Tag: Estonia

Outdoor Activities You Can Do in Summer in Estonia.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In Estonia, once a year, there is an event called “summer days” held by a company. If a company is too startup and has little money like sometimes they struggle with even paying for their employees’ salaries, “summer days” may not happen, but in many companies in Estonia it seems they have. Based on my own experience and bias, the majority of the companies in Estonia hold summer-day events with leisure activities and stays, and yet some companies include work…

In Timbeter, which was my first company to work in Estonia, during 2 and half a year, I had this summer-day event only once, and it included work. I had to give a presentation with a few of my colleagues, and after that, we went to an adventure park, had dinner and had BBQ after dinner. Next morning, we checked out after the breakfast. This company had only 10 employees at that time, but they checked only CEO and CTO’s schedules in summer, and the summer-day event date overlapped with my vacation, so I got compensative vacation days later.

In the company which I worked for in 2022, we went to Võhandu river and Partisi lake as our summer-day event.

Table of Contents

     1. Where on earth are Võhandu river and Partsi lake!?
          a. Võhandu river
          b. Partsi lake
     2. Activities we did
     3. Accommodation
     ★Summary

1. Where on earth are Võhandu river and Partsi lake!?

Estonia has been popular among Japanese people since I came here, and there are lots of famous places for them compared to the time before 2017, but still they or even you may think:




Where the hell Võhandu river and Partsi lake. 😂


Both Võhandu river and Partsi lake are located in a county called Põlva which is sotuhern than Tartu. I wasn’t involved in planning this summer-day event (and it was not my job), so I still don’t know why Võhandu river and Partsi lake were chosen.

a. Võhandu river

We gathered in the office in Tallinn, and went to Võhandu river and Partsi lake by van chartered, spending three hours.

If you want to go there by yourself, it would be difficult to go there unless you charter a van by yourself or rent a car or drive your own car, I thought.

b. Partsi lake

Partsi lake has an island in the lake, and an accommodation is just beside the lake. The island in the lake was full of trees and grasses, so I didn’t land there or do anything. On the summer-day event, we actually arrived at Partsi lake first, and then headed to Võhandu river as we needed to drop our luggage.

2. Activities we did

As for the activities, the main activity was rafting in the Võhandu river. It was my first time rafting, and I had an impression of “we just go down the river by boat”, which was excessive optimism.

We were splitted into two groups, and I joined the second one. However, while we were going forward, we accidentally overtook the first group on the way to the goal, and since then we had competitively gone forward to progress as fast as possible. Besides, rafting required lots of physical power. Therefore, it was so hard to row a boat.

Furthermore, it got me pretty wet. I believe it wouldn’t be too uncomfortable if you wear swimwear under the shorts and the tshirt. I personally didn’t bring any digital devices by the way. (There was a pocket in front of the rafting jacket though.)

It took us two hours to reach the goal by rafting itself. When arriving at the goal, and getting off the boat, my body was so stiff. The following day, of course I got muscular pain. 😉

Also, there was no femininity seen from my side. (I enjoyed myself though.)

Later we heard that one of my previous colleagues who brought her phone for rafting checked the map while rafting, and the Võhandu river was actually connected to Latvia.

It might have been fun if we just went to Latvia with that small boat.

😂

We also experienced sup boarding after coming back to Partsi lake where our accommodation was from Võhandu river. It was actually quite a relaxing activity. If you are afraid of falling down into water, you will fail. ✌️

By the way, it was my first time swimming in the lake (though I have done it in the sea and rivers), and I was so surprised that water in Partsi lake was so black. One of the other previous colleagues and I googled later, and we found that it was not because of something chemical but natural. I remember the flashing water in the toilet was coloured too…

The accommodation beside Partsi lake had a tiny sauna and jacuzzi (?)/ a small warm pool (?) as well.

We laughed ridiculously a lot and enjoyed ourselves a lot, so I guess it could be an option for your private vacation plan in summer. It seems glamping is also possible. Since I personally don’t like camping, and want a proper bed to sleep in, I didn’t do it. I can sleep while camping, but it’s just continuously uncomfortable the whole night.

3. Accommodation

The accommodation beside Partsi lake seemed to have both a small house and a big house. It seemed we were supposed to occupy the big house with a larger group, and yet suddenly there were lots of cancellations due to sickness, etc, so we all stayed in the rooms on the second floor only. (Or maybe originally only the second floor, but there were still lots of empty beds.)

Each room has four or five beds, and that bed was quite small even for me who was 162 cm tall in order to move during the sleep. (In addition, because of rafting my arms were too tired, so it was difficult to fall asleep even though I was physically tired.)

In summer there are lots of insects (particularly flies and mosquitoes) in Estonia, so we closed our room window during the night, but luckily it was not hot as it was cold summer in July, 2022.

The accommodation’s bathrooms were shared (but of course separated for men and women!), and there are a few more toilets outside. For some reason, there were two showers in one shower room for women… There were also bottles of shampoo, conditioner as well as showergell.

As for meals at the accommodation, we had lunch on the day we arrived there, dinner, and breakfast the following morning. Also, they provide us with lots of snacks.

It appeared to be fine to bring alcoholic drinks, but I’m not so sure.

Later we found that if we stay there with a group of more than 10 people, it costs only around 30 EUR for each person. The website says only “breakfast included”, so I have no idea on lunch or dinner. Anyways, it was way cheaper than I thought…

★Summary

The summer-day event I experienced in this company was only this time, but everything was much better than the one I had when I worked for Timbeter. The best point was there was no talk about customers or what we do daily, and no presentation for work. But I think this depends on the company you work for. I loved the point that work is work, leisure time is leisure time in this company. Whilst we had company events including this summer-day event, there was nothing about what to improve at work, how to approach in business, etc as the purpose was to have fun, not meetings outside of the office, or work-related training. The balance is important indeed.

I have no idea if any other European countries have this sort of summer-day event.

However, anyways I believe anyone can do what we experienced in our summer-day event. There were few people in those areas, so if you are fed up with cities and famous/popular places in Estonia, perhaps you should go there.

Aitäh! 🙂

How to Get the EU Long Term Residence Permit in Estonia.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When I moved to Estonia, I didn’t know and didn’t think about the EU long-term residence permit. In the first place, I thought I would go back to Japan right after graduating from the university, and would have to work in Japan before knowing it. However, since I got my first job in Estonia when I was a second year student in Estonia, working in Japan has not been my option anymore. 😂

In addition, I have continued learning Estonian, and eventually my level reached to the one with which I became qualified to apply for the EU long-term residence permit. However, there are some other conditions to get an EU long-term residence permit.

This time I’m going to talk about the EU long-term residence permit.

Table of Contents

     1. Estonian citizenship vs. the EU long-term residence permit
     2. Advantages of the EU long-term residence permit
     3. Conditions to get the EU long-term residence permit in Estonia
     4. Case study: Zooks
     ★Summary

1. Estonian citizenship vs. the EU long-term residence permit

I will discuss detailed conditions on the EU long-term residence permit, and yet if you meet all the conditions, you can apply for Estonian citizenship or the EU long-term residence permit. I guess that without any strong will or lots of advantages, few Japanese people would want Estonian citizenship.

This is because we have to lose our Japanese passports once we get another citizenship in Estonia. Japan doesn’t allow us to have double nationalities.

People from Pakistan, Bangladesh or other African countries whose passport ranks are relatively low seem to tend to get Estonian citizenships. That makes sense as then they can travel to more countries.

On the other hand, as of 2022, our Japanese passports are stronger than Estonian ones, (or even the strongest in the world), getting Estonian citizenship is rather disadvantageous for me in my opinion. However, the EU long-term residence permit is the option for such people.

With the EU long-term residence permit, we can get similar rights as other EU citizens whilst we can keep our Japanese passport as we are not EU citizens. In addition, it is said that we can freely live and work in other EU countries except for Ireland and Denmark. Moreover, (perhaps) depending on the university, the tuition fee appears to be free… (This information is questionable according to my own research. I need to research further. However, it would be more than pleasant if the tuition fee is free or discounted.)

2. Advantages of the EU long-term residence permit

According to EU Immigration Portal, there are several benefits of the EU long-term residence permit. Here is a list (but excluding some):

  • Access to employment and self-employment (this may not apply for some activities which are only for nationals or EU citizens, such as access to some positions in the public administration);
  • Education and work-related training, including study grants;
  • Recognition of diplomas and qualifications;
  • Social protection, social assistance and social security as defined by national law (EU countries can limit social assistance to basic benefits only, such as the minimum income);
  • Tax benefits;
  • Access to goods and services (e.g. transport, museums, restaurants, etc.);

and so on.

As an example, I contacted the Swedish Migration Agency, and figured out that even if I move to another EU country, the EU long-term residence permit is moved to Sweden, which does not mean that I would lose the EU long-term residence permit itself.

This makese sense.

I highly recommend you research as this kind of information should be searched on one’s own.

3. Conditions to get the EU long-term residence permit in Estonia

There are basically two big conditions. One is the residential period, and the other one is the language level.

Let’s talk about the residential period first. This is determined by the EU, and 5 years are minimum. If you come to one EU country as a student, you should probably ask the migration agency or something . (I’ll explain later on.)

The other one is the language level. This seems to be dependent on a country, and yet in Estonia Estonian B1 is necessary.

There are some other conditions such as financial one or health insurance, so you should perhaps check these before or when thinking of applying for the EU long-term residence permit.

4. Case study: Zooks

In my case, I came to Estonia in August, 2017, although I received my first TRP card in September in the same year. Then it expired in June, 2019 when I graduated from the postgraduate school, and the second TRP card was issued in the beginning of September in the same year. In short, I had been a student for approximately 20 months. However, such a period is counted only 10 months. (In other words, they count legal stay as a student by multiplying 0.5.)

Since I got the second TRP card in September, 2019, it means I would legally have been staying in Estonia for literally three years in September of 2022.

Therefore, as of the time I was getting information, I have lived in Estonia for three years and 10 months. I need to stay in Estonia one year and two months more, so in November, 2023, I should be able to apply for the EU long-term residence permit.

I took an Estonian B1 exam, and passed it in June in the same year, so all I need to do is just wait. However, they also have some limit that I can be away from Estonia, hence I need to be careful with that. It has to be no more than six months in a row and no more than 10 months in five years. In Estonia, usually the annual leave is around one month per calendar year, so if you work for one Estonian company, then you will get one-month annual leave five times. Because I had been a student for “10 months”, I will definitely not exceed 10 months in total anyways.

★ Summary

Waiting one year seems long, but considering my career, I still want to be in Estonia at least one more year. Therefore it was good timing. Due to the fact that I still don’t understand a few things, I think I will update this article from time to time whenever I get information.

Aitäh! 🙂

Body Composition Analysis at Myfitness in Estonia.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Do you have a body fat scale? It’s a type of scale with which you can measure not only weight and fat rate/weight but also skeletal muscle rate/weight, body age, body water, etc. (The measurable items can be different depending on body fat scales.) You can buy a home body fat scale at a reasonable price, and it’s easy to measure. On the other hand it is not super accurate. Therefore, I went to Myfitness which is the biggest chain gym in Estonia (or even in the Baltics?) to analyse my body composition!!

Table of Contents

1. The very original reason: diet
2. Not only weight is important
3. How can you analyse your body composition in Tallinn, Estonia?
4. Body composition analysis at Myfitness
★Summary

1. The very original reason: diet

Around in 2019, I used to go to the cheapest gym in Estonia called “Gym!” (paying 15 EUR per month with a one-year contract at that time), but I terminated the contract after one year due to the depression. Then in October 2021, I rejoined Gym!, and started to try to lose weight, but I lost only a couple of kilos regardless of the diet (eating) and exercise. After losing a few kilos, there had been no change until January 2022.

When I came to Estonia (2017), I was less fat than who I was at this time (2021), but due to the atypical depression, I could eat only a specific food. This is the reason why I gained weight. Furthermore, what I was able to eat at that time was biscuits. Furthermore + more, it was something like Oreo. I bought fresh foods but I couldn’t eat because I had no energy to cook, so obviously I gained weight. (I didn’t want to gain weight, so I had a mind to manage and control the amount, but it was still sweet.)

Then I talked to my psychologist at that time about it, and she gave me a list of foods that boost serotonin. For the present, I started eating fruits when I wanted to eat something sweet. Then I started a new job as well as a new Estonian language course, which made me feel as if I had started a new life. For this reason, I gain energy and motivation to resume going to the gym.

In the past, quite a long time ago, I once tried to lose weight, switching the meal plans in the morning and in the evening, and ran after waking up. Since in this way I lost some weight, I tried the same thing again, but there was no satisfactory result. (I personally don’t consider a couple of losses in kilo as an actual weight loss.)

So, I decided to try a ketogenic diet which I had doubted until then, starting at the end of February, 2022. As a result, I lost a lot. (Literally a lot. Although I don’t mention the exact amount here yet.)

To sum up, the diet to lose weight is the very beginning.

2. Not only weight is important

While being on a diet, since I lost quite a lot of weight, I started to pay attention to details such as weight in detailed digits, body fat, muscle mass, etc. Then I bought acme’s body fat scale, and showed the first measured result partially to my boyfriend, and he said

“These numbers are impossible lol”

😂

I did agree with him though.

I wondered if the body fat scale was broken, so I requested to replace it with a new one, but I found that this body fat scale had a very low quality as a body fat scale.

3. How can you analyse your body composition in Tallinn, Estonia?

Even though I understand that with a home body fat scale we cannot measure very accurately, I still wanted to see numbers as accurately as possible. For this reason, I thought before buying a new body fat scale, I should analyse my body composition in a professional way so that I can have a precise date to compare. Then I googled where in Tallinn, Estonia I could get a body composition analysis, and got results that it is possible not only in a medical centre like Confido but also in a gym or spa (in which there is a gym).

As expected, I didn’t choose Confido’s body composition analysis as it cost 50 EUR, but I found in Viimsi Spa a non-gym member could get a body composition analysis for 18 EUR. So I contacted a trainer, and yet because the facility had been under preparation even after waiting for one month, I decided to contact Kalev Spa in Tallinn.

I still have not received any replies.

So I googled the biggest gym, Myfitness, I found the service! Once I contacted them, the communication was so smooth.

4. Body composition analysis at Myfitness

On the day I booked a body composition analysis, I went to one of the gyms of Myfitness in Tallinn. Before the body composition analysis began, they lended me a key and a paddle lock for a locker..

Then I went to the trainer’s room. The first thing that I did was to measure my height.

I didn’t get shorter. 😂

I was still 162 cm.

Then I measured my body with a professional fat scale with 99% accuracy, and immediately I got a result.

The trainer explained everything in the result paper, and my findings are:

  • My body composition is average in all the items
  • I should gain a bit more muscle.

(By the way, the result paper was in Estonian, and the trainer was Egyptian.)

When I had this body composition analysis, it was 6.30 in the evening, so of course I gained around 2kg compared to the weight I checked in the morning at that time. However, I’m pretty sure and I also made sure with the trainer that a human gains 1 to 2 kg during the day than the weight when waking up, so it’s not fat but water.

I thought 15 minutes is short for the body composition analysis when I booked an appointment, but it wasn’t that short, but rather quite satisfactory in terms of both time and contents. Besides, it cost only 15 EUR. Payment is done when visiting the reception before the analysis.

★ Summary

Although it’s not expensive, I still got the necessary information, and I think I want to check regularly. After this, I bought a new (Renpho’s) fat scale, but it showed me 2% more fat than the accurate result from Myfitness. On the one hand, I’m more satisfied with this new fat scale and it’s good enough for daily use, and on the other hand as long as I want to measure precisely, checking the analysis at Myfitness is quite a good idea I believe.

Aitäh! 🙂