11/1/2010

172. Finnish: "Hey!" Me: "Oh, why, hello!" My mind: How in the world did they know I speak English? Finnish speaks again and... dang, I don't understand anything. After a few more greetings from locals, it finally clicked that "hej" is "hello" in Finnish. But these friendly locals didn't mind one bit that I couldn't speak their language. They comfortably switched to English with a smile and a friendly welcome. We loved the warmth and sincerity we felt from these people the second we stepped off our ship. Even from the outgoing and bubbly store cashier to the helpful bus driver, everyone made our stop in Helsinki a special treat. Plus, we got to stay at the temple housing and do temple work!

10/31/2010

171. I don't say this often, but I would love to return to Estonia. (I don't say it often because I think we should be grateful for the moment we are experiencing by living and enjoying it as though it will never happen again.) There is something intriguing about small countries with new independency who are surrounded by imperious nations. This country is learning to define itself while recovering from years of rule from the Russian, Sweden and Soviet empires. During the soviet years, a train ride from St. Petersburg to Tallinn was only 7 cents. Unfortunately, it is quite a bit more these days but hopefully this view from St. Olaf's cathedral tower will entice me to return.

10/30/2010

170. Tallinn, Estonia- ever heard of the place? I never imagined I would be backpacking through the medieval city, mostly because I knew nothing about it before moving to Europe. Our first day there, we were in awe of the pastel colored stores with red roofs and old Lutheran churches. We celebrated our arrival by dining at a medieval themed restaurant called Old Hansa. Audra and I both drank foxberry, while splitting a pricey meal of rabbit (sorry again fluffy) in mushroom sauce, spelt (grain from the 12th century), turnips, and berries.

10/29/2010

169. You know you are a kindergarten teacher when you try and leave the country and a part of your job comes with you. In this case, googly eyes from our our art activities just came along for the eight hour bus ride. Audra didn't find these in her bag until we were drowsily waiting at the Russia-Estonia border for two hours from 1:30-3:30AM. That would explain why this picture was taken.

10/28/2010

168. Waking up at the crack of dawn and walking for forty minutes to Kindergarten #62 is a challenge on Thursday mornings. Oh wait, we're in the most northern city with the biggest population in the world.    That fact doesn't have much to do with anything, other than the sun (and some of the teachers) get to sleep in up here. The sun is finally greeting us at 9:30AM this Thursday morning.

10/27/2010

167. Oh, I love midnight chats with this brown-eyed boy! Lindsey is so lucky to spend a lot of time with her baby boy Peter and I am even more fortunate to catch them both awake and willing to talk. Okay, so Peter didn't do much other than wiggle his cute face in front of the camera and show off his new thumb sucking skills. But his auntie (me) will take all that she can get. I love the Boskovich family and can't wait to see them soon!

10/26/2010

166. Sensible and fashionable. Once upon a time, Ray's host family showed him a consignment store not far from our apartments. Since then, we have all shopped our hearts out for a good Russian deal. The store gets a fresh shipment (of old clothes but some aren't too shabby) on Saturday. From then on, every day there is an additional 10% off- by Friday it's 60%! Lisa looks fabulous in her leather boots and new cotton jacket ($30).