Estonia

On Saturday we took a personal charter flight to Estonia. The seating was open, and I ended up sitting with two Lithuanian guys that I hadn’t talked to yet. Their English was great, but I was struggling with the pronunciations of their names. So, in true American fashion, I gave them cool rapper names. And so began a very hip trio: Cello G, K Duck, and M Drums. It was a fun little flight!
When we arrived in Tallin we were immediately loaded onto two buses. Up to this point, I’ve been lucky with choosing the “right” bus…but it seemed as if my luck ran out. The bus had NO air conditioning, and the temperature was unbearable. I couldn’t even sleep! I was so frustrated and cranky! After two hours, we pulled up to our accommodation…and I the first words out of my mouth were, “does Motel mean the same in Estonia as it does in America?”

Our “Motel” wasn’t too bad (thank goodness!)…but was forced to get used to the no AC thing really quickly! It was more like an extended stay place. The room was decorated with flowers and quilts, but the bathroom was fine and we were the only group in the place. The best part about the Motel was that it was right across the street from a grocery store, and a 20 minute walk from the beach.

Estonia is a mix between Scandinavia, America, and a little bit of Russia. I was amazed at how the country is becoming Americanized since its gained its independence (as Aunt B and I learned on our bus tour in March!) Walking around and exploring was very comfortable, and since we had a 3 nights there we made the best of it. Each night, most of the orchestra went to the beach or gathered in the common area of the Motel. The first night at the beach, Wictor goes “Wow, this is just like Miami!” I sarcastically agreed, but the Baltic sure can look familiar with the club music, cafes on the boardwalk and lounge chairs around. However, the French boys in Speedos quickly reminded me that I’m definitely in Europe :)

We did a lot of rehearsing along with the concert in Parnu. We got into our “B” program more (so I was busier) and took advantage of a nice concert hall. The concert was really powerful, and my favorite part was watching Neemi Jarvi’s face (Kristjan’s father, a very famous conductor. They are Estonian) while we played “Rite of Spring” It was the first time I really felt emotional moved my playing in this group!