From Lenin to Lenin

The remains of past Soviet occupation caught up with me as I was biding my time near an old manor building, now a museum, and wandered around the corner to behind it. What I saw were old Soviet statues, of Lenin, of known and unknown soldiers. The whole encounter, of still seeing larger-than-life stone and metal Lenins side by side was truly surprising. Usually I consider the Soviet Union dead and buried, but any culture has many modes of resiliency, as we were quite vigorously reminded in the Bronze Soldier affair last year.

Some Estonian music

The Estonian - now certainly former - hip-hop artist Chalice performed in the 14th century Jaani kirik (St. John's Church) in Tartu. I took a foggy clip with my phone which I shall post below as soon as Google finishes processing it. In the meantime, feel free to listen to the track as it appears on his album Systeemsysteem.

Update: here's the clip from my phone.

Home could be more welcoming

...but then again, everybody reports that and misses Willamette. The first thing I noticed was that prices of groceries have risen fifty per cent on average. There went one thing I was happy about in Estonia! One of the first days, after already having witnessed way too many people quarreling or drunk or both on the streets, I ended up in a "stand" -- a confrontational situation with the potential to develop into violence. The opener for this was, of all things, my cowboy hat. As it most often happens, the situation dissolved peacefully -- the opposites are close to each other in the Russian psyche. It is probably unnecessary to mention that this was the last I wore the hat.

But I also notice the beautiful things. Summer nights that should properly be called prolonged twilights, for it only goes dark for an hour or so, nights that invite you to walk out with friends and have some deep conversation. The fountain of kissing students at Tartu Town Hall Square has gotten some new and prettier lighting.

Tallinn is a unique place

...as to how small (300 000) yet cosmopolitan it really is. Realized this today as 'Sex and the City' premiered here before major capitols. Not probably a good movie if you liked the series, is my guess, but then again, what do I know.

Arrived last night 1am - still not reverted to the 24-hr format - at my sister's door in Tallinn.

Thank you all for giving me the chance of knowing you, to the extent it happened! There may be a few more posts from me here still.