I've had a couple interesting conversations with my friend about the internet of all things. It should be obvious to me, but I'll admit I don't often think about googling in Estonian so it's not.... but there's just so much less out there. It's easy to get the feeling when on the "English" internet that the information truly is limitless.... but my friend says it's quite often that you just are the first person to be wanting to know / write about how to replace something in a recipe or... something.
We had an intense experience yesterday. Still not done thinking it through. First we wandered the old town, seeing the adorable christmas market stalls, lights everywhere, cute shops, people selling "glogi" - mulled wine.... and then even Santa with a sleigh. Seriously. Round the corner and there on one of the busiest streets in Tallinn there were two men passed out on the curb. At first I thought it was a performance art piece... I mean, no one was doing anything to help but people were watching. To top it off, two people dressed as hyperbolic monks were standing ten feet from them, handing out fliers for a restaurant. My friend immediately went to check on them... we made sure they were breathing, she shook them forcibly and yelled in Estonian... but they wouldn't wake up. She made sure the ambulance was coming and put them both in the recovery position.
My friend's father has been working as a medic and first aid teacher for about 20 years... it's his mission to change the culture that allow for people to walk by people who are passed out in the streets in the dead of winter. People so easily to assume that someone else will take care of the situation. To be clear, I don't think this passivity is an "Estonian thing". It is, though, incredibly dangerous here with such harsh weather. My friend did say that she thinks Estonians are particularly unsympathetic to drunks or drug addicts. It's still somehow ok for otherwise kind, educated, responsible people to look upon drug addicts and alcoholics as inhuman, unworthy of medical attention - human attention. This brought me back to a particular week on the Humanity in Action program this summer that was centered around the lives and challenges of sex workers and drug addicts. Even for the human rights / social justice minded, these people are often seen as less, or separate. I was proud to see my friend's response and watch her take charge of the situation.
A jarring encounter, and a stark, but realistic, contrast to the glowing santa-filled picture of adorable Tallinn.
We had an intense experience yesterday. Still not done thinking it through. First we wandered the old town, seeing the adorable christmas market stalls, lights everywhere, cute shops, people selling "glogi" - mulled wine.... and then even Santa with a sleigh. Seriously. Round the corner and there on one of the busiest streets in Tallinn there were two men passed out on the curb. At first I thought it was a performance art piece... I mean, no one was doing anything to help but people were watching. To top it off, two people dressed as hyperbolic monks were standing ten feet from them, handing out fliers for a restaurant. My friend immediately went to check on them... we made sure they were breathing, she shook them forcibly and yelled in Estonian... but they wouldn't wake up. She made sure the ambulance was coming and put them both in the recovery position.
My friend's father has been working as a medic and first aid teacher for about 20 years... it's his mission to change the culture that allow for people to walk by people who are passed out in the streets in the dead of winter. People so easily to assume that someone else will take care of the situation. To be clear, I don't think this passivity is an "Estonian thing". It is, though, incredibly dangerous here with such harsh weather. My friend did say that she thinks Estonians are particularly unsympathetic to drunks or drug addicts. It's still somehow ok for otherwise kind, educated, responsible people to look upon drug addicts and alcoholics as inhuman, unworthy of medical attention - human attention. This brought me back to a particular week on the Humanity in Action program this summer that was centered around the lives and challenges of sex workers and drug addicts. Even for the human rights / social justice minded, these people are often seen as less, or separate. I was proud to see my friend's response and watch her take charge of the situation.
A jarring encounter, and a stark, but realistic, contrast to the glowing santa-filled picture of adorable Tallinn.
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