Day 30 - Sat Jul 23 - "Нарвский Фестивал Движение/Narva Movement Festival" - One of the requirements of the NSLI-Y program is five hours of community service. I opted to do part of my community service at the Narva Movement Festival, a community event where different sporting clubs put on activities designed to get people outside. Among the sports represented were orienteering, mountain biking, roller-blading, scootering, walking with poles (which is very popular in Narva-Joessu), and zumba. Arriving at the festival an hour early to set-up, it quickly became apparent that apart from setting up, there wasn't too much work to be done (the people running the activities didn't really need any help). As a result, after helping set up the orienteering booth, I got to do the orienteering course, and learn what orienteering actually is in the process (see caption above). It was actually really interesting to see how in Estonia local sports clubs are essentially national sports clubs (because the country is small). So interesting, in fact, that Estonian sports became the topic of my presentation for Monday. Day 31 - Sun Jul 24 - “Spa and Soccer…” - …were the highlights of what was probably my most productive Sunday of the summer. I started the day with walking to the beach to use the local cafe wifi to download a book to read on the beach (The Omnivore’s Dilemma is highly recommended). I managed to get a few chapters in before Sophia called and invited me to come with her to play soccer with Adrianna (our Estonian friend) and to bike. Biking didn’t end up working out (the hotel we tried to rent from stopped renting bikes to people who weren’t guests), so Sophia and I were forced to wander around back streets until we found the recently-mowed, mosquito-infested forest meadow which serves as Narva-Joessu’s only soccer field (apart from the one on the beach). We arrived at the game almost an hour late, but we still managed to get in 3 very sweaty, till-10-points rounds. We played 7 on 8 (my team included a six year old) and Adrianna, Sophia, and I were the only girls on the field. Highlights included Sophia scoring a goal and me header-ing a ball from across the whole field. After soccer, Hannah had invited us to go the spa where her host-brother works, but we still had an hour before the time we planned to meet up. Feeling motivated, I used this hour to go on a 30 minute run and do 5 minutes of abs. After sweating it out for practically the whole day, the spa was much appreciated and felt AH-mazing. By all accounts, it was an ideal day, and I even managed to somehow find time to finish tomorrow’s Orienteering/Estonian sports presentation. Day 32 - Mon Jul 25 - “Books and Bikes” - After school, Sophia and I planned to go to the bookstore and then to the promenade to try our hand at renting bikes again. I ended up spending 26 euros on 7 books, which only as I was walking out of the store did I realize killed any chance I had at not needing extra luggage (books weigh a lot guys). As for biking, we had much better luck then we did in Narva-Joessu - we were able to rent bikes from a really nice new activity center for 3 euros each, and the people working there were kind enough to let us use their lockers for free (had to keep those 7 books somewhere). We biked as far down the river as we could: first down the promenade, then down a gravel street, then down a muddy trail - we stopped, it should be noted, only once this trail turned into a swamp on the river-shore (Sophia had to help me pull my bike out of the mud). On the way back, we tried to pedal up a hill so we could loop around the part of the promenade that’s on top of the bastions, but my chain snapped in half. We weren’t too far from the activity center when it happened, but I still had to half-scooter, half-hang-on-to-Sophia’s-bike-for-dear-life for a fair distance, as I had no breaks and no pedal power on my bike. Thankfully, the people at the activity center didn’t seem to mind, and even let me wash my feet off in the bathroom (which usually you would have to pay for). Day 33 - Tue Jul 26 - "Monument tour" - Every day, I take the bus from Narva-Joessu to Narva for school, and along the way are a ton of old graveyards and monuments that each have their own history and story. So when we embarked on today’s monument tour, I imagined that it would involve, you know, monuments. Instead, the tour consisted of sitting in an air-conditioning-less bus for an hour, visiting a tiny WW2 museum, and driving back. It wouldn’t have been that bad, except that it’s been hot all week, and today was especially bad - 80° with 100% humidity. Before today, 100% humidity was something that only existed in my imagination as swimming through the air as though it’s water. The reality, it turns out, isn’t that much different. Any surface my skin touched - clothes, seats, shoes - felt sticky and sweaty and uncomfortably warm. I miss the 110° dry heat. After getting back home, I went down to the beach to swim and meet Sophia and Hannah. The three of us somehow even managed to get in 20 minutes of abs before getting attacked by bugs.
Day 35 - Thu Jul 28 - “Детский Дом and Hannah’s B-day” - After school and food, I took the bus a few stops past home to meet Valya (my host mom) at the Детский Дом/Children’s House where she works. The house can be compared to an orphanage, but the more I learned about how it runs, the harder it became to call it that. The 6 orphans who live at each Детский Дом have a “mom” and “aunt” who alternate living with them and caring for them. The house itself has 6 large bedrooms (one for each kid), a huge kitchen, a spacious living room, and is surrounded by a beautiful, well-kept, grassy property which holds its own playground. In just Narva-Joessu (which is tiny), there are 3 properties which hold 6 houses total. These houses, which are all over the country, make up Estonia’s child care system. After helping out with some chores for a few hours and meeting some of the kids that Valya works with, we went our separate ways. Walking down the beach to get back home, I ran into Hannah and then Sophia. We split up to get cleaned up, and then Sophia and I walked over to Hannah’s house for a birthday dinner with her host family, and ended up staying there for the rest of the night. We talked about cursing (which is way worse in Russian culture), sang Happy Birthday in 3 languages, and had tons of food. It was a good night :) Day 36 - Fri Jul 29 - “Lazy” - After a long and hot week, I caught the first bus home after stopping by FAMA (the mall) one last time, and spent the rest of the night reading, eating, and watching Vampire Diaries. Last day of school in Narva! Stay tuned for teary goodbyes and Tartu
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So I know this appears to be very late, but the truth is I had this whole post written in email form on Sunday. At least until I tried to attach 15 photos (bc who doesn't love photos?) and gmail got angry and deleted my whole email. So anyways. Week 2!
I'm currently living in усть-Нарва/Narva Joessu, a small town located where the Narva river meets the Baltic. It's a 25 min bus ride from Narva itself and the school, but it's nice cause I can run on/go to the beach. I live w a single host mom and a room mate who is Indian (her name is Manojna, but I call her Manya). So far I'm lovin it :) below's a slight overview of the last few days that I'm sending on my phone cause I have internet only when I'm at school. I'll be in better touch once/if I get internet at home.
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