walk the line

Our spring seminar and dance competitions in Jõgeva. 

As people around me have been working on their thesis papers pretty much since the beginning of September, they finally managed to freak me out, the previous week, all the free time I had, I was in the library working on my projects.  This semester in school is my last, and so far I'm pretty happy with all my classes and seminars, especially the class about international human rights. Oh, and I won a war yesterday, got the permission to OFFICIALLY take the spanish class. Last week on Valentine's Day we went sledging with Keiu and Ingrid, the old-school sledging, then to Skypark to jump on trampolines, practice some flips, do sumo, run around kids playgrounds, play some basketball and whatsoever and ended the day with delicious pub-food and hookah. Movie minutes:   " Liberal Arts " . Been wanting to see it, and loved it! About hopes and dreams and getting by. Not typical hollywoodish, but digs deeper. Had a very likable cast, intelligent script,...

On thursday early-early in the morning headed to snowboard at Himos, Finland, with Keiu, her parents and some family friends.Two full days on the mountains - enough to discover a bunch of new muscles that can ache on your body. Himos is not a dream destination to go snowboarding, but a lot better than nothing, it had some pretty decent slopes!

I'm on a mission to watch all the "best picture" nominations. Went to the movies on sunday after training with my mom and saw " Life of Pi ". It managed to make us both cry and not just once. A beautiful story about faith. Great acting, great visuals and Ang Lee has created an incredible movie that leaves a lasting impression. "Faith is a house with many rooms."  "But no room for doubt?"  "Oh plenty, on every floor. Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it's tested." " Silver linings playbook ". Been wanting to see that for ages, especially as Bradley Cooper is in it, but it was a good, sweet, messed up movie. It is not typical for a romantic drama/comedy to be nominated for 8 oscars including the best picture.  " Les Miserables ". As I like musicals, I enjoyed it. It was slow but also had the intensity and heartbreaking moments. Anne ...

Happy new year, may it become an unforgettable one!

"People will tell you nothing matters, the whole world’s about to end soon anyway. But those people are looking at life the wrong way. I mean, things don’t need to last forever to be perfect.”  from a movie - Daydream Nation.

I hate how christmas is turned into a consuming holiday. Every other commercial on radio and probably on tv as well is about different "sales" and buying christmas "gifts". You can give a gift to an important person every day, as long as it comes from the heart. It's not worth buying something as cheap as possible just because you feel you have to. Heard the worst commercial on radio today from one furniture store. With an extremely sad tune on the background the message was something like "There are so many CHAIRS who have to spend christmas alone, do a good deed, come and buy the chairs so they would have a nice place to be in". I'm sorry.. what?!? There was the Tallinn Latin festival, we had 12 workshops divided on friday and saturday days and a quite demanding house class on Sunday. Salsa, zouk, kizomba, bachata, bachatango, cuban body movement, reggaeton, colombian style, cuban salsa, semba - you name it. The gala performance night on satu...

Yesterday I was defending my research paper. It was interesting, our professor was sarcastic to the max, a little evil even, one could say, but I was interested in the subject, put a lot of effort in, and it paid off well. Wrote about the copyright laws about graffiti.  Sunday night got a private evening tour in an old theatre. My friend was working late, we were there until 4.30 am. Ended up driving home in the creepiest fog. I love theatre, so I was like a kid in the candy-store, having fun on the stage, playing dress-up, exploring, singing and inventing tunes on a piano, for some reason we were desperate to get the anthem of Estonia right. It was Halloween last wednesday! We had a blast. When Mickey and Minnie walk into a club... people were touching us, wanted pictures with us, we felt like celebrities. Were doing bar-hopping as we got free drinks pretty much everywhere. Luckily there were some others with costumes. What a fun night!

"Some say that to believe in destiny is to dismiss the role of free will, but self-determination cannot prevail the presence of faith, and the truth is, the only part of destiny we can control is the fate we choose for another."

"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived...this is to have succeeded. " (Ralph Waldo Emerson & Bessie A. Stanley)

All is new in September.

NYC vol 2

BACK IN NEW YORK, AND IT FEELS LIKE HOME!

Camp of Hip Hop 2012 just ended, I don't know why but my emotions after are not as high as they have been every year before, I'm not sure if something was really missing or I just wasn't fully there.  Anyways, it was still an awesome week, many incredible and world-famous dancers all over the globe came to a small town in Estonia to share their knowledge and love of dance with us. Got a lot of knowledge and loved all the classes! The themed nights were not fully thought through in my opinion and the vibe at the parties could've been tighter.

I had my doubts in the beginning, but it was an excellent experience. We were not just participants or group leaders, we all were in a way also the organizers and modelers of the exchange. As it was by a volunteer organization, we had a lot of freedom, and I really believe in the end the work we did, matters.