Not Your Average Gingerbread House...

It took several days, but the girls had a great time making a homemade gingerbread house. Rather than just make a standard house, they designed a chateau.

It turned out awesome! I was especially impressed with the candy windows and clock.

Getting into the Holiday Spirit...

As usual, our family celebrates multiple holidays in December. I thought the girls had outgrown having Sinterklaas visit, but Ashlynn said they’d never outgrow wanting chocolate letters in their wooden clogs. Luckily they also haven’t outgrown enjoying decorating the tree. We celebrated the first night of Hanukkah by having Sally and family over for dinner.

Speech and Acting Tournament in Brussels...

While we were in Tallinn, the girls had their own adventures. Ashlynn went to see Wicked in Dutch for a friend’s birthday, then spent the rest of the weekend at Sally’s. Meanwhile, Veronica spent two nights in Brussels to participate in NESDA, the New European Speech, Debate and Acting Tournament. She was thrilled to be among the ten students chosen from our school to participate. They took the train down after school and split up to stay at students’ homes from the host school, International School of Brussels. She participated in three disciplines: duet acting (a British comedy bit--this is the original starting at 4:30), original oratory (she wrote a speech about the Shakespeare Conspiracy) and oral interpretation (she read a passage from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). She and Maaike made it into the finals for their duet, but didn’t come home with an award. All-in-all, a great experience and she’s already hoping to do it again next year.

Our School Team

Partying in Tallinn...

We made it our mission to find Tallinn’s best mulled wine. James and Bob decided that Kate’s booth was the winner; she explained that she uses cherries to add extra flavor and rum to spike it (perhaps that’s the secret of surviving the dark winter).  

We also enjoyed searching for some nightlife in Tallinn. We bumped into several other AWC couples our first evening when we stopped for some margaritas at a Tex-Mex restaurant, then went en masse to an Irish pub. On our last night, we went bar hopping with Jan and Bob after a group dinner at an authentic Russian restaurant. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that we ran into some trouble at a bar called Hell Hunt. There was quite an international mix involved when Jan’s purse was almost stolen: a Hungarian woman alerted an Australian man who tackled the woman who was trying to steal an American’s purse (we never did find out what nationality the unsuccessful thief was). Afterwards, we went dancing at the club in the Hotel Viru’s basement; we couldn’t help but wonder what the KGB in its heyday might have used the basement for. Jan and Bob headed back to the hotel around midnight, but James and I danced like fools until 3 a.m. despite having a 5:30 a.m. bus ride to the airport.

KGB Museum...

After our walking tour, 14 of us met up at the Hotel Viru, the largest hotel in Estonia, to visit the KGB Museum. The hotel elevators showed 22 floors, but there was actually a hidden 23rd floor where the KGB had their offices. Not only would important visitors stay at this hotel, but also ex-residents who were prohibited by law from staying with family. Apparently, the hotel rooms were all bugged, just like in spy movies.

When Estonia gained independence in 1991, the KGB made a hasty retreat and left some of their equipment behind. In 2011, Tallinn was the European Capital of Culture and the KGB Museum was opened. It might only consist of two rooms, but the tour was enhanced greatly by the stories the guide gave.

The hotel was the first skyscraper built in Estonia in 1972 and the views from the 23rd view were fantastic.

Museum of Occupations...

We met two other couples at the Museum of Occupations, which was fascinating although depressing. These doors were from Soviet prison cells. This museum concentrates on occupations by the former Soviet Union from 1940-1941 and then again in 1944-1991 and by Nazi Germany from 1941-1944. In fact, we learned that during the last 800 years, Estonia had only been independent for 40 years! When we took a walking tour on Sunday, the guide told us that 11% of Old Town was destroyed during WWII. She also said, “Singing is our secret weapon.” Starting in 1987, there was a series of mass demonstrations featuring spontaneous singing of national songs and hymns that were strictly forbidden by Soviet authorities. The “Singing Revolution” lasted from 1987 to 1991, resulting in Estonia regaining its independence on August 20, 1991 without any bloodshed. Estonia joined the European Union in 2004.

Lovely Architecture in Old Town...

We visited  a few churches including St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Built in 1900, this onion-domed Russian Orthodox cathedral was intentionally built directly across the street from the Toompea Castle, the seat of power in Estonia since 1229, as a symbol of the tsarist Russian empire’s dominance.

There was lots of bright colors in this small historic area. This yellow building was built in 1430 as the Great Guild House. Now it houses the Estonian Museum, which was very interesting.