they call it EU (EU my a**)

So we are part of European Union huh?! and we are living in the new age, the digital age, where you can organize everything through the network?! Well, I wanna argue with that. I couldn`t simply even book a plane ticket. You find this great deal 2 for the price of 1, then you click on "click here" and start booking. What a surprise, the price is still 2 for 2. I tried to do it in several different ways, and nothing. Finally I just called them, and a surprise again, they didn`t answer. I call an hour later, the nr is busy. I call again in 15 min, still busy. Then every 5 min, busy busy busy. Until the clock hits 5pm and the answermachine says, sorry we`re closed, call again tomorrow. And so I call again the next day, what a surprise, no one answers. and believe me, I didn`t call just once. I felt like hiting something!! fury!!! I don`t know whether it`s a problem of the airline or the Estonian office of that airline.
Anyway, guys, when you want to get a ticket on czech airlines, then simply call estravel agency.
And actually I wanted to make a point here. The point is that I`m leaving from Estonia!! yeehaaa!! I´m getting out of this grey area!!! I got a job in cyprus, and I`m not getting back before October, and then.....then we`ll see what happens next. So I probably won`t be posting anything about Sad Estonia anymore. I will do it in Happy- Cyprus- way ;) . Will create a new blog. and post the new link here later ;)

All the best to you all!!!

course project

Offtopic! need help! I need to find a theme for my research. The subject must be taken from EStonian media sphere. If anyone has any good ideas, please let me know. I think my brains have frozen in this freekin cold here.

The madness of tv is the madness of human life

Estonian media culture is really "developing" I`d say! If anyone has seen a programm called "Pimp TV" on the CITV channel then you must know what I`m talking about here. And those of you who haven`t seen it, don`t watch it!
Anyway.. It`s a so called "talkshow" where the leaders of the show attend some party, drink, get pissed, and go public about yellow topics [for example, one of the guests was an ex-boyfriend of Miss Estonia (Laura) telling once again that Laura is a slut, just like her mom...etc]. They offered a real carnival by making fools out of the guests and themselves. Seeing those drunk spitting faces trying to make it interesting was SO disgusting. They crossed all moral limits. I had no idea that Estonians can be so low and yet proud enough to share it with everybody..
Luckily they also play music in between of shows, which is way better than the rest of the content of the channel. But most of the time you can see a logo "Pimp TV" on the upper right corner of your tv. I guess they are trying to make a kind of Estonian MTV here. Believe me guys, it aint working!!! Flush it down the toilet!

lost

Can`t find enthusiasm, has anyone seen?

Christmas is just the disneyfication of christianity.

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce some special day. It is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.

I can see fireworks way too often through my window, even in summertimes. why? I have lost all the excitement about new years eve now. There`s nothing special about it anymore. It used to be the fireworks at midnight that everyone were waiting on new years eve. And even then they start firing too early, you can hear bangs several hours earlier. drives me mad!
And the christmas!!! I`m glad it`s only few days away, so now everone could calm down with this madness. They started it in the end of october!!! christmas songs, christmas shopping, christmas decoration, christmas christmas christmas.....
I´m not really against all that. I just think that the holiest of all days are those kept by ourselves in silence and apart; the secret anniversaries of the heart.

But to all of you who happen to read this - I wish you can spend christmas with the close ones you love, and celebrate the new year`s eve in the greatest way among greatest people!!

(it MIGHT be my last post, as this blog was actually one of the assignments for my "computer assisted journalism" course. It`s over now, and I`m not sure whether I should continue with it or not.)

All the best to you all!!!

Zebra doesn`t help

From the early childhood a child is taught how to get about in traffic. You must always wait for the green light and follow the zebra! But no-one knows what is right anymore, there are more and more car accidents everyday. Cars are killing people when they try to cross the road following zebra,which is supposed to be the safe way. Even when the green light is on for the pedestrian. Number of accidents involving little children crossing roads has been highly increasing.
Drivers are still not careful enough, and ofcourse many of them don`t really care if a pedestrian wants to cross the road or not. Standing on side of the road, on zebra crossing, you can wait a long time before any car stops to let you through. I`ve had several situations where I was almost hit by a car. Roads with more than one line are especially dangerous, the first-line car notices and stops while the second-line car is questionable and so on. Every day can be the "judgment day". Scary! you have to take your chances by simply crossing roads.

"So many gods, so many creeds...so many paths that wind and wind.."

Ministry of education is seriously considering to add Religion as a subject to highschools` obligatory programm. Teachers and government approve, students strongly disapprove. Religion is such a fragile subject to discuss. And hence I think it can only be optional but perhaps not obligatory.
I studied in a highschool where it was compulsory to study religion. I have other things to believe in rather than God. So I was quite annoyed because of that. Luckily we had a very neutral teacher and the subject just covered the general beliefs of different religions. We weren`t pushed to believe in anything.
But I still think that a person will study the given subject independently if one is intereseted in it. And a student with a strong belief in some religion can feel very frustrated in class while discussing other ways of beliefs. And everything also depends on the teacher.

Ministry should be really careful with such a decision. (perhaps: "yes to teaching religion, no to religious propaganda")

something positive!

To be honest I think this blog has somehow influenced me. I´ve become more sad myself. So I will allow myself to add here something positive.

There`s a show on Estonian tv channel called " The glory of Estonia". It`s a show where they honor the people who have voluntarily helped Estonian society. For instance, there are so many of them who are trying to help homeless, who have saved lives, and so on. I`m glad that the channel is doing something like that.
I have a friend who does charity. He supports disabled children. On his birthday he told in advance to all his guests that instead of presents they should put the money (that was meant for presents) on the bank account of two boys in wheelchairs. They each got about 11 thousand krouns thanks to that birthday party. One of the boys could buy a new wheelchair now, which he badly needed.
I´m happy that there really are people, selfless people, who care a lot about others, help them, and don`t want anything in return.

(ignore this post)

it`s saturday, it`s 1 AM, no it`s not saturday anymore, it`s sunday now, it`s raining, I´m eating potato chips, thinking about the amount of studying I should do, exams, one guy stepped on my foot today and didn`t apologise, I`m stuck in Estonia, I don`t have a job, grrrrr...and the money, my day was pointless, I was wet when I got home, my camera is broken, I lost so many good photos that I wanted to add in my blog( I have to sart adding images from the net), I feel so blue :( , I`ve lost a day....

(huuh, I got it out of myself, I can go on now)

dialogue

There is one saying in Estonian "lapsesuu ei valeta", meaning that childs mouth doesn`t lie. It`s quite true.
I happend to over hear one interesting conversation. It was between two little russian children, a boy and a girl, both about 6 years old.
* * *
girl: "do you know what `sex´ means?"
boy: "yes"
girl: "it`s the same as fucking, hi-hi-hiii !" (sorry for swearing but that`s what she said)

girl: "have you ever had sex?"
boy: "yes, once in a kindergarten"
* * *

I guess it was just little kids exploring their sexuality and it`s not wrong. But I was just shocked about the words they used. They learn it from people they are surrounded with. And I´ve heard it myself (too many times) how carelessly parents can talk around their children. And that`s sad!

To whose profit???

Our country is dependant on every following generation. Most of the work has to be done by parents who bring their children up. A child needs parental support in every first step of one`s way. I suppose the saying "a child is a fire to be lit" sounds right, but it seems that our lawmakers took it word by word by giving 12-year-olds the right to train firing from a real gun. Is that wise? Maybe it depends on each specific individual if one is mature enough to take it in his hands, but I think it shouldn`t be generalised for everyone.

Few years ago a 10-year-old accidentaly killed himself from a sports gun.
Children are unstable, especially boys who like fooling around with everything.

If it`s not allowed for a 15-year-old to drive a car not even with assistance, then it`s not rational and not safer to give dangerous guns in the hands of a 12-year-old. They should be enjoying their childhood at that age and get ready for teenage, explore themselves. Are we preparing for somekind of a war? Do we need to enlarge Estonian army on account of children?
I wish they reconsidered..

mathematics isn`t always rational

I forgot to add to the previous post that apparently there`s been a calculation of an average salary in Estonia. And it`s 7000 krouns. The Government was so pleased to announce that salaries have been increasing this year. Well everyone knows now who`s salaries are increasing and thanks to what they get this higher average...but obviously this higher average salary does not refer to average people.

your job is to be homesick!

EU has come up with this genious idea how to increase salaries of our ministers. If working outside of country, they pay a compensation for being homesick. That`s no joke. The amount of the compensation is 15% of a salary. So, for instance our vice president of European Commission Siim Kallas gets accordingly to his monthly 300 000 salary 45 thousand krouns extra. It`s not all ofcourse, he also gets 8000 krouns for every member of his family...and some other things. anyway he gets 66 000 extra every month.Well...I guess you all know what I´m thinking right now. They shouldn`t say such things out loud in media. People are gonna feel so low.. this guy can get a new car every month if he wanted, or buy a huge house in a year without any bankloans. Just drives the average person mad.

it`s absurd!

"british stags UNwanted!!! "

Very popular topic at the moment - more and more places put up that kind of notices on their doors. Seems a bit cruel, but it`s true. Tallinn is a cheap place for brits to celebrate stagparties. I remember when I was working as a waitress. It was unbearable what kind of mess and noise they made. They also think that they can get all the women here. Sorry guys, from where I stand, our local men are far more desired. (With every kind of exceptions ofcourse, sadly)

"To do nothing and get something, formed a boy`s ideal of a manly career" - Benjamin Disraeli

I was in a nightclub on friday. This brittish guy started talking to me. I tried to avoid him, but couldn`t escape. We started talking and it came out that he was actually a very pleasant person. It was comfortable to talk to him. To my own surprise I told him about my life, about how hard it is to find a proper job, about my goals in life, about what I want to achieve. And you know...with the next sentence he just really pissed me off : "well find yourself a rich man like most young Estonian ladies do". I just laughed, said bye, and walked away.
Is it really that kind of reputation we, Estonian women, have?

Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything..

friends 4ever

On my way home, through the crowded center town, I saw 2 guys standing against the wall, right next to each-other, talking, laughing, and peeing... like dogs, marking their area. So that few years from now, walking by that place, they could fall into memories "that`s the place where me and my best friend were peeing together" awwww....true friends.
Another childish image created by male representers. I`ve never seen women peeing on streets. Why is that? (no-one should feel offended by that, only if the person is one of those place markers on the streets where I walk everyday). That kind of images also create our reputation in the eyes of foreigners...
pathetic

Andrea: "unhappy the land that has no heroes". Galileo: "No. Unhappy the land that needs heroes".

I just happend to watch an intriguing Estonian talk show called Kahvel (fork). They had a guest who was a fireman. He told everything about firemen`s lives - things they have to witness everyday, rigths they don`t have (to protest or strike for example), and their low salaries. The numbers are really ridiculous. He earns 4380 krouns (net) a month!!!!! Minus monthly taxes, which leaves less than 3000 for everyday expenses. And he has a wife and 2 children.
He also said that a lot of fire fighters work on two places, mostly as builders and taxidrivers. These men are our rescuers. Where is this country headed???? one day they are just not gonna be there when the fire takes off...

unbelievably unbelievable

government made a gift to our prime minister, a German Brockhaus`s encyclopedia comprising 30 volumes. The reference book costs 40 000 krouns. It`s meant to help this important man with his speeches and communication scills. The gift also includes over 4000 audio recordings like voices of animals for example.
Well, let me remind you the numbers of salaries of the people working in medical, educational, salvage services, etc. I mentioned them earlier in "can`t bear very much reality". those workers should work about 8 months without expenditure to be able to afford that kind of thing. Doesn`t the government have anything better to do with the money. Whenever some organisation needs governmental support the answer is mostly the same, the state budget doesn`t have enough money.
Does prime minister really have the time for discovering that masterpiece well enough to make him wiser... I believe all that kind of information is also available in internet these days. Some public school would make much more use of that unbelievable encyclopedia.

money doesn`t talk, it swears - Bob Dylan

Our government is planning to increase tuition fees in universities. The purpose is to bring up the reputation of Estonian educational level and keep students from leaving their home country. Hey, you, men sitting in chairs of power! Have you ever been a student and having to take bank loans? a student maybe, but apparently not in need for loans. And if otherwise, then you should know that it will make even harder for families to educate their children. Oh, banks will be so pleased, they can make the loans higher and get more clients coming in. juhuuu!! I guess there`s not enough families who will be paying their debts for the rest of their lives; there`s not enough poverty in this country; there`s not enough young people who can`t afford higher education. It`s almost equal to study in other Eu countries, don`t you think that higher tuition fees will push even more youth away from home? Anyway, I´m one of those students who has taken loans from a bank and I am planning to leave Estonia. To earn money for school (I can`t watch my parents going crazy when counting those big sums) and also to live normally apart from school,because it`s not possible to earn good money next to studies. All you can count on in this country is you, yourself and your ego. Work, work harder, earn money , pay taxes, but don`t hope do get anything back, no way! oh yeah, sorry, I forgot, there`s gonna be higher educational level!

serial killer wannabe

last week they arrested a saw maniac. As strange as it seems, a 74-year-old man was apparently sawing in branches on the cemetary so that maybe later they would fall on people. He was doing that for quite a long time. The town offered 10 000 krouns for the one who`s information helps to catch the crazy person (as we know, they can`t do it on their own....so let`s spend a bit money to make people talk).... I should shut up, shouldn`t I.