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A View of Estonian Life |
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A View of Estonian Life |
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November in Estonia is not a particularly pleasant time. We have clouds continuously and rain almost every day. Dawn to dusk is 8 am to 4 pm. Actual sunrise is at 8:30 and sunset about 3:30, although we rarely see these events. Occasionally we glimpse the sun at sunrise, but clouds quickly assert their dominance. In the past two weeks, we've had about 3 hours of sunshine and we saw the moon once. Due to our maritime situation, day-night temperature fluctuation is only a few degrees, and day-to-day temperature change is slight. The first snow fell on Nov. 10th. About two inches accumulated and then melted the next day. So far, we're above freezing most days, but that will change soon. Ski season begins in the hills south of Tartu at the end of this month.
Several people have asked about food and water here. Tap water is fine everywhere for cleaning, cooking and drinking, although some old plumbing systems impart an iron flavor. Estonia has abundant, good mineral waters, and bottled spring water is imported from many other countries. Our younger son, Jay, fancies himself a cook of some skill. He claims that Estonian (and European) food in general is better than American food. We will not dispute this claim. As a rule, European food products are fresher and have few if any preservatives. Bread is fresh baked in many varieties and textures from light, white wheat to heavy, black rye. Our favorites are mixed-grain brown breads or cheese bread, which makes great toast. Jim's specialty is soup, which he makes from dried peas, vegetables, and a special "pea-soup" cut of smoked pork. Susie has perfected a recipe for trout with lemon and spices. The trout comes from Lake Peipsi, which is Europe's fourth largest lake, on the border between Russia and Estonia. Jeremy continues to master peanut butter and jelly; he took the 5-hour round-trip bus to Tallinn to find peanut butter (among other things).
Those people who say you can get by on English anywhere have never gone grocery shopping in a country where English is not the primary language. Product labels here come in many languages--Estonian, Finnish, Swedish, Polish, Russian, etc. (but rarely in English). We haven't made too many mistakes so far. We almost bought onion powder instead of baking powder once, but at the last moment we remembered the word for onion. Mustard was a problem; it took three tries to find a sweet mustard rather than the hot, horseradish variety. And now a word about packaging. Small packages are the rule; take milk for example. The standard milk container holds one liter (just over one quart) in either the typical waxed cardboard carton or a plastic bag--that's right, milk in a bag. The "big milk" carton holds 1½ liters; the largest milk container we've seen is 2 liters, but few stores carry this size. For a family that drinks a lot of milk, that means many milk cartons per week.
Each country we have lived in has some kind of special or unusual food to us--in Denmark eel, in Norway reindeer and whale, in Poland wild boar. Estonian also has wild boar as well as bear. The former is relatively common on restaurant menus, and Jay has sampled it. The latter is found "in season" and quite expensive. Actually this is one of the sticking points for Estonia's entry into the European Union, wherein bear hunting is banned. The bear population of Estonia is expanding, and limited hunting is one way to control this problem. The dominant large wild animal here is moose, although we have not seen one in person. The moose population experiences boom-bust cycles based on food supply in the forest. We did see a European turkey strutting his tail in the forest--quite an impressive sight.
Postal forms are printed in two languages--Estonian and French, which is the international language of postal services in continental Europe. As we have done a lot of mailing and shipping, we have become quite familiar with these forms. The best shipping bargain turned out to be our large kite box, which weighs about 65 pounds. We shipped it home at surface-mail rate with insurance for about $75, and it was delivered to ESU in only two weeks! It went faster than some of our letters via airmail!
Our sons both had trips to Russia with school groups. Jeremy went of Novgorod, the traditional capital of western Russia, and Jay visited Moscow. Most of Jeremy's international friends went on the trip, except German students were denied visas to enter the country. The boys are not making plans to visit again soon. The Russian political handling of the Kursk submarine disaster was no surprise, disinformation is still used to supposedly "fool" their own and the world. However, living standards have declined dramatically with the collapse of the Russian economy. Although Russia has proven to be a "hollow shell" it still remains in the best interest of the world to assist Russia to rebuild its economy and pursue peaceful relations.
Jim and Susie will spend Thanksgiving in Poland at a geological conference. Meanwhile Jeremy and Jay will get together with some American and international friends to prepare a special meal. Turkey is almost unknown here as a consumer food. Goose is the preferred large fowl for holiday meals, so our son's will cook one. Cranberries grow wild and are cultivated in the bogs. One nature preserve has more than 400 varieties. Our first test batch showed Estonian cranberries to be somewhat tougher and more tart than American, so Jay will adjust the recipe accordingly. One of their friends has the necessary ingredients for pecan pie. We're not sure what else they will cook, but it should be a memorable experience.
Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!
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