Estonian Global Dominance (3rd Gold Medal!)

I came to Estonia to study technology, for which the Estonians are becoming globally renowned. And my friend Andrew came to Estonia to experience the rich choral tradition. But I'm quickly learning that perhaps these two arenas are not what Estonia should be most famous for. What I'm saying is that perhaps someone should come to Estonia next year on a Fulbright to study the historical and societal impacts of Cross-Country Skiing.

Today in the 15km Classical XC Skiing race, Andrus Veerpalu took the gold, smashing the competition and giving Estonia its 3rd gold medal-- all in Cross-Country Skiing events.



It's amazing to me that Estonia has won 3 gold medals already, and what's more is that Estonia might not yet be done. Kristina (Estonians speak of her as if they are all on a first name basis), the winner of two golds already, has the 30km Freestyle XC skiing race today (Friday), and Veerpalu has the 50km Freestyle on Sunday, which Estonians are already getting geared up for.

Veerpalu won gold in Salt Lake City in 2002, so winning in cross-country skiing isn't brand new to him or to Estonia, but the level to which the Estonians are dominating in Torino is unheralded, and people are responding accordingly. National pride is off the charts, even among these people who are notoriously proud as it is. Needless to say, it's a fun time to be here.

I can understand why Estonians are so proud. All one need do is just step back and consider the fact that only the U.S., Germany and Russia have more gold medals than Estonia, a nation of only 1.4 million people. For reference, the U.S. population is hovering around 300 million, Germany's sits at 82-83 million, and Russia is home to nearly 143 million people. What Estonia is doing in these games truly is special.

Perhaps most unbelievable about all of this, however, is the rapidity with which the news of Veerpalu's win travelled around Estonia-- just moments after he crossed the finish line. Literally, everyone here knows and is just besides themselves; there are many Estonians weeping at yet another taste of gold. In fact, I just got a call from a colleague of mine who I am about to meet, and he said "There is too much gold for one small country!" Obviously he was joking, but the fact that he was aware of what had just happened (despite being in meetings all morning) is a testament to how quickly word has spread. Another colleague mine left work early to see the race, and she's undoubtedly rejoicing right now. So congratulations to the Estonian Olympic team and to Estonians alike, you deserve to feel proud.

In other news, it's my mom's birthday today! Happy birthday Mom, I miss you!!

Double Gold for Smigun!

Breaking News: Kristina Smigun wins the Women's 10km Classical Cross-Country Skiing to give her (and Estonia) a second gold medal.

Estonians are so thrilled, some even are crying out of happiness. I can only imagine how it must feel for this tiny country to be on top of the world. Way to go Estonia!

Olympics!

As many of you have undoubtedly heard, Estonia won a gold medal the other day:

Kristina Smigun wins the 15km Cross-Country Skiing Pursuit.

While this story is old news, I thought that people might be curious as to what the local Estonian reaction has been. Simply stated, people here are quite excited and are rejoicing at the taste of gold. Cross-country skiing is the national event here in Estonia, as many people grow up here cross-country skiing (since there are no mountains on which to ski downhill in Estonia), and Estonians tend to do well in the event on a global scale.

Everyone I've talked to is just so excited and proud, which is not surprising in this small country that is, generally speaking, very patriotic. I could never imagine GWB and all of the top Olympic delegates going to Torino and congratulating the athletes directly after their victory, but that's what happened with Kristina: Arnold Rüütel was there and neither he, nor any of the Estonian Olympic Committee, could be any happier. This is what the Olympics are about, in my opinion, and it was refreshing.

In the small-world department, my Estonian friend Kairit used to cross-country ski quite competitively in Estonia, and from her time on the national/junior olympic team a while back, she knew Smigun-- and in one big race, Kairit's team beat Kristina's!! Kairit doesn't know Smigun personally, but is actually good friends with two of the Olympians on the mens side of cross-country skiing, Kasper Kokk and Aivar Rehemaa. Since Kairit couldn't watch the events where she is, I watched and typed updates to her. It was a lot of fun and gave me a sense that I had a personal stake in a race that I otherwise might not have watched.

So now the real question: Will Estonia win any more medals?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Despite only being a Hallmark-holiday in my eyes, I still thought I'd wish all my readers a happy Valentine's Day.

Just another normal day for me...

Live Video of Tallinn, 24/7

Check it out, this is pretty sweet. I'll also add a permanent link on the side:

Tallinn Live City Webcam

Now you can check out Tallinn at any time of the day!!

Alright, I have to admit, I stole link this off my friend Trudee's Blog, and if I don't mention that I took it from her, I'll get a hard time. Heck, I'll probably get a hard time anyways...

Keep thinking warm thoughts, everyone!

Culture Clash

I've been a bit sick this week, and I blame it on the Super Bowl. Sure, SB-XL was on Sunday for most of you, but for me and anyone between Estonia and the International Date Line, it took place early Monday morning.

In Estonia, kickoff was at 1:00am, and the game didn't finish until 5:30am. Originally, Trudee, Andrew and I had planned on watching the game at Nimeta Baar, a local pub that has carried a few NFL games each week throughout the season for the Estonian ex-pat crowd. I only checked out a few games this year, partially since the games were on so late during the regular season, but also since my beloved 49ers were never telecast due to their...er...abominable play.

In any case, on Super Bowl Sunday/Monday, Andrew, Trudee and I didn't totally feel up to sitting in bar, partially because we'd all had full weekends where none of us had gotten a particularly large amount of sleep. So when my Irish friend, Peter, mentioned that he had the same feed in his satellite package as did the bar, we jumped the invitation to watch at his place. It ended up being 5 of us: Pete, Trudee, Andrew, and another American friend, James.

Overall, the game was a good one (minus the terrible officiating) and we had fun. But the big dissappointment was that because it was a British telecast, we didn't get any of the new, expensive commercials that are half the fun of watching the game! Seriously though, some people look forward to the commercials as much as the game, so we were a bit bummed about that, but what can ya do? [Actually, it was only momentary frustration, as we found the next day that Google Video had put together a page that hosted all of the ads, so it was fun to get to watch them the next day. I even shared a few with my colleagues...my favorites being the Bud Light ads--hidden Bud Light in the office, and the "Secret Fridge" and whatever ad had the two doctors killing the fly, if you know the one I'm talking about]

But despite the lack of cool commercials, it was great to watch the game with people that actually understand the rules of football, as opposed to confusing it with rugby or something. I was pretty much impartial to the teams, but I did appreciate the Steelers' trick play-- that's gotta be one of the coolest things you can do, particularly in the Super Bowl. I was sad to see Mike Holmgren lose, but I like Bill Cowher too, so it didn't really matter. Plus all the Jerome Bettis hoopla made it fun that his team won. In any case, while the announcers reveled in their realization that XL, corresponding to the Roman numerals, could also stand for "Xtra Large," I dubbed it Super Bowl "Xtra Late," for my lack of sleep. I got home at 5:30am and was working by noon, with a newly acquired stuffed-up nose.

You're probably wondering as to why this post is called 'Culture Clash,' and that's because I don't think my Sunday/Monday could have encompassed two more different sides of the cultural spectrum.

Before meeting up with Peter, James and Trudee, Andrew (who's in Estonia doing a Fulbright on choral music) and I went to a Gregorian Chant concert in St. Nicholas Church (Niguliste Kirik). It was wonderful, and contrary to my expectations, it was only two men (not a group of monks, or anything)-- a French Tenor and a Latvian Baritone-- who did 10 numbers, all in Latin. They were tremendous, and the acoustics of the church were just fantastic. Our $4 admission not only covered the concert, but afforded us access to the church museum (which normally costs more than $4 so it was a doubly good deal), which catalogued the history of the building, which was originally built in 1230 and had been destroyed both by bombs as well as by unintentional fire over the years. It has been rebuilt a few times and they have some very cool photos of the process of rebuilding the spire. On top of the concert, it all was very cool and a great bargain!

As for what else is new with me, I've just been working some more on this conference I'm putting on with a colleague of mine at the e-Governance Academy. We're thinking we might have to push the date up in April because of participant availability, but this will be OK. We're actually making great progress, and we've received a lot of support. This is great, except now we're dealing with the reality that we might have too much information. We only have a day for the seminar/workshop/conference, but we probably have enough right now for 2 days! So we'll work on figuring it all out in the next week or so, and then send out official invitations once we get the bill all set. I'm excited.

HALFWAY HOME

Believe it or not, I'm halfway through with my Fulbright grant! WHOA. It's hard to actually rationalize the fact that I've already been here 5 months, and I only have 5 more to go. But while it feels like I just got here, it also feels like and eternity ago that I stepped off of the plane, met Veljo, and began immersing myself in this foreign world. The exciting thing, now, is that it doesn't feel so foreign. Sure, it has its moments, but overall, I'm pretty comfortable here (minus the cold weather).

The sun and warmth of Summer/Autumn Estonia feels very distant, not to mention sitting by the pool in the Sierra Nevadas every day back in California, hanging out with all of my Lair buddies. Even longer ago is college; I can barely even remember (I think this is probably a product of my selective memory supressing the bad feelings) what it felt like to work so hard on my honors thesis at this point last year.

In large part, it feels like time is sort of standing still for me. But at the same time, when I realize my family and friends back home are just plugging away in the reality I used to reside in, the realization kicks in that, as Steve Miller puts it, "Time keeps on skipping into the future," regardless of where I am. It's more curiosity than nervousness, but I'm definitely wondering how it's going to be when I return to the states.

Speaking of which, I've got some travel on the horizon that I'm not sure if I've mentioned yet. I know I wrote briefly about my trip to Oslo between February 22-28, but I'm popping over to Berlin for 2 days, actually, before Oslo. My sister Laura, who works for Maxim Magazine's new radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio, Maxim Radio, met the band The Bloodhound Gang, whi befriended her after a few studio visits to Maxim Radio. When they found out I was in Europe, they suggested to Laura that I come to their show somewhere along the way, and when we agreed upon Berlin, they hooked me up with some tickets!! I have no idea what to expect, but how cool is that? I'll only be there for 2 days, but it's an experience worth the trip. So it's Berlin from 2/19-2/21, and then Oslo from 2/22-2/28.

Coming back to the US, I've also begun planning a trip with one of my college roommates-- my buddy Steve. It's not totally set, but we're thinking that around July 15, Steve will fly to Estonia to meet me, and then we'll spend a few days here, and the circle all the way down to Italy through Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Switzerland, before Steve meets up with his family in Venice and I fly home, either from Rome or Paris. It's all still in the works, but quite exciting.

All right, that's all I got right now, but I'll post on what I've been up to tomorrow, including what I did for the Super Bowl.

A little Dilbert for your life

2 words:
Ha Ha.

Oh, and click on the image if you want to see the full strip. Ok, fine, that was more than 2 words. Sue me.