tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post344347383197728166..comments2023-11-05T09:55:13.077+02:00Comments on Itching for Eestimaa: exile on tallinn streetGiustinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04756707910693785516noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-81878248670945315272011-10-13T15:49:06.815+02:002011-10-13T15:49:06.815+02:00How did I miss the part about *munching on olives ...How did I miss the part about *munching on olives and fennel and telling pointless jokes and stories?* I INSIST on the implementation of a mezzogiorno!meerkatz007https://www.blogger.com/profile/05968530434885690944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-32106209258270921732011-10-11T09:49:42.189+02:002011-10-11T09:49:42.189+02:00"The more I think about it, I don't fit i..."The more I think about it, I don't fit into America or Estonia or anywhere. I have become a perpetual foreigner. I will be a foreigner everywhere I go."<br /><br />Seega "ei lind ega loom" (<i>"То ли птица, то ли зверь"</i>, this is also name of an old soviet cartoon http://mults.spb.ru/mults/?id=2164. You should see it).<br /><br />I think you just have to decide where you want to belong and act accordingly.<br /><br />I still remember how surprised I was when I readed your post about black bread, noticing, that you have wroted it after living here 7 or 8 years. Where had your eyes and ears been so far? Maybe you want to step out from your box and start to listen people to understand how they think. You are not able to change all the others, but you maybe are able to change yourself.<br /><br />Estonia has one of the world's highest forest coverage and forestry isn't any more rocket science than growing whatever else. Therefore forest it's quite natural part of our lives.<br /><br />I know some foreigners who doesn't seem to have obstacles to speak about whatever topic with estonian (not counting estonian russians - they are enough local anyway). Few days ago I discussed with my neighbour with foreign origin - after livin more than 10 years here he is still having heavy accent- about our building basement and he mentioned me during conversation "vasara lukk". I was slightly surprised and and for me this was sign that this guy knows everything. Do you recognize something as "vasara lukk" when you see one?Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17928614985386874222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-2032960335979199432011-09-24T22:47:28.340+02:002011-09-24T22:47:28.340+02:00tsau! minu nimi on jule ma ma olen vahetusõpilane ...tsau! minu nimi on jule ma ma olen vahetusõpilane Eestis aastaks - ma olen pärit Saksamaalt. ma saain te esimest raamatut sünnipäevaks - inglise ja Eesti keeles - ja see on nii hea! ma armastan kui imelik te kirjutate, ma naeran nii palju ;-) ja see aitab mind eesti keelt õpida. ma tõesti pean osta teine raamatut! suur tänu!<br />(ma loodan et ma ei tegi nii palju viga, ma tõesti pean õppida rohkem.)julehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06909640213771710273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-83957954840480512062011-09-22T13:54:26.291+02:002011-09-22T13:54:26.291+02:00I get really sleepy/tired around 2pm. The morning ...I get really sleepy/tired around 2pm. The morning coffee wears off, I eat and then eat some more, can't bring myself out of it until around 5pm. An hour of work at that point, at best, and then I start cooking dinner, which IS usually savory. <br /><br />I'm sure I'm not the only one.Kristopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01394211030848077681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-57764021609841395492011-09-15T11:21:57.422+02:002011-09-15T11:21:57.422+02:00"The more I think about it, I don't fit i..."The more I think about it, I don't fit into America or Estonia or anywhere. I have become a perpetual foreigner. I will be a foreigner everywhere I go."<br /><br />Yeah, I don't think that the way you feel has anything to do with Estonia, but rather with your own inability to feel like you belong anywhere. Not saying it's a bad thing, but I believe you'd probably feel out of place anywhere you'd go.<br />in my case it was quite strange, I felt very much at home in Estonia from the beginning, and then when going back to my own country for a while I actually missed my "Estonian home", and all that despite the challenges one faces when relocation to a foreign country.Spawniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01591255810208162691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-31718627776578048242011-09-15T02:19:31.239+02:002011-09-15T02:19:31.239+02:00I imagine hearing estonian males relate to each ot...I imagine hearing estonian males relate to each other through construction and forestry discussions must be just as boring as hearing the american males do the same, endlessly discussing college basketball or football. I could care less and I cannot show it. How do I hide my boredom?<br /><br />I just grab my beer and walk away to see what else is happening at the party. Which is pretty much nothing. Hey, it's suburbia. Middle age. All these people are so boring ... Hey, nice digs, nice cars, nice jobs, nice vacations ... but the emptiness ... wives starting to look like old ladies ... kids are getting brattier ... nothing to talk about with anyone.<br /><br />I am beginning to feel like Kevin Spacy's character in the "American Beauty" more and more.<br /><br />I should start working out i guess ... see what happens.<br /><br />I am no Nabokov or other high flying intellectual so what else is there for an average guy lik eme to do?LPRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09397977705898254598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-39602076006895799352011-09-14T22:38:48.480+02:002011-09-14T22:38:48.480+02:00Doris, my wife (who is Russian) tells me the same ...Doris, my wife (who is Russian) tells me the same thing about childhood stories (I got to see Siil Udus -- or rather Ezhik v Tumane -- through her...). Which of course creates a picturesque conflict between her and our Dutchified daughter who is growing up with My Little Pony and the Power Rangers (though she has a special liking for Avatar). They connect on a lot of levels, but this ain't one of them...Lingüistahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06327147408198046253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-7118774339838326712011-09-14T10:09:25.889+02:002011-09-14T10:09:25.889+02:00ah yes, the conversation that goes on and while yo...ah yes, the conversation that goes on and while you understand every word, you've no idea what they're talking about. Netherlands-specific topic for this is the Water and dyke politics. They have a whole separate government/political elections for that.<br /><br />But one thing I've noticed that's more of a watershed between Western and Soviet people is the childhood stories and mass media. Nobody ever knows about Siil Udus or Briljantk2si ("I fell, passed out, woke up: gips!") and I really don't know much about the Power Rangers or My Little Pony. That will be better for the generation just now in their teens and early 20's though: they can reminisce together about the Teletubbies at least.Dorishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12942338677951019959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-75412024102258059432011-09-13T19:51:17.464+02:002011-09-13T19:51:17.464+02:00I hear your, bro. I tried to apply for a loan yest...I hear your, bro. I tried to apply for a loan yesterday. Was told I haven't been here long enough to quaify, despite being here four years working and studying...Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12481927677399385515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-43103556084722490562011-09-12T13:15:13.944+02:002011-09-12T13:15:13.944+02:00As an Irish person who spends a lot of time in Tal...As an Irish person who spends a lot of time in Tallinn, I actually like the feeling of being a foreigner. It gives a unique vantage and awareness of the people and the society. I am very lucky to have a large network of family and close friends in Tallinn so at this point I feel a real connection is available, although I do identify with the coolness of strangers. Making friends in Estonia takes longer, but the friendships made are usually less fickle than in the west.McGonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04555610523548919420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-55335392968623935222011-09-12T09:44:25.343+02:002011-09-12T09:44:25.343+02:00Dear Giustino,
as for the construction workers: t...Dear Giustino,<br /><br />as for the construction workers: they slave away because their boss usually tells them that if they don't do that there will be a long queue of applicants waiting to take their place ... and unemployment benefits are non-existent, as you know. Booze and cigarettes are often the only way to deal with the stress and feel a brief release. <br /><br />As to the rest of it ... you're such a nice lad that I'm sure people love talking to you. They appreciate your effort and yes, your kindness and compassion. I remember, when working together with Americans at one time, and with Finns at another and then with Spaniards - myself being Estonian - we were talking all the time, not just to pass the time but real deep stuff. I also remember that basically the only time I felt a wall of misunderstanding between us was when the subject of Russians (and everything related to it: WW II, the Soviet occupation, the language issue, our relations) came up. They just didn't get it. But we always put it down to them coming from big nations. <br /><br />Now I'm a foreigner myself in a country that's even smaller than Estonia. So the situation is pretty much the same for me ... but like yourself, I have great liking to the people here and I'm making an effort. And people really warm up. Sure, I don't expect to be integrated right away but I think we will be able to look at each other some time in the future and not just see two-dimensional figures but real people. Well, mayebe not entirely, but that will have to do :)<br /><br />A strange thing though. The people of this country (I mean the natives) have no problem identifying Estonia (as opposed to one big East-Europe) and they are very sensitive to our history. But it's a small nation! That's what always happens with people from small nations, we can relate in these matters. They have been occupied by God knows whom in the past so they understand :)meerkatz007https://www.blogger.com/profile/05968530434885690944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-58965512677610943242011-09-11T23:38:58.827+02:002011-09-11T23:38:58.827+02:00As someone with significant ties to Estonia who ju...As someone with significant ties to Estonia who just relocated back at "home" to Washington, DC, I couldn't have related more to your post. Thanks for sharing your personal insight--it's shared.Dzeniferkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12148381073086490482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-21298854261510413592011-09-11T19:12:27.755+02:002011-09-11T19:12:27.755+02:00As a writer, Giustino, you're in good company ...As a writer, Giustino, you're in good company in terms of your perpetual 'foreignness' -- with Conrad, Nabokov and that ultimate 'NYC foreigner' Susan Sontag:<br /><br />“I like foreigners. I feel like a foreigner in New York. I like not being too comfortable.”<br /><br /><br />"I don't like America enough to want to live anywhere else except Manhattan. And what I like about Manhattan is that it's full of foreigners. The America I live in is the America of the cities. The rest is just drive-through."<br /><br /> -- Susan Sontag<br /><br /><br />“And there was the notion of the foreigner. I have done a novel about English people in southern Italy, a novel about Poles in America, and the next one is going to be about French people in Japan. I say it's a privilege to be a foreigner, it's such an intensifier of experience.”Karlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06667947814443772679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-88447641044102294122011-09-11T19:05:43.869+02:002011-09-11T19:05:43.869+02:00Ah! Finally! You've come to that same realiz...Ah! Finally! You've come to that same realization. Now you feel that incredible lightness of being. Something I've come to call "being and island". It took me two decades to figure out what the heck is it.<br /><br />We belong everywhere and nowhere in particular. We are passionate, yet detached. We are passing through life making tons of friends and getting attached to no one in particular. <br /><br />Ah, you made my day, G!<br /><br />I am not alone. (Not that I'd care that much. Right?)<br /><br />Thank you. Thank you.LPRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09397977705898254598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-41146802421981827512011-09-11T17:43:07.430+02:002011-09-11T17:43:07.430+02:00Well, foreigners are always, well, different from ...Well, foreigners are always, well, different from us, so reactions to them tend to be seasoned by whatever stereotypes one does (or worse, doesn't) believe in. The Dutch are always overly careful with foreigners, who of course know nothing about the Netherlands. They think they have to tell you that the queen is Beatrix and the prime minister is Mark Rutte. And if you want to talk about politics, they'll be surprised if you can keep from confusing the PvdA with the CDA.<br /><br />But basically, you do have to find some other level at which contact can be made, so that your interlocutor 'forgets' you're a foreigner. Maybe you could go to a club or a course on something that you like -- pop music, history (maybe reminiscing about the <i>Nõukugude aeg</i>?), cooking, some sport -- and then have actual conversations with the other members? (It helped me to start learinng Greek here in the Netherlands. I happened to land in a group of people that were actually quite nice, orgainzed a few parties and outings, and we always had a handy topic of conversation, Greece and our experience -- or lack thereof -- with it.)Lingüistahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06327147408198046253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-46464379241131686292011-09-11T12:04:33.578+02:002011-09-11T12:04:33.578+02:00"Amonia"?"Amonia"?Simohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12187940105366820637noreply@blogger.com