This time I mixed my work trip to France with a little extra and treated myself to the small gift that I missed because of that storm Doris which stuck me to Amsterdam airport in February. I had to attend a seminar in La Roche sur Yon and before planning my trip I just in case checked the possible flights from Nantes to Dublin. I was lucky to find that exactly on my departure day there were also straight flights to Dublin – wow that was a sign, so I booked a flight, took a week off and here I am – just on St Partick’s Day.
As I didn’t come so early to see the St Partick’s Day parade, I just left that for some other better time and didn’t think about it. Of course, one day I would like to be here at the right time to see the parade but I would prefer to get a sunny day for that. This year’s St Partick’s Day was rainy, grey and didn’t feel like a day that you would like to spend outdoors, so I was happy to get a bus and get straight to home where for my big surprise I found exactly the same St Valentine’s Days decorations waiting for me with 2 cards for both Days 🙂
What about France? France was really wonderful – sunny, warm, and full of nice friendly people, delicious dinners, picturesque sights and of course the seminar that was the main reason for my trip. We spent 3 days with nice colleagues from different countries of Europe and enjoyed the kindly welcome of our French partner school. Our 4 students started to work at their placement restaurants, our cooking teacher started her practice at the school restaurant and I signed the contract for future partnership with the other schools. But the best part was the feeling that my trip to Dublin was ahead and you were waiting for me there and we can celebrate our birthdays together.
When you are Estonian and you live in Haapsalu, everyone knows that you are sharing your hometown with the White Lady. The White Lady is our own ghost who has been living in the Castle walls for centuries and only on one August night when the full moon is in the sky, she appears on the window of the Chaple to seek for her lover. And for that rare appearance, our town has started a tradition of White Lady Days, when the whole main street is a big market, musicians are playing on different stages and in the back gardens, you can find small garden markets and theatre groups performing. All the cafes are full of people and at night you can go the see the performance which of course, takes place in the Castle Yard.
Years and years ago, when the Episcopal Castle of Haapsalu was the residence of the Bishop, there were only religious men, called Canons living there and it was not allowed to the women to enter the castle. But the Canons were young lads and so it happened, that on of them fell madly in love with an Estonian girl from the neighborhood. As they wanted to be together, they had made up a plan and the girl, dressed up as a choir boy, stayed in the castle, helped in the stables, sang in a choir, because she had a marvellous voice and at night time met her lover. For some time they were happy and safe but of course, their happiness was discovered and the church laws were very strict. So the poor girl was immured into the walls of the Chapel of the dome Church and the boy was thrown into the dungeons of the castle to starve to death. And every year, in August, when there’s full moon, she comes back and shows herself on the castle window to see if her lover has come. If you don’t believe it, you have to come and see it with your own eyes.
When you are in Estonia you definitely have to visit the Summer capital Pärnu. We are lucky to have some friends there and this time, we spent our night together with making sushi. 🙂 We felt already like profs because for us it was the second try but we wanted to try something new too and this time we were making also the hot sushi and we didn’t have to be disappointed, it came out really delicious. Just with the help of some youtube videos and a great desire and now I can say that it’s one of the best ways to keep up with your friends whom you haven’t met for a little while. So here’s a bit of Irish-Estonian sushi night captured with a smartphone just somewhere in the middle of the whole tasty and fascinating process.
When getting nearer to Connemara, there were already more sheep than cows and none of them was lying. They all looked very colourful, of course, their real colour was white, but their heads were black and they all had painted red or blue stripes on their backs and they all had horns, even the girls 🙂 Estonian sheep never have horns, at least I have never seen them. The painted stripes have different meanings as our guide told us – they can mark the owner or if the sheep is sheared or not and probably something more that only the real sheep owners can understand.
Dublin Accent 