Halloween

It's Halloween and I'm dressing up as a kitschy-cat. I'll admit that I'm a little too proud of my pun, but to be honest I'm even prouder that my homemade cardboard cat ears have withstood the morning.

But I'm actually terribly worried that my amazing cleverness will be completely lost on a culture that
a.) doesn't celebrate Halloween,
b.) doesn't know what "kitsch" means,
c.) does not take kindly to people wearing scary eye makeup.

If even one person today asks me if I'm supposed to be "Catwoman," I swear I'm going to burst into tears.

Tee tööd ja näe vaeva, siis tuleb armastus.

Work and toil, then you will love.

-Tammsaare

I don't think I much agree with this quote.
My thesis advisor spouted this at me today when I told him I was really unhappy with the math program here and felt I wasn't getting the education I wanted.

MY ANKLES ARE CURED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

huzzah.

I had folk dance practice today and polkaed. For an hour. And I Feel Great. So basically this means that I can finally dust off and resurrect my (admittedly meager) social life. I feel like I've been given a second chance at LIFE, kinda like in Fight Club when Brad Pitt has that convenience store guy at gunpoint and tells him to go follow his dream to become a vet. Yep. That's how hardcore this is.

On a completely unrelated note, VOTE! ALL OF YOU! NO DILLY-DALLYING!
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Estonian Word of the Day:

Puänt ("point"): point. Puänt on, et Eestlased laenavad liiga palju inglise keelseid sõnu. [The point is that Estonians borrow too many English words.]

Õubeibei ("oh baby"): oh baby. See on lause, kus ma kasutan sõna "õubeibei." [This is a sentence in which I'm using the word "õubeibei."]

Kitsch.

QUIZ!!!!

Which of the following would not be considered "kitsch"?

a.) My grandmother's lace doilies and fake pearl earrings;
b.) An old sideboard that smells of furniture polish;
c.) Chipped tea sets and tarnished silver;
d.) Dusty chandeliers and accordions;
e.) Techno music.

I frikken live for kitsch. My clothes, my jewelry, my most prized possessions... all kitsch. "Gypsy rock," therefore, is a phenomenon that I fully and wholeheartedly support because the kitsch factor is just off the charts. (For the uninitiated, please see: Gogol Bordello, Shantel, Devotchka.)

Last night I went and saw a band called "Väikeste Lõõtspillide Ühing," or "The Society for Small Concertinas." Their sound is somewhere between gypsy rock and country folk, and we all danced the polka until we couldn't see straight. During the band breaks, my folk dance instructor appeared and got all of us to partake in some very interesting Estonian social dances. ... I was touched by complete strangers in some rather odd places, to say the least.

Kitsch, kitsch, kitsch. ... Hm. Funny. If you say it enough times the word becomes onomatopoeic nonsense.

Even Estonian ska is somewhat kitschy. The very popular Estonian band Ska Faktor took the stage after VLÜ finished and my god, they were good. I completely forgot that I had any ankles at all and skanked like a maniac on the dancefloor.

Some photos:

This is my new best friend Villem.

My roommate Aune.

My folk dance partner Verner. This is exactly what he looks like 90% of the time.

My relative Kadri (on the left), and her friend Liis (center). I don't know who that other girl is. Some weirdo who wears her grandmother's clothes.

Folk dancing at a nightclub. You best believe it.

i got an e-mail

This is me. All the time.
Tendinitis is
so
exciting.

STILL I AM HAPPY!

Last night I got naked and jumped in a pond.

Let me preface that a bit more.

Yesterday my grandmother and two other relatives drove through Tartu and picked me up after class. We went to Otepää and stayed the night in a guest house on Jüri's estate. Jüri is related to us somehow through marriage and happens to be a minor Estonian TV celebrity... he's one of the judges for the Estonian version of "American Idol." He is extremely personable and also quite wealthy. .. And he has about 6 saunas and 5 artificial ponds on his estate in Southern Estonia.

By the time we arrived at around 7pm, the "Russian-style" sauna was ready and waiting for us. He had also heated "the barrel," which turned out to be a outdoor hot tub with a chimney.

Right to left: Sauna, the Barrel (hiding behind the tree), pond.

For those of you who have never had the authentic Estonian sauna experience, it goes something like this:

-Have a drink, loosen up
-Strip nekkid
-Sit in a tiny, steamy, stiflingly hot room until you're drenched in sweat
-Beat yourself with a dried branch and convince yourself that it's for "exfoliation"
-Sit some more
-Finally, when you feel like you're going to suffocate or melt away completely, run outside and jump into a pond, or a pile of snow, or on unsuspecting strangers
-Scream like hell and curse your own damned sense of judgement
-Run back in the sauna
-Plaster the biggest smile on your face and brag about what you just done to everyone within earshot.

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly how it goes. Afterwards you feel like this:

Marje, God bless her.

More photos from my mid-week weekend:

The guesthouses. Yes. Plural.

Close-up of the Barrel

Jüri, Marje, and homemade canned delights.

And I'd really love to share this gem with you all:


Translation:

BE NEGATIVE

-Today will be a shitty day!
-Everything I do will end up shittier than I think it will!
-Being in a bad mood will fix everything!
-Everything can be done badly!
-I can always find something to screw up!
-My self esteem is especially shitty!
-Today I'm going to make someone feel awful!
-I'm going to be depressed!
-Life is truly horrible!

STILL I AM HAPPY!

Amen.

cankles.

I think all that's left to do is to laugh. Because Someone finds it amusing to keep throwing new situations at me and if I had an Estonian kroon for every time I have thought to myself "Well, I know that things will get better because there's no way it can get any worse," I'd probably have enough money to buy some ice cream.

I found out today that I have tendinitis in my ankles. Yes, those same ankles that help me walk to class and to the grocery store; the same ankles that let me dance the polka at folk dance practice and do yoga in my room; the same ankles that have never, ever caused me any trouble before. Mom called one of our family friends who's a photographer and also happens to be an orthopedic surgeon, and passed on the symptoms I've been having for a week and a half. Basically the long and the short of it is that I either lay in bed for a week starting right now, icing my ankles and swallowing ibuprofen a few times a day, or I suddenly find myself with a stress fracture and mandatory bed rest for 6 weeks. Eugchhh. So lots of homework and movies this weekend... I already watched the VP debate from Thursday and it was so riveting that I fell asleep.

My life isn't an entire failure, though. I had an Algebra test last Thursday and I totally killed it. I'm liking the city of Tartu more and more. I'm making friends in the math department and finding new thrift stores. ... .......... So yeah.
___

Estonian Word of the Day:

Hüppeliiges (HOOP-eh-LEEG-ehs): ankle. Minu hüppeliigesed virisevad. [My ankles are whining.]