I love kids. But not in the Michael Jackson kind of way...

Kids make life so much fun. Unlike their older variants kids say what their thinking and don't really care what you say about it. Yesterday i had a very fun run in with some kids. After spending sometime at Stockmann doing kettles (Which i'll blog about in a minute) i hopped on the tram to go home and get some food. And after taking a tram to HobuJaama i jumped off and waited for a tram headed to Kadriorg, and i was quite happy to see one was already on it's way. So as i walked up to it from the back i saw a group of young boys (10,11,12?) in the back waving at me and making faces at me. Remember, i was in my funny uniform. So because that was the tram i was supposed to go on anyway, i jumped on the back with them and flashed them a big smile. Some laughed, some cringed in fear thinking "Uh-Oh, here comes the scary military guy to yell at us!" and others just pretended not to notice me. But one brave little boy looked me in the eye and asked me "What are you doing? Playing at being a cop?" With a little laugh a replied that no, i was in fact a soldier in the Salvation Army. Now of course these are young boys. Armies and fighting still seem pretty cool at that age. So they asked me all sorts of fun questions, and halfway figured out that i was not Estonian and that i don't speak Estonian very well so they switched to English as best they could. That's one thing that has always amazed me about Estonians, they're almot all bilingual! If only i could pull that off....Anyway, they asked "Is it cool to be in an army?" And of course said "It's cool to be in this one!" and my favorite question "What kind of missions do you have?" "Well saving the world of course!" "What?" "Saving the world from their sins! But this is my stop so i gotta go..." It was only one stop from Hobujaama to home, which is sad because i would have enjoyed a longer talk with those kids. But i gave them a "Mis on PäästeArmee?" ("What is the Salvation Army?") so now they know what the Salvation Army is and i have this little fantasy that one of them will start coming to the Salvation Army and someday will wind up as the general and will write in their biography "I first met a salvationist when i was eleven. I was on a tram and this guy in a funny uniform walked in claiming he had a mission to save the world..."

But let's leave fantasy land and jump back to reality. I had a very fun time at Stockmann. I stood at the front door for the first time, and this time i was allowed to stand inside! Warmth...YAY! Not much interesting happened except that one lady ran up to me, put in a wad of money and then said a long string of words in Estonian and then ran off. I hate it when people do that because it's just like "If you talk slower maybe i'd understand!" But i did understand this part "Ahh, The Salvation Army! You do such good work! Blablabla...I don't speak Estonian that well" Actually that last part was me, she spoke Estonian just fine. Another interesting thing that happened was that an old couple came and stood right in front and started fighting. I couldn't figure out why, but it was quite annoying. And i felt rather guilty when i did found out why. Apparently they were fighting over whether or not to put any money in. But the wife won and dumped in a pile of coins while her husband gave me a "You little devil!" Kind of look. I gave them both a big smile and a very happy sounding "Äitah!" That was interesting. As standing kettles always is. Then the final interesting thing was when a guy come up to me and in a German accent spoke to me in English telling me this was the last of his Estonian money before he went back to Germany as he dumped in a pile of coins. I thanked him in english (Nine sprecken ze duetch!) and with a nice "God Bless" he was off. And i was quite happy to be replaced by an old lady from the corps. It was good.

So anyway, that's really all that happened interesting. Well, except that we had a Christmas part at the Lastekeskus (Children's Center) and the scary rent-a-Santa had some kind of stick with a pointy crystal on the top that made it look like if you tried to look at your presents before Christmas he'd gut you with it. But there wasn't much to blog about there, so for now i must go take out the trash. I've let it pile far too long. So anyway, Cya!

~

Wierd Al Yankovic

Trash day (Excerpt)

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There's somethin' rotten here (say what?)

You better hold your nose, oh (uh, uh, uh, uh)

(Hey, you disgusting slob, you gotta take the trash out)

Oh, boy there's a lot in here (a lot)

And every day it grows (uh, uh, uh, uh)

(Hey, you disgusting slob, you gotta take the trash out)

Make ya wanna throw up