Tunisia Reality Check
Three days ago I caught up with a wonderful person in Rotterdam. A few coffees, lots of stories. I ended up telling her about my time in Tunisia two years ago. It was storytelling, the drama, the comedy, unexpected twists and a happy ending.
Today, sitting in the backseat of a very small coupe with three others, while our drivers smoked, beeped their horns and tried to sneak through gaps in traffic and feeling very out of my depth I remembered – I’m in Northern Africa.
I wondered, how on earth did I do this last time? By myself?
I am back in a place reminding myself what it’s actually like, rather than just having memory of the place I’d created in my mind.
This is a good reality check.
Australian Pinball
From now until the rest of my trip, I’m playing Australian pinball. Australians just pop up everywhere with fat passports and stories of adventure.
I’ve just farewelled Jake in Latvia. I’ve missed crossing paths with Pete in Latvia by a few days, but he has some things to collect on the way through.
I met Neil in the airport in the Netherlands.
I’ll be stressed with Ben in Tunisia. Travelling with Kylie, Pete and Rob in Turkey.
Chilling with Kylie and Tristan in Jordan.
It’s kind of relieving.
By the way, arrived in the Netherlands. Accidently bumped into someone. We both apologised at the same time. Loving short cultural distance.
48 hours in Estonia
I went to Estonia over the weekend and was amazed at how different it felt from Latvia. Of course, I was walking in with rose-coloured tourist glasses but there was just something different about Tallinn.
Estonia will bring me back there; it’s the same feeling I have with the Netherlands. As I left Tallinn, seeing a countryside covered in snow, with forests, little cottages, I couldn’t have been further from home. I was practically in Narnia.
There and back again
We took the bus which was a ride just four hours across the border. The bus is worth noting. Our four hours included wifi, music videos, tea and coffee. I even had a table. Euroline Lux is a winner. We left work on Friday after work and were in our hotel in a different country before midnight. Perfect.
Tallinn as a tourist
We hit Tallinn with an itinerary provided by Kristina for two days of slow exploration. When I think of Estonia I’ll think of a warm, basement cafes, international food, winding cobblestone streets, a hidden chocolate truffle cafe called Chocolaterie and the sense of history. Tallinn was what I had hoped Riga would be like.
It was a perfect place for me to tourist into. The people were so nice, the area was so quaint, the cafes so warm that I just wanted to spend spend spend on souvenirs. Anything to capture the memories (I restrained myself with photographs instead). It’s not good marketing, it’s just a good place. However, when I go back, I’ll be investing in a knitted, woollen poncho with a hood. It sounds cooler than I’m describing, they look awesome....
A smile
A few hours into our first day, we headed into the Old Town to wander around and get our bearings. We walked through the main square, searching for a coffee shop to warm up, when something strange happened.
An Estonian shopkeeper beckoned us into his shop.
I shook my head and smiled, and kept walking.
Then he smiled back. I smiled back.
Then the shock hit me. ‘He just smiled at me. He just SMILED at me. In the whole time I’ve been in Latvia not a single stranger has returned a smile. He smiled at me! An actual SMILE!’
That statement is not an exaggeration (I wish it were, but it’s not). I was elated. My first day in Estonia was the first day I felt welcomed in the Baltic region. I was finally in a place that actually wanted me to be there, rather than in a city that felt burdened by a traveller.
The Economy
So, ‘the economy’ isn’t the most apt sub-title for this section but go with it for a minute. In Tallinn, everything just seemed normal. Money exists, you work for it and the world goes around. Essentially, I didn’t notice that anything out of the ordinary.
On the flipside, I keep seeing ridiculous, gaudy displays of wealth in Riga, which is a super stumper because I keep hearing about the GFC’s impact here. Tallinn also didn’t echo Riga’s level of homelessness and an aging population.
The English Language
The Australian education system is not conducive for learning a language. We’ve got English and that’s it, so whenever I travel I feel completely inadequate. English language proficiency in Estonia is much higher than Latvia, perhaps because I was in a tourist area. Still...
When I turned on the television in Tallinn, and found English speaking channels. I was elated. We went to a bookstore where almost all of the books were in English – no Russian or Latvian! It was such a relief to be able to do normal things like watch TV or look through a shop, and understand what is going on in my own language.
I was only there 48 hours, but I think I’ve left a part of me in Tallinn. Short time, big impression. I will be going back in the next few years to really explore, and to get my poncho.
Today is a dress day.
Today is a dress day.
I woke up today and decided it was a dress day. I’m fed up of wearing two pairs of stockings, a pair of leggings, two pairs of socks , a pair of jeans. Don’t even get me started on the top layer.
On a dress day, I don’t have to tuck my jeans into my boots, I get to wear clothes I haven’t worn in months and I’m dressed like a normal person. Of the previously mentioned layers, I have two pairs of stockings and two pairs of socks.
The trade-off from waddling around in layers to mobility is that I am not allowed to complain about how cold it is, because I’ve opted to wear a dress.
It’s -12 by the way.
On the topic of dresses, check out The Uniform Project.
Gallipoli
So, we have an idea about going to Gallipoli.
The idea is that I would meet Kylie somewhere in the Middle East, then roadtrip to Turkey, collect Pete and head to Gallipoli.
Attitude, cont.
I bought some groceries, coming to a total of 7 lats and 53 sentims (just think of it as dollars and cents if that's easier).
I gave the shop assistant a10 late note, and counted out 53 sentims. I was expecting to get 3 lats in change.
I figured that it would give me the chance to reduce my change, and make the shop assistant's calculation simple. Rather than giving me a pile of change, she could just give me three lats.
It makes sense. Right?
She ignored my little pile of carefully counted sentims, broke the note, and added more coins to the pile I already had sitting on her table.
What the hell, lady.
I was confused. We made eye contact. She brushed me off.
I went to a little bit of effort to make things easier for both of us.
I left confused. That was rude right? I didn't do something wrong did I? She's just having a bad day and taking it out on me for some reason? Am I overanalysing this?
Disgruntled shop assistant? Or something else?
On Leaving
Over the course of ‘the trip’, Latvia is the country I’ve lived in for the least time. It feels like I only arrived days ago, but I’m already getting to leave.
I have a certain way of getting my bearings in a new place, and a certain way of farewelling it. I’m low on fanfare. There are places to have ‘one last’ something, shopping to stock up on goodies that you can only get here and photographs to capture.
In the next few days I’ll be finding Latvian mittens, Laima marshmallows and reducing my winter wardrobe for my slow trip south.
I seem to spend lots of time updating people on where I am, and what I’m doing. One friend likened my trip to that of a whale migration. Slow and considered, but meaningful.
