastry keeps crumbling away so I might end up just cutting out round shapes and splashing some filling on top.
Last weekend we did another attempt of cross country skiing. Karl started askind "when are we there" after 10 meters skiing and was a total whimp even though his skiing was so much better than first time. Beatrice and Raoul however enjoyed it very much and after we were back at the start after the first round the wanted to do another one! And then one more. Just left Karl behind to play in the snow at the start. Will go again today. Beatrice's school does lessons for them and hopefully she will catch up some technique.
Also went to see a kids musical which was very very good - based on a few books of one of today's best Estonian kids authors (who happens to be a uni friend of mine). All kids know these stories by heart. The music was lovely, catchy tunes and dances, crazy costumes.
Boys went to an English playhour at the International School. Unfortunately there was only one other boy this week but hopefully normal group next time. This is probably the best I can do to keep their English going (apart from watching CN). They have had a great week at kindy as well - went to a trip to the old town by tram. And the "snow city". Also had a puppet theatre at kindy.
Beatrice and me went to a Mandarin lesson on Thursday. Mainly with the aim that she could keep some of what she has learned in Singapore. For me it sounds like Chinese! We'll see if we can keep it up. Either it is the age or total lack of reference to another language but it does not look very promising for me. As was to expected - after nearly 2 years in Singapore my Mandarin consists of less than 10 words. Will have to spent the next 1000 years learning in that pace.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
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...
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...
Thursday, January 7, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
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...
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...
Friday, January 1, 2010
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.
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.
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