As some of you already know, I moved to Tallinn at the end of April and surprisingly started to work a month later. So, today, it’s been almost two month since I started to work for MarkIT and I’d like to share some Estonian experience.
Estonia is a small country in the north of Europe with a population about 1,5 million (30% of them are Russians). It lies next to Russia and under Finland. Both Swedish and Russian rule left its remarks. If the Communist didn’t take over, you would think you’re in south Sweden, the same houses, flat countryside with lots of forrests. The Communist built huge areas of blocks for new coming Russians who were seeking a job and better life here. These people working in a (heavy) industry are now mostly unemployed and think that Estonian government is stupid because it closed most of the Communistic factories and decided to focus on IT, not to be manufacturer for the western countries (as CZ is). The future for these people is not so bright because they cannot (and don’t want to) speak Estonian and don’t have education needed for getting a job in Estonia.
I live in Tallinn in a huge block area which was built in late 80s and it’s Russian one usually hears there. When you go to a shop, both Russians and Estonians speak their own language – they understand each other but wouldn’t „lower“ themselves to speak in their partner’s language. With government institutions, it’s different, all clerks have to speak both languages, so it’s possible to communicate in Russian there even though Russian is not an official language here. The interesting thing is that at the Immigration Board, there were signs only in Estonian and Russian, no English. I felt a bit discriminated when I was there applying for a working permit. The question of Estonian – Russian relationship is extremely interesting and it would like to know more about this ethnic myth reproduction. Estonians see the Russians as the bad guys who took their freedom and made their country ugly with its statues and buildings (that’s why the downtown is totally renovated in the „glass-skyscrapers“ style). In contrast to Estonian point of view is how Russians see the history. They think that everything was much better during the Communism, people had their work, everything was high quality and today‘s Estonian loyalty to the USA is definitely a destructing thing. Also the Russians having been living here for three generations would never call themselves Estonians even though they have Estonian passports.They are Russians although the only thing they have in common with tRussians is a language.
Some people ask me why do I always go to the east and not west. Not only for getting unforgettable experiences but also e.g. living in Estonia is much cheaper – I earn the same money as I would in Czech but wouldn’t be able to live on it so comfortably as I can here.
Another great thing about living in Tallinn is the sea. It’s not very deep, so it’s possible to swim in it after three nice sunny days :) For mid-European it’s just so cool to go to the sea and watch boats and people passing by jogging, roller skating, etc. Besides that the days are so long here! I think winter here’s going to be hell :(
Not necessarily, since the sea is so close, what's more with some warm currents. You might be surprised how much milder that winter can be than here from time to time. Though if you mean the length or rather shortness of days, you are right. ;-)
OdpovědětVymazatIt was really cold winter this year here, even Tallinn is by the sea. By saying that the "winter is going to be hell here" I meant the shortness of days, I'm going to hate to wake up to the dark and coming home when it's already dark...
OdpovědětVymazat