Rewind: 2017, 2018, 2019

I just noticed that my last rewind was about 2016 so to keep some consistency here is a small summary of the last 3 years. It is scary and crazy to think that we are in 2020 already but looking back on the last years I can say that I have made a lot of mistakes but also learned a lot and hopefully grown to become a better person. 

I started 2020 unemployed, living in a foreign country and sober since end of 2019. I am excited about starting a new job in February in a position very different from what I have been doing for past 5 years and I will be moving to Tallinn. Part of me is really sad because I am leaving behind many great people that I met in Lisbon and who I will miss. However, I know I can visit them and they will have a reason to come to Estonia. I am scared of starting again in a new city but calm as I know that I have friends there and at least I understand what people are talking around me.

Coming back to 2017. I did manage quite many of the things that I listed in my 2016 rewind post. For example, with the amazing team we shipped the TartuFic app which is now available on Android and iOS and founded MTÜ Kohalugu for this and future projects: http://www.kohalugu.edu.ee/

While participating in the UT Idealab Starter program and Digix incubation we understood that we prefer to make the idea come alive to get experience and contribute to preserving cultural heritage  instead of trying to make a ton of money. So we opted to founding a NGO. During the first half-year of 2017 I gave more public speeches than ever before in my life. I even started feeling comfortable talking to a microphone and my voice started shaking a bit less when I needed to get up on the stage. The whole experience was tiring but really useful and rewarding. Learning and competing side by side with internally driven people who have ideas how to make a difference was amazing. 

In autumn 2017, I started to work as a BI Analyst in Bigbank. During the 1,5 years I spent working there I developed so much as an analyst. I learned how to communicate with developers, data engineers and employees who don't know anything about data. I improved my technical skills of data querying and visualization by daily writing custom SQL queries, making visualizations in Tableau and explaining the results. I had an amazing manager who supported me with everything and wonderful motivated and skilled team around me. In the beginning, I struggled working in an open office as I had been working from home for 2 years but I got used to it - good headphones help a lot.

At the same time as I was focusing more on work my private life crumbled a bit and in the summer of 2018 I felt that I need to make a change. Luckily a friend of mine made me a great offer to join Pipedrive. As I was going through their website I discovered that they are looking for an analyst to Lisbon office as well and I asked if I could apply there. A month later, they told me that I could choose between Tartu and Lisbon and I chose Lisbon. The next few months I spent packing and saying goodbye to Estonia and my friends. I visited Lisbon for the first time in January 2019 for 3 days to look for apartments and get a feeling of my future home. I loved right away the colors, warmth and openness.

I wrote about my Portugal experience in more length in my previous post and about my work experience in Lisbon here. To wrap it up, 2019 was difficult but an amazing year. I met so many wonderful people who I would have never met in Estonia. I learned about different cultures, how to become friends even if we aren't fluent in any common language and don't share the same experiences. There were funny, sad and crazy moments. All together, it was incredible.

As one of my friends said: "Sometimes we need to go far away to understand what we really love." For me, this was the case with living in Portugal - I loved this experience but Lisbon is not my home. With my flight to Estonia in a week, I feel sad to leave this wonderful place and people behind but I feel happy going back.

Morning in Madeira in Jan-2020. Photo by Olga.

9 months in Portugal

On 5th of February 2019, I moved to Lisbon. A week later, I started my job as a Product Data Analyst in Pipedrive. It has been a crazy 9 months and here is a small summary of my experience. 

1. Do I recommend moving to Lisbon? 

Yes and no - this depends on you and your personal preferences. 

Firstly, moving abroad is always hard but worth it as you grow so much as a person. 

Secondly, Lisbon is a great city. It is one of the safest and sunniest capitals in Europe. It offers a lot of cultural events, opportunities for travelling and meeting new cultures. However, it is a city of half a million inhabitants. So for me personally, it is sometimes too urban and full of people. 

2. Would I move again if I had to make the decision today? 

Yes, it has been a difficult 9 months but the most fulfilling ones of my life. 

3. What would I do differently when moving now? 

Research, research, research. 

When I moved I knew how to speak a bit of Portuguese. Also, I had visited the city in January to look for an apartment and get to know the city. 

I googled some information on Lisbon but I forgot entirely to learn about Portuguese history, culture and people. So at first I struggled a lot with communication. According to Edward T. Hall, Portugal is a higher-context culture and Estonia is a lower-context culture. This means that Portuguese put higher value on interpersonal relations and communication. Also, the things not being said are as important as the things being said. In addition, family is really important for Portuguese. 

In my everyday life, this meant that I struggled with communicating because people asked very personal questions and talked more than I was used to. Portugal was the first place where people said that I talk too little. Also, it was hard to make Portuguese friends as their lives were filled with family dinners, visits etc. 

The best part 

I love 

• how warm, open and helpful Portuguese people are
• how much Portuguese enjoy life
• the climate 
• the ocean 
• amount of cultural events 
• small Portuguese cities 
• how sporty and healthy Portuguese people are 
• fairness and inclusiveness of Portuguese society

The worst part 

For me the hardest part came about 3 months after I had moved to Lisbon. By that time, I felt that I should already understand the culture and society but I was still struggling. I had made a group of international friends outside of work but I still felt very alone most of the time. At the same time, I was struggling at my work and feeling that I was letting my team and company down as I had so much more job tasks than I was able to complete. Also, we moved to a new co-working space which was an open space for 30 people. For me, this was a very hard work environment as it got very noisy in certain hours of day. I felt extremely tired every day I got home. So from June to August, I felt very unhappy with my life. In August, I finally talked with friends and they helped me to put things in perspective. They helped me to realise that living abroad is hard and I am doing as well as I can and I shouldn't put this much pressure to myself. I learned how to say "no" at work and put let pressure on myself when I fail at something. 

Pictures, pictures, pictures 

Snack time at 100 Montaditos

Traditional Portuguese breakfast with Varje

Street art by Vhils in Bareeiro

Ericeira

Rewind: 2016

I wanted to write something, but I am a bit too tired, so I will just post some photos from 2016 and beginning of 2017. It was a really nice year full of travelling, events, new job, friends, moving, organizing and exploring. 

In February I visited Brazil for the first time. I want to make a longer post about it, but as I haven't managed it for a year, here are some photos to show off this beautiful country: 

Acai dessert - at first I wasn't so into it, but now I miss it!

Waterfall in Itatiaia National Park

The beautiful island of Fernando  de Noronha

The whole year I actively participated in the Estonian Sociology Students Association. Helping to organize two big events, several small sauna/boardgame events, some discussion and movie evenings was a lot of fun. Also it gave me some valuable new experiences. And amazing new friends: 

Group photo from Autumn Academy

I also volunteered in the Estonian Opinion Festival. It is amazing how much motivation and great ideas people have. Leading a team of about 30 people was a hard, but very valuable experience.

Giving instructions and materials to the interviewers

Back to travelling.....
We also managed to visit Berlin, Italy (Milan, Rome, Naples, Venice), Hague and Bremen. 

Berlin TV tower

Hague - didn't fit the sightseeing on the picture, only wonderful people :)

Amazing colors in Venice

And then there were a lot of other awesome moments: 

Getting several kilos of chocolate is the best birthday gift!

Finishing the year with friends

Visiting the new Estonian National Museum (my grandfather's first selfie)

House warming with boardgames

Pumpkin (melon) carving in Bremen

University of Tartu Anniversary Ball

And then started 2017 with two accomplishments: 

Finished my Masters studies

Competed in my First Hackathon. Our team won a special prize. 

What next?

I am not entirely sure, but there are some things I plan to do in the next year:

• Continue working on the idea of FictionFeel. Prototype video: https://youtu.be/azIB5zaML7o
• Travel to new countries
• Visit concerts
• Find time for friends and family
• Develop skills of analysis
• .......

And I can only hope that 2017 will be as great as 2016 was. 

A big thank you to all the amazing people in my life!

Hummock ice on Peipsi lake

Mõned pildid

 

Ma ei jõua kirjutada, sest koolitööd ja aiatööd ja sotsiaalsus, aga mõned pildid toimunust: 

           

Catwomen :D  

Ei, ma ei kuula Jumalat, kõigest pikka Arlet...

                        

                               Tegin 2048 mängu lõpuks ära! Tean-tean, et enamik on juba rohkem saanud, aga ikkagi!

Piret õmbles meile kaksikute kleidid :)

Kukkusin trepist alla - pool reit oli sinine paar nädalat :(

Öölaulupidu - mõnus nagu alati! (Pilt Swedbanki albumist)

Käisime Varjega tantsuklubis kunagi :)

Ja siis oli suur öötantsupeo möll!

7.05-11.05 käisid Hollandi sotsiaaltöö tudengid külas 

Käisime hollandlastega tantsuklubis - meie jaoks mängiti kaerajaani!

Arco - hollandlane, kellele mina öömaja pakkusin

Kunagi aprillis oli Smooth Evening...

ehk palju maitsvaid smuutisid!

Ja volbriööl tegime enda juures lõket :)

Ärge laske päiksel ennast petta

Päiksepaisteline ilm ei tähenda, et

1. hea mõte oleks minna välja ilma mütsita
2. hea mõte oleks kooli minna rattaga
3. hea mõte oleks välja minna baleriinadega
4. hea mõte oleks minna koeraga jalutama,

sest alati on olemas veel selline tegur nagu TUUL, mis paneb kõiki neid eelmisi mõtteid kahetsema, kui see sulle 15m/s näkku puhub. Aga mis ei tapa, teeb tugevaks? Ei tea, minu puhul teeb pigem haigeks ja haige on RÕVE olla.

Mis veel elu mulle õpetas on see, et kui hommikul on tunne, et täna ei peaks kooli minema ja võib-olla isegi mitte voodist välja tõusma, siis peaks seda tunnet kuulda võtma. Vastasel juhul ärkad sa üles liiga hilja, vaatad, et väljas päike paistab ja rattaga veel jõuaks kooli ja võiks ikka loengutes käia ja siis järgneb sellele ainult üks õnnetuste rada. Nimelt puhub sulle kõige pealt tuul niimoodi näkku, et tunned, nagu sõidaksid rattaga vastu seina. Siis otsustad ratta jätta lõunakasse ja bussi peale minna, aga eelmine buss on just paar minutit tagasi läinud ja järgmine buss on nr 7. Siis sa mõtled, et ega see 7 ju nii suurt ringi ka ei tee Kesklinna jõudmiseks, aga sa eksid. Sest kõige pealt sõidab 7 FIsse, siis pöörab ringil ümber, siis sõidab uuesti FI bussipeatusest läbi (seekord küll teisel pool teed olevast), siis sõidab Eerikasse, siis sõidab ka teise Eerikasse. Siis peale teist Eerikat teeb ümberpöörde ja hakkab linna poole uuesti liikuma. Ja siis tuleb veel üks hurmavalt lõhnav inimene bussi ja nii tore on olla. Lõpuks sa jõuad loengusse 20-minutilise hilinemisega ja avastad, et üks su kinnas on  kadunud. Vähemalt oli loeng päris põnev. 

Aga muidu on päris tore, kuigi aega võiks ikka rohkem olla. Seetõttu ka siia blogisse ei jõua. Mul on isegi päris mitu korda olnud mõtteid, millest kirjutada, aga siis olen sundinud end lõputööle keskenduma. Seetõttu jagan teiega nüüd paari mõtet oma lõputööst: 

• 2013. aastal registreeriti Eestis 2752 perevägivallajuhtumit, mis moodustasid kõigist kuritegudest 7% ja vägivallakuritegudest 35%. 84% ohvritest olid  naised ja 92% vägivalla toimepanijatest olid mehed.  (Surva, 2014)

• Paarisuhtevägivald läheb tihti hullemaks pärast partnerite lahkuminekut. Eriti juhul, kui naine lahkub vägivaldse mehe juurest. Seega ei ole ohvri lahkumine vägivallatseja juurest veel mingi lõpplahendus, vaid ohver vajab ka edaspidist toetust ja järelvalvet.

Kui kellelgi on soovi süveneda vägivalla teemasse filmikunsti abil, siis soovitan filmi "Take my eyes" See annab perevägivalla olemuse vägagi tõetruult edasi. 

Liikudes nüüd aga rõõmsamate teemade juurde, siis olen viimasel ajal väga sotsiaalne olnud: sünnipäevad, lauamänguõhtud, niisama istumised, luuleõhtu ja tantsuklubi. Mõned fotomeenutused: 

Fotoseeria "Sandril on äge kodu" (pildistas Kaisa):

Fotoseeria "Oleme normaalsed" (pildistas Maarja fotokas) : 

ja lõpuks fotoseeria "Sotsioloomad on ka normaalsed" (pildistas Kaisa):

Aga kõige vahvam üritus mu jaoks oli Siimu üllatussünnipäev, sest ma ei ole kunagi ühelgi üllatuspeol enne osalenud ja see oli ikka täiega tore. Eriti seetõttu, et Siim reaalselt ei oodanud seda. Muidu oli ka vahva: sain paar uut mängu teada ja arvasin "Pime lolluses" 3 küsimusega ära, et olen Queen Elsa, olgu, ma ütlesin "Eliisa", aga mulle tuldi vastu. Mina ei ole süüdi, et mul ei ole parim nimemälu. Ja sain nerf-püssiga õhupalle lasta ja sain isegi pihta. 

Seega tore-tore-tore. Elisabethil oli ka sünnipäev, aga kuna sellest veel pilte pole, siis siin üks meie katse teha sõbrapilti (klõpsas Maarja): 

Ja sellise rõõmsa meeleoluga lõpetakski. Sulle, armas lugeja, jõudu kevadväsimusega toimetulemiseks!

PS! Jungle Brunch on väga lõbus mäng. 

Paar lugu

Üks öö nägin unes hästi ilusaid pardipoegi ja siis üks pardipoeg oli teistest veel palju ilusam. Siis tahtsin ainult temast pilti teha, aga ta läks teiste juurde tagasi ja siis ma olin kurb, sest ei saanud kõige ilusamast pardipojast pilti. Siis hakkasin aga mõtlema, et minust on eriti inetu tähtsustada ainult pardipoegade välimust ja ma olen nagu mingi nats, et ainult kõige puhtaverelisemad sobivad. Selle peale ärkasin üles ja mõtlesin, mis mu alateadvusel küll viga on...Samas olen pärast viimaste HP filmide ära vaatamist näinud vähemalt kolme õudukat, kus Surmasööjad ja muud hirmsad vaimud mind taga ajavad, seega ilusad pardid oli tore vaheldus. Viimased HP filmid on üldse ikka nii jubedad ja kurvad, et ma ilmselgelt ei olnud veel piisavalt vana, et neid vaadata, aga mis tehtud, see tehtud. 

Päriselu on aga vahvam kui unenäod, eriti praegu kui ülikoolist puhkus on. Mulle tegelikult meeldib mu eriala ja loengud-seminarid-praktikumid, aga vahel on nii hea, kui ei ole vaja kuhugi minna ja ükski tähtaeg kuklasse ei hinga. Saab rahumeeli sünnipäevadel ja õhtuti niisama väljas käia, filme vaadata ja raamatuid lugeda. Mõni pilt ka (pildistajaks Kaisa): 

Anneli sünnipäeval olime eri rahvused/riigid,

kaevurite tunnelid kulgesid lõpmatusse

                                 

 ja tervitusjoogiks oli kõrremahl!

Kaisaga käisime AHHAAs, mis oli väga vahva:

 Peeglid on ägedad!

Kunagi ammu olid sotsioloogide jõulud. Teine kursus oli väga palju vaeva näinud: erinevad mängud ja igaühele käsitsi tehtud piparkook!

Kolmas aasta juba....

Kuna pildid ütlevad rohkem kui sõnad, siis ei hakka pikemalt jutustama. Nagu näha on kõik vähemalt pildi tegemise hetkeks suutnud naeratada, seega elu on täitsa ilus. 

Ühe loo aga räägin küll veel sellest, kuidas Eesti noormehed ei ole üldse nii tagasihoidlikud, kui stereotüübid ette näevad. Nimelt tulen mina üks päev bussi pealt maha ja hakkan kodu poole kõndima, kui kuulen, et keegi jookseb mulle järele ja hõikab: "Vabandage". Algul ehmatan ära, aga siis toibun ja mõtlen, et eks ta ikka teed tahab küsida. Üks noormees siis vaatab mulle otsa ja ütleb, et ma olen väga tuttav ja ta kindlasti teab mind kuskilt. Minule tema nägu küll tuttav ette ei tule. Ta pakub siis muusikakooli, suusatrenni, tantsutrenni, Karlova linnaosa, aga ükski neist mulle ikka ette ei tule. Lepime siis sellega, et vist ikka ei tea üksteist ja hakkame kumbki oma teed minema. Tuleb välja aga, et meie teed lähevad samas suunas, seega üritame veel tuvastada, kas meil on mõni tuttav inimene, aga ikka ei tule midagi välja. Lõpuks ta pöörab ära ja mina lähen ka oma teed. Siis kuulen, et jälle keegi jookseb, aga mõtlen, et mõni tervisejooksja, aga ei, sama noormees tuleb ja ütleb veel: "Ma ei taha küll pealetükkiv olla, aga...kas ma saaksin Teie numbri, et kui meelde tuleb, kust tuttavad oleme, siis saan helistada ja infot jagada." Paar päeva hiljem mu telefon siis heliseb ja sama noormees kutsub hoopis kohvikusse. Kahjuks pidin talle ära ütlema, aga ta ei heitnud meelt ja ütles, et kui asjalood peaksid muutuma, siis ma annaksin teada. Olin mitu päeva sellest vahejuhtumist lõbustatud, kuigi alguses koju jõudes üritasin ka tükk aega välja mõelda, kust ma seda noormeest teada võiks. Arvestades kui väike Tartu on, siis oleks täitsa usutav, et inimene, kes väidab, et teab mind kuskilt, reaalselt teabki mind kuskilt. Tuleb välja aga, et see on hoopis uus moodus telefoninumbreid sebida. 

Ja päris lõpuks üks tore video suvest: