"I am Jack Sparrow!"

I just can't stop laughing about the things that people do.... There was a woman in the UK, who drank for two days and ate some hallucinogenic stuff as well and then decided she's Jack Sparrow. And she went and hijacked a ferry in Darthmouth. She started driving it, crashed it into some other boats. Police had quite a problem with cathing her..... I just can't believe the world. It's is such a colourful place. Kaie said to me as a reply that she would've wanted to be a superman instead and would have gone flying....
I think I would have wanted to be a Jesus and would have loved to walk on the water or be Harry Potter and fly with a broomstick and play Quidditch :)

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At least it's something good for today (I was told in my mimic language course that all the people who arent studying on the mimic translator curriculum will be taken off from the class.... that is just so unfair- I had been waiting for that course for three years....)

The marathon

For the past 1,5 weeks I've been extremely busy with all the stuff related to the marathon. But by now.... most of it is over!
Yes,we did it! So I'm gonna tell how it went, because it was so great!

Firstly, we had a very early start from the village- started driving there already at 8. I hadn't slept properly for couple of nights before the marathon so I was a bit tired. We loaded the bikes into the vans and took off. The weather seemed to be perfect on that day which made us a lot happier. As we got to Otepää, it took us a little bit of time to find a parking place, but we managed to get a quite good spot not too far from the starting point. So we unloaded our bikes, changed our clothes and got all ready and went to the starting point where some more of us were waiting. We chatted and laughed a bit nervously, we were all exited. Took some pictures as well. Then came the time to go to our starting point. We passed the gates and started counting the minutes 'til start. 5,4,3,2,1 minute. 30 seconds, 10 seconds, 5 seconds, and the pistol shot and the theme song of the marathon. Off we went! I love the theme song of the marathon- it's really inspiring and makes me feel proud I'm participating. It feels so great to be part of thousands of cyclists who just take off to a long journey of 89km. There was mud, a lot. Sometimes we had to cross hill with the angle of 60 degrees, completely covered with mud so we went 2 steps up, 1 slide down. We had to push our bike through long mud ponds, we had to push it up some harder hills. I had to wash my bike once because I didn't stay up with it any more- it was just covered with mud so much. After we had cycled about half of the distance, the village leader - Ly was in the food point with one of my co-workers and the ihhabitants to cheer us. It felt so good. I struggled with tears after we had passed that point because it felt so good that our leaders care about such event so much. I felt so proud. Then came the part which was again really muddy. That made me wanna cry because it seemed to be endless... Then, after cycling about 60km, I felt I really needed some glycose- I was waiting for the food point to get some raisins and bananas. Ahhh, after getting some of those, me and Marge (one of my team-mates and co-workers) went on to get to the food point where we were supposed to meet the inhabitants. As we got there, everybody were already cheering on us. At this point we had a bit more than 10km lef to go. We ate a bit more and then took off with the inhabitants. The last 10km were extremely easy as our speed wasn't that fast any more and we were laughing our heads off because Taavi was wishing everybody (even random cyclists that went past us) lots of love and was just really funny. Then, right before the finish line, we all gathered together (some more people from our team had managed to catch us so we had almost the whole team together) to cross the finish line together. Some people told, including my family, that we were shown in the TV when we finished. It felt unbelievably good to cross that final line. It was like exceeding yourself...Right after getting our medals, we had a picture taken of us and then Lõunaleht (one South-Estonian) newspaper took an interview from me about the marathon and our tiny project. After that we got big chocolates from our leader, got out diplomas from the race centre and had ate some good soup. And then we went home, all really happy, a bit tired, but proud of ourselves.
And after the marathon, I've given some more interviews (I think about 4 altogether) and we've managed to raise 145 euros (last checked on Monday).
It's great that it's over. Maybe we'll do it again next year. At least my team-mates were enthusiastic about it!

Great experience for all of us!

Poland- Auschwitz, Wieliczka

So....
When I got to Krakow, it was 5 am. I was supposed to stay there at a CS'ers place, so he promised to pick me up as I get there. I waited for 5 minutes in the Krakow bus station and was then greeted by a tall lad who was very enthusiastic- I was his first courchsurfer. So... we went to his place by public transport- he lived quite far away from the central. In his place I finally managed to have a shower. As he had to go to work and I had to go to my Auschwitz-Salt Mine tour, we returned to the central quite early. I was supposed to be picked up from the bus station at 9. So my host sent me there and then I waited for my shuttle bus to come.
As it came, I found out that on the same tour were 4 more people. Tiny group... Two Australians ladies and two Irish lads. Our driver didn't speak good English so we started to have a chat between ourselves.
As we got Auschwitz, we had some time, 'til the tour started. So we just chatted and waited. It was a lovely sunny day and our mood was quite up (you wouldn't expect that when you go to Auschwitz, would you?). Auschwitz was not that creepy as I thought it would be. I mean, it was depressive, but I think the huge amount of tourists and the bright shiny sun made things a lot less real. So it felt a bit like in every other museum. Maybe I was also expecting it to be too bad and that's why I wasn't shocked so much. We went around the area with a guide who told us loads and loads of stories about things that happened in the concentration camps. Auscwitz wasn't originally supposed to be a death camp- it was supposed to be for the people who were too smart or sth like that for the Nazis at the time of the war and it was supposed to be a work camp. No jews were originally planned to be placed there... But then they started to bring jews into the camp as well, and had to build many more camps into the area, e.g. Birkenau, which were death camps, so their purpose was to exterminate people. Also, Nazis tried to make Auscwitz look like a really good place to be in, by making bands play there. But what actually happened in Auschwitz and Birkenau, was just too horrible- executions, experiments (even the psychologists made experiments on people over there), torturing... We were shown the houses where the prisoners lived, where they were signed into the camp. We were showed their personal belongings, pictures, even their hair (that was cut off before they went to gas chambers and crematorium). We were told loads of terrible stories about things that happened there. We also went in to the gas chambers where millions of jews were executed. Although we went through the place fast, it still felt really creepy and scary and I just had goosebumps on my skin and the feel of depression and misery in my heart when I just walked through the place. The place where so many souls lost their lives.
I was really satisfied (I think I could say it that way) that I decided to visit the place - as it's a place you just have to see. To understand things better.
Birkenau was about 5km away from Auschwitz and after a tiny lunch break we went there. Birkenau is mostly in ruins as the Nazis blew up all the gas chambers to hide the evidence on things that happened there. We saw the scary railroad that went through the entrance to Birkenau and took jews into the camp to be executed couple of hours later.... We were shown the ruins of the gas chambers, places where they slept- wooden platforms and 5 people had to fit into one platform. We were described how dirty, cold and smelly it all had been. We were shown their toilets and washing area. It all looked extremely miserable. But what gave me the worst goosebumps in the place, was the fact that some of the areas we walked on, had human ash in the soil. We couldn't hear any birds singing in the place. Although it was a lovely sunny day. I would say Birkenau was a lot more depressive than Auschwitz- mainly because of what happened there. Even when I think of it now, my mood just goes really low and I feel depressed.


But after the concentration and extermination camps we went to Wielizca Salt Mine. Had a tiny supper in a local cafe and then entered the Mine. Well, that was just unbelievably beautiful place! Firstly, we went down under the ground about 135m, only on the stairs. All the walls were made out of salt rocks, you could smell the salt. It was a bit chilly but not too bad. Our guide showed us many chambers with statues in them, altars, lakes in the Salt mine that were about 9m deep. All the statues, big halls and cravings were made out of salt. It was incredible! There were pictures, like The Last Supper craved into the stone in 3D. It was really beautiful! That's definetely a place you have to go! I was really happy and amazed by that place. We ended up 180m under the ground, walked only about 3km under the ground but didn't see even 10% of the Salt Mine. Unbelievable, that place is huge! Magnificient!

After the tour in the Salt Mine finished, we went back to Krakow with our tour bus, and we were dropped off to wherever we wanted to go to. I got dropped off next to the Main Market Square and met my host over there and then we headed to his place where he cooked some Chinese. It was lovely. We talked 'til about 1 at night and then went to sleep. My host in Krakow was really cool- complete gentleman, really helpful, and cheerful. And when we talked it seemed like we had known each other for years...

But what I did and saw in Krakow, will be another post as this one is already long enough....

Poland- Warszawa

As my friends are starting to annoy me more and more to make a post about my trip, I finally decided to just do it! But due to the lack of time I will do it in parts. So here will come the first part or the first foreign (for me, let's not count Riga) country I went to.

I started my supercalifragilicious trip off in the morning of the 14th August. My bus to Riga was at 6:30 am. The weather was nice and I was exited. I had about 6 hours in Riga before my bus to Warszawa took off, so I decided to wander around in the old town, go to the local market to get their really delicious mushroom pizza and then just sat down in the part next to the Monument of Freedom and started to read a book. The thing is- I had 2 books with me and I managed to finish the first one in Riga....
The day went slowly- well, I know Riga, it's not much new over there for me to see, so I was anxiously looking forward for my trip to actually begin. So at 6pm, my bus (a double decker) took off to Warszawa. It was an overnight bus and the journey lasted for 13hrs. So I got to the rainy Warszawa at 6am. As soon as I got off the bus, I started talking to some half Polish half German lad who told me to be careful in the city and asked me "By any chance, have you lived somewhere in the UK before?". I'm really obvious, it seems.... As it was way too early to go to discover the city, I decided to stay in the "creepy, leave the place as fast as you can" international bus station. The thing is, the internet lied to me with the description. It wasn't creepy at all!
After 2 hrs of sitting the tourism information in the bus station was supposed to be opened, so I went to get a map from there. For my surprise, it was closed. I decided to find out the reason for that from one Kiosk where a grumpy old lady just spoke Russian and replied to me: "Braaaazdnik, braazdnik". So I assumed they have a bank holiday.... Nice, huh? I decided to try to go to the information somewhere in the central, so I went to ask one lad about how to get there. He didn't speak neither English nor Russian. So, I tried to have my first real conversation in German with him, as that was the language he spoke.... I managed to find out I have to go to the train station and from there get a train to the central. 2 stops. Or something like that. To get to the train station- rechts, links, geradeaus! Wipiii! Kaufen 1 ticket in dem Zug und alles gut!

As I got to the central, I had to ask couple more times from old ladies in the streets about how to get to the information- none of them knew and none of them spoke English... So Poland was good for improving my Russian. After wandering for 10 minutes, I managed to find a tourism information and got the map to go to the city!  I wandered around in the central and discovered near the tomb of an unknown soldier that the whole area is closed for some sort of a parade. I managed to find out that the bank holiday was a military holiday and there was gonna be a parade. Nice! There were also many military vehicles out for showing and I climbed on top of one of them and of course had a tourist picture taken of me! I wanted to make a picture of the unknown soldier's statue as well, but then some old military guys just came and asked whether I would take a picture of them with their camera. I did it. After that they agreed to be on a picture with me and while the photo was being taken, I discovered myself all of a sudden in the air! One of them lifted me up with all my heavy luggage! Ehhhee, Polish military is great fun!

My next idea was to go to see the old town and as I got there I discovered they have free walking tour starting in 10 minutes. So I decided to look like a stupid tourist and join the tour. It was really interesting, we found out loads of stuff about the history of Warszawa and saw many places I wouldn't probably have seen by myself.... It lasted for 4hrs and after it finished I saw the military parade as well.....
Then I decided to go and try Polish whippy ice cream, because come on! One just has to try the ice cream in every country they go to! Unfortunately I wasn't too fond of that ice cream. Estonian is better. As I was on my way to get some ice-cream I met with one Japanese girl who was on the walking tour and we decided to discover the city together. We wandered around in the central, walked by the river Wisla and went to see the UEFA 2012 stadium.  The weather got really nice and sunny. It was a lovely and a tiring day.

At about 6pm my back was already killing me because I had walked around with my huge backpack all day long and also on the previous day. So I decided I will take the metro (yes, they have tube in Warszawa, only one line though) to the local bus station. I was told it's a dangerous area and was recommended to get there before it got dark. I planned to just sit on the bench and relax and enjoy another book I had with me. As I got there I had another surprise- the meaning for a "local bus station" was just loads of bus stops in many places and no building. Hmmh, so I took out my sleeping bag as I was a bit cold, sat down on the ground, wrapped my sleeping bag around me and started to read my book. The thing is, I managed to finish the second book that evening...... :) I looked probably like a homeless person, the only thing that was missing, was the box where you could put money in.... Anyway, at 11:45pm my bus to Krakow left. It was more comfortable than the Ecolines bus. So my second night in the bus started....

And then I got to Krakow at 5am, which is gonna be the next post....