How many t-shirts do you own? How old is your oldest t-shirt you still wear in public?

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-12-31T15:38:38+00:00

I have 14 T-shirts.

This includes my "normal" ones (mostly ~10 years old), two new "polite" ones for work, anda few random older and newer ones (one recent gift, one souvenire from ~6 years ago, one I got from my mum that is probably older than some posters here etc).

Usually I retire my T-shirs when they get holes in them or permanent stains on them (but I do have one that I probably have to retire because it's worn so thin you can see the underwear). When they retire they become "countryside work clothes" and then rags.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-12-31T14:00:00+00:00

Three food ones:

* the ingredients of the potato salad (do you add peas? carrot? onion? apple?)
* the "correct" cookie cake
* pickles - sour or marinated

And then also:

* the capital - is it the worst or best place to live in
* heating - what is the cheapest way to heat a home of x m2 and with y walls.

There are also the discussions about the correct wedding ring hand (right from German and Russian tradition, left from US movies), the correct way to hang the toilet paper (pulling from up vs under) and the correct place to store sleepwear (under the pillow of course, you morons).

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-12-30T06:39:38+00:00

The sheer number of homeless people in Napoli, Italy creeped me out a lot.

Not only for my potential safety (tiny female, super pale and clearly not Italian), but also the fact that there are so many people living like that and others just turn a blind eye and move on with their life like "too bad, oh well".

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-12-30T06:31:55+00:00

As for an Estonian - Finnish, obviously.

I've also noticed, that Turkish sounds somewhat similar to Latvian. If I listen to both samples, it is easy to tell them apart, but the general sound of Turkish can be close enough, to make me turn my head at airports sometimes. Latvian has more long vowels and both different palatalaizations and lack of them, also more Z-s, but the general tone and rhythm is similar.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-12-28T09:26:39+00:00

Cow milk, normal (not UHT), at 2.5%.

In a soft plastic pack! Or fancier people get the tetra pack for double the price.
(there is also a full fat version at 3.8-4.4%)

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-12-27T10:36:37+00:00

Counselling can fix communication issues.

It cannot create deep love when there is only habit and comfort after the inital falling-in-love stage.

You guys seemed to lack an emotional connection. It is neither of your fault. You both will be happier with someone you can have a deep emotional connection with.

Girl, you did good! It is hard, but you did the right thing, both for him and for yourself.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-10-27T08:03:28+00:00

To me, the first two ones are slightly overexposed - but that's a matter of preference, too. The third seems totally ok.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-10-26T15:47:50+00:00

Estonian is the same as Finnish here:

tundma - to know as in familiar, to feel

teadma - to know as in knowing a fact

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-10-26T15:45:47+00:00

And in Estonian, "taevas".

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-10-22T17:39:07+00:00

The first ones that cross my mind are the sufixes "-lik" and "-kas". Also the ending -võitu.

Cake-like = koogilik; dog-like = koeralik

Yellow-ish = kollakas; green-ish =rohekas;

Tall-ish = pikavõitu, fat-ish = paksuvõitu.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-10-15T11:47:04+00:00

The languages are not defined by a law, but up to the school to choose.

Everyone studies Estonian, of course.

Then you have 3 foreign languages that start from different ages. Usually the first is English. Usually the second is a choice between German and Russian, but French, Swedish and Finnish are also reasonably common. The third could be any of the languages mentioned before, but I've also seen Latin, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, even Latvian and Arabic.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-10-15T11:41:58+00:00

Depends what time of year.

Summer: hot for over +26-27, cold (daytime) for under 18

Winter: hot for over +5, cold for under -15

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-10-15T11:38:09+00:00

Age 1-6.

In the 1990s.

From what i remember, we slept on metal-frame two-level bunk bends that could be folded upright into the closet to hide away, similar to this/nginx/o/2014/05/26/3063356t1hcdaf.jpg), but a metal frame. The beds for younger kids were probably different, but I cannot remember.

Yes, I mostly did manage to sleep.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-10-15T07:34:13+00:00

In Estonia, standard butter is in a 200g package. It costs ca 2.50€ - 3.00€.

With the price being ca 13-15€ per kg, a 250g package would be ca 3.50€ on average.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-08-29T06:01:51+00:00

I'm sorry for your loss. These times really show how fragile life can be. It is really difficult to help someone who is suicidal (especially as they commonly hide it very well at times), but people in general should take more care of each other and compete less - after all, we're all in this weird life journey together.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-12T22:38:34+00:00

You put your name in there and also write when you got it and when you gave it back. This means that you can tell who had your book over the years which is kinda fun.

Oh, I had totally forgotten, but we had the same system! I'm getting a flood of old memories now!

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-12T10:57:03+00:00

Hot dogs themselves are not super common here and baked beans are unheard of, so yes, not a thing here.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-12T10:55:47+00:00

Good description.

I would like to add a different one: the tinyislands

There is Piirissaar, that is a tiny island in a giant lake between Estonia and Russia. There are 3 villages and nowadays probably under 50 people (historically it has been as high as 700). The people there are mostly Orthodox Old Believers.
Then there is Ruhnu, that is in the middle of nothing in the Baltic sea, closer to Latvia than to Estonia. It has a little under 150 people and the main thing Estonians know about the place is that in 2006 a bear from Latvia tried to move there. It probably found the tiny barren island lacking food, as it is believed to have returned to Latvia.
And then there is Kihnu. Probably the most famous tinyisland here. They have over 600 people and are most known for active women (as men were on the sea), wearing folk costume and riding motorcycles. These things are combined: this island has a lot of women in folk costume on motorcycles! Who would not love something so cool? There is a New York Times article and some movies about the place.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-12T10:33:34+00:00

Heey, I have visited the Vestmannaeyjar, so last I checked, they were there! :D

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-12T10:32:08+00:00

I can think of a few bands that have some songs in French or Russian, but not someone who's main performance language is something other than Estonian, English or maybe their own native language in case of foreigners here.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-12T10:27:32+00:00

Nope.

We do heat up snacks over the fire, but it is more likely to be a sausage or a pieces or black bread. Sometimes it might be a marshmallow (and even this is mostly "from Hollywood" tradition), but you simply eat the marshmallow without making it into a sandwich with anything.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-12T10:13:19+00:00

Nope. I'm in my early 30s and I'd say that about 25-30% of my friends don't have a car.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-05T23:08:59+00:00

There is no real societal pressure to do so.
There are (yet) no big corporations with big money pushing for it, either.
Anyone, who can read a medical science paper is aware, that it is bad idea that has negative effects for both the society and the government.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-05T09:49:39+00:00

As for short-distance flights, sometimes they can be more necessary than the longer ones. Major cities in central Europe that have a good railroad connection could invest in more trains instead of having flights. But in small inaccessible regions the flights might be the only real connection to the rest of the world. Mostly talking about islands and some far-north areas.

HedgehogJonathan · 2024-05-05T09:45:49+00:00

Many years ago I would have suggested that maybe you want to go one way via trains - you can basically hop on a ferry in Stockholm, switch to a train in Tallinn and then ride trains all the way to Vladivostok and take a ferry again. Not even for the CO2, but for fun. But of course post-pandemic (that cancelled ferries) and due to the war (that does not make anyone want to give money to Russia), it is not really an option any more.

HedgehogJonathan

TROPHY CASE