We're at Estonia!

"I'm at Estonia!" says Chloe periodically. In December, with no instruction from us (but lots and lots of hearing us tell other people about spending the spring abroad on a Fulbright) she began saying, "We're going to Estonia." We clarified that first we would be going to stay with her Granney in England. After that, when asked where she would be going after Christmas, she answered, "England and Estonia."

We spent most of January in Oxford, but during the last week of January we stayed with 4 sets of relatives and friends in London, Cambridge and Ipswich, ending at a lovely B&B very close to Stansted Airport in preparation for a 6:45 am departure for Talinn. At two and a quarter, Chloe is a very amenable and seasoned traveler, but staying at 5 different locations in 6 days understandably confused her a little. At least a couple of the times she awoke in a new place, she asked with anticipation, "Are we at Estonia?"

On the morning in question Chloe actually awoke in fuzzy purple pj's while Alan strapped her into the car seat of our rental car. Instead of howling in confusion, she blinked pleasantly as we layered fleece and jackets against the fridgid and pitch-black East Anglia air. "Where we going?" At long last, the answer was: "We're going on an airplane -- to Estonia!"

We had a smooth two-hour flight to Talinn. Some sleepy young men in the middle of the plane looked like they might be headed for one of the infamous British stag (bachelor) parties that have been descending upon the Estonian capital in recent years, but they gave no trouble. When we landed, we knew to expect a driver who spoke no English (in fact a handful of rusty German words sufficed nicely) who would take us on the two-hour journey to Tartu. However, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted first by an English-speaking representative from the US Embassy. She welcomed us to the country and expressed a hope that we would return to Talinn to visit the embassy as soon as was convenient. She gave an interesting first impression of Estonia -- young, tall and thin, with cropped, dyed platinum-blond hair and a fitted suede jacket fringed in spiky fuschia faux-fur. As I watched to her speak I was reminded of both "The Fifth Element" and "Minority Report." I never expected a government representative from a former Soviet Republic to be so postmodern!

Our attempts to get an apartment in Tartu from abroad all fell through for various reasons, so we initially stayed in a guest house run by Tartu University. This meant a tiny but very clean dorm-type room with two twin beds and a miniscule kitchenette area. We pitched Chloe's tent in the middle of the floor and worked out a reliable routine for getting her to sleep. We then tiptoed around doing things like emailing on Alan's very quiet laptop. In such close quarters, the one thing we couldn't do after her bedtime was eat, so (5 mos. pregnant) I tended to shovel in fruit, cereal and chocolate during her bedtime stories with Alan!

Working with an agent recommended by the Tartu philosophy department, we found an apartment on Thursday, our second day in Tartu. (This photo shows us apartment-hunting.) However, a chain of mover-outers meant that we could not move in until Sunday (yesterday), so we spent four nights in our cramped quarters. We were all very cheerful, though. The hardest thing was that the guest house is uphill from the university, restaurants and shopping -- not a long walk, but an arduous one with a child in a stroller, another in utero, and lots of snow, ice and slush to negotiate! Our new apartment is vast, very nice, only a 12-minute walk from the university -- and in a FLAT part of town!!

We are so far impressed with Tartu: friendly colleagues for Alan; interesting buildings; lots of English speakers; free wireless in almost every public space; high-quality and very affordable food; even an excellent (and barely used) playspace for babies & toddlers a short walk from here. Our first days were 7, 10, and 2 degrees below zero (Celsius) respectively, so we have bundled up -- and I must say that Friday, at 2 below, felt balmy. More toddlers are transported via toboggan here than via strollers -- and the strollers we do see around us have heavy-duty tires that make our jams and struggles look pathetic. I have truly been fantasizing about snow tires for our MacLaren... but we will most likely try to purchase a second-hand stroller, and -- when the snow firms up again -- probably a little toboggan!

Until next time! sac