#0 - Goodbye House

The old battered house
I once helped tear down
I supposed I'd see each year
being built layer by layer.

But this was not my new home
As once was thought by others
It was the signpost on the footpath
to my unknown future.

O Yes Fate did bring me back close
and yet still not to meet Palupõhja again.
It showed me glimpses of the future
and pushed me along a new road.

It asked me questions:
Sprechen sie Deutsch?
Do I enjoy remoteness and foreign lands?
None that made sense at each moment, but now...

But looking back now
It was a long windy path
all the way back from the house
stretching and asking and probing and leading to today.

by Ian (Poem and Picture of the torn down house).

Best of wishes Estonia - as possibly my last poem here!

Actors

What happened to all the actors
in the dramas of my life.
Maybe there were factors
why you were in the comedies and not with me in the strife

What happened to the tragedy
They always seemed to ask
when ever they were being unheedy
and only seeing the mask.

What happened to the past
Now misinterpreted when re-enacted
The meaning lost in a mystery
In the mind where the history and present interacted

What happened to.. well what happened to me
I'll not fade like a ghost, I have more form, you will see!

by Ian

Jõululuuletus (Christmas Poem)

Saanid tänavatel sõidavad ringi
Mina soovisin jõuluvanalt kringlit
Kui ta lõpuks olen saand
Rõõmust lakke hüppan ma
Nüüd on jõulud lõpuks käes
Mina ka nüüd jõule näen
Ja kui järgmised jõulud tulevad
Siis ka kingitused tulemas
___
autor 8-aastane Laas

English Weather - Englisch Wetter

English Weather

Without you
When it rains, it rains
When its sunny, it rains
I have a thunder and lightning heart

With you
When it rains, its fun
When its sunny, its fun
My soul is complete
-------------------------------------------
Englisch Wetter


Ohne dich
Wenn es regnet, es regnet
Wenn es ist sonnig, es regnet
Ich habe ein Donner und Blitzen Herz

Mit dir
Wenn es regnet, es viel Spaß
Wenn die sonnige, es viel Spaß
Meine Seele ist komplett


by Ian


(Original and translation by Ian)
(Sorry there is no Estonian translation.. maybe someone can do one? And maybe sorry for the rubbish german ;))

Late Olympic Reply

Here is a late well done to Team GB who came in 3rd with 65 medals in total. I did manage to see some Olympic football (Brazil beating Belarus and New Zealand beating Eygpt) and get down to the closing ceremony... and so also managed to see some of the Marathon race. It was all good fun.
Estonia in the end managed to win 2 medals: silver in wrestling and bronze in athletics.

As for the Paralympics well done again Team GB 3rd again with 120 medals!!

The Olympics were a huge success and seem to have got people inspired to run, cycle, swim etc.

So off to Brazil for the next one... and see if they can finally get gold in football.

Olympics - Who to watch out for Estonia and GB

Only a few weeks to go now to London 2012 here is a quick short guide to Estonia and GB medal hopes.

  Estonia

 Last Olympics Estonia won a gold and a silver medal. The silver was in Double Sculls (rowing). Jüri Jaanson has now retired so can Estonia find another Double Sculls team to equal last time? The gold was won by Gerd Kanter who is competing again! He won it in the discus. He has won the silver in both the European and World Championship in the past couple of years. So he could be there or there abouts and should be achieving a medal of some sorts.

 Other events that Estonia have won medals (since independence in 1991).

 Cycling - 1 Gold Medal ('92). Maybe Tanel Kangert be selected and follow up from his Tour De Suisse stage win?
  Judo - 3 Bronzes ('00, '04). Martin Padar is the choice for Estonia this time round. He came 17th in Beijing but came 3rd in the European Championships last year.
  Sailing - Bronze ('92). Johannes Ahun and Denis Karpak(who came 6th in the European Championships) So there are some names and sports to look out for... maybe there will be a few medals from here?

Or maybe a sport will come back to the fore front for Estonia such as Weightlifting or Wrestling which they won medals for in the 1920s. The Estonian Olympic team can be found on their website (in Estonian) at http://www.eok.ee/london2012 


Team GB(or officially : United Kingdom of Great Britain and N. Ireland. Don't ask me why its not Team UK?!).

 In Beijing GB won 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze. (Or if you want to compare medals with population then if GB had same population as Estonia we would probably have one medal.. Beijing Golds were in (along with some... not all... hopefuls) :


Archery - Larry Godfrey won Gold in European championships.
Athletics - Mo Farah won 5k and 10k races at the European Championships. Can he follow from there? Boxing - Nicola Adams won gold in the European Championships
Cycling - Maybe Bradley Wiggins who is competing at the Tour de France at the moment. Rowing - However GB only got bronze in the Double Sculls... behind Estonia Sailing - Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won in Beijing can they repeat the feat again?
Swimming - Rebecca Adlington won 2 golds at Beijing and will be competing again
 Also there will be a GB football team (who over 100 years ago did win gold!) , but will they be beaten by teams such as Switzerland (who have had not to send anyone to the Euros). We will see... And maybe the women's team will do better than the men's... Team GB can be found here http://www.teamgb.com/

 Finally if anyone is going to London during the Olympics then check out the National Hospitality Houses where various events will be going on, with food, music, cultural events with chances to watch the different events there also. There is no Estonian house unfortunately but if you want to check out the rest then goto: http://www.londontown.com/London/Olympic-National-Hospitality-Houses

Tour De Suisse

The cycling race through Switzerland came to a close. The Portuguese cyclist Faria Da Costa beat Schleck (Luxembourgish) to be first overall. However it was Kangert of Estonia who won the 9th and final stage, winning points at various places so coming 3rd in the points total with Sagan (Slovakian) coming top.

The first stage of the race started in Lugano , South Switzerland near the Italy border. It then headed west and around the border to the north past Aarau (stage 5). I have put together some pics from the webcam which shows the ride from just outside of Aarau over the hills and down to Frick.

The Tour then went east again. Then stage 7 more in the middle round Gossau, then back to round the border for stage 8 to Arosa. Then finally:  stage 9 which Kangert won through the middle of Switzerland from Näfels-Lintharena to Sörenberg. All route maps, times etc can be found at www.tourdesuisse.ch, in German, French and English. Also the article about stage 9 can be found here
The final km of the 9th stage can be viewed here:

This photo of Kangert winning the stage... along with other photos can be found here (Steephill.tv website)