On October 20 the temperature dropped to below zero for the first time this autumn/winter season. Six days later it snowed. In between the days were bright sunny days with clear skies but low temperatures hovering around -2 to +5C. The contrast is significant, confronting your senses with daily challenges to adapt, to calibrate and to appreciate the new beauty of each change. Outside at this moment the ground,  that till yesterday was a carpet of gold and brown covering almost all of the landscape, is now brilliant white, as if the carpet layers quietly changed the decor overnight. It's stimulating to both body and mind, in a sense,  saving you from the danger of becoming "used" to things, and forcing you to realise that time and change are always with us. They are part of living in this world and invite us to embrace them, enjoy them, explore them, rather than find them a source of annoyance or foreboding. In an old classic Australian bush poem.........."We'll all be ruined said Hanrahan " (John O'Brien) Hanrahan, the old farmer sees each seasonal change as a threat. For winter it's floods, for summer it's bushfires and so on. So occupied by fears and forebodings he is unable to enjoy the spring grass and the summer warmth. Yes, there are some here in Estonia who look at the coming winter with some misgivings, just as there are in all communities wherever they live, but hopefully, most of us, whether here or there in Oz can find a real enjoyment in the changes around us, and  in us,  and be energised and refreshed

Today, in the course of our activities, ( Helve to visit Auntie Erna and me to language school ) we had cause to walk quite some distances on the snow covered streets and footpaths of Tartu. It was still snowing at the time, so all this was comparatively new for us. One thing that was evident was that these conditions did little to change the life of the town. People went about their business the same as the day before. We saw young mums, with two year olds wrapped warmly in their snow suits walking through the town on their daily exercise or shopping excursions. One little boy, just old enough to walk, was exploring the snow covered lawn behind Jaani Kirik (a large church in Tartu ) watched from a distance by his dad. When I boarded the bus this morning in the half light to head off to language school the usual travellers on the 7.46 were there, seemingly almost oblivious of the near total change in the landscape. Just another day, maybe just another layer of clothes. On the one hand there's the radical change, on the other the normality of it all. Fascinating!

Same place two days apart.

Most of the birds that habitat Estonia in the spring and summer have left now on their winter migration. The prospect of finding adequate food in a snow covered land is not great, so off they go to southern Europe, and even down into Africa and the Middle East. One little bird the Tihane ( about the size of our finches ) stays behind to tough it out and Estonians have made a 'contract' with this colourful bird to provide food over winter and sometimes beyond. So we stocked up supplies of a special ball of seed enclosed in a fine mesh. We hung this up in our front balcony and were thrilled three days later to have our first visit from "our " Tihane. Hopefully, by winters end we will be firm friends and maybe others will join him/her for their daily feed. I will try and photograph the Tihane feeding and put it in a later blog.  On another subject, with impeccable timing, our friend and relative Anti had arranged to have our new winter tyres fitted just the day before the snow came. It is required by law to have winter tyres from around this date until winter ends in March or April next year. Winter tyres look like ordinary tyres except they have steel studs imbedded in the tread to give extra grip in snow and in particular icy conditions. It's a bit like driving in your footy boots!  All these little ordinary things are introducing these Aussie foreigners to the joys of winter in Estonia.

Little Red Riding Hood

(The wolf is taking the photo )

Language. Being in language school has meant I have had to spend a fair bit of time thinking about language and how it works. Actually learning the language (i.e.. the words ) is one thing, and hard enough in Estonian. In addition, I have come to realise (maybe I'm a bit slow here) that people of a different race not only speak differently using different words, they think differently,  using completely different concepts to express common ideas. You are not able to simply take the words of many sentences and translate them word for word into your language. You may get the translation right, word for word, but the sense may be entirely different or meaningless. For example, Estonians when they meet might greet one another with the Estonian phrase...".kuidas käsi käib " This is essentially saying..." how are you"? If we translate these Estonian words into English they would read...."how is your hand going"? That greeting would seem a little puzzling to an Aussie or to any English speaking person, we don't have some concept of strength of hand in our greetings because we don't think that way. This problem besets a lot of conversation in another language and means that you don't have only learn the words of a new language, you have to come to some understanding of the thinking that underlies it also. By the way.....this is why Google Translator is so crazy at times...especially with a lesser known language like Estonian. You might have guessed that if you happened to see the translation of some Estonian language that I had written on my Facebook. Conversely, it is also true that you cannot expect to simple translate our way of talking directly into another language and expect to be understood. For example, if you translated our english saying...."well I had better be on my way" an Estonian would not have the faintest what you were talking about. So, when you meet someone who has come to our beautiful country and is trying to communicate with you, we need to appreciate that its not only our words but how we are thinking that they have to wrestle with and understand. Maybe we are asking for miracles for anyone to understand how Aussies think or whether some are thinking at all!!!!

Meantime, tomorrow morning at 8.30am I will be at my school desk, with my shorts, long socks and school bag, for my next lesson in this elusive language. The fact that it will probably be -4C makes no difference at all. As I am not into taking selfies you will have to use your imagination in this instance.

Till next time...as I would say here....nägemisene.....near enough to 'see you later'