observations

Estonia is considered a "cold culture" - people generally do not show much emotion and are quiet in public. it's considered rude to talk on your cell on the bus/train/public transportation. it's hard to describe the architecture because the houses are covered in mounds of snow. :) some drifts are as tall as me. i haven't seen any "beater" cars, no rust buckets. most cars are uber nice and Estonian drivers are snow maniacs - nothing stops them!! haha :) public transportation is popular, lots of busses/trolleys/trains.

when you enter homes, people generally take off their boots (so you don't track snow everywhere - i don't know if they do that in the summer). stoves/ovens take a long time to heat up - Helina, our contact here, said she was shocked when she lived in the US to see how fast stoves/ovens heated up.

when you're walking, cars stop so you can cross. like, pedestrians generally have the right of way. totally not American. haha :) if you need to communicate with someone, your best bet is find someone younger - they are taught English in school. some of the older generation have learned English, but you're much more likely to find a younger person you can communicate with.

coffee shops are not common. they drink a lot more of tea. prices for food are OK, but for clothes they are a bit more expensive than the US.

i guess at the start of the new year, they are switching currency to the Euro. right now they still use the krone (spelling?). ooh maybe i should go to the bank and get a few krones before they switch! this is history in the making, peoples! :)

oh! it is not uncommon for houses to have saunas! the house we're staying in has a sauna. Helina's house as a sauna (which we got to use Christmas night!!). we haven't used the sauna here yet - we're not sure if it works yet.

well...the stove just died on us. we're in the middle of cooking dinner...here comes another adventure! :)