head/happy 2008!!

summary of December

So - I haven't written much of updates recently. I guess this is holidays for you. All this tringel-trangel around Christmas and gifts and snow and food.
So in short:
On Dec. 13th we had our departments Christmas party. It was organized by me and Leslie, and it was by far the BEST christmas party that we have had at least in our deaprtment. People were happy. And we were happy. Good times indeed.
The funniest was, that I decided to go "healthy", so not all the prizes were booze (or vitamin B, as I called it), but I threw in also vitamin C and oranges. You should have seen some faces:) But in general it went over well.
Oh, and the weird thing was that people showed up early. what is up with this?
Also - Peter came to the party, which was great. I just felt bad, that I didn't have much time for him. But he made friends with people. The funniest dialog was the one, where he met Josh, and he asked him: what are your intentions with Evelin?
And then they argued about who thinks I'm better/smarter etc.
Interesting guy this Josh.

Dec 20 - I took Peter to listen to Handel's Messiah. it was WONDERFUL! The funniest was, that at one holy moment, when the choir said: "and then the angel came from the sky", a bat flew in and made two honorary rounds around the room. And then disappeared.
Great concert though!

Dec - I also went to see the Nutcracker. Christmasy. And Nice.

Dec 22 - Estonian concert. Aile Asszony and Mati Turi. Again - wonderful concert.
The funny thing was, that I had agreed to host Aile at my place, but apparently it wasn't good enough, so I was able to keep sleeping in my own bed.

Dec - 24 - I brought a Christmas tree (ie a few branches). And I made sauerkraut.
At 5 I went to Dorota's parents place.
It was such a nice Christmas dinner. Lots of delicious food (mostly fish, as this is catholic tradition). We also had 4 different kinds of cakes - all home made - and oh so delicious!
After we drank some wine and played Apples for Apples. It's an awesome game!

After I came home, Peter came to pick me up, and we went to his Mum's place. Oli ärev hetk. But all went well, and we had some food, and wine, and just chatted.

Dec 25 - All day I was crocheting (heegeldasin lumehelbeid), and in the evening I went to a dinner at Peter's Mums place. Again - a great dinner/evening.

Dec 26 - I went to Eve's and Jakovs place. At 10.30 am. I expected a ginger bread morning, but they were all in pjs, so I thought that I messed up the dates, but no - they had cancelled the party, and I was the only one who didn't check their messages.
But I stayed. For breakfast, and lunch and snacks and wine...
It was such a nice day - just to relax and chat and be at home! I loved it!

And the rest of the days I have been just relaxing and sleeping...
One night I saw Ali-Chuma, and we went for a few drinks and dancing.
The other night Nastja and Marje and I went for a concert. We paid 5 bucks, and then got lots of free organic stuff (tea, chocolate etc). The concert we wanted never started. There was just a white guy in rasta braids and suit, and he was singing rap. Very interesting...
I also Jenny and Pat and Alex last night. Just for a drink.

And now it's time to move over to 2008... Crazy.

blonde is blonde is blonde

I just HAVE to share this story with you.
Ok - I decided to test some glogg recipes (hõõgvein), as I want to give them as Christmas party presents on Thursday on our BMI Christmas party (don't ask me, why I want to put so much work into it!). So - I have bought all the spices and my apartment smells wonderful. I also searched the web for the best possible recipes. Of course I didn't find any that satisfied me, so I will improvise. I even got a bottle of wine. So - I was all ready - the pot was ready on the oven and the spice mix was ready too. All I needed was the wine.
So - I took the tool to open the wine, and started to remove the covering "plastic". The "plastic" was VERY resistant. I managed to make a little hole, and tried pulling with fingers, then with my teeth - but nothing! So I decided to sit down and work seriosuly on this bottle. I was thinking to my myself, that wow, I didn't remember it being so difficult. And kept working on this "plastic" piece by piece, and starting to get angry. Then I hurt my finger with one piece, so that the blood came out, and I was seriously getting mad and I was thinking what the hell is this made of.
And then - shhhh - and the "bulb lighted up" - it was screw cap. And me, blondie, was opening it with the sharp end of the cork remover.
Wow!
Some days I am SO impressed with myself :P

Anyways - now all is on the oven and cooking. It smells WONDEFULLLL!

But about today more - in general I feel high or hangover. Of something, which I'm not too sure. At work I had a hard time walking.
On my way back I was introducing two of my friends, and I had just forgotten one of their names (Sorry, Fabien, I really am sorry).
And then, on my way out of the school bus, I decided to fall out of the bus, instead of walking.
What a day, eh!

Another moment to add: I was enjoying my glogi (which came quite strong...), and then I received a text message "evelin, i hope u r not sleeping?". I couldnt recognize the number, but figured that this person must know me, so I answered "of course not. not yet at least".
answer: "oh great, I wanted to call u to say hi"
answer 2: "this is sam s..."
This when I got puzzled. Sam... Hmm... The name sounded familiar... My first thought was to google. I put the name in, and then got this "genius" idea, that this MUST be my student, so I will just search for him (or her) from university website. well - no results.
And then I noticed to check the google again, and lot's of Taekwondo stuff was there. And THEN it clicked - OF course. This is Samuel's Taekwondo trainer. And I had agreed to meet him. Then it was clear.
But I can't believe I actually thought he's my student. Alzeimers, what else, I guess... Thankfully I checked him up before he called, otherwise I would have asked very nicely about the gold and silver mines, and rotors and stuff like this. Or even worse - about chemistry labs.

* I remembered another "blonde" moment:
So already a few years ago I bought a bottle of mustard. In the plastic bottle. I came home, screwed off the main cap, and then removed the thing that keeps it fresh (the seal?), and screwed the main cap back, because it seemed like dispenser. But - the dispenser wasn't open from anywhere. But it was obvious, that it should be, judging by the shape.
Again - I was thinking and looking it from here and there, and I was trying to snap the pointy end off... No results. Nothing.
I was getting very upset.
So in the end I took the knife and saw (because it was too thick for cutting) the tip off. it took me quite a few minutes of serious work.
And THEN I noticed, that all I had to do was to screw this thing (just the tip), to make the hole form. Of course - since I had seriously violated this bottle, this system didn't work anymore.
I haven't bought mustard ever since (way too intelligent to me).

puff and gone (the weekend that is)

Friday was a career day. A few talks from different fields - academia, research institute, patent law, and some sort of government thing. One I know for sure - I will not become a patent lawyer - even though there's lots of interesting, it doesn't seem like made for me.
The best part was the "symposia" in the end of the day with a free drink. I had a busy day, but all the free drinks need to be carefully collected. The beer was GOOD. And then the second was very good too. Actually I didn't want the second. But some people wanted more free tickets, and when I was trying to make this happen, I got one of our profs to buy (!) me a beer. So nice of him:)
After two beers it was very interesting to go back to the lab to finish three experiments concurrently, while being under time pressure (we had a restaurant table booked by 6).

So at 6 we had our labs Christmas dinner. It was at Baton Rouge - known for its good ribs. And the ribs were delicious indeed. So was my appletini (apple martini). Of course David heard something completely different when Adam asked me, how is my "tini" (David heard: how are my titties. but that's David for ya.).

When I got home, I called Peter (Peter the politician), as we had planned to do something. He told me to dress warmly, and be ready in 10 min. So I had my jeans, and my snow pants, and my semi long black coat. It's a good universal coat - good for tobogganing and good for going to a nice resto.
We drove for a while, and I had no idea what is going to happen. He also kept joking that he will "abduct" me and take me to wilderness. I was laughing along, but a part of me was thinking hard, that what would I do if I would be stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Anyway. We made it. To the little village. And - we went skidoing! Skido is like a snowmobil or a "mootorsaan". It is a very canadian thing to do (like hockey). So I got a helmet (a real big helmet), and instructions to hold on tight (!) and lean whenever he does. And off we went.
Wow! This was SO cool! It was midnight, snowing big snowflakes, and going very fast on this instrument. The wind was blowing at times so hard, that I thought I'm going to lose my head along with the helmet. But I didnt. I was also trying to think how fast we are going. Estimating the speed how the trees came and passed, it seemed quite fast. It was later, when I found out that we went 175 km/hour. This is INSANE! Especially considering, that on this thing there is nothing holding you in place. He was holding onto the handle bars, and I hold onto him. But at the time of a jump, the seat went missing under me, and for a few times I was quite worries that I won't land on the seat, but the pile of snow. Thankfully I didn't. But what a muscle work. My thighs had to work SO hard, to keep me clamped onto this skido seat. It's Sunday now, and I have still difficulties walking. Oh, and in the end my muscles were so tired, so in one curve, where I had to lean, my toe slipped, and I was halfway off the skido. And how do you signal something like this? I couldnt let neither of my hands go, cos then I would have been stranded in the bushes... I did get back to the saddle though.
Oh, and the other funny part was, that my hat kept covering my eyes after every jump. So basically half of our drive, I wasn't able to see where we are going. So imagine - you are going 175 km/h, you can't see anything, and you are not attached to the crazy machine anyhow (except the muscle power). Not the safest sport! But - SO MUCH FUN! Kadi, I'm sure you agree - motorbikes must give a similar feeling I think!

We got back at 2 am. or 2.30. And then we went to the hot-tub. Outdoors hot-tub. Imagine - you have been just going very fast for a while, and being hot from adrenaline, and your muscles are exhausted, and then you just sit in the hot-tub, and the snow is quietly falling onto your face. It was SO, SO, SO nice!

I got to bed at 4.30, I think. And I had to be up at 9, as Leslie and I had decided to go and buy all the presents for the BMIGSA Christmas party. We were prodcutive - we spent close to 500 dollars on candies and spices (I want to prepare spice mixes for glogg as one of the presents) and some random items as presents. Among the other things I bought a nice pair of boots, and a set of acrylic paints (as I'm inspired by the movie I saw - the one about the abstract art. Of course - I even don't know what is the difference between acrylic and oil paints, but - I'll experiment:))!

The rest of Saturday passed VERY quietly, as my energy was gone.

Half of Sunday got spent on recovering as well. And then I made it to work and grocery shopping. And then I got a message from Adam, that he got us the tickets for the Nutcracker ballet. It was beautiful!!! This music, and all these pretty dresses and dances. I loved it!
Even though - one guy got hurt pretty bad - he was spinning, and then somehow fell, and then he was carried away. Poor guy. But other than that it was wonderful.

I even had time to do dishes and prepare dinner. But I think thats all for today. I need to do some more resting, and then maybe tomorrow I can clean my house and make some "glogg potion".

It has been a WONDERFUL weekend though:)

what happens if you really want cheap naylon(s)

I just have share what just happened to me.
So - I was having lunch. Then Ngoc joined me. And then Neil. And Neil talked about this awesome new show about a dude who gets himself lost in random places and then finds his way out. Then Mich came to interrupt, and tell Ngoc that something is ready.
Then I remembered that Illimar is going to Vietnam next week (and Ngoc is also from Vietnam). And I'm currently in the need of cheap naylon membranes (for science purposes). For some reason I couldn't express myself clearly enough. Guys understood something along the lines, that I need to know whether Vietnam has cheap naylon. And Neil nicely wanted to make it clear, asking: you mean the nylons that women wear?
And this made me laugh. As I was laughing very hard my chair lost balance. I noticed and tried to save my self-esteem by flapping with hands really hard and trying to re-establish the balance. But what was lost, was lost. So I falling (slowly, slowly, like a snowflake - lol), and kept thinking - do not hit your head, as this might end up bad. And then there I was - flat on the lunchroom floor, stuck in between the wall and the chair, my feet high up in the air, and I just couldnt stop laughing! I also couldn't get out easily.
Who didn't see this, missed a very funny moment.
(Leslie said: too bad I missed it, and even worse my camera missed it. Nice!:))

langeb lund, langeb lund, langeb lund...

ja muudkui langeb ja järgi ei kavatsegi jääda. Ilus on. Ei saa kurta. Oleks ainult keegi kellega kelgumäele vallatlema minna.

So yes, snowstorm time. This morning I woke up, and heard from the radio, that Ontario School board has cancelled all the school buses, and on the Quebec side even the schools are cancelled. Due to the snowstorm. I peeked out my window (all I need to do, is to turn my head enough and lift the curtain), and all I saw was a little bit of snow (ie it didn't look much different than last night), and some pretty snoflakes slowly dancing toward the ground. You call THIS a snowstorm? Wow.
Anyway, I got up, and got ready soon, just cos the heating system decided to break down on Saturday, and it's only 16 degrees in my apartment. So I decided to leave early. I was already on the stairs, and still questioning this "storm". Until I stepped down from the stairs and I was in the snow until half calf, or how you call it. Hmmm... I guess you could consider this a storm. Thankfully I put on my "ugly boots", but still - they didn't help much. I wished I had my grandfathers fishing boots that go up to your groin. It was beautiful so. Tons and tons of beautiful bright white fluffy snow. Gorgeous.
And also - not too many cars on the roads, or people around. Also no buses, as most of them were stuck here or there. But anyway - it was a beautiful snow filled day. By the evening the snow was until my knees.
Perfect time to go tobogganing! anyone wanna join???

Ok, now shortly about my week. Before it falls into the dark side of the past.
So - last weekend I was in Toronto. Because 34 of my friends (amicad) were there. Such a wonderful time. I was happy to realize, that even if you don't see somebody for four years, it still feels exactly the same, when you see them. I felt like I just saw them a few days ago. It was so great to just continue from where we had left of. I was sad though, that the time was short, and I didn't have time to have any quality time with so many. I'm sure life provides new opportunities soon though.
I had planned to come back on Sunday, but Kristiinas dad was preparing salmon, and I couldn't leave. Besides, I go to Toronto very not often, so it's better spend some more time there.
So I got to spend more time with Liina and Evelin and Kristina and Kairi ja Kristiina. And on Monday I had time to have coffee with Mari-Liis (and give her Monika's birthday hug and penguin:).

Tuesday: Kristi and Margus came to Ottawa. My very FIRST visitors from Estonia. They wondered around the city while I had to work, but in the evening we were just chatting and having tea, and it was super nice. Besides, I learned some super-trooper tricks about land measuring and katastriüksus (I need it for our country home related business). On Wednesday we even had time to have breakfast at Cora's and then off they went.

Thursday I had a superbusy day at work, as Leslie and I are organizing a christmas party (or WHP, as we call it - Winter Holiday Party), and we needed to sell tickets. Surprisingly it takes a lot of time. Oh, and my boss also had one Estonian girl from Cambridge (ON) shadowing him. SHe's in her 9th grade. So I had to show her around and entertain her. It was neat so - I love teaching kids:)
At 6 we went to my classes discussion group (biotech class). We meet regularly outside the class to discuss the big project. Illimar (my boss) paid for my beer and meal, which was awesome. And then, in the end, one of the guys decided to get shots of vodka - for Illimar, for me, and for himself. Wow. That was pretty cool. Since I'm a TA, I felt I should somehow pay for my shot, and uhoh, by offering to do so, I insulted the poor guy. I promised I would return his heart kindness in Estonian liqueur one day. Then he calmed down:) But he's cool. He always jokes around. For example: after one meeting we found out that we live basically next door. And he said, in front of everybody: aah, then you are the girl who walks around her house naked, right? I couldn't come up with any return sentence (especially because first I was worried, that maybe he means it, as sometimes I don't have too many clothes on). Anyway - at least everyone was happy and laughing.
The problem was though - that I had to still mark 40 lab reports.
First I was feeling good and happy and giggly. And I have noticed that the average mark goes up, when I mark with some beer. Nothing wrong with higher averages, right?
But then the sleep came.
So in the end I decided to go to bed, and then wake up at 4 to finish marking on time. I did it!

And then I had to practice for the Biochem lab, that I will be TAing this winter. I have TAed this lab for three winters. And for the first time they made ME to DO the lab. I think it's quite absurd and waste of time. But - what can you do. They make the rules.

After that I went to the reception organized by Estonian Embassy. Free and delicious lunch. And free wine:)
Unfortunately I had to leave at 2 to make it to the lab - the last TA session. It was allright. And now I am done!!!

The weekend was COLD. On Saturday the heat had left my place - a randevou elsewhere? Who knows. So I didn't do much.
But I had promised to go to my friend Leslies place for the Christmas party. I wasn't really in the mood, but I felt obligated. I haven't seen her for a long time. I was also concerned, that there will be many people talking politics, as her roommate works at the Parlament or somewhere like this. I picked up a cider and walked over. I thought that by 11 I should be back at home. But just as I have made "plans", the plans make themselves over. So I ended up being the last person leaving the party. And I had wonderful time. There was guitar playing and singing, and I had my cider (plus one rum and coke, plus one wine). And I met Peter, who was super drunk, but very skillful in putting the words in a row. He was hilarious. He also invited me to his hot-tub, but Leslie firmly interrupted, and told him, that I'm not going anywhere. It's so great when you have firm and sober-thinking friends. She also told me, that they don't really like this guy (I'm still not sure why).
Anyway - I still ended up going for Vietnamese food with this guy (Sunday night). It was nice! Even though for some reason my gray brain matter felt fairly sparse (from cider I assume). There was a funny story as well, as usual. He came to pick me up. In a way I'm starting to develop a "car-phobia". It's just you never know what you're going to get (and how are you going to get in or out). This time it was a black truck. So he called it. It was HUGE! And oh so high. I had decided to wear high heels, but even this didn't help. So I was thinking, how would I get in most efficiently. I decided to step on the midway, and then jump upwards, while turning my backside to the seat, and aiming to land in the seat. Well - my calculations were a little off, and I almost fell out the car - from this high altitude. Thankfully I was able to grab something, and stayed in.
Wow - what a smooths entrance, eh!

And that was it. My week and my weekend. I have to admit - I do love doing "nothing" on weekends:)

the best news of 2007!!!

Kullionu got a baby!!! Already on Friday, Nov 23, actually! Definitely the best day of 2007! I am the happiest Hundionu in this world!!

I'm still walking on clouds and smiling everyone hazily, especially the ones with babies. Today I almost hugged a fellow grad student in the cold room (4 degrees all the time), after I found out that he has a little daughter too (I had NO idea). And this talk started, because I wanted to scare him, so I said "kaboom". And he got very confused, and kept asking, what did I say. And then it turned out, that "kaboom" means "peek-a-boo" in Hungarian. Ok, Hungarian then Hungarian, but himself looks rather Arabic, so I asked, what's the story here. And so it happened.

But - what I want the most in the world, is to be in Estonia, in Pärnu, and start spoiling my new favorite boy in the world!!! Be ready - I will be there soon!
Life is wonderful!!!

Kullionu - igatsen nii, nii väga!! Ootan pilte ka:)

Ja - olen ALATI olemas - Sinu jaoks!!!