Some days I feel like the paternal side of my family came from thin air. Living in Tartu, the only traces I experience of my Estonian family are the tombstones in the cemetery and a scattering of photos. The Soviet occupation separated those who were Read more…
(just a bit of IT humor to start off the year) I’ve been in Estonia since the end of August 2022 and arrived here without processing all the challenges I faced during the previous two years. But this is a new year and I’m thinking Read more…
Tartu is not one of the oldest towns in the world, but everywhere you go, there are references to the first millennium of the common era, remnants of walls built to protect various peoples and places, and much of the town dates to the seventeenth Read more…
I’m struggling to learn Estonian. I study 3-6 hours a day plus 18 hours a week in the classroom. At home, I feel like I know the words and the conjugations. In class ,when the teacher calls on me, I freeze. This is a new Read more…
One of the things that I did not consider when I moved myself from California to Estonia was shopping. Since I flew I had two and a half suitcases worth of possessions I could bring. I focused on cold weather clothes, a few books, including Read more…
“Tere” means hello in Estonian. Greetings from Estonia. I am in Tartu where my father lived, and where my ancestors are buried. I am poorly studying the Estonian language in an intensive course at the University of Tartu This gives me a fantastic opportunity to Read more…
Yesterday I arrived in Tallinn, Estonia after a grueling day and day of travel. Or maybe it was day and a night. 26 hours from the time I left my sister’s house I was finally in Tallinn. Estonia is ten hours ahead of California in Read more…
For the last two years as we have struggled through this pandemic,. We have lost the people we loved most. We have tried to stay healthy and deal with every changing information. During this period, I have observed two types of people. There are those Read more…
As I reflect on the events of January 6, 2021, and big lie that has been spread by the former president, I wonder why so many people believe that the election was rigged and why they thought that an insurrection was the answer. We’ve all Read more…
Disclaimer: I mean no disrespect to those who believe in the god of the Christian faith, just exploring what makes sense to me. As someone whose understanding of human culture goes back longer than two thousand and twenty one years, I find the central idea Read more…