Estonia: Hogwarts

So we walk by an old building every other day that I have decided to call Hogwarts. It is actually a history museum...but I prefer to think of it as Hogwarts. It has huge arch-windows and large brick arches that have stairs that lead to nowhere. It is a very cool building and I enjoy walking by it.

Last semester we met a exchange student named Martin who was from Tartu University. He happens to be in one of our philosophy classes so it is fun to be in the same position that he was in last semester. We needed to stock up on our food supply...like we have to do every 2 days, but yesterday Martin wanted to go with us. He walked to the grocery store with us and we asked him all sorts of questions about what we were buying. Almost all of the food is written in Estonian so when we buy food, we have to base it on what it looks like. And we sometimes end up buying nasty food that we thought was something else. He told us what kind of meat we were buying and helped us translate what kind of items are in the food. We have all gotten hooked on dried fruit and we eat it almost as often as I eat nutella. We all like these little green pieces of dried fruit but none of us can figure out what it really is. We have narrowed it down to kiwi, pear, or apple...but no one knows so we asked Martin what is in the bag. The different fruits in the bag literally translate to "Strawberries and Friends." Still have no idea what we are eating but they are sure good.

I fell on the ice today for the first time. It was pretty exciting. I am lucky that I have made it this long without falling. Underneath the slushy snow on the sidewalk there is a little surprise. And inch of pure ice. They do not put any salt or sand on the sidewalks so it really surprises me that I dont see people slipping and sliding all over the place. Sean and I were walking back from the grocery store after working out and I was not looking at the ground and I slipped on the ice. Its kind of like playing a game...that you can't ever win. You never know where the ice is under the slushy snow so you are constantly watching each step and the minute you look away is the time when you slip. They don't put salt or sand or even chop up the ice because it is up to the owners of the buildings to take care of the ice on the sidewalks in front of their stores. Im pretty sure they don't take care of the ice because they sit in front of the window and watch people slip and slid as they go by.

Today was the 4th time that I have seen the sun. Don't worry, its still in the sky. The past 2 days have been clear skies and the trees are frosted with ice and snow. It is actually quite beautiful to see all the trees like that. Ironically, I have also noticed that it is the coldest when the sun is shinning and there are no clouds in the sky. I didn't realize that the clouds create a blanket of "warmth." Today and yesterday were the coldest days thus far. I have no idea what the temperature was but I can tell you I wasn't sure if I still had a face after being outside for 10 minutes. I haven't decided yet if I like seeing the sun better or if I like the warmer freezing weather better. But I am sure counting down the days until spring.

Today in Estonian Culture we watched a movie about the independence of Estonia. I didn't quite understand the whole movie because it was in the made-up language of Estonian with Englsih subtitles. However, there were a lot of scenes with white snow and the text just so happened to be white...so I couldn't read half of the subtitles due to the brilliant idea of white on white. But what I got from this movie was that there was a war between the German-Estonians and the Russian-Estonians. There was not a militia at the time so students would volunteer to fight. This war destroyed families and ripped friends apart because some would choose to fight with one side and some would fight for the other. I'm fairly certain the Russian-Estonians won in the end. The beginning of the movie was pretty cool because it took place in the city center of Tartu with the town hall that I walk by 12 times a day. It was interesting to see what it was supposed to look like back in 1918. It looks the exact same. The streets are cobblestone, but they are covered by snow and ice at the moment.