OK. so I'm down to my last few days in Tallinn. need to start going to museums and other places around here i havent yet bothered to see but feel like i should. there are several that are supposed to be quite good, as well as the zoo, and the soviet era amusement park where, as a local magazine described, "the things that are supposed to scare you make you laugh, and the things that are supposed to make you laugh scare you". can't get that at great america.

it's weird--i'm moving again, after 9 months. i don't know how long i can keep moving like this. i mean, i like seeing new places, and meeting new people, having new experiences, etc etc, but having to relocate my home base every 9 months is getting tiring. I'd like to find a cool place to live, stay there, travel around and be able to come back home after. i guess i need to be somewhere central to lots of other great places; hopefully this place in germany will be like that--near france, switzerland, and not too far from italy. that said, when and if i do settle in somewhere, i'll probably long to be on the road again, moving every 9 months to somewhere new and exciting. The grass is always greener...

off to bed. be safe.

Woo-hoo! Got my pictures online finally. For the sake of those with slow connections, I'll only place one or two inline, and leave the rest below, awaiting a click. If you'd like a new window for every photo link, check the box in the upper right corner now. Enjoy!


This was taken on a rare sunny day. The "flower" you see on the right is made from seized bootlegged cds (of which there is no shortage in the Baltics).


Yes, I am still alive and yes, I look the same. No surprises there, I guess. :-) This is a picture of me at the waterfalls near Tallinn--proof that I have actually left Tallinn since I've been here.

The rest are here-click to view.
Cathedral
Three Sisters Hotel
Hoochi Mama
Kosmos Cinema-Soviet Design Galore
Moon and Spire
The (Tallinn) World Trade Center (seriously)
Baltic Sea in April
My apartment block
i went out for dinner and ended up with mice at my table
locks on bridge (russian wedding tradition)
raekoja plats (town square)
my school
tower, city wall

(earlier today)
I've been down and out with a bad case of the flu all weekend--worst I've felt in years. It hurts to cough, sneeze, or do most anything. :-( Not to mention we actually have a 4-day weekend, and here I am stuck in town cos I'm too ill to make my way somewhere different. AND it's actually sunny out today. Grrrrrrrrr...

I have 8 days left in Tallinn--hard to believe, really. I can't say I'm horribly sorry to leave. I mean, I'll miss the friends I've made here, but after the long-ass winter and cold, wet spring, perpetually windy days, and 7-day work week, I'm looking forward to being elsewhere and starting fresh.

I'm working on an article about Lindy Hop in the Baltics--my first ever venture into writing for someone besides myselfm but something I've wanting to get into for years...Not sure where I'll post it, but probably on a swing-related website somewhere. Will add a link here when it's up.

For my web-savvy friends, if you have any suggestions for this site (font size, html mistakes, etc etc) please let me know. My knowledge of html is basically learn-as-I-go, which means it's a slow process, but kinda fun when it actually works.

Going to head outside for the first time in 2 flu-ridden days....back soon.

Thanks to all of you who have stopped by to check this thing out...I will have pictures up here soon, cos I know you're all dying to see what Tallinn's like.

One of my colleagues inadvertently discovered a really, um, different type of pastry today--a type of cheese danish with an anchovy in the middle. (Conveniently hidden by a deceptive layer of creamy cheese). Ugh!

On a more appealing note, if anyone gets to Italy this summer, head to Bologna's Il Gelatauro on Via San Vitale--there you'll find some of the best gelato in Italy, in all sorts of unusual but delectable flavors, inlcuding zenzero (ginger) and squash. (Yes, squash). When I lived in Bologna I spent more on gelato than most chain smokers spend on cigarettes, but it's far too good to pass up.

Damn! Just lost everything I typed in the last 30 minutes...

I have managed to change the fonts on this site, added the Shout Out comments form (subtle hint), and changed some of the color scheme, all without completely destroying everything in the process!

Here are my latest plans/whereabouts... I have about 2 1/2 weeks left in Tallinn:

July: escape/depart Tallinn and make my way, via drunken-tourist ferry, to Stockholm, then spend the month in dance camp in Herrang, where I'll see old friends, do some dancing, realize my dancing has gone even further downhill, work in the camp somewhere, and, I hope, get some much-needed relaxation.

August: take a (ugh) bus to Germany, where I'll begin my next venture of teaching/working in southern Germany. This will necessitate the precarious activities of getting an apartment, acquiring a work and residence permit (possible in theory, let's hope in practice as well), getting a decent amount of work, settling into the town, and finding a new gym/place to dance/group of people to dance with/place to buy my food/cafe to idle away my extra, momentarily underemployed time in/barber/dentist/etc, etc, and all the other necessities of modern life. At least this time it'll be a culture I'm somewhat familiar with, via family roots. Last year I moved eight times in four months--I do NOT want to do that again.

It's way past my bedtime...

OK, so this is the long-awaited (by me, anyway) and long-delayed (also by me) birth/launch of, and sorry attempt at, my new blog. Here, in theory, you'll be able to find out what I've been up to, what I'm doing next, what I do with my time, and read some interesting (I hope) things that have happened to me; perhaps you'll even see a decent picture or two.

One suggestion: bookmark it now, and check back from time to time. If I can figure out how I'll add that cool feature which will allow you to post comments to my blog.

The basics: I'm still in Tallinn, Estonia, home of the longest winters ever. I'm working as an English teacher M-F for a private language school, and also Sat and Sun, over the internet. In other words, I'm working too damn much! But that will change soon, I hope. I can't take much more of this...

In my scarce spare time, I've taken up tap dancing, started working out again, wasted too much time on the web (damn this speedy cable connection...), cursed my decision to leave Italy and come here, taught a few swing classes for fun, dabbled in salsa dancing (there's a dire shortage of leads here, which means even my poor attempts at salsa are not only tolerated but welcomed), and witnessed--from a distance--what seems to be at least half my friends back home get either married or engaged.

Back soon...