Greetings, beloved readers!

This is my first addition to the Narva volunteer blogosphere. I would like to share a unique Estonian experience with you. I got up at 6:30, which is quite early for my schedule and I headed towards the castle, at which you can marvel next to the border with Russia. I enjoyed the pleasant chill caressing my eyes, cheeks and nostrils. That woke me up and I was fully attentive at my destination, where soldiers and police officers were getting to start the ceremony. What kind of ceremony, you ask? An excellent question. You see, 24th February is the Estonian Independence Day (Eesti Vabariigi aastapäev), which was declared for the first time almost a century ago. The main spectacle of the ceremony was the flag raising. It was accompanied by the Estonian anthem. By the way, the Estonian anthem "stole" the melody from the Finnish one, they just updated the lyrics. Anyhow, after this our ears enjoyed two short speeches and two short prayers, the latter delivered by a Lutheran and an Orthodox priest. We liked the talking times, because it is not pleasant to stand still outside in Estonia for a long time. Following the official part, the party moved from the main courtyard to the inside of the castle, where some catering awaited us. It was nothing too special or fancy, pastry with different fillings, but it was free and you cannot complain about it, can you? We lingered there for 15 minutes when Eva, a local girl, inquired if we were interested in trying out an alternative type of cuisine. Sure, we replied. Lead the way. We walked for a few minutes and stopped at Peter's square. In front of us stood a "field kitchen". In Russian it is called полевая кухня. We ate some meat soup and fish soup and it tasted delicious. Again, the cold did not spare us and we were slightly shivering, so our party dispersed and left to the warm apartments.

Yours sincerely,

Luka

My first impressions of Narva

15 of October of 2015. This was the day I arrived to Narva, Estonia. After 3 hours of trip by bus, i just arrived late on that day. The bus station was not as i expected for a 53 000 population city, just an open space with a small "ticket shop" at the side of the train station. Can't say it was a good first impression, cause that moment just made me think about the possibility of an empty city. The city seemed realy different from my home place in Portugal (and glad it did, otherwise i wouldn't come here) low buildings, all with the same caracteristics (im not very good describing architecture). After 4 months naturally it didnt change. This was just my first quick impression. Why quick? because at my arrival i had 3 people receiving me, giving an amazing welcome to Narva. Julia, with whom i had the chance to meet in Iceland in my previous experience and the person who told me about this oportunity and my supervisor, Vassily, who i meet in Iceland too, and my EVS coordinator, Natasha. From that moment i felt i was going to have the most amazing support here, and after 4 months here, i can say i was not wrong at all. Arrived to my flat, which seemed a cosy place to live and meet my flatmate Teresa from Italy. After a time we moved to another flat (realy like it!), but thats a detail. On the first Monday, 3 days after arriving, started to know my organization and my working project place, meet new amazing people, and from the first moment i felt it was going to be a good experience. And again, after 4 months here i was not wrong. As expected, the most dificult was the russian language, and the way i needed to build bridges in communication with locals, and after 4 months its realy in a good level (at least i think so :)), thanks not only to our Russian Language Teacher but also to everyone who makes an effort to talk and try to understand when you try to speak russian.

What am I doing in Narva? What i am working on? Thats for a next post :)

Miguel