On the 19th of January, 2024, I announced that an EU long-term residence permit was granted to me on some of my social media channels! Recalling an article titled “How to Get the EU Long Term Residence Permit in Estonia.” that I published In December, 2023, this new article is a developed version of it. However, truth to be told, my mind was unstable until I made the final decision to apply for the EU long-term residence permit. Sometimes I wanted to apply for it and some other times I planned not to do it, which I repeated over days and months… The reason why I decided to apply for it eventually is too messy to explain so I skipped it here, but it is relevant to the article “Zooks Decides To Stay in Estonia”.
When I applied for the EU long-term residence permit, I was in quite a special situation. Hence, here I will talk about three things: documents I prepared, a flow till I went to a PPA office in Tallinn and how I was treated at a window in the PPA office. (In other words, if you have lived in Estonia for more than five years legally, worked for an Estonian company, and passed an Estonian language exam at the level of B1 or higher, you don’t really need to worry about it!)
Let’s begin with the required documents. Roughly speaking, I needed the below documents:
Certificate of a legal income
Certificate of health insurance’s coverage in Estonia
Proof of a language proficiency (B1 or higher)
Application form
Certificate of the payment for the application
Let’s take a look one by one.
1.1 Legal Income
Generally, if you work for an Estonian company, you can probably just bring your work contract. Or, as PPA can see your information, you may not rather need any documents for this purpose. (I was told so after graduating from a postgraduate school when changing my student TRP to the TRP for a graduate.)
However, in my case, due to the fact that I was already working as a freelancer when applying for the EU long-term residence permit, I had to prove that my income was legal. Here “legal” basically means that you pay tax in Estonia. If you work as a freelancer or remotely from Estonia, your taxation can be complicated. Also, based on your gross income, the tax rate may differ. I will write another article about taxation in Estonia. Here I’m just talking about my case.
I use LHV’s entrepreneur account. With LHV’s entrepreneur account, once you add your funds, the income tax (including the income tax, social tax and pension) is deducted immediately. Therefore, you might just need to submit a balance statement on your LHV’s entrepreneur account, and yet my reality wasn’t so simple. 🥹
As a freelancer, even though my income was legal for me because the tax was deducted, the PPA who assessed my application had no idea what kind of business I earned from. It could be selling the weed. What is worse, it could be prostitution. Hence, I reckoned they may not grant the permit as “earning might not be legal” without any documents which would prove the source of income, and they might have asked me for additional documents, which seemed to be troublesome. For this reason, I submitted the documents on the source of my income as well. However, my case was still intricate, so I wrote down the flow of paying a salary to myself, and collected all the necessary documents as earning in USD was one of the reasons as well that made the situation complicated.
The flow was [(1) earning → (2) remitting from the work platform to my PayPal account → (3) remitting from PayPal to Wise → (4) converting from USD to EUR in the Wise app → (5) remitting from Wise to my LHV entrepreneur account → (6) remitting from the LHV entrepreneur account to my Estonian bank account].
This is why I had to submit all these documents. The most burdensome part was [(1) earning] since the work platform did not have any function to export all the earnings in PDF by just a few clicks. What I did was save the whole screen one by one in a printout mode on a browser, and merge all the files into one on the site called Smallpdf. For the fact that I had to prove my income for two months, there are more than 200 pages in the file in total.
The number of pages of partial income of a month
Then I printed these out on both sides…
Although the documents were only for two months, it was onerous.
1.2 Health Insurance
Given that you work for an Estonian company, you will automatically be covered by Tervisekassa (the Estonian Health Insurance Fund), but in my case, since I intentionally set my income as low as possible, the social tax I paid was below the minimum amount to get covered by Tervisekassa. Therefore, logically, I didn’t have any health insurance.
A private health insurance like ERGO is also acceptable, but my past experience of depression was utilised here.
In summer in 2021, I published a blog article titled “Zooks Got the Work Ability Card Issued in Estonia.”. This was it. The certificate of “partial incapacity of work” took advantage at this time. Strictly speaking, I didn’t bring any copy of this per se as the PPA could see that I was covered by Tervisekassa.
Then, here is the reason why this certificate of “partial incapacity of work” is relevant; as long as this card is valid, regardless of the amount of social tax I pay, I have Tervisekassa’s coverage.
Since I always bring my card anywhere, when a PPA lady asked me about the health insurance, she made a copy of it.
I know it was really troublesome. 😂
I finally thank a lot the Brazilian customer support manager who depressed me, tormented me, didn’t provide me as a new employee with any training at work, limited my access to necessary platforms for work and prioritised her own profits, two Russian colleagues who were perfect frenemies and takers, the Nicaraguan marketing manager who discriminated at work, and the CEO who asked me to work from the hospital while I was taking a sick leave. I will never forgive them all and I do believe sooner or later they will be destined to come across a complete hell in their life at some point, which I think of in this way only when I remember them owing to some trigger. Right now I am happy without them in my life and I do not care what will happen to them. What is more, thanks to them, I can still have Tervisekassa’s coverage without meeting the minimum amount of social tax. 😛
1.3 Language Proficiency
I really didn’t have to print this out, but just in case I brought it there. I am not sure if only completing a language course is sufficient as a proof. I took Harno’s official language exams, which results are visible on Estonia’s national portal.
1.4 Application Form
As for the application form, you need to download it on the PPA’s website, fill it out, print it out and bring it to the PPA office. You don’t need to add your photo there. You can take a photo in the photo-shooting machine in the PPA office, and the machine will send the data to your ID. The machine also lets you have your fingerprints, so I recommend you to do so while waiting for your turn at the PPA office. (However, I’m not sure if you would be asked for your fingerprints at a window.)
What is more important, you must fill out the application form in Estonian. It’s nothing big if you need to just fill it out. However, in my case, I had to explain the above information on my income in the note section of the application form. (I wasn’t really told to do so and it might not be mandatory, but since it was onerous, I wrote it in advance in order to avoid being asked a lot later.)
1.5 Payment Certificate
You don’t need to worry about this either as you will have to pay for the application fee at the window. Should you apply for the EU long-term residence permit by snail mail, you need to pay online and send the receipt as a document.
2. The Flow till I Went to the PPA Office
Since my legal stay turned out to be 5 years as of the 11th of November 2023, I decided to apply for the EU long-term residence permit after that date. In terms of time, I had stayed in Estonia for more than six years as of that date, and yet in terms of a residence permit it was five years.
On PPA’s website there was a reservation option, so I tried to book an appointment, but it was impossible. Therefore, I went to the PPA office directly and a PPA lady at a window just told me to book an appointment.
What’s happened?
It didn’t let me book an appointment.
Asking her further, she told me to book an appointment on the coming Monday because then there will be new appointment calendars for December and January, and this happens specially for the fact that there will be many TRP applicants who will come to Estonia based on their employment in winter.
If you are thinking of booking an appointment in winter, keep this in mind;
You can book from 8 am but all the slots will be taken within 15 minutes.
I was really struggling with the booking page after taking a shower in the gym. Consequently, I successfully booked an appointment on the 5th of December, 2023. It wasn’t an ideal date and time and yet better than nothing.
However, I still wanted to have applied during November so that I didn’t have to prepare such a lot of paper documents to prove my income. 😅
3. How I Was Treated at a Window in the PPA Office
On the 5th of December, 2023, I went to the PPA office again.
Just like the first visit, when they came to know that I went there to apply for the EU long-term residence permit, they asked me “Can you speak Estonian?”, and I always responded:
Ummm… I will do my best!
😂
This is because B1 is not enough for fluency (subjectively speaking).
At the window the PPA lady checked my documents one by one.
As for Tervisekassa’s coverage, as mentioned above already, since I had a certificate of partial incapacity to work, I explained it to her at the window and she took some copies of it.
After checking all the documents, she told me that usually the result would be notified within two months, and yet this time it might take up to three months as it was the time that there were a lot of other TRP applications.
Though eventually it didn’t take even two months. 😂
★Summary
As for the notification, since I received an email in Estonian from PPA so suddenly, I thought:
Wait, what is this? Did I do anything wrong that involved the police?
I read it and translated it just in case, and I was like:
Wait, wooooowwoo!?!?!?!?
So I messaged my previous colleague who I talked about my application with the other day:
Can I be pleased!? Do you see different texts!?
And he replied to me:
I think you are in a dream.
He sounded so seriously, so I was like:
Nooooooooraaaarr!!!!
He still continued to tell me seriously:
You should use a translation machine once again. Wake up.
Oi. Then I sent him a GIF of a desperately disappointing pikachu. Then he finally said:
Congrats.
“Just tell me that my understanding was right,” I thought. It was sort of startling.
Due to this silly conversation it took time to make sure, and yet anyway I was glad about everything.
Anyway, I will keep living like a weed in Estonia (at least for a while).
Until around August, 2023, I had told people who have been close to me that I was planning to leave Estonia in or by 2024, and yet in September, 2023 I changed my mind that I had had since I graduated. However, why did I change my mind when I was almost making it come true? This time I will reveal this story.
First, let me talk about why I wanted to leave Estonia.
1.1. Inconvenience
Estonia is very inconvenient. A delivery fee from Amazon Germany costs quite a lot albeit it’s not easy to find something reasonable in Estonia. When it comes to personal parcels from Japan, (probably) owing to COVID (and the Ukrainian war), we still have only three options: EMS, by air and by ship. SAL – the most reasonable option with less amount of time – is not re-available yet as of 2023. Plus, as Tallinn Airport raised tax to airlines, we have less flight availability by Ryanair. (However, airBaltic is doing rather well with more routes.)
1.2. November and February
November is the most depressive month whilst February is the most dangerous month because February, in Estonia which is relatively humid in Europe, is the time for both preparation for spring and the remaining coldness, which results in making icy roads! Almost every year I get my ankle sprained, for whom February is a month of fear! The 24th of February is Estonia’s Independence Day and around this date it’s most dangerous! I’d request the Estonian government to ban commuting to offices in February. 😂 We should work safely at home (though it’s not my business anymore as a freelancer. 😂) By the way, you can still survive in November with sufficient preparation and prevention. The hacks are to start taking vitamin D 4000 IU from September and proactively get sunlight!
1.3. No Fulfilment for Some Reason
This reason is unreasonable and I feel sorry for the Estonians, and yet I couldn’t feel fulfilment, being in Estonia. I was like “It’s not so fun to be in Estonia”. This is probably because Estonia has little entertainment.
These three reasons above are that I had wanted to leave Estonia for three years, but then why did I choose to stay (or at least postpone staying) in Estonia when the third quarter of the year 2023 was about to finish? I also have a few reasons for this.
2. Reasons Why I Decided To Stay in Estonia Longer
2.1. I Noticed How More Grateful I Had Been to People Around Me
One day, I invited two of my university friends to my place and cooked for them as they had always helped me with my CVs and portfolios. I cooked 0.5kg of chicken thigh as well as three cups of rice, which were almost completely gone. They said my meal was good, and ate nearly everything, which made me so happy and think. “Isn’t it absurd to leave friends who are happy with what I cooked and have always helped me, and move to somewhere I don’t know anyone? Don’t I need to be so hard on myself?” I guess they are the biggest reason. Besides them, I am grateful for my life support who has helped me since I was trying to recover from depression, helped me with my Estonian learning, explained to me how to take care of a chinchilla, and told me where in Estonia I could buy something I was specifically looking for, my previous colleague who reconnected with me regardless I had completely forgot about him for two years, and another university friend who I still communicate with, meet once in a while and loves a tote bag as a souvenir from Japan (with illustration of an anti-mosquito). “Do I need to make extra effort by myself being away from such amazing people from the beginning? Nope.” I thought.
2.2. Changing Career Was Too Hard
From July 2023 till September 2023, I had taken a UX course, aiming to change my career. However, in 2023 the overall Estonian labour market seemed to be worse than before. Considering volunteers as well as internships, companies prioritise colleague students, so those appeared to be difficult options. Thus, instead of changing career asap and leaving Estonia, I thought it might be a good idea to work on freelance entry-level UX-design-related jobs.
2.3. Convenience in Estonia
You probably thought “That’s completely opposite!” It’s, in fact, not opposite. Here what I mean by “convenience” is situations with the use of my Estonian ID card, for instance, banking and prescriptions. (I personally believe these two are particularly convenient.) I wondered “If I left Estonia and started living in another country. I would miss this convenient system.” Plus, my long-term thought that “Estonia is okay. No matter how long I live here, my second hometown remains as Ireland where I studied as an exchange student” had changed. It was like: wait…I actually like Estonia….! 😂
I know my reason is too realistic or non-dreamy at all, but since I noticed this, I have thought “Not Ireland anymore but Estonia has become my second hometown…”
2.4. Advantages in an Inconvenient Life
Sorry for the locals again, but I realised how grateful I was by feeling “this is inconvenient, that is annoying in Estonia”. (This is a complement.)
For example, the other day I published an article, revealing that I travelled to 10 countries in 2023. In Gothenburg, which was one of the destinations, you can have tantanmen with thin noodles. I love it! But if I could have the same one in Estonia, I wouldn’t think “I’d murder tantanmen!” as a non-ramen fan, or I wouldn’t think “This is so good!!!” in Gothenburg. Also, everywhere has tedious scenery in Estonia, and this is why I’ve travelled a lot, which is still inconvenient. However, probably because Estonia is like this. I feel “I want to go there again (in the world),” I think.
Just like if I could buy more Japanese products in Estonia, it’s convenient, but I feel much happier when my mum or friends send me a package from Japan.
I thought there is happiness that comes from insufficiency.
★Summary
Funny, isn’t it? Strictly speaking, I have more relevant stories, but I won’t be able to summarise them if I write them here. Based on this decision, there is also something further, which I will talk about in another article another day. By the way, though I decided to continue staying in Estonia, it does not necessarily mean permanent. Maybe I say “Ah! Estonia is still unbearable!” in one year, maybe I will have lived here for decades.
To conclude, I hope you will keep enjoying my blog posts!
On the latter half of the trip in Ireland 2022, I felt I wanted to be able to drive a car in Europe. After the trip, I searched for information about driving schools in Tallinn and made a plan. I’ve already had a Japanese driving licence for MT cars so I could drive outside Japan too (as in countries like Ireland or Germany, MT is more major than AT), and yet I was not allowed to get an international driving licence in Estonia anymore due to the Geneva Convention, in which it’s written that those who have lived in Estonia more than one year need to get an Estonian driving licence if they want to drive in Estonia.
In this article, I will explain all the process to get an Estonian driving licence which is called the “B category” licence in Estonia.
Since I decided to get a driving licence in Estonia, I started searching for information about when to start going to driving school in Estonia and how much it would cost. This was my first step as it costs to get a driving licence.
I decided to take a B-category driving course in Sky Autokool which I bookmarked on Facebook a long time ago because many people recommended Sky Autokool in the Expat group on Facebook. There are a few additional reasons for this.
Firstly, they offer the driving course in English. Though I’d already had B1 in Estonian, I wasn’t sure if I could understand the traffic rules in Estonian. Also, whatever the language is, it is hard for me to deal with information by listening, so I was sure that my brain wouldn’t work sufficiently well if I listened to the language I was learning. Therefore, I didn’t have any other options but English. As many expats are not so fluent in Estonian either, if a driving school has courses in English, it easily becomes popular.
Secondly, many expats in the group simply said “Sky Autokool was good!”. I checked some other driving schools in Tallinn and compared them with Sky Autokool. Based on the comparison, Sky Autokool seemed better for me as well.
Lastly, Sky Autokool offers in-class theory classes with live-streaming and on-demand theory classes. The latter option includes the self-learning platform for the theory exam called Liikluslab. As I thought I just needed to be online for the live-streaming theory classes after work and didn’t want to use Liikluslab yet when starting the course, I chose the live-streaming (in-class) one.
Sky Autokool has the pricing for the B-category course on their website. However, the payment option and how to calculate it was not really written there. If you have questions, you can always ask them. (I literally asked them a lot before starting!)
In their calculation, it appeared to cost around 1100 EUR in total, and yet considering cases where I fail in exams, and I need additional driving lessons as well as the subscription for Liikluslab, I calculated how much I would need to save every month.
Since I-don’t-know-when, I started “one-cent saving”, and after one year, I use that saving in case I need a relatively big amount of money. So using that savings, I had a budget of 2000 EUR in total.
In Sky Autokool, what you firstly need to pay is the registration fee and the theory classes, which cost 260 EUR. When starting the driving lessons, salaries of 210 EUR for a driving instructor (as they are entrepreneurs) and 420 EUR for the lesson car (15 EUR per lesson), which costs 630 EUR in total, will be paid. This amount is actually divided into the minimum number of lessons, so one class costs 22.50 EUR. However, in Sky Autokool, they conduct two classes per time/lesson, meaning that if you take one driving lesson, you need to pay 45 EUR. Plus, most likely you will be asked to pay in cash. (The calculation is a bit weird and old here so I recommend you skip the detailed calculation part and access the page from the paragraph below.)
In addition to the basic lessons above, you will need to pay for other special courses such as a night driving course, a slippery-road driving course and a first aid course.
In the end, you will also need to pay for the exams in Sky Autokool and for the state exams (ARK’s exams).
Though I wrote a bit of details, Sky Autokool’s pricing page explains much visually easier anyways. 😂 Also the prices above are as of 2022.
By the way, whichever AT or MT you choose, it costs the same. (In Japan, AT costs less.)
I personally recommend you get a driving licence for MT so you are allowed to drive AT cars too. It’s just more convenient.
The process to get a driving licence in Estonia starts with a theory class in a driving school unlike Japan. When I went to a driving school in Kyoto, the first lesson was a driving lesson. However, the reason why in Estonia they let a learner start taking the theory lessons first was to learn the traffic signs and rules before driving on the real roads. In Estonia we practise driving on the real roads basically and the exams are conducted on the real roads as well whilst in Japan we mainly practise in the practice areas. This is why without knowing the Estonian traffic rules, you can’t really drive on the real roads in Estonia.
In Sky Autokool, they recommend students start driving lessons after taking a few theory classes because of the reason above.
In Estonia, the minimum number of driving practices is determined, which is 26 times. This excludes the special courses like a night driving course. Since you can take the driving lessons after a couple of theory classes, in fact from some points you need to attend both the theory classes and the driving lessons.
When starting the first driving lesson, my driving instructor recommended that I should take Sky Autokool’s theory exam and ARK (Autoregistrikeskuse — vehicle registration centre)’s theory exam after finishing all the driving lessons. I think this is because then you are used to the real roads so you know better after completing the driving lessons. Therefore, the flow is to take the driving school’s theory exam after completing the driving lessons, and to take ARK’s theory exam after passing the driving school’s theory exam.
As for ARK’s driving exam, like their theory exam, you cannot take it without passing the driving school’s driving exam. Plus, ARK’s driving exam was much more difficult than the driving exam in Japan, and you might need to queue a lot. (Strictly speaking, this depends on the season and timing.) So my instructor advised me to book one exam anyway, and if the date and time are not ideal, I could change a few days before the exam because sometimes students cancel the booked exams.
In Sky Autokool, there are seven theory classes in total, and it takes two hours per class. Every class began at 6 pm, so I accessed the live-streaming class right after getting home from work. Although they said one class would take two hours, in reality the classes often finished within two hours. Since it was live-streaming, students could also ask questions online from home.
What is more, we had homework videos and quizzes after homework.
What I felt while taking the theory classes in Sky Autokool was there were so many traffic signs. 😂
In my case, I started my driving lessons during the week when I had the third theory class in Sky Autokool.
When I asked the person-in-charge in Sky Autokool how to register for the driving lessons, he did it immediately on his own. Since I already went to see my GP to check my body condition for the B-category driving licence before starting the theory course in Sky Autokool, the process went very smoothly. This health check is a must-do before driving a car. You can ask your GP for the B-category health check. Mine charged me 40 EUR for the health check for the B-category driving licence.
In addition, on the side of Sky Autokool, they had to register me as a driving learner in Estonia. Since they do for us, students do not have to do anything specific. After the registration, I received an email from Transpordiamet (ARK).
Also, the person-in-charge in Sky Autokool asked me AT or MT, so I told him MT. Then he gave me the phone number of my instructor.
As it was a phone number, I wondered if I should ring or message him, but as I don’t like calling strangers, I messaged him eventually, and he replied to me. I booked one session which was conducted in the practice area. In this area it costs extra unlike the driving schools in Japan, you need to enter there with your phone. If your phone cannot charge you, the instructor should pay alternatively, and you can pay them back later. That is what I did.
In Estonia, in order to graduate from a driving school, you need to take special courses separately. (However, these courses do not require separate exams.)
As they are special courses, you need to pay for them separately.
First of all, let’s talk about night driving. Personally, this course was very appreciative because there was no such a course in Japan. You will also drive on a highway in the dark in this course.
I had the night driving course in winter in Estonia, and suddenly one question popped up in my head while doing it, so I asked my instructor.
“How do you conduct the night driving practice in summer?”
In Estonia it’s bright at night in summer, even at almost 0 am, it’s pretty bright. (Technically, it’s very slightly dark, but you can walk around and see everything.)
In such a season in Estonia, when a student practise for the night driving, he said
“They use a simulator.”
Also he told me that
And every time, the student driver hits an animal there.
😂
However, as long as it’s dark outside, they offer the practice outside, so even if the environmental condition is with snow, ice and/or rain, which is scary for the beginners, the instructors still take us to highways. 😂
However, even though it was scary in the beginning, on the way back, you will already be used to it. 😂
I’m not sure if it is only in Sky Autokool, but it seemed the course usually took place with one instructor and two students. However, in my case, the other student didn’t come so I just had a special course with the usual instructor like always. 😂
By the way, before this night driving lesson, I had to watch the video that Sky Autokool sent me. (It means that this course has a “theory class” too.)
In Estonia in winter, it snows a lot and there is ice on the ground in February, which is too dangerous to walk. During the winter time, a car owner needs to change their tyres for the winter version too. (In Estonia they sell all-year tyres as well.)
This is why in Estonia another special course “slippery-road driving” is a must-take. In Sky Autokool, you also need to watch the lecture video beforehand.
Roughly speaking, you learn the differences among driving on the regular asphalt ground, half asphalt and half frozen/slippery ground and slippery ground.
It was also a pair (two students for one instructor) course. We met in Laagri, Harju county in Estonia, and a person-in-charge from Sky Autokool drove us to Laitse Rally Park in 20 minutes. (She also drove us back to the meeting place on the way back from Laitse Rally Park.)
The other student was learning how to drive cars with an AT. The instructor was a guy for this course. Since I was practising for MT, the other student tried first.
I was too scared of the sudden brake at 30 km/h. 😂 (Though after the first try I was fine because I knew when it would happen.)
However, I realised how easy it was to drive a car with AT because you can reach a faster speed so quickly. Since that AT car didn’t have a switch to turn off ABS, we switched to a car with MT.
It got me scared twice.
Firstly, I drove at 50 km/h on ice and then turned the wheel (without acceleration or brake).
Too scary as the car spinned 150 degrees or so.
Then I drove on the asphalt on the left and on the ice on the right without ABS. The speed was around 50 km/h.
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I literally screamed like this while driving but not like MJ.
It was very scary because I literally felt the car per se was turning diagonally.
After the course, I seriously thought to be careful driving in winter.
On one weekend in February, 2023, I had a course of first aid. I expected it would take a few hours in the morning, and yet in fact the theory class took place in the morning and in the afternoon there was a practical lesson.
In other words, I had to spend a whole day on the first aid course.
Besides, they changed the plan from Saturday to Sunday.
In more detail, the theory for the first aid course took place online at 9.30 am. I thought it would last until around 12.30 pm, but there was a 10-minute break and it ended past 11 am. Since there were some medical terms, I was taking the class by checking those terms’ meanings from time to time.
The afternoon lesson started at 1.30 pm. We checked what we learnt in the morning, and how to place an unconscious person’s body and how to do chest compression. I knew how to do chest compression as I learnt it in Japan. However, I felt it was my first time learning how to place the unconscious person’s body. We had to perform this as a pair. There were some students who had already known each other and they were a pair of a man and a woman. So in the end, I was left because I didn’t want an unknown guy to touch my body, but the lecturer didn’t point it out, so I didn’t have to perform this activity with an unknown guy.
I never wish an unknown guy to touch my body unless it’s urgent/highly necessary and/orI’m unconscious. (In other words, paramedics, doctors, nurses and gym trainers are okay.)
I wished the instructor had considered such a thing better in advance.
The first aid course in Sky Autokool had a test, and we had to submit our answers in three days after the course. The test was really simple with around 15 questions in a word file.
Once you pass it, you will receive a certificate. (I’m not sure what will happen if you fail in it.)
In the beginning of November, 2022, all the theory classes finished. As Sky Autokool’s rule, the students had to take the driving school’s theory exam on Liikluslab (a self-learning platform for the driving theory) within four weeks after the end of the theory course.
According to the lecturer, he mentioned this in the beginning of the theory class, but of course I didn’t remember it at all, so I thought “Shit!” and registered on Liikluslab immediately though I planned to do it in the middle of November. The reason why I had a plan for the registration on Liikluslab was because Liikluslab’s subscription for one payment was valid for three months and I didn’t want to pay for another three-month subscription by failing in the theory exams.
I read each chapter in Liikluslab five times, passed the quizzes of each chapter once, and did the mock exams 10 times. (In Liikluslab, it is recommended to pass the mock exam three times in a row in order to pass the state theory exam in one time. However, to feel more sure, I took the mock exam 10 times on Liikluslab. I wanted to pass the theory exam with one try. 😂)
One day in November, 2022, I was in Osaka, Japan. While I was staying in Osaka, I had a plan to meet someone only in the evening, and didn’t want to take the driving school’s theory exam just before the due date, so I took the driving school’s theory exam on Liikluslab three or four days before the due date. In Sky Autokool, the borderline to pass the driving school’s theory exam on Liikluslab was allowing up to four mistakes out of 40 questions, within which if an examinee has two mistakes or more on the traffic safety, then they fail. In other words, even though you have four mistakes in total, if you have two mistakes about the traffic safety, then you fail in the driving school’s theory exam.
In my case, I had three mistakes in total and no mistakes on the traffic safety.
Therefore, I passed the driving school’s theory exam in one try!
I was so relieved after the driving school’s theory exam as the first step to get the driving licence was completed.
By the way, in Sky Autokool, if you take the driving school’s theory exam within four weeks after the theory course finishes, and should you fail in the theory exam, according to them, you don’t have to take the second theory exam within the same four weeks.
I took the driving school’s driving exams twice. To put it another way, I failed in the driving exam on the first try, and passed it on the second try.
However, I knew that I would fail on the first try because I had to postpone the exam appointment due to the sprain on my foot which caused the blank time for two weeks with no driving experience, and because I had a confidence that I would not be able to confidently drivewell in one of the tricky area in Tallinn called Nõmme. In addition to these reasons, it is fairly normal in Estonia that learners almost always fail in the first driving exam, so the failure was not a big deal for me.
Though it was the driving school’s driving exam, the examiner was not my instructor, and the car was different as well. Since I had no idea about both the driving exam and the car, before the driving exam, the examiner in the driving school explained to me what I can do at the ARK’s driving exam before its exam.
First of all, some people had told me that I could use the lesson car at ARK’s driving exam whilst Sky Autokool didn’t have such a comfortable option in ARK’s driving exam and I was told to use ARK’s exam car, which means that a car model and its functionalities are different from the lesson car. Therefore, the examinees are allowed the examinee to check functionalities in the car on their own and to ask some questions to the examiner before the exam starts.
Then, the driving exam begins with a few questions. For example, they ask the examinee how to turn on the wipers and how to turn on the emergency switch. You can also check these questions on Liikluslab.
After the questions, you start driving on the real exam route.There are some exam routes in Tallinn from the easier one to the tricky one. (My instructor let me practise these exam routes in the latter half of the driving lesson course.)
Of course I had no idea which exam route the examiner would choose. However, as briefly mentioned earlier, I failed in Nõmme where there were roads from one-way with two lines to one-way with one line, and from 30 km/h sign to sudden change of 50 km/h, etc.
In addition to them, there was one misreading of the sign, so I didn’t pass the exam.
Otherwise I had no problems (like using a car itself).
For the driving school’s driving exam, it cost the same as one driving lesson in the driving school, which was 45 EUR (as of 2023).
In Sky Autokool, the examiner shared my mistakes with my instructor, so I could practise once again, focusing on driving in Nõmme, before the second exam. I got a lot of confidence because I practised driving for 90 minutes almost only in Nõmme.😂
I also practised the place where I misread the sign, so I reviewed all the failed parts, and went for the second driving exam in Sky Autokool.
On the second try, though we didn’t go to Nõmme, there was one place where I got confused; there was an intersection and where we had two lines, and there was a sign. The examiner told me to go straight, but I saw all the cars in front of me only turned right, so I wasn’t sure what I saw. I didn’t want to make a mistake, hence as a safer solution, I turned right. Although I didn’t follow the examiner’s order, the action I took was acceptable because the most important thing in the driving exam is “to drive safely”. Should I really have misread the sign and gone straight from the lane where I was and it allowed only turning right, I would have failed in the exam again. However, since I took the safer solution, it was alright. The examiner will take you to the correct direction after such an incident in case it happens during your exam so you don’t need to worry about that.
Also, while it was March and there was still some snow on the ground, since it was not as snowy as January, I had to drive at 90 km/h on a highway. (90 km/h is the legally maximum speed on highways for learners and junior drivers in Estonia.) However, I was chicken and tended to increase the speed little by little, so the examiner asked me what the speed limit was when I had a big difference between the speed limit and the speed I had. Of course I knew what the speed limit was, so I was increasing the speed. However, then I almost caught up to a white van in front of me, which made me reduce the speed to 70 km/h.
Then, my examiner requested me to take a U-turn on a highway. Coincidentally, this van also took the U-turn, due to which I could not decrease the speed in the deceleration lane properly and increase the speed in the acceleration lane either.
What is more, two cars passed our car while I was making the U-turn on the highway, and they and I had to drive at 40 km/h on the highway because of that white van. I instinctively said “That white van…”, and my examiner just said “He’s a motherfucker.” 😂
Since a truck was coming, I couldn’t overtake the white van, and yet they started stopping on the edge of the highway, so then I passed them. After that, I successfully finished the exam.
The driving exam was not ideally conducted because of that white van, but I passed the driving school’s driving exam!
When I finished the exam, my examiner told me “Even if today’s exam was ARK’s driving exam, you can pass it. If you can drive this car so smoothly, you won’t have any problems with the exam car.”
All I remember after his comment is that I was wondering which cake I should buy at Kaubamaja (a department store in Tallinn). 😂
I took ARK’s theory exam at the end of 2022. Since I’m stingy and I wanted to pass ARK’s theory exam on the first try, I studied on Liikluslab almost every day.
ARK’s theory exam cost 46 EUR including the registration fee. If you need to take it once more, you will need to pay 46 EUR again.
ARK’s theory exam took place in ARK’s building in Tallinn. Once the examiner opens the exam room’s door, you need to bring only your ID card, check your registration with the examiner and take an assigned seat. The examiner explains a bit in Estonian.
Each examinee has one tablet, and you can choose the exam language from Estonian, Russian or English. Then you need to enter your ID number.
Before you start the theory exam, you can take a short mock exam that consists of three questions. Just in case, I took it, and then did the theory exam.
It the real theory exam, you can skip or mark questions, so I went through everything by marking concerning parts to check them later. There were three questions that I was not sure of.
In ARK’s theory exam, you can have up to five mistakes, and if there are six and more mistakes, you fail. Plus, even if the total number of the mistakes is five, there are two or more mistakes about the traffic safety, you will fail.
The result was too quickly shown on the tablet, and I passed ARK’s theory exam with three mistakes (which are the ones I marked.)
Before that, everyone said to me that “Most people fail on the first try”, and yet I thought you wouldn’t feel even the tricky questions are really tricky as long as you prepare for the theory exam well enough on Luukluslab.
Like the driving school’s theory exam, I was more than happy to pass ARK’s theory exam on the first try.
I couldn’t take ARK’s driving exam right after completing the driving school’s driving exam because I needed to do something in Sky Autokool. (However, I’m not sure about other driving schools.)
Firstly, I had to bring the learner’s card (a document where my instructor and the driving school’s examiner wrote about lesson details and the driving schools’ driving exam result) to Sky Autokool. However, at that time, the person-in-charge was absent, and I was going to travel for a while, so I couldn’t bring him this document immediately. Also, he asked me if I completed other special courses (such as the slippery-road driving, the night driving, and first aid). This is because without completing these, you cannot graduate from the driving school.
I honestly thought it would be faster if the instructor brought the document to him. 😂
As for ARK’s driving exam, as a principle, it is conducted in Estonian, so I had to bring someone as an interpreter. (I said “interpreter” but technically it was my instructor on the first try and his colleague on the second and third tries.) You could bring your friend or partner, and yet I personally recommend your instructor as in case you fail in ARK’s driving exam, the instructor explains in more detail when practising again, and they can guide you better as they know traffic terminology in English as well. They charged me 45 EUR per time, but it might depend on the instructors or the driving school.
As you might be aware, I tried three times. (I passed ARK’s driving exam on the third try.)
I took the first driving exam in ARK on the 4th of April, 2023. The result was: fail.
The examiner was quite a strict person, however he didn’t finish the exam and let me drive a bit more.
ARK’s driving exam starts from the parking area in the ARK building, so if you fail at the intersection after the parking area, it means some examiners can end the exam within 5 minutes. I also made a mistake at the intersection (though I didn’t notice my mistake), he let me drive on a highway as well. After that, I had to stop.
I took the second driving exam in ARK in two weeks, on the 21st of April, 2023. The result was negative again. As I wasn’t confident enough last time, my instructor told me to be more confident, but I felt that was not the point. 😂 That day my instructor’s colleague came with me as an interpreter, who was very good as an! He advised me which examiner has what kind of tricky points they like to challenge examinees!! However, I couldn’t imagine the ticky places he told me well, so I failed in the driving exam again. In more detail I failed because I turned to the left from the right lane on a one-way road. (Although he told me about this place in advance! 😂)
In Estonia, a person who is over 16 or something 18 and more is allowed to get a driving licence. Summer in Estonia was coming, and schools were nearly over, probably because of which I had to wait a month until the next driving exam in ARK. I booked an exam before the trip to Sweden, which was the 26th of May, 2023.
Since instructors constantly accept new learners and offer lessons to those who are in the process, my instructor didn’t have many options for many practice dates for me. Hence I booked one lesson one week before the driving exam. If my body is used to driving, it’s the best of all, and yet daily lives are not always ideal and the instructor told me my techniques were good, so instead of having multiple driving lessons, I watched Sky Autokool’s videos about the exam routes five or six times. I wanted to be engaged with driving somehow, and every time I drove the instructor told me to concentrate on driving more. I know the reason; as I have ADHD, when someone told me to turn right, I tended to focus on the action “turning” and missed the signs around there. Therefore, I watched their videos and remembered the tricky points in the routes. (I knew that I was able to remember stuff as images quite well.)
On the exam date, the same person (my instructor’s colleague) came with me as an interpreter, and the result was positive! Though I passed the exam, I thought I met the minimum score. The examiner told me my driving score was three out of five. I also know why; since I’m not good at multitasking in some situations due to ADHD, I couldn’t deal with multiple information quickly enough such as whether I had a priority on a road or someone else. (The comments from the examiner were about such things.)
When I went to driving school, my previous Italian colleague who eventually got laid off despised me, saying “Videos are not useful! lol”, but you know that people who want to look down on you are simply idiots. Besides, this previous colleague has gotten a fine ticket because he drove in Estonia in an Italian way (he didn’t show the indicator). In fact, Sky Autokool’s videos were highly helpful. I drove in the exam, remembering “I saw this place in the video” or thinking “Soon there will be a tricky point”.
However, as written earlier, ARK’s driving exam starts from the parking area and ends when you park the car in the same parking area. Therefore, when you come back somewhere around Nõmme, and feel “Soon the exam should end,” you still need to concentrate on driving. My ADHD trait appeared again when the examiner told me to park a car in ARK’s parking area. I focused on parking, and forgot to check the right side when moving in the parking area.The examiner asked me what the rule there was, and he seemed to think I understood the rule itself, and luckily there was no one on the right so we didn’t have any accident either.
The ARK examiners are all attentive to details but they have different strictness. On the third try, the examiner seemed to judge me that I didn’t ignorantly drive a car. I would say he was sort of considerate but also I think I was fortunate.
In the end, for some reason, my instructor was also in ARK’s parking area, and he took a photo of me. 😂
In Estonia, after passing ARK’s driving exam, it takes some time until you receive your Estonian driving licence. However, it does not mean that you are NOT allowed to drive yet!
Since residents in Estonia have their personal IDs, their ID and their driving information are connected. Therefore, after passing ARKs’ driving exam until you receive your Estonian driving licence, you are allowed to drive a car with your Estonian ID card. (I admire this kind of point in Estonia because it’s so convenient.)
Also, once your Estonian driving licence is shipped, you will receive an email from ARK. It says you will receive your Estonian driving licence within 10 days, and yet in my case I got mine the next day.
In Estonia, a self-learning platform for the theory exam called Liikluslab is available in Estonia, Russian, and English. You can use the demo version for free, but you need to pay if you want to learn more seriously and take some mock exams.
In the beginning I thought I might not need Liikluslab, but in Sky Autokool, unlike the driving school in Japan, the students didn’t get any materials. The theory course only gives the students permission to watch the archived lecture videos, which means if I wanted to review the theory by myself, I had to watch those videos one by one.
I was too lazy to watch all the videos and can understand much faster by reading, I reconsider Liikluslab’s subscription.
Although Liikluslab says they have subscriptions, their popular plan is not one-month subscription but valid for three months. I don’t remember the other optison as I didn’t need them. 😂
Liikluslab’s three-month subscription contains the materials with which I could review what I learnt in the theory course as well as go through mock exams. What is more, there are functions with which you can mark some questions as favourites and relearn the questions that you made mistakes on. Also, Liikluslab’s platform shows the possibility to pass the theory exam in a percentage, which varies depending on the number of correct answers in quizzes or the mock exams in addition to the status of leaning. Last not but least, Liikluslab’s platform visualises whether you passed the mock exams three times in a row so that you can pass the real ARK theory exam too. On Liikluslab, 50 mock exams are available.
It cost only 35 EUR, so I really felt it was worth subscribing. Now it costs 42.95 EUR, and yet they have some special gifts: a voucher that the user can park in a paid parking called Snabb with 20% OFF and a 20-EUR voucher of Casco insurance.
What is more, when I subscribed, I could access the platform only from a browser but now their app is available on Android too as of June 2023.
As for the private driving practice, if you legally register, you can practise driving privately. Of course you always need to bring your private instructor when practising driving. Anyone can basically be your private instructor but they have to have a driving licence for at least five years, and no penalties for one year at minimum.
Though I had an opportunity in my case, and the guy willingly offered it to me on his own, I couldn’t get connected with him, so I kept going to the driving school.
I thought “Hell to you. ⭐” (It means “Don’t let me expect.”)
When you practise driving privately, don’t forget the learner’s signs on the car.
Given that you want to get a driving licence in Estonia, based on my own judgement and prejudice, I would recommend starting at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn.
The reasons are that you can practise driving in the real darkness for the special course “night driving”, and it could be much easier to pass ARK’s exam if it’s heavily snowy as you can’t see the signs and the road lines properly enough so the examiners tend to choose the easiest routes (according to my instructor).
However, if you take and pass ARK’s exam without snow, you would be more authentically confident when driving alone.
Ah, I’m so happy that I’m finally eligible to drive in Europe!!
1. Unknown transaction in my Estonian bank account
At the end of March in 2023, it happened while I was travelling in Amsterdam. I was staying at a hostel in Amsterdam, and in the morning on the second day of the Netherlands trip I saw a notification on my phone that “640.36 EUR will be deducted” from the Estonian bank SEB’s app.
I opened the app, and found the transaction destination seemed to be Airbnb where you can book accommodations.
At this point, the transaction was reserved, so what I could see was only the amount and the notes to the transaction destination. Therefore, I was not sure if the transaction destination was really “Airbnb”.
Since I had multiple trip plans already at that time, I wondered if I had already booked any accommodations on Airbnb.
However I booked a hostel on Booking.com for the trip to Vienna, and hadn’t decided where to stay when it came to the trip to Georgia. Checking my Airbnb account, there was no history or plan except the one in Dublin in MArch 2023.
Shit, someone used my money.
I immediately thought so and took the following actions:
Blocking the SEB card
Contacting Airbnb
Contacting SEB
でした。
2. What I did to get my money back
Then, let’s take a look at what each company did to/for me.
a. Estonian bank – SEB
As I was immediately able to block my SEB card on the SEB app, there was no further problem.
On calling SEB, the teller told me the possibility of cancelling the transaction, but it turned out that it was possible to do that only from a computer, not from a phone. I tried to use a browser on the phone, but it didn’t work. It sucked that I needed a computer. (Since I was travelling, of course I didn’t have my laptop. After all, I asked one of my friends who I trust a lot.)
However, I found that it would take up to 10 days to see the result since we submitted the application. Thus, the money was deducted in four days after I noticed this maltransaction.
What was worse, another SEB teller clarified that they were not able to cancel the transaction in which an SEB card was physically used. (So if you pay by card at a store, they can’t cancel your transaction.)
At this point almost everything was hopeless.
b. Transaction destination – Airbnb
I also contacted Airbnb.
Honestly, they were the worst.
In addition to the information from the communication with PayPal, which I am writing below, I sent additional information to Airbnb. However, regardless of the situation that
My card was used by someone.
I had had my own card.
I did not share my card with anyone.
Someone added my card information to their PayPal account.
I couldn’t get this person’s information from PayPay due to privacy reasons.
They (Airbnb and PayPal) can share their customer information as they are related companies.
Airbnb just said
“We cannot refund you as we don’t know the original information.”
That’s why I told you to contact PayPal.
c. Transaction method – PayPal
The best company among these three that I contacted was PayPal. (Now I trust them more than before.)
Explaining the situation, they immediately understood, and called me to solve the problem as soon as possible.
Then, as written above, they found the fact that someone stole my SEB card information, and added it to their PayPal account. (When I had a call with PayPal, I had already removed my SEB card information from my PayPal account, it was crystal-clear that the SEB card that they found on the PayPal database belonged to someone else.) They immediately removed my SEB card information from that person, and escalated my case to the payment team.
From that point everything went so fast. One weekend, PayPal emailed me about the escalation, and next Monday I already received another email that PayPal was dealing with the refund to me. Then the next day I got my money back.
As the problem happened at the end of March, I had never looked forward to receiving my salary before.
The best thing was PayPal solved my problem within one week. I was so relieved.
3. The scariest part
Now, let me talk about the scariest part.
I asked PayPal why this kind of weird thing happened, why there was a transaction although my card had never been stolen and shared, how I can prevent my funds from such an event. They said
“Since the technology has been well-developed, even if you just walk with your card on a street, someone scans your card or phone, so it is impossible to prevent it.”
That’s just horror.
PayPal suggested that I report my case to a local police so I did it to the Estonian police. You can report crimes online (PPA’s website), and attach some images if there are, though you will need to log in with your Estonian ID.
As for Airbnb, from my experience, it is normal to contact a related company about customers, but they didn’t do it and even try it.The reason why I was so sure that Airbnb had my money was because of the comparison of my own transaction history on the SEB app and the fake transaction. Everything written on both transactions was the same.
★Summary
Let’s get back to our original life and live with cash.
Since I moved to the current flat, I had used the Estonian internet provider called elisa at home.
In August 2022, I had to work from home due to the office change since I had a new job.
However, owing to elisa, there was a problem that I could not connect to my company’s VPN. Strictly speaking, if I connected the VPN, the internet was automatically disconnected, and if I wanted to use the internet, I couldn’t use the VPN.
Thanks to my job position, I didn’t have to use the VPN during the whole working hour, and at that time coincidentally I could work without the VPN, but it was still problematic.
I contacted elisa multiple times, and they checked, but they said there was nothing problematic on elisa’s side. Then, I asked the tech guy in my company, and he said elisa is the one who had an issue.
Then elisa asked me about the situation and detailed the problem with the company’s VPN, so I contacted elisa via the email address that they gave me.
However, they replied to me in one week.
I didn’t know when I needed to work from home, so this wasn’t pleasant.
Finally, I convinced myself that “elisa sucks”, so I started looking for some other internet provider.
When it comes to the biggest internet provider in Estonia, people would say Telia.
In my experience, after coming back from studying in Ireland and until I left Japan for Estonia, I used a pocket/mobile Wifi in my flat which did not have the internet. Utilising that experience, I looked for a similar service. However, the demand for mobile Wifis is quite low in Estonia, and there were basically few rentals.
Then, the Telia support told me about a service called “diil”.
diil is a brand in Telia, and it has only the internet compared to Telia which has more options for a phone or a TV. Since I don’t have a TV at home, I watch stuff only on Disney+, and I’m satisfied with the current SIM in my phone, diil seemed to be perfect for me.
diil has four options for the internet, and the most expensive one is 19.99 EUR. At that time, they had a campaign until the end of year 2022, so the maximum data 90 GB was unlimited.
Considering the data usage on my company laptop, my own laptop and my phone, the maximum usage seemed to be around 60 GB. However, since it’s unlimited, I almost chose that option.
The problem was a router. I decided to buy the same router at a different shop, which diil sells because routers with a SIM card are more expensive, and because I had to think about the wave or circuit in Estonia.
Given that you use a comparison website called hind.ee, you can compare the same products at different prices. I looked for the router there, and purchased it for around 50 EUR at an online shop called kaup24.ee. It was approximately 10 EUR cheaper than buying at diil.
However, the router itself is a bit old, and it requires a USB micro B. I compromised this point.
After ordering the router, I called elisa, and terminated the internet use at the end of September, 2022.
Then, on the first of October, I returned the router that I rented from elisa to the elisa shop, and then headed to Telia to buy diil’s SIM card.
Then the shop clerk asked me
“Are you sure? Telia has a better option, and it’s cheaper and unlimited.”
Just in case, I asked her how different they were, but she couldn’t answer my questions. Another clerk explained to me instead. When I looked at one of Telia’s options that she told me, I, with a bit of knowledge of the internet, thought
“But Telia’s this option, isn’t it slow?”
So I asked this male clerk, and he said
“It’s very slow. If you call online, the connection is very slow.”
I knew it.
Phew. I almost failed to choose the correct one.
It’s so bad when the clerk’s knowledge is less than the customer’s.
Eventually, as planned, I bought diil’s SIM card. The payment was the following month.
In regards to the VPN, since my company uses Telia, of course my new internet worked with VPN.
I’m so relieved.
If it’s about only the home internet, elisa is probably enough. However, these days we sometimes work from home, so if we choose Telia, you probably won’t have any issues later on. There is another provider called STV, and yet personally I don’t have a good experience with STV, so it’s out of discussion. (Of course there are people who use STV.)
In my fifth year of living in Estonia, I decided to have a chinchilla. As of when writing this article, it was merely the beginning of welcoming a chinchilla, I cannot mention details on the chinchilla. However I will describe what I have done before and when welcoming the chinchilla.
However, the reasons not to have other animals are always the same.
If I have a dog, I have to spend one hour twice a day, so it would be impossible for me to go to the gym, and I don’t want to go outside in winter in Estonia. If I have a cat/kitten, I have a cat allergy and it appears to be hard to clean the toilet (because it’s sand). I’m not that interested in rabbits, guinea pigs are smelly, and hamsters are too small so they are boring. Then, (maybe) I had an amazing idea: a chinchilla.
Coincidentally, my Japanese friend in Paris also has a chinchilla in Japan. My Estonian supporter has experience of having a chinchilla too. However, these were not the major reasons.
I researched a lot:
Chinchillas are nocturnal, so they sleep during the daytime. → I can go to work.
15 minutes is enough for a chinchilla to play with humans. → I can do my hobbies.
Chinchillas are neither too small nor too big. → If they fortunately get used to me, I can cuddle him.
A chinchilla lives long. → They don’t die like hamsters. (It’s said that a chinchilla can live around 20 years. The Guinness record is almost 30 years.)
There are only advantages.
I had to change my lifestyle a bit, and the initial expenses are quite costly, but it’s a relief to have a roommate animal.
Therefore, I decided to have a chinchilla in Estonia.
2. How can I get a chinchilla in Estonia?
Whilst I was mentally and knowledgeably ready to have a chinchilla in Estonia, the problem was where to get him.
In Japan, I have had a hamster, fish, insects (that my brothers and I caught somewhere) and chickens. (I barely took care of them.) I have never purchased any animal from a pet shop, and I didn’t have any relation to pet shops in Estonia, so I had to google where to get a chinchilla.
I tried to search “chinchilla estonia” or something like that, and I found that some chinchillas were sold on the Estonian website called “Soov.ee”. Considering the breeder’s residence, I decided to get a boy chinchilla from a breeder in Saue. Saue is in Harju county where Tallinn is, and it takes around one hour to go there by bus from the centre.
Since I am better at writing than speaking in Estonian, I contacted the breeder by message on Soov.ee, and she replied to me.
We did messaging for a while. As it took time to prepare the chinchilla’s living place, we agreed that I would welcome him in the beginning of September, 2022.
By the way, in terms of the price when buying a chinchilla from a breeder, the price is from the best to the worst. In the case of Collinn (who is my chinchilla), it cost 25 EUR, but some breeders sold chinchillas for 50 or 100 EUR. It sounds like they do business with chinchillas.
3. Initial expenses for welcoming a chinchilla
Before welcoming a chinchilla, I had to prepare for his living. It might be the same as welcoming a baby.
Here are what I got before welcoming a chinchilla:
a cage
food pellets
timothy
food bowl
container for timothy
a rabbit house
pee sheets
a thermometer and hygrometer
a transport cage to welcome a chinchilla
chinchilla dust
bathtub for dust bath
a hoover
cleaning liquids for pets
I didn’t prepare treats and toys as of this time.
I bought a rabbit house so the chinchilla can hide himself. It’s said that many chinchillas are uneasy for a while after moving to a new place, so I got one where he can be relaxed.
People say that it’s hard to train toileting for chinchillas, so they use pee sheets for pets, where they can pee anywhere. Plus, I personally didn’t want to use a plastic toilet for a chinchilla because they might nibble it. I wanted to get ones that suit the cage, so I bought a 60-sheet package on Amazon DE. It cost around 25 EUR if I remember correctly.
Chinchillas need appropriate temperature and humidity. Too hot and too cold isn’t good. Since I cannot measure such things by feeling, I bought a thermometer and hygrometer on Amazon DE, which cost about 7 EUR.
As for the transport cage, I bought one at a pet shop in Estonia called Zoomaailm. When contacting the breeder, Collin was just a two-month old baby, so as a temporary solution, I bought a small transport cage which was 6 EUR.
You cannot wash a chinchilla with water. Instead, they clean their body with dust. I bought a bottle of dust for chinchillas at the biggest pet shop in Estonia called pet city.
Let’s talk about a hoover. It was just great timing. Although I had lived in the current flat for more than 18 months as of when I was preparing, I cleaned my flat by non-wet and wet wiping. But! As long as there is dust in the room, there are no other good cleaning materials than a hoover. Luckily Amazon DE had a campaign with home appliances, and a good hoover was discounted, so I bought that one. It doesn’t use much space and has no code. Everything is perfect.
When it comes to cleaning liquid for pets, I bought one in case Collin gets able to take a walk in the room and pee there. You can buy this at Prisma or Rimi (supermarkets) in Estonia.
The expense for preparation to have a chinchilla cost 230 EUR excluding a hoover. It was cheaper than I thought, but it was hard to find something specifically for chinchillas.
4. When welcoming the chinchilla
Since I wanted to spend time with Collin in the beginning, I welcomed him on Friday after work. The breeder had two photos of two chinchillas on Soov.ee, so I had no idea which one I would get. For this reason, I didn’t care how he would look.
The chinchilla that the breeder gave me was bigger than I thought and in standard grey. (It was still a baby size though.)
When arriving at home, I let him go in the cage. He immediately hid himself in the rabbit house. Of course he must have been uneasy after travelling for one hour by bus with a stranger and arriving at an unfamiliar place, and being told that “this is your new home”. Even a human would feel uneasy.
This day I just gave him food and water, and let him alone as much as possible (by checking him once in a while).
5. First-time dust bath
I had a routine to clean the flat every Saturday morning. Chinchillas sleep for 12 hours (from 5 am to 5 pm). I didn’t want to wake him up, so I changed this routine to the evening.
What I wanted to do before cleaning was letting Collin take a dust bath. Since I thought he wouldn’t be out of the cage, I let him take a dust bath in the cage. Once I put the dust bath in the cage, he spontaneously started taking a dust bath. He repeated getting in and out, and it took around 15 minutes in total.
6. First-time cage cleaning
Now it was the time to clean the cage. It has to be cleaned every day (according to websits in Japanese). Besides, there was a pee sheet.
I thought if the floor is the cage’s part in metal, Collin might get tired with his legs, so I folded the edges of the pee sheet outside, covered the metal floor, and let him live for a day. However, he incredibly made a hole in the pee sheet… It got me worried…
This was a great mistake, so I started having a pee sheet under the metal floor.
Yet, even though I put the pee sheet under the metal floor, he found it, and nibbled it. Therefore, later I changed it to wood pellets. This way it’s easier to clean. (The only problem is that it’s too hard to carry because I buy a 15kg bag at one time.)
Chinchillas are good at hearing. However, it seemed Collin wasn’t afraid of the sound of a hoover. As for the washing machine, I always have the cage in the bedroom, and close the door, so I don’t know how he feels.
★Summary
He never showed up until I cleaned the cage, and yet if I didn’t move a lot or suddenly, he took a dust bath in front of me. By watching such a life, I felt maybe he was getting used to my place little by little.
Also, as I wanted to give him as quiet an environment as possible, I bought new earphones for the in-house use to watch movies and TV series on iPad. (However, eventually, the earphones that I used outside broke, and I started using the other ones, so there are some sounds in the room now. But It’s not too loud. And I stopped subscribing Disney+ too. 😂)
This story is so trivial, but since Puka, a small town in Estonia, is not so well-known, I decided to write about it for my website.
Puka is a town in Estonia, which one of my Estonian friends is from. One day we were just talking, and the topic was changed to our birthdays. Then I came to know that on one Sunday in August, 2022 there was her birthday. She said “I don’t have a plan to have a big party, and I will just go to Puka. You are also welcome.” Therefore I immediately decided to go to Puka.
From Tallinn to Puka which is almost Latvia, there are only four trains per day, and it takes three hours one way. Even though I took the earliest one from Tallinn, I arrived in Puka at 10.30 am. I wondered what to do for the return trip, and eventually I decided to go back to Tallinn on the same day because the next day was Monday, I had work, I had to train a newly hired employee, and I had an Estonian language class after work. However, my friend suggested me staying at her parents’ place in Puka.
By the way, I thought that I hadn’t mentioned how to buy tickets in Elron, the Estonian train, in any article, so I will explain that too.
It’s very easy to buy train tickets on Elron’s website. Open the website first. It totally depends on you if you create an account there.
After logging in or opening the webpage, enter the origin and the destination, and set the date. You cannot set the date no more than one week ahead. This probably means it’s not crowded that much usually. 😂 Once you enter them, click “Go”.
Let’s find the most suitable time. After selecting the time, click “Choose”.
Select the number of tickets that you need, and click “Next”.
Check the origin, the destination, and the date and time. If you don’t have an Elron farecard, hit ”Buy ticket to e-mail”.
Enter your email address, and go next by clicking “Add cart”.
Given that you need a return ticket, click ”Add return ticket”.
Then you will see the payment option so select the most suitable one.
Have a tick in “I have read and agree with terms and conditions.”, and hit ”Confirm”.
After the payment, you will receive an email with a PDF file which is your ticket.
If you buy tickets for a round trip, both tickets are contained in one QR code, so you will see only one page in the PDF file.
That’s it!
Easy peasy, right?
2. What kind of town is Puka?
Puka is quite a countryside town as you may imagine.
Tallinn has nothing, and it gets me fed up with it after living in Tallinn for five years. However, probably because it is still the biggest city in Estonia, my body and mind seemed to be fatigued due to the noisy environment in the city. Arriving in Puka in summer, it was full of green, and the air was so fresh. Those simple things just relaxed me physically.
The station in Puka had no one, and on the platform, my friend and her friend welcomed me. From there we went to my friend’s parents’ place by her friend’s car.
My friend has a black cat at home in Tallinn, so she brought her to her parents’ place where two other cats lived as well. There was one more black cat and one grey kitten.
When I visited the friend’s place in Tallinn, when I went to a cat cafe in Tallinn, and when I stayed at my boss’s place with a cat, I didn’t have any allergic symptoms with cats like I had as a child. However, at my friend’s parents’ place, I had some allergic symptoms with a cat.
Later, we found that the grey kitten was only three years old in human age, and his short hair was soaring in the air. Then I took it as dust in my body, and that is why I had the allergic symptoms. Without the grey cat, and if I didn’t move, I barely had a runny nose and my eyes were not so itchy.
It seemed I was okay with cats without soaring hair in a clean place.
At my friend’s parents’ place, we had her mum’s Estonian potato salad, had some snacks while watching a film, and ate ice cream in the garden with her two other friends. We didn’t do anything touristic in Puka.
Estonian potato salad
If you ask me about any adventure that I had in Puka, then I would say exploring her parents’ garden. 😂
I was aware that there are lots of private apple trees in Estonia (or even in the whole Europe), and yet they had a pear tree too. They also had tomatoes as well as cucumbers in their small greenhouse, and there were pumpkins, carrots, potatoes and strawberries too. Moreover, my friend showed me raspberries, plums, red currants, black currants, and aronias in addition to cherries. Yeah, there were literally a lot. 😂
Aronia juice
As for the potato salad that her mum made, the potatoes were their own ones. Brilliant.
They have a small lake in front of the garden, and my friend told me they swim there once in a while in summer.
That’s so good, they don’t need to pay for water to have a pool.😂
Also, there is a pharmacy from the station in Puka to her parents’ place. Before going back to the station, I came to know that an Estonian film called ”Sügis” which means “Autumn” in English used that pharmacy in the film. The story is based on an Estonian novelist, Oskar Luts.
By the way, because I started watching “Talve” which is the continuation of ”Sügis” for learning Estonian, I watched the whole series including “Kevade” (spring) and “Suvi” (summer). 😂 I’m not a huge fan of Estonia, but still I watched all of them, so if you are a fan of Estonia, you should probably watch them. ✌️
★Summary
When I was about to go to the station in Puka with my friend and her friend, my friend’s dad told me to come there again, especially when I’m tired of Tallinn. Since it seemed that her mum was not able to speak English, I thought “I want to see them again with a better Estonian language skill next time.” Also, I reckoned that I would come there again when I have more time because it takes three hours by train from Tallinn…
Puka literally has nothing, but it was a good place to take a break.
A weekend trip might be good.
They also told me it would take 2.5 hours by car, so maybe you can drive a car there too.
I thought “Perhaps pollen allergy”, and I used internal medicines and medical creams prescribed by a family doctor. In winter 2021, the symptom was still there.
This time I wondered “Maybe dryness?” (I know positive, right.)
The situation where the itchiness stopped with the medical cream but came back if I left had lasted for a while, and the summer came in 2022. I finally thought that this was unusual, and went to see a family doctor properly, but he also didn’t have any idea what the cause was. Anyway, I was prescribed antihistamine and nizoral cream. At the same time, he advised me to book an appointment with a dermatologist. This is because there was a long queue to see a dermatologist.
I thought “But the maximum should be three weeks or something”, and yet in Tallinn surprisingly there was no vacancy until December 2022 as of August. There were technically vacancies, but all of them were private, which cost around 100 EUR.
Then I thought:
It’s probably cheaper to go to some other city, even calculating the total cost.
Therefore, I booked an appointment with a dermatologist on the Estonian health portal.
1. How to book an appointment and how to use Digilugu
You can book an appointment with a dermatologist in Estonia on the Patient Portal called ”Digilugu”.
First of all, log in there.
Click “National eBooking system”.
Click “Find a time without referrals”.
You will search available dermatologists. You can select all the counties. Since the booking queue to see a dermatologist in Estonia is extremely long, set the wide range of dates. Keep in mind that you may have to wait four to five months in Tallinn.
If you untick “Patient” in “Service paid by”, only free appointments are shown.
Let’s search.
Once you select the date and time as well as a dermatologist that seems to match your wants, click “Book”.
Enter your phone number and email address, and click “Confirm”.
Wait a bit after clicking, you will receive an email from the clinic that you selected.
That’s it! It’s very straightforward, but it’s irritating that every time we need to book one there. In Japan, you just need to go to a dermatological clinic, book on site, and see a dermatologist on the same day. Why is there such a long queue in Estonia?
2. Zooks went to Narva
Then on the last Friday in August, 2022, I went to Narva by taking a Health Day off which is my company’s benefit, and which I can take up to 10 times per calendar year.
You can take either a train or a bus from Tallinn to Narva, but the train is more comfortable in my opinion. Yet, it took around three hours to go to Narva as it is located at the end of Estonia in East.
I took the earliest train to Narva, and arrived there at 10.30 am. Since I didn’t have enough time to have breakfast, and in the first place I didn’t have much food at thome, I walked for half an hour, and had lunch in one shopping centre in Narva. I also studied until 2 pm there. I think I stayed there for 2.5 hours.
Then I walked to the clinic. Although I was mentally ready, everything was in Russian. The receptionist spoke only Russian too.
Just in case, I had downloaded Russian in Google translate app.
When the appointment time came, and I saw the dermatologist, she looked as if she had asked me
“In which language should we communicate?”
Of course she did. 😅
It’s perhaps unusual that an Asian girl visits to see a dermatologist in Narva. 😂
I asked her if she could speak Estonian in Estonian, and she said no. Sink or swim, I asked if she could speak English, and she said “A little”.
Such a miracle!!
Some people say I speak fast in daily life, so I explained as slowly as possible, but she could understand well.
It was actually an interesting time as she mixed Estonian and English sometimes. 😂 For instance, whilst she wanted to say “once a day”, she indeed said ”once päevas”. Or when trying to say “twice”, she said ”two korda”. 😂 It was all good as long as we were able to communicate. 😂
She prescribed me internal medicines for 30 days that I have used before, and two new medical creams.
betamethasone
By the way, the cause is unknown even now. The medical creams are betamethasone and pimecrolimus, the latter of which is for atopy. For some reason, I had a horrible red rash on my arm joint. I’ve had this one since I was a child, but it was more frequently itchy since my face began itching, I felt.
pimecrolimus
Personally, I wondered if mental health affects the skin. I don’t know for sure though.
3. Outcomes after one month
The next day after using the medical cream, my skin already got better. On the second day, there was less dryness. I don’t remember precisely after the third day, and yet on the around third to fifth day, the skin trouble was almost gone.
Since then, although from time to time my skin has been dry, with the medical cream the skin condition gets better in two days or so. Recurrence isn’t that often either. (It recurred once or twice in one month.)
It was a good decision that I went to Narva for this.
★Summary
If the medical system were like the Japanese one, I could see a dermatologist on the same day when I would book an appointment. And even in the dermatological clinic that is popular in my hometown, I could see the dermatologist by booking in the morning. However, here is Estonia where you need to book an appointment before visiting a clinic. Plus, the queue for the dermatologist is super long. I still wonder why this happens.
I have no idea why my face began itching, but anyway I’m glad that it’s better now. At the end of September, my mental health got better too, so I still think maybe the mental health was more or less related? I’m not sure though. Also, I was lucky to have seen a dermatologist who could speak English in Narva. (I was ready to speak Estonian in Narva where lots of Russian speakers live. 😂)
As written above, on this day I went to Narva by using my company’s benefit called Health Day with which I can still get paid taking a day off. Therefore I walked around Narva a bit too. Since I didn’t want to use public transport in Narva, I walked over 20,000 steps. 😂
I didn’t expect that I would do this in my life. My mum sometimes went to or still goes to a gym to have personal training, and yet it seems I have that gene.
In the middle of August, 2022, I had personal training with a trainer from the cheap gym chain called Gym!
When I had a body composition analysis, the trainer told me to have a bit more muscles, and I personally wanted to know how to use gym machines, so I asked a personal trainer in Gym!. The reason why I wanted to know how to use machines in the gym was that I wanted to gain more muscles by working out with the machines in the gym.
You may think
“You can watch YouTube to see how to use those machines.”
However, there are more men in the gym itself, and men basically use those hard machines more than women. I was too shy to use machines in the gym that I always went to… I wanted to use them on my own after learning how to use them. (Besides I would look stupid.)
There are some trainers in Gym!, and at that time there were around three female trainers. I received a reply from only one trainer who accepted personal training. The price was okay too, hence I requested her to have a personal training session.
2. Training
Then in the middle of August, 2022, I had a consultation with the trainer before the actual part of the personal training started.
I told her that
that I wanted to know trainings with which my croocked back (round shoulders) will be fixed
that I wanted to reduce fat from the legs
that I wanted to remove fat from the belly
Then we warmed up. Since We didn’t have that much time, we skipped running, and I just did some stretching and squats.
After that, we started using machines. I can’t remember the order of using the machines, and yet the list below is the gym machines that I learnt how to use as well as a training I had:
Leg press
Standing leg curl
Abductor
Chest press
Cable lowing rowing
Lat pull down
Back extention
Plank
Although I knew how to use the chest press and how to do a plank, particularly the plank that I had done seemed to be an incorrect form. When I did it in the proper form, I felt something in my belly.
With the machines I did three 10 to 15-time training sets whilst I had no-time-limit training for the plank three times.
I simply learnt how to train myself.
One session was one hour.
3. Fee for one personal training session
When I contacted this personal trainer, she told me one hour (one session) would cost 40 EUR. It was a decent price.
She asked me to pay in cash, and yet I didn’t prepare 40 EUR in cash, so I requested her to let me do a bank transfer. (When it comes to personal or private financial communication, it’s better to check if the payment is in cash or bank transfer beforehand even in Estonia.)
Since I have lived in Estonia for five years, I almost lost the habit of having cash… Rather it’s a bit difficult to have cash. 😂
Prices of personal training differ, depending on a trainer because they have different styles and systems (like how many times per week, how many hours per session, etc). Therefore, you should check such things before booking a session.
4. Reviewing training menu in the gym
After experiencing the personal training, I reviewed my training menu in the gym.
So far I did either the chest press or deadlifting, and then I did a run or bike exercise for half an hour.
After the personal training, I changed this training menu.
Since I didn’t want to bring three bags such as one for the Estonian language class, one for the morning gym and one for a lunch box one the days when I had the Estonian language classes, on Mondays and Wednesdays I started doing belly exercises at home. The training is based on a trainer whose name is saki whom I happened to find on Instagram. I use her videos on YouTube. The body part that I train is always the same: my belly.
On Tuesday I do a leg press, standing leg curl and abdoctor. On Thursdays, I use a back extension, lat pull down and do deadlifting. On Fridays, I use a cable rowing machine, a chest press and do some planks.
Since it’s less effective to train the same parts every day, I decided to train in this order: belly → legs → belly → back → belly. However, it seems that it’s still recommended to take a two-day break.
The personal trainer told me to take a short break of one minute or two between the sessions, so if I do three types of training, it takes 20 to half an hour. Therefore, I can run only 10 minutes in reality now. 😂 It’s a bit sad for me.
Of course, I can’t do these menus every week, so if I can’t I do something I couldn’t do + running on a weekend.
5. Appendix
By using the gym machines, I noticed one thing:
I will probably have solid hands if I keep using those machines…!
So, I bought a pair of gym gloves on Amazon DE! I measured my palm size, but it still felt slightly bigger. Maybe those stretch well.
★Summary
I was very satisfied with the personal training. Like the body composition analysis, I want to take one again if needed whilst I’m more into the body composition analysis.
As for the machines in the gym, I use three types of machines basically at one time, I actually don’t often have to queue for anything because I can do something else while someone is using a machine that I also want to use on a day. This is simply good. I’m so glad that I can use more gym machines because I learnt how to use them in the personal training.
One day in July, 2022, I felt something wrong with my anus while I was working. It was a bit painful, and I felt a slight pain if I didn’t sit on a chair gently. I could sit on a sofa and bed normally.
I noticed this during my work, and I timidly touched the painful spot, looking for it. I found something slightly swollen.
Hemorrhoid?
No way.
However, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
I was so into my work that I forgot to take a break, and I was constantly sitting on the chair to work as I didn’t have energy to stand and work. I tended to skip going to the gym because I hadn’t felt good. In other words, I didn’t move my body enough, so it was not surprising to get a hemorrhoid.
In this article, I’m talking about something like a hemorrhoid that I had in Estonia. (It’s nothing special.)
When googling hemorrhoids in Japanese, it seemed that having a hemorrhoid was pretty serious. If you leave it as it is, you will maybe need to get surgery…
No, I don’t want that.
(Well, first of all, I couldn’t bear with the pain.)
I was so worried so I emailed my GP, and they told me there were ointments.
On receiving the reply from them, I went to a pharmacy, and asked a pharmacy clerk.
For the hemorrhoid in the first stage, the ointments are effective enough. As the pharmacy clerk recommended one to me, I bought an ointment called Mastu. It cost around 11 EUR. (Yeah, it was a bit expensive.) My GP also recommended candles to me, but due to the fact that the ointments are easy to use, the pharmacy clerk told me only the ointment is sufficient treatment. Therefore, I bought only the ointment.
The instructions of how to use Mastu were surely written in Estonian, and yet I checked it. It’s straightforward – use the ointment twice a day to the painful area. My GP told me to monitor myself for five to seven days, so I did it. If it didn’t heal even after one week, I was told to see my GP.
However, on day five, I felt much less pain and something-wrongness. I kept using the ointment until day seven, and found out that day five’s feeling was not anything random. After that, my anus condition turns to be good. 😂 Even now everything is alright.
By the way, Mastu contains an additional tube too, and you can use it if your hemorrhoid is in your anus. I didn’t use it because the wart was outside. (However, it’s still unclear if it was really a hemorrhoid or not.)
Besides, since I put the ointment outside the hemorrhoid, I got the ointment on my underwear when I wore the underwear directly. Then, I used a panty liner for periods. It prevented getting a dirty ointment on the underwear.
zooks.ee 