And the winner is…..

    Early last week, we were told by our tutor Nooruse Maja will the place where a children and youth theater competition will be held the Friday after this conversation. I was curious about it and already wanted to check this. Uudo asked us if we wanted to be part of the jury who will give away some awards for best group and best actor or actress. We were a bit afraid at first but the challenge was appealling. The only downsize I saw from this was the time of start for this contest. At 9am, it’s a bit early for me. As I work mainly in the afternoon,    I can go to bed late and sleep through the morning.

    So when the day finally came, I went to my organisation for 9am to meet with the last of the jury member. This old lady was very friendly and at the nice age of 73 years old, she was still pretty active in the drama are. The day was divided into two parts. The 1st one was dedicated to after-school clubs when we had 3 groups to judge. This was more easy than I think since we agree on all the awards we had to give away. The 2^nd part of the contest was for school drama clubs. As we already had some experience before we all thought it woulld be very similar but on the contrary, it was harder. Even with the list of actors, some times we couldn’t get who was who in the play. Even the last memver of the jury who was Estonian couldn’t make the difference between all the actors and actresses. We managed to overcome this difficulty but i’m pretty sure if it was not that hard we would have made other choices.

    I was pleased with our choices. We were there to judge for drama acts not musicals as some of them turned out to be. It was a shame as two classes were very good and made a huge effort on the decoration. We went for those with the less songs, and we elected the first group who played something about the twelve months. Apparently it was some kind of fairy tale know in Eastern and South-East Europe. We give them the Mask for the 2012 best school drama club. I really like the idea of the trophy being a Mask. Instead of having a ugly cup with which you cannot do a thing, on this mask, they could write all the winners from the first year of this contest. I also appreciate the white chocolate with strawberries we had as part of the thank you gift for being in the jury.

Mr Spring is here, will he stay?

Everything is possible, even "hot temperatures" in Estonia. Let's hope it ill stay that way.
edit: no he didn't stay. someone must have scared him away.

The weather is a tad too strange

Hello guys,

Some times we said people have nothing to talk about so they just talk about the weather. But here, it's actually a topic of conversation. The past week, it was a bit strange. well, completely strange I should say. At the beginning of the week, the snow had completely melted so we were all very happy about it since it meant the end of the winter time and the coming of better temperatures. Someone forgot to get some snow for Christmas so he decided to give some for Easter. Damn him!! if only he had made it the normal way. I might have been using my bicycle already. I really want to do it as I will be able to do some kind of sports (note to self: get a monthly card for the swimming pool).

So before we got this nice 10cm/3.5inch layer of snow, I went after work to take some pictures of some place in the city, Valikaar (the old fortress remains) and the beach. My tutor told us about an exhibition he would like to do about our views on Estonia. I really like this idea. That's why I decided to start already to take some pics I could include in this exhibition. I need to pay attention about the quality of the pics as it should be printed on A4 paper, hence the need of high quality pics to avoid a pixelisation of the images. I got one I want to include but heh, I won't show it now as I don't want to spoil the fun! ;)

Promotional video for the Estonian Linedance Festival (August 4&5th, 2012)

To my friends around the world and the others, here is a small promotional video about the LineDance Festival Nooruse Maja is organising. It will happen on August 4&5th this year in Pärnu. You will have the chance to be part of a world record, the longest single line of dancers!! We want to overdance our own record so help us beat it!!!!

For more informaiton, visit: www.linefest.com All the information needed to get registered is there!! No matter if you're valid or in a wheelchair, you can come.

6 things you should know before doing an EVS in Estonia

Hilarious video I found on the Internet about what you should know before doing an EVS in Estonia.

Enjoy!!

French Speaking Day (4 - the lunch): Yogurt Cake with apples and nuts

During my French Speaking Day, I decided to cook for the people who will come to see my presentation. I will start with this reciped and will continue for the next six dishes I made. As I didn’t do it on myself, I will tell you where I get it. Mind you, the links might be in French.

I choose to make a dessert that is really easy to do with kids. Since we don’t have to worry to convert cups, ounces, grammes, young ones can help. You can include some fruits, the flavour they like or something you want them to try. It will be in a fun environment sot hey won’t be pressure to eat it as if i twas during one of the daily meals.

I choose this recipe of « Yogurt Cake with apples and nuts » from the website « marmikid », whose recipes are made by children for children. It’s a very good start to make them change their habits.

Preparation : 20min, cooking : 30 to 40 min (depends on your oven)

Ingredients (for 8 people)

For the basis :

-1 pot of plain or flavoured yogurt of about 125/150 grs (the empty pot will served as the measuring cup)

-1,5 pot of sugar,

-2 teaspoons of vanillia sugar

-3 pots of wheat flour

-1 packet of baking powder or 2 teaspoons

-3 eggs

-3/4 of a pot of sunflower oil

For the flavouring :

-1 big apple

-100grs of walnuts or pecan nuts

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven at 180°C /360°F

In a big salad bowl, mix the yogurt and the sugar

Add the pots of flour one by one and then the baking powder

Repeat the action with the eggs, one by one

And then finish with the oil

For the flavour, peal and cut the apple into small cubes. Add everything to the above preparation and mix

Pour the preparation in your mold. Grease it if it’s not a silicon mold.

To decorate your cake, add the nuts on top of the cake.

Bake it in the middle rack for around 30 to 40min, depending on the power of your oven.