NATO and Pasta

So today was pretty awesome. Yesterday after I got out of class (an hour late!), I received an email from the social sciences department regarding a lecture from the Commander of Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, General Hans-Lothar Domröse. That day in class, my professor made a vague comment of how a NATO officer was coming Tartu the next day, so imagine my surprise when I realized how high ranking this man is. You can google him so see his full career, but essentially the Allied Joint Force Brunssum is one out of two operational level commands in the NATO command structure. The lecture was scheduled for two in the afternoon and, because my class didn’t start until four fifteen, I could go.

I got to the room (it’s a small, hundred person auditorium where one of my classes is held) about a half hour early. There were already a few military people standing outside the door (I immeditaly recognized the one man’s uniform as American, but I could tell he wasn’t Air Force like my dad) and after about twenty minutes I went inside. The other young woman sitting next to me and I spoke for a few minutes and we commented how we seemed to be two of the few students in the room. Once the room was full, there were maybe five students and the rest were military. There was the one American Army man I had seen before and I think an American Navy man (he was in dress blues that weren’t Marines or Air Force, so this is my best guess), Estonian uniforms I’ve seen around Tart, and then so many military uniforms I did not recognize. This may sound really weird, but I loved the smell that was in the room. It smelled like military uniforms, it smelled like my dad. I felt really calm around that smell.

Then the Commander came in and everyone clapped. I immediately liked him. He was confident but not arrogant, articulate and easy to understand despite his German accent. While he was introducing himself, I counted the number of medals he had on his uniform jacket because his ribbon bar was pretty large. If I counted correctly, he had twenty. He started off his lecture by reminding everyone he could not speak for NATO and some things he was going to say were his own opinions. He then proceeded to give a very brief overview of NATO (the structure, the voting requirements), and then spoke of NATO’s role in Afghanistan. He spoke of how NATO should be out of Afghanistan soon and Afghanistan should be having their elections soon. He was very proud of the education and technology NATO had brought to Afghanistan.

Then he got to the topic that was on most people’s minds, Crimea. He was very honest and admitted NATO may have been naive when it came Russia, especially after what happened to Georgia not so long ago. He expressed gratitude towards the United States because we have offered additional resources than required of us in regards to being part of NATO. He was a big fan of United States and said the United States was a major ally whether most of Europe appreciated that or not. Although he didn’t really say anything directly about Russia invading Estonia, he did at some point mention that NATO would be there to defend Estonia whenever Estonia needed them. He mentioned that while NATO does go in and help nations that need their help, NATO can only do this when they are able. He mentioned this is why NATO has not been able to help in Syria because, as horrific as the events in Syria are, the possible lives lost if NATO intervened could be even higher. If NATO intervened, then Russia and Iran would certainly retaliate. Basically, NATO has limits and can only act within those limits.

After he finished, he took some questions. I swear, some people just want to ask questions so they can talk. Out of the five questions, probably two were decent questions, and these are coming from adults. The other ones had been explained in the lecture or could be answered by a simple google search.

I feel really lucky I was able to attend this lecture. I learned a lot about NATO and it was such a unique experience.

After the lecture and then class, I went to dinner with Ariail and Laura. Ariail had been to this Italian place a few days before and had really liked it, so we went there to eat and discuss our trip to Helsinki. We figured out our plans pretty quickly and had a wonderful dinner. Ariail and Laura had pizza and salad and I had an amazing seafood pasta.

I also finally got my American debit card in the mail! Buy all the things! I booked my flight for New Jersey. I leave on June 19th around noon and get to New Jersey around seven at night. I’m looking forward to spending a few days with Lia before I head back to California on the 22nd.

Considerably Less Grumy

My mood has increased significantly since I got my passport back on Monday. Ariail let me know the travel agency had told her our passports were back from the Russian embassy and we could come pick them up. I now have a giant sticker in my passport that is my Russian visa. At this time, there is a travel alert for US citizens for Russia. An alert is different than a travel warning though. A travel alert is just to let you know there may be some security issues going on, a travel warning is basically telling you not to go. For now, the trip is on, but obviously if a travel warning is issued then I won't go. Again, I'm safe and not going to any protests.

After I got my passport, I immediately went to the bank and was able to get my debit card and finally have access to my money. My mom mailed my American debit cards weeks ago but it still hasn't gotten here yet, which is frustrating because that means I can't book my flight to New Jersey or subscribe to Hulu plus.

Yesterday, Laura helped me get my Estonian ID card from the police. I really appreciate she went with me because I had never used the bus before. It was really easy to buy our bus tickets and even though we took a longer route than Laura did before, I didn't mind because I actually really like taking busses. We got to the police station after about twenty minutes and I only had to wait about ten minutes before an officer was able to help me. As she finished up some paperwork, I looked around at the twenty other officers in the room and realized they were all female. At first, I thought this was really cool that there were so many female officers. But then I realized there were only female officers working in the office. Crap, I thought, are female officers just treated as glorified secretaries here? It's not like the United States can act like we are much better,the first female officer was in 1910 and females have only been a notable presence in law enforcement since the 80s. Even then they weren't allowed to be actually out on the streets. When I looked up the history of police in Estonia, I found some interesting things. For one, while the number of officers has decreased since the reestablishment of the police, the number of female officers continues to increase. About 28% of officers are female. However, Estonia seems to be struggling in the same way the United States is regarding having female officers in higher positions. Out of 219 top ranking officers, only 28 are women. Out of the 114 superior ranking officers, only thirty are women. Estonia has no diversity programs or other tools to help women get hired, so this could be a contributing factor to why women are represented so poorly in these positions. As low as these numbers are, women have only been allowed to be officers since 1929. Estonia has only been independent for 1991, so they have had a lot of catching up to do when it comes to things like this. (I realized after I had been e-mailing with my former police explorer advisor that I forgot to mention women's police uniforms include skirts. Clearly, no one is expecting women to chase any bad guys down).

After that small adventure, I just relaxed in my room for the night. This morning I decided to go to the mall and get some things I've needed for a while. My skin hasn't been so great since I've gotten here since I haven't been using the right face wash. I headed over to the mall because that's basically they only place where you can get makeup. I went to this department store which quality is kind of between Macy's and Nordstrom's. Holy crap was everything expensive. For about 45 euros, I got foundation, razors, face wash, mascara and moisturizer. Yep, about sixty dollars for five things I could get for twenty five dollars in the US.

Yesterday I signed up for a trip that I am really excited for. ESN is putting on a traditional Estonian wedding in Saaremaa, the biggest Estonian Island. The future bride and groom are actors and not actually getting married. I think this is such a cool idea. A traditional thing like a wedding is something easily that could be forgotten by a society, so it's nice that this is a way a tradition is being kept alive. You get to take part in things such as a Bachelorette/Bachelor party, the wedding, and a wedding dinner party. I’m excited to see the wedding and see an Estonian Island.

Who Do I Have to Bribe to Get This Permit?

I'm convinced Estonia hates me at this point. I'm at the "so over this, get me on a damn plane" stage.

First off, no Lapland, Finland for me. I'm trying to be mature about the whole thing, but let's get real, I'm upset. Items on the itinerary include Tipi tent with hot drinks and barbecue, sauna and arctic swim, use of ice-fishing gear, visit to Santa Claus village, husky sledge ride and, most importantly of all, seeing the Northern Lights. Unfortunately, I do not have the proper documentation to travel on the bus. I'm frustrated my military ID does not count as an American ID because it's issued by the Federal government. What else do these people want from me? I don't think they realize when they say they want an American ID they mean only a passport because I can't think of anything else that would satisfy these people. 

Fortunately, I was able to get another girl to take my place so I'm not out four hundred dollars. After taking their sweet time to email me back, I received an email at nearly three pm that I had to give them her name, nationality, phone number, email, and birthday in order to be able to change the name on the reservation by four pm. The other girl was busy during this short window of time and didn't see my Facebook messages, so I did some Facebook research and used my email/phone in the email. Luckily they were able to change the reservation. As disappointed as I am that I can't go, at least I was able to make someone's day. She's really excited to go so that makes me feel a little better. In reality, this situation was unavoidable. I had to hand over my passport to get my Russian visa and there is no way I was going to miss out on the Russia trip. The only thing that could have been done differently was figuring out my documentation was an issue a few weeks ago so this whole changing names on the reservation thing wouldn't have been so stressful. 

Now for this stupid residence permit. When I got back to the dorm from the cake place with Laura (I can feel your judgement and I don't care), I found a letter in Estonian from the police in Estonian. Helpful, very helpful. I asked the woman at the front if she could read it for me. She said the letter was saying I had been approved for my permit but I had to wait until April 11th to go the police station.

WHAT. THE. HELL?????

No one else had to wait this long once they got their approval to go to get the actual permit and ID. What did I do to wrong these people? Do I need to sacrifice something  to a god to get this damn permit in a reasonable amount of time? At least I get my passport back next week from the travel agency so I can get my new debit card from the bank and have access to my money again.

At least I have a four day weekend since my Monday/Tuesday class is canceled. Usually my weekend is spent reading articles/writing an essay for this class, so now I can spend time catching up on other work and actually getting started on my ten page essay that's due on April fourth. 

Ariail, Laura and I are making dinner tonight and are going to make plans for a trip to Helsinki for sometime. Hopefully this will cheer me up and maybe it will be more fun than going on the preplanned Finland trip. 

Hopefully, my next post will be more upbeat and will have less first world problems I am complaining about. 

(On the way home from the grocery store with Ariail and Laura, we were crossing the street at a crosswalk. One car that was driving down the road stopped, as they have to because we have the right away, but a car in the other lane accelerated to try to hit me. If I wouldn't have jumped, he would have. Thanks world, I needed that.)

Currently not a Fan of Estonian Police

Okay, the title isn't really fair. The two officers that came to speak with us personally at the college were very nice. The officer who helped us fill out paperwork for our residence permits at a workshop about a month ago was very patient, considering all of us were pretty overwhelmed with filling out the forms. I also, if you don't know this for some reason, plan on being a cop and understand no officer or department can be perfect.

I wrote about going to the police station before and for the past few weeks people I know have been getting called back to pick up their Estonian ID cards. I knew something was wrong when Shay, who went the same day as I did, got an email saying everything was approved and I still hadn't. Sure enough, I woke up to an email yesterday saying my proof of income I had submitted wasn't enough. This was very confusing to me since everyone else from my home university here submitted the same form I did and had no problems. It was a form given to me at the workshop by University of Tartu coordinators. It's not like they just throw papers at you, they know what you need. So I emailed back saying I didn't know why this was only a problem for me and not three other students. I also emailed Piret, the University of Tartu woman who has mostly been in charge of my studies here, and asked her if she knew why this would be a problem. She emailed back relatively quickly and told me it shouldn't be and she had talked to the police who should be responding to me soon that my proof of income was sufficient. I received an email from the police saying the income had changed from 160 euro to 180 euro since the new year but I had been grandfathered in.

Seriously Estonian police, seriously? Can you double check this kind of thing before you send emails scaring the crap out of someone? Before you delay someone's residence permit from being approved? You just throw these emails out there and then look into if the information is correct? YOU ARE THE POLICE. I expect you to be a little more on your game.

I emailed back very calmly, even though I wanted to include that last paragraph, and simply asked if they had approved my application and if I could go pick up my ID card. It's been over twenty hours and no reply.

I admit, I'm a little agitated for other reasons. Before I handed over my passport to apply for a Russian visa, I emailed the student coordinator of the Finland trip and asked if I would need my passport. We emailed back and forth a few times, and she then got word from the travel company saying I would only need my ID. I got an email from the travel company yesterday with a list of things we would need and one thing was passport/ID card. Just to check, I emailed the company to explain I do not have my passport and if my american drivers license would suffice. I also mentioned I have my University of Tartu ID card and a military ID card. They replied that my drivers license would not work and I needed an American ID card. I responded that I didn't know what this means and asked if they could explain what they meant by American ID card. No reply yet after over twenty hours.

So worst case scenario I don't get to go to Finland and Shayna's friend who would pay to take my place. There is a trip to Berlin/Prague that I would on instead later on. I'll just have to see if someone finally emails me back.

Somehow Exhausted After Sleeping in Until Noon

As the title suggest, I get to sleep in a lot here. My schedule worked out so I usually only have class once a day. On Monday and Tuesday, I have the same class that starts at four fifteen. The rest of the week I have classes that start at twelve fifteen, except on Wednesday where my class starts at noon and I have another class at four fifteen. When I get back to CofC, having three or four classes a day again is going to be quite an adjustment. So far, I like all of my classes. I really can't think of one I dread going to, but my classes on Thursday and Friday do seem to drag on a little because they are at the end of the week. I do need to study more since most of my class grades are made up of one test and a paper, maybe a presentation. It's really hard to not see this whole thing as a vacation though.

Last Wednesday I went to the Estonian National Museum with my Estonian culture class. Our guide was very nice and spoke great English, so the museum trip was very enjoyable. It was very interesting to see how Estonians see their culture and what they see as particularly important to stress in a museum.  The museum stressed the fact Estonians have always been farmers and fisherman who rely heavily on nature. Estonians seem very connected to nature and see it is a large part of their culture. They also seem to think of themselves as very hard working people. It was also interesting for me when our guide spoke of the time of Soviet Occupation. Even though she was talking about the time like it was a sadder time in the countries history, there wasn't a lot of resentment in her voice or words about the Soviets. She seemed to see it as a time in their history they could move on from. As someone who is interested in the impact of the Soviet Union on countries like Estonia, this was pretty interesting to me.

While it's on my mind, I do want to assure everyone I am safe in regards to what is happening in Ukraine (I have learned in class discussions it is incorrect to use the phrase "the Ukraine" because this is the was the way the part of the country was referred to by the Soviets). As far as my Russia trip is concerned, I will go as long as I feel safe and there are no travel warnings. I've received a few emails from the American embassy to avoid even peaceful protest, as many of them are in front of Russian consulates.

On a lighter note, last night Ariail and I went over to have a game night with her friend Chris and his friends. Ariail made brownies, of course. I realized after I had posted about her making brownies in Lithuania why this might not seem like a big deal but is to us. We have no ovens in our kitchens here in the dorm, only a stove, so we are taking advantage anytime we can use an oven. We played a really fun games, Dixit and Family Business. I won one round of each game so of course I thought they were fun. I think I liked Dixit the best. There are a bunch of cards (like 200) with really pretty art on them (not famous art pieces) with all sort of themes and genres. My cards had pictures such as a rabbit in a space uniform and a bunch of colored gears, weird but pretty images like that. Each player has six of these cards in their hand at a time. A player picks a card from their hand and tries to give a clue about it, not too specific but not too obvious. I had a card with a white rabbit going down a dark hole so I said "it reminds me of a disney movie". That player puts the card face down and the other players try to find a card in their hand that matches that clue and they put their card down too. All of the cards get shuffled and the players vote on which card they think belongs to the player who gave the clue. I hope that makes sense.

My roommate, Ana, also moved in yesterday. She’s from Spain and very nice. I do feel bad for her since she had to start classes immediately today and she traveled all day yesterday. It took me a good week before I started feeling up to actually do anything. My room looks a lot less sad and empty now someone else has moved in.

It is a little weird I’m already planning coming back to the US, even though I know I still have a lot of time left here. I decided I didn’t want to fly all the way to California to Tartu, so I’m going to stay with my friend Lia in New Jersey and we are going to spend a little time in New York. Depending on what happens with work, Tori might me able to join us. I’ll be pretty happy if my two wonderful friends get to meet each other. Idina Menzel is in a new musical, If/Then, that is moving to Broadway after being in DC for about a year, so maybe we will be able to go see that. Audra McDonald is also in a musical about Billie Holiday’s last performance, so that would be incredible to see too!

I also just Skyped with my mom and learned I received another study abroad scholarship, this one for $1,600. I’m very thankful to receive this scholarship on top of my other one and the stipend I’m receiving from Tartu. Every little bit helps!