Portugal travel letter: London interlude

On my way to Portugal i make a stopover in London. There are cheaper flights from London to Lisbon and oh so convienently S and J live in London, so my stopover lasts 4 days.

London, lovely London greets me with its regular busyness. Arriving at Victoria tube station it still surprises me how fast people walk here. It's as if they're running for a train, which they probably are. It doesn't matter if you have a suitcase to carry, you have to keep up with their tempo to not be in anyone's way. However, as i've mentioned already, the whole tube system is brilliant, once you get it, you'll find it's really simple and efficient.

I arrive at my host and hostess's place without any fuss and we have a quiet evening at home to gather strength for the weekend. The next day we decide to drive out of town. I think it's a great idea. Every time i come to visit, all i see is London, so this will be a nice change. We head for Cambridge. It's a nice town, a true student town with colleges all over the place. The centre of town is virtually car-free, so it's very layd back and quiet and perfect for a truly chill-out day. We eat and drink, learn how to make fudge (i'll add a video later), buy some jewellery from a lady who among other things makes glass beads from old Perrier and Bombay Sapphire bottles and relax by the river.

In the evening it's party time. Some of S&J's friends come over and we go out to have some drinks at Beach Blanket. I meet P, J's best mate. Whom, strangely enough, i haven't had a pleasure to meet during all those years i've known J and all thos numerous times i've been to London. Well, mistake corrected. The evening goes buy in a smooth continuous flow and we have a truly great time. There's an unexpected burlesque performance on the bar counter. The dancer's boobs initiate a dispute among us wheteher they're real or not. I think they're real because they're look too good to be fake. Later the same dancer sits next to us at the bar and during a conversation with her i find out that the performance was for her good friend's birthday and thet her own boyfriend doesn't mind and oh, the boobs aren't real, but she takes my opinion as a compliment.
The next day - Sunday - goes buy as lazyly as a hangover Sunday is supposed to pass. Me and S try to get some shopping done but since lack of time and true lack of efficiency this project is unfinished. Our prey ia only a bikini for me and a dress for S. In the afternoo we go to watch a Havana Rakatan dance show. It holds some cha-cha, rumba, flamenco and modern dancing but most of it is Salsa! yipijee! The show's really good, all the moves of the dancer's are so pure and finished and the male dancers are a class on their own - every muscle of their bodies is toned and the way they move on stage is just captivating. The girls do some high-class booty-shaking too but i think i'm forgiven for favoring the guys.

Portugal travel letter: Prologue

Today i start my soulsearching journey to the westernmost point of continental Europe. Conveniently, it's situated in Portugal, a country i've never been to. So, this trip is meaningful in many ways. I need to look deep inside of me and think a lot, that is why i go alone. The soul is not gonna search itself....

Heh, who am i kidding:) I doubt there's gonna be much soulsearching. Knowing me and my socialising powers, i doubt i'll even be alone for any of the time. There's going to be fun and sun and shopping and salsa and new people and strange coincidences and hopefully a lot more. But i promise, i try to just have a sneak peek into my soul, too!

And now i'm off to my first stop-off. London it is then!

Bridezilla in town

It's not that nothning's happening, a lot has happened, i just haven't written about it. S was in town for a long weekend and in addtion to dealing with some of the wedding stuff to make the bridezilla happy, we also had a very good time. The Friday night dinner got me thinking that the whole circle of closest people around me are not married yet, nor do they have kids. I guess it can be noted that people in groups tend to follow a similar pattern. All-in-all, we are nothing but animals. The fact that S is getting married can only be assigned to the fact that most of the time she's in London, far-far away from us, where J-man can work his magic on her.

Anyways, organizing a wedding is a tough job, especially if all the people around you have different expectations for it and i really don't blame S for obsessing over it. The other thing she obsesses over is the fact that she's obsessing and hence turning into a bridezilla:) But not to worry, she never will, i'm sure of that. And even if she does, she'd make a cute little bridezilla.

The conference

I went to the marketing conference (Pärnu Turunduskonverents) last week. I am well aware that the longer you've been in the business, the harder it is to be surprised, therefore my expections are not so high for those conferences. I thought that, if i find 3 (new) interesting ideas from the whole conference, it can be called a succes. The party usually saves the day:)

Here's the overall numbers:
11 - number of lecturers i listened to
3 - number of lecturers who were good
1 - the one lecturer which was really surprisingly good - make a mental note, if you have a chance to listen to Kristjan Port (he also has a radio program, i believe), he's really worth listening to
2 - interesting ideas that i got (not 3 as i hoped for, but better than nothing and the party was good, i danced a lot, thank you, R)

Some pieces of information worth sharing:
- 70 mio people in the world are blogging
- YouTube was originally a MySpace application
- Nike ownes Converse
- Most of the original computer software engineers were under the influence of LSD (probably)
- The time when we can buy memory chips is not so far away anymore, give it a decade or so, the first solutions are being developed already
- Cindy Lauper was a "fad" and Madonna is a "trend"
- Somewhere in the world is a "power nap" company, which teaches the techniques of effective powernapping - very important, i could be their model student!
- 264 BC the first gladiator fight was held - this can be considered the birth of event marketing
- Walkman was a failed product development in Sony - they wanted to create a miniature tape recorder, but they had 2 obstacles - they couldn't miniaturise the speakers and it didn't record. The Sony bossman thought it could be a niche product for golf-playing executives. However, it got a somewhat warmer reception on the market:)


The best quote, by Kristjan Port (Sorry, this one in Estonian):
"Me elame nii tuulise nurga peal, et geneetiliselt ei sa meid enam ammu eestlasteks nimetada."

18 dresses

I've counted and it turns out i have 18 dresses in my closet (some summer ones are still probably hidden somewhere). If i add all the skirts to the list i think i could be dressed like a lady that i am for almost the whole summer, wearing a different outfit every day. Now, what i still need is different hats to protect my face from the sun...and lose 2 kg-s... and then i'm set for summer. So, where can i get nice hats from?

Rulers Of The Deep - Planet Drum

I do believe i have been living under a rock. How else can it be that i first hear the song on MTV and find it quite good...and weeks later i discover that it's Estonian! Yes, the same song which is currently number 10 in MTV's Dance Floor Chart. Go ROTD and Sofia Rubina!

Sonny J : Handsfree (If You Hold My Hand)

Something to get the Friday night going!

This is a nice book too

Yes-yes-yes, i have bought the book and already started working on it...and that is my next destination. Portugal - here i come! Finally, something really good to look forward to!

Cleaning up Estonia...

It was a beautiful Saturday moring when me and 4 more salsa people set off to clean up Estonia. We were just a small addition to the 45 000 people who took part in this huge action. There is so much garbage in the beautiful estonian forests, you won't believe what people have thrown away and what all those 45 000 people found and collected....cars, washing machines, wooden legs, inflatable sex dolls, bicycles, sculls and sceletons (for reals!) and all kinds of stuff, in addition to the "normal" trash like bottles and building material and and and....Anyway, i believe we came a whole lot closer to a really clean Estonia!

Since one picture tells a better story than 100 words i'll just add some pics to help them tell my story. Pictures taken by Reio.

Life is still beautiful and carefree....

...then it turns a little more sombre, we find our first trash...

...and then it gets really shitty....

....taht's how bad it is in some places...

...thankully, Rain also found some evidence...

...but we did it, it's all just a bit cleaner now!

Jose - good, considering the circumstances

Oh, before i forget, of course i also went to see Jose Gonzales on Sunday. Jose was still cute and his voice still stroking the insides of my ears... (do you feel a "but" coming?)...BUT...i did not get a very strong feeling from the concert and it's got nothing to do with Jose but with all the external factors, which sadly do have an enourmous effect. 1) The venue (Club Hollywood) was so wrong; 2) i was already rather emotionally exhausted from the good concerts and 3) physically exhausted from the previous night which lasted til 7 in the morning, so all the little things were twice as annoying as they'd be in normal circumstances...like the no 4) a photographer who was loud, smelling of sweat and absolutely unintelligent and since he was standing right next to me, i couldn't really get lost in the music.

Angelique Kidjo sings with people in Tallinn

Jazzkaar 08 - Angelique Kidjo

Dancing on stage with Angelique Kidjo

Hi guys! So what did you do last night? I, for instance, danced on stage with the grammy-winning Angelique Kidjo. Mind you, I wasn’t alone, N was there, and her mum! and aunt and then a bunch of other people…but hey, I danced on stage with Angelique Kidjo!
Remember I mentioned in the last post that I might have already had the best Jazzkaar concert….well, forget all about it…Angelique Kidjo rocks your socks off! Her performance was magnificent. She’s got a great voice, she can shake her booty like no other and the energy on her concert…it’s something else. She’s one of those artists who’s ok on the CD but the main thing is still the live act. I suppose it must have been that good energy that made all the rest of the evening great too;)
Some Angelique performance videos will come later. I just couldn’t stop myself from sharing this experience with you for any longer.

Jazzkaar jammin - Roy Ayers, Torsten Goods et al

Yesterday I had an amazing start to my Jazzkaar weekend, though I really did not expect it. The only thing worrying me now is that I’m afraid I’ve already had the best concert I could wish for from Jazzkaar festival.
I went to see Tia Carroll in Clazz. I wished I’d gone to see Roy Ayers in Rock Café but the tickets were too expensive. However – I got my Tia AND I got my Roy, plus I got Torsten Goods and so much more – it was like a whole Jazzkaar on one tiny stage. After an enjoyable concert by Tia, the whole Roy Ayers crew turned up at Clazz for a couple of drinks and a bit of an afterparty. But you know how it is, when the vibe is good, the musicians just cannot stop themselves and all of them started jamming – guitars and drum sticks were changed from one pair of hands to others, whoever felt like it helped along with the vocal and at some point Ayers even brought out the sax. I have never witnessed anything like it. Do take a look at the video, even though it’s a bit shaky, as I was dancing at the same time as filming.

Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

It all started, when Daft Punk recorded a song called Harder Better Faster Stronger back in 2001. (The one that Kanye did 6 years later was just a cover, with permisson of Daft Punk)

The fans loved the song and one of them decided to make a video to the song, with their own hands...watch it HERE...it's one fo the top 20 viral videos of the previous year.

The idea developed and 2 fans made a video, using their bodies...watch it HERE.

And it went as far as becoming a drunken pastime. Watch the video of 2 drunk girls trying to enact the video HERE. Hilarious.

Kenna - Daylight

I first heard Kenna "Daylight" a bit less than a year ago. I think it was on one of the compilation cd-s i got from Cannes. I loved the song but thought it was a "one off". However, by now i've found out he's been around for a while and there are songs like "Say Good-Bye to Love", "Out of Control" and several other. And what do i see, when i look at Kenna's Myspace page - he's touring together with Mark Ronson - one of my main men. Got to get him performing in Estonia or go and see him somewhere...

If you love me...

If you love me, you'll vote for me:) I take part of those competitions just to make my dull life a bit more interesting. Click on the colourful banner on the right to show me your love.

2 stupid txts later...

Alcohol is bad....it makes you send stupid txts to people you shouldn't be sending stupid txts to...on the other had, i had a very interesting evening last night. Saw many people i really wanted to see, danced with a swedishlooking Italian and got called the most enchanting woman, ever. That hasn't happened in a while:) And, for some unexplickable reason i walked home from the party, so there's was an unexpected 100 eek in my pocket, which was wisely spent today. PM dragged me out of my sickbed today - we went to see Orlan exhibition and to the movies to see old guys Nicholson and Freeman kick their bucket list.

You may call me a connoisseur

Bonjour mes amis! Je suis allé en France. C’etais tres bon. J’ai visité Bordeaux, Cognac et quelques endroits plus petits....Et actuellement, je moi considere etre une connaisseur de cognac.

Well, that pretty much sums up my trip to France, i give all of you enough credit that you understood it, n’est pas? I was treated to the trip so i kind of had to take what i was offered and couldn’t make my own way around. Parts of it were really good and parts of it...not so much. Like for instance the very first day, of which most was spent on flying to Paris, plus a bus ride to Bordeaux, which was a torture, for i was still rather ill, did not feel like drinking and all the rest of the people in the group were as drunk as sailors. But, that meant that it could only get better and so it did. If it were for me, we would’ve spent a lot more time in Bordeaux, because from what i saw it’s a great city – big enough (1 million) but small enough (the old town); old enough (beautiful architecture) but new enough (the trendy bars, cafes and shopping places).

Cognac town was ok, but too small to be anything special – seen loads of cities like that. And the little town called Saint-Emilion was adorable but as it was not the tourist season, it was dead as disco.

I loved 2 things about the trip. First, the fact that i actually learned a lot of new stuff (there’s a little Karl Pilkington in all of us:) I now know about Armagnag, Pousse Rapiere, Cognac and Pineau....and yes, you are correct, if you guessed they’re all different types of alcohol. And second, i loved the way we were treated at the Maxime Trijol Cognac destillery. They’re the biggest destillery in Cognac region and still a family business. The current owner Jean-Jacques Trijol himself was filling our glasses with real champagne, his wife and daughters were serving us delicious hors d’oeuvres and 60, 70 and 80-year old cognacs were open for us on the bar. I’m not much of a cognac drinker but i must say even i can tell there’s a different kind of smoothness to the 80-year old cognac when compared to a 10-year old.

So, what did i learn. First, the drinks:
- Pousse Rapiere – a delicious cocktail of brut sparkling wine and a bit of Pousse Rapiere liqueur. Perfect as an appetizer. Take a look at how to prepare it here and here.
- Armagnac – a cognac-like drink but as the destillation process is different, it’s not as smooth, it’s a little more bitter and of course, as it’s produced in the Armagnac reagion, it can’t be called cognac...but armagnac.
- Pineau – a sweet drink of cognac and grape juice, quite tasty, i might add.
- Cognac – well, cognac gets a whole passage:)

What i learned about cognac:
- It’s made out of fresh wine, which is destilled and mixed 7 times, to get the 70% of alcohol concentration eau-de-vie, which then goes into the barrels to mature.
- The barrels are made only of oak trees, which mostly come from the Limousine woods.
- Each year 0,3% of the alcohol concentration vaporises through the oak (it’s called the “part for the angels”), which means the cognac has to be bottled at least after 100 years, since by the law it can’t be less than 40% of alcohol. After bottling, the drink’s characteristics do not change any more.
- The walls of the houses or the cellars where cognac is maturing, turn black from the alcohol vaporisation, making them easily spotted from afar.
- Cognac tasting for blending and for determining the state of it in tha barrels is done every day around 11 o’clock before eating, when the taste buds are the most alert.

-V.S. means Very Special and has to mature at least 2 years in a barrel; V.S.O.P. means Very Superior Old Pale and has to mature at least 4 years and X.O. means Extra Old and has to mature at least 7 years. However, these are just legal requirements – every respectable cognac maker has set their own rules and they are always by far higher than 2, 4 or 7 years and the connoissurs can tell it from the taste easily.

Musical orgasm

Someone out there - music conaisseurs, critics or behavioural therapists - can someone please explain me, how is music made...that it's so powerful? How can there be songs which make me cry, even if i'm not in a sad mood? It can be just one chord of guitar and there i go again, tears flowing.... Or some of them which never fail to make me smile and dance a little? How is it possible that i listen to a beautiful voice and get goose pumps? How can there be such a physical reaction? I've heard of people who've had an orgasm just listening to music. Can that be? I do believe it's not impossible....I'm not sure what i'm saying here...it's just...i'm truly in awe of the people with true musical talent!