This morning a curious thing happened.... ......

but let me first describe the scene. We rose about 7.30am which is still half light here as the sun doesn't rise to about 9am at the moment. As we prepared for our morning walk (about 3 kms through some parkland) we noticed that the outside temperature was at minus -11C, so we put on the appropriate layers of clothing as this was the coldest morning we had had since being in Estonia. When we ventured outside we were met with another startling display that nature had conjured up over night. All the trees, both deciduous and evergreen were silver plated. Not the white spectacular that we have experienced in times of snow, but rather what appeared to be a glittering silver coating. This was ice, produced by the very low temperature overnight. In particular the leafless silver birch trees appeared to have magically regained their foliage, only this time, not the lush green of spring, but the glittering silver of this cold winter morning. We were treated to this spectacular scenery for the whole of our walk through the little forrest or park, and marvelled again at how different this regular pathway can appear as the seasons work their way through an Estonian year. Being here to see those changes and experience those special moments has been a privilege and unforgettable time. In spite of the temperature, and we are told it will get much colder yet, we were snug in our layers of warm cloths and thermals, our coats, our hoodies, our scarves , our beanies and our gloves. We returned home exhilarated, even if those exposed areas of skin, like our nose and cheeks, felt a little frozen.

 Now, the curious thing.....after "declothing", a chore we have become used to now, I set about my morning task of preparing breakfast. This normally includes making porridge, especially during the winter months, and in the process I needed milk from the fridge. When I opened the door of the fridge I sensed something was wrong. The fridge was warm, a sure sign that there was a problem. I checked the digital readout on the fridge which tells me the internal temperature and it was still on the 4 degrees that it normally operates. So nothing wrong. Then it sunk in. I had just come in from outside where the temperature was -11C. The fridge was 15 degrees warmer than outside!!! So, I guess the logical conclusion must be, if we want warm up we should sit in the fridge.

Actually these pictures, taken on my phone, dont capture the full splendour. Note the street lights are still burning and the apparent blue sky is mobile phone photographic magic I think. We wish you could all be here to see this and to walk with us through this 'winter wonderland'.




During our year here in Estonia, I have tried, among other things, to read as much from Estonian literature as I could. Fortunately, quite a bit has been translated into English, which is just as well as my Estonian is not nearly good enough for that task. I have read in many genres, the novel, the historical novel and 'straight' historical documents. The sources for this have been the local library, which has an excellent section of Eesti authors translated into English, and online where I can access articles and papers produced by journalists and university lectures and students. I have done this to try and understand how this land and its history has shaped the character, the outlook and the values of the current Estonian population. Some of you might remember, that in an earlier post just after arriving here last April I wrote about how I could see our land (Australia) and our history had shaped us as a nation of people. How the big blue skies, the wide horizons, the bright light, the peaceful past had all worked together to produce our Aussie character, our values, our national soul. Of course, the same is true here, but the differences are significant. Here the skies are not that often big and blue, the horizons are not far as there is always a forest in view, the light is considerably more muted and there is anything but a peaceful past. Has this led to a difference in outlook, character and values in the Estonian personality? Yes, in many ways it has, and it reminds us that understanding another people from another land and another historical experience cannot be achieved by either a casual visit or by measuring it against our experience and culture. There is a good, valid reason that people of different races or places are different. Before we compare, before we judge, before we praise, before we vilify, perhaps we should take the time to understand the forces of nature and history that shape us all. I have found this to be a timely reminder in this day of mass migrations, refugees and wide spread fears emanating mainly from ignorance. I don't mean to imply that we must always agree with or adopt others characteristics, values or outlook, but we should, at least I think, try to understand them. Put simply, our way of life is not the only way of life. We are neither superior or inferior, we are one part of a diverse humanity.

During this year in Europe I have been disturbed to read and hear ( our press seems to not have knowledge or interest in European developments and politics) of the significant resurgence of right or ultra-right wing political movements. Already two European countries ( Poland and Austria ) have such parties in powerful positions, and many other countries are subject to increasing pressure from this side of politics. Whilst there are substantial differences in the agendas of the right wing groups in different countries, one of the common values is that of nationalistic superiority, or at the very least, agendas promoting national identity as a means of isolating one nation from another. Not only in Europe, but the "me first" aspects of both Trump's America and Brexit UK, seem to spring from the same source. Yes, in Australia also such movements are present and some representatives have already penetrated our political stage. The world saw in horror dimensions what rampant nationalism achieved in Hitlerism and it seems inconceivable that we have forgotten so soon. Perhaps, as some of my acquaintances suggest, I think too much or take too much notice of the news from around the world. Maybe so, but even if my own future is to be counted in a handful of years, our children and their children, and yours too,  still have lives to live. I think we need to have the courage to reject such views whether they are expressed privately or publicly, as our contribution to a peaceful world future.

Now on a much lighter note...the "cold war" in Estonia. After about 4 to 5 days where night time temperatures have been around -10C the large river, known as the Emajõgi, that flows through the centre of our town of Tartu, has frozen over. Amazing. One day just small pieces of ice floating down the river, the next great rafts of ice floating down the river, the next just stationary ice covering the whole river. The locals hardly notice, but to us it is like magic. Tartu's lake, which is their summer swimming place, is fully frozen and people were skating and walking over the frozen surface. We even had a walk ourselves, though skating unfortunately is possibly a bit ambitious for us as we have never skated before. Here are some pictures...hope they convey a little of what it is like.

 Skater on the lake

 Helve walking on water.

 The river of ice

Still a bit of water showing here.

So long to next time..... enjoy the summer in Australia and keep us some sun for when we arrive in March.      Your frozen friends.

Hi.......last post I promised that this one would be 'bright and sunny' after a rather sombre subject, and I intend keeping that promise. Firstly though, I need to share some sad news. Auntie Erna, our 96 year old gorgeous auntie passed away peacefully on last Friday evening (24th Nov.). Two days previous she had a fall which resulted in a break to her hip. Because of the nature of the break it required surgery. She came through that OK, but then she decided she had had enough and was ' ready to go'...... She was a fine lady, who had experienced all of Estonias recent turbulent history. Born just after Estonia got its first independence in 1918 ( she was born 1921 ) she was a teenager when the WW2 broke out and enveloped Estonia in struggle between German and Russian forces. Her home was bombed, her world turned upside down. With the occupation by Russia she faced the fear filled days of Stalin's rule, deportations and disappearances and in addition personal persecution because of her strong Christan faith. That we could be here for her last months and indeed her last moments was a huge privilege and we now see how important it was for us to come, even though it meant leaving you all behind for a whole year. Helve was especially close to her and though language difficulties meant that I could not converse in depth with her, we also shared a special bond. We will miss her........

 Helve shares some memories with Auntie Erna recently.

Now.... Christmas. Well, guess what? I's all happening here too. Shops are packed with people and goods. Decorations, sales, special discounts and endless advertising. In their 25 years since the end of the socialist/communist state they seem to have learned the ways of consumerism very quickly. Yesterday big trucks and cranes arrived at the town square and hoisted into place the 15 meter high "real" Christmas Tree. Other workers we busy putting up the lights strung across from side to side of the square. Now, today the snow has come, so when we pass through there tonight on our way to a concert we will be treated to a northern European Christmas scene.....very beautiful, very different.
This represents the biggest difference to Christmas in Australia. The weather. Over the last few days we have been getting snow falls.....light at first but last night and today the fall has been quite substantial. With temperature hovering around zero and below and more snow into next week it looks like we might get a  "white Christmas ". That will be a special thrill for us "one yearers" so here's fingers crossed..........except in Estonia they don't cross their fingers to wish, but 'hold their thumbs'.....so here's to 'thumbs held'.
Today the sun rose at 8.35am and is about to set now at 3.30pm, so you can see we only have 7 hours of daylight and we haven't got to the shortest day of the year yet. Even if you sleep in to 9am its still dark when you get up, and by dinner time around 7pm you have already had 4 hours of darkness. Admittedly it takes a bit of getting used too, as by 3pm in the afternoon its already getting dark and seems strange that one half the afternoon has gone. This lack of sunlight means most adults need to take vitamin D tablets through winter (which can be from Nov to March here). We are taking them also though as we are only wintering one year we could have survived without them. People often ask us "what do you miss most" being in Estonia. They usually expect us to say " the sunshine"...but what we notice most is the "light" or maybe, more correctly, the lack of light or the subdued nature of the light. When the clouds are low and the ground is white with snow, it feels like being in a black and white room with a low ceiling as night approaches. Of course here it might only be 2pm!

Snow is beautiful in the parks and gardens but a bit of a mess on the roads. When it snows overnight the snowploughs are out very early to clear most roads, especially main roads, from snow. There are snowploughs consisting of a'dozer blade' mounted on the front of a truck that push the snow to the side of the road. There are snow blowers that blow the snow to the side saving the big mounds that the other ploughs are inclined to leave. There are little ones that do the footpaths and many people clear their own section of footpath as a service to pedestrians. The highways and country roads are cleared by fast moving ploughs (maybe 30kph usually on trucks) and also some farmers have contracts to clear certain sections using tractors. A supplement to their winter incomes. Unfortunately the snow and ice and slush left on the roads and verges turns pretty dirty grey and means that your car cannot be kept clean at all, unless of course you leave it at home. When you want to go out by car you require about 10 minutes or more to get snow and ice off windows and mirrors and to let the car heater warm up to keep windscreens from fogging. Even after all this the first few kilometres is driven peering out from snow framed windows and desperately trying to get the demisted to work. Maybe if you have a new Merc it might be easier, but even those have to be de-snowed before you can drive. Very few cars here are garaged so almost everyone faces the same challenge. We have to fill the windscreen washers with a substance that will withstand -40C without freezing, and of course special radiator liquid. In addition, diesel cars must use a special winter diesel to prevent it from solidifying in the fuel system. Along with the winter tyres and all the gear for removing snow and ice its quite a business and makes you appreciate how much more simple it is to live in Newhaven. Here it is just part of life and you have to get on with it.
Clothing is another thing. What we call winter cloths in Australia are not winter clothes here. We are reliably told that when the temperature gets down to -24C you definitely need "their" winter cloths. -24C hasn't happened yet, though it is more than likely in January, but even now we have had to upgrade our clothing. Thermals, top and bottom, preferably merino wool are recommended and we have already purchase those and put them into service most days. Then if you are going out you need about three layers of cloths topped by a warm jumper. On top of that you must have a "good coat", a scarf, a warm hat (beanie), gloves (wool or leather fleece lined ) and preferably fleece lined boots. By the time you get all this on the event could be over!!. Then, when you arrive at the venue, or someones home, you must strip off as many layers as the inside temperature requires. In concert venues or public places, like cafes, restaurants etc, there are always cloak rooms or places to hang your gear. Actually at concert venues you hand in your coats, hats, scarves to the cloakroom attendants and receive a token with a number. The interesting thing is when the event is over there are these huge lines of people queing up to get their coats, and this can take quite some time. Nevertheless, this too is just part of life here and everyone just accepts the facts.

As to the actual celebration of Christmas I will leave that to describe after the event, suffice to say that here the main celebration is held on Christmas eve, which the Estonians call jõululaupäev in their language. Before then we have a visit from my cousins,  Allan & Shirley Cann from Victoria and we are looking forward to seeing them and introducing them to Estonia at winter time. Over Christmas itself we have Darrell and Lisa Cann, my nephew and his wife, who though they are Aussies, have a business that is run from London. They, of course, will be much more familiar with snow and cold, but we are glad they can come to help us celebrate Christmas. Maybe we will even get to have a kick of the footy or a game of cricket.

Well...Christmas and New Year have come and gone....our first ever white Christmas. The pictures below were taken on Christmas Day....bit different from Australia.

Just a little bit about Christmas in Estonia. Firstly, as mentioned above, our visitors came and we  enjoyed our time with both Allan and Shirley and Darrell and Lisa. It was good for them too to experience this special festive season in Estonia and they will have returned home with memories of some new experiences and a little more understanding of the little land of Estonia. We loved having them with us and they brought a "little bit of Australia" into our Christmas here. 

Well, as obvious in the pictures above we did have a "white Christmas"so that was very special to us as these days of climate change that cannot be taken for granted any more. On Christmas eve we went to Merike and Raimu's place for our Christmas dinner. We all sat around a large coffee table in the lounge room ( most apartments don't have dining rooms) and ate  traditional Estonian food. Sauerkraut, various potato and red beet salads, roast pork, home made black bread (rye ), marinated herrings, blood sausage (black pudding), lingonberries, special type of cheesecake, and of course, champaign and chocolates. After dinner we had the giving of gifts, but before you could receive your gift you had to recite a poem or sing a song, one of their Estonian traditions. It was all very enjoyable, different and interesting. Christmas day is taken much easier, some families visit other relatives etc and some just sleep off the night before. We had an Aussie Christmas with Darrell and Lisa...with roast duck and more common veggies, plum pudding and custard.  We then took a drive some 40Kms south of here enjoying the snow covered landscapes as we travelled.

Boxing day we took Darrell and Lisa some 60kms east to the Russian boarder. The roads in some places were covered in deep slushy ice and had to be treated carefully but we managed to get to the shore of the large lake that separates Estonia from Russia. The lake was frozen for some 100 meters from the shore and the visibility was not that good but it was interesting for Darrell and Lisa to go to a place like this.(we have taken many of our visitors there, but not in these winter conditions)

 Darrell and Lisa enjoying a warm Boxing Day!!

Thats not waves...thats ice building up as the winds blow it on shore.

New Years eve is much the same as over there. We met again at Merike and Raimu's apartment, had a great meal...watched TV celebrations in Estonia and Russia, saw footage of Sydneys fireworks on Estonian TV,  listened to the New Year address given by the Estonian President (a lady) and even listened to Mr Putins New Year address (in Russian) with some translation by those who speak Russian ( Raimu, Merike and Voli ) Then just before midnight, into the car (ours) and into town for the fireworks. Fantastic....as we drove in (just 3Kms) the streets were full of people walking into town for the midnight fireworks. Seemed like everybody in Tartu was on their way in. The fireworks lasted about an hour, partly because there were the official fireworks first, and then, because anyone can buy fireworks here, and most do, the locals then started to let theirs off....so it was a spectacular display all around the city centre and beyond.  We went back to their apartment, had a bit more to eat and drink (no alcohol for me as zero tolerance here) and then got back home about 1.30am. Not a bad effort for us oldies!

The dreaded blood sausage.

So thats Christmas in Estonia....We trust you too had a great time together with family and friends. One thing for sure, people all over the world (including Russia) celebrate this time in very similar ways and always with the emphasis on family and friends. One wonders why politicians and leaders world wide spend so much time trying to escalate tensions and emphasise differences....the people just want peace.

Well...now we are on the home straight. We are booked to fly out of Estonia arriving in Melbourne on 25th March. Just under 3 months to go and hard to believe it has gone so fast. Ahead is a visit to family in Helsinki and a skiing trip with friends into north central Sweden, so still some adventures to go. Hopefully I will get a chance to tell you a little more about our adopted land before our time here comes to an end. Till then...cheers.