Day 4 in Tallinn

a view of Tallinn from the Sea

It's raining again today. Just a nice slow steady drizzle. Makes a craving from Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup a little bit.

I'll be honest that I'm a bit discouraged and disheartened that my invitation didn't come today. It's just that now I'll be here for 6 more days because of the system of how visa applications work here in Tallinn. So I kinda don't want to write in the blog, because I don't want to be a downer.

But the upside is that I want to be honest with you all, and so I'm writing anyway. And there is good news on the horizon.

So the first and biggest bit of the good news is that there was space in my hotel through Wednesday next week, which means I don't have to move. It's the cheapest hotel in the city that I could find open space in and it's halfway between the bus station and the old city center. So the location is really great. The room is basically clean (many of you would NOT want to stay here), but I figure I just came off a hiking trip in the mountains, so this is a huge step up from making a fire to cook.

Today I had an amazing QT up on the Toompea plateau here in Tallinn. It's the highest part of the city and where the fortress here was built. There's a lot of history here and I'll try to get some pictures online to show you some things (I didn't bring my camera cable, so I can't use mine yet!)The old city wallAlexander Nevsky Cathedral

Romans 2 was a real thought provoking read today about judgment. I realize how self-critical I am and wonder if I’m not in trouble for how I deal with myself sometimes. For example: I'm really hard on myself about language learning. I'm doing a good job with no formal instruction -- but I want to be doing better.

My watch just beeped that it's 6pm in Tyumen. So that means the OVIR office has just closed and if it's possible that my invitation came today - this is the last moment -- let's go check email! I'll let you know if there's good news. (nope. same.)