Monday, April 3, 2017

Exchange in Bremerhaven

Möödunud on rohkem kui kuu sellest kui mina ja Marie alustasime oma vahetusõpilase perioodiga Saksamaal, Bremerhavenis. Loodan et selle ajaga olen kogunud piisavalt informatsiooni et midagi siia blogisse kirjutada. Kui märkasite, siis pidin ka blogi nime muutma, enam ei ole siiski sobiv "Mariell Hollandis". 
Bremerhaven on üsna väike sadamalinn Saksamaa põhjaosas, üldsegi mitte kaugel Leeuwardenist, kus ma enne õppisin. Inimesi elab siin umbes 108 000, ikka samamoodi nagu Leeuwardenis. Tundub et miskipärast tõmbavad meid ikka pigem väikelinnad. Kuigi kui inimesed küsivad, et miks me just siia otsustasime tulla vahetusõpilaseks, siis rohkem väga midagi teha pole kui käsi laiutada. Vahest mainin, et tulin mere pärast, aga tegelikult on see minu "meri" siin hoopiski jõgi, ja kui meie ikka ütleme et lähme jalutame mere ääres, siis kõik teised nimetavad seda siiski jõe-äärseks.  
Siin veedetud ajaga on meile mitmed inimesed öelnud et Bremenhaven on kõige vaesem linn Saksamaal. Kui rohkem hoolega ringi vaadata siis näeb seda nii mõningast suletud poodidest ja tühjadest majadest, aga üldpildil pole häda midagi. Kui linna googeldada siis leiab palju pilte Bremerhaveni turistiosast, kus on rohkem modernsed majad ning shopingukohad, mille kõrval on ka meie kool. Mida kaugemale aga minna kesklinnast, seda väidetavalt vaesemaks ja odavamaks linn läheb ning majad on pigem vanemat sorti, mida kohalikele meeldib väga rõõmsasti värviliseks värvida. 

Nüüd mõned päevad tagasi kui meil olid natukeseks ajaks paremad ilmad (vahepeal lausa 20 kraadi), käis meil juba ka Mirell külas, kuna ta siit ainult paar linna edasi, Hamburgis elab. Ta tegi enda külaskäigust postituse, mille saate leida siit. Mõningad pildid võivad küll natuke korduda, kuid see postitus väärib kindlasti tsekkamist, kuna see räägib rohkem mis me siin teinud oleme, samas kui minu postitus on hetkel lihtsalt üldiselt Bremerhavenist. 


It has been over a month since Marie and I started with our Exchange in Germany, Bremerhaven. I hope that with that time I have already gathered enough information to write about something. 
Bremerhaven is a pretty small harbour city in the Northern Germany, not that far at all from Leeuwarden, the city where I studied in before. The population in here is around 108 000 people, the same as in Leeuwarden. Seems like we are rather drawn to the smaller cities for some reason. When people ask us why exactly did we choose Bremerhaven, we dont really have a lot else to do than spread our hands (it is not really a saying in English, is it). Sometimes I say that I chose it because I wanted to be next to the sea, but that "sea" is actually river, and when Marie and I say that we should take a walk by the sea, everyone else still calls it the riverside. 
During our time here plenty of people have already said to us that Bremerhaven is the poorest city in Germany. You can see it when you pay more attention while looking around, as there are quite some closed stores and empty houses. However, the overall picture is not bad. When you google the city what you see is just the more modern touristic area of Bremerhaven, with shopping centres and such. But apparently the more and more you go further away from the city centre, the poorer and cheaper the city will be. The houses in that kind of Bremerhaven are older and it seems like the local people love to paint them in fun colours. 

My sister Mirell, who lives only a couple cities away in Hamburg, visited us some days ago when we had better weather (some days we had even 20 degrees). She also wrote a blog about what we did when she visited, which can be found from here. The blog is in Estonian, but there are a lot of pictures that are pretty self-explanatory and give a really nice overview of what we have been doing in here, while my post is more about Bremerhaven in general. Totally worth checking it out. 

Modernsem osa Bremenhavenist / The modern part of Bremerhaven

Modernsem osa teiselt poolt / The same modern part, from the other side

Hotell, mille katusel olevale platvormile me ka läksime koos Mirelliga / A hotel that has a viewing platform on top of it - we went up there with Mirell

Vasakul on jõgi mis kauguses läheb edasi mereks. Vasakul punase katusega maja taga on loomaaed. Kanalist otse edasi kaugemal on suur kaubasadam. Mina elan pildil paremal kuskil seal kus on palju punaseid katuseid.

On the left there is the river that in the distance turns into the sea. On the left behind the building wth the red roof you can see the zoo. Straight onwards from the canal in the back is the bigger cargo harbour. I am living on the right on this picture, somewhere where all those red roofs can be seen. 

Loomaia kõrval olev plats, mis on kaetud suute kaladega, millest on siiski parem aru saada hotelli platvormilt / A square next to the zoo, covered with big fishes. A better place to see them from is the already mentioned platform.  

Loomaaias käisime ka Mirelliga, see oli väga lahe kogemus. Eriti kuna see loomamaed oli tehtud nii huvitavaks nii loomadele kui ka inimestele (loomade koha pealt nii tundus, ega ma enda pead selle eest ei anna et nemadki arvaksid et see lahe on). Pildil on näha ka jääkaru.

We also went to the zoo when Mirell visited and it was a really awesome experience. Especially because the zoo was built in the way that it was really interesting to both people and animals (at least it seemed like it could be more fun for animals than in the regular zoo, won't bet my life on whether the animals also think so). On the picture you can also see a polar bear. 

Hotelli taga olev oa/sõõriku kujuline maja on kliimamaja, kus saab kogeda kolme erinevat kliimat (vihmametsa, antartika ja kõrbe), nende kohta teadmisi koguda jne. Pole ise sinna veel jõudnud, kuid tundub huvitav ja kindlasti tahan minna. Kliimamaja kõrval on kaubanduskeskus Mediterraneo. Pildil näeb ka silda, mis üle kanali selle kabanduskeskuse ja ühe teise kaubanduskeskuse ühendab.

Behind the hotel there is the bean/donut shaped building. It is the climate house where you can experience three different climates (rainforest, Antarctica, desert), learn about them etc. I have not visited that place yet, but it sounds interesting so I wanna do it one day. On the picture you can also see a bridge that connects two shopping centres on the other sides of the canal. 

See samune sild/tunnel seest / The same mentioned bridge/tunnel from the inside

Kliimamaja ja kaubanduskeskust ühendav kena ja valgusrikas osa, kus on mõnus vahepeal jalga puhata kui suuremal shopingutuuril oled. / This area connects the climate house and the shopping centre, making it a nice and light-filled place where you could rest your legs during a longer shopping day. 

Mediterraneo kabanduskeskus ise, kus poed on kujundatad kui väikesed majakesed kuskil vahemere ääres. /  The Mediterraneo shopping centre, where the shops are decorated as little houses somewhere around the Mediterranean sea, as the name implies. 

Kõik see jõeäärne ala on väga hea koht chillimiseks. / The area next to the river is the perfect place for chilling. 

Teiselpool jõge on näha suuremat tehast, mis mõne inimese arust vaadet rikub. Igapäevaselt sõidavad mööda ka suuremad kaubalaevad. / On the other side of the river you can see a bigger factory, which is rather ruining the view for some people. There are also bigger containerships driving past every day. 
Chillida saab nii eelneval pildil oleval kivist alal kui ka murul / It is possible to chill on the solid area that was seen on the last picture, but also on the grass. 

Oleme siiski rahul, et meil siin peaaegu meri on. / We are still pretty satisfied that we have our 'almost sea' in here. 

Mõned majad minu koolist. Kool koosneb kaheksast majast, mis on tähistatud erinevate tähtedega. / Some houses that are part of the university - it consists of 8 houses, marked with different letters. 

Vaade neile samadele koolimajadele majast kus mul enamus tunnid on. / The view on the same houses from the school house that I have most of my lessons in. 

Kooli minnes ja vahest ka koolis sees on vaade sellisele tornile. Torne ja muid sarnaseid on siin mitmeidki. / On the way to school and also sometimes from the school I have the view to that tower. There are plenty of towers and similar things in this city.   

Ka siin on tänavakunst üpriski moes (võib-olla meenub, et tegin päris ammu ka Leeuwardenis olles sellest postituse) / Seems like street art is also pretty popular in here (I made a post about street art in Leeuwarden a long time ago) 


Bremenhavenis on muuseum Saksa väljarändurite kohta. Ei tea kuhu nad siis rändasid ja miks, aga siin on sellele pühendatud kuju. / There is a museum of German emigrants in Bremerhaven. Don't know where did they go and why, but here is a statue dedicated to that.  

Nagu ma mainisin, meeldib inimestele siin maju kenasti värviliseks värvida. Näiteks siin on meie pubitänav. / Like I already mentioned before, people like to colour their houses in this city. For example here is our pubstreet. 


Üheks näiteks värvilistest majadest on ka minu maja, milleks on see roheline seal. / Another example can be my own house, which is the green one in here. 

Kirik ja mingi tähtsama väljanägemisega maja minu bussipeatuse juures. / Church and a more important looking house next to my bus-stop. 

Kui juba bussipeatusi mainida, siis millegi pärast peavad nad siin vajalikuks panna bussipeatused tagurpidi, klaas tee poole, et kenasti bussi ei saaks. / As I already mentioned bus-stops, I should also mention that for some reason they like to put the bus-stops the other way around on the streets. With the glass facing the street, so you could not go to the bus easily. 

Käisime Mirelliga ka ühes suuremas pargis siin, mis oli peaaegu et mets nii mõningaski kohas. Seda on tore teada, arvestades et meie jaoks oli alati probleem see kui vähe me metsa nägime kõik see aeg Hollandis elades. / We also visited a bigger park in here that was more like an actual forest. That is really good to know as all that time we lived in the Netherlands it really bothered us how less forest we saw. 


Blogipostituse oleks paslik lõpetada sellise vähe muhedama pildiga / This picture seemed like a suitable way to end that blog post. 

Mõistsin just et kuna see postitus annab päris hea ülevaate Bremerhavenist, pole enam kellegil vaja meile külla tulla :D / I just realised that now that I have given the overview of Bremerhaven, no one really needs to visit us anymore :D

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

2 months as a video

Some of you might know that last year I made a video of one month of my life in Leeuwarden. You can see the video in here. So now I decided to do it again and I put together a video of my (basically) last two months in Leeuwarden before finally going to Estonia for the summer. I was lucky enough that in that time there were a lot of friends visiting us and I used the chance to try to capture them all on the video. Hope you will enjoy it. 


Friday, May 13, 2016

Lil' Helen visiting


Eelmine nädal oli meil vaheag ja Väike Helen käis meil külas / Last week we had a holiday and Little Helen visited us 

Kohe kui ta saabus läksime ringi velotama ja palju turistipilte tegema / As soon as she arrived we went to see the city and make touristic photos 


Pardid tulid sõbrustama / Ducks wanted to make some friends 









Tundub et Helen polnud õhtusöögiga rahul / Seems like Helen was not happy with the dinner 


Lebokas õhtu sõpradega / Chill night with friends 

Järjekordne kohustuslik selfie Victoriga / Another mandatory selfie with Victor 

Lõuna / Lunch 


Läksime parki ja mannile anti magustoidu kandmise ülesanne. Oli ta ikka suure surve all seda mitte maha kukutada / We went to the park and Marie got the task of carrying the dessert. The pressure not to drop it was intense.  


Pardid tahtsid ka ühineda / The ducks wanted to make friends again 

Tegime jälle piknikut / We had a picnic once again  


Järgmine päev oli iseseisvuspäev, seega siin pargis mälestati kõiki kes sõjas hukkusid ja nende auks peaksid kõik hollandlased üle terve riigi kell 8 õhtul kaheks minutiks vait olema / The next day was the Independence Day, so in this park they were remembering all the people who died during the war, which is also why in that evening at 8 all the people in the whole Netherlands should stay quiet for two minutes

Sellel ajal olid pooled puud veel raagus, aga nüüd on kõik juba täitsa lehtes / At that moment some trees were still bare, but now all the trees have leaves already 

Õhtul läksime Jasperi juurde filmi vaatama / In the evening we went to Jasper's place to watch a movie


Helen ja Marie tegid hirmsat pattu ja istusid Victori peal / Helen and Marie were sinning horribly and were sitting on Victor 

Järgmine päev oli iseseisvuspäev, mida hollandlased väga tähistavad / The next day was Independence Day, which Dutch people celebrate a lot, compared to Estonians  

Kanalite ääres oli hulganisti paate ning terve linn oli täis  inimesi (ma pole kunagi nii palju inimesi Leeuwardenis näinud) / There was a lot of boats and even more people (I have never seen that much people in Leeuwarden)


The whole crew together again 

Hollandi lipp oli otsaga kuskile kinni jäänud, mille tõttu tundus nagu hollandi lipu all oleks prantsuse lipp olnud / The Dutch flag was stuck somewhere, so it looked like there was a French flag underneath the Dutch one 

Kõikjal oli nii palju rahvast, et meiesugustel väikestel oli suur oht sõbrad kaotada ja kaduma minna / There were so many people everywhere, so the small people like us were facing a huge threat of losing others and getting lost 

Kõiki inimesed instusid pargis, jõid, tähistasid ja nautisid muusikat. Atmosfäär oli nii mõnus ning sellel päeval oli ka ikka väga korralik suveilm / All the people were just sitting in the park, chilling, drinking, celebrating and enjoying the music. The atmosphere was so nice and the weather was so hot on that day. 



Karlssoni moodi poisike käis topse korjamas, sest iga 10 topsi eest sai teatud summa raha. Jätkusuutlikkus või midagi. / For every 10 cups you will get money. Sustainability I guess. 

Seal oli suur täispuhutud lehm / There was this big inflated cow

mille seest said lapsed endale limonaadi lüpsta / and the kids were milking that cow to get lemonade from it 



Pärastpoole istusime Femke maja ees, sest tagaaias päikest enam polnud / Later we sat in front of Femke's house, as there was no sun in the backgarden anymore 

Ananassi jääkuubik / Pineapple ice-cube 

Ning aja möödudes kolisime täitsa tee peale et päikest püüda / After a while we moved to the middle of the road to catch the last sun 


Õhtu lõpetasime festivalil ja vanas heas Hemingways tantsu löömisega / The night ended with dancing in the festival and later in good old Hemingway 

Järgmine päev hakkas Helen kodu poole suunduma ning meie käisime pargis kanali ääres päevitamas ja raamatut lugemas / The next day Helen started heading home and we spent our day reading and tanning in the park next to a canal 

Keegi arvab et sittuva mehe logo on parim nende firmale / Somebody thought that a logo of a man taking a dump is the best for their company  
Järgmine päev oli meil juba järgmine festival, enne seda sõime kõik koos lõunat / The next day we had another festival already and before that we had a lunch all together 




Ühel veidral uksel oli kolm uksenuppu / One weird door had three doorknobs 


Hemels festival



Michelle viskas õlle maha / Michelle threw a beer on the ground 

Ja ta oli kurb / And she was sad