ESTONIA DIARY (2)

by Tina Engelbart

Thursday, May 28, 1998

We still can’t get going in the morning. The missing sleep demands to be satisfied. Today we decided to check out the other hotels in the area for possible Feast sites, and off we went again with Margit..


The Hotel where the 1998
Feast of Tabernacles will
be held

First we visited the Hotel Taru, a 3 star hotel in town. Met with the manager who served us very strong Estonian coffee for the negotiations. They seemed to be willing to work with us and discounting their rates and we were very impressed. We asked for a written proposal which we will pick up on Wednesday.

Then we went to the Barclay Hotel. This seems to be the hotel in Tartu with prices to match. Interestingly enough, they did not have adequate facilities for us and the rooms were already booked. This hotel was the Red Army Headquarter from 1944 - 1992, so maybe it’s just as well it didn’t work out.

We needed to let Victor Kubik know of what we had found out and proceeded to find a computer where we could send an E-mail. We walked through the town square area. It was a glorious day and many people were enjoying the sunshine drinking beer and coffee in the outdoor cafes surrounded by flowers. Estonians do enjoy their very short summers.

We went to the Tourist Agency to see about the computer. They didn’t have one for our use, but they did have very interesting information regarding hotels, restaurants and other stuff for Feast packets.

We finally found our E-mail office on the 3rd floor above a Levi’s jean shop. We trudged upstairs, and a very tall young man with excellent English tried to guide Oz through the computer intricacies. American computerese is difficult enough, but Estonian is almost impossible (Vic, where were you when we needed you!). We got the message off. We asked how much it cost dreading to hear the price and found out it was free!! The young man was trying to set up an internet business for people to use his computers and he was not busy at that time.

Then Margit and I (Ozzie decided to walk around town) went to the Rüütlikelder Restaurant to make reservations for the 9 Estonian Church goers for dinner on Friday.

Next stop was the Kantri Hotel, where our negotiations did not go well at all. Instead of getting more rooms which we needed, we found they gave some of our rooms to a tour group. Apparently they have a standing contract with several travel agencies that send them tours throughout the year., and they decided to go with them hoping the room that were left would be sufficient for us. We had a glass of orange juice to help us with the disappointment.

We then decided to buy flowers for Ylo from the Church for Pentecost weekend to make it a little more special for him. Businesses were closing by that time (close to 5 p.m.) and the largest live plant we found was an African violet.. When we came to the car, Ozzie wanted to know where the flowers were. On to the hospital.


Ylo and Ozzie at the hospital

Ylo was surprised to see us again so soon. We wanted him to enjoy the flowers (such as they were) before he came out of the operation. He told us the operation was now postponed to sometime next week, or even later, because some more emergencies came in. Since we forgot our plastic blue booties and didn’t want to buy another set, we had to walk into his room barefooted. Margit, however, was prepared and always carries hers in her purse.

Last stop was home to Luule. She had made a fantastic meal of veal layers with onion, fried eggplant and Polish marinated mushrooms as a sidedish. Sunset was at 10:50. While we were talking, we heard a car crash outside. (The building is on a busy street). The car hit the sidewalk and 6 people came out pretty shook up. Apparently they were drinking. But someone called the police, which they hoped wouldn’t happen.

Friday, May 29, 1998

We decided we needed to check out the food at the Taru Hotel. So Margit and we went there for lunch. We were very impressed with the dining room -- all done up in turquoise s and blues. Oz had salmon soup, among other things. The luch took longer than we had thought. We took Oz home to work on his Sabbath and Pentecost messages, and Margit and I went shopping. Bought some nice house slippers with real rabbit tails (they kind of bother me). But now I have a nice and useful souvenir of Esotnia. Went to the University to check on translators, but the office was already closed.

That evening we met Helga met us at Luule’s. She’s an elderly lady who lives in a village about 60 miles away. She is very poor herself and yet helps orphans and other needy people. The four of us went off to the Rüütlikelder Restaurant were Zoya and Hella greeted us with flowers. Levi did not make it and Henrikas could only come on Saturday from Lithuania. We had a wonderful meal Helga told us this was the first time she had ever eaten in a restaurant. Her meal cost $8.75 and she said she lives on that for a whole month and helps others. We had the same waiter as last year at the Feast. .


Tina and Margit

Tipping is very interesting in Estonia. First of all, it’s usually less than 10%. And secondly, if you pay by credit card and add the tip to the charge, the waiter never sees the tip. So you always have to leave some EEKs on the table for the waiter.

We thoroughly enjoyed being with these wonderful people. We then came home and talked to Luule for quite some time abou the challenges facing her. She told us that since her anointing, she has had no more ulcer pains.

Vic called us, at the correct time, just as we asked him to in our E-mail message. However , he told us he never received it! So it’s still in cyberspace. We told him about the hotel problem with Kantri and he agreed to go with the Hotel Taru as the Estonian Feast site for 1998. The facilities are superior to the ones we had last year.

(To be Continued)