A different world full of onions | Sibulamaailm

Sellel nädalavahetusel oli mul vist kõige huvitavam reis Eestis. Ma otsustasin YFU lodusprogrammist organiseeritud reisil kaasa minna, sest kohad olid veel alles. Me sõitsime jalgrattastega Tartust Laaksaarele. Nohja teised sõitsid, mina võtsin 25 km pärast bussi ja jätsin oma ratta väikses külas sest ma ei jaksanud enam. Aga igatahes me saabusime laupäeva õhtul pärast 45min sõitu praamiga Piirisaarele, mis asub Peipsijärves ja kus praegu 50 inimest elavad, talvel isegi vähem. Tundus nagu hoopis teine maailm.  Armsad väiksed majad, palju loodust ja kõikjal kasvatatakse sibulaid, sellepärast nimetatakse küla ka sibulaküla :) Me pestsime väikses jões, tegime lõkke, ja sõime Tatart, ubusid ja vahukommi. Magasime õues, taeva all. Nüüd ma alles märkasin kui hilja päikest langeb!
Järgmisel päeval avastasime saare natukene. Me tegime ka pilte puukirikust ja sõitsime siis praamiga ja raatadega (minu puhul bussiga ka) Tartusse. Eriti teised olid nii läbi õhtul- imet tegelikult pole, kui sa oled kahel päevadel trennimata 130km sõitnud.
Aga siis esmaspäevalsain teada millestki uskumatult. Tol õhtul ,kus me juba tagasi Tartus olime, põlles puukirikut ja kolm elumajat maha, mis tähendab, et me tegime vist viimaseid pilte sellist!


This weekend I had probably my most interesting trip so far. I decided to go to a bycicle ride to a small island, located in one of the biggest lake in Europe~ Peipsijärv, there are only about 50 people living , in the winter the amount is even smaller. -
After 25 km I had to take the bus, because I just couldn't do it anymore. Looking back it was the right decision, because the hardest part was about to come later.  But anyway we arrived after a  45 drive with the ferry in the evening on the island. It felt like another world. Narrow paths leading from one charming little wooden house to another, and everywhere in the gardens were onions grown. We went to a little river to wash ourselves, ate bones and Tatar (~ buckwheat) and grilled marshmallows on the campfire :) Although we set up a tent, we decided to sleep outside and just then I realized how late the sun is setting!
On the next day we explored the other part of the island, tried out one of the old wells and made pictures of a wooden church. We drove then back to Tartu. But on Monday I had to find out something quite shocking. On the evening, where we were already back in Tartu, the church and three more houses burned down, what means that we took the last pictures of this church...

Sibuladpeenrad | little onion field

We

Viimane pilt...

Nädalavahetus vanaema juures

Tsau!
Sellel reedel sõitsime vanaema ja vanaisa suvila juurde. Võtsime Johannat, ka saksa vahetusõpilane, kaasa.
Suvilas meenus vaheaja. Kõik oli nii vaikne, loodust täis ja rahul. Halva internetiühenduse pärast ma peaaegu üldse ei kasutanund oma telefoni, mis tundus väga hästi. Eestis olen ma lihtsalt liiga palju telefoni kasutanud, kogu aeg olen siin internetiga ühendatud, isegi koolis, ja kui mul pole midagi tegemist, haaran ma kiiresti telefonile.
Erand sellest telefoni mitte kasutamisest oli pildistamine. Suvilasel on suur aed ojadega ja tüki metsaga, ja see oli lausa imeilus. Mängisime karte, sulgpalli ja sõime hästi palju. Laupäeval tegime väikse matku järve juurde. Teel nägin minu esimest madu metsikus looduses: rästikut.  Need on Saksamal äärmiselt haruldased. Pühapäeva hommikul sõitsime Ahhaa-keskusse Tartusse, ja käisime seal ka Planetaariumis. Sisseostmine Šokolaadipoes Tartu vanalinnas ei võinud muidugi ka puududa :)) Üldiselt oli suurepärane nädalavahetus, isegi üks oma lemmikutest Eestis :)

Hey :)
This weekend we visited my host grandmother and grandfather in their sommer house in the middle of Estonia. We took Johanna, who is also a German exchange student, with us. It felt like vacation, everything was so quiet and calm and the garden was so beautiful, with forest amd a small river. We played cards and badminton and ate a lot :D As we took a walk on Saturday to the lake, I saw my first  wild & poisonous snake:) On Sunday we drove to Tartu, to go to the Ahhaa center, some kind of family science center, where you can do lots of experiments yourself. We also went to the planetarium, which was really fascinating.
And of course we didn't miss to go shopping in the chocolate shop in the old town of Tartu ;) All in all it was a one of the best weekends I have had here so far :)

At the lake. My two host sisters, me and Johanna

Staying longer?

Everything started as my theatre group got invited to performing our play at a theater festival in Siberia, Russia in August. At first I was really sad that I couldn't go and I didn't even consider the possiblity of staying longer.But after talking with my parents, who were really supporting, it appeared to be possible!! It is not 100% sure though, because Russia has to approve my Visa. So in the end of July I am going to go to the YES, and after that I'm gonna fly straight back to Estonia. In the end of August I will then finally return to Germany. I am so glad, that I am able to spend more time with my host family, because they are so amazing and I am so lucky to have them. On the other hand I am of course also a bit sad, because I won't see my friends and family for another two months. But in the end I just don't wanna miss this unique opportunity because it's something so special,we are actually only the 2nd school theater group from Estonia to get invited to Russia.
Besides that I want to do a language test in Estonian, just for myself, to see how good it has become. I want to try to write the blogposts in Estonian as well for practice.
Also the Latvian trip is not going to take place, because too less people have signed up for it. I am kind of sad about that, because it means that there is only one more YFU meeting. It feels so strange. Yesterday my host family got a letter with all the new exchange students, that are coming next year.  I can't believe how fast time has passed.

Me trying to make 'Ofenschlupfer' (saksa saiavorm) out of Estonian white bread. It didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to😬😬

One of my host sisters and me at Viru raba ~ Bog of Viru.

Some Estonian music🎶

I thought it might be interesting for you to listen to some Estonian music, because there is so much great music here. I love Estonian when its sung it sounds so beautiful.

Here is a playlist with all my favourite songs :)

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLudzMImIG3ZF3KDmsDIPeSWvIYz1NE7MF

And here a playlist which shows a bit more variety.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSaAP5KQYjD_OqNevreuYw9GcsWCU-wcP

Narva | 81 days

Narva, the third biggest town in Estonia is different from all the others. While walking through the streets, you can only hear Russian speaking people, even in the supermarket the woman on the cashdesk greets you with "privjet" instead of "Tere" and there are also many signs which are written in Cyrillic script. Narva is the most eastern town of Europe and with a Russian population of 95%, also one with the highest percentage of foreigners in Estonia. It doesn't really felt like Estonia anymore. Once it was a really nice town similar to Tallinn, but everything except one house got destroyed during the 2nd world war.
There is only a river seperating Estonia from Russia, I somehow hadn't imaged Russia to be so close!
We went there from Thursday to Saturday and stayed in the only Estonian school in the town. We also had the opportunity to do some activities with the students on Friday morning and in the evening. Besides that we just walked around and visited the castle and some sort of underground tunnels that provided refuge for the citizens of Narva. It was such a great weekend with the best people in the whole world. I have only known them for such a short periode of time, but I can't imagine a life without them and I don't want to think about the fact, that we are going to have only the Latvia trip and the End year seminar together. Less than 3 months in Estonia. Soon I will be back in Germany. On the one hand I am looking really forward to it, but on the other hand everything will be entirely over and it's never gonna be like it is right now. 'Don't count the days, make the days count.' This quote describes it perfectly.

Russia!!

The bridge between Estonia and Russia

The last winter days (Pictures)

Trip to the sea❤️ 

 

Breathtaking sunset

At the lake in Kadrina

Ice fishing

Frozen Waterfall 

Saaremaa theaterfestival❤️

Oh how I hate it, when you finished writing a post and then you can't open the draft anymore. Thank you blogger app.
However this weekend was the school theatre festival on Saaremaa, for me the first time to visit the islands, but I didn't see anything besides the view from out of the car window and the aula of the school, where the performances took place from the morning till the evening. And as everything here it was of course not only a festival but competition.
I am still impressed how high the scale was set and I really enjoyed watching the plays, although it was impossible to concentrate in the evening after a long day trying to figure out what the actors were telling me.
On Sunday we performed our play, 'kuu peal on parem' or 'it's better on the moon', which is about the life of dogs, living on the street. I would say we did really well. Best actor and best actress, a nomination for the best play and a few special awards too. It means a lot to me and I am incredibly thankful for the experience and the amazing days I had.

Only in Estonia- a loaf of selfmade bread as a prize :D

Head aega 💕