…that’s what I sadly realized this month. While at the beginning everything was fine and I enjoyed my new freedom of not being locked in like in Austria, the middle of December had a surprising turn. Since Corona cases rose in Estonia, not only schools but also youthcenters had to close. Oh no, what should I do now? I was a bit disappointed because I already looked forward to Christmas time to make some cool Christmas craftings with the kids. Also, I wanted to prepare an Austrian Christmas celebration and cook something traditional.

Well, at least in the beginning of December we were able to bake Gingerbread and some typical Austrian Christmas cookies called “Vanillekipferl”, before we had to close. Honestly, I was confused if I would have to stay in “homeoffice” now, but luckily, I got the chance of working in Valga Youthcenter. There were no kids either, but many cool youthworkers instead and a lot of things to do. While on the first days I had to create some emoji quizzes and posters for the youthcenter’s facebook page, the next tasks were more of physical work, since we intended to renovate the house by scratching off paint (and pieces of the wall (lol)). The week before Christmas we started a project, which I really enjoyed: We made Christmas presents for old, lonely inhabitants of Valga. 

  

I think this plan was pretty ambitious since we had to do it for 73 (!) people, nevertheless I had fun making Christmas cards, decorating gingerbread, creating “fimo”- ornaments and helping to produce candles and soaps because I like crafting a lot. Yeah, to be honest, it was also a bit exhausting sometimes and actually we didn’t believe we were able to finish it until 2021, but surprisingly on the 30^th we reached our goal! Sometimes I kinda wished I was also one of those old people, because out presents turned out really cute haha😊. Now I am pretty excited for next year… Will the youthcenters open soon? If not, will we do a few outdoor activities? Or will we continue the renovation? I’ll hopefully tell you more about it in February 😉

 

My leisure time activities were thankfully not so influenced by Corona, I visited Tartu again, I had a nice evening at the Rockklubi, a lot of Glögg and made gingerbread with my friends. I also went to Tõrva for the first time and spent a cozy afternoon there with Aisegül and Mylene, where we talked, listened to our favorite singers and ate a lot of “Turkish delights”. Furthermore, friends of Mylene came to Valga and we went to the city museum, a christmas market and of course to Kohvik Johanna 😉. My Christmas holidays were also not boring at all because I did a few trips. The Christmas eve Mylene, Sidrit, Ismail and I celebrated in my appartement and cooked some traditional dishes of our home countries.

   

On the 25^th Mylene and I made our way to Otepää, where we met some other volunteers and spent a nice afternoon hiking in the snowy winter wonderland. After a few unexpected changes in our plans, Mylene and I spontaneously decided to also spend new year’s eve with these volunteers, but this time we met in Pärnu. We had a really fun time, played games, ate cake, danced waltz, watched “Dinner for one” and enjoyed the fireworks. Hopefully 2021 will also be full of great experiences, new acquaintances and I’ll be able to see more of beautiful Estonia! Head uut aastat!

  

Dank Corona konnte ich leider nicht wie geplant coole Weihnachtsaktivitäten mit den Kindern im Jugendcenter durchführen, ich hätte wirklich gerne mehr Kekse gebacken und Weihnachtsdekoration gebastelt, denn ich liebe die Weihnachtszeit. Zumindest sind sich noch die, in Österreich obligatorischen Vanillekipferl ausgegangen, ehe die Youthcenter geschlossen wurden und ich begonnen habe, mit den anderen Jugendarbeitern im Valga Youthcenter Online-Aktivitäten vorzubereiten, Wände mit einem Buttermesser (lol) abzukratzen und 73 Weihnachtsgeschenke für alte Leute vorzubereiten. So gesehen bin ich dann doch irgendwie in Weihnachtsstimmung geraten und fand es auch nicht so schlimm, Weihnachten mal nicht zuhause und stattdessen mit Freunden zu verbringen. Mein Highlight war jedoch Silvester, als wir spontan beschlossen haben, mit anderen Volunteers den Jahreswechsel in Pärnu zu verbringen! Ich hoffe, 2021 bringt mehr coole Abenteuer und weniger Corona 😉 (aber wer wünscht sich das bitte nicht haha). Frohes Neues!

Ach ja, wenn ihr an mehr detaillierter Information über meinen Aufenthalt in Estland interessiert seid, und euer Neujahrsvorsatz zufälligerweise „mehr lesen“ lautet, kann ich euch sehr meinen österreichischen Blog ans Herz legen: https://vicigoesabroad.jimdofree.com/  😊