lucky strike

22. märts 2013, 15:55, Sainte Colombe

Pre-omatud motikaid: 1

Väidetavalt leidis sel nädalal aset võimas päikesetorm. Ma olen küll rohkem kuu ja tähtede laps, aga andis tunda küll – palju emotsioone, kaootilist visklemist takistustes, mida elu aeg-ajalt ette viskab ning killukesed maagiat igas päevas. Esmaspäeva õhtul pärast viimase blogipostituse kirjutamist veiderdasime niisama, püüdes end kaitsta esmaspäevade needuse eest. Päev oli küllaltki stressirohke olnud ning sellele lisandus veel äärmiselt ebameeldiv telefonikõne – otsustasime kiiresti, et olukorda parandab vaid HMS Victory ja aus Saksa õlu. Tõsi, tund aega hiljem oli tuju juba päris hea, eriti seetõttu, et HMS mängis sel õhtul erakordset retro-plazlisti. Päris vabastav tunne oli Spice Girlsi järgi hööritada või hulga prantslastega Macarenat tantsida. Kuna mingi ime läbi sadas vihma ainult natukene suundusime pärast HMSi sulgemist Place Lafargue’ile, võtsime minu juurest kaks veiniklaasi ja vaidlesime tuliselt oma erinevuste üle. Saksa finantsanalüütik, läbinisti ordnung, ja kaootiline estoprantslanna, kellel on taskus Vila do Condest leitud kivike, natuke liiva ja ägedaima Londoni antikvariaadi visiitkaart – on, millest rääkida.

Teisipäeval, erinevalt teistest päevadest, oli meil reaalne plaan, mida õhtuga ette võtta. Casey ja Pierrick läksid üritusele, mida korraldas House of Europe ning kus Iirimaa suursaadik tutvustas oma riigi kultuuri ja kombeid. Teisisõnu oli seal hunnik Guinnessi, viskit ja pirukaid. Meid Simoniga üritus väga ei tõmmanud, ent tegime kokkuleppe poistega hiljem ikkagi kohtuda. See andis meile paar tundi aega niisama mööda Bordeaux’d ringi kolada – uskuge mind, kui ma ütlen, et pole meeldivamat tegevust. Sõime lõunat India restoranis nimega Bollywood mis asub Place Generalil, täpselt Victoire’i kõrval. Nii nagu ma ikka kipun sattuma võrratute inimeste otsa, teenindas meid äärmiselt meeldiv india vanahärra, kes pakkus meile ka tasuta tervitusjooki, hoiatusega, et märjuke „sisaldab natuke veini“. Ausalt, ma ei tea mis vein see olema pidi, igal juhul maitses klaas neoonroosat laket nagu Fairy, sõstrasiirupi ja WC-puhastaja segu – küll aga pakkus see meile ohtralt nalja. Naer aperitiiviks on parim variant. Toit oli maitsev ja tegi tuju heaks, eriti kuna olime eelmise õhtu retro-vägitükkidest siiani väsinud. Kiirelt sündis otsus suunduda edasi Jeux Barjosse, mis oma olemuselt on minu Tõotatud Maa. Vaadake, peale mu imearmsate tuhkrute on mul kodus ka hunnikute viisi lauamänge, mida paraku lennuki peale kaasa võtta ei õnnestunud. Jeux Barjos on umbes sama palju mänge, mida sõpradega nautida, ning väga odavad Belgia kvaliteetõlled – näiteks minu lemmik, Cuvee des Trolls. Hinda pole mõtet kommenteerida, kuna siinsed õlled on 20cl, teisisõnu sama palju kui Eestis serveeritakse klaas veini. Kõigepealt võtsime ette Race for the Galaxy, üks parimaid mänge mis eales tehtud (strateegiamäng, ehitad üles võimalikult koherentse ja eduka galaktilise impeeriumi ning kogud võidupunkte läbi tootmise ja kaubanduse), mille ma oma mõnusate 6-punktiliste arendustega vasaku käega ära võitsin. Pool tundi hiljem olin aga äärmiselt shokeeritud, kuna Simon võitis mind Rumises umbes 5 korda järjest. Poepidaja tõi meile snäkkimiseks kandiku saucissoni, mida ma oma kaotusvalus närisin. Varsti oli aeg suunduda edasi Charles Dickensisse, kus saime kokku Casey, Pierricki ja kahe prantslasega, kes samuti BEMis õpivad. Küll aga oli järgmisel hommikul vaja kell kaheksa loengus olla, seetõttu me pikale ei jäänud.

Kolmapäeval pärast kaheksat tundi äärmiselt huvitavat, aga samas ka intensiivset loengut jalutasin natuke niisama mööda Sainte Catherine’i ringi ning seejärel mõtlesin õdusa koduse õhtu teha – võib-olla natuke kraamida ja Prantsuse paberipahn süsteemi järgi organiseerida... Kaks tundi hiljem istusin suurejoonelistest plaanidest hoolimata raamatukuhja otsas ja guugeldasin Macchu Picchu ajalugu, foiniiklaste kiilkirja arengut ja natukene mikrofinantsi, tühi pastakarp paberikuhja alla mattunud, veiniklaas keeleõpikute peal. Korraga sküpes mulle Casey, kes oli nõus Bordeauxsse õue mängima tulema, kui ma leian elava muusikaga baari. Tere talv, ma elan maailma kõige lahedama baari kõrval – vilksasin kiirelt õue ja piilusin Apollo uksest sisse, kus mängiski üks jazz-band.  Teavitasin Caseyle rõõmu-uudist, aga paraku kui Arno lõpuks isaga koolimajja jõudis paar tundi hiljem (ausalt Casey, tulid Madridist või?) oli bänd juba lõpetanud ning me otsustasime hoopis HMSi minna, mille terrassil sai sügavalt lahatud nii USA õppelaenumulli ja selle peatset lõhkemist, stringiteooriat, universum kui hologramm teooriat ning globaalset soojenemist, eriti mis puutub „inimtekkelisse“ globaalsesse soojenemisse. Tore tõik on see, et mu praegune professor istub rahvusvahelises kliimanõukogus Saksamaal, ütleme nii, et temaga oli päris tore vestelda argumenteerides, et CO2 emissioonide ja kõikide väidetavate tagajärgede vahel on suhteliselt keeruline seost leida... Aga see selleks. Casey vuras koju oma uue püssiga, millega mina ei tohi enne sõita kui leian pisikese kiivri mis suudab mu peakest kaitsta. Siis lähme linnast välja ning Casey treenib mu perfektseks mootorratturiks. o

Neljapäev on teatavasti veinipäev ning pärast loengut vurasin väikese musta Peugeot’ tagaistmel ühe kanadalase, kahe ameeriklase ja ühe prantslasega Margaux’ poole. Kuskil Parempuyre’i kandis eksisime pisut ära ja mu GPS tõrkus – kahtlustan sedasama päikesetormi. Lõpuks jõudsime aga õnnelikult Margauxsse ja Cantenac Browni, mis on üks ilusamaid veinilosse siinkandis. Minu jaoks on alati raske hoomata, et need majad on kellegi kodu, kellegi eramaja. Cantenac Browni ostis 2006 üks Inglise ärimees, kes hoiab maja enda residentsina. Kui ma maitsmisruumis veidi ringi vaatasin, nägin seinal fotot Hugh Grantiga... Kuna me olime juba Margaux’s, mõtlesime, et hüppame Chateau Margaux’st ka läbi. Odavamate pudelite hinnad algavad 600 eurost... Tagasi Bordeaux’sse jõudsin väsinu, aga õnnelikuna. Sain uuesti Simoniga kokku ja me vurasime trammiga Victoire’i, kust jalutasime minu kodu juurde. Võtsin Cateringist maailma parima bageli kuni Simon tõi minu juurest kaks veiniklaasi. Istusime Cateringi ees Place Ferdinandi nurgal maha, jõime veini ja kuulasime kuidas üks seltskond kitarri tinistab. Hiljem läksime minu juurde, kus Simon vaatas sundkorras filmi „Singing Revolution“, mis räägib meie väikese maa ajaloost ja laulvast revolutsioonist. Metsavennad ja koorimuusika tõid talle lausa pisara silma... Mina lahistasin muidugi nutta nagu loom. See film peaks olema kohustuslik igale eestlasele ja iga eestlase välismaisele sõbrale.

Sõbrad, selle postituse kirjutamise ajal saime Franki käest teada, et peame sundkorras minema Illuminarty peole kuskil veidras kohas – Frank pani meid kirja lihtsalt. Seetõttu pean nüüd lahkuma, nautige pilte, elu ja naeratusi.

Ükskord me võidame niikuinii!

ENGLISH

Pre-owned motorbikes: 1

Allegedly, there was a massive solar storm this week. Although I am more of a moon and star child, I could still feel that something was strange – loads of emotions, being tossed around by the obstacles life sometimes sends your way, and also the little bits of magic. After writing my last blog post on Monday evening, we just messed around for while, trying to protect ourselves from the curse of Mondays. Our day had been quite stressful already, which was topped off by an extremely unpleasant phone call, so we quickly decided that the best remedy for the situation is HMS Victory and honest German beer. True that, I was feeling pretty good after an hour or so, especially because somehow it was retro night at HMS – it was extremely liberating to hurl around to Spice Girls or dance Macarena with a bunch of French people.  Since via some miracle it was only raining a little after the closing of HMS at 2a.m, we decided to sit on Place Lafargue with some red wine to argue passionately over our differences. I mean,  a German finance analyst, ordnung through and through, and a chaotic estofrench girl with a pebble found in Vila do Conde, a bit of Mediterranean sand and the business card of the shabbiest antiquary book store in London in her pocket – yeah, there are things to discuss.

On Tuesday, very unlike other days, we actually had a plan for the evening. Casey and Pierrick attended an event hosted by the House of Europe, where the Irish ambassador in France introduced the culture and customs of Ireland. In other words, there was loads of free Guinness, whiskey and pies. We were not really drawn by the event with Simon, but we agreed to meet the guys later. This gave us a couple of hours to just explore Bordeaux – trust me, there is nothing greater than that. We had lunch in a small Indian restaurant called Bollywood, located on Place General, just next to Victoire. As I always stumble upon amazing people, this time it was no different – we were waited on by a delightful old Indian man, who even offered us a free welcome drink with a warning that it might contain some wine. Okay, I really don’t know what constitutes wine for Indians, but the neon pink liquid in my glass tasted like Fairy, currant syrup and toilet duck. Nevertheless, we had lots of fun with it. Laughter for aperitif is the best option. Our food was delicious and made us really happy, especially since we were still exhausted from our retro-feats last night.  Our next decision was born fast – let us go to Jeux Barjo, my promised land. See, in addition to my magnificent awesome ferrets at home, I also have stacks and stacks of board games, and books, which unfortunately did not fit on the plain on my way here (although truth be told, they wouldn’t even fit a carrier). Jeux Barjo offers almost as many games, not to mention a selection of cheap quality beers, for example, my favourite – Cuvee des Trolls. We started with Race for the Galaxy, one of the best games ever in my opinion – a strategy game where you build up your galactic empire and earn victory points by producing and trading your goods. With my awesome 6 point developments I won the game with my left hand, but was left in shock 30 minutes later when Simon beat me in Rumis 5 times a row. The shopkeeper brought us some saucisson to snack on that I chewed on in my horrible pain of loss. Soon enough, it was time to relocate to Charles Dickens where we met Casey, Pierrick and two French guys who also study at BEM. Unfortunately we had to be in class by 8 am next day, so we did not stay for long.

On Wednesday after eight hours of invigorating, but intense lecture, I took a walk on Sainte Catherine and planned to have a nice evening sitting in, you know, maybe even tidy up a bit and create a system in all the French paperwork… Two hours later, in spite of all the grand plans, I was sitting on top my book piles and googled Macchu Picchu history, the evolution of Phoenician cuneiform and a bit of microfinance, an empty pasta box buried under, well, the French paperwork and a wine glass on a pile of language books. Suddenly I got skyped by Casey who wanted to come outside to play, but only if I manage to find a bar with live music. Er, I live next to the best bar in town so I hopped out to check what was happening in Apollo. Luckily, they did have a live band so I shared the great news with Casey. Unfortunately, he really really took his time (seriously Casey, did you come from Madrid or what?) so when he finally arrived the band was long gone and we decided to go to HMS instead. We sat on the terrace and discussed the US student loan bubble, string theory, universe as a hologram theory and global warming, especially the man made one (or the inexistence of it). Fun fact – my current professor belongs to the IPCC so I had a lot of fun argumenting that it is a real challenge to find any substantial proof of relations between man made CO2 and climate change… But let this be for now. Casey went home on his new black Yamaha gun that I can’t drive before I find a tiny helmet for my tiny head. Then, we are going to go out of the city and Casey is going to train me into the best motorcyclist ever.

Thursday, as we know, is wine day and after lecture I was whooshing towards Margaux with one Canadian, two Americans and a French guy in a small black Peugeot. We got a bit lost somewhere near Parempuyre and my GPS was on strike – Im blaming the solar storm. Eventually we got to Margaux and Cantenac Brown, one of the most stunning wine chateaus in the region. To me, it is very difficult to fathom that these are somebody’s homes. Cantenac Brown was bought in 2006 by an English businessman who keeps it as his private residence. When I looked around in the tasting room, I saw a photograph with Hugh Grant. Since we were in Margaux already, we decided to go to Chateau Margaux as well. Bottle prices start at 600 euros… Tired, but happy, I made it back to Bordeaux safely where I met Simon again and we went to Victoire and then my quarter. I grabbed the best bagel in the world from Catering while Simon brought two glasses from upstairs. We sat in front of Catering on the corner of Place Lafargue, drank wine and listened to a small group play the guitar. Later on, we went to my place where I forced Simon to watch The Singing Revolution, a documentary talking about the history of our small land and the singing revolution. Forest brothers and choir music even brought a tear to his eye, while I was obviously weeping like a wounded animal. This movie is compulsory for every Estonian and all the foreign friends of Estonians.

Dear friends, while writing this post we heard from Frank that apparently we are going, no, forced to go to an Illuminarty party at some weird venue, Frank just signed us up. Therefore I must leave now – enjoy the photos, your life and smiles.

One day we will win anyway!

Esmaspäev oli pesupäev. Siretile preemiaks muidugi... tartelette aux fraises | Monday was laundry day. Most certainly, I was awarded with a tartelette aux fraises

Garonne | The quai of Garonne

After school on Place General

Gaming shelf of Jeux Barjo

Lantsh Bollywoodis, klaasis märkate neoonroosat vedelikku. | Lunch at Bollywood, evidence of neon pink liquid

Mina koos Caseyga HMSis | Me and Casey at HMS

Pierrick, Casey, Simon, 2 French guys @Charles Dickens 

torn | tower

Chateau Cantenac Brown TAGAKÜLG | back side 

veinitootmishoone | wine production building

värav/gate to Cantenac Brown

Chateau Cantenac Brown

Casey @Cantenac Brown

foto chateau seinal... mulle tundub, et pildil on üks kuulus näitleja | photo on the chateau wall... seems to me there is a famous actor on the pic

vein | wine

Cantenac Brown 

See pilt on tehtud Chateau Margauxst, esiplaanil Margaux veinipuud. Tornidega loss, mis taamal paistab, on Chateau Palmer. | This picture is taken standing in Chateau Margaux, you can see the wine trees of Margaux. The chateau with fairytale towers in the background is Chateau Palmer

Chateau Margaux

Casey püss, mis juunis mulle läheb | Casey's gun which will be inherited to me in June