Tag: Estonia

Zooks Got the Work Ability Card Issued in Estonia.

Zooks1 Comment

Tere!

Sorry to be sudden, but I’m going to talk about the Work Ability Card this time. (Though I don’t have much to say.) I’m going to write what kind of card it is, how long it is valid, and if there are any benefits. You won’t experience such a thing as long as you are just normal.

In April 2021, my mental condition was not really good (which I will explain in the future). Around March or April in 2021, due to COVID-19, we couldn’t communicate with people, and had to work remotely.

I believe this was a tough time for everyone, but in my case it was too much. I have shut out most of my friends that I made in the postgraduate school, and didn’t have many friends though I usually have. (However, I often hang out with just a few of them, even in Japan.) So I thought I need to make friends somehow.

Then one day when I had a regular visit at the hospital, my nurse gave me a brochure of Tallinna Vaimse Tervise Keskus. There are some group activities, and she said that maybe some of them could be good for me.

After that, I contacted the Health Centre, and the staff said she wanted to meet me first.

When we met, she told me and determined to:

  • Participate in the art therapy
  • Use a supporter

I omit details about the above here, but someday I will write.

Anyway, when I met a supporter, doing some procedures, we registered to get benefits of incapacity of work.

To proceed with this, it is required to have a talk with a doctor, but in my case I already saw her during the last six months, so we corrected some information, and applied for it.

This is not something that everyone can do, and when proceeding, you need to answer a huge amount of questions. This was the first step. I think it took a few hours to answer all the questions. The questions were all in Estonia, so I was glad that I had an Estonian supporter. I’m not sure if there is an English version, but perhaps there is.

After applying for it, we met the person-in-charge of my application. This process is managed by Töötukassa (the Estonian Unemployment Fund), and they have some offices in Tallinn.My supporter and I chose an office where an English speaker works. (I think it was in Endla street.)

Until I got an appointment, my supporter took care of the communication.

Then at the office of the Fund, she asked me very similar questions a lot. I think it took about one hour. This was the second step.

At the third step, the answers of the questions were received, and we checked it. Then we waited again.

This is the fourth step. When getting a result email, the email has two files: PDF and the file to do a digital signature. I checked the PDF file.

It was all in Estonia, so I used Google translate, but anyway the results were:

  • Partially able to work
  • Valid for five years

The reason why “I am partially capable of working” is because although I have autism, disorders and depression, those don’t significantly affect my living life.

In this PDF file, it also mentioned how much I can get as its benefit. If your result is “completely incapable of working”, the calculation is 15 euro per day, and if it’s “partially incapable of working”, it’s 8 euro per day. More details available at their web page.

Several days after I got a result and completely forgot about it, I suddenly got a letter from the Fund which included the Work Ability Card. The information on the card is:

  • My full name
  • My Estonian ID
  • Birthday
  • Work condition (“Partially incapable of working” in my case)
  • Validating date
  • Expiry date

In fact, by having this card, there is a hint of goodness. When I travelled in Viljandi, I could buy discount tickets with the card.






Lucky!

However I had concerns about the valid period and the condition of work.

It’s not easy for foreigners to find part-time jobs in Estonia. It is very difficult. Timbeter where I used to work was really flexible, but it was special and exceptional because it was a very start-up company.

So the reality was “the job is full time although the condition is partially capable”..

I thought that might be unfair with that situation, so I asked my supporter, but she said it was okay.

The reason is “we don’t know what will happen/worsen” (the health condition is different).

So it’s like compensating for health conditions with money.

For example, let’s compare two types of people:

  • An individual who is healthy and 100% capable of working at full time
  • An individual whose depression is not fully healed this year, who has autism and disorders, and who is only 50% capable of working full time.

Apparently the latter one is “weaker” and handicapped.

And the benefits compensate for it, so it’s fair.

Thus my monthly income is a salary at full time + the benefits.

I did not feel good about getting special money compared to other colleagues in the same position, but considering the differences of the health conditions, it’s not unfair.

In fact, I have paid for the medicines and the psychological therapies.

I have this Work Ability Card in my wallet with the Estonian ID card as they ask me to show the Estonian ID card when using the Work Ability Card.

It’s literally a card, so it’s not like a disability certificate which looks like a thin notebook issued in Japan.

In Japan and until I got the Work Ability Card, I had never had a disability certificate. I didn’t make one because the services in Japan for the holders were basically available for the physically disabled people. (I wasn’t depressed when I was in Japan, but autism and mental disorders could be considered.)

However, although I live in Estonia, anyway I won’t use the card that often.

So here was my story about getting the Work Ability Card.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Experiences Kalev’s Nurr Products.

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Tere!






When it comes to an Estonian candy producer, you might say Kalev!




You might think Kalev is famous for chocolate, but there are much more products. They sell ginger breads in the Christmas season, and they also sell boxes of filled chocolate for souvenirs.

However, I don’t personally often buy sweets or candies, so there are some products that I didn’t know about. Kalev’s chocolate frequently contains dried fruits or nuts, but this time I’m going to show you “Nurr” series that might be a cute souvenir.

Table of Contents
1) Nurr Raisins Coated with Chocolate
2) Nurr Chocolate with Marshmallows
3) Nurr Chocolate with Air Bubbles
4) Nurr Basic Milk Chocolate
5) Nurr Chocolate Ice Cream
6) Nurr Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts
7) Nurr Chocolate in Chocolate
8) Small Milk Chocolate Bar

1) Nurr Raisins Coated with Chocolate 

The product is exactly what I mentioned.

It’s a small box of raisins coated with milk chocolate.

Since it might be for children, one box weighs only 70g, and maybe it’s unsatisfactory for adults in a sense. Personally I thought this package seemed like some product sold in Flying Tiger most.

Although every Nurr’s product has this cute (?) cat, considering its size, it might be a good souvenir for children. Usually in European or American stores, the sweets’ or snacks’ bags are huge (for the Japanese), but this one is only 70g so it’s easy to eat and carry.

2) Nurr Chocolate with Marshmallows

This is chocolate with marshmallows. It’s a chocolate bar, so you can share it with your companies. Since it contains marshmallows, it’s not easy to break and divide, but still it’s not impossible.

It looked very sweet, but it wasn’t actually that sweet. However, for me one piece one time is enough… Maybe because I don’t usually pay attention to this series, I don’t see this product that often. When I bought it, it was Valentine’s season. Maybe that’s why I saw it that frequently at that time.

Not sure though.

3) Nurr Chocolate with Air Bubbles

This is also a chocolate bar. Looking at it carefully, you’ll find a heart on each piece of chocolate! Since it has air bubbles inside, the texture is light. Like the marshmallow one, it’s not too sweet. You can believe me because the Japanese are sensitive to the sweetness.

Also, comparing this to #1, I don’t often see it at stores. They don’t have big sizes for this of #2, so I think it’s a good option for a souvenir.

4) Basic Milk Chocolate

Kalev’s chocolate bars usually have Kalev’s logo on it, and this chocolate bar also has it. However, I personally want them to have Nurr’s logo on it. The taste is just like a regular milk chocolate.







There’s nothing to stand out.




Nurr’s chocolate is always milk chocolate, so those who don’t like anything sweet or who have low blood pressure should be careful. (When your blood pressure is low, and you eat something very sweet, the blood pressure skyrockets, making you feel nauseous. Believe me, I experienced it.)

5) Nurr Chocolate Ice Cream

Yes! Nurr has ice cream, too!

The taste was very similar to one kind of ice cream sold in Japan that my mum often bought when I was a kid.

However, I wouldn’t buy it again. (I prefer some other brand’s ice cream with lemon flavour, by the way.)

6) Nurr Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts

One day I went to see a doctor, whose hospital is near Tallinn University. After seeing him, I saw a new advertisement about Nurr.

That was a milk chocolate bar with hazelnuts.

Reference

There was nothing special either.

Like its name, it has hazelnuts in the chocolate bar.

If you do love hazelnuts, maybe it’s happy news, but I wouldn’t personally repeat. Also if I’m in a mood, I might buy it again, but fundamentally I don’t buy candies that often, so that would be a super rare situation.

7) Nurr Chocolate in Chocolate

I updated now but I actually found this in November 2021.

It’s just a bar of chocolate that has small candy chocolate inside.

In my opinion, those candies were interrupting the texture, which does not mean that I hate it.

However, I would not buy it again.

8) Small Milk Chocolate Bar

I bought this in February 2022.

I felt like eating chocolate one day I was working, so I went to Rimi.

I am not sure if it has been there for a long time or a new product.

Milk chocolate, in general, is really sweet, but this one might not make those who are not fond of sweets disgusted.

However, Bounty is better, so I might buy this again, but way less frequently.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Goes to See a Dentist in Estonia.

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Tere!

Did you know that it is almost impossible to have a corona cluster at a dental clinic? At the dental clinic, they treat patients’ mouths, so the hygiene is good, which is said to make it nearly impossible to have a cluster. 

I read this kind of story in some article, but can’t remember the source…

Anyway, I went to see a dentist in Estonia this time!

Actually this is the second time to see a dentist in Estonia, and I did once in 2018.






Because my front tooth got chipped while eating pancakes.




I know it’s unbelievable, but it’s freaking true.

I urgently looked for an English speaking dentist, and she did some treatment for the tipped tooth. In addition, I asked her how my wisdom teeth were, but she said there was no decay and no need to remove them. (It’s painful when it grows in the mouth, but when it stops growing, there is no pain.)

However, she told me not to use toothpaste for whitening which I used at that time.

This is because the whitening toothpaste scratches teeth.

Since then, I have used regular toothpaste. (But it’s actually not that easy to find since these days whitening toothpastes are more common.)

This time I didn’t have any pain due to decay, was annoyed by wisdom teeth, or got another tooth tipped, but I wanted my mouth cleaner. That’s why I went to see a dentist.

In Estonia there is a Facebook group called Expats in Tallinn. One day I found a post about a good English speaking dentist in Tallinn. Many of the answers mentioned Van Thai Nguyen at Roseni Hambakliniik. Just in case I saved the information.

And then, I booked an appointment. (This is irrelevant but his name sounds Vietnamese, doesn’t it?)

You can book an appointment at Roseni Hambakliniik online.

But!

You need your Estonian ID card, so be careful.

As of July 2021, you can’t book with Smart ID.

Due to this system which is relatively old compared to other systems in Estonia, I had to go to TTU/Taltech’s library in order to book an appointment.

(The reason why I chose TTU was because Tallinn University’s libraries were closed due to the summer vacation, and neither was the central library. Yes, I still don’t have a card reader though I have lived in Estonia for four years. That’s because I can basically do anything, usually with the Smart ID.)

You can select a date and time one month ahead on Roseni Hambakliniik’s website, but I did prefer some time in July. On the contrary the dentist seemed to have a vacation at the end of July, so I eventually chose the date and time in the following week.

Then I went to the dental clinic. It’s located in Rottermani district, but it was a bit difficult to find. If you follow the map, you can see a sign board that says:

Go up

with an arrow. Follow the instruction, turn left to the slope side, and you can see the clinic. (It’s also difficult to explain with words, but since there’s the dental clinic’s sign board, it shouldn’t be that hard to find in real life.)

A nurse gave me a questionnaire about COVID-19, after which, I went to the treatment room.

I was right; the dentist was Asian.

He roughly examined my mouth, and said:

You have stains. We can remove them, but it’s out of the insurance. What will you do?

Really?

I came there just to remove calculus, but I didn’t want stains, so I asked how much it would be. He said with removal of both stains and calculus, it would cost 100 euro.






No no no, I don’t have such a huge amount of money now.




So I asked him to just remove the calculus.

You have white spots too.

What’s that?

White spots are basically seen on my front teeth. However, I have had them since I got them, so I told him that I didn’t care that much.

After the treatment, he recommended me to use rubber dental floss because there are some spaces between a few teeth where a string floss cannot clean enough.

Reference

As for my wisdom teeth, there was no problem. (By the way, I have them all.) Other teeth’s conditions were fine too, so he told me that I could come there again next year.

So I’ll go there next summer or some time.

(But I still don’t like having stains… Maybe I’ll buy whitening toothpaste temporarily.)

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Creates Postcards in Estonia.

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Tere!

On 1st July 2021, my Dutch friend in Japan sent me a postcard! We’ve known each other since we were in the university in Kyoto. I think she’s worked in Japan for a few years now. (I think I’m right because I went to her place in the Netherlands in 2018.)

In return for the postcard, I decided to send one to her, but the biggest post office in Tallinn city centre was closed a few years ago, so I was wondering about where to buy a postcard. (Maybe I could have been to some souvenir shops in the old town though.)

She made a postcard on her own, so I decided to make one by myself too.

Then there is a problem: which photo to use for a postcard.

I personally think I have been to many places in Estonia, but I didn’t have a lot of pictures. That’s why I wondered. Then eventually I chose a photo of the prison in Rummu.

I went there in summer, and this return would be done in summer too, so I thought it was a perfect choice.

Since I always take photos in a square shape, I wanted a postcard in a square too, but there was no choice. In addition, in many copy shops, massive printing is their default, so their supply didn’t match my demand.

Table of Contents
Printing out at Minu Foto
Going to Copy Pro

★Printing out at Minu Foto

However, I managed to find photo printing service called Minu Foto of a shop called Copy Pro, which can be shown in the top of the search results. You can easily find the service, but if you want to find it on Minu Foto’s website, follow the steps below.

  1. Access Minu foto
  2. Click “Photo cards” in “PHOTO PRODUCTS” in the head bar.

It’s easy to use; first of all, choose its back print which is a side you may write messages and/or receiving address.You can choose either nothing or with lines. (In my opinion, I don’t recommend the one with lines, because your card will have Minu foto’s log there…)

Then choose a set of two postcards or eight postcards. Sending one postcard to my friend was the only purpose for me, so I just chose a set of two postcards.

If you want envelopes, you can also select, but in my case I didn’t need any, so I left it blank.

Then click “Create” and go next.

This is finally the editing part of the photo side of the postcard. There is an option to have a square picture, but I didn’t choose because I wanted to have a square-sized photo and my website’s logo. (Plus, I didn’t like that the photo part was on the right side.)

I made a file on Photoshop to align the picture and the logo, but Photoshop’s postcard setting was different from MInu foto’s setting.

Also, on Minu foto’s editing page, you can see layouts on the left side, which have two similar postcard design icons. (At least it looked the same as one another on Google Chrome. It might be shown properly on Edge or Firefox.)

The send one from the below has no margins around the pictures, so if you have a single photo, you will have that picture fully on the card. Of course that wasn’t my option at all. 

I chose the last option. It has margins around the picture selected. I had white margins around the pictures and the logo in Photoshop, but I edited it like below to make it fit in the postcard.

By doing so, it fitted!

Perfectly.

After editing the design, click a blue button written “Save and Go to Cart”, and go next.

Next, I chose the delivery method.

They don’t charge you if you go there to pick yours up. I always choose this method as long as the online shopping is within Estonia.

By the way, here’s a side story; currently (as of 14th of July in 2021) the shop’s address mentioned was under construction, so the address on the website was different from the one on the selection page. I emailed them, and they said that it wasn’t just updated, so now it has a correct address.

There are two card payment methods as well as bank transfer (the middle option). I chose the card payment like always, but both options didn’t work. I still don’t know why. I compromised and chose the bank transfer.

Then they sent me an email about the purchase confirmation with an invoice like below.

As the invoice had the shop’s bank account number, I thought maybe I should pay there, but it was still unclear, so I asked them again. Then they said I could pay when I pick up the postcards. It was easier so I chose it.

At the same time, they said:

Your postcards are ready!

It was literally very instant after ordering.

Since it was fast work, I planned when to pick them up.

★Going to Copy Pro

Then on the day to pick up the postcards, I was wondering about the exact location of the shop. The address certainly exists, but even the Google map didn’t show the sign board or anything.

Anyway, I came to Rävala pst 6, but still couldn’t find it. I thought of what would happen if I turned left at the corner. Then  I found the shop. It was really difficult to find out. 

On the Google map the pin was set in the middle of the building (which is not wrong), but the actual shop entry is where the arrow points out in the picture below. Be careful.

Then I asked one of the staff members, and paid after checking the postcards.

Later on, I bought a stamp, and sent it to my friend. If you are thinking about creating postcards in Estonia (or Tallinn), consider this shop. (Last but not least, the stamp to other countries like Japan costs 1.90 euro, and it is a shape of an Estonian flag.)

Aitäh! :)　

Zooks Goes to Keila Waterfall in Estonia.

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Tere!

There were hot days with around 30 degrees in Estonia even in July 2021. Usually there are only a couple of days with 30 degrees in Estonia, and it happens in June. I was planning to go to Keila waterfall, but I was unwilling to do it under the strong sun. However, for a few reasons, I changed the plan, and did go to Keila waterfall!

Keila waterfall isn’t that far from Tallinn city centre. You can go to Keila waterfall if you have some free hours because there is nothing but a supermarket around Keila waterfall.

I actually have wanted to go to Keila waterfall for a long time, and I thought of going there last summer when all of my travel plans were cancelled due to COVID-19. However, probably because of the fatigue from work, I was uneager to go although I planned instead.

This time I planned to go to Keila waterfall on one Tuesday in July. That Monday was less hot, but it seemed to rain, so I chose Tuesday. However, it didn’t rain at all, and it was all sunny. Plus, it was reported that it would be more than 30 degrees again on that Tuesday, so I decided to go to Keila waterfall when it was less hot and more comfortable.

To go to Keila waterfall, you can take just one bus basically. Also there are multiple bus options.

I knew that there’s (almost) nothing around Keila waterfall, so my plan was to see the waterfall, and that’d be it. Fortunately there were busses that were suitable for my plan.

First of all, I took a bus from the town. To go to Keila waterfall, I chose bus 108 at around 3 pm. You need to get on from the front of the bus, and tell the bus driver where you want to go. (In this case, tell them “Keila-Joa”.)

It costs 2.30 euro.

I think it cost 3 euro when I went to Rummu. I can’t remember properly though. You can google-translate to read this article about Rummu.

After enjoying approximately one hour on the bus, I got off at the bus stop called Keila-Joa. Then I walked to the waterfall, which took less than 10 minutes.

I was wondering about where the waterfall was, though I could hear the water-falling sound. Then I realised that I was not walking toward the waterfall but walking along the water running direction. (I was walking using a map, so it wasn’t a mistake.)

In other words, there was the waterfall when I looked back.

I spent about one hour, being relaxed with negative ions.

When going back to the city centre, you can take a bus from the bus stop opposite to the one that you got off when arriving there.

The return bus was not 108 but 127. The route was a bit different, but it stopped at the bus stop that is 10 minutes by foot from my place, so I chose it.

Of course, the return ride cost 2.30 euro, too.

By the way, Keila waterfall is said to be the third biggest waterfall in Estonia. (I read it somewhere but I don’t know the source.) However, it didn’t look that big. This is so Estonian though.

Jagala waterfall that I went to with my friend three years ago was bigger!

But at least I could be relaxed, I think.

When you come to Estonia, and have a little time, consider going to Keila waterfall.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Faces Allergic Problems in Estonia.

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Tere!

In July 2021, I had awful skin problems. It wasn’t about pimples but itchiness on my face (particularly the forehead and the T zone), the inside of the left elbow joint rather than the right one, and the neck. This itchiness had lasted for a couple of months.

Every year I have a pollen allergy with my nose, and usually it ends in June, but as written in another article, this year I had itchy eyes too, so I needed to buy an eye drop. If I used the eye drop, everything was alright.

However, the itchiness was getting gradually worse, and I sometimes saw rashes, so I thought I would need to see a doctor. I googled the allergology in Tallinn, and found that East Tallinn Central Hospital has one. I rang, and the receptionist said:

You need to talk to your family doctor first.

This is a typically troublesome way while living in the third country.

When I was in Japan, I went to a hospital which has both allergology and dermatology, so I didn’t have to think which department to choose. On the contrary, I had no idea what the cause was this time. That’s why I called the allergologist.

There is no other way but to talk to my family doctor.

I emailed him, and he asked me the details, so I explained to him the conditions and how long I had had it. Then he rang me in the afternoon of that day, and I could book an appointment next Wednesday.

Table of Contents
★2/July/2021
★10 Days Later…

★2/July/2021

On Monday of this week, my face was ridiculously itchy. Suddenly I remembered bringing the dermatological medical cream from Japan, so I put it on my face.

But still itchy!

I repeated scratching my face and putting the cream on it. Eventually I took one strong medical tablet for the pollen allergy, and the itchiness was gone.

Next day, 






My iconic double eyelids were gone. 




Besides, I felt the heat on my eyes.

I was wondering if I had an allergic conjunctivitis, but the following day it was gone.

Have you experienced that your symptoms were better when going to see a doctor?

I had it on Wednesday. The rashes were mostly gone, but when I explained to the doctor, she prescribed me two medicines: 10 tablets and two tubes of a medical cream. She said if it’s worrying about the face, I could buy some medical cream for the face without any prescription.

Although I had to go to two pharmacies, I could get all of them.

The medical cream for the face  doesn’t have any rules, but other prescribed medicines have.

Reference

The tablets are called Opexa. It’s required to take one 20 minutes before the meal (in my case dinner). There are 10 tablets.

The other one is a medical cream called Fucicort. It’s big enough and contains 15g, but the doctor prescribed 2 tubes. I don’t know why.

Reference

This cream has a few rules; it’s required to put on a very small amount, and  to wash it out before putting it on again.

Also the pharmacist told me:

You also need to avoid the sun.

It’s the middle of summer right now.






Very challenging mission.




Anyway I’ll have tried them for 10 days.

I will update this article with the results in 10 days. (If I remembered.) 

★10 Days Later…

It had been 10 days since I started taking medicine and putting a medical cream on. There was no itchiness for those 10 days.

Actually, I didn’t have to check the effect of the medication for 10 days, but I had 10 tablets, so I kept checking the skin condition. In fact, on putting on the medical cream, the dryness on my neck and spots on my arms were gone, and I got beautiful skin. My face still (as of 18 of July) has a spot like a mosquito bite, but there was little itchiness, and my eyes were not swollen anymore.

Probably due to the dryness, it was slightly still itchy, but it didn’t look awful. The itchiness on my neck and arm joints were completely gone. However, I’m still concerned about the itchiness, so I put the cream on.

Of course I hadn’t finished even one medical cream tube, but I positively think that I can use it maybe next year when the itchiness will appear again.

I’m not sure if I’m patient, but I don’t go to see a doctor on seeing some physical problems. Thus, I kind of think maybe I should have been earlier, but the skin became great, and there was no problem at any summer events, so it was all right. However, I have a conclusion.

Conclusion:






A family doctor works well enough.




In Japan I went to an allergologist and dermatologist, but in Estonia your family doctor can solve the problem.

Anyway, I got my beautiful skin back, so I’m happy.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Gets Hospitalised. (27)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

The previous story is available here.

Since I didn’t trust Datura as a manager, I asked my boss to assign Stevia for that. 

Stevia was a sales manager, but simultaneously she was handling all the Asian markets. I assumed that she had too many things to do based on that, eventually the boss took care of the market.

Also I told her that I had something to tell Rhodan, one of the developer colleagues, and not to tell anyone except him because I didn’t want Cordy, Datura and Nemesia to be in my life.

Aitäh! 🙂