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Last September I went to this street festival in Uus Maailm (Estonian for New World), one of the districts of Tallinn. The weather was really good that day (something not usual over here) and all the neighbors seemed really happy and friendly. It reminded me of the Town of Spectre, this perfect town from "Big Fish". 

There were some concerts, workshops, games, people selling their clothes or homemade food. The most amazing thing for me was someone who was selling food directly from the kitchen's window (see last picture). And the hanging umbrellas, of course. 
Sometimes there's no need to complicate. A white wall, two or three work lamps and the help from my Lithuanian and Korean roommates were enough for this photo shoot.

Thanks, Justina and Sunhee!








And then things got a little bit out of control...
Two months ago, Sara and I worked on a project about social problems in Tallinn. As "outsiders", sometimes we feel that there is still some tension between Estonians and Russians. More than one-third of the population in Tallinn is Russian, so their presence is quite large over here. 

We interviewed some local students from Tallinn University and we asked them what they think about the integration and cohabitation of the Russian population living in Estonia after the Soviet Era. Our original documentary also talks about other two social problems but for now I'll leave you guys with this one.

 
Today while going to an Asian restaurant with Sara, Peter and Beau, we saw this amazing thing on the other side of the street. It looks scary, doesn't it?
Last semester I had all my courses in Baltic Film and Media School (BFM), one of the colleges of Tallinn University. I had the opportunity to learn a lot about about cameras, directing, screenwriting, editing, lightning, etc. and work with people that have experience in the television and film field. 

In one of the courses - Camera work - our final project was to do a silent black & white short movie. The plot, written by my Latvian classmate Reinis, was about a man who has lost his manhood and who is trying  to get it back by dressing like a woman. We shot in a kind of abandoned dorm, on a 12-hour journey for two days. This place didn't have electricity and heating (the temperature was around 0ºC/32ºF - it was December!), so as you imagine it was pretty crazy! However, the final result was really good and we received many compliments from our teacher and classmates.

I don't have the short movie with me but I'll leave you some pictures of the shootings. 

With love,
Betty


The Latvian way of wishing good luck

Preparing for the first scene

Gaffers (the ones in charge of the lights) used the bathtub to create a rainy day feeling

The hunting scene 

The fighting scene



The car scene. It started raining (thank you, Murphy's law!)

Last scene: the man has finally found his masculinity.
Two weeks ago I was feeling really happy. The snow had finally melted, there was no more icy sidewalks and funny (ridiculous?) slips. I said goodbye to my purple teddy bear boots and life almost started making sense again. Spring is coming, Betty, I can smell it, I thought. Right? Wrong! On Monday I woke up and this was the view from my window:



And this was what I saw when I opened the dormitory door.

Snow in Tallinn

Hello, Spring!
Lately I've realized that is really hard for me to keep my family and friends updated on my life in Estonia. So from now on I’m going to try to show you guys what I've been doing in this far, small, unknown and cold country for the past 6 months.

Hope you enjoy it! :)




With love,
Betty