Castles, waterfalls, Russian villages in Estonia, and... Russia?

The next day it was a late started but we got started eventually anyways. We went and toured a castle, a waterfall that wasn’t very big at the moment (and also had a broken bridge), a Russian village, and the border of Russia. I think my favorite part of that day was the Russian city because it really reminded me of Moldova. The thing with this city tis that it was a military city during Soviet times, and it was actually blockaded too (like the country house). Except no one really knew about it… and didn’t seem to care sicne they couldn’t get in. Because it wasn’t far from Russia, they only spoke Russian there. So when Estonia became independent, the blockade was taken down but the city didn’t change. In fact, most of the people there don’t know how to speak or understand Estonian and they don’t seem to really care to learn it… because they don’t have to. We didn’t spend much time there, but we did stop at a restaurant (the directions were drawn on a cardboard piece) and had some traditional Pelemiid (my favorite Moldovan dish), and meat kebabs. Because there was only 1 cook, we all ordered the same thing to make things easier.

After lunch we headed to the Russian border. Chris spent some time in the military in the 90’s when things were still corrupt, and said he spent some time living in this city. He also told stories of when he’d go out with his other police friends when they had their time off and they dressed in their uniforms and would pull people over and bribe them for money. Eventually, though, the police force figured out everyone was doing this and they cracked down on it and got it stopped. So we got to see Russia. It was just on the other side of the river, and felt so weird because there we were: in Europe… which is completely different than Russia. We could see it. We could even through a rock into it (if we had a good arm) but we couldn’t go to it. A man asked me to take his picture and he was speaking in Russian, but I got the jist of what he was saying when he said something and pointed to himself and his camera and the castle on the Russian side (there was one in Estonia and one in Russia- right across the river). Then he said something else and I didn’t get it, so I responded in the first foreign language that came to my mind, which was Romanian. Well that started up a broken conversation because he actually knew a little Romanian from working in Moscow with all of the Moldovans. His had family from Turkey and Bulgaria, but grew up in Moscow and now works in Estonia. Pretty crazy story, but it was actually nice to be speaking Romanian again.

Animal calls

That next night consisted of more meat, more alcohol, and more awesome conversations. We went to the neighbor’s house and spoke with him and his family under the roof of the summer kitchen they had built which kept us out of the rain and surprisingly away from many mosquitos. The best topic of conversation we had was animal sounds, and national anthems. We went around the table saying the different sounds that animals make in our languages (we even had a guy from Finland there)… and you wouldn’t believe the different sounds for animals! I mean, sure, people have different languages so that makes sense… but how can a rooster in America say “cockadoodledoo” and in France say “cocorico”? And a dog is “woof woof” “hram hram” “ack ack” and more… so picture grown adults making animals sounds of children… so funny!

Unfortunately the trip was winding to an end and we had an early morning so we could tour the old city before taking everyone to the airport (Matteo and I stuck around because we had our flight to Milan the next day) so we went to bed early (um, 2am). The next morning we spent a couple of hours walking around the city where we saw a bazillion gazillion tourists (because all of the locals were still in the country for the holiday), the oldest working pharmacy in Europe, and beautiful views. Then headed to the airport to say our difficult goodbyes (why is goodbye always difficult??).

Ruins of a convent

Matteo and I then took the van and went to the harbor, where we had lunch before touring the ruins of a convent, sat at the beach for a moment, and then headed back to the apartment to relax after a long (and full!) few days.

Bad news in the village

UNFORTUNATE NEWS

There was no Internet or cell service in the country so I needed to hop online to check my couch status from couchsurfing to see if I had a place for Milan yet. Of course I logged into facebook too (although I will definitely be slowing that down as I realized life is super awesome without it) and I’d received a message from my partner teacher informing me there had been a very terrible accident in my village. The father or one of my students (and friends) was killed, and one of my 9^th grade boys was in critical condition and not expected to make it. There was another guy (20 years old) who is the brother of another student who also wasn’t expected to make it, and 1 more injured but not life-threatening. So I immediately felt I needed to cut my trip short and be back with my friend and my village. Unfortunately a flight out the next morning would cost 900 euros, so I had to calm down and think rationally about the next best option. Since I already had my ticket to Milan and I was going to miss the funeral regardless, I booked a ticket back to Chisinau for Tuesday morning, which gave me a full day in the city to see it. I have since found out that the 20 year old died this morning, but the student is hanging on, although still in a coma (and still not looking good). Oh the power of a seatbelt… I seriously feel naked now not wearing one but the unfortunate thing is I don’t have a choice of wearing one because it doesn’t exist.

The President's House and and open air market

THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE AND AN OPEN AIR MARKET

My flight was booked, and that still gave me a full day in Tallinn before heading to Milan, and then Chisinau. Matteo was sick so I toured the city with Kristiina (Chris’s sister in law), her husband, and their two kiddos. We went to the President’s house which surprised me he actually lived there because you could literally walk up to the base of the front porch before the guards shooed you away. But Kristiina made a good point: the country is small. There are only 1 million people, and it’s not a huge tourist destination, so I guess it’s safer. Plus, they’re not a threat to anyone, so that helps. Then we went to an organic café (the only one in the city) where we saw an Estonian singer, an Estonian model, and 2 TV hosts. I guess it was a popular hangout spot.. but also with the country being so small, she said you see famous Estonians all the time.

Then we went to the open air market which was so clean and organized I felt like I was at a tourist destination- but it was where the locals all go. We had a marzipan cake and then headed to the apartment for fresh strawberries and cherries (and for me to print my boarding pass in order to avoid a 40 euro charge to print it at the airport). Once we returned to Chris’s parent’s apartment and got some chicken soup (just like my host mom makes it!) it was time to head to the airport for our 9:40pm flight.

The President's House and and open air market

THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE AND AN OPEN AIR MARKET

My flight was booked, and that still gave me a full day in Tallinn before heading to Milan, and then Chisinau. Matteo was sick so I toured the city with Kristiina (Chris’s sister in law), her husband, and their two kiddos. We went to the President’s house which surprised me he actually lived there because you could literally walk up to the base of the front porch before the guards shooed you away. But Kristiina made a good point: the country is small. There are only 1 million people, and it’s not a huge tourist destination, so I guess it’s safer. Plus, they’re not a threat to anyone, so that helps. Then we went to an organic café (the only one in the city) where we saw an Estonian singer, an Estonian model, and 2 TV hosts. I guess it was a popular hangout spot.. but also with the country being so small, she said you see famous Estonians all the time.

Then we went to the open air market which was so clean and organized I felt like I was at a tourist destination- but it was where the locals all go. We had a marzipan cake and then headed to the apartment for fresh strawberries and cherries (and for me to print my boarding pass in order to avoid a 40 euro charge to print it at the airport). Once we returned to Chris’s parent’s apartment and got some chicken soup (just like my host mom makes it!) it was time to head to the airport for our 9:40pm flight.

Seasoned traveler? Apparently not.

But, you see, there were a few complications with this trip. First of all, there are baggage restrictions for carry-on bags. Now, I know there are always baggage restrictions but they aren’t strictly enforced.. at least not for carry-ons. My bag couldn’t be larger than 10 kilos, and I only got one (and a laptop bag counts as an additional carry-on, as does a purse, and as does a camera). So at that rate I had 4 bags- unacceptable. So everything had to fit in my carry-on AND be under 10 kilos, which just wasn’t going to happen. Luckily Matteo was a light packer so I was able to fit lots of stuff in his bag and we were ready to go. So I thought.

When we arrived at the airport, because I am not an EU citizen and even though I’d already printed my boarding pass, I still had to go to the counter and check in. when I gave her my printed boarding pass she looked at me like I was crazy. I guess I didn’t that s print it correctly, but what confused me was that the barcode was still there as was the information, but apparently that wasn’t good enough. Luckily she was only kind of cranky and complained and snapped but still printed me a new boarding pass. So I was good to go now, right? Wrong.

We went through security and of course they stopped me for my bag. She pulled out my glasses cleaner and hand sanitizer and empty water bottle (er, bag) and told me I needed to go back out through security and pay 1 euro for a plastic bag. I understand the security precautions and all, but that seemed to be rather unnecessary. I mean, she already pulled them out and saw what they were. But oh well, I wasn’t going to complain too much and just went to do what I was told. But the patter downer lady wouldn’t let me through. Instead she pointed to the computer person and they just gave me a bag. All that drama for nothing .So whew- last stop: board the plane. Not so much.

Matteo suggested getting water because it’s RyanAir and you have to pay for that (and the bathroom). We went into the duty free store and found what we were looking for. It was easier just for one person to pay so I took his and he paid me back. Before she let me pay she said she needed to see my passport and boarding pass. Then the guy behind me said, “I’m Italian. Do you need mine?” She then responded no. I’m not sure the reason behind this… but it just seemed unnecessary (could be that I was already on edge as it was). Ok, so surely that would be the last thing. Nope.

We got to our gate just as it was supposed to open so we could board. Well, it took an additional 45 minutes to get us boarded. What we had to do (once they opened the gate) was give them our ticket (after they’d already come through to everyone and torn them?) and then go down a flight of stairs to take a bus to our plane (oh, low-cost airlines). As I went past the guy and he scanned my ticket, we walked down the stairs. As we were halfway there Matteo caught my attention and told me to turn around (I guess it’d blocked out all sounds, including someone hollering at me in Estonian to come back). I guess they’d originally taken the incorrect part of the ticket and had to give me back the right one. Thankfully that was the last issue in the travels from Estonia to Italy- and I am thankful I didn’t check a bag after all or who knows if I would have had it in time to leave Italy.