S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y... NIGHT!

So, it's a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Tallinn, Estonia. I'm sitting at my usual wireless post -- the Double Coffee. It's great if you want to sit here for hours and not have anyone bother you, not even the waitress. :) I came in around noon expecting to download the season finale of "The Office" and have some lunch. Turns out, the kitchen is closed. At noon. On a Sunday. I love Estonia!!

Last night I had my first Hesburger with Juustu (cheese). Hesburger is the Finnish equivalent of McDonald's. The night started out at Estonia's first pub -- Hell Hunt -- and ended at a sports baar owned by an American. The bar is called "Nimeta" which means, in Estonian, "without a name", just down the street you find "Nimega", which means "with a name". Estonians aren't known for their sense of humor, but I think this takes the kook. (I apologize for not being able to put the right Fino-ugric letters in the Estonian words. If anyone knows how to paste into the blog box, let me know.)

In completely unrelated news, I have begun to teach myself Russian through the use of "A Spoonful of Russian" podcasts on iTunes. The host, Natalia, also maintains a blog of the lessons at http://speakrussian.blogspot.com. So far I can say "Hello", "How are you?", and "Not so good." Natalia also spices up the lessons with bits of Russian culture. I met a few people last night at Nimeta who studied Russian in Wisconsin. One guy has been in Russia for the last few months and plans to trek the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Singapore and then spend a few weeks in Australia. Pretty impressive, if you ask me. I still get chills just thinking about traveling to Russian, even though my poor white ass would probably be the perfect target for hooligans. I also met someone who spent some time in Georgia observing the transition to democracy under Dagashvilli (sp?). Amazing.

Well, I'm almost out of battery power, and the season finale of "The Office" is mine, so I must go send some postcards, and carry on with my charmed life.