When talking about winter, a lot of our friends give disgruntled expressions and comments. Telling us that winter is the most unpleasant season.

But I beg to differ.

After experiencing my first winter, I can say, I LOVE WINTER!

I’m not going to tell you why I love winter, because, each person has their own reasons for liking or disliking a season, or a certain thing. It’s subjective, and useless too.

How’s Winter in Estonia?

It actually depends on where you live. At this moment, we live in Tallinn, the capital city, and the winter is pretty bold, I gotta say.

According to some people and a primary news outlet, this year is actually the coldest and snowiest winter in a decade, where the city council spent around €4.3 million on removing snow from the streets of the capital during the 2021/22 winter season.

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.
You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different.

J.B. Priestley

I felt lucky.

Why?

I get to spend the snowiest first winter in Estonia, that’s why. 😂

The ‘Up’ Side

In certain areas around my neighbourhood, there are some sites that have been covered by more than 20cm of snow, and I get to dip my foot in that powdery thick snow.

It’s white, grey and black everywhere. It’s super silent to the point of you can hear your own thoughts.

It was a perfect time to slow down, rest a bit, and enjoy the outdoor winter sports as much as you could.

Speaking of winter sports, I have to admit, I haven’t been able to muster up my courage to try any sports at all. I know that I’m a bit of a clumsy person, and I slipped a lot walking on top of icy surfaces.

But in my defence, I just want to feel my first winter in a slow manner. I want to get to know it first before taking some action. Now I can just hope that next winter is going to be as snowy as 2021/2022’s winter. 😅

The fun part of deep winter like we have here in Estonia is that we got to watch Estonian “urban archaeologists” at work! 🤭

The ‘Down’ Side

Of course, winter gives some hardships in our daily activities, too. But we’re problem-solvers, so that’s what we do, solving daily problems related to winter.

When I started to feel the freeze on my body due to the dropping temperature below 5℃ and the wool coat cannot serve me anymore, I bought a proper long winter coat by a Japanese brand, Superdry.

When my trekking boots I brought from Indonesia cannot serve me walking on top of slippery icy surfaces, I bought a pair of high winter boots from Jack Wolfskin. It is super warm, of course… ☺️

So did my husband.

We started to get tired easily. And when we have to bring groceries, it was so hard up to the point that we bought a sledge to bring our groceries easily! 😂

How did we spend Winter together?

Although I didn’t do winter sports much, I still go outside for a walk at least every two days. I enjoy being outside in the cold, even for not too long.

When we didn’t get outside, we enjoy our time together at home, listening to some winter playlists on YouTube from our TV, reading books and playing music. For the latest, actually, Asep played the keyboard and I just listened. 😂

The new activities we try to enjoy for the first time are doing puzzles and playing board games like Monopoly. We never did these before, since we were living in a place that only has two seasons all year.

I got to admit, finishing 1,000 pieces of a puzzle is not an easy challenge! 😫 We even haven’t finished them yet until now! Ugh…

In February, I got to go back to Indonesia for a while. As written in my previous post, I got to pick up our furry kids and bring them with us to Estonia. It was a bit warmer when I leave, so I didn’t miss much of it.

To my surprise, I can adjust to the Estonian climate very quickly after going back from Indonesia without getting sick at all.

I was just missing the snow so much…

Was there any special event?

Of course! Every year, there is a Christmas market called Tallinna Jõuluturg, or Tallinn’s Christmas Market. This event was located in the centre of Raekoja Plats in Tallinn’s Old Town was starting from November 26th 2021 to January 2nd 2022.

We also got the opportunity to visit another Christmas market at Tartu by the end of December 2021, even though it wasn’t as big as the one in Tallinn, it was also exciting.

To celebrate the new year, Tallinn’s city council held a fireworks party. Of course, we attended that too! Truth be told, we have never spent new year’s evening outside since we got married. 😂 Not because I don’t want to, but due to the traffic jams and so many people, I don’t want to get stuck in that kind of chaos. So I prefer to stay at home.

This year, we went out, in the cold and the snow was pouring hard. 🥰

Oh, I love that moment.

And that was the only event where we got to see how many people were in Majaka; our municipality. 😂

Do we have any wishlist for next winter?

I have to do the winter sport! 😂

I plan to buy cross-country skiing equipment so that I can enjoy it all winter.

I also want to try ice-skating, winter bog-walking, aurora hunting, and ice-fishing.

But I also plan to spend late autumn and winter nights doing creative works like knitting again.

For us, winter is the best time to slow down and rest. To look back on the past year, to be grateful for what we have, and to start dreaming about what’s next for us.

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