Louis' Euro Blog - Cultural Learnings Of Europe For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Australia

The Estonian Invasion Of Australia Has Begun

Realising that their country is quite small, kind of cold and far away from most things, the Estonians have decided to come and claim a new land for themselves. My good friends Ele and Kalle have come to Australia for a year, starting in Sydney and have been travelling up the north coast and I believe they are now in Bris-vegas.

They have been having a world of typical Australian experiences and Im glad my good friends can see the country I come from.

Check out their blog here, its in Estonian but there are pretty pictures

http://ele-kalle.blogspot.com/

They even managed to buy themselves a car somehow

Basically, I dont know how they hell they did this. They met some English backpackers who had this car to sell and they somehow arranged it. How did they manage to register a Western Australia car? Did they use the Borrowdale address in Kingsford in which case Logic the cat might be picking up the parking fines? You will never take me alive said he!

All I know is they bought a classic Australian car, a VN commodore. As they have already found out, spare parts or someone who knows how to fix it are never too far away

DO IT FOR OZ GUYS!!!

Posted on 26-Nov-2008

Winter Tires, Part 2

Check out all the Estonian Winter pictures here

After 2 days on the inside, unable to get the Volvo out, the snow has backed off and my drive way had thawed out somewhat, so it was time to make another attempt to get the car down the street

Great Success! Step one of the plan has gone to.. err plan. I am up on the street! Now thats only half the battle, well a third of it really, I need to make it to the end of my street, see I live in a dead end and they dont plough such streets so mine is caked with snow. Even if I had got it up (oh haha) yesterday, I wouldnt have made it down the long mile.

My street some days ago

Ok, so Im out of there, I go and hit the first tire joint, "RehvidKodu" or in English "Tire Home". Their website said they had second hand veljed (rims) and the tires seemed pretty cheap.

I got there and I was presented with one small door in an industrial estate. I am always a bit hesitant about entering such things, I mean it is generally a long shot the mechanic will speak english but then again, if I want pretty service then Id have to pay for it at the flashy store up the road so in I went... and old mate boss guy speaks English, rockin! He checks out my car and goes rummaging through the back for 5 minutes and comes back with an aluminium rim, 4 will cost me 2500 (250 AUD)... not too bad. He asked me what sort of tires I want? "cheap mate, give me the cheap ones". I am beginning to like his style. 4 tires will cost me 1000 eek.. thats sweet 25 bucks a tire. gold.

I nose in Eurotank into their workshop and let the trained tire engineers go to work

Go you good thing, old mate here is a professional who values the quality of his work.

So, add in the 700 EEK for labour I get out of there with 420 bucks for tires and rims fitted. Thats about as good as I am going to get it considering I left it until AFTER the snow storm to organise this. Its worth it for resale too, having a car with the extra set of winter tires bumps up the resale value just that little extra.

Now I fear no snow! No ice shall make me wary! Check out those bad ass studs

Getting winter tires put on my car is one of those little things which would be easy in your own country but when you are somewhere else it suddenly becomes a big thing. Thats the challenge, frustration and enjoyment of living in a far off land, small things can become intensely interesting and end up as their own achievement. Now getting tires seems like a piece of cake, but 4 days ago I was utterly confused by it all. Why would one deliberatly ADD difficultly to their life? Such is being human. Or being Louis.

Get Some, Go Again.

Posted on 26-Nov-2008

The Biggest Pittsburgh Steelers Fan In The World Revealed!

Want to know who the worlds biggest Pittsburgh Steelers fan is?

1) Get out your terrible towel and swing it around like a madman (optional)
2) Goto http://www.google.com
3) Type in "if you aint a steelers fan you aint shit"
4) Hit "im feeling lucky"

YOU

KNOW

IT

Posted on 23-Nov-2008

Cultural Learnings Of... The Snow Falling In Winter

You know it! Wait long enough in the north and the days shorten and the snow falls from the sky. It has been snowing in Tallinn for several days now and today its a blizzard outside, so theres no better time to be out there enjoying it! Andres and I had to venture out today for supplies and its so rock and roll to be in the thick snow, so unlike home, I love it.

In another, quite large cultural learning, I havn't got winter tires for my car yet and I am kind of... well stuffed. Our driveway is on a small slope and I cant get out without the neighbours opening their garage door so I can get a run up... of course then I have to actualy get down the street with my balding summer tires. I have some hope however, if I can get my car out tomorrow I can get to the tire joint and get some winter ones fitted... again if only I had planned this some weeks ago though! Most people keep a second set of tires on smaller rims just for winter.. whereas I now have to get more expensive larger ones to fit my regular rims. Such if life in the north, thats why I love it

Of course, I still have to get the car out of the driveway... that can either happen by

a) getting snow chains
b) getting a tow
c) waiting till wednesday when warmer weather is expected
d) dismantling my car piece by piece and reassembling it on the street

anyone got any snow chains?

Posted on 23-Nov-2008

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The Estonian Invasion Of Australia Has Begun

Winter Tires, Part 2

The Biggest Pittsburgh Steelers Fan In The World Revealed!

Cultural Learnings Of... The Snow Falling In Winter

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