Beauty of the mountains

Mountains - this is something, which makes the heart of every Estonian beating faster, when he sees them. There is no mountains in Estonia. And that is one of the greatest thing, which I love about Almaty - mountains.

Almaty: the city, where I am going to spend one year

What is actually Kazakhstan?

Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world by area, but it is only the 62nd country in population. The population in 2006 is estimated at 15,300,000. Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world.

The economic development of the country has been rapid recently. GDP growth constantly exceeded 9% since 2000. So, similiar to Estonia. One of missions is to find out, what is such growth based on.

What is actually Almaty?

Like in many other countries in the world, the capital and the rest of teh country are two different worlds.

Officially, the capital of the country is Astana in the centre of the country. Almaty was the capital before the mid-1990s. Almaty people call the city "Southern capital". So far, it is still financial and business centre of Kazakhstan and the whole central Asia.

Big part of oil incomes (Kazakhstan has vast natural resources, including petrolium and natural gas) flows in to Almaty. One can truly see it. The city is booming. Young people are fashionable. I have never seen so many expensive clothes trends of boutiques like in Almaty. I have neved seen so many expensive cars like in Almaty.

K6ik need, kes arvavad, et kogu Kesk-Aasia on mingi m6ttetult vaene regioon, oleksid v2ga yllatunud, avastades, et Almaty meenutab m6nda rikast USA v6i L22ne-Euroopa linna teatud Aasia omap2raga. See muidugi kajastub ka hindades. Almaty on 30. linn maailmas oma kalliduse poolest.

Economic development has some negative sides as well. Like in big Chinese coastal cities, the main issue here is environment. There are many cars and terrible traffic jams. Almaty is situated in the valley, which makes the circulation of teh air just minor here.

That all compensates with the fact that Almaty is very green city. Indeed, in Soviet times it was known as the garden-city. There are plenty of green alleys, parks and gardens everywhere. I truly enjoy it.

The best part of this city for me are neighbouring mountains. They are simply amazing. Me and Viljo had chance to get proof of that during three-days trip to the mountains next to it. Although it was raining and tehre was not that much sun, the views were breathtaking.

Matk m2gedesse on v2ga eriline syndmus. Nagu kunagi ytles yks my s6ber Slovakkiast, ei l2he halb inimene m2gedesse. T6epoolest, 6hk on seal nii puhas ja loodus nii imeline, et k6ik tumedad m6tted lihtsalt kaovad 2ra ja j22b vaid meelerahu.

How I am doing?

So far, I live in one-room apartment, which is cool. The AIESEC work will be definetely challenging, but that's why I came here. In general, I am doing great, because there are some great people around me here. That's enough to feel happy.

My trip by train from Tallinn to Almaty

Yeah! Finally I got a chance to sit a little bit longer in internet.

After about 5 days travel by train from Tallinn through Moscow to Almaty, after two weeks of integration and solving a lot of practical issues I can say that I more or less settled down.

The trip by train Tallinn-Moscow-Almaty

Every time I said to the locals that I came by train and spent 5 nights in the train, they were really surprised :) They didn't know anyone, who would have done the same. That was actually cool trip! Me and Viljo enjoyed it!

Farewell at Balti Jaam was nice. Some important for me people came to see me for teh last time during this year.

Train from Tallinn to Moscow was quite decent. A couple aged about 50 shared a compartment (kupee eesti keeles) with us. Me and Viljo celebrated our first evening in restaurant-wagon by drinking some Baltika beer.

Crossing the Estonian-Russian border got me a little bit sentimenthal. Probably, I won't see my homeland for one year. A lot of different thought in my head before I got sleep...

We arrived in Moscow and were happily picked up by Nastya from AIESEC Russia. We walked around in Moscow for about a day. We saw famout Red Square and Kremlin. I got impression from Moscow, which I had expected - it is too big, too crowded, too noisy. Too everything. Probably after living there for a while, I would start to like some things there. But so far, no intensions to go there for a longer period.

Jalutades Moskvas, m6istad p6him6ttelist erinevust Eesti ja Venemaa vahel - suurus. K6ik on v2ga suur, imposantne ja muljet avaldada sooviv. Iga hoone, park v6i tee karjub sulle n2kku: "Vaata kui suur ja uhke ma olen!" Sama karjuvad ka loendamatud mustad maasturid t2navatel.

The train Moscow-Almaty was different from previous one. Less decent, so to say. More of 1970s style. The major difference for us was that we were not in a separate compartment, but in platzkart, instead. It means that there is a big wagon, which has separating walls inbetween the sections, but no doors. So, you really had to get to know your neighbours. Me and Viljo discovered restaurant-wagon and celebrated the first evening in our new home for 3 upcoming days and 4 nights. We celebrated it with the first Kazakh beer I ever tried.

During the first night we discovered the whole "beauty" of sitting in the wagon without a conditioner. It was hot. During the day worse. The more south we went, the hotter it got.

Towns in Russia, where we stopped, looked all the same - railway stations, many kiosks, lazily walking people around enjoying summer sun, gray brick or wooden houses with blue windows.

Important moment for us was crossing Volga river. I always dreamt to see Volga - the biggest river in Europe. And it was impressive. Huge, broad, endless massive of water. Tartu Emaj6gi tunduks v2ikse ojana v6rreldes sellega. Me and Viljo celebrated seeing such an impressive picture by having few shots of vodka with borsh in restaurant-wagon.

Looking at Volga river, I rememberd about my feeling in being in Moscow - everything is biiiiig. Kazakhstan is similiar. And that is seen in mentality of people. It is different from Estonia. While Estonians generally (with some nasty exceptions) care about every piece of their small land, Russians and Kazakhs just feel that there is so much of it.

One example of it is one small incident, which happened to me in the train. Generally, people are okey with throwing the garbage out of the windows. The garbage bin in our wagon got full and I told about it to our provodnik (person, working in the train, rongisaatja). He asked me rhetorically: "What do you think, where do I throw out the garbage from this bin? Isn't it easier for both of us, if you will throw your bottle from the window right now?". I saved my bottle until the next train station.

The Russian-Kazakh border was interesting. We crossed it three times. The railway was built in Soviet time, when there was no borders inbetween. So, it happened that the road crossed the border three times. We were checked and asked different questions four times (twice at the first border). Russian bordergards were serious and straightforward, Kazakh borderguards were humourous and friendly.

Huvitav seik oli see, et mina ja Viljo v6tsime osa salakaubaveost. Rongisaatja nimelt palus k6igil, kes l2hevad Moskvast Almatysse v6tta 4-6 tykki mingeid riideid enda kottidesse. Meie Viljoga saime uusi, ilmselt kusagilt Moskva turu pealt ostetud teksasid ja s2rke. Pidime ytlema, kui keegi kysib, et need on kingitused. Yks vene naine tegi selle peale nalja, et kui avastatakse, et k6igil on samad s2rgid ja teksad kottides, siis ytleme, et ostsime sama turu peal :) Keegi ei leidnud midagi. Rongisaatjad (kaks kasahhi rahvusest meest) said ilmselt m6ned tenged (kohalik valuuta) enda tasku.

After about 6-7 hours of the borders we finally entered Kazakhstan. Me and Viljo celebrated it with the beer in restaurant-wagon.

People in the train are generally friendly and helpful. That's interesting phenomena, when you travel together with the same people in closed room for a long time - after a while you become like one big family. Our neighbours were one Russian couple in their 60s. They were really nice. People tend to help each other, share their food, share some stories.

Cool thing about the stations in Russia and especially Kazakhstan is that there is small business flourising, when big train like our is coming (ours had something like 30 wagons). People know the time in advance and prepare drinks, food and all possible and impossible stuff to sell. Some men and women come to the train at one station, travel few hours and walk through the wagons offering stuff from fake jewelry till ice-cream.

The prices were really cheap. Much cheaper than in restaurant-wagon. We were constantly buying different delicious fruits from them. After a while me and Viljo celebrated it with a beer bought from some grannies at some train station.

Impression from Kazakh landscape - it is huge. :) The steppes were interesting to see in the beginning, but became too monotonous after a while. But when the train started to go through mountainous valley, we both became gluied to the windows. Amazing views! The woman next to us laughed that boys from Pribaltika are really excited (she had some good friend in Latvia, who had told her that Baltics don't have any mountains). She was right...

Some of the auls (Kazakh villages), we saw from the window, looked really poor. Mud-hut, couple of horses amd endless steppes around. Nothing to compare with Almaty...

One great thing about travelling in the train is, of course, drinking tea there. It is like a holy process, which you enjoy. Because you don't have anywhere to hurry up to. :) I think I drank the best tea in my life in this train. I am not kidding.

By our fourth night in the train me and Viljo started to get used to being hot. You are just sweating all the time. It becomes your normal physical state :) We were excited about our soon-to-be-arrival and celebrated it with the bottle of Vana Tallinn, which we had with us. We shared some with our neighbours, who got good memories (elder people know Vana Tallinn from Soviet times).

0,5 liitrit kodumaist jooki palavas rongis keset Kasahstani - see oli uskumatult hea tunne. Elu on jummmala ilus! Vahel on vaja vaid v2ga v2hest, et 6nnelik olla...

And then we saw Almaty. Yeah! The city was waiting for its new son, who will rock there one year! That's how I can describe excitement I had, when I arrived in Almaty...

Pictures of Prague

Prague - one of my favourite cities in Europe.

Once I will get back there for a longer time!

Another period of my life is starting

Current state

I have not posted anything here for a while. I had quite busy time last few months...

My life so far in terms of changing the places:

1982-1999: childhood and teenage years in small town Valga
2000-2003 August: university in Tartu (1)
2003 September-2004 January: university and work in Germany
2004 February-2005 May: university in Tartu (2)
2005 June-2005 August: internship in Germany
2005 September-2006 January: AIESEC work in Croatia
2006 February-2007 June: AIESEC and Youth in Action work in Estonia

The last period described is coming to an end. The new one is starting.

I had my birthday yesterday - 21st of June. Quite often has my birthday been during the time, when some important changes happened in my life - 1997: graduating from secondary school, 2000: graduating from high school, 2005: graduating from university.

Now another big change is happening.

I gave over my work in AIESEC in Estonia (http://www.aiesec.ee/) to my successor Marjam - the person, who has become my good friend and truly soul mate. The new leadership team of AIESEC in Estonia is very strong - I believe that we will strengthen ourselves both internally and externally as a leading youth organisation in Estonia. I am satisfied with my year. Me and my team have achieved a lot. I worked with amazing people for something I truly believe in, for something I could tremendously develop myself in.

I have also finished my work as a trainer in Youth in Action (Euroopa Noored - euroopa.noored.ee). I had chance to design and conduct professional trainings for different kind of Estonian young people of different ages. My colleagues there are amazingly dedicated people, who really CARE about youth work in Estonia.

During this year I truly lived my vision - provoking internal and external smiles in myself and people around me. There is a plenty of ways I ahve done it. I just feel peace in my mind. I am happy person, because I did something meanigful.

New period of my life

On 28th of June I am taking train from Tallinn to Moscow and from there - to Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan. I will spend one year in this country, where I am going to lead local chapter of AIESEC, being the first leader of this organisation in the country. I will need to create the stable base for organisation to function in order to provide young people of Kazakhstan with opportunities to discover their potential and develop themselves.

Apart of that, I will be working for Koger&Partnerid (http://www.koger.ee/), Estonian real estate developing and building company. I am going to conduct marketing research for the company.

Thus, I will continue to work in NGO sector, but will also contribute to business development. That will be another step to be related to two areas of my passion: 1) connecting business and NGO sector, 2) organisational activities' expansion abroad.

Abroad in June

After the end of my term as President of AIESEC in Estonia, I went for a week to Rotterdam (AIESEC global Steering Team meeting) and to Prague (CEE regional AIESEC Presidents meeting) in June.

That kind of meetings broaden the horizons and challenge your worldview, that's for sure! You have opportunity to have in-depth discussions with smart young people from different nationalities, who share your passion. Short list of some discussion topics I have had with my colleagues from other AIESEC countries:

• Tourism industry in Tanzania
• Future of Serbia
• Need for certain kind of young people in Russia
• Political and societal challenges for modern Turkey
• Possible solutions for tensions between Baltics and Russia
• Corruption in Africa and in Europe

Besides that, I simply had great fun with some of my good friends from another countries - Ioana, Vlada, Gaspar, Evca, Nastja, Karina and others.

I am really happy that I had chance to visit one of my favourite cities in Europe again - Prague. I love this city and I really want to live there for some short period of time! Maybe I will come to make business there once...

My friends in AIESEC

Thanks to AIESEC I have got the friends for my whole life, I am sure of that. Those are the people, whom I know both in work and fun. I can always rely on them, because we have simply done so many things together... And I am sure that they will be successful people, some of the true leaders. Looking right now at the people like Siim, Priit, Marjam, Kristi, Mari, Marko, Siim, Viljo, Mairi, Kadi, Maris, Jaan, Evelyn, Kristi etc etc etc, I am simply sure that this is the generation, which will leave their footprint after them.

I really want to meet all my AIESEC friends in 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years and see whether we have fulfilled our dreams and where are we heading.

My friends in AIESEC did amazing present for me - I got photo-camera (I lost my previous one at IPM in Egypt) at our last national conference. That was a present from all members of AIESEC in Estonia. As kind of recognition for what I have done. That was amazing feeling.

I had amazing feeling also yesterday in my 2in1 party: farewell and birthday party. So many cool people came to congratulate me! I am grateful for what kind of friends I have here.

Long trip to Kazakhstan

One of my dreams for the last few years has been to travel by Trans-Siberian train through whole Russia until the very Eastern part of Russia - Sahalin and Kamchatka. I am going to partly fulfill this dream the next week - me and and my friend Viljo are going to travel by train about four days through half of Russia and Kazakhstan. I have never been so long in the train. I have almost not been to Russia, except of my homeland Petserimaa (ex-Estonian area, which now belongs to Russia).

I am eager to see this huge country, where part of my roots is coming from.

I am very eager to have this adventurous trip.

I m very eager to start my one-year-long journey in Kazakhstan.

Future of this blog

This blog will be the main channel of my communication towards all my friends around the world and to myself after a while. I am going to update it 1-3 times a month, will also open a page for uploading the photos. Sometimes I am going to write in Estonian, because I need language practice :)

White flower / valge tulp / белый тюльпан

Eestis elavate inimeste minevik on erinev, kuid tulevik on ühine. Me ei usu seda juttu, et eestlased ja venelased ei või omavahel läbi saada. Me ei taha vihata!

Kui oled nõus, saada see kiri edasi nii oma eestlastest kui ka venelastest sõpradele.

Teeme ettepaneku viia vastastikku tähtsatesse kohtadesse valgeid tulpe, või kui neid saada pole, siis teisi valgeid lilli, nelke, roose või kasvõi lumikellukesi. Iga valge lill loeb! Igas lillepoes on valgeid lilli!

20 noort eestlast ja venelast
http://whitetulips2007.blogspot.com/

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Прошлое живущих в Эстонии людей разное, но у нас общее будущее. Эстонцы и русские могут быть в хороших отношениях. Мы не хотим ненавидеть!

Если ты тоже так думаешь, то отправь это письмо как своим русским, так и эстонским друзьям.

Предлагаем возложить к значимым для всех нас местам белые тюльпаны, а если их нет, то другие белые цветы. Любой белый цветок важен! Белые цветы есть в каждом цветочном магазине!

20 представителей эстонской и русской молодежи
http://whitetulips2007.blogspot.com/

Beauty of the mind versus stupidity in the streets

While I was enjoying beauties of my favourite town in Estonia - Tartu, while I was relaxing during the hiking trip to the swamps, hundreds of mainly Russian-speaking youngsters were crashing the shops, houses, kiosks and fighting with police in the centre of Tallinn. Supposedly because of the monument on the picture below.

It all started because of the monument. The situation has never been so bad at the streets of independent Estonia. Alcohol sales are forbidden. Mass gatherings are forbidden. Estonian embassy in Russia does not work. Russian officials threaten Estonia. Everyone is anxious and nervous about what is going to happen at 1st and 9th of May.

The monument is a Soviet-time memorial for Soviet soldiers who were fighting against German Fascists during World War II. The noble cause, indeed. So is it seen by ethnic Russians in Estonia - as many other Russians around the world. There is at least one person in almost every Russian family, who was killed in the war against Fascists during 1941-1945.

Soviet soldiers liberated Estonia from Germans fascists. And occupied Estonia for another 45 years. So is it seen by ethnic Estonians. There is at least one person in almost every Estonian family, who was deported to Siberia by Soviet Communists (in major part by Russians) in 1941 and 1946-1949.

So, the monument for Soviet soldiers symbolizes heroes and legends for some and occupation and repression for the others. Big difference indeed.

The understanding of what happened in 1940s and later on is as different.

Estonians and Russians get different history, they get different mentality.

The gap between them is widening even more by mass-media.

Estonian media, presenting what is happening around the monument, concentrates mainly on what damage it has been to Estonia and how big threat does violent Russian minority, backed by Russian official agenda, present to Estonia.

Russian television, which actually is propaganda machine, completely loyal to Kremlin (and being the most important source of information for Estonian Russians), presents what has happened, as yet another repression of local Russians by Estonian state, which drives neo-Fascist agenda and uses violent force against Russians.

The gap is widening.

Diplomatic relations between Estonia and Russia have hardly been tenser than at the moment. Some fiercest Russian nationalists among officials in Russia propose using force against Estonia.

Relations between Estonians and Estonian Russians are as bad as back in the beginning of 1990s.

It's sad to see that people deaf. Deaf to each other. They are deaf as millions of their predecessors throughout the whole nasty history of manhood.

People just allow themselves to go along with provocations of some hysterical nationalists, with irresponsible TV-reporters, with feeling of belonging to the mass. They prefer that to the dialogue and understanding of the real reasons behind some actions.

Many local Russians don't understand that the very presence of the monument in the heart of Tallinn symbolizes all the tortures and repressions done by Soviet Communists on the soil of Estonia.

Many Estonians don't understand that Russians suffer because of lack of concrete identity. Many of them don't really belong neither to Estonian, nor to Russian state. Instead of integration, we can see marginalization, resulting in violence in the streets.

That's the same as the feeling of a shy man, who is not really loved by women and cannot get along with any woman for 15 years. One day this man cannot hold whole negative energy inside him. He rapes a woman.

Who is guilty in this case? Surely, man, who commits crime? But doesn't part of the guilt lie on society itself, which has excluded man from its pleasures?

I, Deniss Rutšeikov, originating from Petserimaa , a piece of land formerly belonging both to Estonia and to Russia, coming from mixed Setu-Russian origin, being raised in Russian-speaking family, being educated in Russian-speaking high-school and Estonian-speaking university, a chief of one the leading youth organisations in Estonia, a citizen of Estonian Republic, claim that there is no nation, which is guilty in anything. There are no "good" or "bad" nations. There is just lack of education resulting in stupid actions.

I believe in humans. I believe in beauty of their minds. I hope for another "singing revolution" like in Estonia of 1989-1991. Rather than for another former Yugoslavia in 1991-1995. Rather than Chechnya in 1994-2004. Rather than Northern Ireland in 1963-1998. Rather than Somalia at the moment. Rather than Sri Lanka at the moment. Rather than all of these atrocities done by stupidity, not by the beauty of the mind.

Hiking trip to the swamps

Last weekend me, Siim Säinas and one more guy from our homw-town Valga went to the 2-days hiking trip to the swamp area next to Peipsi Lake (Emajõue Suursoo Kaitseala).

Here are some visual highlights of the trip, which was both relaxing and impressive.


Modest, yet beautiful and surptising Estonian nature is something, which we are really proud of!



The total area of marshes and swamp forests is over fifth (around 22%) of Estonia's territory.


Me and old fishermen-boat







The old wooden house we spent a night in

Heroes of the nature :)