My permit has come in!!

I went to the Estonian Embassy in Riga this morning and they told me that my pass hadn't arrived. I was livid. But, as it turns out, they just hadn't opened the package that it was in. So, because some incompetent person who didn't open all the mail, I almost had to wait another week here in Riga.

On the way back to the hostel I promptly walked past the Freedom Monument and took a picture of myself. And then all the way walking back I was protecting my bag as if someone was going to try to rob me now that I had something worthy of stealing. And I was extra careful as I was crossing the streets as if I was going to get hit by a car or something.

Me + the Freedom Monument.

This is the happiest I have been in a LONG time!!! :)

Thwarted Again

I just called the Estonian Embassy in Riga who said that their diplomatic pouch deliveries only arrive on Thursday. Which means when they told me that I may be able to get my sticker on Monday or Tuesday - they were lying to me. Additionally, I'm supposed to register for classes on Thursday and have orientation which seems impossible when I have to wait for the pouch and then wait for a bus.

For f*$#% sake Estonia! All I want to do is come to your country, go to school, and abide by your laws. This blog is looking less like the "Chronicles of Estonia" and more like the "Saga of Estonia".

How does he do it?

I'm staying at the place I stayed the last time I was in Riga: Fun Friendly Frank's Hostel and Guesthouse and I have one question: How does he do it??

1. It's the cleanest hostel I've stayed at.

2. You get a free beer when you arrive.

3. There are people hanging out at all hours at the 24 hr bar - and it's quiet in my room.

4. Everyone speaks English very, very well.

At the hostel I stayed at in Prague all anyone wanted to do was sit around and smoke pot and speak French, and since I don't do either I ended up hanging out in my dimly lit room most of the time.

I stopped at Stockmann's when I got here for some snacks/meals for the next few days. I picked up some peanut butter called "Nicks: The Easy Rider". It even has a stamp on it that says "The American Way of Life". I'm glad I got to see Prague, but come on you can't beat the livin' in Riga.



I think I'm going to go see an American movie today. And one of the girls in my room (her name is Ula) told me about a music festival that's going on right across the bridge. They have electronic and ambient music for 24 hours - starting yesterday at noon. I'm going to go check it out. Should be a hoot. Too bad I didn't bring any glow sticks.

My Last Day in Prague/Back in Lith-waynia

My last breakfast at the hostel seemed like some kind of a moral test. They gave me an extra roll with my cereal and fruit. I'm not sure why, but I didn't say anything. I remember eyeing the rolls, though, and thinking how much I wanted one. The breakfast lady gave the next guy an extra roll, as well. I took advantage of the newbie breakfast lady's error. That breakfast really did fill me up, though... with guilt.

During breakfast, some guy at the hostel was standing in the hallway barefoot. That's a bold move for a hostel. I think there are at least two degrees of a man - fellow and dude. "Now there is a nicely dressed older fellow talking to the barefoot dude."

On the bus to Vilnius, I was sold seat #3 - the co-bus driver's napping seat. So, I just sat a seat behind there. Well, of course someone was supposed to sit in that seat, and so I played musical chairs until I found one that no one kicked me out of. It was one of the dirtiest buses I have ever been on. It was one of those operated for EuroLines by a private contractor. Basically, one guy says to his buddy, "Hey, I'm thinking about buying a bus. You in?" So these two yahoos are driving a bus full of people between the Czech Republic and Lithuania for awhile.

The bus did show two DVDs in Russian for entertainment. One was "Brigada" a TV series about the Russian mafia, I guess. I don't speak too much Russian, but I understood most of it. And after that they played Lawrence of Arabia - also in Russian. Pretty cool.

When we were on the bus waiting to leave Prague I'm pretty sure some Spanish speaking guy got on and yelled at a couple of girls on the bus. He was maybe their father because it sounded something like "It you go to Vassava (Warsaw) I hope you die there!" Then he made sounds like crashing and exploding. I can't be sure, though. I've started hearing what I want to hear when people speak in a different language. Maybe he said, "Have a wonderful time in Poland. I'll miss you! If you go swimming do a cannonball off the high dive for me! (crash/splash)"

We crossed the border between Poland and Lithuania at about 5 a.m. The border guard audibly sighed and said increduously, "Ugh American" when I showed him my passport. That means that (Ugh) he actually has to get off the bus and stamp it in his little office.

Vilnius was hot and muggy when I arrived. I went back to the same hostel I stayed at before and the same Lithuanian guys are still hanging around here. One of the other guys I met is back, too. I would stay longer, but they put me in a basement room and I think it has recently been flooded, or there are cracks in the foundation and standing water under the carpet. The receptionist kept asking me if I was sure I only wanted to stay one night. After seeing that room? Yes. I'm positive.

So, I will go to Riga, Latvia today to stay at Fun Friendly Frank's Backpacker's Hostel. And that's where I will bide my time until Estonia decides the let me back in. My passport sticker should be at the Estonian Embassy on Monday or Tuesday. Can't wait!

Day 11

Circled the wagons for tonight.

Joseph shot 2,500 lbs of meat, was only able to bring back 100 lbs.

Plan to ford the river tomorrow.

Susy has cholera.

The Czech Republic

I made it! The bus ride was actually not as long as I thought it was going to be. The Czech countryside is beautiful and it's the first time I've experienced elevation in a long time. I think my ears even popped.

I was a little on edge as we passed through Poland. I don't know what it is, but that country has always freaked me out. I do have some pangs of guilt however about not going to Warsaw and Krakow to see the holocaust memorials. Family legend has it that my Grandpa Edward Westgard was in the first company to liberate one of the concentration camps. Maybe I could have seen a picture of him that would have confirmed what my dad has been telling me for as long as I can remember.

The hostel I'm staying at is the barest of bare bones that a hostel can be. I'm in what looks like a 5th grade classroom with 7 beds in it. It's ... cozy.

Even there I have to pay for the internet - 50 kc it cost me for about an hour last night. The internet cafe I'm currently at is charging 39 kc which is about $2/hour. I kind of miss E-Stonia.

I bought a book this morning by native Czech Ivan Klima called "The Spirit of Prague". It is very enjoyable reading and just the thing I was looking for about this city. It confirms my suspicions that this is an artists paradise filled with coffee shops and cheap beer. Very agreeable so far. My guide book lists a chain of vintage clothing stores that I'm going to check out later today. I also had some of the best Thai food I've ever had at this restaurant called "The Lemon Leaf".

My days are blurring into each other. I find myself envying those who live in beautiful cities like this and have jobs. I really want to be employed in doing something - you know. Be able to work for something and feel a sense of accomplishment at a job well-done. That's one thing that Wal-Mart had going for it. You could do a project, and do it right, in a very brief period of time. No "life's work" projects - which is probably the direction that my life is heading. A friend of mine once said something to me about this very thing. I'll paraphrase, "Producing something on a farm is different than working in an office. Maybe you have something to show for it like memos and cables and charts - but nothing tangible that really changes. And you don't really have to sweat for it."

This same friend also pointed out something profound in the movie "Schindler's List" that is so allegoric to life. The detainees are trying to build a structure of dorms, or something like that. One woman says, "You're doing it all wrong and this building will collapse within the year. This is how you should do it." The German guard pulls out a gun and shoots her. Then he says, "Do everything like she said." So poignant. Also like my experience at Wal-Mart.

I will have more to write later. I'm also "logging" my travels in a notebook I bought in Latvia. As I'm writing, I imagine that one day my daughter might feel like taking the same route through Europe that I took in 2007. Kinda cheesy, eh?

"The Diary of A. F."

Day 3 update: I'm still ALIVE!

I was out all day today. I like Vilnius - except that I think pretty much everything is going to be closed on Sunday. The neighborhood I'm staying in is like the Venice Beach of the Baltics. Very artsy with many galleries and so on. My bus leaves at 8 p.m. on Monday so I will have that day, too, to wander around.

So far, I like Latvian beer, but I stood in line with all the other young houlligans at the market and bought the same beer they did: Taurus Pilsner. It was only 1.9 Lt which is less than $1 for a big can. So, what the heck? I like it in the can... (I can't take credit for the originality of that disgusting joke, nor can I vouch for its validity.)

I went to the Lithuanian History Museum today. Did you know that in 1776 when we were declaring our independence all of the small municipalities in the countryside lost their soveriegnty? Also, there was a section of the museum for the deportations. I got a little perspective on my own deportation. Maybe I should have gotten off the bus at the border, and then snuck back in through the wheat field and became a "Partisan".

On a side note, in the Lithuanian History Museum I also saw the "tusk of a narwhal". Sounds like something out of Harry Potter to me...

A "narwhal"

Ironically, the Lithuanian History Museum contains an extensive collection of stamps dating back to the 18th century. Part of the reason that my visa agent wouldn't accept my paperwork is that it was not sufficiently stamped. How does one test the validity of a fax with a stamp on it? By signing it, dating it and writing "True and Correct Copy", of course. Soviet bureaucracy rises again.

Alight. I'm going to write in my journal. (Yes, I also bought a journal for the occassion.) It's like "The Diary of A. F.". I'm thinking of donating the flip-flops I wore in exile to the Estonian Occupation Museum.

Ok, enough deportation jokes... for now.

Amy, Amy: One Girl's Erotic Journey from Tallinn to...

I have been deported from Estonia. My residency permit didn't come through. Not only that, but now the Citizenship and Migration Board tells me I cannot be in the country until school begins on August 30. Soooo, that puts me.... on the lam.

Yesterday, my last legal day in Estonia, I boarded a 6:30 p.m. bus for Riga, Latvia. I made it across the border before midnight and am now staying at a hostel in Riga. Tomorrow I will take a bus to Vilnius, Lithuania where I will spend 3 nights and then... get this... I will get on a bus for 18 hours to travel to Prague!! Pretty sweet, huh?

If I can't stay in the country I want to stay in, why not have fun while I'm in exile? I'll be in Prague for just over a week "Czech"-ing things out. Then who knows where I will go. Doesn't really matter. I'm a backpacker, you know? I just have to be in Riga... sometime... to pick up some sticker so that I can re-enter Estonia... eventually.

Riiiiiiga

I just signed into this blog-site in Latvia. Paldies "guess and check"! (Thank you! in Latvian.)

I would say that the bus ride down here from Tallinn was pretty uneventful, except that it wasn't. One of the Russian speaking men in the back of the bus was trying to smoke a cigarette which set the smoke alarm off. The bus driver proceeded to pull over to the side of the road, walk to the back, and deal one square slap on this guy's cheek. Then, without saying a word the bus driver took his station again at the wheel and we drove on towards Riga.

The hostel was really easy to find as it was only a five minute walk from the bus station. Upon arrival at my hostel I recieved a free beer as promised by the literature online. The atmosphere was pretty hoppin' for a Wednesday night, and there was more to follow.

Our host led us down the street to a club where we waited outside to get in. As we were waiting we witnessed some Latvian aggression being taken out by some big bouncers on the indefensive body of some little (probably smarmy) dude. It was like a movie - I hardly believed my eyes. We did not go in that club after that, but kept moving onto another more expensive, less violent establishment.

I've learned alot about culture since being in Latvia. I've learned not to let Chilean guys buy you drinks or accept their offers of cigarettes. I've learned that Basques sing when they are drunk. And I've learned that McDonalds has what's called the McWalk which serves the McLavash deep into the McNight.

Today I visted the Latvian History Museum which turned out to be very interesting. There were exhibits of tools and national costumes. The costumes are made of wood and I can see why considering that it was 70 degrees F today, but in the breeze off the Daugava River it was quite chilly.

On a more creepy note, I passed a guy on the street wearing a South Dakota t-shirt. Naturally I assume that, since the state is so small, we all should know eachother - or at least use the family whistle when we meet overseas. This guy clearly didn't notice my "South Dakota-ocity" because he kept on walking. On a whim, I decided to follow him in the hopes of "accidentally" running into him and making conversation. I followed him, undetected, for at least a km through the Old Town area. He eventually made his way to the Latvian Film School. There was no chance of me, a tourist from Tallinn, having a good excuse for ending up in the Latvian Film School so I let him get away. Probably for the best. How creepy am I?

I'm going to catch up on my sleep now so that I have the energy to explore Riga some more. And by explore Riga I mean find a nice kafejnica to sit in and read Hilary Clinton's autobiography. I talked to a girl from Dublin about literature last night and now I must read Ulysees. I also just finished "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck. It had some generally applicable themes that I was probably not mature enough to pick up on in high school. Thank God my school was less than mediocre and we never had to read it.

Good night!