Living on Tallinn Time

David and I have been in Tallinn two and a half weeks. Time continues to expand and contract. It’s been great to wind down and get to know the city. We’ve been dancing a few days a week in a studio that belongs to Fine 5 – an Estonian dance theater company. Tiina, the chair of the Dance Department at Tallinna Ülikool (Tallinn University), is one of the founding members of the company and has been very generous with studio use. We got keys yesterday. We also saw our first dance performance last night, Silke Z. from Germany, at the Kanuti Gildi Saal (http://www.saal.ee/). The performance was part of a contemporary dance festival that is happening in town. The festival opened with a duet between French choreographer Dominique Boivin and a backhoe in the town square – really quite lovely.



The weather here changes every twenty minutes, much like San Francisco. Today we got caught in a downpour on our way the market at Balti Jaam. Ironically we were on our way there to buy umbrellas. The market is close to Vanalinn (Old Town) and to the main building for the Dance Department – where I’ll be teaching the graduate students on Fridays. Monday – Thursday I’m at the Narva Maantee campus, six minutes from our apartment by bus. I’m teaching composition and dramaturgy to grads and comp to undergrads. David and I are co-teaching contemporary dance to the undergrads.


We went to our first party Saturday night – a friend’s birthday at Club Angel. We met some lovely folks and drank a bit too much wine. We’ve been invited to a toga party there this weekend.


This Friday we are going to visit our friend Heili at her country house where we will have the opportunity to pick blueberries (the local variety is blue inside as well as out) and mushrooms, and to
meet her golden retrievers. On Sunday we plan to have dinner at Kompressor with two Fulbrighters who are arriving this week. One is an installation art, the other is a filmmaker. At Kompressor you eat amazing savory or sweet pancakes which seem like the Estonian equivalent of burritos – cheap and filling. Kompressor also serves good beer and pear cider, and Seljanka – a meaty, sweet and sour soup served with sour cream. The food here is very good. The bread and pastries are ridiculously amazing. Great black bread and amazing sweets filled with kohupiim – which tastes something like very fresh ricotta to me.



There are still a few weeks until classes start. I am working on my immigration paperwork and expect to have a story to tell about the process of getting my residence and work permits. This Thursday, August 20, is an important public holiday – the Day of Restoration of Independence – which celebrates Estonia's restoration of independence in 1991. We have a meeting with the Dance Department on Monday, hope to go to the immigration offices on Tuesday, and with luck will go to Saarama Island (http://www.saaremaa.ee) for a few days on Wednesday. We also plan to squeeze in a day (or overnight) trip to Helsinki – which is just a few hours away by ferry.


I think that’s it for now. It’s 9:48pm and almost dark.