During the bye week we decided to book a trip to Tallinn, Estonia.  Estonia is a small country just south of Finland.  This trip was much different than anything else I have experienced here in Finland.  I had a good time, but it wasn't quite what I thought it would be.  We went with 5 other American Football players and loaded a boat in Helsinki at 7:30 pm.  We booked this cruise because we heard it was just one big party, but it turned out to be more directed to retirees and families.  Other than the slot machines, there was two bars (a polka bar and a karaoke bar) and not much else.  I didn’t have much money so I avoided the slot machines and headed towards the restaurant.  I had an 8 Euro plate of meatballs and a coke then headed to the karaoke bar for the remainder of the night.  After several hours of listening to terrible Finnish Karaoke, we talked the DJ into letting us sing Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks.  It took the crowd a minute or two but they finally loosened up to our terrible singing and even started clapping a little.  We ended the song to a standing ovation!  About 5 a.m. or so we decided to go crash for a little while in our room.  We thought we would just sleep till about noon, and then get off the boat and go tour Tallinn.  Problem was that the noise in our hallway was so loud that I couldn't sleep.  Then around 7 a.m. some lady started banging on our door and screaming at us in Finnish.  We didn't pay much attention and just attempted to go back to sleep.  About 15 minutes later, the same lady opens our door, yells at us again and begins to flicker our light on and off.  We tell her we don’t speak Finnish and she responds in English; "Get up and Get off the boat".  We were docked in Estonia, but nobody had informed us that this boat would be returning to Helsinki at 8 a.m. and everyone was required to get off the boat at 7 a.m.  So we scrammed to get all of our stuff and ran off the boat with absolutely no sleep.  

 

Tallinn, Estonia

 

The minute I stepped off the boat I could feel something different about this country.  There was something about it that just made me feel a little uncomfortable.  Maybe it was the thought of it being "Old Russia", or it could have been the countless horror stories we had heard about. 

 

One guy told us that 7 out of 10 girls in Estonia either were prostitutes or had an STD.  He told us about  a guy that picked up a girl in a club in Tallinn.  The next morning she asked him for money.  He obviously said "No" and proceeded to walk her out, when he opened the door her "boys" were waiting outside.  Turns out she never mentioned anything about being a prostitute, but he ended up having to pay! Ha-ha, that was my favorite story. 

 

The first thing we did when we stepped off the boat was ask for directions to McDonalds.   It just so happens that they don’t have a breakfast menu so I had a nice breakfast consisting of a Big Mac, Two apple pies, Fries and a Coke at 8 o'clock in the morning.  It cost me 78.00 Kroons (equal to about 5 euros).  But what happened after we ate was something that I will never ever forget. 

 

We had finished eating and were waiting on Obi and his girlfriend to show up.  With our stomachs full and running on no sleep, we all started to dose off.  I was the last to finally give in and lay my head on the table, when all of a sudden I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I didn't think anything of it, just thought Obi or someone was trying to wake me up.  As I lifted my head I was shocked to see a very, very old lady dressed in rags staring right at me.  I had noticed her earlier sitting by herself in the corner of the restaurant.  She was eating nothing more than a piece of bread, but she seemed to have been praying over it for several minutes.  My immediate thought was that she was a beggar and just wanted some change, but she didn’t say anything.  She just handed me a coke and walked off.  Everyone seemed to get a little kick out of it, but something about that whole experience really hit me hard.  I’m a middle class, white American man, with practically every material possession I could ever want in life.  I assume that she was a homeless old lady, she was dressed in rags, living in Tallinn, Estonia and eating a breakfast consisting of nothing more than a piece of bread, yet she notice my lethargic state and bought me a coke.  At that moment I felt guilty for something, and I don’t know what.  If I were a good “word-ologist” this would be the point at which I could proceed into some long elaborate poem explicating my feelings, but all I can say is that ill never forget that for the rest of my life! 

 

We left McDonalds shortly after, and headed to a Mall.  We walked around for a shore while till we passed by an Amarillo Café.  We notice several open booths and took the opportunity to rest for a few minutes.  Maybe a half hour later an employee woke us all up and made us leave.  We ventured down to a coffee shop and set up camp there for about an hour or so, then again we were asked to leave.  By this time we were all running on empty and just wanted to get back on the ship so we could sleep.  We needed to waste a few more hours so we headed back to McDonalds for lunch. This was when event # 2 happened. 

 

Rick, the Quarterback for Lappeenranta, walked up to the counter and ordered.  While waiting for his food he began to talk with the girl behind the counter.  He mentioned that he was from the states, which she then replied “I know”.  He asked her how she could tell, and she responded “I could tell by your face….you look like you have no worries in your life and your life is easy, you don’t know how hard life is here…everyone’s life should be a little hard...” 

 

We spent the rest of the day walking around “Old Town”.  It was an amazing place, very nice shops and it actually totally changed my initial thoughts about Tallinn.  This place was very nice and a great place to visit but like I had told Byron earlier that day, “Thank God that I was born in the United States”.  Maybe that’s a shallow statement coming from a close-minded American, but at least I can truly appreciate the small little conservative bubble I left behind there in Texas.   

 

We returned to Helsinki around 8 p.m. and waited for Mikko to come pick us up.  We finally rolled into Kouvola around Mid-night where I proceeded to sleep for the next 13 hours. 

 

I left on that ship just hoping to have a good time, to see a new place, and maybe get some good pictures.  But, considering the day’s events and others that have gone un-mentioned, I can say I returned with a different outlook on people and life.  I pray God’s Blessings on that Old Lady, and that young McDonalds Employee.